Day 6 - Glastonbury, Bath

Today was a trip to Glastonbury, specifically the ruins of the abbey. The abbey was destroyed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries by Henry VIII. It must have been huge judging by what is left. The custodians have marked out where the walls would have been, as well as things like the high altar.

The abbey is supposed to be the burial place of the legendary king, Arthur and his wife, Guinevere. Arthur had been mortally wounded and taken to the isle of Avalon; at this time, Glastonbury would have been an island. It is said he was buried in the cemetery on the south side of the Lady Chapel, at Glastonbury Abbey between two stone pyramids and at great depth. Henry II asked the Abbot to dig within the ancient Saxon graveyard for the bones of Arthur, as he had information from a Welsh bard that Arthur was buried here.

The monks began digging to locate the grave, and in 1191 they discovered a huge oak coffin beneath a lead cross bearing the inscription Hic jacet sepultus inclitus rex Arturius in insula Avalonia, which is often interpreted as reading 'Here lies King Arthur buried in Avalon'. The coffin contained two bodies - a great man and a woman, whose golden hair was still intact, until touched, when it crumbled away. The bodies were said to be Arthur's and Guinevere's. The bones were then moved to a tomb in the South Transept.

In 1278 King Edward I and Queen Eleanor came to the abbey to oversee the final transfer to a beautifully decorated black marble tomb before the high altar. They wrapped the bones in precious cloth, placed them in decorative caskets, they then placed the caskets into the black marble tomb which remained at the abbey until it was destroyed during the Dissolution in 1539.

After Glastobury, we drove to Bath. The first stop was a tour of the Baths - originally Roman but also used and updated in Georgian times. You aren't allowed to touch the water these days since a tourist got meningitis some years ago. At the end of the walk through, there is a source of the water that has been treated, and you can have a drink of it there - it is quite warm and slightly salty.

The Baths were interesting.  There are displays with some of the old coins found inside, bones, and some of the old Roman carvings. There are number of rooms in the old Baths - the Hot room, the Warm room - these looked like they may have been saunas. There is the East Bath and the West Bath and the main Bath, this is the one you always see the pictures of. 

After the Baths, we walked around Bath itself for a while. It is an interesting old town.

Day 5 - Mt St Michaels Mount, Lands End, St Ives

Today we set out firstly to see Mount St Michael's Mount. This is essentially an island that has a causeway to the mainland at low tide. It is based on a similar building in France. It was gloomy and drizzling so not a pleasant start to the day. This was just a photo stop so no opportunity to walk across to the island, as some were doing, with the tide dropping.

After another drive, we came to Lands End, the southern most tip of Britain. I'm not sure what I expected, but it just didn't look any different to any other clump of land. Perhaps it was the gloomy, rainy day that made it impossible to gaze across the sea, knowing there was just ocean and more ocean out there. Here we were treated to a Cornish Pasty from the bakery. However, it was just a few hours after breakfast, a little soon for a full sized pasty. It was also extremely hot. I couldn't eat it and threw it away. What I ate was nice but I think my mum's were better. It seems there are endless awards in UK for pasties - every shop has one. I wanted a milkshake but the milkshake place was closed. Anyone would think it was early and Sunday! We also saw our first heather, which was growing on the roadside - I didn't expect that so far south.

Next was St Ives, one of the seaside resort towns along this coastline. It is very hilly and the bus can't go down to the town. We are dropped in the car park on top of the ridge, with the option to walk down or catch the shuttle for £1. We opt to walk and go down a series of steps and steep paths to the town below; we won't be walking back up! The tide is out on the beach. There really isn't much of a  beach at all unless you want to be dodging boats on the sand, the ropes and buoys. It must be a whopper of a tide as this area goes for quite a distance. The actual beach is quite small which seems odd for a beach resort. We wandered around for a while and finally found where the shuttle went from.

There was a long drive back to Plymouth. Most of the bus passengers doze off during these drives and you can hear various forms of gentle snores as we drive along.

