Having
fallen in love with a lady from Brazil, discussions led to the
conclusion that in the short term, the best option would be for me to
relocate from the United Kingdom to Brazil.
This
would inevitably present various problems along the way. The first
and foremost challenge that I would face is that I could not speak
more than a few words of Portuguese.
Having
chosen a date to travel from the United Kingdom and after
considerable deliberation over flight schedules and carriers, the
selected carrier involved a short flight from London Heathrow to
Paris (CDG), with a minimal layover (circa 1hr 15min), then an onward
flight to Sao Paulo of around 11hrs.
So a
coach ticket was purchased from my home town to Heathrow, in an
attempt to keep costs to a minimum.
To
further complicate matters and to make the journey that little more
arduous, a last minute change in plans due to personal reasons meant
that I had to start my journey in Cardiff.
So,
finally here is the journey; On a cool November Tuesday
afternoon in South Wales, a lift to a regional train station to catch
a train to Cardiff, then a further train to Bristol, followed by a
taxi ride to Bristol coach station. This then left me with
around 2 hours to kill near the coach station. Question: what
does one do when faced with the possibility of not knowing where or
when the next real ale would be available (more on ales to follow),
Answer: decamp to a friendly hostelry and enjoy a pint (or two) of
Old Speckled Hen (other ales are available, of course) and a
sandwich.
Early
evening saw me board a delayed coach to Heathrow and arrived at
Heathrow Terminal 4 shortly after 21:00.
My
flight to CDG was not due to leave until 06:40 the following morning.
I had not booked any accommodation as my ticket implied that I should
be at the airport around 3 hours before the flight was due to depart.
Although this would be quite a time to kill, I thought that
while being landside at the airport, there would still be enough to
keep my occupied until I was able to check in - wrong!
Those
of you who have travelled from T4, will probably know it is the
terminal with the least air movements and passenger numbers.
Consequently, in the main concourse has very little to keep you
occupied, the ubiquitous Costa Coffee and a Wetherspoons pub. After a
snack at the pub, which then promptly closed at 23:00, all that was
left was Costa Coffee. Which offered limited seating and was a
popular hub for the various contractors and maintenance staff working
through the night.
There
is only so much coffee one can take on board and to make the evening
even more uncomfortable, it seems that the air conditioning at T4 is
shut down at night, which made for a very warm evening indeed.
As
the night progressed, at least I was able to pass some time by
chatting on line with the love of my life (also knowing that come the
morning, communication was to be near impossible due to flights).
Eventually, even my girlfriend needed to retire for the night.
Finally check in opened around 1 hour 40 minutes prior to departure.
This
left very little time airside, bar another Costa, very little was
open. I had been asked to pick some products up by my
girlfriend, however, the one store that I was able to get to advised
that they did sell the product, but only at T2, 3, and 5. What
had T1 and T4 done to offend the supplier/retailer, I do not know.
So
boarding the flight to CDG was painless enough with luggage checked
until my final destination. Prior to the journey, I had read
some mixed experiences about changing for onward flights from CDG,
but I have to say, it all went without a hitch. It would have
been even easier, had I had been a little more awake. I had to
pass through security at CDG, which was made a little more
interesting as I completely failed to remember to pull my laptop out
of the hand baggage, or take my cellphone out of my trouser pocket,
or metal belt buckle, and shoes. So after passing through the
metal detector machine three times, I was patted down and then
allowed to pass, this left me with around 20 mintues to arrive at the
boarding gate.
Finally,
boarding the flight to Sao Paulo International (GRU), taking my seat,
I managed to sleep a little while we waited for some final baggage to
be loaded. The flight was fairly turbulent, but on the whole a
good one. Despite a little delay at departure, a tail wind meant I
arrived at (GRU) nearly an hour earlier than expected.
My
concerns about immigration control entering Brazil were completely
unfounded and I was granted a tourist visa with the maximum initial
stay without any question or hesitation.
Finally
coming through the arrivals gate, I was tired, sweaty and so looking
forward to seeing my girlfriend for the first time in three months.
As I passed the line of expecting friends and relatives,
chauffeurs holding name plaques, my eyes were peeled for my
girlfriend, so much so that I completely failed to notice the name
plaque that she held aloft with the pet name she had for me.
After
a taxi ride to my new home town of Sao Jose dos Campos, I was
finally able to start to relax and unwind. Having gone some 36
hours with a little more than a few hours sleep, I finally felt that
I was home...
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