matthandy

QF A380 Banking over Singapore

A Quick Trip Home, a week in the UK, SYD to LHR on the QF A380

Pre-amble

This trip report is a follow up to my previous flight which took me from my home in the UK to Sydney for the next couple of years. It was quite an emotional journey and one that actually lead me to take this quick hop back to the UK in January.

The previous report can be found here:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...747-400-a.html

Index of my other reports:

- Nov 2010: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...el-qantas.html
- Sep 2010: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...747-400-a.html
- May 2010: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...-business.html
- March 2010: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...a-wedding.html
- February 2010: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...eb-2010-a.html
- Nov–Dec 2009: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...y-pacific.html
- Feb 2009: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...d-lhr-jfk.html
- Nov 2008: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...rld-777-a.html
- Oct 2008: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...747-400-a.html
- Sept 2008 - My first TR: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...lub-world.html

This report features the following:

- Qantas A380 in Economy and Premium Economy
- The BA/QF First Class Lounge in Singapore
- A week in the UK, including:The photographs included in this report were taken by myself alone, using a Nikon D300 Digital SLR with an 18-200mm Nikon Lens and the somewhat ‘hit and miss’ camera on my iPhone 4.


Routing

- Sydney (SYD) T1 to London Heathrow T3 (LHR) with a stop over in Singapore: Qantas (QF), Economy (Y) A380
- London Heathrow T3 (LHR) to Sydney T1 (SYD) with a stop over in Singapore: Qantas (QF), Economy (Y) and Premium Economy (W), A380


Background

If any of you have read my last international trip report you will know that I actually, for the next few years at least, now live in Sydney, Australia, having moved over here from my home, the UK in September 2010. That was a difficult journey for me, leaving my friends and family behind and trying to set up a new life in a different country many thousands of miles away from home. I know that I am not alone with that.

I’d managed to get myself settled into an apartment and was thinking about how to spend the Christmas shut down period (in Australia many businesses close over Christmas and New Year, with staff expected to take holiday). I thought about going to New Zealand, or maybe up to Queensland. In the end I had the crazy idea of going home to the UK for a week. Apart from the long flying time, I couldn’t see any real reason why this wouldn’t be possible.

My Christmas period was a bit packed. My Mum now lives in Perth and I had promised to spend a few days with her between Christmas and New Year as well as wanting to spend my first New Year’s Eve in Sydney. So, on Boxing day morning I flew to Perth, landed back in Sydney on the evening of the 30th, spent all day waiting for the fireworks and then on the afternoon of New Year’s Day I flew to the UK. It was a pretty hectic few days! A trip report for Perth is pending.

Booking

Booking took place using Qantas.com.au and was made mid-October 2010. Even though this was still several weeks prior to departure and post Christmas and New Year the flights were very expensive, at $3000 (£1875) for a return economy ticket. The ‘standard’ price is about $1700-2000 (£1050 - £1250). This is seemingly much more expensive than the same route ex. London. I don’t know why, perhaps it is just the poor exchange rate at the moment.

The Day of the Flight

Like many Sydneysiders I’d spent the previous day (New Year’s Eve) attached to a piece of grass along the harbour somewhere, waiting for the fireworks at midnight. As it happens, my friends and I managed to find a pretty good spot in Lavender Bay which was only a short walk from my apartment so I was able to return there periodically for refreshment.

The fireworks were pretty spectacular but it didn’t really feel like New Year’s Eve, there was no music, no party and drink was limited (we had to keep hiding it each time the Police came around checking). I think that next year I will simply chance it, and head down about an hour before, rather than spending the whole day in one spot.


2010/2011 Sydney Fireworks

And so, after saying good bye to my friends from my apartment at 3am I slept and was up again at 9 trying to get everything ready for my trip. I deliberately packed a very light suitcase so that I could fill it up with stuff from the UK. I checked in online and was pleased to see that the seat I had chosen was still allocated to me (51K).

I’d planned to be at the airport for about 3pm (the flight was scheduled to depart at 5.30) so at 2.20 I dragged my bags out into the beautiful sunny Sydney weather and boarded the train. I remember feeling a bit nervous about the whole thing and thinking that I must be somewhat mad to leave this beautiful city behind and head back to a cold and wet UK.


Sydney to London via Singapore on the Qantas A380 in Economy

Flight: QF031
Carrier: Qantas
Aircraft: Airbus A380
Scheduled Departure time: 17.30
Duration: 22h 20m (flying time)
Scheduled Arrival time: 06:20 (local)
Routing: Sydney T1 - London Heathrow (LHR) T3
Class: Economy
Seat: 51K – Bulkhead (seat plan)

I arrived at the international terminal (Terminal 1) at Sydney’s Kingsford Smith airport and proceeded to the Qantas Business desks located at Zone D. Although I was travelling in Economy, my Oneworld status allows me to check in at the business desks, avoiding the often long queues for economy. The airport did not seem particularly busy, after all, who wants to travel on New Year’s day?

The friendly agent checked me in and asked if I had visited the lounge before and knew where it was. I have only ever had positive check in experiences with Qantas at the business desks, they are always friendly and efficient. Not quite the same can be said for their UK staff.

With boarding pass in hand (still sadly for economy) I headed towards the departure area, passing through immigration first (of course). Australia has a long winded arrivals and departures process. I think that if I had to travel internationally for work on a regular basis it would slowly drive me mad.

Anyway after handing in my departure card I was very quickly through security and out into the large duty free area. Since my last visit, the terminal has undergone a bit of a make over and I certainly don’t recognise the main departure area any more.


Main departure area

I was feeling hungry at this point and didn’t want to chance the food in the lounge so headed over to Maccas (McDonalds) for a quick burger, ultimately unsatisfying but it would cover me for the next couple of hours at least.

Even if you don’t like the food, McDonalds has fantastic views of the apron and I was able to spot a couple of BA birds that we’d be following to London, one via Singapore, the other via Bangkok.


