V-Flyer

It is hard to believe but it is nearly fifteen months since I set foot on a Virgin Atlantic plane; my gold card has morphed into silver and early next year I shall be naught but a lowly red. Oh, it’s not as if I have not travelled during that time - many of you will have followed my jaunt around South America in Other Trip Reports last November and I had a couple of quick trips to the UK where I had the pleasure of meeting some of you, but for all intents and purposes, it looked like Virgin and I were not on speaking terms. So what happened to cause this “estrangement”? Well let me stress it was nothing to do with Virgin Atlantic - my flights had, for the most part, been excellent with only one that left much to be desired but that hadn’t been the last one and so the love affair continued. Indeed a less than stellar experience on BA to BA did nothing to diminish it. No, my absence from the portals of VS were because of circumstances beyond my control.

I won’t bore you with the gory details - if you want those then go to my TR to SFOfrom last year (and while you’re at it, enjoy my trips around Alaska in Other Trip Reports and my return from YVR). Suffice it to say that the night before my flight a flood engulfed my town and with it my house. The water subsided to allow me to make the trip and I left thinking I had lost two carpets but returned to something much, much worse and indeed beyond my worst nightmare! My house is old; how old I don’t know but it has been in my husband’s family for nigh on 100 years and is practically in the centre of a town which is currently celebrating the 400th anniversary of the granting of its charter. It therefore would not have been built to modern standards or methods. The walls had floor to ceiling timbers packed with brick and stone and in the absence of any damp course, these timbers were now so rotten that they crumbled to the touch as if made of Weetabix; indeed one load-bearing wall started to move as the plaster was removed! The stairs were rotten and had to come down and I had no option but to move out while my home went from this to this to this. The insurance covered most of the flood damage but the rotten timbers were considered “wear and tear”. In addition, I took the opportunity to remodel part of the house which included knocking down a wall between two rooms to make one larger (and much nicer one). The insurance company quibbled a little before they paid out and insisted I did remedial work on the kitchen. This basically meant replacing some of the kickboards, but never being a person to do things by halves this became this!! All of this meant that the piggy bank known as the HLHF (Honey Lamb Holiday Fund) had to be raided and as that was not enough, I needed to go SKIing (Spending the Kid’s Inheritance - although Aer John was surprisingly cool about it). This, of course meant that I had to wave goodbye to my annual pilgrimage to San Francisco especially as I really wanted and needed to visit my brother in South Africa later this year and any spare dosh was needed to finance that.

January was a grim month! It is usually the month that I plan the summer holidays - in other words, book my flight to SFO - and that was a non-starter. However a couple of things happened which were to change things. The first had occurred in the previous August when, completely to my surprise I started a new job which I had never expected nor sought!. It started with a general conversation with my now employer during the course of which he mentioned he was looking for someone to job-share with a new male employee and was looking for a female for gender balance and did I know of anyone who might be interested. On the spur of the moment I expressed an interest and after a cooling-off period to think about it carefully, took the bull by the horns and six years into my retirement, started work again. As an aside, I absolutely love it. It is the most satisfying job I have ever, ever done and I was always happy in my work - well except when I had the boss from h*ll!! It does however pay peanuts and so it was the end of January before I began to see any benefit from it. The second was as a consequence of the Presidential election in the USA when the State of Washington voted in favour of gay marriage. At the first opportunity, afraid that the decision would be reversed as had happened in California, two good friends of mine headed off to the local courthouse in Seattle and in a rather dingy courtroom surrounded by such paraphernalia as kettles, computer monitors and heaps of files, they plighted their troth. Amid our congratulations, they indicated that they would be holding a party in September and that I would be one of the invitees. My initial reaction was that it too was a non-starter but in February my travel buddy, Chris, who had been a witness at the wedding came over to Ireland for MLK weekend and somehow managed to twist my arm but I still didn’t know how.

