Having managed to be holed up in London for a good 6 weeks (save a couple of European hops), March has turned in to a rather busy month. As a record for posterity, I thought I would write a trip report ‘as it happens’.
Sunday 25th February London to Hong Kong
I’d really enjoyed spending 6 weeks at home, and frankly wasn’t at all looking forward to heading off. When I first started business travel 7 years ago, every trip came with a big dollop of anticipation. Now they more often start with lingering thoughts of jet leg and long nights hunched over a lap top in a hotel room. Having just cooked lunch for some friends (rack of lamb, sweet potato dauphinoise, followed by a cheeseboard and washed down with Nuits St. George since you asked) I left them with the missus making inroads into another bottle as I headed off in a cab to Paddington for the Heathrow Express to LHR T1. The Hex was as crowded as usual with the Sunday night hordes heading home after the weekend or away on business.
BA25 Heathrow to Hong Kong
747-400 Club World 14A
The Zone R check in for OW elites/BA premium passengers is one of the few bits of London Heathrow I like. Most of the airport is a hell hole, but this bit works. I had a brief visit to the ticket desk for a re-issue and was then checked in and in the short security queue in less than 10 minutes. Security took less than 5, despite the fools in front of me being unable to comprehend the need to take off shoes and coats. Talking of shoes, I was once again left pondering why shoes are a risk at LHR, but not at LGW or LCY.
The First Lounge (access courtesy of BA Gold) was not too busy for once, with a reasonable choice of seats. A few delays were being announced, thanks to some heavy rain and low cloud that was passing over the London area. Thankfully the 25 looked to be on time. I had an exciting glass of water and apple to pass the time, and caught up on emails until we were called. Stopping only to get my AA number added to the BP instead of BA, I headed off to the gate. We were using 25 – more often used by SA and BD long hauls. Irritatingly, there is another security check between the lounge and the gate, so it was the whole shoes off, coat off, laptop out rigmarole all over again. This took another 20 mins to get through, by which point I was being paged by name.
On board I was pleased to find BA’s New Generation Club World. There is a detailed report on the BA board here -
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=664754. Suffice to say it is better in a number of respects, but still has a few flaws. Once onboard we got caught with an hour ATC delay (typical for Heathrow really) and sat at the gate for most of this time. Finally at about 19:30 we trundled out to 27R and took off.
After exploring the seat, I ate, read, did a little work then grabbed 6 hours sleep. Waking up over China I indulged in breakfast (a grease laden but somehow satisfying full English) and spent some time musing how much more pleasant J class travel is with the advent of proper flat beds. I first flew BA Club with the old cradle seats which I found very tough to sleep in – 2-3 hours maximum. The BA bed, along with the VS Suite has made a huge difference to me.
We landed 40mins late in HKG, and after an unusual 15 min wait for bags I was on my way by train and cab to Le Meriden Cyberport.
Monday 26th January
The aforementioned hotel is a personal favourite in Hong Kong. I like the style of the place, and especially the lovely Ocean Review rooms that SPG Plats get upgraded to. Hong Kong is a fantastically buzzy place, but the quiet Oceanside location helps you get away from it all, while still being a 15 minute HKD100 cab ride from Soho.
I had a quiet evening – email, getting ready for the following day and a nice dinner at Cru on Staunton Road (calamari, chilli perch salad and a glass of Cloudy Bay).
Sleep came fairly quickly that night. The early BA25 arrival time into HK (14:40 scheduled) really help me manage my jet lag quite well as I can have a fairly productive longish day and get some normal unchemical assisted sleep.