The Journey

Privet Everyone,

#weliedaboutthesunshine

Or we really were supposed to. As unbelievable as it sounds to those used to living here, the past two days since our arrival was decidedly hot. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

So first things first: The journey here, in pics :)

Going to be a bit long, and for those of you who are used to 9gag, sorry, no potato at the end. :P

Believe it or not, the guy to the left is Russian. #coincidence #friendly #notkgb

A quick fly-by greetings to Csepel.

And bye-bye Budapest...

We were hoping the plane would fly over the entire city, but the route led directly westwards, right out of the city.

Over the skies...

Once we left the lower atmosphere, the view became quite beautiful. We slowly ascended to around 10-11 km height.

Almost two hours of flight, and we finally see the edge of the mainland. And it's just lovely ^^

A sharp turn to the right, to be followed by a turn to the left a few dozen miles later, to align towards London. The weather was beautifully clear. Barely any clouds as we started off, with some nice sheep-clouds* floating about here and there. They started to multiply as we drew closer to the sea, but just a bit.

(*Cumulus clouds according to Vika. She should know, she actually studied meteorology one semester. She sits here next to me, and is telling me to write that only some of them are sheep-like, there are other types on this picture as well. She threatened me on the plane that she'll give me her notes and I have to learn them as well. Help...)

Aaaand guess where we are now? Yup, reaching the UK. I just realized I had not taken the picture of what it looked like 2 minutes before this pic, what's a real pity. Imagine clear weather all behind you, and as you look ahead, it's a single, gigantrous mountain-high grayness.

Our view for the next 15 or so minutes. We got some shakes and one roller-coaster dip with the plane, but nothing serious. Overall it it was rather smooth flying as the plane was slowly descending through the turbulent vale of clouds.

The first distinguishable view out of the grayness. The picture doesn't do justice to the sense of height. It's like you flew out of the side of the hill, and now you fly across a deep valley, with everything made out of grayness. Then into the opposite hillside.

Aaaand the very first sight of UK! We were not even 2 km high by the time we glanced it.

800 m. Flying through a few more of those phantom hills. When inside, visibility is close to zero.

I think I recognize this bridge :)

Landed :)

My very first sight of the London Heathrow airport. Terminal 3.

(Someone is excited. ^^)

On the bus. They sent 2 to pick us up. Right on time. Except someone forgot to inform the guy driving the stairs-car, so we had to wait 5 minutes until it arrived :D Still, it was a real smooth, and a pleasant experience flying with the British Airways. Really liked the communication with the passengers too from the captain.

Few minutes with the bus and we are inside Terminal 3. There are 5. Took us about 20 minutes to get through the terminal to the inter-terminal transfer-bus. 10 minutes trip with the bus to terminal 5. And another 25 minutes or so to clear all the security, and to get inside the waiting lounge. Welcome to the UK!

Oh, and yeah, the weather...

<-- It's like this.

According to Vika, this is the look I had the entire day. (And here is the promised-delayed selfie you requested btw. :P)

Sorry for no pics from the terminal. It was actually quite impressive. A lot bigger then Budapest's. And again, that was only one of the five.

Got my first 'meal-deal'. Excellent vacuum-packed sandwich (ham-shrimps!-veggie trio in one pack. Lovely fresh and delicious. Not like you find in Hungary) + drink (forest-fruit smoothie) + snack (vinegar chips. Meh. Vika did warn me not to choose that one :P ). All for 3.5 pounds. And then a yummy frappe from Starbucks to stay awake ^^

The photo that got leaked to Facebook :P

After 3 hours of waiting and re-charging (they had free chargers in the terminal, yey!) on to Aberdeen, via British Airlines again.

The very first one could see of the sky, well north of London. The picture isn't the best (darn that camera), but we basically got high enough to exit the lower layer of clouds, and there was a layer of clear air separating it from the upper one. And just as we were in the middle between the two, you could see the blue sky between the two. It was like flying between two disks.

Seated right next to the wing this time. Airbus 319 instead of the 320 we flew on to London. Slightly worse view unfortunately. And the window, yeah... All scratched from the outside. Made for a lot poorer quality pictures :/ Not so impressed with this flight as with the first. Slightly smaller feet-space, but still adequate. Still, overall would recommend British Airlines. Really comfy seats ^^ (No, not getting paid for the ad. Honest :P).

 A few miles further on, and bit better picture on how it looked. Still the disk-sandwich layout, but with less clouds. I was getting worried ti will be like London all across the island.

Our speed and height :) Is it really so darn cold outside???

Darn those were some lovely clouds!! >^^<

It was getting dark already, and for the first time on our journey, you could distinguish just how hilly the terrain is. During the day, everything looks very flat from 11 km in the air.

Turning out towards the sea... Picture quality is what it is I'm afraid, but the view was beautiful. ^^

A short circle around, slowing down... and my very first glance of our new home.

Flying over the town...

And landing ^^

Welcome to our new home ^_^

Got off the plane via a much smaller stairs-car, onto the platform. 20 m walk, and into the terminal. This is literally the entrance. :D As Vika described it, it feels like it's almost run as a family-business :P Small, neat and homey.

 

      Just me touristing around ^^

And the obligatory 'arrived safe' selfie :P Behind us, that's the airport terminal. Just that, going on just a bit more to the right. A simple two-storie plain building with a few adds-on attachments around it. Pretty tiny after London :D

So, a warm welcome to everyone!

+1 gratis: On the second floor of the double-decker ^^ Yey, joyride! :D (German couple to our right :P Khem... Coincidence...)

Btw, for those who #nospeakenglish and #huzzálmánki, please #dzsudzslebácsitranslate :P