I arrived at Heathrow airport at around 1030pm...with empty hands. What i mean by empty hands is without anything that can facilitate me to find a place to stay such as a map or guide. I basicaly had to find the infomation i want right there and then at Heathrow airport. (this is where the interesting part starts).
So there i was on unfamiliar territory, Heathrow airport, unsure where to go from there. But luckly i did my homework (i just didnt print it out). From the research i did beforehand i knew that i could get to central london via the Heathrow Connect train. I knew that The Malaysian Hall is located near one of the train stops, and also the cheap hostel i searched for in the internet, but the major problem was i didnt know exactly how to get there without a map. There were some maps at the airport but they were just tourist maps (which were useful throughout my travel in London) and didnt show the exact roads and trains or bus stations. The information counter was closed since it was way past office hours. Besides, i think my flight was the last flight into Heathrow. What was opened was only the cafe. "How do i go from here?" i asked myself.
(this part of the story is the most memorable part of the trip. Looking back, i cant stop smiling just thinking of it)
Well the major problem now was how to get information that can help me find the way to the Malaysian Hall. Thats the main objective for now. The internet was the answer. Walking towards the cafe, i came across a breakthrough. There were these coin operated internet kiosks in the airport waiting hall. These beautiful pieces of technology were my final hope for survival. But as they were operated by coin, and i didnt have any, i couldn't access them. I had to change my notes into coins. By the way, the internet costs 1 freaking pound for 10 minutes... 10 MINUTES!!! oh well, on the positive side, if u were given more time you will appreciate it less. Anyway, I went to the cafe to change my notes for some coins. I surely couldn't just change the note to coins, i had to buy something. thats when i realized the price for a bottle of 500ml coke was 1.50 pounds!! I mean, even in Germany its (just) 1.30-1.50euros (1 pound is 1.5 euros), so that was a really "(not)value for money", but since i really needed the coins i didn't complain.
So, with internet access, the first thing i did was to check my email an write down my friends address and phone number, which i also forgot to write down. As for finding the way to The Malaysian Hall.........maybe you guys can guess it...GOOGLE MAPS!!! I tell you google maps are a gift to the traveling world. Im not surprised if you can even find Osama Bin Laden with Google Maps. You can find your way anywhere as long as you are not traveling in Malaysia or any other unpopular third world country. I mean check it out for yourself, google maps does not have maps for Malaysia. Even Indonesia has its major highway mapped in Google Maps, but not Malaysia.
So i searched for The Malaysian Hall and took out a piece of paper and literally drew the map with a pen! It was a simple one and i took notice of all the landmarks and roads leading to it. Besides that i tried to get every possible information i can about traveling during that 10minutes of internet access and i was really proud to have utilized the 10 minutes to the max.
It was about 11pm when i finally got the information i wanted. By this time a curfew in The Malaysian Hall was in affect, so if i got there i couldn't get in anyway and i didnt want to be wondering alone in the middle of the night like a homeless guy. Knowing that, I decided to stay overnight at the airport.
Heathrow is a small airport as compared to KLIA. At night it is as quiet as a library, just the occasional chatter at the cafe counter. Although its quiet, it never cease to have "happenings". Im an observant person by nature. I like to sit quietly sit and watch my surroundings and watch peoples everyday activities (this part of my blog illustrates that). I was not alone at the waiting hall though. There were many travelers like me staying overnight at the airport. many trying to get sleep ahead of their journey the next day. Some would try to get some sleep on the uncomfortable seats at the waiting hall (which are made solely for sitting, not lying down) while others said "what the heck" and took out their sleeping bags and slept there as if it was a camping site. Soon the whole hall was full of people just sleeping there on the floor and now it started to look like a refugee camp. As for me, since im too shy to just sleep on the floor like everyone else and sleeping on the seats were like sleeping on a rocky mountian , i decided just to kill time by reading my book. This book was given to me by my trainee trainee from Netherlands back in Malaysia 2 years ago, but i only finished reading it at the airport that night. Finally!!!
Since i would be there at the airport for about 5-6 more hours, might as well take my sahur.... no time for luxuries so i just had an egg sandwich since that was the only thing im confident enough to eat. Two police officers complete with body walkie talkies, handguns and body armor stole my attention for a while, obviously they were looking for a suspicious character roaming around the airport. It seemed like the bloke they were looking for was in the crowd in the waiting hall. so they had a long chat with the guy before a struggle broke out and the police had to forcefully detain him. If u ask me it was unnecessary force since the guy wasn't that aggressive. The police had even dragged him on the floor before handcuffing him. Talk about police brutality. It cause quite a commotion but everybody was too sleepy to care.
I tried to get some sleep but only got a few minuts of it. Hours passed and now the airport was reopened. it was about 5.00am or so and people were seen coming in to check in their baggage and stuff. The airport was alive!! But that means i also have to make my way to the Train station to get myself to London. It was about a KM away but maybe due to my lack of sleep, tiredness and not to mention heavy bags, it seemed like 10km. As i arrived at the station i bought myself a ticket and waited for the train.
Many things went through my mind while waiting for the train, will i be able to find The Malaysian Hall armed with a hand drawn map with can only pass as child's work? If i do find Malaysian Hall, with there be any vacant rooms? Well i cant afford to think negatively at this time can I? I must believe in my map and also hope for the best that there are available rooms in the Malaysian Hall......
To be continued.............
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment