Tuesday 23 June 2009
Highlights:  British Airways Flight, Dinner at Brixton

Waking up before my alarm I decided to rest my eyes for a few minutes, luckily i didn’t turn off the alarm because 40 minutes later it went off and I was fast asleep! A quick and very convenient train trip back to the Brussels Airport (Melbourne should model Brussels’ in this respect) and I was off to London for the fourth leg of the trip.

I had checked in online on the British Airways flight the night before and due to my status I could select an emergency exit row (more leg room) and given the plane was 100% full I was happy with the seat selection. As this was a short flight I decided to take a power nap. BA actually had breakfast on this flight which turned out to be a ham and cheese roll, while I don’t think it technically qualifies as breakfast it was perfect for me 🙂

After having a friendly chat to the Immigration officer about working for the Australian Government vs the British Government (they weren’t very busy) I was quickly through customs and in the UK. After the transit problem in London 2 weeks ago I was very surprised. I think it helped greatly that I had come from a European port.

Jon have texted and rang me and had provided very clear instructions for getting to his London place.  He even arranged for one of his housemates (Lora) to be there when I arrived (they already had the day off but still I was very happy and surprised). Jon managed to get off work early so we went down to Brixton for lunch in a small and very popular pizza place which served a lot of organic food and was very good. Later I met the whole household; James, Lora, Jeanne and together with Jon they will be my housemates for the next 2 weeks.  Everyone was welcoming and we have some living discussions about profiling (my experience in Madrid), whether taxation / value add tax should be included in the advertised price, and politics. I was very impressed by everyone, Jeanne and Jon even cooked me dinner, I’m a very luckily man.