#893908 by pjh
30 Jan 2015, 00:12
And so, after two weeks in Sao Paulo, it was time to come home. Too much time in the hotel, the office, taxis and places where meat was the only thing on the menu mean that I was really, really looking forward to that moment of lifting off the runway.
Not that everything had been bad, though the view from my room was the standard consultant view of the dual carriageway.

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Well, the bridge did light up at night
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I did manage an arty snap.

Photo 17-01-2015 10 07 15 (1) compressed.jpg
I wanted to call this "Reflections on a Fractured Society"
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And wondered what the obsession was with German sailors. I was determined not to have to go to the dentist.

Photo 17-01-2015 19 52 42 compressed.jpg
There were restaurants where the waiters dressed the same way
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There were also some astonishing storms, which I never managed to capture. The one that turned the dual carriageway below the office into a river in 20 minutes was quite something.

Anyhow, after dire warnings about the 2 hours plus it would take to get to the airport we made it in 40 minutes. Luckily Priority Pass came to the rescue and we whiled away the time here, missing the cheese balls and the hotel’s juicer.

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Not terribly welcoming, to be honest
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Boarding was on time and well organised, and I had taken the BA offer to upgrade (and pay for seat choice) to WT+ so had 29K which has no seat in front of it. Again, the aircraft was quite tatty, and the yellowing 1970’s lightshades in CW did not help.

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Star Alliance lounge
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Despite upgrading, I slept less well on this leg than on the outbound and am far from convinced it was worth the money. My relaxation was not helped by waking up from my slumber to find my neighbour had stowed my IFE screen and plonked his sweaty size 10’s on the table in front of me (per the picture). Lacking the confidence that comes naturally to others, I did what any right thinking Guardian reader would so instead of pointing out the error of his ways and asking him to mend them, I put my reading light to wake him on and pretended to go to sleep. Passive aggressive, is I think the term.
Food was dreadful this time around. A slab of something approaching meat but without any flavour at all was the main, and I really wished I hadn’t bothered. Breakfast was a molten cheese and ham panini which was so stuck to its contained I may have feasted on ham, cheese and polystyrene.

Into London on time, to be greeted by “Border Force” personnel who were clearly looking for someone (my sweaty footed next door neighbours was being grilled as I passed by) and then to passport control. Egates rammed, boring old manual inspection empty so I forsook the modern and went for the shorter queue. Bags off in random order, and then through to find my driver just arriving. A record hour and a quarter back home (of which I slept an hour) and then to the pub for lunch..

Edited to add...is it childish to snigger at a sign in the airport than says "Brazilians this way"?
Last edited by pjh on 30 Jan 2015, 21:38, edited 2 times in total.
#893910 by ratechaser
30 Jan 2015, 00:59
pjh wrote:And so, after two weeks in Sao Paulo, it was time to come home. Too much time in the hotel, the office, taxis and places where meat was the only thing on the menu mean that I was really, really looking forward to that moment of lifting off the runway.
Not that everything had been bad, though the view from my room was the standard consultant view of the dual carriageway.

Photo 12-01-2015 10 49 22 compressed.jpg


I did manage an arty snap.

Photo 17-01-2015 10 07 15 (1) compressed.jpg


And wondered what the obsession was with German sailors. I was determined not to have to go to the dentist.

Photo 17-01-2015 19 52 42 compressed.jpg


There were also some astonishing storms, which I never managed to capture. The one that turned the dual carriageway below the office into a river in 20 minutes was quite something.

Anyhow, after dire warnings about the 2 hours plus it would take to get to the airport we made it in 40 minutes. Luckily Priority Pass came to the rescue and we whiled away the time here, missing the cheese balls and the hotel’s juicer.

Photo 23-01-2015 16 53 52 compressed.jpg


Boarding was on time and well organised, and I had taken the BA offer to upgrade (and pay for seat choice) to WT+ so had 29K which has no seat in front of it. Again, the aircraft was quite tatty, and the yellowing 1970’s lightshades in CW did not help.

Photo 23-01-2015 19 30 40 compressed.jpg


Despite upgrading, I slept less well on this leg than on the outbound and am far from convinced it was worth the money. My relaxation was not helped by waking up from my slumber to find my neighbour had stowed my IFE screen and plonked his sweaty size 10’s on the table in front of me (per the picture). Lacking the confidence that comes naturally to others, I did what any right thinking Guardian reader would so instead of pointing out the error of his ways and asking him to mend them, I put my reading light to wake him on and pretended to go to sleep. Passive aggressive, is I think the term.
Food was dreadful this time around. A slab of something approaching meat but without any flavour at all was the main, and I really wished I hadn’t bothered. Breakfast was a molten cheese and ham panini which was so stuck to its contained I may have feasted on ham, cheese and polystyrene.

Into London on time, to be greeted by “Border Force” personnel who were clearly looking for someone (my sweaty footed next door neighbours was being grilled as I passed by) and then to passport control. Egates rammed, boring old manual inspection empty so I forsook the modern and went for the shorter queue. Bags off in random order, and then through to find my driver just arriving. A record hour and a quarter back home (of which I slept an hour) and then to the pub for lunch..

Edited to add...is it childish to snigger at a sign in the airport than says "Brazilians this way"?


Thank you for the lovely pair (ok, insert snigger here if needed) of TRs. Assuming you had 'old' WT+, I agree from my experience that it's certainly not comparable with PE on virgin. That was my 1 (ever, in 30 years) upgrade, and whilst I tried to be gracious about it, I did feel it was a let down.

Incidentally, on the subject of sniggering, my wife told me she had had a Brazilian recently. Turns out it's a form of (head) hair treatment to deal with frizz. Hmm...
#893970 by Maximus
31 Jan 2015, 07:00
Agree that new WT+ is a significant improvement over the old version.

Not the best trip for you but thanks for the TR and photos and glad you got home safely.

Hats off to all of you who have to work away from home for extended periods. I would hate it and prefer to keep travel for holidays only.

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