Hello! See you in London

It is quite incredible when you think about the amount of traffic heading to London at this time of day. There are two Qantas flights, QF31 and QF1 as well as two BA flights, that’s about 1500 people bouncing their way to London within a couple of hours of each other. In addition a Singapore A380 leaves around the same time, where passengers can connect to the London flight within a couple of hours. There’s also Virgin via Hong Kong as well as various other connection options with other airlines.

As I was pondering this, a Malaysian 747-400 was pushing back and I was able to get a great view of this beautiful bird. One day I will sit at the front of you.


Still prettier than the whale

After my snack I decided to have a quick look around before heading to the lounge. Opposite McDonalds was one of Australia’s worst exports, ‘The Wiggles’.


God save us

I checked the departures board and decided to trundle off to the gate area to try and get a close up look of the big bird before departure. Unfortunately, the gate was closed off, not in a normal manner, but with physical barriers that stopped anyone going towards gates 8,9 and 10 (I believe it was). I found this a little weird, but still, I was soon to discover that the aircraft wasn’t even at the gate yet anyway, so it all seemed a little irrelevant.

I made my way up to the lounge concourse, getting a good view of a Qantas 747 along the way and noticed that my aircraft was being slowly towed towards the gate area.


Escalators to the Qantas Lounge Complex


Overview of the departure area from the lounge concourse

I made my way down the corridor to the Business lounge to find the two reception ladies having a right old chat. So much so that the lady ‘serving’ me barely looked at me while taking my boarding pass and didn’t utter a single word to me, she was more interested in her inane conversation with her colleague. Not a very friendly welcome and I’ve certainly had much, much better with Qantas before.

I find the lounge to be not particularly busy, but busy enough that all of the good seats are taken. I make my way to the right hand side of the lounge which seems to be a bit quieter, near the computer/work area. As I’ve said before, I don’t really care for this lounge. As a home base lounge it lacks any atmosphere, the décor is nothing special and I really detest the ‘long and thin’ configuration, it makes the place feel rather cramped. I much prefer other offerings in Qantas’ lounge network, particularly the new lounge in Hong Kong or the expansive Business lounge in Singapore. The Sydney lounge needs a refresh in my opinion.

However, there did seem to be a few little upgrades and changes here and there. For a start, the champagne has been changed to Moët et Chandon, the main table area has been converted into a dining area with an a la carte menu and waiter service, several place settings were laid out although I didn’t catch the menu. Additionally, there seemed to be a better selection of general food on offer although perhaps I am biased because they had scones, cream and jam available at the time I was there (my favourite).

I dumped my stuff on one of the benches near the computer area, facing the window then proceeded to snap a few shots, before I raised any suspicion.


Mini food and drink area near the computers


Main food and drink area in the middle of the lounge


Small seating area near the lounge entrance


Dining area, with waiter service

As I sat, the Qantas A380 came into full view as it was pulled towards the gate area. She looks so beautiful in her Qantas colours with the bright red tail and simple white paint job. Unfortunately, however, the views from the lounge were rubbish. I have been reliably informed that the views from the First Class lounge are much better since it sits on top of the Business lounge and therefore has an elevated view of the apron and the city beyond.

The aircraft operating QF31 to Singapore and London is VH-OQE which was delivered to Qantas just over a year ago. It is certainly the youngest QF A380 that I’ve flown on to date.


Here she comes


On her way to gate 9

At this point I was a little bit bored, a little bit nervous and apprehensive about the long flight. To calm myself I decided to have a glass of champagne. It was about this time that I noticed the rather eccentric (or drunk) lady who was sitting at the computer next to me.
I can only guess that this was her first time in a lounge as she was on the phone to someone exclaiming about all of the wonderful things that they have ‘here’. She was initially funny to listen to, but very quickly became tiresome. Something that did amuse me though:

Her: “ooh they have champagne”, “hang on”
She goes off to pour herself a glass of Moët et Chandon with phone firmly pressed to her ear
Her: “yes, yes, it’s lovely and it’s ‘moo-ee’ too!”

Tut. And so the curse of popular mispronunciation continues. I could have forgiven ‘mo-ay’, but not ‘moo-ee’, that’s just getting silly .

More info:

http://lucire.com/2002/0530ll0.shtml

In fairness to her, she wasn’t being loud, so she gets points for that. You meet allsorts I suppose.

Well, 16.45 arrives and it should be boarding time, but no announcement is made. A SQ A380 passes over head, on her way to Singapore.


SQ A380 bound for SIN

17.00 comes, no announcement. This isn’t looking good. A few minutes later a PA is made to say that the flight will be delayed by an hour, with a new departure time of 18.30, no reason is given. All the while I notice that the tail of the QF A380 is moving back and forth periodically, I wonder if there are rudder issues.

At 18.10 the boarding announcement is made and everyone heads out of the lounge. We all head down to gate 9 where the closed off area remains closed off but with a guard checking boarding passes, only allowing eligible passengers through. I’ve never seen this before, although I had not flown on the QF A380 from Sydney up until this point.

The gate area was packed and it was clear that the lounge agent had been a little overzealous in announcing boarding quite when he did. Boarding had not started and already large queues formed for the standard and premium boarding lines. After 15 minutes, boarding was announced and there was a surge forward. This is precisely why lounge announcements should be timid so that passengers can arrive at the gate ‘at their leisure’.

This was to be my third sector on a QF A380, and my seventh A380 flight overall having previously flown with Singapore Airlines and Emirates.


Packed gate area prior to boarding

My boarding pass was hastily checked and I was directed to the B door. There is an odd railing arrangement at this gate, with passengers kept physically separated depending on which door they need to use. A is for First, B for economy, C for Business and Premium.

I was one of the first economy passengers to board and was welcomed at the door the very friendly CSM (silver tie or neck scarf, CSS has a bronze tie/neck scarf). She welcomed me on board and wished me a happy new year which was a nice touch.