We stayed at the Holiday Inn in Plymouth, which is on the high ground called the Hoe. For dinner, we went exploring and ended up in some area that had few places open. We ended up in a place called Sizzals, a buffet type place like Sizzlers. There were only a few people in there when we arrived but it was rapidly filling by the time we left. All in all, not a bad feed for £12.

Day 4 - Stonehenge, Plymouth

Our first excursion this morning is Stonehenge. Most of the bus is quite excited. As we approach the site, the driver says he is going the back way. When we get to the next roundabout, he turns right; the left side has traffic banking up already. We have to walk down to the new visitor's centre and catch a shuttle bus there to get to the stones. The centre is only a few year's old. The road that directly passes the stones is no longer open to general use. You can either get the shuttle bus, walk up the road or through the fields along a designated path. Both walks would be a good couple of miles.

We walk up the path to the stones - not far. So many people around sort of spoils the ambience but they are still awe inspiring. You can't get close to them - there is a small chain around the perimeter. Didn't seem to be any staff around but I'm betting if you stepped over that there would be flashing lights and sirens, and spike would stab up from the ground and pin you to the spot. One set of stones has one balanced on two others. They look carved to be so close a fit. Most are quite rough. They are big and the effort to place them would have been huge. From the ground, it is not easy to see the design of the formation but you can see it would have been circular. The other thing I was not expecting was how high the ground is where they are. Salisbury Plain always made me think of a flat low area.

We caught the shuttle bus back to the centre and check out the huts they have made depicting how the former residents lived. The car park is now almost full and there is a long line of cars up the adjacent road. If you go there, go early and go in a bus.

The next stop is Plymouth where we are based for the next two nights. We are going on one of the optionals, a cruise of Plymouth Harbour. This proves to be entertaining and informative, and cold! Plymouth has a large area of docks where boats are repaired. There is a US navy boat, a French submarine, a few UK frigates and an ice breaker there. The trip takes about an hour and we arrive back close to the Mayflower Steps.

Tonight, there are no optionals with dinner, so we have an included meal. It is a buffet in the hotel with roast pork, chicken or fish. Very nice and we leave stuffed full.

Tomorrow we have breakfast and bags out at 7 and leave at 8 for a trip around Cornwall.

Day 3 - Canterbury and Brighton

Today we were up bright and early to finally leave London on the tour proper. We breakfasted then joined our new travel mates on the bus. There are 32 of us on a 50 seater. Our tour guide is a young Irishman called Tim. Our driver Steve will join us tomorrow and today we had the services of Neal, the temp driver. About half the travellers seem to be Americans and the rest Aussies. But I guess we will sort out soon enough if we have Canadians and Kiwis amongst us. There was one woman who just talked and talked and talked. She makes stupid jokes - like we had a tractor driving in front of us on the road through Kent. We came to a cross road and her comment was ' well , if he was a gentlemen he would have pulled in but he didn't so he's just an arsehole'. The Americans laughed but they don't really appreciate the humour or swearing - my first impressions. Sadly, the noisy one is an Aussie.

Canterbury Cathedral is just impressive. It is so tall and you really only appreciate the height when you get inside. You are allowed to take photos everywhere inside except the crypt. A change from St Pauls which fancies itself to be better. We were given all the facts and figures about the Cathedral but now my mind is a complete blank. The workmanship is just incredible; nothing that you would see done today. There is a lot of restoration work going on too right now. The grounds of the Cathedral are like a little village in itself with so many old buildings - houses, classrooms, priory. Definitely this is a place to visit. Unlike our Cosmos tour of Europe, we don't seem to be inundated with local guides giving us all the information. We were just let off at the Cathedral and given nearly three hours to explore. You can get the audio guides if you want. After exploring the Cathedral, Alex and I wandered around the streets of Canterbury until it was time to rejoin the bus.

Next stop was Hastings but it was only a loo break. Fun fact: the Battle of Hastings didn't take place at Hastings but at a smaller place called Battle which is around 7 miles away.

