Onwards to Cardiff I Went
Feb. 1st, 2010 10:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
music_coaster2010You know the drill, you want to look at the pretty click the thumbnail.
by bandgeek05
You want endless babble which you've already heard from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
stargazer60 it's under the cut.
And I'll only say this on the first entry. It's me, do you really expect it to be dial up friendly?
First off Tuesday night, Laurie arrived and we packed and made sure we had everything, and did our online check in.
Wednesday, January 20th:
I was obsessively watching one of the help_haiti auctions I bid on. Of course at 11:58am I had to put the higher bid in to win, cause I'm obsessive like that.
Also while waiting around, I was doing work. I was getting frustrated because people couldn't read. I had laid everything out in a nice word document with what needed to be done, and all I get were emails going OMG this wasn't working. No shit sherlock, did you not read the word doc where I said hey so and so needs to look at this because it was acting wonky? So I then promptly decided I was starting vacation then. And I did not look at one work related email until I arrived home Tuesday the 26th at night.
Parents came along, picked us up headed to PHL. Got there in great time, no traffic what-so-ever. The nice little online information says to be at the airport 3.5 hours early for an international flight. So we get there between 2:15 and 2:30, yes a little more than 3.5 hours, but not drastically too long. We notice that it's completely empty at the BA counter. My parents had offered to come back and get us and get us lunch, stupidly I declined saying oh we wouldn't have to wait too long.
That was the dumbest thing I had ever said because right after that, we saw this:
*shamlessly stolen fromstargazer60's report. But seriously how could this not be in my report either. Cause it's priceless, in a "you've got to be kidding me" kind of way.
Yeah, 2.5 hours of sitting in the check-in area. With only a bathroom and the flight information board. Ugh. And we know what a spectular flier I am, so my nerves were already getting the best of me.
Finally we check in, realize that international flights get one piece of checked baggage for free. *Insert happy dance there*
Got through Security no problems, they were actually quite friendly and nice, unlike clueless ones at Heathrow, which will be mentioned at a later time. We walk around the airport because we've still got another hour and a half until the flight left. While walking around we see this:
It's the Liberty Bell made out of Legos. seriously how freakin' cool is that. Though I seriously wouldn't have wanted to be the person that had to have put that together.
While waiting we took pictures of Raxie and Droopy:
They are excited about their first overseas trip. Don't let them tell you otherwise.
Finally we are allowed to board the plane, only the line to board keeps getting longer and longer. I decide to have a look around and I see in the little hallway that there is a man, and a crapload of police/customs people tearing apart this guys suitcase and what not.
It so did not put my mind at ease at all. Made me worse in fact. So then the rest of the boarding process everyone getting on the plane was grilled by customs agents. Again totally not cool.
They got pissed off because I said I was by myself, as in only one from my family, but then said we because I was with a friend. In my mind, I was travelling by myself, even though I was with Laurie, we aren't related. That does not please customs agents at all. Again I think it has something to do with the fact I look like I'm 16 and they all think they can walk all over me. But I digress.
Flight was uneventful, food was blah, and I pretty much passed out most of the flight. (what can I say, my Xanax was my friend).
Thursday January 21st
Arrived at Terminal 5 to find out we had to be let off on the tarmac and shuttled to the gates, to take a tram to get through customs, and get our luggage. And to think that Terminal 5 is supposed to be state of the art. Last I checked shuttle busing wasn't state of the art.
We ended up not getting the early bus to Cardiff so we had to wait around at the the Central Bus station till 9:05, where there were lots of pigeons, and it was cold, and the stupid loos were closed that were at the Central Bus Station. They told me to walk into Terminal 1 to pee. (which mind you is a 10 minute walk from the CBS).
It's the bus station:
And that's pretty much all I remember until we got to the Severn Bridge (I was pretty unconscious for 98% of the coach ride.)
Not much of the bridge as it was icky out and we were on a coach, I was still at minimal function.
