My day started at around four o’clock in the morning. That is not a civilized time for anyone to be going anywhere. My dad drove me to the airport for 0500 and I made my way through customs. We boarded and taxied to position for takeoff on Runway 25. We started rolling, however we didn’t take off. Instead we turned off at the first taxiway and came to a stop.

Hmm.

After about a minute, the captain came on the intercom and informed us that they hadn’t gotten the numbers for their weight & balance calculations. After a couple more minutes, we started to taxi again, took position and this time we started rolling down the runway at a speed much more suitable for taking off.

The flight to Washington/Dulles was relatively uneventful.

The flight from Washington to London took off on-time. The food was quite good. We were served breakfast and dinner. The view wasn’t the greatest as most of the time the world was covered by clouds. Nova Scotia was relatively cloud-free, though.

Out over the North Atlantic, more clouds, except for the occasional hole through which the cold dark waters could be seen. At one point, it looked like there were icebergs in the water.

We passed another airplane going in the other direction about 1000′ below us and 2 miles away from us. Before I could grab my camera, it was gone. Our closing speed must have been the better part of Mach 2.

A few hours later, we passed over the coast of Ireland and then headed towards the English Channel. It was starting to get darker the farther east we flew because we were flying into the terminator.

As we were approaching London, we were put into a holding pattern to the southeast of the airport. After about five minutes, we were cleared for landing. On the approach, I saw London Bridge and Parliament from the air.

Clearing customs took about half an hour, mostly because of the line. I collected my luggage and met up with Rob and Yuki. We took a mini-cab from Heathrow to their place.

Click here for pictures from Day 1.