Day 1: Kuala Lumpur to London

12 Sep 2016 - Monday
The day I have been waiting for.. My another solo megatrip, and this time I am going to London, United Kingdom for my holiday..

Breakfast at Flight Club, opposite Plaza Premium Lounge, cos the lounge was overwhelmed

My flight MH4 was supposed to take off at 9.50am.. I woke up at 6am to catch the 7am KLIA Express train, and was already at the airport at 7.30am.. We were all checked in and boarded the plane on time.. However, 20 minutes later, we were still at the gate, and looked like it will not depart anytime soon - then the captain announced that everyone must deplane because they discovered 2 of the tyres were found to be not fit for flight and had to be changed..

Boarding pass all ready

Aircraft is being readied to depart..

My friend who joined me for the flight to London

Malaysia Airlines MH4 bound for London Heathrow.. Upper deck

Nicely tucked into my seat on the upper deck, before we are asked to deplane,
loved the extra storage area where one can put bag and stuffs in it

New scheduled departure was 3 hours later..

So back we went to the gate and waited for further updates, which was 3 hours later when they gave the green light to reboard..

 The tyres can be changed in 45 minutes, however, what took them so long was that the first 2 jacks they used malfunctioned and unable to jack up the plane.. so they had to wait for a 3rd jack to be brought from the maintenance hangar across the airport..

The good thing was, nobody was complaining because it's a blessing they realised it before the plane took off, otherwise, God knows what could have happened upon landing.. 

So we finally departed KL on our 14-hour flight to London Heathrow.. I noticed the flight path was a lot more south flying over Iran and Turkey before continuing on over Italy into Europe.. By the time we landed in Heathrow, it was well past 7.20pm local time, given the 7 hours time difference, that's 2.20am KL time.. 

The queue for the immigration started at the gate, and snaked all the way down the arrival hall and into the customs.. In front of us was probably a South African plane just arrived ahead and the queue was made up of their people.. It was 2 hours later when the UK Border Control Agency realised we were a bunch of Malaysians (and not China) and they opened up the Fastrack lanes for Malaysian passport holders.. 

Brunch became lunch - grilled chicken

Midflight snack (I mean the snack is in the box)

Lunch became late lunch - fish pasta

River Thames, not too clear a shot as it was 7pm as we descend into Heathrow

Finally landed at 7.20pm, against the final ray of sun set

10 minutes later - we were finally at the gate, from here it is 4 hours later before I can rest my head on the bed..

My bed for 5 nights with Chris. It was really cosy but my jetlag didn't wear off for 2 days straight

I just loved English buildings with all the bricks and stones.. 

The next morning, I went to Stonehenge, still fresh without any sleep..
to be continued...