FlyerTalk Forums - LHR - GOT; 12 MAR, Club Europe

(or: FlyerTalk tenuously meets Eurovision)

Late last year, I had a realization that I really really hated January and February. I mean really hate it. I can’t bear going to work in the dark, and coming home in the dark. The grey skies. The drizzle, oh the constant drizzle of a moist London. So I decided to do something about it – by filling my weekends with trips away. The fact that this trip report is to one of the coldest cities in Europe is neither here nor there. It’s all about the trip and seeing somewhere new.

It’s been great fun, and since January I have gone from BA Blue to BA Bronze on the back of these weekend trips. Although the fun of flying is becoming slightly diminished as I witness the antics of other passengers, airport security and especially, especially UK Border Control.

GOTHENBURG! Of course – why didn’t I think of it before? Sweden is the coolest city in Europe – the Swedes seem pretty awesome in general and most importantly, there was a BA Citybreak in Club Europe for under £250.

That 0735 departure from Heathrow seemed like a good idea at the time of booking, until I realized that meant getting to Heathrow at an ungodly hour. Never fear! Hilton had a flash sale and the Doubletree was booked. The main reason for that was that I wanted to see what the Doubletree by Hilton was like, and it would mean I was one stay away from Hilton Silver. That room temperature bottled water is not to be sniffed at!

I hated the Doubletree by Hilton at Heathrow and here’s why:

I didn’t get a cookie at check-in
The rooms were dark and dingy
The bed was not really very comfortably
The bathroom was beige. Beige. I ask you.

The sign at the hotel was nice.

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The room was really basic, but in that Travelodge-y way where you want to slit your wrists and slowly bleed to death on the sheets to spite them for their lack of imagination in the room décor. I had booked this hotel in July before a flight (not a Flash Sale price) and I have cancelled that. Mainly because of the cookie.

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I thought I had taken more pictures of the Doubletree by Hilton at Heathrow but it turns out I hadn’t. That is one boring hotel.

So I headed to Terminal 5 at an ungodly hour and headed through security. Fastrack! Squueeeel! It was very fast. I am now an expert at this. Dump everything into that tray and walk through naked. It turns a few heads (hey, with this body too!) but nothing goes beep.

I was through in no time and fully clothed headed to the Satellite B lounge, as my flight was leaving from Satellite C. Another first – a lounge I had never been to. At that time of the morning it was really quiet – and I thought it was really lovely. I have worked out that for most of my favourite things – pubs, restaurants, train journeys – the ideal occupancy for me is below 50%. I want to have a choice of places to sit etc. I realize that that isn’t really helpful for people trying to turn a profit, but to my delight, the BA lounge was about 10% full.

One thing I noticed was that it felt like quite a faff getting from the shuttle to the lounge – so many escalators. But at that time of the morning I may have been dreaming about the distance.

The empty lounge offered so much choice!

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I had a nice bowl of porridge and a few bacon rolls and some time passed, so I headed to Satellite C.

People were standing in front of the Priority Boarding totem, however, fair play to them, the BA staff did enforce the priority boarding, and that was good because that meant I was one of the first to get through to then stand for ages on the jetbridge.

I did a double take when I boarded. It turns out that they had to substitute another ‘plane for the one scheduled. So this is what I got:

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However no entertainment would be provided, nor would any pillows or blankets be provided either. Which I kind of get – otherwise people would expect it on every flight…

This was an ex BMI ‘plane, and apparently normally used for the likes of Cairo…

Everything was going swimmingly, until BA served this:

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What would be under the foil? How exciting is this?!

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This is the worst thing I have ever put in my mouth. And I’ve had the Ryanair burger. Oh my goodness BA what are you thinking? Eggs with the consistency of porridge (at ‘surface’ level) and then if you look at the top left hand corner of the tray you will see an oily watery substance and at that point I regretted even putting any of it in my mouth.

I actually think this was a veggie option that was left over. I have always been offered an English breakfast on early BA flights – today it was ‘scrambled eggs’ and you’ll note there was no meat anywhere on the tray.

The tea they served was undrinkable – and I was not the only passenger to notice this. “It’s a strong blend” said the steward. No. I come from Northern Ireland where we boil a kettle then put the boiling water in a pot with tea bags for it to boil even more and then we serve. That is drinkable. Whatever the good people of Gothenburg did they didn’t deserve this.

So with that out of the way, it was time to just relax to the lovely Gothenburg Airport. As it was very misty, we had to switch off electronic devices during landing, this it turns out was because the landing was on auto pilot. And a smooth landing it was too.

Gothenburg Airport, as you might imagine, had some stylish touches. Well, I liked them.

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Transportation to the city was easy, and I headed for my hotel – nothing fancy, just an ex-Ibis THAT’S ON A BOAT!

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A small, but spotless room was provided. Staff were absolutely lovely – really friendly and engaging in a way I have not experienced in a long time.

They recommended I catch up with Melodifestivalen – turns out this is a massive Swedish event to pick their Eurovision entry and was showing in quite a few places.

I think they’ve nailed it this year. To recap:

LAST YEARS WINNER (who won the contest)

THIS YEARS WINNER – to represent Sweden (and my favourite to win)

And this was the runner up. Wonder if he would sing for Britain?

So Gothenburg was super. Loved it and can’t wait to go back.
The BA switched plane was great, let down by truly awful food and drink.