I hadn’t booked a pick up this week which was a mistake, the airport land-side was just a mess and multiple Bolt’s cancelled by the drivers until 20 minutes later one finally deigned to actually turn up. A quick drive to the Radisson and check in was around 1am. Upgraded again and if these pictures evoke some degree of deja-vu it’s because it is exactly the same suite as last week







With that it is now 1:30am and I need to be up in seven hours time at the very latest, so it is goodnight from me for a few hours.

Talking of which, BTS is another one of cities I would recommend to visit, but are not MR-worthy destinations, and another Radisson Blu I can heartily recommend. Should you ever find yourself there.

[QUOTE=Fabo.sk;35717772]I do need an XP run too, however I am leaving that until next spring. If you are passing through Sunday 19th mid to late morning or Saturday 25th in the evening, I will be more than happy to meet, though, for obvious reasons, not in the Crown lounge./QUOTE]

Unfortunately I�m completely the other way around, Sunday evening of the 19th and I�m bracketing the 25th, out 24th, back 26th.

I�m sure our paths will cross eventually

I'm also passing in late afternoon 29th and morning 4th, but I gather as those are workdays, less likely to match.

19th evening I will be in London, unfortunately flying into Gatwick, so no point in trying there either.

Thanks! Never been there, will have a look at the BA sale tomorrow and see if there�s anything worth having. I still need to book about 800 TP in total to get GGL this year so more than happy to pick off a few weekend breaks to get there.

There is no oneworld (or skyteam) service to the local airport, but VIE is a short bus or taxi ride away. let me know if you end up going there, I have some tips.

Finally asleep around 2:30 and a very disturbed and unsettled night for me and finally gave up and got out of bed at 8am. After a quick wash and brush up it was on to the exec lounge for breakfast. Honestly did not fancy anything to eat so a couple of coffees later and I’m on my way to the dentists for my 10 am appointment.

Two hours later and THEY’RE ALL DONE! Eight months from beginning to end but finally reached the end. Well, almost, there is a checkup appointment at noon next Saturday but not expecting anything to be required,

Walking back to the hotel and the heavens opened so arrived somewhat damp. Up to the room to change and then on to the lounge for more coffee which is where I am right now writing this update. I have to wait a little bit before I can eat anything but I think I’ll order a burger off the aristocool menu, not had a decent burger that I could eat properly for a very long time!

I’ve cancelled Caru Cu Bere for tonight because I am so tired that I just want to hang around the hotel, especially as the weather is not particularly pleasant today. As I cannot go to the castles next weekend due to the checkup appointment maybe I’ll rebook Caru cu Bere instead.

The afternoon panned out exactly as planned, a burger and a beer and then off to bed for three hours of catch up sleep. After a brief freshen up I wandered to the lounge for a couple of coffees by which time the food was out, and.. Starch! Double Starch!



A small plate of the chicken noodles and a couple of Ursus beers later and I’m currently staring out of the window and wondering how late I should hang out for before heading back to bed. Don’t think it will be too long as tomorrows flight is 07:40 and you really need to plan an hour for Otopeni security and passport control, even if you don’t need all of it, so need to check out at 05:30 at the latest.

Tomorrows journey is a bit different, with the transit from Heathrow to London city, the cityflyer flight up to Edinburgh, and the train from Edinburgh to Newcastle. Looking forward to something other than the OTP-LHR-NCL run I’ve done so often now, I may have changed my opinion by 8pm tomorrow

Well, one thing is to be expected - no lounge tourism in LCY!

An afternoon sleep is always a risk and yesterday I lost. Another horrible nights sleep means that today is going to be painful.

Getting a Bolt at 5:30 on a Sunday morning took 2 minutes and there looked to be plenty of cars free on the app. No traffic and quickly to the airport.

Otopeni airport on this particular Sunday morning was very quiet. Security, whilst still a free for all, was far less of a zoo than usual. Passport control lines were only two deep. All in all I went from kerb to lounge in just under 25 minutes which is definitely a record for me and I�d think it would be hard to beat that time with the airport in normal operation.

Into the business class lounge which is also quiet




No sooner had I sat down with a brace of coffees than all the lights went out! Emergency lighting kicked in immediately and a few seconds later the concourse started to re-illuminate



with about forty minutes to boarding it is time for a couple of coffees whilst watching the world go by.

