This is my first trip report, any feedback for improvements welcome.
I had recently finished my MSc conversion course to Building Surveying and after 7 months of hard work (uni is not how I remembered it be) I thought I’d go and visit my auntie who lives in Cyprus who had recently lost her partner.

When I fly out of LHR I try to arrange a visit to the Emirates stadium to watch Arsenal play. As it worked out this would be the last game of the season vs Stoke and I snapped up the Red Level ticket as soon as they went on sale.

MAN-LHR
24th May 2009
Flight No: BA1389
Departure time: 10:00 am
Airbus A321

My mother was also travelling to Cyprus that morning and so we got picked up at 6am by some friends to take us to Manchester T2 where she would depart with Fly Thomson.

Rucksack packed, waiting for lift



T2 was busy at 7:00am



After a quick coffee with my mum I headed over to T3, what I thought would be a quick walk took about 10min. View of the raised walkway connecting T2 to T1 & T3



View from the tunnel, Virign 747-400 and a Monarch.



What I thought was T3 turned out to be a Thomson office.



I had checked in on-line the night before but the BA counters serve both check-in and baggage drop off. T3 was really quiet with no wait to be served.



After security (again, no waiting) I headed to the terminal taking the chance to snap some photos, T1/T3 not too busy.





As I had never travelled in anything but Economy before I was excited to use the BA Galleries lounge at Manchester. The lounge dragon scanned by my boarding pass and checked for my on-ward connection to LCA the next day then welcomed me in. Entrance to the lounge



I settled down in a comfy chair overlooking the runway and grabbed some Breakfast. Coffee and pastries were good. I had a quick look round for some champagne but didn’t see anything other than spirits or beer which I didn’t really fancy at that time of the morning. I then remembered that in BA lounges Champagne is only served on request, I hunted down one of the waiters and nervously asked him for Champagne in anticipation of some sort of “It’s far too early for that sort of drink” response, instead he brought it straight to my table. I grabbed some more food and sat there with a big grin on my face drinking Champagne at 8:00am, just like being a student again!



There was a wide range of magazines and drinks available but the Breakfast selection was limited to Cereal and Pastries, I can understand though as I was one of only 10 people in the lounge at that time. Just before boarding I took some photos of the lounge and some planes waiting for passengers.
Computer terminals



Various seating areas







Food area



Toilet and shower room





I like how you can look down at the rest of the terminal from the lounge



FlyBE



BMI and Ethiad