Hello all,
Welcome to my second trip report, this time charting my trip to the UK to Australia for some diving and cricket.
Given the amount of time I’ll have sitting around in lounges, I thought I’d make this a semi-live offering, so this part is being written from the Cathay Pacific lounge in Heathrow Terminal 3. With any luck the next will be being written in one of the Cathay lounges at Hong Kong in about 16 hours, then the Hilton in Cairns, etc etc. But anyway, I digress.
A bit of background to start with and an explanation of the title for those of you who have no idea what “The Ashes” is . It’s a series of cricket matches played between England and Australia every couple of years for the right to win a little urn allegedly containing the burnt ashes of a bail / veil / bat or whichever legend you believe. Whatever the history, there is no doubt that it is an intensely fought contest and in the past nearly led to a breakdown in diplomatic relations between the two countries during the 1930’s. Anyway, enough of this rambling – if this has piqued your interest, feel free to read the excellent summary on Wikipedia which will also bring you bang up to date with the current series (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ashes ).
This is my third trip to Australia for the Ashes and I’ve yet to see England win there, but have seen that happen in the UK twice in the last five years. This time it’s on Cathay (previously BA and Qantas) and this trip’s been some time in the planning. Flights and accommodation were actually booked back in May just to ensure I could do everything I wanted, including diving on a specific boat (Spirit of Freedom) on the Barrier Reef. I’ve booked on Cathay, not to bang on the miles, but because they’re the only airline that fly straight into Cairns, my first stop, from London with only one stop. There are numerous options for this particular trip, but ultimately one-stop in Hong Kong proved decisive. Providing we’re on time (and at the moment, all looking good), the 6 hour layover affords me time to nip into HK and meet with some friends for a drink and some food – a nice way to break the journey.
So on to the journey itself – well, this leg is CX254, scheduled to leave at 22.05. Originally slated as a 747, I’d booked myself a nice Upper Deck seat, but a couple of months back the plane was changed to a 777-300 and my seat allocation to 16K, which according to Seat Guru is one of those great window seats, with no window….. A quick check on the Cathay site showed the plane was pretty full, with no available window seats in Business. Fortunately when I did the on-line check in yesterday a few window seats had opened up so I've dropped myself into 24K. I like my window.....
Hammersmith to Heathrow Terminal 3, Piccadilly Line
So, starting out from West London earlier this evening, I jumped on the tube in Hammersmith for the 30 minute journey to Heathrow. There are numerous ways to get to Heathrow from my home, but on a Friday night, with crap weather, the week before Christmas anything involving the road would have been seriously slow! There was a major dump of snow on LOndon earlier today, so best to safe than sorry. The long-suffering, who flies out on Tuesday (she's not a fan of diving) took me off to the tube at 6.30 and 45 minutes later, the tube arrived at Heathrow. As always trying to get onto a tube with a suitcase in the middle of rush hour presents its own special challenges and encourages quite a lot of moaning and griping from my fellow passengers.
But I bear it all with good grace knowing I will shortly be winging my way to the sunshine of the southern hemisphere!
Check-In
As mentioned, I'd checked in already on-line, alhtough the Business line and bag drop queue was very short anyway. But as for the rest of check-in, well, carnage! Turns out one of the earlier flights had been cancelled and the knock-on's pretty major.
Cathay are offering £500 to change to tomorrow, but with the weather looking bad overnight here, I suspect there won't be many voluntary takers. I off course declined.... So formalities out of the way and confirmation that my bags were heading straight through to Cairns, off through Security. Bearing in mind the time of year, carnage again. Screaming kids, crying adults, harrased security guards, I was grateful for the sancturary of Fast-track, which for once at Heathrow actually did move pretty quickly.
Quick Shop
And then into the carnage of duty-free! The new layout in the terminal forces you through the main shop before you can get out to the lounges and guaranteed I'd be breaking straight out!
Lounge
This is a relatively new lounge apparently, and I have to say it's excellent.
We're tucked away one floor up on a corner of the terminal. Although it's dark outside we get a good view of the apron and have just seen a Cathay 747 heading off. Good food selection and I'm tucking into some nice noodles from the signature Cathay noodle bar. All in all a nice environment, with comfy seats and plenty of room. The first section's tucked around the corner, and I'm sure that's even lovelier!
The Cathay Seat
At this point I’m rather intrigued by just how bad this Cathay Business seat will be – the recent announcement that they’re changing their product suggests the forum posters might not have been inaccurate in their assessments. I’m not averse to the herringbone seat and like the Virgin product, but their seat is wider and the flippable mattress is very good indeed. Last year’s jaunt on SAA showed they had an excellent seat, but the traditional layout leaves you feeling slightly hemmed in if you’re by the window and on BA, unless you’re in 64k or a, I really don’t like their seat and layout at all. But, for reasons unknown to myself, my favourite remains the Thai offering. Not lie-flat, hemmed in by the window, and yet I sleep like a log! But, let’s see; perhaps Cathay’s unloved seat can win me over for my one and only trip.
Anyway, that’s it for now – although boarding has yet to start, some e-mails to finish off and then onwards. Tune in soon for the next update!
Rob