The flight of two halves made it to London

I posted a short update from Los Angeles between flights but thought you would like to hear about the programme. First of all each cabin on the Plane had different head pieces (don't know what to call the covers they put over the top of the seats to protect the seats from people's oily hair). The Business Class section had covers that said Selectors and I assume Graham Henry and those with too much money had those seats. There were three premium economy cabins and they were The Backs and the Midfield. The cabin I was in which was steerage had covers nominating us as Locks. The Business and Premium Economy cabins were full and in fact looked too populated. In the Locks cabin there were plenty of empty seats so that unless you wanted to particularly sit with someone you could spread out. I had three seats which of course make a good bed so I was able to sleep during both sectors. Very comfortable and peaceful. The cabin crew sported black tee shirts with Ted's Team on the back and you will see a picture of one of the crew who modeled for me. When we re-boarded at Los Angeles we were advised that as it was a flight of two halves we needed to have oranges at half time so we were all served with some nicely peeled sweet oranges. As we passed over Nevada the sun was setting and I could not miss taking a photo of the sunset from my seat. Graham Henry led a very interesting question and answer session which covered everything from - how did your wife and family survive such long periods away travelling with Rugby Teams. He said he had been married for 45 years and he reckons he spent 25 years away from home - he spoke very passionately about his wife, children and grandchildren. He also talked about how he felt at Eden Park when NZ won the cup - he said he was overcome by the passion of the NZ crowd who sustained the team and waited around for hours after the match was over. I see this is mentioned in the Herald article Annette sent me. Dave Dobbyn then sang a few songs and of course one of them had to be Loyal. Probably a nice idea but and planes audio system is not the best way to hear the music. However most of the folk joined in to sing Loyal. When we got to England the plane had to go into a holding pattern as Heathrow was very busy but we finally landed about 11 am. When I saw the immigration queue for non EU passengers decided to pull out my UK passport and had a very swift journey through that channel. They do have smart gate machines in the UK for non residents who hold UK passports but mine was issued before mart gates came along so I went to a rather friendly man who said he planned to support the All Blacks as the English had been knocked out. It took an age for the whole group to get through immigration and it was 1 pm before we left Heathrow in a bus headed for our hotel right opposite the Tower of London. Once into my room it was time for a shower and then off to get a coffee. Tea and Coffee making facilities are not in evidence in UK hotels. My next task is to check the detailed programme I now have and then plot the free days I have. I think I have more on my To Do list than available days but I am sure it will work out.