London Jan. 18: London-Heathrow

The pilot had told us that we had to taxi across the South runway and sure enough we did. You could see the downed Boeing 777-200ER at the end of the runway as we crossed it.

We paused a bit before going to our gate. Once at the gate, I got a better look at it as well. All the doors were now closed and the slides removed. It also appeared that it was floating about the ground so it may be on jacks now. You could still see the landing gear off to the side near the plane.

I disembarked and made the long walk to the Immigration area. You could still see the airplane from inside the terminal.

Luckily the IRIS system was working so I was able to use it and save about 30 minutes.

I headed for the Customs area and was stopped by Customs; first time ever in the UK. I told him that I don't buy anything duty free as it is more expensive here and he said go ahead.

Once outside, I headed for the Underground; paid 7.00 GBP for a zone 1-6 day pass and boarded the waiting train.