After Chris’s departure I applied myself to researching flights. At this stage the most basic Z was beyond my means and I was relying on a reward flight but because the FC bank had been depleted last year I was looking at an M fare to upgrade to UC with miles. My usual route to SEA was via SFO with an onward flight on VX. So long as I was in SEA for the day of the party I was uber-flexible with my dates but, try as I might, reward flights to SFO and even LAX were into the realm of hen’s teeth and rocking horse poo. Please, dear Lord, please, please, please, I prayed, don’t let me have to fly economy on BA to SEA - and while you’re at it, please do not let me fly BA ever again if possible. The good Lord responded by planting the idea of YVR in my head. Why not? After all, I had returned from YVR last year and although I had been unwell during the flight (although not enough to alert the crew or divert the plane) it had been good. A quick search showed G availability on days that would suit me and so emails and text messages were sent to mine host and a friend in Vancouver to see if they were suitable for them but they were rather tardy in replying and the Gs were gone! Ah well, it was a nice idea while it lasted and I put the idea of the trip out of my head. There were a few twinges of regret as I thought of what might have been but one morning an invitation popped in through the letterbox which had me rushing to the VS website once more. Gs were back in force for the YVR routes, albeit on different dates but ones that could work. Emails were sent once more and this time the replies were more speedy but not in time to nab the return. Day in and day out, nay hour in and hour out I scoured the website for that elusive G and eventually persistence had its own reward when a return G on the day I wanted, popped up. Within minutes I was on the phone to the Flying Club and in the fullness of time, two Ms upgraded to Gs were in the bag! Result! The only thing that needed to be sorted was my transit from YVR to Seattle. I thought about renting a car but wondered about crossing the border with it; looked at train and bus options but the timings were not the best unless I went the following day; flights between YVR and SEA were pricey given the shortness of the distance between the two but when I weighed up the cost of an hotel in YVR + the rail/bus fare between the two cities, there was very little in the difference. Moreover Alaska Air had a flight departing three hours after the flight from London. Perfect! I was now all systems go!

There was just one other decision to make. My ESTA had expired and my passport was due to expire next February. In addition, I was going to South Africa in November and I needed to have one and preferably two blank pages on the said passport (and possibly six months validity). Common sense told me that I should renew but it was like losing an old and very dear friend - after all it had taken me all over the world, had had visas pasted into it in countries I had never thought I would visit when it first came into my possession, had more VS security stickers on it than you could shake a stick at and although it would be returned to me with the new one, I really didn’t want a new one. Moreover, unlike the UK, my passport would be renewed from the date of application with no credit for the remaining months. Alas, there was no option but to renew (oh, and how I wish I could have used the photo from two passports ago!) and soon my new passport was with me followed by a brand new ESTA. I was good to go!

At T- 23.30, I did OLCI from Cork Airport on my iPhone. I wasn’t in quest of the elusive SEQ 1; all I wanted to do was guarantee my seat selection and have my boarding pass sent to Passbook. That was the exciting bit - not SEQ 1. OLCI completed and in the fullness of time, the email came through confirming my check-in. I couldn’t work out how to get it over to Passbook but in any case my flight to LHR was now boarding so I had to leave it until after I arrived in LHR.

Those of you who had read my TR of this flightwill know I had as company the Demon Duvet, which on arrival was consigned to the left luggage office in T1 for the night. Worn out from the battle with DD and still recovering from the Embarrassing Incident, I felt disinclined at 9.30pm to trek over to the Central Bus Station and seek out a bus going down the Bath Road to my hotel so I took the over-priced Hoppa bus, which fortunately arrived within minutes and soon deposited me at the Premier Inn. Heretofore I had frequently bid for hotels on Priceline and had generally had good success with the 4* hotels, but a couple of stays in Premier Inns convinced me that they were good value for money, especially when one was arriving late in the evening and leaving early the next morning. I quickly checked in - very quickly, in fact, and within ten minutes of arriving I was happily poking around my room before picking up my iPad and heading down to the bar for a nightcap. It goes without saying that I had a G&T which was served rather incongruously by a panda! I rubbed my eyes in disbelief and looked a second time. Yes, it was a panda! The bar itself was quiet (although another bar which was showing soccer at the other side of the reception area was busy) but anyone coming into my bar seemed quite unfazed at being served by a panda. Mind you, it did serve a very nice G&T - Tanqueray, no less! One of the nice things about the Premier Inn is that you get 30 minutes free wifi per day per device, so that with my iPad and iPhone that was plenty for me to check what had been happening in my world in the last couple of hours and perhaps try and sort out the boarding pass/Passbook issue. Unfortunately the wifi that night was extremely flaky and little could be done on either device although at one stage the email complete with boarding pass popped into my Inbox on the iPad! Which didn’t have the Passbook app! Of course it never occurred to me to resend it to myself and pick it up on the iPhone and in any case I gave up on the wifi and headed for bed after bidding the panda goodnight.

