It is March 1986. Diana Ross is number 1, with Chain Reaction and I am 5 years old! We are off to visit my aunt, uncle and cousins in Australia and it's my first ever flight. Dad has been working for BA for nearly 17 years (Yes, that's 50 years this summer!) and it's our first stab at staff travel as a family. We were with my mum and 18mth old sister, who we discovered later had an ear infection!
On this occasion, we have firm tickets booked LHR-MEL.
I have some distinct memories from the flight- as you can imagine, 35 years on some become muddled so some of you may be able to fill in gaps from your knowledge!
- Sitting playing games in a bulkhead seat on a large (seemed it at the time) table- I am imagining this was a bassinet position.
- Going up the spiral staircase to be shown the flight deck
- Spending time looking out of the window (night) and watching another plane flying in parallel (obviously a few miles away!) - fascinating for a 5 year old!
- We were in Club. I didn't fully understand what that meant at the time- until Dad and I got bumped back after one of the stops. I found I had a lot less space to play in!
- I didn't care much for the food. I'm not sure childrens' meals were available to book then (and perhaps not for staff anyway?) Vaguely remember eating bread and maybe a bit of meat!
- Stopping multiple times on the journey. I think potentially 5 times. I remember Abu Dhabi, Singapore and Adelaide- but not sure of the others. I think mainly middle eastern? (Does anybody have a timetable or remember the stops?)
- The flight terminated in Adelaide. There was some kind of embargo or strike related to fuel or baggage and we had to take a 12 hour bus to Melbourne.
- A bag of goodies from the "stewardesses" as they were known back then!
Despite the bus from Adelaide to MEL, this was our most straightforward trip. Suffice to say we only went on 4 overseas holidays during my childhood. More about the others if there is the apetite for it- but I'm sure the regulars on here have seen, heard and experienced it all before!