My seat was located at the very front of economy, in the red cabin, on the K side of the aircraft, 51K. The leg room was fantastic and it looked as though I would be able to extricate myself from the seat without disturbing my neighbours, always a huge bonus.

Before stowing my bag I removed my essential items, phone, iPad, headphones, ear plugs and eye mask.


My seat for the next 22 hours, 51K


A view into the economy cabin behind me

Upon sitting down I was able to appreciate the seat. It felt reasonably comfortable, possibly slightly wider than my flight a few days ago on the 767 from Perth. The leg room was better than premium economy and I later discovered that I was able to extend my legs fully, placing my feet against the bulkhead. You can’t often say that in Economy.

matthandy

Ample leg room


A view over the huge wing and those RR engines

It should be noted that 51K is a bassinet position so there was always the risk that I’d end up with a screaming child right in front of me. Luckily, that did not happen and I was shortly joined by a slightly bemused English couple. Apparently, they were unsure as to how or why they had been allocated these seats as opposed to standard seats further back in the cabin. I suggested that they should just enjoy the extra leg room. I of course had specifically booked this seat.

The very nice lady CSM welcomes everyone on board over the PA system and advises that those with an in-seat screen can start using the IFE straight away.

At 18.45 the Captain welcomes us and explains the delay. Apparently the cooling system for the cabin was playing up. He advised that we would be pushing back very shortly and at 18.50, an hour and 20 minutes late, we did.

We had quite a long taxi out to the end of the runway past Botany Bay where a number of people were waving to us from boats and the beach. That was quite a nice touch and made me think about what the ‘good old days’ of aviation might have been like.

The engines were bought up to full power, although it really didn’t feel like it and we quietly and effortlessly left Sydney, bound for Singapore.


Climbing out over Sydney

After only a few minutes the seat belt sign was switched off and the Captain again addressed us over the PA to announce the route and flying time (7 hours). He mentioned that we should be able to make up some of the time by increasing our speed.

Water bottles and menus were handed out shortly after and I decided to take a look at the IFE. I’d been missing UK TV so was looking forward to catching a few episodes of something good on board. I was slightly disappointed not to find ‘The Hotel Inspector’ which had been my staple on my SIN to SYD leg in September. Not to worry, they had plenty to keep me occupied including ‘Undercover Boss USA’, ‘James May’s Toy Stories’ and ‘Family Guy’.


Large, 10” touch screen IFE

I decided to watch some episodes of ‘Undercover Boss’ whilst waiting for dinner. Although this has been changed slightly (jazzed up) from the original UK version it was still good.

Here is the economy menu for the flight:



Sitting at the front of the economy the cart arrived at our row first. I chose the chicken and as I had decided to try and stay up for this sector, a coke. The meal tray was exactly the same as is served on the longer domestic routes which to me indicates the high standard of the Qantas domestic product.


Stir fried chicken

The food was actually of really good quality and very tasty. I pretty much cleared the tray. One thing that I can say about Qantas Economy is that the food is consistently good in both choice and quality. The trays were collected about 45 minutes later, which isn’t too bad. Shortly after, this ice cream was offered. Ex-London this is a Mars Ice Cream but as this was an ex-Sydney flight we were offered something less satisfying, a Weis Mango Bar.


Ice cream bar

The mood lighting was dimmed and most people settled down to get some sleep. It was about 10pm Sydney time at this point. As I was staying up I settled into some more of James May’s Toy Stories. I really do love this programme. He attempts to perfom some amazing engineering feats using nothing but much loved toys. I watched all five episodes back to back. They really should commission another series.


Watching a documentary about relocating a steam engine from South Africa to Glasgow, with my feet up

I had a quick peek out of the window and noticed that there were frequent bursts of lightning inside the clouds, it was really beautiful and mesmerising to watch.

At about 21.30 Singapore time (00.30 Sydney time) the lights were turned on and it was time for the ‘refreshment’. This consisted of a toasted sandwich which was served warm along with chocolate and another drinks round. I have developed a bit of a taste for Tim-Tams. I concede now, they are better than Penguins!


Toasted roll and chocolate

The trays were cleared away and the CSM then made an announcement for anyone that was expecting to make a connecting flight from Singapore. The basic gist of it was, you’ve all missed your flights, but don’t worry you are coming with us to London. Not sure what the reaction was but I manage people can’t have been too happy, having to make an additional connection to reach their destinations in Europe.
The expected new departure time was to be 00.50.

The Captain came on at 22.45 announcing that we had started our descent and would expect to land at about 23.15. I packed everything away and sure enough we had a rather bouncy landing at quarter past eleven Singapore time. As we had left the runway, the BA 747 that I’d spotted in Sydney was climbing out, on the final leg to London.

We were quickly on stand at gate C23, which is a blessing as it is one of the closer gates to the lounges. The airbridges were attached and I was soon off the aircraft racing towards the lounge for the coveted shower.


On stand in Singapore

Verdict

A pretty easy flight in economy, helped by the excellent IFE, the amount of personal space that 51K offers, the good food and the friendly crew. It was not a bad start to the journey at all.

matthandy

Upon arriving at the Business lounge (with a small bunch of followers) it was apparent that it was closed and no-one was to be seen. The few that had gathered were a little unsure of what to do. I saw a lady walking near the desk so tapped on the glass, she directed me towards the First lounge, and so on we went.

A quick dash down the corridor to the First lounge and it was clear that there were already quite a few people inside. I thought that there might be some hassle given that I wasn’t technically allowed in the lounge given that I only hold Oneworld Sapphire status (Business Class) however I was quickly waved in and dashed left straight to the showers. Luckily, these didn’t seem too busy and I was able to have a reasonable shower although I did find the water pressure somewhat lacking.


One of the First Class shower rooms

However, I soon felt a bit more refreshed and relaxed so ventured out to the main lounge area. Having never been in this lounge or indeed any First class lounge before I was a bit underwhelmed. I was expecting contemporary décor such as is the Business lounge however the First class lounge seemed more dated in design to me. It was also very small and was rather busy given that all of the premium passengers and those with status were in this lounge at the same time.