At Brighton we were taken to the Brighton Pavilion built by George IV for his dirty weekends away. It is decorated in a Chinese style with the reds and greens and golds, bamboo and even dragons. We were given an audio guide but I found it too long and boring and started just listening to the first part in each room. Once again we had been given a long time to explore. We left the Pavilion but couldn't work out where the Pier was from there, so just wandered the streets. I wasn't that impressed with the Pavilion.

Our hotel, Hilton, is on the waterfront at Brighton. The room is large with a large double and a pull out double sofa bed. There is a reasonable bathroom with a bath. Tonight we get a free wine or beer, and then a buffet dinner in the hotel. This is the included Welcome dinner. A lot better than the Cosmos one we had two years ago. The food was lovely and we enjoyed conversation with 6 of the Americans.

After dinner, Alex and I walked up to the Pier. It was dusk and there was a brisk breeze blowing but it was a long but pleasant walk there. The Pier is really long with arcades, and rides, and food places all along it. Darkness fell as we were walking back to the hotel.

It was a relief to be on the bus today instead of walking all day. But the walking we did made everything sore and tired again.

Tomorrow we head to Stonehenge and Bath. Breakfast and bags out at 7. Leaving at 8. A sleep in!

Day 2 - St Pauls, Guards, Eye and Aquarium

Today we joined our group for a tour around London. Well I assume those 36 other people are our group. The tour director won't join us until tomorrow. We have a local guide to educate us about London. Breakfast was 6:30, downstairs at 7:50 and we left at 8. Alex went to the desk before we left to complain about the lack of air con in the room. After we had showered this morning, the windows were all fogged up as there was nothing to remove the steam coming out of the bathroom. The room had been hot and stuffy all night and now was humid as well.

Did the loops of the streets while the guide talked, learned a few new facts. It is really just an orientation tour. We are dropped off at St Pauls Cathedral. No photos are allowed inside. The guide talked about how the church was rebuilt after the original burnt. The architect was Christopher Wren. Some of the decorations, such as those on the ceiling, are more modern. Wren never wanted anyone to be buried there, however it is his own resting place and is also used for military burials. We saw the tomb of Nelson and the Duke of Wellington in the crypts below the church. In WW2 the area was firebombed. Volunteers threw the fire bombs off the cathedral and quenched fires. In the morning, it was the only building standing in the area. In those days it towered over London and after this day, it became a symbol for hope. It wasn't a long visit; about 30 minutes. There was no time to climb to the top and I wouldn't have tried. It costs 15.50 gbp to visit and more to climb up. Glad it was part of our tour cost - not really worth the money.

Next on the tour was a visit to see the horse guard who do the Changing of the Guard. We walked down Pall Mall and waited about 10 minutes. The horse troop went past down the Mall and we walked to another spot to see the guard come back up the Mall. All very formal. The change happens every other day although during summer they may do every day. If it looks like rain at 11am, it is called off.  The horses go past at 11:15. You could have left the group at that point and gone with hundred of others to see the full change if you wanted. A little while later, the guard comes - first a military band and then the troops in their Bearskin hats. At this point, we decide to do our own thing for the rest of the day.

We walked up Pall Mall to Trafalgar Square. The National Gallery borders the square so we visited there. It was mostly older works from about 1200 - 1700. We saw da Vinci, Van Gogh, Monet, Manet, Botticelli  and so on. Alex wanted to go to Covent Garden so we walked to there. It's not far but by now my feet and legs were starting to protest. He wanted to find a particular hamburger shop but couldn;t remember the name! We found Five Guys which is apparently very good. It smelt delicious and they had milkshakes which I have been craving. But the line was very long so we left and grabbed a drink nearby.

Tubed it to Waterloo again and headed for the Eye. Apparently the tickets we got at Tussauds aren't good enough and we need to swap them for proper Eye tickets. It doesn't take too long and we join the end of the snaking line. Everything is so busy, with school holidays still on, there are lines for everything. Soon we are aboard. In the centre of the pod is a bench and I sit there. There are small children climbing all over the metal rails near the glass, unconcerned by the height. Bastards! The Eye moves really slowly. I think it took about 35 minutes to go right around. You can see all over London with a particularly good view of Westminster as it is just on the other side of the river. I even stood up to take a couple of pics but stayed away from that glass.

