The Journey Home
Sun, 18 Dec 16.
Time to go home
We checked out at 1100, and relaxed in one of the hotel’s Lounges and Terraces until 1445 when we wandered back to Reception. And there was our driver, who had already loaded our cases into his BMW. We were on the road at 1450, and reached the airport at 1530.
CPT-LGW, BA2064, B777-200, G-YMMC (48J)
CW seats 11A/B
A short walk from kerbside to the BA desks in Departures (Desk #s in the mid-30s, and clearly signed), where we exercised our BAEC Gold privileges and headed for the First desk. There we encountered a mournful, unsmiling and dour agent who tagged our bags through to JER, and handed us our BPs for both sectors. From there is was but a few steps to the barriers for entering Security (International on the left, Domestic on the right) which was clearly visible from the Departures area. The queue only took 5 minutes of so to navigate, screening was quick and easy [or, indeed, perfunctory] and was followed by a couple of minutes waiting for Immigration to ensure we were leaving the country. And there we were, in the International Departures area, with the usual collection of shops and Duty-Free sales.
A quick explore of the International Gates area [about 400 yards long] revealed the BA Lounge at the far end, and a Smoking Lounge down one floor at the end we entered … huzzah! A bit of light retail, including some DF cigarettes at R365/200, was followed by a visit to the Smoking Lounge. Now I know this will be of minimal interest to most of you, but for those of us cursed with the addiction it’s important! Not only does it have plenty of seating, it has effective air conditioning, numerous power points and [incredibly] a
Bar! It also has a view over the Arrivals area.
Our needs satisfied, we returned to the Gate area and headed for the BA Lounge … which was very nice! A good range of cold and hot food, and a predictably decent Wine selection, and power/USB points in profusion.
Boarding started at 1825 at Gate A3, with a proper barrier area on the right for Priority pax. We followed the solitary wheelchair pax and were quickly installed in 11A/B, relieved to find that it was indeed the proper aircraft as per booking! The sight of a rather active toddler in 11E had us slightly nervous, although it transpired that the little one slept most of the way … at least, we never heard a sound from it.
The PDB was served and consumed, although iWife’s glass was collected before she’d even finished it! Having pushed back at 1908, we enjoyed a manual safety demo, as the IFE wasn’t performing properly [oh, dear, here we go, BA strikes again], and were safely airborne at 1922. At this point iWife discovered her IFE screen wouldn’t stay in the deployed position, whilst my screen kept opening the side menu and wouldn’t actually let me select any entertainment items. The CSD performed some wedge-engineering with a wad of cardboard at 11A, and I just picked up my Kindle in 11B and forgot about IFE altogether. On a positive note, at this stage one of the CC firmly closed and buttoned down the curtain separating WT+ from CW … excellent, I wasn’t wanting a continuous stream of WT+ pax wandering past my seat all night, heading for
our toilets!
On the first drinks run, iWife asked for a glass of the Brut Rosé, only to be told “It’s not on the trolley, we’re getting it chilled.” It transpired that the bar trolleys had been left on board in the sun all day, with the inevitable consequences. Oh, well, this is BA after all
We watched the sun setting as we climbed to high altitude, and after iWife had cleaned the greasy fingerprints off the window with a splash of my Vodka, I was able to take a ‘pretty photo’.
Time for Dinner, BA-style, which was actually rather better than usual.
Starter … Smoked Tuna Carpaccio, and rather nice.
Main … I went for the pan-fried Namibian hake fillet, which was also very nice, and allowed me to avoid another BA dead steak!
I also checked up on the state of the Club Kitchen, which seemed quite well stocked.
And then I grabbed a few hours sleep, successfully, before being woken at 0300 (is that GMT now?) for breakfast. A cold platter sufficed, as there would be more breakfasts to come today.
Mon 19 Dec 16
It’s dark outside, and undoubtedly colder than I’ve become used to lately, as we land gently at 0440. The aircraft parks somewhere with an airbridge, and off we wander along LGW’s windowless passageways, to arrive at the UK Border at 0500. Which is deserted, except for the 2 pax in front of us who walked slightly faster than us. A Tensa barrier is unclipped, several e-passport gates are open and working, and there we are … land-side in UK again! A quick cigarette or two outside in the cold and dark, then back up to Departures, where we breeze through Premium Gatwick Security with no hold-up at all. The rest of Security seems to be heaving, even at this early hour, and when we enter the main Terminal area it’s packed already … thank heavens for Lounges! We reach the BA Desk at No 1 just after 0600, to be advised that The Clubrooms isn’t open yet - and so slump in The Library. We shall survive, it’s only an hour until the last leg!
LGW-JER, BA2770, A319, G-DBCD [yes, again, the tatty Dove 
]
CE seats 2A/C
0700 … head for gate 45L and at 0710 hop on the bus. A short tour of the back end of LGW gets us on board at 0718, where we wait for the stragglers on the next bus. And then at 0745 the Captain speaks, saying that there are a couple of No-Show pax, and their bags are being extracted from the hold. How do people manage to do that? Eventually we push back at 0800, trundle round the airport for a 09 departure, and get away at 0820. By 0825 Breakfast is being served, scoffed down quickly as usual, and at 0855 we’re back on terra firma … home at last! From Reclaim we watched the Swissport baggage manglers hurling cases from the hold onto their flat-bed truck, which were then driven the 10 yards to the luggage belt [thud, bang, crash again]. Our 2 cases survived the journey intact, although one bore extensive evidence of a major red wine spillage from someone else’s case … I’m guessing someone didn’t pack their wine purchase carefully enough to survive Swissport Jersey! Fortunately it was only external spillage: our contents were unharmed.
And that was it … taxi home, rescue The Cat, and get back to reality again.
……………
Reflections.
It was an absolutely superb holiday, and our initial reticence about venturing into an unknown country was quickly dispelled. Each of the 3 locations and associated accommodation were interestingly different, and yet all extremely comfortable. I publicly thank my wonderful iWife for her researches in that respect - well done, beloved! The food and drink everywhere was delicious, and sensibly priced … we will start dieting again after Christmas!! And with just one day’s exception, the weather was simply glorious. Clear blue skies and 30ºC+. Yes, we would like to do this again, almost identically but perhaps trading one day in CT for an extra day in Stellenbosch.
BA performed as it usually does … inconsistently! The food on the l/h sectors was generally OK, and certainly better than we have encountered recently on l/h TATL. The CC ranged from fairly useless to efficient: the only bright spot was the lady CSD on the way home, who was the only one to welcome us BAEC Golden Oldies by name.. The niggling little failings of the hard product continue to annoy: duff IFE, greasy fingerprints all over a window, inadequate pillows … and of course, no bread plate
But it was safe, and punctual, and on this occasion cheap!
That’s it, I think. Thanks for reading!
“Uncle T”