I woke up earlier than I planned and even after snuggling back down in the bed, sleep eluded me and so I decided to get up and make my leisurely way to LHR and the delights of the Clubhouse. I’m not sure what time it was when I set out as my flight didn’t leave till mid-afternoon but I rather think it was about 9.30am. Not wanting to have the hassle of trekking from the Central Bus Station to T1 and then over to T3, I passed on the free bus service from outside the hotel and caught the Hoppa. I was soon to wish I hadn’t! The driver was Mr Joke-a-Minute! He cracked jokes right, left and centre most of which were lost on the passengers all of whom seemed to be travelling to their various homelands, none of which were English speaking! He also told us that he always works the early shift and all I could think of was that his wife must be relieved to have him out of the house until she has had at least three cups of coffee to allow her to face the day and his return! In fairness he did point out the newly arrived BA A380 and redeemed himself for about 30 seconds before he was back to the jokes again. T1 never looked as wonderful when we arrived. Once there, I was sorely tempted to leave the Demon Duvet to its fate but a promise to a friend is a promise and so I made my way to retrieve it. Of course there wasn’t a trolley to be seen. WTF? Every time one sees programmes like Airport and Airline, there are always shots of airport staff taking a long line of trolleys for a walk! Obviously they had been taken out for a breath of fresh air as there was none to be seen in the concourse. Aha! I spied one abandoned near the toilets. Result! Er, no. Dear friends, if you find a trolley abandoned and not allowed to go for its daily stroll with its companions, it’s obviously for a reason. I, however was so delighted to see it that I failed to ponder on this and nabbed it before anyone else could do so and trundled it over to claim the Demon Duvet. The trolley was duly loaded and immediately morphed into the Terrible Trolley. It had behaved perfectly when I dragged it over to the Excess Baggage but the minute my luggage was loaded it decided to have fun and kept on veering to the right. So, pointing it to the left to try and keep some form of a straight line, I struggled through the bowels of Heathrow to T3. Oh, the irony! As I emerged from the lift by the entrance to T3, there was a line of trolleys just finishing their promenade. I swear I could hear them laughing at me as they trundled past!

With a sigh of relief I entered the portals of T3 where soon I could divest myself of the evil twins of the Demon Duvet and Terrible Trolley. Just as I arrived in the UC check-in area a desk became available and I approached it to a warm welcome, but not before someone bumped into me on her way to the ticketing desk and nearly knocked me over. Did she acknowledge it in any way? Nope! The check-in lady looked at me with raised eyebrows and asked if I was OK. I affirmed that I was and she proceeded to check me in a way which was balm to my wounded spirit - well, that’s a bit OTT, so let’s just say that it was a very pleasant experience (especially waving goodbye to the Demon Duvet) and gets top marks from me. Having assured her that I knew my way to the Clubhouse I headed off to the lift just ahead of my assailant and thence into the security channel. OMIGOD, it was heaving! The line stretched back halfway down the corridor leading to it. In front of me were at least four couples, including a wheelchair user and as time passed there were ten waiting behind me. One of those was the young lady who had bumped in to me who was on the phone to her bank. Her mad dash to Ticketing had obviously been to upgrade to Upper and the whole world heard that as she rabbited on to her bank to ensure it cleared on her credit card. The good news from my perspective was that she was going to LAX, which somehow didn’t surprise me. Once her phone call was over she proceeded to complain loudly at the length of the queue, saying that people who had paid thousands of pounds shouldn’t have to wait. Have you ever tried Fast Track in the main security area, darling? I’ve often waited longer there before the private security channel opened. When I neared the top of the queue one of the VS staff was on the phone to someone to try to get extra staff to alleviate the situation and it was obvious that security itself was short-staffed and the ones there were working flat out. In spite of this they were pleasant and professional and I was swiftly through and after a quick dash through the duty free area, I was being warmly welcomed to the Clubhouse.