I managed to find a seat and then wandered off to find some bubbles. It didn’t take me long to find the bottle of Joseph Perrier Premier Cru hiding in the small bar area at the front of the lounge. I also took a Sprite as I needed something refreshing.


My glass of Champagne

It wasn’t really clear when boarding would start, and there were no screens in the lounge. In my opinion, that makes things worse, not better. I’d rather have the option of checking the screen myself than having to rely on an announcement that I might end up missing.

Boarding started at about 00.20 local time, with an announcement made in the lounge, which I did hear, as I was listening out for it, however there wasn’t a huge rush down to the gate.

Security screening took place at the gate and by the time I got there, it seemed like many people had already boarded.

Verdict

I actually much prefer the Business lounge in Singapore, the décor is more to my liking and it is less hemmed in, you also get views of the check in area so at least you can look out of the window, even if it is only into the terminal below. Still, it was nice to be able to have a shower and I certainly felt refreshed which is probably more than I can say for those passengers that did not have lounge access.

As luck would have it, I ended up in the First class lounge again on the return segment with the experience being a little more civilised.

Moomba

Ah you have finally come to your senses.

Nice report Matt. You make Y seem almost bearable... Nah!

Genius1

+1 ^

Excellent trip report, great pics, well-written - what more can I add?! Looking forward to the next part.

Rejuvenated

Thoroughly enjoyed reading through this report! The photos shots are also excellent! ^

N830MH

Wow!! What a fabulous TR!! I'm glad you have a great flight and I loves to eat Chinese foods. It was absolutely so delicious! Maybe I rather to eat the dinners for next time.

Please keep'em coming to write more TR for your next segment from SIN-LHR.

matthandy

Leg 2 – Singapore to London

And so, here we go again. I was quickly through security and then down the airbridge and welcomed onboard by the new CSM. London based crew operate most of the London segments for the Kangeroo flights including Singapore and Hong Kong. I believe that at the moment, a Sydney based crew operates QF1 via Bangkok all the way to London.

I was back in my seat, 51K having re-stowed my bag, hoping again that I would be fortunate enough not to have to endure the presence of a baby in the bassinet in front of me. On my seat was an amenity kit of sorts. The bean counters have been hard at work with the relatively large bag filled only with a toothbrush, toothpaste and an eye mask. Lucky that had I bought my own amenities.

Soon after, my prayers are answered when a rather grumpy looking (perhaps tired) man sits in the H seat, leaving the J seat free between us. So not only do I have a seat with almost the most leg room in Economy, I also have a seat free next to me. Moomba, certainly not ‘bearable’ but better than I could have expected.

Not many photos on this sector, as you can imagine, it’s a totally dark flight.


The view from my window

At 00.55 we push back, the Captain announces a long flying time of 13 hours and 45 minutes, one of the longest flights of my life, sigh. The crew perform the safety demonstration as we taxi out to the runway. We must have been one of the, if not the last flight of the day. We pass gate after gate of empty, darkened planes, waiting for the morning’s activities.

We take off very smoothly at 01.10, an hour and 10 minutes behind schedule. At this point its 04.10 Sydney time and surprisingly I wasn’t feeling too tired, my plan to stay up seemed to be working.

I got started on the IFE whilst the crew prepared for dinner. This time it was ‘How to Build a Submarine’ following the construction of one the UK’s new nuclear submarines in Barrow. I noted that they also had a programme on the build of Rolls Royce engines for the 787 I believe. Pretty ironic given the recent issues with RR and QF.

About an hour after take off dinner is served. Here are the choices:



I chose the fish for my supper. Again, it was actually really good and very tasty. The starter wasn’t bad, a little bit Indian actually. Top marks to Qantas for the excellent quality food.


Fish supper

The trays were collected reasonably quickly by the lovely London based crew that we had serving in the cabin today. Hot chocolate was offered for which I declined as I wanted to try and get some sleep.

Shortly afterwards the crew came through the cabin handing out the ‘Snack on Q’ bags. These are quite substantial little kits with all sorts of snacks to keep you going until breakfast. Additionally, there are snacks and drinks laid out in the self-serve bar areas at the back of each economy cabin. From memory, the bag contained an apple, chocolates, crisps, a water bottle and a good selection of mints.

I unpacked the standard economy static laden blanket and tried to get comfortable. One thing, whilst QF provide a very substantial, cosy cotton lined pillow I actually find that it is too big to be useful, covering the entire width of the seat. I guess I’m not easily pleased.

Trying to get some sleep on this flight was difficult. My cunning plan to try to adjust to UK time straight away was based on the simple principle that I would be able to sleep on the 2nd sector. This just wasn’t really happening though, perhaps I wasn’t tired enough although I rarely sleep properly on planes, even when in fully flat business class. I can count the occasions where this has happened on one hand with fingers to spare.

After a few hours of tossing and turning, I conceded, watched some more of the IFE and then tried to sleep again. I noticed that while there were no screaming kids in the cabin there were screeching ones. To be fair, they were just making the kinds of noises that kids make, but the parents were totally oblivious to the fact that their ‘little darlings’ were making a right old racket, not even my ear plugs could block them out.

And so after many hours of dosing, the lights of the cabin were illuminated (approx 2 hours prior to landing) and breakfast was prepared.

Looking at the menu, the choices seemed to suggest that you could have the continental breakfast as well as the hot breakfast, given that the hot breakfast came with pretty much everything that the continental one did. Despite my snacking, I was quite hungry so went for the hot breakfast. My expectations weren’t that high as economy breakfasts are normally some kind of egg based thing with bits in.


Hot breakfast - Omelette

My expectations were beaten. The omelette was excellent and no weird bits to be found, just simple cheese. The sausages and potatoes were also pretty good and of reasonable quality. Breakfast overall was pretty satisfying.

The Captain announced that we had 40 minutes to land and that we were currently flying over Amsterdam. He thanked us for choosing Qantas and hoped that we enjoyed flying on the A380.