Since we had had a bit of a rest on the Eye, we decided to use our last ticket and go to Sea Life Aquarium which is nearby. Lots of little kids of course. It wasn't bad, the usual aquarium type of stuff - you know, fish. And they had some penguins. There was a 4D experience' you could go on for free afterwards so we did that too.

Totally stuffed now we tubed back to Edgware Road to the hotel. Had a rest then headed over the road again to M & S for food. When we got back, they had opened the window so now we have a breeze but lots of noise from the streets below. My socks might dry now. I am aching and tired. Last night I didn't sleep well since the room was hot and stuffy and I had the edge of the bed.

Tomorrow we start the tour proper and leave London. Bags out at 6.30. I will have to pack tonight.

Day 1 - London, Madame Tussauds

This morning we checked out of the Cardiff and walked to the Hilton Metropole to join our tour group. The Cardiff was good. Rooms are very small and the beds are tiny but there is plenty of hot water, the place is clean and there is a good breakfast. It is also 5 minutes down the road from Paddington Station.

At the Hilton, our room was ready which surprised me for a big hotel. We are on the 17th floor in the Tower. Also checked in with the Globus lady who gave us our times for the next couple of days. When we got up to the room, the first wrong thing was a double bed instead of two singles. Annoying. Later we discovered that the air con isn't working, it's about 26 in the room, and the fridge isn't turned on. VERY annoying. The room is marginally bigger than the one at the Cardiff and there is a bigger bathroom with a small bath with shower over. At least we get a bathmat here. I suppose.

Caught the tube from Edgware Rd station to Baker St for Madame Tussauds. It was raining again. We were early for our 12:30 timeslot so went into a café over the road for a cuppa. Inside Madam's, we collected our online purchased tickets and our Star Wars experience wristband and headed up the stairs to the lifts. But no. Our group can't catch the lifts up. We have to walk up stairs and stairs and stairs. It is hot inside and my legs are protesting after all the walking we have done.

First stop is the stars. Marilyn, Bruce, Arnie, the Duke, et al. Of course, we take pictures with them. We kept running into the same group of clueless teens, all chewing gum and taking forever to organise themselves cos it's all about them. And one mother and son who needed the perfect pic of junior. In the sports section, I was a bit clueless. Seemed to be a lot of football players, of various codes. We went to the 4D Marvel Heroes show. Not bad. The last attraction was the Star Wars experience. Of course, I needed pics with Chewy at the controls of the Falcon! Some of the figures don't look much like their real life counterparts while others are really good. It surprised me how small a lot of famous people are - short and/or skinny. Except Shrek and The Hulk.

We caught the train to Waterloo, intending to go up the London Eye but it was pouring when we got there. After waiting a little, we decided to give it a miss and caught the train back to Edgware Road.

Got dinner from the M & S over the road from hotel. They have a broad range of sandwiches or you can get prepared meals. We have no stove/microwave so are a bit restricted. It costs less than 10 pounds for a meal, roll, dessert and drink. I had an extra salad and thought I could just put it in the fridge for tomorrow. That was when we discovered it wasn't turned on. Grrrrr! The room was hot when we got back too; about 26.7 C. Fiddled with the air con but it didn't seem to change anything. We can't open the windows as they are double glazed and locked.

Hampton Court

After my usual (travel) 3 course brekkie, we headed off to see Hampton Court. While we breakfasted, there had been sunshine outside. However, the skies were clouding over as we left.

Tube from Paddington (Bakerloo Southbound line) Waterloo Tube station where we headed upstairs to Waterloo Train station - trains have a little red symbol. From there you catch the South West Train service at platform 2 to Hampton Court station. We used our Oyster cards but had to load Pay as You Go money onto it as our weekly pass didn't extend to Zone 6, where Hampton Court is.

It took about 35 minutes to get from Waterloo. The palace is a short walk over a bridge from the station. There is a large set of gates set into a tall brick wall with a long driveway going up to the palace. We got our tickets inside 19.30 which include maze, palace and gardens. The drive goes up to the entrance used by Henry VIII.