Ah, dear Clubhouse, how I have missed you! Once there, I made straight for the Spa and booked a treatment before bagging one of the hanging chairs and then heading over to the brasserie for brekkie. I usually have Eggs Benedict, but aware of how small that portion is I decided on the English breakfast which was absolutely delicious. While waiting for the meal I logged on to the wifi which was behaving itself, unlike my last visit to the CH, and within minutes the email on my iPhone beeped. It was a second email from VS complete with the boarding pass for Passbook!! Breakfast arrived shortly after and was delicious although the various portions were a bit skimpy. I wasn’t offered any bread and having cleared my plate, I was contemplating trying to mooch some toast when my phone beeped once more. Someone we know was in LHR for work and wanted to know if I was in the airport. When I confirmed that I was in the CH I was asked if I could pop out for a few minutes. Abandoning all thoughts of toast, I headed downstairs for a pleasant 15 minutes chat, before going our separate way - me to return to the hanging chair and hoisting myself in, somewhat inelegantly I must admit. As I snuggled down ready to catch up with what had happened in my little world since I left Cork, I smugly thought that, as I wasn’t in the hanging chair immediately behind the bar, I would fare better than on previous occasions when I had been ignored. Wrong! The Cloak of Invisibility, which by all accounts from others’ TR reports had been put in mothballs, had now been taken out, shook and sent to the dry-cleaners ready for my return and in an invisible ceremonial gesture, had been draped around my shoulders once more. I assembled my gear, plugged in stuff that needed to be re-charged and waited…. and waited…. and waited. Now the bizarre thing was not that the staff did not come near me. No! They patrolled the area diligently, asked customers seated at tables either side of me if they wanted anything, but as far as I was concerned I was persona non grata! Even the Flying Club lady there to pressgang people into joining, or at least asking members whether they were using miles to travel bypassed me. I was beginning to think I was a leper colony of 1! Eventually I managed to nab one of the wait staff and soon a champagne was in my possession but I really must re-think my positioning in the CH as 3 times out of 4 on my last trips I have been ignored when sitting alongside the windows in an hanging chair. After a while I headed down to Boots to get stuff not available in Boots in Ireland and then return to the Spa for my treatment which was superlative.

Feeling refreshed and ready for anything I returned to my seat, making sure I requested a refill of champagne on my way before perusing the menu for lunch. Nothing there grabbed me so I headed to the deli for cheese and biscuits which hit the spot. Oh, I also went round the CH in search of pens, but could I find one? No! They seem to have replaced them all with pencils - cheapskates! And where were the notepads that were so handy? I retaliated by helping myself to quantities of sweets - mostly fudge as the rest were a bit uninspiring. The freebies on offer have really sunk to an all-time low! When I returned to my seat there was a very pleasant young lady seated at the table near my hanging chair. She too, had been covered with the Cloak of Invisibility and had looked wildly around to be served until I apprised her of the situation. She was having difficulty with her phone as she had left her charger at home - or else her husband had it. I lent her mine as all my appliances were fully charged and in the course of the conversation she told me that she was going to Shanghai and that her husband was a pilot with VS and would be one of the pilots on board. It was a very pleasant interlude before her flight was called at which point I ordered another drink. My instincts were right. At that moment the microphone clicked and my flight was announced.

At this stage I should tell you that I had inside information that the loads were light (I already knew that) and that only five were booked into Upper. Indeed I only saw two people leave the CH when the flight was called. I quaffed (not chugged - quaffed) my champagne and made my way to the exit just as the microphone clicked for the final call for the flight and made my way to the gate. Now, of late all my VS flights have been from the gates in the teens or early twenties but this one was from gate thirty-something. The last time I had flown from one of those gates was in 2008 so it was a shock to the system and led to the second Embarrassing Incident - albeit a minor one! Arriving at the gate it was completely deserted, No queues, no passengers, no-one but the check-in staff going through their paperwork. Bliss! Except that I couldn’t see where the entrance was to the gate area - everything was tensa-ed off. I looked and probed and peered but, no I couldn’t see the entrance. Ah, there was a guy who was admitting people to the gate area - great! I headed towards him and offered my boarding pass. Grand - except he was admitting people to an AA flight! He, the darling that he was, unhooked a tensa strip and I was admitted into the portals of the VS gate. I was swiftly through and as there was no-one in the jetbridge, was quickly welcomed on board and soon I was ensconced in 2K with a glass of champagne in my hand. No delay, there then. I presume the Cloak of Invisibility was being put back into mothballs to await my next trip. I should mention that I was in Maiden Tokyo. Now, I honestly don’t mind the A343 and I prefer the layout in the UC cabin to that of the A346 which is like a long dormitory. Of course I would have preferred to have been on Rainbow Lady but you can’t always have everything and I had plenty to entertain me for the trip. In any case I wanted to snooze aware that I had a three hour layover in YVR. I did however notice that the IFE wasn’t switched on at the gate and when I queried it, I was told that because it was VERA-Reel, it couldn’t be paused and therefore there was no point in starting it. Point taken and it made perfect sense but I did say I was disappointed that they couldn’t even show the flight map. On a flight to JNB on SAA in 1994, the map was on the monitors - albeit overhead ones - in LHR and it was fun to watch the plane turning at push-back!