We had an excellent view as we approach Heathrow, flying right over the West End, with the Regent Street Christmas lights, The Eye and Piccadilly Circus all visible. I was home!

We land at about 06.50am, after a pretty rapid descent and little or no stacking. We were only about 30 minutes behind schedule at this point, having made up time in the air. As we taxied off the runway I happened to notice the very same BA 747 that we’d followed from Sydney and Singapore turning in front of us.

We park up on the apron but don’t make our way to a gate. Great, here we go. The last thing that I wanted was to be stuck on the ground for ages. The Captain came over the PA a few minutes later to say that our stand was occupied. I could see an Emirates 777, a QF A380 (a rarity, I’ve never seen two at LHR before at the same time) and an SQ A380. I thought that perhaps the Emirates flight was occupying an A380 gate but that didn’t seem to be the case as shortly after our sister plane was pushed back (presumably off to storage to serve as QF10 in the evening or even QF32 later in the day).

We were on stand at 7.20, so only a 30 minute delay on the ground. The doors were quickly opened and I was able to exit the aircraft pretty promptly given the location of 51K at the front of the cabin.

I felt pretty tired at this point, mostly due to lack of sleep. I could feel my eye sockets beginning to ache. I thought that staying up all day would be pretty difficult.

There was a long snaking queue at immigration, it felt like being at Disney World, without the themed décor. T3 is a total mess right now, with stuff hanging from the ceiling and tat everywhere. Immigration was quick, for me, the lady next to me wasn’t having much luck as it seemed as though, not only was she in the wrong queue (EU and UK passports) her work visa didn’t allow her to bring in her partner. Oh dear, that was going to be a tough conversation!

I was at the carrousel at 7.45 and phoned my friend to see where he was. The bags weren’t coming out too quickly and I waited 20 minutes before mine appeared. Customs was quick although it was so busy everyone seemed to walk through like one big snake.

I stopped off at the duty free to pick up a nice present for my friend, who was collecting me but some fools had decided that they were going to wait for their mates in the shop, with their trolleys and lots of bags blocking the aisles. It was pretty annoying and the staff were getting irate trying to move them on.

I made my way outside and back to the departures drop off area. Damn it’s cold! It was about 2 degrees at that time in the morning. I delved into my suitcase to find my winter coat and gloves.

My friend arrived shortly and I was soon on my way to Kent.

Verdict

As these flights go, it wasn’t too bad. I have definitely had worse. I got lucky with my seat and the fact that no-one was sitting next to me. The food again was pretty good and the crew were friendly. The IFE saved the day again though, I think that without the extensive collection, passing 22 hours would have been difficult.

Still to come

My time in the UK including Sunday lunch at a country pub, a night with friends drinking lots of nice champagne, a visit to Concorde and a weekend drive of the 5 litre supercharged V8 Jaguar XKR.

ThatJohn

Loving this TR. Fantastic job, and looking forward to reading the rest of it ^

ek&sq

Good TR as usual ^ Btw, the BA 744 you saw was probably the SIN service (BA 12), the 744 from SYD flies to LHR via BKK, and the 772 via SIN

Andriyko

Fantastic TR! Thanks.^

matthandy

I do try, but I can't fool anyone!

Thank you, ahh, that makes sense. The BA 747 was G-CIVC which has the 'Oneworld' livery, that's how I know that it was the same aircraft when I saw it at Heathrow. I must have seen the BA12 744 in SIN as you say.

Thank you everyone else for your great comments. I do enjoy the feedback.

Next part coming up within ther next couple of hours.

matthandy

8 Days in the UK

I’ve included links to all of the places that I visited during my time at the UK. Feel free to click away and find out a bit more about where I went.

Day 1 - Sunday

My time in the UK was limited to just over a week, arriving Sunday morning and leaving on the following Monday morning. However, I’d arranged a full itinerary of activities to ensure that I was able to catch up with all of my friends and family as well as have some fun too.

My friend and I drove back to Kent from Heathrow, stopping off to get some fuel. I was welcomed by my friend’s girlfriend and was quickly ushered inside as it was pretty cold out. It was nice to catch up although I was really flaking at this point. It was only 10.30 in the morning but I hadn’t really slept for the past 36 hours or so. Ever the host, my friend’s girlfriend just said “Don’t be polite, why don’t you catch some sleep for a couple of hours”, I gladly accepted

I set the alarm on my iPhone for 2 hours later, which would give me enough time to get up, have a shower and then head out for Sunday lunch. Well, this was one of the day’s where Apple caused chaos in the world by ensuring that no-one’s alarm would actually go off at the set time. 4 hours later and I wake up and check the time and utter a rude word. Apparently my friend had been banging on the door trying to wake me up but I was totally out like a light. You could have landed an A380 in their garden and I wouldn’t have noticed. Rather embarrassingly, my friends had arranged lunch at a local restaurant but had to cancel it as I missed the allotted time, they then tried another one, and yet another one so all in all I missed three bookings. Whoops!

I got up, and skulked downstairs, rather sheepishly. Not to worry, we decided just to head out to a local pub instead. We ended up at the Farriers Arms in Mersham. This is a great, contemporary country pub that does excellent food and has a large garden and patio which is great in summer.

The pub has a bit of a story. It was bought by the locals about 18 months ago after the previous owner pulled out:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10272951

As we entered the pub, I don’t know why but a wave of sickness hit me and I had to go running off to the toilet. Luckily, I was ok within a few minutes and after a drink and some food I felt so much better. Perhaps it was the jet lag, I don’t know.

Most of the day was already gone (that’s what happens when you get up at 2.30pm!) but we simply spent the time catching up before ordering in an Indian takeaway (which was excellent) and watching some TV. I’d been missing UK TV a lot, everything in Australia is either American drama like CSI, or game shows or shock tactic ‘current affairs’ programmes. Frankly, it’s all rubbish. The only channel that I watch now and again is SBS because they have some decent documentaries, or 7mate because it has Air Crash Investigation and the A-Team! I long for BBC One, BBC Two and Channel 4 (you can keep ITV ).

