V-Flyer

So, those bmi to Avios miles were burning a hole in my pocket, and that 'rainy day' seemed to be an excuse to let them gather dust.

So I decided to go back to my favourite city, Copenhagen, and, in the process, discovered the joy of British Airways' "Reward Saver". £40 + miles in Club Europe. What's not to like?

To HEATHROW!
In my efforts to try new and 'interesting' ways to get places, I decided to forego the Heathrow Express, Piccadilly Line and *cough* N9 bus to get to Heathrow.

TfL operate a limited stop service from Croydon to Heathrow Bus Station. It's the X26, and is basically free to Travelcard holders, and a bargain £1.40 if you have a Pay and Go Oyster Card. Enough about that. This bus is seriously slow.

Perhaps it was the roadworks, my tiredness and the awful weather, but having left Croydon at 7am sharp, I reached Heathrow at 940am. And I had to change at Hatton Cross, for an interminably slow bus to Terminal 5. Never ever ever ever again.

The journey was made bearable by a fellow passenger called Sinead and we talked for the entire journey, about British Airways, Aer Lingus, Ryanair, the Tories etc. Basically, we sorted the world out. No need to thank us.

TERMINAL FIVE

Terminal 5 was busy but had a lovely air of calm. I had forgotten that in Club Europe you get to use the Fast Track security channel and followed the signs. I was *slightly* miffed about the walk to lanes 1 and 2 but the staff were charming and I was through in about a minute, and my slight miffment was gone when I saw the welcoming blue of the Galleries lounge right in front of me.

BA GALLERIES LOUNGE
I didn't like the lounge at first. There was a nice selection of newspapers, however it seemed very busy and I felt like I was sharing the table with strangers. I attempted to get some refreshments - questions like : do I leave my hand luggage 'unattended', do I drag it with me crossed my mind and I decided to leave it at the seat, and had a self service bacon roll and some pastries. Again, another thing that miffed me was that the tables were too low to really use to dine from so I had this awkward balancing plate maneovre as I tried to eat. Now no one has suffered more than me.

There was another part of the lounge visible through a glass partition, that looked quieter, but no clear signage as to whether that was open to me, whether you could take food through etc. so I stayed where I was, sipping a very refreshing orange juice.

After finishing the paper (I know, you're half way through the trip report and not one photograph) I decided to go for a dander.

Oh! When I came into the lounge I never even considered the possibility of turning left (force of habit), and that was when I sensed there were far more seats and the place seemed far more spacious than I thought.

And there were showers! So I had a shower. I had been up since five and it was now half ten so I reckoned I deserved it.

The lady at the reception handed me a vibrator that buzzed in my pocket when the shower was ready. (Steady on!!) She was really nice and asked if I was related to the footballer. One look at me should have given her the answer!

It was a great shower. There is an overhead waterfall shower, jets and a hand held option too, and you can listen to music. I left feeling happy and refreshed and bored so I went to the gate.

Boarding was not in anyway organised. There was a FAST TRACK sign but I have found that there's always a rush to board, and then a queue on the jetbridge.

BA 816

I had seat 3A and settled in. It was typical of my BA European flights - you get this feeling that the plane needs a good scrub. I brushed crumbs off the seat and settled in.

The legroom was fine, but the seat pocket was falling apart. The Highlife Magazine (February issue) was really tatty for a flight on 1st February!



Staff were very friendly, a bit more senior than on recent flights, which I like.
Take off was delayed by 13 minutes, the cabin crew repeating a few times that the flight was very busy to passengers and helping them pack the overhead lockers.

Just before drinks were served I took a peek at the view



Drinks and snacks first...


Naturally...

I was relieved at this warning...


I had another champagne with lunch. The option was a smoked salmon salad or a fruit plate. I had the fruit plate, the passenger in 3C had the salmon and it looked very nice actually.



That Apple Danish was piping hot. Too hot almost. Underneath was a bagel. And the croissant had ham and cheese in it. All together a pretty tasty offering.

The flight was uneventful, we landed in Wonderful, Wonderful Copenhagen a few minutes ahead of schedule.

Cheers!

Nice report - what's more to say!

Enjoyed the quirky style!

You have also just reminded me of why I avoid any form of bus travel, ever!

Thank you for the great TR and pics.

Great TR, I must try out the vibrator when I visit next week!

Jacki wrote:Great TR, I must try out the vibrator when I visit next week!

It's a public space!

Sealink, thanks for a great TR. I may be missing something, but which footballer are we talking about?

That was one long bus ride. One of the few cities in the UK that does an airport bus service well is Edinburgh.

I remember our first experience of those vibrating thingamajigs in the US back in 1998 at one of the Cheesecake Factory outlets. We sat staring at it as if was a thing of wonder...