Friday, November 6th
On Fridays and Mondays I work from home. One the perks of my job and one that I really relish. In fact, I have access to the same resources I need for work at home as if I was in our offices - Computer (laptop), and Internet. Being an IT company our office generally consists of people sitting around tapping away on keyboards anyway with the occasional meeting thrown in to keep things interesting and even those are often on the computer anyway even though many of us might be in the same room!
Working from home today was a great benefit as it meant I was also able to work, effectively, right up until when we were to leave for the airport and do a bit of packing throughout the day in case we missed anything.
I had intentionally been winding down much of the work at my office so it was a quiet day with only a few last minute things to take care of. I worked until 2:30 pm with Mel arriving at about 3:00 pm. We spent a bit of time doing some last minute packing and checking before heading out to catch the Underground to Heathrow. Thankfully the station is only about a fifteen minute walk and the rain had stopped…we do not have a lot of luggage and what luggage we have has wheels so we can drag it or it has straps so we can throw it on our backs. It is not heavy either which is good since there is a flight of three staircases from the street up to the station platform.
I really think Terminal 5 at Heathrow is one of the best terminals in the world. It is big, modern but also very efficient. Unfortunately, when we got off the train I decided we would take the escalators rather than the elevators given the massive queue waiting in from the later. This was a big mistake as the escalators do not, directly, go to the departure floor about seven stories up. So eventually we had to find some elevators to take us all the way up to the departure floor…a bit sweaty in the process despite it being quite cool. Of course, despite my previous experiences with British Airways check-in here being very quick today the queue was very slow moving and we ended up waiting about 45 minutes to check in our bags.
Yesterday when I checked in on-line we were not able to check into our connecting flight to Kuching from Kuala Lumpur so it was a great relief that the agent was able to not only get us our boarding passes for that flight (ok, we were separately seated, but look at it this way: we were both on the flight) but also check our bags all the way through so nothing to do in KL but get to our gate for departure what should be a relaxed few hours later.
The slow check-in meant we were later through security than I would have liked - only about 2 hours before departure meaning that we did not really have a lot of time to find something to eat and possibly do a bit of last minute shopping. Walking around, though, nothing really grabbed our eye. I had wanted to go to “Plane Food” (Gordon Ramsey) but thought it a bit pricey and a meal I would want to linger over so we were looking for something quick. Unfortunately, the only really fast option was “Eat” (a chain selling, basically, sandwiches) so we settled on “Giraffe” which is a somewhat funky chain that offers dishes from various countries but also said they would serve us within fifteen minutes of ordering. We settled on two orders of “Huevos Rancheros” (a mexican breakfast). I am always tense leading up to a flight like this - wanting first to get checked in then quickly get through security then get to the gate as soon as possible - Perhaps it is a paranoia that I won’t get on the plane. So, to cut the tension we joked around in the restaurant and talked a bit about what we were expecting to do/see on the holiday. Fifteen minutes after ordering, sure to form, our food arrived. £24.30 (plus tip) is not that bad. We kept the delicate long-necked transparent plastic giraffe stirrers we got…lord only knows if they will survive the trip.
We knew we wanted to get a few things for Sian for all the things she is doing for us so we swung by Boots (a pharmacy) to pick up some Cadbury’s chocolate “Roses” as well as some nice foot cream (she works very hard). We also picked up some flu capsules as we don’t know if we will be able to find something similar where we are going and we are both suffering a bit of the sniffles. As we made our way quickly towards the gate we made another quick stop at Cath Kidston (a London boutique store that sells “nice things” for the home) where we also picked Sian up a London mug.
By now it was about thirty minutes before we were supposed to be at the gate and there was a train yet to catch to the area of the terminal where our gate was. It was going to be a bit of a rush but thankfully we arrived at the very crowded gate 10 minutes before they started boarding. Just enough time for a quick trip to the toilet but not enough time to visit the Starbucks for a drink…
We are seated in row 31 in seats A and B, that is, the left side of the plane against the window. It is a full plane but people seem to have settled down for the long flight - 12 hours! After about an hour they fed us: I had the pasta (I tend to avoid meat on planes as it never really tastes all that great, particularly beef) but Mel had the chicken. It was as tasty as food ever is on a plane, that is, not really. The in-flight entertainment system is not that bad so Mel and I watched Minions, effectively, together (mine was a few minutes ahead so I could see how she reacted to the funny bits) then I watched a movie she really did not want to see: Mad Max: Fury Road. I can see why, it is quite violent and I found it slightly confusing on the small screen…or perhaps it is just being tired? I have taken a sleeping pill so hopefully I will be able to sleep. There is a space to tuck my feet under the seat in front of me on top of my rucksack but I should be able to get comfortable.
Only 8 more hours to go…