We watched an episode of Come Fly With Me which of course I hadn’t seen before. It’s a mix of Little Britain and Airport and it seems as though at least one of the characters has been directly parodied. I really enjoyed it and can thoroughly recommend it. I would say that the guys have definitely done their research, you can see some of the characters at Heathrow when you pass through!

Then it was off to bed to get some much needed rest.

Day 2 - Monday

I bloody hate jet lag. 4am and I’m awake, I don’t even bother to try to get back to sleep, I can tell that I’m done, better just to make the most of the free time. iPad at the ready and it’s time to burn through my mates wifi with BBC iPlayer. Afterall, I have 4 months of TV to catch up on! I won’t tell you what I watched, for fear of embarrassment….

Anyway, I heard my friends start to get up so popped my head around the door. I hate that feeling when you are a guest in someone’s house but don’t get up when they do. I had a quick shower and a bit of breakfast and then we headed to another friend’s place.

I’d already pre-planned Monday. We were to meet up with some more friends at their place and walk to a local pub, across some countryside, well we had to earn our lunch, didn’t we. Luckily it wasn’t too cold as we set out and after trudging through what seemed like a foot of mud we arrived at Loose, a pretty village south of Maidstone in Kent.


Walking towards the pub, with friends

Our destination, The Chequers Inn, is a traditional country pub which is a favourite with walkers. It has stone floors and traditional furniture and décor. It’s always busy on a Sunday and it’s usually difficult to get a table. Although this was a Monday, it was a bank holiday and therefore was just as busy as Sunday. We’d booked a week or so earlier though and we were soon shown to our table.

The menu was pretty extensive which lots of traditional favourites. I was toying between Bangers and Mash or the Ham and Eggs. I went for this:


Mmmm, yummy

It was great, with the mash just perfect, not too runny.

We all then decided to have a pudding, and I was craving for sticky toffee pudding, or treacle sponge (drowned in custard) but sadly they had neither, disgraceful! I settled on a chocolate cake, it was good, but not as good as the other would have been.

So then, it was an hour’s walk back to my friend’s house where we ended up settling in for the evening with a bottle of wine or two. It is these simple pleasures that I miss. Sitting with my friends on a cold winters night enjoying a nice bottle of wine and conversation.


Walking back

It was great that I got to introduce one set of friends to the other. It’s funny, they even asked me afterwards if it would be ok to see my friends again. Stupid English manners. Of course, I was delighted that they wanted to meet up.

Back to the house and we spent an hour or so working out what to do the following day as I’d intentionally not planned anything. My friend’s girlfriend was starting back at work on Tuesday (a school teacher) so she wouldn’t be joining us although we’d drop her off at school in the morning.

We eventually settled on going to Brooklands in Surrey, to visit Mercedes World and the Brooklands museum.

Day 3 - Tuesday

So we were up early so that we could drop off my friend’s girlfriend. We arrived at Brooklands about 10am. I’d never been before so I wasn’t sure what to expect. Mercedes World is a large complex which acts as a museum and an exhibit as well as a test track. We parked up and went inside to see if we could book a driving experience, there was a shiny new SLS parked inside, a beautiful machine.

We enquired, but everything was booked up for the whole day. To be honest, I wasn’t actually that bothered, as I wasn’t willing to spend £400 on 3 hours on the reasonably small track.

Anyway, that left us with the Brooklands museum. I didn’t really know what to expect. My friend had visited before and thoroughly enjoyed it. He’d mentioned Concorde the previous night, but I had no concept of how interesting the experience would be.


Fire Equipment at Brooklands

Brooklands is dedicated to aviation and motoring, being site of the world’s first purpose built motorsport venue. The track has now, sadly, mostly been demolished, although sections remain and they were actually used in the Scalextric episode of James May’s Toy Stories which I had watched on the plane.

My interest however was the aviation based exhibits. I’d never really been to an aviation museum before, not one that had life size exhibits anyway.

We got our tickets from the very friendly man on reception and then proceeded out onto the ‘apron’.

First up was the BAC One Eleven 475 which was built in 1965. It was donated to Brooklands in 1994. I knew nothing about this British aircraft but loved the fact that you got to enter via the stairs at the rear, rather novel. The guys onboard were really helpful and very chatty. There were a number of items on display including a number of ‘black box’ devices charting the history of their use and development.


Rear stairs on the BAC 1-11


The cabin, very spacious

Unlike today’s airlines, the leg room was huge! It looked very comfortable.

Next up, passing by Concorde was a Vickers VC-10 that belonged to Sultan of Oman before it was retired in 1987. It still bears it’s original cabin. To me, this was a great treat, to visit an aircraft that was used by a private individual.


The Vickers VC-10


Boarding

Wow, this was an impressive aircraft. We were greeted upon boarding by one of the volunteers who showed as around. The front cabin was a lounge area, with seating specifically designed for the Sultan. Moving along was a substantial/palatial bathroom that was a close rival to the Emirates A380 Shower Suite although no shower was present. Then it was on to bedroom, which again took up almost the whole width of the aircraft. Further back was a more modest seating area for staff and the like followed by the rear section which had the galley and a number of toilets.


Main seating area


Staff seating


The bathrooms and galley, baggage hold access is through the door in the bathroom

We made our way back up to the cockpit and were invited to sit down. It was huge and occupied the whole front of the aircraft from door 1 forwards. It was more spacious than an A380 cockpit that is for sure.

The volunteer really knew his stuff and engaged in a good conversation about the engines, being able to take off when other aircraft couldn’t due to their design. I asked about whether there was a manual crank for the landing gear in the cockpit. He said no, but took us down the back to show us some of the features not normally on display.


