For once, a relatively straight-forward journey (traffic-wise) from my office in Hollywood, via Aventura Mall (shopping for last minute gifts for my girls, and obligatory Starbucks Venti!) to the Dollar drop-off location. The nice people at Dollar had upgraded me to a Sebring convertible - which was nice - so it was hood down all the way. As I approached the airport, grey clouds threatened, but I got away with it.
Very rapid turn around at Dollar, and transfer to the airport saw me checked in by 4.30pm for a 19.25 flight. Great, I thought, plenty of time to hook up with the wifi to update my laptop pre-flight. Unfortunately, wifi was not working. [:(!]
Club America CH is as usual - kind of comfortable, but tired looking. Still, better than being in the main waiting area.
Couple of hours passed by quickly enough, and I was soon on my way to the aircraft. Security was a breeze (what IS wrong with MIA recently [;)] - see o/b trip report!), and I whistled on to G-VWIN, Lady Luck who was kindly waiting for me at gate E8, the normal VS stand.
Settled in 10A, I was surprised to hear that, despite a healthy load, everyone was boarded quite early, and at 19.10 (15 minutes early!), we were pushed back from Gate E8. With a tail swing to left, we were sent on our way to Runway 8R.
Miami is relatively quiet, at least compared to LHR, so there was only a minimal wait. At exactly 19.25, we unstuck from Runway 8R and departed straight out, over Miami with I-195 just to my left. Estimated flight time was announced by the pilot to be around 7 hours 45 minutes, with a local arrival time predicted of 8.10am.
Climbout was very smooth, with only light cloud and no turbulence, and just 10 minutes after takeoff, the seatbelt signs were extinguished and cabin lights dimmed slightly. Cue the bar [}:)].
I must have imbibed more than I thought, as my notes seem to have a distinct gap between my arrival at the bar, and my waking up in the morning [:I]. So sorry, I can't remember the dinner. I do remember though that there was a new type of table. On the original UC suite, when pushing the release button, the table just popped out. With the new design, it actually lifts out on a motor about half-way, making it slightly easier to open fully. Unfortunately, I also remember it is no easier to put away, and you can still accidentally trigger a release, and obviously with a motorised semi-opening, this is slightly more annoying than previously. Not sure if it is an improvement or not [:?].
After dinner, I settled down to a movie, then sleep.
I was woken by the cockpit crew announcing that we were shortly about to make our decent into Heathrow. It was 7.40am local, and whilst very bright outside, it was fairly cloudy, though with signs that the cloud would burn off quite quickly.
A quick change out of my sleepsuit and into some clothes for landing. Seatbelt signs went on about 8am, and mercifully, after only two tours of the holding pattern, we started a fairly quick decent, passing to the east above Gatwick, over south London before banking left over about the Elephant and Castle for a straight-in approach to LHR RWY 27R. A very smooth touchdown at 8.23am local and a brisk deceleration brought us smartly towards T3, and within minutes, we were parked at stand 314/gate 14. Amusingly, it seems as though the ground crew may have not been ready for us, as it was a further 5 minutes before the airbridge was brought into place.
At this point, I should mention that the crew were all exemplarary. Had a good chat wth the lovely FSM and SCC at the bar. Even managed to 'spread the word' on V-Flyer [;)].
After a swift exit, there then followed the usual marathon journey to immigration. However at this point, I turned swiftly left to the new IRIS cubicles, and was out in seconds. In fact, I reckon I was the first to baggage reclaim by a good three minutes, but it was probably another 3 or 4 minutes before I had any serious competition for space at the baggage carousel.
Despite the long walk from plane to baggage reclaim, I also beat the bags there by a good 10 minutes, which was not so good. I could almost smell the eggs and bacon in Revivals! Of course, just to welcome me back to blighty, despite being only 20' away from the carousel, and at the very start of it, some hippy slob squeezed himself in front of me! He was so close that as he turned his head, I got a face full of his hair! Nice one, a******[n]. My bag was about the third one out, so I just reached round him and dragged my bag roughly around him. I hope I didn't hit him [}:)].
Scooted off to Revivals, where the ever-friendly staff asked if I would like a shower. Yes please! I was told there was a bit of a wait, so went to get some breakfast. Of course, no sooner than I had sat down, I was told my shower was ready. Doh! I was told the shower would wait for me, and it did. Also pleased to report that it was nice and hot [y].
Mcuth had contacted me after seeing my flight itinerary, and suggested meeting up in Revivals for a chat, so after my shower, I hung around for an hour or so waiting for his flight to come in from SFO. He duly arrived, and we had a good chat about all things V-Flyer, as mcuth is the first person I have actually met from the forum. BTW Michael, I wouldn't have described you as drunk, just tired-looking [:P].
All in all, a most agreeable flight. After my excellent o/b trip earlier in the week, I have to rate this whole trip as my best ever.
Rock on VS!