First stop was the Maze. It was commissioned by William III around 1700 and is made from yew hedges. Some of the hedges are a little sparse these days so you can see through to the next path. Inside the hedges are wrought iron fences so you couldn't really walk through them if you wanted to cheat. Where the hedges are thick they tower above your head; the path is only about a metre wide, if that, so it must have been quite spectacular and scary when it was in its prime. Took a number of wrong turnings before finding the middle. It didn't take too long and it was fun.

The grounds of Hampton Court are huge. If you lived in the area, you could just walk through the gates and use the parklands as picnic areas or walking areas; assuming you are allowed to picnic there. We walked around the gardens for a while then headed into the palace itself.

There are two big courtyards inside, surrounded by buildings. The original manor house was developed into a palace by Cardinal Wosley in 1500.  Wosley lost it to Henry during the time of applying for his divorce from Catherine of Aragon. The palace was further developed by William III.

Alex was disappointed there was no lavish gilding like Versailles had. The rooms are really tall and there is wooden panelling, probably oak, that covers the walls. Those oak trees must have been magnificent. The doors are huge and heavy timber. There isn't much furniture from the period in the palace. There are huge tapestries covering some of the walls. The Great Hall had long banqueting tables set up. All along the walls above our heads were stag horns. A small room next to it had many more of the horns. Spoils of the hunts I assume.

We wandered round and round the rooms. I had coffee and carrot cake for lunch in the Privy (private) Kitchen. This was built by Elizabeth I away from her apartments so she didn't smell and hear the food preparations. Floors like all these old places, are worn tiles and stones. I was walking on the same floors that had been traversed by Henry and Elizabeth.

The last place we visited there was the Great Vine. It was planted in 1769 and is the largest grape vine in the world. I expected a grape vine to be grown over a trellis or up a wall. This is grown over a huge trellis but under glass - of course, it needs more heat than England would have! It is 4 metres around the base. The grapes are sold in early September.

The rain had set in again while we were inside. 1.50 procured a plastic poncho for Alex who has no raincoat, or umbrella now. We walked back to the station and trained it back to Waterloo. Had a brief look in M & S store in Waterloo station. There are a lot of sandwiches and food choices you could grab quite cheaply for lunch or dinner in most of these stores - M & S, Sainsburys.

Dinner was at Pride of Paddington pub. Fish and chips. I exchanged mushy peas, which I loathe, for a bit of salad. There was no curry sauce. Dessert was apple crumble - it didn't mention it also had rhubarb - with Devonshire cream custard. It was huge and I couldn't eat it all.

Tomorrow we check out of Cardiff and head up to the Hilton Metropole to join our tour group. We are also planning to go to Madame Tussard's. Have purchased tickets online for 3 attractions - Tussards, London Eye and Sea Life Aquarium 51GBP. We can use the ticket to enter the last two places any time in the next 30 days.


 




  

Museums

After a hearty breakfast (3 courses of it for me), we set off for the museums on Exhibition St. Weather was predicted to be rain - they even issued a Yellow Rain warning, whatever that is. It was cloudy but fine when we walked down through Kensington Gardens towards Albert Hall. The museums don't open till 10 so it was a leisurely start to the day.

Arrived at Science Museum about 9:40 and the line for entry was just forming. The rain started, not much at first but increased until it was unpleasant for Alex whose umbrella had committed hari kari (just can't get quality at those $2 shops any more). He went across the street to shelter in a doorway while I held the line position. I didn't really think, at that stage, that we needed a line position. I learned later that yes you do. They open right on 10 - no pity for those outside who were slowly melting in the rain.

We headed to the top floor first. It was quiet and easy to view all the planes and flying machines. Some of those early machines are really small. They look like they have been put together in the back shed out of leftovers. Those early aviators had guts! They had the Apollo 10 capsule - much smaller than I imagined it would be, and Sputnik which was tiny compared to Apollo 10!

