Cambridge Series - The Journey

Before I write about my journey to England, I will announce winners of the quiz last week. Do you remember the questions? See here.

The right answers are:

* I took a picture with the statue of young Charles Robert Darwin.

* The statue is at Christ's College, Cambridge University.

Thank you for all participants.

There are four people who answered it. Thanks to Maudy, Lisa, RAB and Dina. ^^

Three people answered it correctly, but RAB only answered one of the two questions.

So, we decided to give presents to all three and a runner-up present to RAB.

All participants, please send your addresses to Dita's email: dita_utomo@yahoo.com

Now, through this post, I want to share some pictures and stories of my journey. It consists of my journey from Busan, to Seoul, to Helsinki, to London, and then arriving in Cambridge. It took 28 hours in total.

When we arrived at Gimhae Airport in Busan, we shocked because there was an announcement that my flight to Seoul would be postponed. I asked the officer why and when I would know their final decision. They answered that it was because bad weather both in Busan and Seoul. We prayed to God a lot, because I had a connecting flight to Helsinki at 10.30 from Seoul.

Then I tried to find another flight such as Korean Air (at first, I chose Asiana Airlines). On the Korean Air counter, the officer said that there were no seats available. Oh, no. He continued that I still can buy a waiting list seat. Just a second before I paid the ticket, Dita called and told me that Asiana decided to go. Thanks God. He aswered our prayers in His time.

Before I went on my journey to Cambridge, I posted a facebook status mentioning that I am a countryman (wong ndeso) who are going to meet Mr. Bean through the Nokia store. Do you know what I mean?

Yes, I always feel that I am nothing. I came from a small town, Pasuruan, East Java-Indonesia, and I had a great privillege from God to go to England (A country where Mr. Bean lives) through Helsinki-Finlandia (A country where Nokia comes from).

I was very excited. That is why I took many pictures which (maybe) for some people are unimportant. I took pictures of airplane navigation which informed passengers regularly about the latest condition of the plane and the journey itself. I also took pictures of the interior, and a remote control which controls each monitors in front of each passenger for watching video, playing games, for lights, etc.

Even, power outlet on board was a new thing for me. I never saw it inside airplanes :)

By the way, views up there was very beautiful.

After nine and half hours, I arrived at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport (not Fanta). It was a nice, clean, and comfortable place. There are a lot of flights arriving and going from Helsinki Airport. It was intended to be a transitting airport, especially from Europe to Asia and vice versa.

After waiting for almost seven hours at Helsinki Airport (Thanks God there was a free wireless internet connection), I continued the journey to London. It took only three hours from Helsinki to London by British Airways.

I got prawn and mayonnaise sub roll for dinner. It was very delicious, yummy.

Can you believe that I took those pictures at night? It was around ten o'clock at Helsinki, and arriving at eleven o'clock in Heathrow Airport, London.

The last journey was from London to Cambridge. I waited the coach for two hours before departed. Coach? Don't be misunderstood! British people differ coach from bus.

A bus stops frequently to pick up passengers along a short to moderately long route. Otherwise, a coach stops infrequently to pick up passengers along a moderately long to very long route.

So, the designs of bus and coach correspond to their functions: thus coaches often have toilets, DVD players, air conditioning, and some cases wireless internet access. At that time, I could watch a football match between Argentine and Uruguay by wireless internet access for free.

It took two hours and fifteen minutes to arrive at Cambridge. I arrived at 3:15 in the morning.

I was impressed by the cleanliness of the toilet in Central Bus Station of Heathrow Airport, London. In contrast, I still can remember how dirty and nasty most of toilets in Bungurasih/Purabaya Bus Station in Surabaya, where I usually use it before going home to my hometown, Pasuruan.

On the right side photo, the bus (I mean the coach) which I took arrived at Cambridge station.

It was very cold in the summer time. When I read from internet, it was the coldest summer in Cambridge. It was around eleven degree Celcius.

That's all the stories of my journey arriving at Cambridge.

Please wait for my next post about the city of Cambridge.