The G200 Experience

G200 GulfStream Flight to Scotland - 24/09/10

The G200 GulfStream Jet

On Friday the 24th September at 1030am we went to Farnborough Airport and met a very nice man called Peter. He owns a 2010 GulfStream G200 jet and it was his plane that took Dad and I to Edinburgh, Scotland from London. Yes that right, me and Dad. The only other people on board was Peter, the pilot and his Co-Pilot.

The plane is brand new and had had nice leather seats. During takeoff the forces were quite strong, you feel it more than a normal jumbo jet. After take off I was invited to the cockpit and sat in the 3rd seat to watch what was going on.

Spot the Silver Fern

Dad had a good time!

Dad however, sat in the body of the plane talking to Peter while they drank a bottle of French Champagne which Peter said was his favourite one.

My first flying lesson

The Co-Pilot left his seat and I was able to jump in. After a briefing from the pilot and permission given by Air Traffic Control our plane headed in to a military area between Edinburgh and St Andrews. The plane was taken off auto pilot and I had control. I flew the plane and made some turns before moving back to my seat in the body of the plane for landing. The pilot told me that I flew very well and did not make sharp turns. It must be because of my practice on the PS3 controller at home - and the pilot agreed.

Peter & I

Scotland ahead

This is me actually flying the plane. Unlike the Illusion of Madame Tussauds, this is for real.

If you click on this photo it will enlarge and you will be able to see where I had control of the plane by the change in direction of the blue line which indicates the flight path. Still don't believe me then you have to wait till I get home to see the video.

Westminster Abbey - 23/09/10

Westminster Abbey 23/09/10

Last night Dads mother (my Nana) arrived in London on her journey back to NZ from France where she had been visiting her sisters. Instead of going for a massage treatment that had been arranged for her by Uncle Ben & Katrina she decided to come into London with Dad and I. 

Check out his website for Luton Hoo. This is were Nana was to go - http://www.lutonhoo.co.uk/

It looks like a castle and was once owned by the Royal Family.

We went to Westminster Abbey. This is a working church that does not receive any funding from the Government, Council, or Royal Family to operate. It relies on the money paid by tourists that visit daily.

Westminster Abbey

As I walked through the Abbey I had a small radio that told me about the features of the building. It is a special place and no photography is allowed. The building is tall and has lots of vaults. A vault is a tomb where people are buried within. On top of most of the vaults was a carving or model of the person inside. Some had been there for hundreds of years.

They do not allow photographs to be taken inside this building so check it out if you ever go to London.

While we were there there was a 30 minute church service. We went, and whiler there had communion. The priest also said a prayer for me at the request of Dad because of my eye.

Dad and I on steps at the Abbey

During our walk around the area afterwards we came across the famous Police Station, New Scotland Yard.

Me and Nana in Baker Street, Westminster

Shots in the Westminster area

On the way back to Uncle Ben's house we went upstairs at St Pancreas train station. To dads delight he found this bar - but he didn't try anything.

Later that night we all went out for a Thai dinner then Uncle Ben and Katrina drove Dad & I to Farnborough in the south east of London - about 92km from his house but not before some family pics.

Three generations from front to rear

Smile Uncle Ben!

Tennis at Wimbledon 22/09/10

Wimbledon 22/09/10

The entrance to Wimbledon Clubroom

Today dad and I went to Wimbledon. We caught the train and was met by Mr Nick Brown. He drove us in his car and we entered the club from the rear entrance.   For the next hour and a bit we walked around the club and its amazing grounds.

It was a special private tour and you will find out how special soon!  I got to enter the changing rooms where all the worlds greatest players change. I even stood next to the locker used by by Nan-nan’s favourite player, Roger Federer. 

Federer's Locker

The grounds are in an amazing condition. There are teams of maintenance people constantly working away. Nick took me to court 2 and it was amazing to see. In total there are 50 tennis courts and I bet all players would like to play on court 1 but this is reserved for matches like the Wimbledon finals. The club is set on about 33 acres of land and out of 52 weeks of the year is only played about 8 weeks of the year. Two of those weeks are for the Wimbledon tournament.

