Boarding was perfectly timed, and walked straight onto the airbridge, and boarded to turn left and claim my seat - 1K. Pyjamas were available virtually instantly, so given the cabin was pretty quiet, I sloped off to change immediately, and put my clothes away. All very civilised. Tamsin had esconced herself on the foot stool and was happy at her own special seatbelt, even if it didn't quite reach, and we had to tie her tail to it.

I found the amount of storage space around the seat for stuff a bit disappointing. I'm kind of used to the upstairs on 744s, where you get the at-seat-no-need-to-get-up storage. OTOH, it's still better than further back on the plane. Champagne was served, and was pretty drinkable.

Amenity kits were already on the seats - yes, VS have downgraded them, as with many things flying, it was only slightly better than the ones I used to get in CX Y when I first started flying LH 12 years ago Socks, shoe bag, eye mask, toothbrush and toothpaste... where's the moisturiser, the lipsalve, the pen etc etc etc?

Bottles of water, and menus were handed around, crew introduced themselves (the crew were fabulous throughout the flight, very friendly and warm and they loved Tamsin), and they collected clothing, jackets etc. Flight time was announced at 7.5 hours (which really isn't long for an overnight flight), and we pushed back and took off, pretty much on schedule.

Dinner was served pretty promptly - with such a short flight time, I'm sure I wasn't the only person keen to eat (even though I'd eaten in the lounge, so I wasn't too hungry) and get my head down.

Starters:
Smoked halibut, salmon and marinated prawn with radish and shiso cress and balsamic lemon dressing.
Cauliflower and herb soup with vegetable crisps
Anardana tikka and chilli fish with date and tamarind chutney

Warm breads:
white sesame roll, white roll with olive oil, rosemary, black pepper and onion or garlic baguette

Mains:
Fennel and mushroom risotto with paprika and garlic-roasted chicken, red pesto and truffle oil
Seared cod with tomato served with green beans, new potatoes and pimento sauce
Chicken saagwala with lentil daal, spicy cauliflower and pulau rice
Paneer pasanda (a delicately flavoured dish made with Indian cheese) with lentil daal, tempered vegetables and paluo rice (spelling inconsistencies are VS' )

Cheese - yes there was some. I'm not typing out the blurb.

Dessert
Chocolate and orange torte
Rasmalai - a traditional Indian dessert

I went with the smoked fish starter. Crew was apologetic about the size of the serving, but it was actually very nice - hard to go wrong with it and tasty. Bread was offered a couple of times.

Mains, nothing enthused, so I went with the cod. It wasn't great - overcooked and quite dry. Potatoes were the best bit

I declined dessert, as I wanted to sleep, so the crew offered to make up my bed while I went off to the toilet. By the time I got back, bed was magically made up, looked very tempting, and I feel asleep pretty quickly, with more than 5 hours of the flight to go.

I never sleep through on a flight (well, very rarely), and this was no exception. At the same time, I found the bed comfortable to sleep in... it wasn't so narrow I couldn't get into a semi-fetal position, and had no problems getting sleep. Which was probably as well, since the IFE seemed a little bit ropey.

I woke up as we crossed out of Afghanistan into Pakistan. I was a bit unhappy at missing the mountains - but sleep important too! You could see some of the floods in Pakistan from the air - but you were also curiously detached from them. The scenery about an hour out from Delhi is pretty spectacular though.


The cabin started to wake up, and crew offering breakfast to those that wanted. I did.

Breakfast:
Selection of breakfast cereals
Citrus fruit salad with organic yoghurt
Hot toast with butter and your choice of jam
Croissants with butter and your choice of jam
Blueberry griddle cake and berry compote
Lamb sausage sandwich made on a soft wholemeal roll with ketchup or brown sauce.
Cooked breakfast of cheddar cheese omelette, sauteed mushrooms, hash browns, baked beans and grilled tomato half.

I really couldn't see beyond the griddle cakes - they were very nice, and I probably could have had two servings - terribly, terribly moreish

We arrived early into Delhi. The one area the crew were not great at was returning hung jackets - pax were having to check all the different wardrobes to find them themselves

For those who haven't been, Delhi's new Terminal 3 opened only a few months ago, and works terribly impressively. While the carpets are shockingly 1970s Indian restaurant, you are sped to immigration, where there is a dedicated first/business line. In fact, they were being so efficient, I'd to step out of line as my landing card was not quite complete... but stamped into India, and off to baggage reclaim, where my bag was already on the belt Through the tempting shops, to customs, where you hand in your slip from the landing card, and in 20 minutes from disembarking I was meeting my friend at the arrivals door in Delhi.

For the next 10 days, we travelled around India, flew Kingfisher and Jet, visited Bangalore and Goa airports, and stayed in some awesome hotels. Then we returned to Delhi, and with a bulging case, I readied myself for the return flight... (and if anyone wants more details on India, happy to discuss by PM!).