Wandered down through the floors. There were exhibitions of Churchill's scientists, old household appliances (we were playing Oh I remember those!), industrial machinery, and more. A lot is set up for kids. Who turned up in abundance. My Brownie camera made another appearance. I had a number of Really? Who knew???? moments. Like who knew that Britain started work on the atomic bomb - without the US. After a year, there was no money to continue the work and USA was called in to provide it. It became the Manhattan Project.

Next door is the Natural History Museum. The line for this snaked up and down Exhibition St. I think it took about 35 minutes to get inside. At least it wasn't raining now. There were lots of kids. School holidays here until 31 August.

Once again, it is really set up for kids. Lots of hands on stuff which didn't really appeal. We went up a really high escalator into a glowing red Earth to learn about things like earthquakes with a rumbling floor to demonstrate. Reminded me of the old Earthquake movie when they had the speakers under the floor. This museum has the rocks and stones and crystals. The animal skeletons. In the main hall is an impressive dinosaur skeleton. There was another long line which was apparently for the dinosaurs. It was peopled by parents and their offspring. We decided to give it a miss. There is also a full scale model of a blue whale. I think the skeleton of one in the Perth museum was more impressive.

It was a bit sad to see how small some of the kids were who had been dragged to this museum. A lot of the stuff was beyond their years - except perhaps the dinosaurs. Earnest fathers explaining space craft to bewildered 5 years old and bored teens. Lots of babies and toddlers, many who had just had enough for the day. It was also hot and stuffy in there.

Across the road and running the length of both the previous two museums, is the Victoria and Albert museum. No lines here and few kiddies. There is just Stuff everywhere - old bits of buildings, pottery, statues, materials, shoes. Somewhere in the Medieval rooms, I had enough. Everything was hurting from so much walking. I sat in the entry hall while Alex charged on through the rest of it.

It was raining again when we stepped out and even thundered. This Yellow Rain event wasn't that exciting. I was expecting torrential downpours to be worthy of a coloured warning, but it was just wet.

Tube back to Paddington and for a rest before dinner at local Italian and a short walk up Praed St before it started raining again. Hope we are a lot fitter from this walking by the time the tour starts! We will both sleep well tonight. I am so tired that a lot of the day is a blur. Three museums in one day - probably not a good idea.
 

Cardiff Hotel and Little Venice

We arrived at the Cardiff Hotel around 8am. It is in Norfolk Square, a little way down London St, from Paddington Station. The room is nearly ready and we can take our bags and leave them in it, while we can go downstairs and have breakfast if we want. Payment is upfront for the three days we have booked but the early room isn't charged for. Tick 1 for them.

Our room is on the ground floor as requested. There are no lifts and I wasn't keen on dragging bags up narrow stairs. Like many others around here, it is a couple of old townhouses that have been converted. The rooms are small but clean and recently refurbed. The beds are really narrow and Alex reckons he will fall off in the middle of the night. I promise to have camera handy and YouTube account logged in.

Breakfast is a buffet. Seems to have bacon, scrambled and boiled eggs,  baked beans, ham, cheese, cereal, yogurt, fruit (prunes, peaches and fruit salad), toast you make yourself or bread. I can't remember anything else. All good. I am still full and have a little yoghurt and some prunes. And coffee, from their machine, of course.

Little Venice

Decided we needed an excursion today after we had sat (laid) around in the room for a while. So nice to take the shoes off and have a shower after 23 hours flying!

Behind Paddington Station there is a canal system known as Little Venice. It was called that by Browning who lived near there and thought it looked like Venice. It doesn't really. There are narrow canals that used to be the transport system for carrying goods. The boats they used are narrow boats and they really are narrow - I think about 1.8 metres wide and probably 6 metres long. Just a guess.
A lot seemed to be used now for homes, lined up along the sides of the canals.

We went on a cruise on one of the narrows boats, called Perseus, up to Camden Market. The narrow boats used to be pulled by horses that walked on tracks beside the canal. At Maida Vale there is a tunnel where the horses couldn't go. The boatmen would use poles to push the boats while they 'walked' along the tunnel walls - called legging. There really is no shelf at all for them to stand on. The boats are very low in the water too. You could dangle your hand out the window and in the water.

