Seat 2A

Heathrow’s cherished Fast Track service through immigration closes at noon each day. We didn’t arrive until almost 4:00pm. Thankfully, the cabin crew – true professionals that they are – held the teeming masses at bay until the privileged few from the front of the plane were able to safely disembark. Although a couple of power walkers from Club World managed to speed past me during the long walk to immigration, I arrived to an almost empty immigration hall and, since my baggage had been checked through to Sydney, I was soon on my way through customs and into the arrivals hall.

With a five hour layover until my next flight, I had plenty of time to meet up with an old friend from years past. We were dorm mates in a California hostel some ten years ago and have kept in touch since. Keith couldn’t remember exactly where he’d parked his ancient Mazda, so we spent the first twenty minutes wandering about one of Heathrow’s parking garages. Eventually, we motored off to the nearby Sheraton Skyline for a couple of beers. Keith works as a courier delivering packages everywhere from London to Glasgow and somehow he’d gotten this idea that the Sheraton bar was a pretty nice place. It may well have been but since it didn’t open until 6:00pm, we instead settled on what appeared to be a service type bar off the main lobby. There we enjoyed two beers and a tiny bottle of coke for the budget busting price of $25.73. Since I paid the bill with my credit card, I also incurred an additional Foreign Transaction Fee of $0.77. Prior to today, the most I’d ever paid for a single beer was $8.00 which netted me a big glass of Tuborg in the Copenhagen airport. These bottles of Whitbread’s Ale came in at £5.50 each, or slightly more than $11.00 a bottle. I’d like to think I defrayed some of the expenses by snatching a complimentary Time magazine on the way out.

Later, we had dinner at a much more moderately priced restaurant (Just an order of hot wings for me as I still had a First Class feast to look forward to enroute to Bangkok) before I was dropped off in front of Terminal 4 at 8:15pm. Keith has friends in Regina, Saskatchewan and is also a fan of the current champions of the Canadian Football League, the Saskatchewan Rough Riders. We agreed to attempt a rendezvous in Canada perhaps as soon as next year and Keith offered to pay for all beers consumed at the game. Yer on, buddy!