It was Friday afternoon and whilst initially I was planning to finish my working day eating at Thakers in Hounslow whilst catching up with a colleague, it didn't quite go to plan. An enforced change of schedule meant starting my day in East London instead. As per usual my meeting over ran significantly and lunch at Thakers became lunch from Pret. I was still full to bursting but unfortunately I was stood on the Piccadilly line, hoping, praying if you like of making it out in one piece.
Something was not agreeing with me that afternoon and whilst I was keen to blame my Pret chilli hot wrap the truth was it could have been any of the lethally strong coffees I'd been knocking back, the rather delicious masala dosas I picked up under recommendation from my ex colleague J, after all, that place no longer has the zero star food hygiene rating... It might have been the burger from Shake Shack, or the decadent chocolate and halva danish from Ottolenghi, or perhaps the spicy sauce from Nandos a few days back after having lunch with S. It certainly wasn't any of Ms. Spymon's home cooked dinners.
By the time I'd finished trying to work out what was to blame for the ever increasing pain in my stomach and feeling almost equally sorry for the poor people trapped inside the tube carriage with me it was time to get off for a quick stop in Hounslow. Relief was soon found, and in just the nick of time.
The meeting went as planned and a little over an hour later I was back on the tube and on my way to LHR. Did the usual stretch along the travellators and up to Terminal 3.
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There was no queue at check in so I picked up a paper boarding pass as my phone was running low on battery. I had a lovely friendly check in agent who was definitely into the spirit of happy Friday.
Up the escalator, straight to Fast Track and through pretty quick despite everyone beeping and going into the Tardis for the full works.
I packed up my things and headed straight for the Cathay lounge. When booking this trip I was hoping the Qantas lounge would be ready but alas that will have to wait till later this year I suppose.
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The lounge was pretty busy but soon cleared out once the HKG flight was called.
I sat in one of the big green chairs with a beer and some samosas to snack on waiting for Ms. Spymon to arrive.
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My timing was excellent and a few minutes after finishing my beer she'd made it and we headed to the noodle bar for dinner number one.
I ordered two of each of the dim sum options and got a kir royal and a glass of champagne from the bar.
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Yes, the weekend was here! The buzzer soon buzzed and I picked up our steaming stack of goodness and headed back to the table. Dim sum and champagne, it could be worse, right?
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We needed more food and drink so I made another run around the lounge to see what else was on offer.
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Skipping the buffet options I ordered wonton soup and a deliciously fruity smelling glass of sauvignon blanc for me and beef fried rice and a bloody Mary for Ms. Spymon. Learning from last time I was easy on the condiments. A good handful of peanuts with a dash of chili sauce, fried garlic and spring onion.
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We didn't feel like ice cream and Ms. Spymon didn't like the brownies so we thought we'd scope out the BA lounge for coffee and dessert.
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Coffee was forthcoming but dessert was non-existent apart from a wide selection of biscuits. It was too late for AA so we settled with what we had.
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Coffee was good, biscuits were tasty, views from the window were rather nice and the place definitely looks the part still. However, the choice of food and drink and overall peace and quiet of the Cathay lounge do not compare.
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Flight BA858
Depart: LHR T3 20:00
Arrive PRG T1 23:00
Aircraft: A320
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It was soon time for boarding and thankfully the gate was near enough adjacent to the lounge. A delay of 15 minutes was called, shortly followed by a call for boarding.
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After a quick zigzag down the air bridge and a warm welcome on-board we settled into row 1.
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The last light had gone and it was time to enjoy the thrill of the airport at night, bright lights in the dark, jets off to lands near and far.
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It was a clear night and take off treated us to a superb aerial view of Terminal 5.
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Service swung into action and we loaded up with enough drinks to last us the flight. We need not have bothered as our personal flight attendant kept us and the cabin regularly filled up. Stupidly mixing my drinks yet again I went with champagne. The Castelnau, which although drinkable is a little less pleasant than the Moet was back in the lounge. It made for a nice apero with the bag of nuts.
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With the main it was time to move on to the thankfully now warm glass of merlot. It went OK with the rather filling beef and cheese panini, severed with a side of potato salad and a brightly coloured cream and fruit dessert which I failed to eat. In fact I was so full at this point I even declined the coffee.
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Ms. Spymon did slightly better than me but also forfeit her dessert much to the embarrassment of our flight attendant who profusely apologised for forgetting to check whether the dessert contained passion fruit which Ms. Spymon does not agree with.
Shortly after seat belt signs were on and we were preparing to land. It was a good job we did as we met the tarmac rather forcefully. After a short taxi our airbridge was attached and we made the short trip through a near deserted passport control and on to baggage reclaim.
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There did not seem to be any kind of additional tags on our bags (or anyone else's for that matter) but the wait was short. We exited the terminal and walked straight across to our lodgings for the night, Courtyard Prague Airport.
Hotel: Courtyard Prague Airport
We were warmly and proactively welcomed in English and immediately we felt right at home. We'd been upgraded to a studio room on the 6th floor with an airport view ��. Our room was quiet and comfortable with a nice big living room and a big comfy bed which was so far off the ground it required climbing gear to get in.
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We settled in, got ready for bed and were soon sound asleep. We wanted to start the day at a reasonable time so a good night's sleep was vital. The bed was lovely and comfortable and we slept well.
The only minor complaint about our room was not from me but apparently the bathroom mirror does not lend itself to the application of make up