In the fullness of time (and a bit late) we pushed back and the flight time given by the captain indicated that we would be about 30 minutes late getting into YVR. It didn’t worry me as I had plenty of time to transfer. There was a long line for take-off and unusually we took off from the runway at the other side of LHR from the Bath Road and in an easterly direction. However we soon turned towards the west and headed for Canada by-passing my beloved Ireland! Before this happened and just before push-back the safety video was shown but a few minutes into it, we were told that some areas of the aircraft were having difficulties in viewing it and so they were proceeding with a manual demonstration. Once airborne the IFE was switched on and, having perused the films on offer, I decided none of them grabbed me and so chose a comedy TV programme which included John Bishop, Michael McIntyre in Dublin (and so very close to home) and the hilarious Mrs Brown’s Boys! I remember when it was a 5 minute slot on radio and have always been a fan of Brendan O’Carroll. I missed the beginning but fate stepped in. Just after I had ordered a G&T and placed my meal order, an announcement was made that there were difficulties throughout the aircraft with the IFE and so it was going to be re-booted. It was and it behaved itself for the rest of the flight and I laughed my way through my chosen channels. The G&T arrived with the requisite lime, and although it wasn’t offered, I requested and was given a second one.

For lunch I had the leek and potato soup, which befitted mdvipond’s description of “warm and gloopy” and was delicious. This was followed by the steak which was moist, tender and really good. This was washed down by a very nice Malbec which brought back memories of my Argentinian trip last year where steak and Malbec was almost our daily diet. I can’t remember if I had dessert but the cheese and biscuits were accompanied by a very nice drop of port. After the meal there was really nothing more to grab me on the IFE and I messed around with my iPad, before deciding to try and get some sleep as it would be very late by the time I reached my final destination. I had requested a sleep suit on boarding and so now I converted the suite and snuggled down for a snooze.

I woke up somewhere over Saskatchewan just before we were due to pass over Alberta. I wondered if I had missed the tea service, but no. As if on cue, the rattle of the tea trolley was heard and soon I was in possession of some very nice sandwiches, a scone and a cupcake. A second cuppa was offered and accepted and a nicely replete honey lamb was then ready to face the world. At this stage we were over the Rockies and soon about to make our descent into YVR. I had changed and converted my bed back to a suite before this second meal service and so watched the changing scenery of the mountains until the plane glided past them and descended gently into the airport.

Vancouver is a dream of an airport in which to transfer. When I arrived at the door there were two girls in discussion with the FSM. They were looking for assistance in transferring to an onwards connection and I briefly considered joining them. We were 30 minutes late getting into YVR but I figured that I had plenty of time to manage on my own. As a result I happened to be the first off the plane and began the longish trek to Immigration. I arrived just as the remnants of an earlier flight were leaving and with only the briefest of pauses while the final passenger from it was cleared, I fetched up to one of the nicest Immigration experiences I have ever had. The lady officer seemed a bit taken aback when presented her with an EU passport until she realised I was the first passenger from a new incoming flight. She saw that I had written 0 on the question as to how many days would I be in Canada, and when I told her I was transiting on to Seattle, she became helpfulness personified in showing me where to go and how to get to Departures. I was quickly through after thanking her profusely for her help and shortly after I arrived at the baggage carousel, it started up. My bags were among the first to come out and I was pleased and surprised to find that the Demon Duvet had shed its sobriquet and was now the Docile duvet. It arrived snuggling up against my suitcase and all but waved at me when it saw me. It hopped up obligingly on to the baggage trolley, shoved up a bit to let the said suitcase get on to the trolley and invited my carry-on to sit on its knee. The service in the Upper Class luggage bin must have been superlative.

