This is my first trip report. I've hugely enjoyed poring over the trip reports on Flyertalk, and it is a pleasure to be able to give sometihing back to the board in producing my first one. This trip report is rather long so I've split it into a number of sections. I hope you will forgive me for going on at length.
This trip was special to me in many ways, not least of all that it was my first trip in F by right. A few years back I was the lucky recipient of an op-up, and while it was hugely enjoyable experience I'm sure you agree that it's just not the same. This time around I was also badly in need of a holiday so I decided to treat myself.
BA F finally came within reach in the BA sale in March 2009. Before the sale I was considering J or WT+ outbound and F return, but the sale allowed me to do both legs in F with some change left over - I guess good things do indeed come to those who wait!
Something I hadn't considered was the two month wait in between my booking and the actual date of my flight - this was simply torture over the 60 day period. I downloaded a nifty bit of software that displayed the days, hours, minutes and seconds left until the flight - this helped tremendously and indeed time seemed to accelerate once the T-7 milestone was reached.
I put the information in the Ultimate BA guide to good use, combined with recommendations from Seatguru and SeatExpert and decided that seat 2A was the best choice. It was refreshing to be able to choose my seat from day one, though of course seats 1A and 1K were not available to me as a Blue. However the popular opinion is that seats 2A and 2K are the best seats on the 777
Furthermore I know from experience that the left side of the aircraft gives the best view on approach into BGI, so 2A seemed the logical choice. Perhaps a number of my fellow travellers had similar thoughts as seats 3A and 4A were taken.
I usually take the green route of taking the train to Gatwick airport. Unfortunately the new taxi service for F does not yet include Gatwick
hint hint... 
As I was travelling with slightly more luggage than usual I decided to spend the night at the Gatwick Hilton. As this hotel is connected directly to the South Terminal it meant that I could stroll over at my leisure to the check-in desk on the morning of my flight, with the option of breakfasting in the hotel.
Things went somewhat awry with the Hilton's reservation system as on the morning of my stay I attempted to retrieve my booking online, and got a message that the reservation could not be retrieved due to a name mismatch. I then went in using the last 4 digits of my credit card and discovered that the reservation was now in someone else's name! I rang Hilton customer services, who appeared as puzzled as I was. They eventually managed to sort this out.
Later that evening after I'd checked into my room, a friend who lives near Gatwick passed by and collected me, and I had dinner and a few beers with him and his wife. The anticipation of the flight was really getting to me and I contrived to lose both my hotel key cards. After several minutes of fruitless searching at the end of the evening my friend dropped me off at the Hotel. Just after I entered my room, having obtained replacement cards from reception, I realised that I'd left my camera at my friend's place. I'm usually much more organized than this and I knew then the excitement of the imminent trip was affecting me far more than I cared to admit.
The next morning I made my way to the Hotel's lounge for breakfast. My room rate included a continental breakfast in the lounge which includes Internet facilities. The lounge receptionist checked my reservation and advised me that my room rate meant that I was also entitled to a full English breakfast in the Hotel's main restaurant. Happy days!
I had the light continental breakfast in the lounge then wandered over the Internet PCs to check-in. The good news was that MMB showed that I was still in seat 2A. The bad news was that the online check-in would not work for my booking. It threw up a message along the lines “
Online check-in failed – please check the status of your booking”
I was already slightly jittery with excitement over the trip, and given the earlier problem with my Hilton reservation I'm sure you appreciate that this cryptic message in no way helped my frame of mind. I had visions of being denied boarding due to my booking being accidentally cancelled by a computer or human error. I pulled myself together and made my way down to the Hotel's main restaurant where I indulged in a full buffet breakfast. This left me about an hour to indulge in the in-room jacuzzi while watching a breakfast show on the bathroom TV. Very nice indeed!
I checked out of the hotel and leisurely made my way through the short connecting tunnel to Gatwick's South terminal, where I took the transit train to the North terminal. As I exited the transit train I realised that I could not find my Ipod. This led to me unlocking and rifling through my luggage in increasing panic as my Ipod has about 1400 songs and a lot of other important information stored. I had just about despondently resigned myself to returning to the Hotel when I found the elusive Ipod stuffed into one of the hidden pockets in my laptop bag. Phew!
I repacked and locked my luggage and made my way up to the Departure level. My friend had left my camera at the F check-in desk on his way to work earlier that morning. The departures level was uncharacteristically quiet without the usual queues at the fast bag drop areas. I made my way over to the First Check-in desk. Both check-in positions were occupied but the agent at the adjacent Club Europe desk immediately motioned me over, so there was no wait. Check-in was painless and shortly thereafter I was in possession of a crisp 2A boarding pass with fast track sticker.
