(It's 5 british pounds per 1 hour of wireless internet - 10 for 24 hours).
My flight from LAX to London was delayed for 3 hours. As soon as I realize it I checked in and meanwhile I called Stavros to come to the airport to get me back from the airport to my house (it's only 20 minutes away). I go back and watch the Rain Man.
(Regarding the movie: Dustin Hoffman's character is based on the real person named Kim Peek who lives in Utah. He reads a single page in 10 seconds (normally we need 3 minutes). He reads the left page of a book with his left eye, the right page with his right eye simultaneously. It was good , but not great since I knew what to expect after watching the documentary about him, the real rain man).
I will digress for one more paragraph. An interesting chain reaction of events was spawned when Stavros said we should to C&O Trattoria for pasta. When Kostas called the next day, I told him we should go on Friday. So we did. During the discussion he mentioned a few documentaries he downloaded from Greek TV regarding Einstein and science.
The next day I try to find these documentaries online. There are not there; however the same keyword search yields another documentary show as a result, something like Einstein and geniuses in general. I download an watch that instead. In there they show a clip on Kim Peek, which I find out that was the real character in the movie. Since I had the movie in my collection I decided to watch it home in my spare time during the delay. But none of this would have heppened if we hadn't gone out to C&O. Interesting?
The flight itself from LA to London was my best cross-continental flight ever. Less than half of the flight was full (it was late flight, and also many people were transfered to Virgin flights to London so that they can make their connections). As a result, the middle row that consists of 4 seats was ALL MINE! I lifted the between the seats and spread out into full extent. This was better than business class, and maybe better than first class. I slept like in my bed for over 5 hours, watched a little of movies, and I didn't even realize it. In front of there was a german family that included at least 3 astoningly beautiful, tall, blonde daughters. Wow.
I wouldn't miss my connection because it was 5.5 hours apart (I missed the museum, though). So it actually seemed to be working out better since from these 5.5 hours, I spend essentially the 3 of them at home watching the movie!
But that was half the story only. As soon as I reach the terminal, it is only 15 minutes before the light to Athens and the gate is not yet announced! I hear greek from a yould woman and her mother: They said that there would be a 2 hour delay. Hmffff. So I decided to purchase some internet time to kill my real time.
I also met a greek-american guy from LA, we were in the same flight from LA and he was also flying with me in the next flight. I also met Τζεβελέκο, aguy we were in NTUA together as undergrads. He is now working on his phd in Oxford university. He is now behind me, trying to sleep while listening to some music.
I can hear greek all over the place now. All delayed. It's kind of funny: they seem always anxious, shouting, trying to figure out why the flight was delayed and for how long (as if it matters really).
Terminal 1 in Heathrow is just amazing. There is no way you can ever get bored. So many shops, restaurants, internets, people. I don't mind waiting here for some time, especially after I bought this voltage converter and I can plug in my laptop to the power!
I've become very experienced in finding things to do during a flight. Here is what I have in my bag:
- Laptop, loaded with Mp3s, tv shows, games.
- Gameboy, + 4 games (2x legend of zelda, 2x Super Mario)
- Sudoku puzzles
- 2 books: Mathematical Fallacies and Paradoxes, and The equation that couldn't be solved.
- 3 magazines: Wired, Scientific American, Discover
This is enough stuff to keep you busy while you fly around the world.
