We will have to put that to the test one day

Challenge... heavily considered!

I had wondered if you�d crashed, glad to hear you didn�t burn.

For you, it was beer o'clock for most of the day!

Good morning from another beautiful sunny day here in Bucharest. Having been awake for the last couple of hours it is now 09:20 local and in around ten minutes I need to head off for my 10am dentists call.

Plan of the day is pretty simple after that, straight to the airport because I will have my baggage with me, the dentists is en route to the airport. That will mean probably far too long hanging around in OTP before I start the journey home on the 15:30 to LHR

See you in OTP.

Thankfully it was a clean bill of health from the dentists and 90 minutes later after check up, X-rays, photos, and a seriously thorough deep clean I was �160 poorer and ordering a Bolt to the airport.


This is one of the smaller satellite surgeries in the leafy suburbs

Here we are again


A new experience for me with the Bolt ride, the driver that accepted the fare was three minutes away and then headed off in the opposite direction, sending me a text that he would be twenty minutes! I told him that was too long, cancelled the ride, and picked up a 19 Lei cancellation fee. Very impressed with Bolt online support, that fee was immediately refunded on request, no quibbles.

As I head back to the airport, a couple of comments on this weekends trip.

I didn�t take any photos of the city itself on this visit, there are loads in my previous trip reports, but it�s worth mentioning that there are some stunning buildings in the part of the city I wandered around.

Also worth noting that the pavements are in a far worse state than I remember from previous visits. There are lifted cobbles and potholes all over the place so if you are visiting, watch your step.

Although it's a long way to go to the dentist, I'm glad you went so we got this TR.

Here I am, happily ensconced in the lounge, and more on that subject in a minute. Firstly, the trip to the airport which took quite some time as the traffic was horrendous. I eventually arrived at the airport at 12:08.


Otopeni Tower

As I was still over three hours early the BA desk was closed but one sad looking soul was camped out against the pillar.



Then to the standard craziness that is Security. Massive queue to get in


Usual chaos pre-security

It was around half an hour from the back of the queue to airside.

Airside most of the reconstruction is done and it looks a bit smarter than previously




To gate three and onwards and upwards to the Dacia lounge




No sir, this is not the lounge for the likes of you! BA passengers now need to go through to the non Schengen side and use the business satellite lounge. This is a mini version of the Dacia lounge, same pitiful food offering, just a lot hotter as it is a huge glass house.











A little sample of the food and a nice cold Ursus



The pizza was as nasty as it looks, one bite was enough. The chicken nuggets were reconstituted, the potato croquettes greasy. It�s been less than a year since the lounges introduced any sort of hot food but I�d hoped they might have upped the game, unfortunate not.

With two hours to wait until boarding it�s time to see how much of this rather good Ursus I can make disappear

That lounge is quite bad. Sadly once you've gone through passport control there isn't much else to do, the restaurant downstairs is rammed and stuffy most of the time too. If I ever go back there, I'll have to try places before passports.

Have a safe trip home!

Having had my fill of the heat on the lounge I headed over to the gates with 45 minutes to departure and ‘boarding’ being the art of herding people into a mobile sardine can.



To be fair, they did not cram the bus full, there was plenty of personal space for everyone when we set off.

As we were heading to the plane I heard some gentleman with a very nasal voice pontification on the fragility of GGL cards and the length of time it took for replacements to arrive. Praying to the heavens that he was not going to be my seat mate you can imagine my delight when he left the bus and headed to the rear stairs!

G-EUYJ is our sweet bird of freedom this afternoon and this was the second ever plane from way back when I started keeping records 20 months or so ago, and it brought me from LHR-OTP!





Menus have been distributed but I have a special ordered and I have a sneaking suspicion it is something a little off piste



Safety demonstration is now underway and we are pushing back for what looks to be an on time departure.

Next Stop: London Heathrow in maybe three and a half hours time.

20 months is an awfully long time for a plane to be sitting at an outstation!

A thoroughly enjoyable flight this afternoon and an early arrival into Heathrow to boot.

I had purposefully ordered the gluten free special meal which was really decent this afternoon. Watermelon and cheese, a little pot of olives, and a chicken curry, plus some gluten free salted olive oil crackers. Desert was a coconut pot which was also pretty good. My only observation, who on earth thought steamed broccoli was an appropriate side for chicken curry and rice?





We were well looked after throughout the flight and although I didn�t capture any of the drinks for posterity, I started with the standard trio and then progressed onto coffee and baileys for the remainder of the flight. I was not trying to break any consumption records this afternoon

On the ground at 16:33 and now the hopefully short taxi to T3.

Well, I made it eventually, finally in the CCR fully 90 minutes after wheels hit the ground.




It was a relatively short taxi towards the stand which was occupied! Too early at Heathrow is not your usual problem. Eventually we trundled to the gate and, nope, no ground handlers. I�d guess it was somewhere around 10 minutes before the jetty was attached, and off we go.

T3 arrivals egates were somewhat bizarre with the left hand side gates being busy and the right hand side gates completely empty. Everyone playing follow the leader rather than thinking for themselves.

Straight through and down into the bowels of the airport for the lizzy line to T5. Hmm, maybe not. After around 15 minutes there was an announcement that there was a broken train ahead, fix time unknown, and if you were in a hurry to go use the Piccadilly line.

Off I trotted the quite extraordinary distance over to the Picadilly line and, finally to T5. First Wing security was a breeze as usual and now it�s time for dinner!

Chicken and chips was the order of the day with a side of extra sauce. Delicious once again and eaten with unseemly haste.




And then it was time to retire to the bar where I am still resting and enjoying a drink or two.


XO Brandy and coffee

Tiramisu Espresso Martini

With maybe three quarters of an hour before it is time to go to gate it�s time to kick back and enjoy the ambiance.

Gate A15 this evening and it�s a mess as usual. Walked up to the tensa barrier and was asked without prompting if I was Group 0, through the gate and ready to go.



Next Stop: Newcastle in just under 2 hours time.


The Concorde room from below