From #2 Court back to Clubhouse

The rest of the time it is closed for play apart from the hard and clay courts. They can afford to do this because Wimbledon makes the club $160 - 180 million pound. Thats about three hundred and eighty one million New Zealand dollars.

After looking around the three of us sat on the balcony of the clubhouse and had lunch. This area is closed to members of the club during Wimbledon as it becomes a private area for the queen and royal family plus any of their guests. During lunch the general manager of Wimbledon came and introduced himself to me. He gave me a book about Wimbledon 2010. It’s special because it was only released 3 days earlier and would not be in NZ yet.

After lunch Dad and I walked down the winners corridor and through some doors out onto Court 1 where the finals are played. This was special for me because very few people get to go court-side. In fact Nick Brown who is one of the 364 club members has only been there once. He was surprised at being able to take us there but the general manager said it was okay.

The Royal Box

To become a member of Wimbledon you either have to win the competition, represent England or play in the Davis Cup tournament. Nick played in the Davis Cup and is a coach and talent developer for the club and had only been on court 1 once before. He told us that we were very lucky  to be there and that very very few people had the privilege.

Dad took a picture of me on the court and also next to the box where the Royal Family sit. The roof on the number 1 court takes 22 minutes to close as they have to allow the court and area to climatise first or else the grass court will sweat making it no good to play on.

Other highlights of this visit included standing next to the winners trophy cabinet for the Wimbledon competition. These are the actual trophies, the winners receive a smaller trophy to take away. The Woman's one is a plate and there is not much room left on it to engrave names so they will probably make a base to mount it on to provide more space. 

Winners board

Note the name of Nadal already on the board.

Wimbledon Mens Trophy

Wimbledon Woman's Plate

The Winners Media Platform

Nadal sat where I am sitting when he won Wimbeldon 2010 a couple of weeks ago.

Nick Brown and I Courtside at Wimbledon Centre Court

Nick won the British Under-21 championship in 1980 and the national senior singles championship three years later in 1983. He left the professional circuit to coach young British players but returned in 1989 where he caused a sensation at Wimbledon in 1991. Ranked No. 591 in the world at the time, he faced the 10th seed and previous year's semi-finalist Goran Ivanišević in the second round and beat him in four sets 4–6, 6–3, 7–6, 6–3, much to the delight of the British crowd. (He eventually lost in the third round to France's Thierry Champion 7–6, 1–6, 7–5, 6–3.)

Nick was the first Briton to beat a seeded player at Wimbledon since John Lloyd beat Eliot Teltscher in 1985. 

Nick's career-high rankings were World No. 145 in singles and No. 42 in doubles.

Since permanently retiring from competitive tennis, he now coaches and develops up coming players.

Thanks for the tour Nick, I had a great day. Mitch

AND FINALLY THE WINNERS WALK, JUST CLICK THE ARROW

A day of Illusion 21/09/10

Madame Tussauds

On Tuesday the 22nd Dad and I went to Madam Tussauds which is a huge building with many wax statues. It can be found in Baker Street, London or on its website of  http://www.madametussauds.com . Many famous actors, sports people and politicians both good and bad can be found here.

Dad feeling sorry!

Dad had a good time, I did too but Dad knew a lot of the people before I even read the signs. Dad told me that what happens on tour stays on tour. I didnt't respond so I guess I am not bound by it, which is just as well as I caught him flirting and have evidence. As the Pope was visiting England I made Dad go to confession.

A lady asked Dad how much he thought each staue would cost to meke - his guess of $20, 000 pound was only $130,000 pound short of the real figure. So this means $150,000 British Pounds per statue or in NZ money $318,149.

Each statue has a team of 60 people involved in its making which takes a few months to complete. Every night people go right round the building to redo the hair on the statues and ensure they are still in beautiful quality.

