So, some might have seen my previous trip-report here, called "Riding on a British Airways Plane, pt. 2". If you havenæt, check it out
I just decided to dig out an old trip-report. Over at the norwegian messageboard Scanair (forum.scanair.no), I always write about my trips, and I always do it while travelling, live, from hotel rooms and airport lounges, hell, sometimes even on my iPhone, onboard an "soon-to-be-cancelled" flight!
This trip-report, started out as what would become my annual "getting-away-on-my-birthday"-trip, a "tradition" that started by me, coincidentally being away on my big day, a couple of years in a row.
After quite a few attemtps of finding someone to go along with me, I ended up deciding to go alone. I seem to remember that this trip was booked less than two weeks before departure, and it all happened kind of spontaniously.
I started my live-report after doing OLCI, simply providing the information that I was going away, on a "bus" (that's airbus), to thr hub og the airline that operated the bus, and the next day, I would continue to somewhere else in First Class! Actually, I travelled in both Economy, Business and First Class on this trip! Off course, people started guessing, but nobody seemed to get it right
. It was however, fun to watch all the guessing.
Anyway, the trip started by me leaving home, on the 23rd of September, 2008. Check in had been done online the day before, and I had seat 10F, onboard a British Airways Airbus 320, carrying the registration G-EUUL, in their economy class, called Euro Traveller. The flights had been booked in economy on the outbound, and Business (Club Europe) on the return, simply because there were no restricted business class ticket available on the outbound flight. Went to the self check-in machine, and printed my boarding pass. Waited in line for a couple of minutes, and was allowed to check in my suitcase. Went smoothly through security, ans headed straight for the gate, and waited there.
Boarding started some 25 minutes before departure, and we were all set to go, and pushed back 5 minute before the scheduled departure time. It was even a whole minute left when we started to taxi towards runway 01L (which is about as far as you can get from gate 50 at OSL). An Avro from Brussel Airlines was allowed to go before us, and dissappeared into the skies, on it's way to BRU. Ou flight crew, made a slightly wiser decision, and decided to wait untill that big 747 on final had landedn (Korean Air Cargo, flies through OSL 4 times a week, and is the only regular 747 there..). After the jumbo had left the runway, we entered it, and took of, made a few turns, and were on our way to LHR.
Well up in the air, a sandwich was served, and I chose chicken, and a coke.. Now the great thing about BA, is that they actually give you free food, even in economy. On their main competitor on the route, SAS, you have to pay for even a glass of water, while on BA, even the vodka is free ^.
We landed, and after a while, I was off the plane.. Walked about a kilometer, and ended up at the UK border, where I was lucky enough to end up behind a passenger who obviusly couldn't "just enter" the UK.. It was a little wait, but at last, it was my turn. The girl looked at my passport, looked at me, and gave me a "Cheers".
Your sincerely in an escalator at LHR T5
Then to baggage claim. I had travelled in economy, and had absolutely no kind of frequent flyer status to qualify for a Priority Tag. Still, the bag was on the belt when I got there . Picked it up, and headed for the Heathrow Express.
The thing about this train, is that it arrives at the platform, then arriving passengers are let of, some HEX-employees, or security guards, or wathever, go through the train, and then people are let onboard.. I was not too sure if I could board or not, but noticed the other people waiting, so I waited as well. The one lady thought she could board, so she did. Then a voice came on, on some kind of PA-system, saying: "Do not board this train!! This train is not ready for Boarding!! If you have boarded the train, please leave the train!!" It was kinda funny to watch, to be honest
Got to Paddington, and tried to navigate to my hotel, which was the Park Inn Hyde Park, found through a Google search, using the keywords "Hotels near Paddington". Now thanks to the GPS on my iPhone, I managed to find it, and got checked in, and was given a room in - the basement!
After a bit of relaxing in my room, I went out, had a nice dinner at Angus Aberdeen Steak House, did some shopping at HMV, before a couple of drinks in the hotel bar, before calling it a day, and went to bed, to relax before my First Class trip the next day..