One of the coach stops is in Newport:
Always makes me giggle since GDL is from Newport.
The cool statue thing that I have no idea what it is, I just like it.
And because I'm the ultimate dork, some ruins. Anyone want to tell me what they are of? It seems almost church like, but I haven't been able to find out what they are.
We arrive in Cardiff. Get off the coach, walk into WHSmith that is right there only to find they only have 1 DWM magazine and no TW mag, and no copy of the new edition of The Writers Tale. We bought Doctor Who Adventures instead, and some soda.
We then walked across the street, to the ticket/information for one of the bus systems in Cardiff. The lady gave us this wonderful map, and instructions on which bus to take and how to get to the bus stand to catch it. We were looking for the 9, but the 9a came first, all we knew is that they split at the road we needed to get to the B&B, so we asked if there is a small road that would connect the parallel roads. The bus driver was sure there was but couldn't think of which one we would have needed because the numbering on Paget Street and Clive Street is different. The nicest lady on the bus says to get off with her and she'd point us in the right direction, but wasn't 100% sure of where at on Clive Street it would take us. We get to Clive street, and make our way down the wrong side of the road.
And of course as Americans, we looked left first instead of right, and in that instant we totally get how Tom Price managed to get hurt in Chicago. So we make our way to the median and we see this guy and his dog come walking across the street saying The B&B is right there, and that Keith would check us in.
So we get inside, and Keith gets us all checked in, and gives us another map and directions and what not. He is insanely giddy about the fact we are seeing Panto and seeing Barrowman pereform live for the first time. We get upstairs to our room, put our stuff down, and gather our cameras and promptly head out.
The pretty pillows in the room:
We knew that if we sat down on the bed we would have a wasted afternoon as we would have crashed completely. Keith gave us directions to walk to the bay, and minus the fact we did the whole looking left thing first again and nearly getting run over, we made it to the bay in one piece.
In the next installment, Cardiff Bay, the Doctor Who Exhibition, and why Verizon have stupid people working there, and why I greatly dislike shady payphones.
by bandgeek05
You want endless babble which you've already heard from
stargazer60 it's under the cut. And I'll only say this on the first entry. It's me, do you really expect it to be dial up friendly?
First off Tuesday night, Laurie arrived and we packed and made sure we had everything, and did our online check in.
Wednesday, January 20th:
I was obsessively watching one of the help_haiti auctions I bid on. Of course at 11:58am I had to put the higher bid in to win, cause I'm obsessive like that.
Also while waiting around, I was doing work. I was getting frustrated because people couldn't read. I had laid everything out in a nice word document with what needed to be done, and all I get were emails going OMG this wasn't working. No shit sherlock, did you not read the word doc where I said hey so and so needs to look at this because it was acting wonky? So I then promptly decided I was starting vacation then. And I did not look at one work related email until I arrived home Tuesday the 26th at night.
Parents came along, picked us up headed to PHL. Got there in great time, no traffic what-so-ever. The nice little online information says to be at the airport 3.5 hours early for an international flight. So we get there between 2:15 and 2:30, yes a little more than 3.5 hours, but not drastically too long. We notice that it's completely empty at the BA counter. My parents had offered to come back and get us and get us lunch, stupidly I declined saying oh we wouldn't have to wait too long.
That was the dumbest thing I had ever said because right after that, we saw this:
*shamlessly stolen from
stargazer60's report. But seriously how could this not be in my report either. Cause it's priceless, in a "you've got to be kidding me" kind of way.Yeah, 2.5 hours of sitting in the check-in area. With only a bathroom and the flight information board. Ugh. And we know what a spectular flier I am, so my nerves were already getting the best of me.
Finally we check in, realize that international flights get one piece of checked baggage for free. *Insert happy dance there*
Got through Security no problems, they were actually quite friendly and nice, unlike clueless ones at Heathrow, which will be mentioned at a later time. We walk around the airport because we've still got another hour and a half until the flight left. While walking around we see this:
It's the Liberty Bell made out of Legos. seriously how freakin' cool is that. Though I seriously wouldn't have wanted to be the person that had to have put that together.
