Long Day

The location of the Travelodge adjacent to Rugby Railway Station meant we had an early start to our departure day.  After breakfast we repacked and weighed our bags confirming the total weight as 37kg.  Although it’s a very short walk to the station, I was pleased we had our cheap folding luggage trolley.  Without it would have involved multiple trips.  Of course I had purchased cheap tickets which meant we were on the slow train.  But then that made it all the more nostalgic.  Watford Gap, Buckby Locks, Whilton Marina, Weedon, Wolverton, Milton Keynes, Leighton Buzzard, Grove Lock, Berkhampstead,etc, etc.  Jan needed to get out a tissue and wipe her eyes.  In the second half of the journey we may have seen nb Oleanna, but unfortunately no sign of Mick & Pip as we raced past.

Our cheap luggage trolley suffered a hernia at Euston Station when I dragged it over the gap between the carriage and platform.  Heath Robinson repairs enabled us to use it for the remainder of the journey to Heathrow.  Jan wasn’t keen on experiencing the claustrophobic effect of the Tube so we took a taxi from Euston to Paddington where we then caught the Airport Express to Terminal 2.  Our flight departure time was 8.50pm which meant we had eight hours to fill in at Heathrow.  The plan of inquiring about an upgrade failed when we realised the check-in was self service so we resigned ourselves to the thought of 12 hours in cattle class!   There seemed little point in waiting around outside the secure zone and we went through security.  Immigration was a non event being self-service.

Most airports are only a slight variation on a standard theme so I wont write much about Terminal 2.  Jan bought a few items, but mostly we just sat around waiting.  I had attempted to book good seats two weeks ago only to discover most of them were blanked out leaving the impression the aircraft was going to be full.  Actually I couldn’t get us seated together.  However I made a second attempt whilst at the Travelodge and did managed to reserve two co-located seats.  It was a pleasant surprise to discover the third seat in our row of 3 was going to be unoccupied.  We ended up with an empty seat between us… Result!  However if I had booked seats further towards the rear we might have scored a row each as there were plenty of vacant seats.

I might have managed six hours sleep during the 13 hour flight to Singapore and Jan got slightly less.  But any sleep is better than none so I’m not complaining.  The in-flight food was OK which shouldn’t be surprising as we were flying with Singapore Airlines.  It was only a one hour stop at Singapore, which didn’t particularly bother either of us.  We once lived there for two years and have been through Changi Airport on numerous occasions.  I was determined not to sleep during the 5 hour flight to Perth.  This would assist my body to adjust to the new time zone and as our arrival was scheduled for midnight I wanted to sleep after we arrived and hopefully until dawn.  There we no issues transiting through arrivals.  Probably because Jan was keen to report she was carrying confectionery.  The Ag & Fish lady just waved us through.  My sister and brother-in-law Paul had kindly agreed to collect us from the airport.  It is particularly good of Paul to come as he had a 5.30am start that same morning.  They delivered us to our accommodation by 1am and by 2am we were showered and in bed.  The subsequent four hours sleep was most welcome.  I’ll write more when we get better internet.