The canal we went on is Regents Canal. It goes through the top end of Regent's Park - didn't get to see any of the park, and through London Zoo. Don't see any animals either. But you can get off at the zoo if you want. Finally it comes into Camden Lock when we disembarked.  I found it interesting. Alex not so much. ah well, them's the breaks.

Camden Markets are on daily. The market started immediately as we got off the boat. The smell of the different foods was amazing and I was hanging for something to eat. Then they go into the market building where there are the usual market kinds of stalls - clothing, jewellery, knicks knacks. The market seems to spread on into Camden High Street for  a way. It was certainly a busy place today.
Unfortunately, it had started drizzling while we were on the boat and the rain came down heavily while we were in the market. There is little shelter and Alex (despite being told it was going to rain in the afternoon! ) had no jacket or umbrella. We decided to head back and started looking for an Underground station. The first one was closed to incoming passengers so we walked and walked while he got wetter and wetter. Finally got to one - I think it was Maidstone St or something.
Tubed it back to Paddington via Charing Cross.

Lunch was Burger King :(   Not quite the tasty morsel I had been planning back in the market.

Now having a lazy afternoon. The rain had stopped while we were on the tube. Tomorrow is predicted to be a Yellow Warning Rain Day. Awesome :/

 

Flights

BA16 Sydney - Singapore. Boeing 777-300 ( I think, could be 777-200). 3 4 3 configuration.

We had paid for our seats so that Alex could have a window and me the aisle. We hoped no one would be in the middle. Sadly, a young fellow with legs about 3 metres long was to be our travelling companion. He had tried to get an aisle seat but the plane was nearly full; and I wasn't giving up mine.

Next problem was that Alex's audio didn't work properly. Couple of headsets and a reset later and it still wasn't working. Mine was fine :) they offered another (middle seat) but it was refused.

We get a plastic wrapped blanket and a pillow thing. I miss the socks and toothbrush packs that Singapore Airlines give out. And the hot towels just after take off and when you wake up in the morning.

We were in a small section of Economy (World Traveller) just behind World Traveller +. It had only 9 rows. Best part was that we got served first (kitchen at back of plane) so there was always a choice of meals. Second best part, there were toilets between us and the rest of World Traveller; although shared with the + people. Never had to wait long and the floor didn't end up wet. I never want to know why that happens!

Not long after take off, we got our first batch of food. The first of many, many batches; we never seemed to stop eating! Small bag of sour cream and chive pretzels and a drink. Guy behind started his wine consumption.
Lunch a while later: bottle water, pesto pasta with a tomato (entrée), main was vegetarian pasta or thai curry, bread roll and butter, lemon pudding, cheese/crackers. I had the pasta. All was nice.
Snack: chicken and mayo sandwich and a snack size Dairy Milk and drink. It was actually a roll and the chicken/mayo sparsely spread on a small section of the middle. Not great.

Guy Behind is loud and got into the groove of something he was watching by tapping against my seat. Hoping he and the missus aren't going to London. Guy in Front has reclined his seat all the way and now the screen is 8 inches off my face. I recline a little bit to compensate and stop the back niggles.

When we get to Singapore, we all start getting our bags from the overheads. There is a ruckus behind. Apparently Guy Behind had moved someone's bag to put his own above his head. The other guy isn't impressed. Words are exchanged. Then Guy Behind starts - fking this and fking that, fking ct. - talking about the other to his wife. Other is wise enough to ignore him. Guy Behind gets many dirty looks. He just can't leave it alone.

There is only a quick stop in Singapore while they refuel and restock. We can't go far in Changi in half hour so hang around the gate. Pity, it's such an interesting and huge place.

Reboarding - we showed our passports 4 times just to get from that lounge back onto plane! No place for silly terrorist jokes!

BA16 Singapore - London.

Shuffle back on board. Sadly, Guy Behind and wife are back with a different person as their third. Middle Guy is also back. The plane is totally full and he can't change seats. Front Guy reclines seat fully as soon as he is allowed. Not that I believe he shouldn't.  The spaces between the seats are now so small and the seats are narrower. I want to be in the + section with their bigger spaces or better still, the funky bed ones up in Club World.

