Vancouver to Aberdeen

The good-bye crew at Vancouver Airport.

The last couple days have been a whirlwind of travel and catching up on work and sleep. I'm starting to gain a healthy appreciation for direct flights, though it's only my third cross-Atlantic trip. All three have involved touching down at least once to swap planes or pilots.

After a rather emotional good-bye from my family and grandparents I boarded the Flyglobespan plane to Manchester, via Calgary. Despite the numerous gadgets in my carry-on luggage, there was no problem getting through security.

And thank goodness, too. I would have been pained to prove that my innocent GPS logger was in fact recording GPS data. Besides the phrase "44-channel GPS with Data-Log function" and a couple indicator LEDs, it really doesn't tell you what's going on.

The Flight from Vancouver to Manchester

My Nokia N810 showing where the plane is on a map. It's also pointing out that we're traveling 900 km/h!

The flight itself was pleasant at first. With the seat open next to me I wasn't cramped at all and even the in-flight meal turned out to be surprisingly good curry—I love curry!

My GPS logger also revealed that it worked if it sat by a window, so I tucked it in the hood of my hoodie and let it do its magic. I was also delighted to find that I could watch the progress of the flight on a map on my Nokia N810! Very cool!

The volume of the plane's headphones wouldn't budge from "too loud" to "bearable" so I saw bits of the four movies but I'm quite unaware of what actually happened. Instead, I made good use of one of the sketchbooks given me before I left and started The Moon and Sixpence, a book I've been meaning to read for months. (I can't help but feel it's affecting the style of writing in this blog post.)

I also dozed quite a bit but this teasing sleep eventually left me feeling drained. Certainly a relief when the plane finally touched down.

Flight Attendant Brian

While waiting to get off the plane (there were airport traffic problems, apparently) I got to talking with one of the flight attendants who later introduced himself as Brian. I know, I know, I should be chatting up the sexy female stewardesses. In any case, Brian normally works with Air India but was helping out Flyglobespan for a month. He noted that with Air India the meals and drinks were always free—they were just giving it away—while on Flyglobespan everything had a price. Apparently on the customer service side this took some getting used to.

He also gave me some tips for traveling in Europe:

• While in Germany, try some "Gluehwein," a spicy mulled wine for the winter months
• Take a day cruise along the Rhine river from Frankfurt
• Check out Budget Europe—he's the third person who's recommended this book to me

Manchester Airport

Boarding the plane from Manchester to Aberdeen

By the time I got off the plane in Manchester I was dehydrated and exhausted. In a characteristically piercing tone, the customs officer asked quite a few questions about my visit to the U.K. and what I did for work. Once it came out that I would be backpacking around Central Europe in a couple months he seemed satisfied and gave me the stamp of approval.

I've got to get that explanation down or somebody's not gonna let me into their country.

From Manchester to Aberdeen to Hotel to Sleep

My memory of the short flight to Scotland is hazy at best. Much of it was spent sleeping but I do recall seeing sheep out the window. Not sure if I managed to get a picture.

Once in Aberdeen I had to wait for over an hour for the bus to the hotel. All I can remember is my relief when I got into my room dropped everything on the bed or on the floor. I wanted to crash but local time was 17:00 so I forced myself to stay awake until 19:30. I didn't wake for twelve hours.