Exiting the secure area, I handed my landing card to the customs officer who greeted me with a “Welcome to Canada, ma’am.” How nice! It took me a few seconds to locate the lifts to go up to Departures and as I approached, a nice Canadian couple held back the door for me and asked me if I was coming or going. LOL! I sometimes wonder myself!. I however, told them I was doing both; that I had just arrived from London and I had an onward flight to Seattle. They too, welcomed me to Canada and, on learning I was returning to Vancouver for a couple of days before my return, wished me a pleasant stay. I left the lift feeling warm and fuzzy. Here I was, only a few minutes in Canada and being welcomed right, left and centre! On leaving the lift, I knew exactly where I was (no cracks from the cheap seats, please!) I recognised the area and knew that I needed to go to the right where the USA departures were situated. As I trundled along I noticed desks containing the blue customs forms we are handed on the US flights, and passing one, I overheard a lady saying to her companion that they needed to complete one before check-in, so, taking the hint, I completed one at the next desk before making my way to the Alaska Air desks. I should mention that I had been invited to do OLCI and had attempted to do so in the Clubhouse, but once I got to the point of filling in my passport details I was advised I needed to check in at the airport. So, at the Alaska desk, I was duly processed and had already taken my credit card out, aware that US airline take payment at check-in, when the dear lady went to attach the baggage tags to my cases. “Oh, sorry”, sez I, “I haven’t had a chance to take them off yet”. On hearing this she asked where I had come from and, hearing that I had just come off a transatlantic flight, proceeded to check in the bags without any charge even though I was not on the same PNR. The same thing happened when I connected at EWR to an internal flight and I’ve come to the conclusion that US airlines haven’t copped on to this cash cow in the way that UK airlines have. Having tagged my bags, she directed me the way to go through security.

Up till then, the experience had been all sweetness and light. The airport, although busy, had been an area of light, airiness and comparative tranquillity but all that was about to change. The bags were re-loaded on to the baggage trolley and in spite of all the manhandling the Docile Duvet remained true to its new name. I was instructed to take them to a screening area where they were loaded into a large machine, x-rayed and sent off on their merry way while I made my way to security. Entering an area which proclaimed that I was entering the United States of America, I was assailed with the most awful cacophony of sound that one is subjected to in a US security area. Apart from the omnipresent “thud-sshhh” sound of the trays going through the machines, there were monitors everywhere instructing us what to do to go through security and everywhere were uniformed personnel barking out orders - “Liquids out! Laptops out! Belts off! Shoes off!” You get my drift. The whole area was soulless, grey and gloomy with no natural light and I’d hate to do a 1 hour shift there, let alone an 8 hour one! It wasn’t too busy but there was a steady trickle of people. We were screened through an arch as opposed to the “stand with your arms in the air” ones in the US airports although the guy in front of me beeped as he went through the arch and was sent to one of them. I also caused the machine to beep but all they did was to swab my hands which turned out OK. From there we were sent to Immigration. There was a pleasant guy manning the lines and sending people either to the US citizen machines or to International Passports. This latter line of about ten people was slow enough and every so often someone was sent to an adjacent line and given priority - presumably because their flight was imminent. There were also booths as well as machines on the UC citizen side and occasionally someone from our side would be called over when there was a lull. Eventually I was seen by a guy as bored as I was and we desultorily went through the motions before I was admitted formally to the US.

Outside of the security area was a duty free area and made my way to the gate area ready for my onward flight. At this stage I had been North America for exactly one hour the most of which had been through US security and pre-clearance! The gate area wasn’t particularly exciting. It seemed to be a bit of an afterthought for the turboprops and was small with only a small outlet serving sweets, snacks and drinks. I wanted some water and given that it had been indicated that we were now in the USA, I asked what currency I should use. The answer? CAD! LOL! The saving grace of the area was the free wifi and I happily spent my time catching up with what had happened in my little world while I was on my way here. I also learned from my friend Chris, who was to be mine host that the incoming flight was late - a fact that we didn’t learn till much later. It didn’t matter. The flight arrived, was turned around, boarded and took off. I won’t mention the big guy on the seat opposite mine who was on the phone when I boarded, continued his conversation throughout the announcement to shut off phones, the safety demo and only did so when we were powering up on the runway. We were served a glass of water; I watched as we clung to the Pacific coastline, passing the city of Bellingham before we landed on time in Seattle.