Gate six for this mornings departure so a very short stroll from the lounge and G-EUUV waiting for us which I was last on for LHR-NCL back towards the end of September.




This mornings silly o�clock flight is due to my original afternoon flight falling victim to the last round of BA schedule cancellations. I was quite happy to change out to London City for the second leg but on the downside it did mean the loss of my coveted row 1 seat and I am back in knee knocking row 7 for this flight.

Boarding was a mess , partly because of the staff, partly because of the systems. They called the special assistance passengers forward of which there were many this morning but then called group 1 forward before all the people requiring extra time were through the boarding check. The inevitable scrum commenced.

After this a fair number of the boarding passes were being rejected and they were building up a small secondary queue of people needing further assistance with documentation.

I will be amazed if we push back on time today.



I think I�m still growing, there seems even less space than usual!

A cheery good morning to my neighbour in F was completely ignored, obviously it is far too early for cheer

Time to belt up both literally and figuratively and next stop - London Heathrow

One of the cabin crew just came down the plane to my row with a packaged meal in her hands and was asking the passengers in A and C if they had ordered a Muslim meal. This managed to confuse both them and me as I�d ordered a Kosher breakfast! A quick glance at the package in her hands confirmed it was Kosher, not Muslim. Don�t think I�ve had a Muslim breakfast, maybe one for next week.

The crew member was checking to see if it was OK for them to open the meal which is fine by me, saves having to manage the substantial stack of packaging that these meals come in.

Ten minutes late and we are pushing back. It�s a short taxi here in Otopeni so take off is imminent. Next stop LHR, again

Sterling job done by an excellent crew today. A slightly odd order of service, not sure if it was down to issues with the ovens or just the way theirs crew roll.

As soon as the seatbelt sign was off the crew setup and did a drinks run along the nine rows in Club Europe and then they were straight back to the galley with the trolley, no stopping at the early rows for top ups. Next up my Kosher special meal was delivered which was as good as always.



Standard full English etc for everyone else






Then there was quite a delay until the crew did a second drinks run and meal delivery combined. By the time they reached my row with the standard meals I had completely cleared my tray!

The flight crew continued to work the cabin non-stop for the first two hours of the flight before finally disappearing behind the curtain to have their meals and then reappearing after a very brief break for the last part of the flight.

Landed at approximately 09:20 UK time and we are currently sitting on an active taxiway waiting for an aircraft to clear our stand. In the meanwhile I can use the time to see what f there is anything interesting to do for the next four hours!

What do you do with a five hour transit, well, you spend most of it transitting of course!

First things first, check the rail planner. I specifically chose a route that included the Elizabeth line as I�d not been on it




And away we go, first stop, the Elizabeth line to Whitechapel. It is a bit of a trek to the platform however the train arrived quickly and the carriage was very clean.












From here our next stop is Canada Water. Again the train was clean although clearly older with wear and fading on the rock hard seats











And the third and final part of the trip as planned by network rail is DLR to London City Airport. Only one tiny itsy bitsy problem, there is NO DLR from Canada Water!

Talking to the really helpful TFL lady at the barrier and apparently it�s a thing national rail app likes to do, and I am by no means the first person to be caught out.

so, back to the overground and next stop Shadwell, which I passed through on the previous train










Now if you are planning to do this journey then a piece of advice. When coming out of the overground station looking for the DLR, look around! Do not trust the signs, some wag has moved them around and not a single one actually points to the DLR station.

At least I�ve made it this far and the last leg approaches, DLR to the airport










And I�ve made it, somewhere approaching three hours after I left the plane in Heathrow! I was not expecting that long a transit, and yes, I took the slower tube line, and detoured to Canada Water, but it was still a trek!

London City Airport is clearly meant to emulate a bus station. It is not a place to linger, there is no lounge, food and drink options are limited and overpriced, and the planes drive up to the doors to let passengers off and on!














I ordered a pint and a burger and the burger arrived quickly� McDonalds would be proud type quickly, and it�s clearly not cooked to order as I waited
no more than 90 seconds. That said, the burger was decent although the wedges/chips were flabby




And with that update it is now over four hours since I landed in Heathrow and I�m going to order a second beer and actually kick back for a little bit.