If you look closely at them like I was able to do you will see that their skin looks very real even with little blemishes if teh person had tehm in real life. Each famous person that gets a statue made donates some of their own clothes for the statue to wear.

Talking about illusions (or may be Ripleys believe it or not) I am told by the staff at Madame Tussauds that one statue in this building has hair on it and for no reason it grows like real hair so every night they have to keep trimming it.

Millions and millions of people have visited Madame Tussauds since they first opened over 200 years ago and it remains just as popular as it ever was. There are many reasons for this but I believe one of the reasons will be curiosity.

The attraction’s history goes back to the Paris, 1770. It was here that Madame Tussaud learnt to model wax likenesses under the tutelage of her mentor, Dr Philippe Curtius. At the age of 17, she became an art tutor to King Louis XVI’s sister at the Palace Of Versailles and then, during the French Revolution, was hastily forced to prove her allegiance to the feudalistic nobles by making the death masks of executed aristocrats. Madame Tussaud came to Britain in the early 19th century alongside a travelling exhibition of revolutionary relics and effigies of public heroes and rogues. (Thanks to Madam Tussauds website for this info)
Some facts about Madame Tussaud are:
1761: Madame Tussaud is born Marie Grosholtz in Strasbourg.
1777: Marie models the famous author and philosopher, Francois Voltaire. 
1780: Marie becomes art tutor to King Louis XVI’s sister and goes to live at the Royal Court in Versailles 
1789: On the eve of The French Revolution, Marie returns to Paris 
1793: Marie is imprisoned with her mother in the notorious Laforce Prison, Paris. On her release she is forced to prove her allegiance to the Revolution by making death masks of executed nobles and her former employers, the King and Queen. 
1794: The French Revolution ends and Marie inherits Dr Philippe Curtius’ wax exhibition. 1795: Marie marries Francois Tussaud.

While in London we got to go to an A-List party. See who we rubbed shoulders with:

I'll be back says Arnie

Dad sizes up with Hitler

Move over Will Smith
Mitch is in town

I even got to meet some of my football heroes at the A-List party. Here is me with super star Cristiano Ronaldo on the left and David Beckham on the right.

Albert, my tutor for the day

To my teacher at school Mrs Whitehead, Dad has been taking care of my study. I had to have some private lessons while away to ensure I kept up with my studies. Today I learnt about relativity - you earn money then spend it particularly when you travel abroad. Even my tutor agreed.

On the way to England we had to stop in the United States and Dad said he had work to do. He was lucky enough to be invited into the Oval office at the Whitehouse.Dad even got time to chat with President Obama while we stopped in the United States on our way over to England and because I was with him...how could I say no to meeting the most influential and powerful man in the world. 

Later that day Dad let me go out for dinner with a girl I met. Her name is Miley and we had a great time. She taught me some stuff...but thats enough about that. Some things on tour stay on tour.

I got home late that night!

Me & Miley

London Eye

After Madam Tussauds Dad and I headed to the London Eye. We took a taxi to it because my foot is still broken and was hurting. At the London Eye it took us about 5 minutes to get on to the egg shaped capsules. The London Eye is a large ferris wheel and has 32 capsules and is the most popular attraction in London. The ride overlooks London and takes 30 minutes to go right round. Each capsule only travels 26cm per second, or 0.9km (0.6 miles) per hour. This speed mans people can get on and off the wheel without it stopping.

After visitors get off each capsule a team of 3 or 4 staff enter to clean but also check for dangerous items that may have been left behind. I saw them look under the seats in teh capsule with mirrors on a long pole.

On the London Eye we could see Big Ben clock tower, Wembly Football stadium arch, Buckingham Palace and loads more. Dad took quite a few pictures as it was such a nice day.

Towards Parliament buildings and 10 Downing Street

The London Eye behind me

View of Westminster Abbey

The River Thames towards Grenich