The cockpit

He produced a long metal tube from one of the overhead lockers which turned out to be a telescope. There were various hatches in the floor where the telescope could be attached so that the crew could observe the state of the undercarriage. I also asked about access to the baggage hold. This was possible through the rear most toilet, through a door and then a hatch in the floor at the back.

I really enjoyed this aircraft and it was great talking to people that had both a huge interest in and knowledge about the aircraft.

Lastly, before Concorde, we visited the Vickers 806 Viscount which was a turboprop aircraft built at Brooklands.


The Vickers 806 Viscount

It was quite small inside, but looked pretty comfortable. Apparently this aircraft would be used for island hopping and the like.

On board, welcoming visitors turned out to be a retired 747 engineer who used to work at BA as well as a retired 737 pilot, also from BA. My friend has done a bit of flying so we had a long conversation about the 737.


The cabin

Next up was a visit to the hangar where I was able to sit in the cockpit of a Harrier. It was so very cramped and claustrophobic!


Harrier cockpit

matthandy

Soon, it was time for us to board Concorde so we made our way over to this magnificent bird. She really is a sight to behold, smaller than I had imagined though.


Approaching Concorde

The beauty of Brooklands is that it is so hands on. We were able to walk around Concorde, touch her, stare up in the landing gear, view her from every angle. It was great and allowed one to really appreciate this amazing piece of machinery.


Landing gear and intakes


The famous droop nose


Her tail

The Concorde ‘flight’ starts in one of the old BA passenger buses with our guide explaining a bit about the history of Concorde, some facts and then about this Concorde in particular, G-BBDG. This bird was one of the development aircraft and made a number of test flights between 1974 and 1981. It then pretty much ended up being a spare parts bin for BA before it was being sent to Brooklands in 2004 for restoration.

We then boarded, through what would have been the cargo hold, a small section at the rear of the aircraft. Concorde has no storage under the main cabin unlike many other passenger aircraft.


Boarding

The rear of the aircraft is an exhibit, dedicated to the life of Concorde with displays and videos about it’s history. After watching a brief video we were invited to move forward, to find a history of the cabin, with seats from the first days of flight through to it’s retirement in 2003.

In the forward cabin we were invited to sit down. This was a real honour! The leg room was surprisingly good and the seats were very comfortable, much more so than the QF A380 Economy seat that’s for sure.


The forward cabin


Leg room

We were then taken on a ‘simulated flight’ which involved a video presentation by Mike Bannister, talking us through a take off, short flight and then landing with the accompanying sounds. I can only imagine what the real thing would have been like. It must have been such an honour.

After the simulation, we were invited up to take a look at the cockpit before making our way into the adjacent building where the flight simulator was stored.


Cockpit

We were able to see inside the original simulator (which had been removed from it’s hydraulic jacks) with a demonstration flight taking place. It looked pretty realistic and I can only imagine what the modern day simulators must be like.

Verdict

The trip to Brooklands was truly wonderful and I would recommend it to everyone and anyone. It really was a highlight of my whole trip to the UK and I thank my friend for that. Being able to board and sit on Concorde was just amazing and I believe that any aviation enthusiast should jump at the chance to do the same.

Coming Up

The rest of my time in the UK (including the Jag) and my flight back to Sydney.

matthandy

Day 4 - Wednesday

As my friend was going back to work on Wednesday I’d decided to use some Marriott points to stay at a local hotel on the Tuesday night as this gave me flexibility in the morning.

After a pretty good night’s sleep (some jet leg not withstanding) I was in the mood for a full breakfast.

I pretty much had the restaurant to myself for breakfast. This must have been the post Christmas lull, or maybe it was just the case that everyone had already gone to work by the time I went down.

In typical Marriott fashion, the options on offer were extensive, from a full selection of continental offerings, including cereals, breads, cheeses, meats and pastries. I started with some cereal and then moved onto the good stuff, a full English.


Mmmm

After that, I checked out, left my bags at the hotel and then went into the local town where I had some shopping to do. I wanted to pick up a few English things to take back with me to Australia, mostly chocolate, crisps and biscuits.

Then it was time to head to Reigate to see my friends, the same friends that I had met up with in Singapore on my flight over to Sydney to September. It was great to be able to see them again. Little did I know that we had a great evening in store.

I arrived at about 5 and we decided to stay in for the evening and cook. They are big wine fans with lots of nice bottles on the rack, so we decided to stick some in the fridge and make a night of it!

They surprised me with two little treats. One, they had bought a bottle of Veuve Clicquot Rose to say thank you for the bottle of Dom Perignon 2002 that I had bought them late last year to say thanks for everything they had done for me. Well, the naughty buggers had saved it so that I could enjoy it with them! Both were put into the fridge to have later in the evening.

We started off with a reasonable Californian Chardonnay then moved on to a bottle of Prosceco which had been selected and brought back from Italy on a recent trip. Dinner preparations were in progress so we popped the Veuve which was nicely chilled by now.


Veuve Cliquot NV Rose

It was excellent. I’d never had the Rose variety before. VC is my favourite NV champagne although I’ve never had it onboard an aircraft before. Emirates do have it in their London lounge though.

Dinner was served, a home made Indian curry with rice, again, as it always with my friends, it was really good.

Then it was time for desert. We all washed our palettes with water to remove any of the curry flavour as we didn’t want to spoil the taste of the Dom.

I carefully opened the bottle and poured it out between us. It had a noticeably darker colour then NV champagne that I had tasted before.


Dom Perignon 2002

This was the most expensive Champagne that I had ever tasted, and it was definitely a notch above anything before it. Between three of us we were able to manage a couple of glasses each. It was divine. When I get the opportunity to travel First Class (I have some plans in the works) I’ll definitely be taking them up on the vintage Champagne!

Next up, desert was served, a cheesecake and I opened up a bottle of Sandalfords Botrytis Semillion which I had purchased from the cellar door in Perth and bought over to the UK with me as a present for my friends. It went very well with the cheesecake.

Well, that finished up the evening, where we’d go through about £185 worth of wine between three of us. Not bad!

