U.S.A here we come

We've waited for what seemed like an eternity but the day is finally here; the day I fly to Phoenix. I can't really comprehend that this phase of my training has finally arrived. It seemed like only a few weeks ago I was standing in the events hall of CTC southampton meeting everyone for the first time.

So only 3 weeks after finishing ground school in Southampton, I arrived at London Heathrow. As my parents were away in Sardinia due to a date conflict ( as CTC changed our flight dates) I was there bit earlier than the other guys as it was the only lift I could get, so naturally after check-in, I went to the airport lounge, grabbed a beer( or 7) and had a massive nerd-fest watching the aircraft on the apron. Bliss.

I'm not going to lie.... it was pretty awesome, as you can see by a few of my photos below.

After a few hours of plane spotting from Heathrow's 'No. 1 lounge' I went to meet my other course mates Henry and Greg at the bar, where we spent our time waiting for our gate to be announced.

Our flight was slightly different than most others who had flown to Phoenix in the past. Instead of the direct flight offered by British Airways, we flew with American Airlines to Charlotte, NC and then caught our connecting flight with US Airways from Charlotte to Phoenix.

<--- Our ride to North Carolina, beaut A330

So after a good long flight, followed by a shorter, yet delayed flight, we had arrived at Phoenix Sky Harbour airport. I'm not sure whether it was the look on our faces, or the muttering of "ohh .... god!" that gave it away, but I don't think any of us were quite ready for just how hot Phoenix is. There's no other way of putting it, other than to say we were hit, no, smacked in the face by a wall of 40ºC heat. 

We were met at the airport by Sherry, one of CTC's Employees, who was going to bring us to our new home for the coming 6 months. Amazingly, she drove us to a Wendy's on the way to Goodyear for something to eat; suffice to say,  it was amazing.

So now I'm sitting on my comfy new bed in my room at Goodyear and that's my story as to how I got here. I can't wait for the sun to come up so I can check out the rest of the area and explore Arizona!