First Days in Greenwich Meridien Time (DST): Part One

My boss had tipped me about a possible London trip a few weeks back and asked me for my availability. I told him, I'm just about free until Christmas. A few days after, he told those of us who would be going to prepare requirements for the trip, but wait for approval. I had the tightest of schedules for preparation. I still needed to apply for a UK Business Visit visa, which takes about a week. The day I started was a Friday. I was supposed to leave a week and a day after, and I've yet to finish my visa requirements. The following Thursday (the 12th), I was supposed to get an answer for my visa application. No news. I had worried that they might need more requirements from me since I ticked the "Have you ever been denied visa to another country?" checkbox. Of course, I have, pinoy ako eh! Too many times I've been denied a US visa, I might add.

Friday, I haven't packed yet. No word on the approval at work. And no word about the visa. 1PM, I had an appointment for crowning the root canalled tooth the previous day.

You know how it went anyway. I'm here in London, after all. Friday morning, my line manager said to assume that I'm going. The company's travel agency said that the UK visa has been approved and ready for collection. Needed to do some last-minute cold weather shopping and I'm off.

One last thing I didn't do to prepare was to get a haircut. Bummer.

I had to fly Saturday night on British Airways. Business class, natch! I'd have picked Singapore Airlines to rack up the miles but anyway, it wasn't meant to be. The flight is for 14 hours long. It'd be the first time I'd be in this part of the world. I would be away from Singapore, my foster home, for a month.

The flight was Saturday, 11:25PM Singapore time. I'd arrive in Heathrow Airport in London, 5:45AM Sunday, British Standard Time.

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The flight was great and not as long as it seemed. But then again, that's what you get with free flights on business class.



At first, I slept for about five hours. I woke up while we were hovering above India, Pakistan then Afghanistan. Mission:Impossible 3 was showing in one of the channels. Next time I woke up, we were somewhere above Slovakia, Austria, and finally Germany. The plane was on-time. When we landed at Heathrow airport, the pilot was pretty pissed that some of the guiding runway taxi lights weren't on as expected. So he announced that he will do something about that on our behalf. Looking around, it looked like I was the only Asian on the upper deck of the plane. I'm itching to get out into the city and step into the United Kingdom.