Nothing’s more exiting than flying off to begin your RTW adventure. The joy, the excitement, the OMG I hope they let me fly oh please let me go. While I’m still lagging behind on 43 days till I fly out the lovely D from dtravelsround.com has already hit departure date and landed herself in London (can you tell I’m jealous).
Before she left however there was a nervous moment when the airport staff questioned her length of stay in Europe. This was then followed by a lengthy chat at British Immigration. Luckily she is now off getting lost around London having the time of her life.
This did remind me of some horror stories I’ve heard about arriving at customs in London. People have been packed up and sent home straight away or questioned for hours on end before passing through to English soil. At this stage I’ll be entering the UK via train from France instead of via air so if I’m lucky will find it smooth sailing.
The airport security at Heathrow is serious. When I landed there last June coming from Portugal, they conducted retinal scans and questioned us about our stay. We didn’t have the address of our first B&B so they wouldn’t let us through. We ended up winging the address (without house number) and were able to get through, but it was close. We wound up running through the airport to catch our connecting flight to Edinburgh.
.-= Keith´s last blog ..Chile: Wise Words and Ways to Help =-.
Thanks for the comment Keith. Damn that’s some serious questioning and whats with the retinal scans. Really glad I’m arriving in the UK via train now, just have to pray customs are slightly more friendly at the train station.
Woo hoo!! I made TBF! Thank you, Chris! Especially for the calming words re: customs. You rock. Can’t wait to meet up with you.
.-= DTravelsRound´s last blog ..Wandering the mean streets of Poplar =-.
hehe hey D. Looks like we might both be in France/Netherlands about the same time so I’d love to catch up.
Sweet!!! I look forward to it!
.-= DTravelsRound´s last blog ..Wandering the mean streets of Poplar =-.
Sooo excited for you and your upcoming grand adventure! Hey, you’re going to encounter bumps in your journey, but just keep in mind that they’ll make for funny stories later on. 🙂
.-= Andi´s last blog ..Brasil: Day 7 (Part 1) =-.
Hey Andi. I fully expect bumps in the road and so forth. I caught up with a fellow backpacker yesterday and she missed her flight by accident. Things like that happen so you just gotta roll with it.
She might have missed her flight but we had a ball killing time together.
I don’t think it’s just Heathrow Border Control, but the whole of the UK in general.
My work visa was nearing its end in 2008, so I decided to go to Prague for a quick city break before re-entering the UK as a tourist. There was much of the country I hadn’t seen, and I wanted to do it properly as opposed to overstaying my visa. When I tried to get through Border Control in Newcastle, I was held up and questioned for a good 30 minutes. It was a terrible experience!
.-= Matt´s last blog ..How to Buy a Campervan in New Zealand =-.
Hey Matt, I’m actually looking to do the same thing as my visa will expire a month before the olympics in 2012. I’d really really love to be in London for them so will have to border hop.
I can only assume it will be even worse come olympic time.
i had such a mixed of feelings the month before we set off for our rtw trip, concerns, lots of question marks, nerviness but the excitement of start this adventure was the biggest
Hi Marta, I’m nervous and excited at the same time. I know once I get going it will be fine but for now its very anxious excitement.