My plan was to watch the world cup final for a while, maybe about 9pm or so, with the intent of going to sleep after that - while I certainly *could* have gone to sleep straight away, I didn't want to, since I knew that if I did that too early I'd wake up well before I'd want to and struggle to get back to sleep.
And that, of course, is almost exactly what happened; I drifted off before the game even started - which is impressive for me, since I can probably count the number of times that's happened in recent years on one hand. I don't as much 'fall' asleep as I do force myself in a downwards direction.
Thursday, July 17, 2014
Wednesday, July 16, 2014
Leg the Second and Hello London!
Okay, where was I? Oh yes, Dubai airport. Righto, let's continue the journey.
As mentioned last time, the flight from Dubai to London was on an A380, an absolute monster of a plane. This time I'd picked a window seat, which was very deliberate; I wanted to see as much of what we were passing over as possible.
This turned out to be a good choice, since it meant I could see the impressive Dubai skyline I saw nothing off when we landed - including the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa. I don't think I was prepared for just how tall it actually was - as we ascended I noticed it was pretty cloudy around the city, but as we got higher I could see the top of the layer of cloud and there was at least 10% of the skyscraper sticking out above it.
As mentioned last time, the flight from Dubai to London was on an A380, an absolute monster of a plane. This time I'd picked a window seat, which was very deliberate; I wanted to see as much of what we were passing over as possible.
This turned out to be a good choice, since it meant I could see the impressive Dubai skyline I saw nothing off when we landed - including the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa. I don't think I was prepared for just how tall it actually was - as we ascended I noticed it was pretty cloudy around the city, but as we got higher I could see the top of the layer of cloud and there was at least 10% of the skyscraper sticking out above it.
Monday, July 14, 2014
The First Leg
I'm writing this from Dubai airport – not directly, mind you; if there is free wi-fi here I can't make it work – but offline while drinking a chai latte (cost: 19 of whatever the local currency in Dubai is; I think I saw AED somewhere) and waiting for my flight to London.
So far I've learned one thing about international flights after my first one: thirteen and a quarters hours is a long time to be on a plane. Even more so when you're one of those people who struggles to sleep under the best of circumstances (quiet place, comfortable bed, no people moving around) let alone on a moving object a few thousand meters in the air, surrounding by people, sitting mostly upright and at the mercy of the elements, which from time to time tend to make you bounce around like a jumping jack with little to no warning.
So far I've learned one thing about international flights after my first one: thirteen and a quarters hours is a long time to be on a plane. Even more so when you're one of those people who struggles to sleep under the best of circumstances (quiet place, comfortable bed, no people moving around) let alone on a moving object a few thousand meters in the air, surrounding by people, sitting mostly upright and at the mercy of the elements, which from time to time tend to make you bounce around like a jumping jack with little to no warning.
Saturday, July 12, 2014
An Awfully Big Adventure
So, I'm going on holiday to the UK for roughly four weeks. In this time I'll visit London and see a lot of theatre then I'll hire a car and drive around to see a few towns – Oxford, Bath, Cardiff, Statford-upon-Avon (and see some theatre there as well), Cambridge, York and Carlisle – eventually winding up in Edinburgh to experience four nights of the fabled Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
I am intending to blog about my experiences, both as I go (short posts) and once I get back (one or more longer posts) – so, stay tuned!
I am intending to blog about my experiences, both as I go (short posts) and once I get back (one or more longer posts) – so, stay tuned!
Sunday, June 29, 2014
How To Train Your Dragon 2
The other night I went to the cinema to see the sequel to one of my favourite animated films of recent years, Dreamworks' How To Train Your Dragon – a film I rate amongst my all-time favourite animated movies, alongside The Incredibles; Monsters, Inc.; Despicable Me and Up1. The combination of great story, excellent animation, humour and a superb cast – Jay Baruchel in particular as Hiccup2 – actually took me by surprise; I was not expecting it to be as good as it was.
While I'm certainly aware of the tendencies of the vast majority of sequels to be disappointing – and no small number to be truly dreadful; check out my blog post on the topic here - I remained optimistic that this would be one of the (rare) good ones.
Sadly, I was wrong. It's not something I can describe without major spoilers – beyond noting that the problems are almost entirely plot-related; everything else about the film is as good as or better than the first – so if you don't want to have key plot twists revealed, stop reading now.
While I'm certainly aware of the tendencies of the vast majority of sequels to be disappointing – and no small number to be truly dreadful; check out my blog post on the topic here - I remained optimistic that this would be one of the (rare) good ones.
Sadly, I was wrong. It's not something I can describe without major spoilers – beyond noting that the problems are almost entirely plot-related; everything else about the film is as good as or better than the first – so if you don't want to have key plot twists revealed, stop reading now.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)