Again, not long after take off we get the pretzels and a drink.
Dinner: Smoked salmon/potato salad entrée. Beef and rice or chicken and vegetables. Chocolate pudding. Roll/butter. Cheese/crackers. Coffee/tea. I had the chicken - looked sad but was actually nice. I am so full I can't eat the dessert and Middle Guy doesn't want it as he can't finish his own.
Breakfast: Juice, yoghurt, full English (pork sausage, scrambled egg tomato mushrooms bacon) or vegetarian omelette, muffin, tea/coffee. I had full English. Was quite good and filling.

Alex's audio still didn't work so he was moved to the crew seats somewhere at back of plane. Middle Guy got to stretch his legs into the vacant space.

Guy Behind and companions talk and laugh quite loudly a lot during the night. He reeks of alcohol when you walk past to go to the loo. In the morning, at breakfast, he asked for a wine - not for brekkie they said. Bet he was sad when he walked out into the morning light. There are no more altercations over bags. However he had stacked his up so people had to be really really careful opening the overhead because it was falling straight back out. Travellers like him I can do without.

 The BA crew are good. Helpful and polite. All in all, I was happy with British Airways but I still like Singapore Air better.

Hope we don't get the same plane going home - or they fix the audio (same seats booked)!

 On arrival at Heathrow, we went to buy tickets for the Heathrow Express. Last time, we caught the local train in peak hour with huge suitcases; not something I want to repeat. After chatting to one of the train people, we purchased a return to Heathrow ticket and an Oyster Card with a weekly card on it. This will allow us to tube and bus all over Zone 1 and 2 for a week, unlimited trips. Cost for both was 74GBP. ( I can't make the pound symbol work for some reason)

Zooming

22nd August . Qantas QF525 (as BA codeshare) to Sydney, then British Airways BA 16 to London via Singapore.

Flight left Brisbane at 12.25pm, arriving Sydney Domestic at 14:00. I had one and half hours to get from Domestic to International, through Border Security  - immigration and customs. The BA flight was leaving at 15:30. Sounds easy, but in peak hour, it would be almost impossible at Sydney airport I'm told. Lucky mine was the afternoon but I was nervous!

I got to Brisbane Domestic around 10:30ish hoping I could snag an earlier flight. The line for International transfer didn't seem that long, but it took ages for the two operatives to process us.  No go on the earlier flight - "perfect amount of time!" I was told. Tip 1: make sure you have plenty of time for all that processing, especially if it is peak hour.

Popped upstairs to wait and have a coffee. Krispy Kreme had a stall right where my gate was. Lucky I don't like them, but myriad Chinese apparently did. Lots of Chinese families on my flight that day. It was noisy!

Flight arrived on time and I jumped up and grabbed my bags ready to exit through the rear door as I had done so many times before. No rear door today folks. So we shuffled through the front one and my anxiety was increasing! My flight came in at one of the early gates and I had to get to Gate 15 for the transfer bus. It is sooo far! I never realised how much room one gate took up till I tried to zoom my unfit body carrying two bags. There were lots waiting for the bus to come and when it pulled in, I zoomed again to the front of the line. Lot of slow mo zooming went on today. I'm sure a lot of people didn't get on it. Tip 2: get in the front of the line.

On arrival at Sydney International, all I had, theoretically, to do was go up the escalator, through Border Security and turn right for the BA gates. Tip 3: - get in the right line for the Smart gate! It was fairly quiet actually and I got through pretty quickly. But my right turn was blocked. Some kind of construction going on - go this way to Gate 51 (10 minutes). More zoom. I was thirsty and I needed to pee!

Finally made it to Gate 51, hot and red faced. Found Alex and left my bags while I went in search of toilets (none in close proximity with the renos) and a drink machine that had signs about coins and notes, but no actual slots to take any. No peeing was done. Back to the gate and we were boarding.

So, in reality, you need every bit of that hour and half if you don't plan on the zoom method. And more, if your connecting flight was late. Note: make sure there is a bigger gap next time!