As the standard security entrance was immediately ahead with no queue, I went through this rather than expending additional effort in walking over to the equally empty fast track entrance. Security was quick and painless though I was lucky enough to be selected for an additional scan of my shoes. Somehow this incredible luck never seems to extend to my lottery tickets
I went directly to the FC lounge after stocking up on air sickness medication and taking my periodic dose of a nasal decongestant. More on that later. The lounge dragons at the reception were actually quite nice and certainly didn't look like dragons at all. Having taken stock of the F lounge I found I preferred the Terraces which are larger with a more relaxed atmosphere and a much better view. As I'd previously enjoyed an hour long jacuzzi session and 2 breakfasts at the Hilton I had no need for snacks or a shower. Instead I headed over to the bar and helped myself to a large brandy snifter and poured a stiff shot of Remy Martin XO. This worked wonders in calming my pre-trip jitters. The brandy was so nice that I could not resist pouring myself a second stiff shot
Time flew by quickly and it was shortly time to head for the gate. The flight was boarding from gate 54 which as it happens is the closest gate to the lounge. I grabbed a newspaper and bid the lounge receptionists goodbye. I decided to try the famous CIP staircase rather than wait for the lift. I got totally confused and went past the departure level (which was only 1 floor down) and was eventually rescued by a janitor as I was heading deep into the bowels of the basement. I blame this squarely on my over indulgence in Remy Martin XO.
A couple minutes later I was at the departure gate. The flight seemed absolutely crammed and the holding area was standing room only. The gate agent wished me a great flight and advised me to position myself near the far end of the holding area as the premium passengers would be boarded first.
We were advised there would be a 15 minute delay in boarding due to a minor technical problem. Sure enough about 15 minutes later an announcement was made that boarding would be done by row numbers due to the flight being very full. At that point premium passengers and EC gold and silvers were invited to board. I usually tend to hang back but this time around I grabbed my stuff and joined a flock of premium passengers in a mini-stampede down the ramp towards the airbridge to avoid the large queue that was sure to build at the aircraft door. At the bottom of the ramp I came across a vantage point giving a spectacular view of the aircraft. The aircraft enthusiast in me could not pass this opportunity up and I paused there for a couple of minutes admiring the aircraft .
This worthwhile diversion meant of course that I was at the back of a long queue up to the aircraft door. The flight attendants were very efficient and it was only 5 or minutes before I was almost at the door. The rate of increase of my excitement level and heart rate was at that point inversely proportional to the distance remaining to the aircraft door and before I knew it I was there. My adventure almost ended tragically there and then as I almost knocked myself out cold on the top edge of the door. We all shared a laugh as I somewhat sheepishly handed my boarding pass to the door attendant whose eyes lit up. He turned and motioned another FA over "
Could you please show Mr Pb3 to his seat?". That little touch really did it for me
I was shown to my seat by a nice FA who inquired as to my choice of pre-flight drink once I'd settled in. Now I'm normally not a champagne drinker, but due to the nature of the occasion I made an exception and asked for a glass. A glass of Pol Roger 1999 swiftly appeared along with a small dish of Macadamia nuts.
I took this opportunity to glance around the cabin. I noticed to my horror that seats 4A and 3A were taken by a party with an infant. Sombre scenarios all involving my upcoming F experience being completely ruined by a bawling baby began to play themselves out in my mind. Thankfully I realised that salvation lay at hand in specialist countermeasures that I'd brought along. More on these later.
Continuing my look around the cabin, seat 2K was occupied and at a slightly later point 3K. As the cabin was quite empty both 4A and I took turns at trying seat 1A and we both decided against it - in my case because it had only 2 windows and therefore less natural lighting than 2A. For a few moments I had a tantalizing view of the cockpit instrumentation and the Gatwick pier through the front windscreens of the aircraft as the cockpit door was not yet closed.
An FA passed by and greeted me and presented me with an amenity kit and the menus. The CSD visited shortly thereafter and introduced herself. A few minutes later a passing FA noticed that the level of my glass of champagne had fallen dangerously low and offered a refill. I certainly could not refuse!
Shortly thereafter the airbridge retracted – I had a lovely view of this from my seat - and pushback commenced. The taxi was very short and within 5 minutes we were lined up for takeoff. The take-off roll was powerful and seemed extremely short given the aircraft was almost fully loaded. I made a mental note to select seat 4A for my return as it has an absolutely wonderful view of the huge GE90 engine on the port side.
Trip report - LGW to Barbados (BGI) - BA 777 F
I should mention that I suffer from two major problems which have the potential to mar my flying experience. First I have some type of inner ear problem that means awful agony during descent and loss of around 30-40% hearing (and further pain) for up to 3 days after the flight. Taking a nasal decongestant periodically during the 48 hour period before the flight usually avoids this. 
I stopped chewing and did the mental calculations as to whether I could reach the toilet in time or whether I would need the sick bag. I closed my eyes and time seem to stand still for a few long moments while I silently fought my inner demons. The feeling of nausea gradually ebbed away and I knew then that I was over the worst 