Day 5 - Thursday

Thursday was a pretty miserable day weather wise. We all stirred at about 10 and tucked into home made bread and jam for breakfast. My friends do know how to look after me.

We decided to go for a quick walk around Reigate Hill, which I’m sure is beautiful in summer, but on this cold and wet winter’s morning it was less appealing. Still it was nice to get out for some fresh air.

It was then time for me to say my goodbyes and head into London for the evening’s plans.

The train journey was full of kid’s returning home after school. I could never go back to school!

I arrived in London and took the tube (my Oyster card still worked) to Swiss Cottage and checked into the Marriott Regent’s Park which is a modest but modern and comfortable hotel located, surprisingly, near Regent’s park. I used to stay there for work so it was nice to be somewhere familiar.

As I hold Platinum status with Marriott I was upgraded to an Executive room on the 5th floor with a balcony (although it was too cold to make use of) overlooking Swiss Cottage. It would be a very comfortable place to stay for the night.

I then headed into central London where I had arranged to meet up with friends and ex-colleagues at a pub local to my old office, on Haymarket. A great evening was had although everyone seemed to be a bit down. Perhaps it was the post Christmas blues, the economy or just the weather. Still, it was nice to see everyone again.

The night ended at a reasonable time, before the tube stopped running anyway and so it was back to the hotel and to bed.

Day 6 - Friday

Morning and it’s time for breakfast. I made my way to the Executive lounge on the 6th floor and relieved them of a hot breakfast (my 2nd full English of the trip). Then it was back to Haymarket to meet up with a friend for lunch before excitedly making my way to pick up my hire car.

Now there is a bit of a story to this. I wasn’t sure how I was going to get to the airport from my Dad’s place on Monday morning, as he would be at work so I thought about hiring a car. As this was a quick trip, I thought that I might treat myself and hire something a bit special. I’d previously owned an Audi TT in the UK so I decided that it would be great to drive one again. I owned the diesel model, which was no slouch, but I’d always wanted to try out the TTS, the turbo-charged petrol version. This model is able to sprint from 0-62 mph (0-100 kph) in just over 5 seconds, a car the likes of which I had never driven before. I made the booking earlier in the week with Avis Prestige and a few hours later it was confirmed by an email from a friendly agent at Avis. However, a couple of days later I received a phone call to say that the TTS was broken and it was looking unlikely that it would be available for Friday . They offered an alternative of an Audi A5 2.7 TDI but this simply was not comparable in terms of performance. I pushed them to come up with another alternative and the next morning I got an email saying that they would be able to offer the Jaguar XKR! To put this in perspective, the XKR is close to super car territory. It has a super-charged 5.0L V8 engine producing 510 BHP, with a 0-60 time of 4.6 seconds. It was a beast!

So I made my way to the Avis centre in Kensington to collect the car. The man there talked me through everything, including the £1500 excess should I prang it and then showed me the car. My bags had already been placed in the boot. He explained to me that I should take it easy at first, as being supercharged, the power was available at pretty much all revs and speeds and should I put my foot down I was likely to lose traction on the rear wheels. He demonstrated the power available by whacking his foot down on the accelerator while in park. The car uttered a deep growl and a pop. What a machine!!

And so, I climbed in, made myself comfortable and then drove out of London towards West Sussex, where my Dad lives. Along the A3, there is a section that goes from a 50 limit to 70 and it was at this point that I was able to put my foot down properly for the first time. The car just roared and I was thrown back in my seat. There was so much power it was scary.

Here are some photos, taken on the Sussex Downs:


The Jaguar XKR 5.0L Supercharged V8







I parked up at Dad’s and then phoned up a mate of mine to go for a spin. It was funny hearing people’s reaction when I put my foot down. In most cases, however, when it was wet, the car wobbled and the traction control kicked in as it was difficult to get all of that power down unless the surface conditions were dry.

The interior was also great, with large, comfortable leather seats which were fully electronically controlled, a heated steering wheel and a B&W stereo system. This was really was a grand tourer, and I should think so given the £80k+ price tag.

Friday night was spent at my old local, with some mates.

Day 7 - Saturday

I’d arranged to meet up with another couple of mates on Saturday, so that took up most of the day. There isn’t really much else to report.

Day 8 – Sunday – My Last Full Day

Sunday was to be the designated ‘Christmas Day’ where my family and I would have a Christmas style dinner at my Dad’s place and give presents which had been saved up for the occasion.

In the morning I met up with some family members, and gave them a spin in the car. I took my 82 year old Grandad out. I found a suitable stretch of road and gave him good warning before flooring it. He was shocked and kept saying ‘Corr bloody hell!’. Haha, I think he enjoyed it. He said to me that it was the fastest car he had ever been in during his entire life.

I was also able to take my Dad out and he used less family friendly words to describe the experience.

This was my third day with the car and I was starting to realise that this kind of car was, not only incredibly expensive to buy and run (it drank petrol, with only about 20 mpg registering on the trip computer) it was the kind of car that could very easily get you into trouble. It gave you the feeling of being the fastest thing on the road. Nothing ‘normal’ could touch it and that would give the driver great (false) confidence. Also, the power made the car relentless, it would almost jolt as you had to take your foot off the accelerator, it just wanted to go and go and go. I don’t think that I would ever own a car like this, I’d be too certain of losing my licence.

Sunday evening was great. My Dad’s partner had prepared dinner in her usual fashion. We even had crackers. It was really nice to have the feeling of a family Christmas, compared to the good, but strange Christmas Day that I had experienced in Sydney the week before.

We rounded off the evening with a few drinks and then I went upstairs to pack everything up and prepare for the morning as I had to leave the house at 6am in order to get to LHR to drop off the car and check in for my flight.

Verdict

Overall it was a great few days. I was able to see everyone that I wanted to and just enjoyed meeting up with friends and doing normal things, like nights in with dinner and wine. I thoroughly enjoyed all of the traditional food, especially the breakfasts! Hiring the Jag was also a great experience, a real treat.