While waiting we took pictures of Raxie and Droopy:
They are excited about their first overseas trip. Don't let them tell you otherwise.
Finally we are allowed to board the plane, only the line to board keeps getting longer and longer. I decide to have a look around and I see in the little hallway that there is a man, and a crapload of police/customs people tearing apart this guys suitcase and what not.
It so did not put my mind at ease at all. Made me worse in fact. So then the rest of the boarding process everyone getting on the plane was grilled by customs agents. Again totally not cool.
They got pissed off because I said I was by myself, as in only one from my family, but then said we because I was with a friend. In my mind, I was travelling by myself, even though I was with Laurie, we aren't related. That does not please customs agents at all. Again I think it has something to do with the fact I look like I'm 16 and they all think they can walk all over me. But I digress.
Flight was uneventful, food was blah, and I pretty much passed out most of the flight. (what can I say, my Xanax was my friend).
Thursday January 21st
Arrived at Terminal 5 to find out we had to be let off on the tarmac and shuttled to the gates, to take a tram to get through customs, and get our luggage. And to think that Terminal 5 is supposed to be state of the art. Last I checked shuttle busing wasn't state of the art.
We ended up not getting the early bus to Cardiff so we had to wait around at the the Central Bus station till 9:05, where there were lots of pigeons, and it was cold, and the stupid loos were closed that were at the Central Bus Station. They told me to walk into Terminal 1 to pee. (which mind you is a 10 minute walk from the CBS).
It's the bus station:
And that's pretty much all I remember until we got to the Severn Bridge (I was pretty unconscious for 98% of the coach ride.)
Not much of the bridge as it was icky out and we were on a coach, I was still at minimal function.
One of the coach stops is in Newport:
Always makes me giggle since GDL is from Newport.
The cool statue thing that I have no idea what it is, I just like it.
And because I'm the ultimate dork, some ruins. Anyone want to tell me what they are of? It seems almost church like, but I haven't been able to find out what they are.
We arrive in Cardiff. Get off the coach, walk into WHSmith that is right there only to find they only have 1 DWM magazine and no TW mag, and no copy of the new edition of The Writers Tale. We bought Doctor Who Adventures instead, and some soda.
We then walked across the street, to the ticket/information for one of the bus systems in Cardiff. The lady gave us this wonderful map, and instructions on which bus to take and how to get to the bus stand to catch it. We were looking for the 9, but the 9a came first, all we knew is that they split at the road we needed to get to the B&B, so we asked if there is a small road that would connect the parallel roads. The bus driver was sure there was but couldn't think of which one we would have needed because the numbering on Paget Street and Clive Street is different. The nicest lady on the bus says to get off with her and she'd point us in the right direction, but wasn't 100% sure of where at on Clive Street it would take us. We get to Clive street, and make our way down the wrong side of the road.
And of course as Americans, we looked left first instead of right, and in that instant we totally get how Tom Price managed to get hurt in Chicago. So we make our way to the median and we see this guy and his dog come walking across the street saying The B&B is right there, and that Keith would check us in.
So we get inside, and Keith gets us all checked in, and gives us another map and directions and what not. He is insanely giddy about the fact we are seeing Panto and seeing Barrowman pereform live for the first time. We get upstairs to our room, put our stuff down, and gather our cameras and promptly head out.
The pretty pillows in the room:
We knew that if we sat down on the bed we would have a wasted afternoon as we would have crashed completely. Keith gave us directions to walk to the bay, and minus the fact we did the whole looking left thing first again and nearly getting run over, we made it to the bay in one piece.
In the next installment, Cardiff Bay, the Doctor Who Exhibition, and why Verizon have stupid people working there, and why I greatly dislike shady payphones.
