This is my first Trip Report, so please excuse any bits you find tedious, lacking in detail or not to your liking! I also wish to apologise for the lack of on board photos, however a mixture of alcohol, broken camera and not wanting to annoy others worked against me. So, here goes...

After having worked in Afghanistan for the last 6 months I was in need of a good holiday, and my partner who had remained in the UK had also had a particularly stressful time so was also in need of an escape. The BA sale on First and Business class seats worked to our advantage and couldn't have come at a better time! My partner is not keen on flying, and a year ago we went on the Virgin Fear of Flying course to help him; this course was a success, and whilst still anxious before a flight, he can now get on an aeroplane and last the duration of a flight without the panic attacs that had previously occured and prevented him flying for 8 years. However there was still one problem, and that was to date his longest flight had been approx 2 hours on a holiday to Benidorm (yes, I realise an admission of a trip to Benidorm is shocking to many), so a long haul destination would take quite some convincing.
Anyway, in a weak moment (via a Satcom call from Kabul) I struck and suggested Thailand in business class. Some small fibs about the flight duration, the suggestion he drinks lots of wine to think it over combined with lots of "deal of a lifetime" mutterings resulted in getting the go ahead and I booked us a Club World return to Bangkok for £1300 per person.(With approx 4 hours to go before the sale ended!) We decided 10 days in Bangkok may have been too much, so decided on also visiting Aonang (flights to Krabi on Thai).

Skip forward a few months, I was now back from Afghan and very excited about the holiday. My last trip in Club World had been over 10 years earlier when I had been an employee of Go and had received staff travel on BA, so I was keen to try it again.

So, after an uneventful drive to Heathrow, we both pitched up at T3 to start our long awaited holiday. After convincing the other half (from here on in referred to as TOH) that we could get to a bar for some gin to calm his nerves and having chain-smoked numerous cigarettes in the terminal forecourt, we approached the Club World check in to drop our bags (having checked in online 24hrs previously). First impressions of this were not good. The check in area is a dismal hole, devoid of natural light or smiling staff. If when filming The Hobbit a suitable location is required to represent Middle Earth, I would highly recommend the BA T3 check in. The queues were not well managed, and the Club desks were being used for economy passenegrs as the queue guardian couldn't see the CW queue from where she was standing. Upon reaching the desk and having shown the obligatiry ID, we had the bags tagged with Priority tags we were given directions to the lounge.

At this point my plan to hit the lounge early and taste test the BA Galleries Beer, Wine and Spirits collection for freshness was struck a fatal blow, TOH wanted to stay landside for longer to ensure his nicotine levels didn't drop too low before the flight (I had at this point revealed the true flight duration of just over 11 hours). So this we did, and I nursed a few over-priced lagers in one of the many bars whilst TOH was cast outside to emulate a chimney. Having gone into a nicotine overdose TOH was now ready for more nerve calming alcohol and we went through security to the lounge. Security was quick with the small delays being caused by passengers not following instructions (such as take your laptop out of your bag) rather than any staff issue.

Terminal 3 must have lots of late evening departures, as neither of us was prepared for the sheer busyness (is that really a word? It looks wrong on the page) of the place. Not being a fan of crowds; in fact, crowds are fine as long as all the people in them have a sense of purpose and dont dawdle, however all these people were dawdling and appeared to revel in standing mid corridor, stopping abruptly or blocking the way, we decided to hit the lounge.
Well, what can I say to adequaltely describe the T3 Galleries Lounge at 2100 on a Friday evening. The concept of peace, tranquility and a relaxing environment to enjoy a pre-flight beverage was rapidly cast aside as we entered the lounge. It was packed. There were people everywhere. Some had given up on finding a chair and were camping out in available floor space. But, showing determination, grit, olympic spirit and sheer bloody mindedness we were not going to let this beat us and camped out in the reception area with wine, lager and Baileys. Indeed, it is not a good mix, however it has the desired effect of quenching thirst, providing alcohol and cooling one down in an overheated lounge.

Time appeared to fly by and soon enough we were being called to the gate for boarding. With a certain degree of smugness (I'm not normally smug, on this occasion I blame the Baileys) we went down Fast Track and through the gate towards the BA 747 Mid J aircraft. I noticed that the windows were not blanked out, so this beast had not had the new first upgrade, not that I was bothered as we were in CW.

On reaching the doorway we were warmly greeted by the crew and directed towards our seats. We had grabbed 18 E and F so that we could sit together, and TOH was almost childlike in seeing our seats and liked the privacy of the CW layout. Pre-departure champagne was offered and gratefully accepted, and with much twanging of elastic bands around his wrist (a Fear of Flying course suggested coping mechanism) we settled down for the next 11 hours.

And so this is where I will end installment 1. I hope to have the next part online tomorrow at the latest. I apologise for my over punctuation. I appear to be over-fond of the comma. Your comments are welcome, as long as they are nice. When I have fully read the how to post pictures in a thread thread, then I shall post some pictures.

Coming Up:
Part 2 - BA CW LHR - BKK
Part 3 Thai Y BKK - Krabi and return
Part 4 BA CW (OpUp to First) BKK LHR, Concorde room and LHR GLA connection.