Chris was waiting for me at the exit from the secure area. At the baggage claim I met up with my friend’s son just as my bags came through and he took possession of the Docile Duvet. Chris and I were waiting from another friend whose flight was due to land in less than an hour so the three of us headed off to a bar for a drink. We cajoled the manager who was on the point of closing (mainly to deter a drunk he was trying to exclude) to serve us which he agreed to do. Soon I was in possession of a Tanqueray and we all enjoyed a pleasant interlude before we parted - we to await our friend and Eoin to head off with the Docile Duvet.

I miss it!

Long awaited and, well, long! Great read as anticipated.

Great detailed TR thanks, and your house looks nice too!

Great TR HL.
Given the devastation the flood caused ( which for those that don't know included HL residing elsewhere for a lengthy period of time ) Chez HL is looking absolutely fabulous .
DL

A very detailed and enjoyable read....thanks for sharing. The house looks amazing

You had me in stitches with the antics of you and the duvet but pleased it all turned out well

Jon

Great TR HL and great read
Glad your house got sorted:-)

Great TR HL. Thanks, very entertaining! And those Canadians are among the friendliest people in the world I think. I have to admit to a bit of a love affair with Canada and the limited parts I've visited. I just love Vancouver though.

Thanks again

Hmm Weetabix... Good to see the remodel has gone well.

Did anyone else actually see this Gin serving panda?

Thanks for another cracking read HL, I am sure the docile duvet misses you too... maybe you will get to take it on the return trip some day

Thanks HL: What a wonderful read!

I've drunk my fair share of gin in my time but never so much as to start seeing bears. Of any variety.

Your new kitchen looks amazing - I especially love the splash back.

Thank you for a wonderful TR. And so pleased to see the photos.
Demon Duvet ..... it could be an exotic nightcap !

Brilliant TR and up to your usual high standard.

I think the Duvet if it ever needs to be transported overseas again should be heavily medicated ensure it remains docile!

Thank you everyone, for your kind words especially the compliments about the house. Aer John was home for the first time this weekend since the splash back was installed and the conversation went thus:

Me: Well what do you think of it?
AJ: (disinterestedly) yeah, good.
Me: And what about the red?
AJ: It goes with the white.

And as for those doubting the panda, would I lie to you? For shame for doubting me! I might add a bit of embellishment from time to time but the panda story was true. Why would I make it up?

honey lamb wrote:Thank you everyone, for your kind words especially the compliments about the house. Aer John was home for the first time this weekend since the splash back was installed and the conversation went thus:

Me: Well what do you think of it?
AJ: (disinterestedly) yeah, good.
Me: And what about the red?
AJ: It goes with the white.

And as for those doubting the panda, would I lie to you? For shame for doubting me! I might add a bit of embellishment from time to time but the panda story was true. Why would I make it up?

brilliant!!!
the panda? lol HL....HL!!!! was that the effect from consuming "one" too many G&Ts referred to as "PANDA EYES?"

A thoroughly good read - thank you for posting!

The Rockies picture is stunning!

Your home looks amazing and thank you for sharing the pictures too

HL - another fantastic read.

Glad to see the duvet became suitably dossil and finally won your affections!

Thanks so much for posting - your TRs are always a highlight.

gfonk wrote:

honey lamb wrote:T
And as for those doubting the panda, would I lie to you? For shame for doubting me! I might add a bit of embellishment from time to time but the panda story was true. Why would I make it up?

brilliant!!!
the panda? lol HL....HL!!!! was that the effect from consuming "one" too many G&Ts referred to as "PANDA EYES?"

Tsk! gfonk! Did you not read my EI trip report which said that it was bog standard - in other words:

Got to the airport, had a G&T, got on the plane, took off, had another G&T, landed, got off the plane and went to the hotel/was met by friends for drinks and dinner/went to T3 to the UC check-in* Well except for the flight that got me into LHR at 4am but that was a couple of years ago and there have been many more adventures since then.

*Delete as appropriate.

So the answer is NO!

As per expectations, another great TR.

HL Mansions looks great; bit of a Manchester effect where something bad leads to something good.

We'll just have to differ in our opinions of Mrs Brown's Boys...I just don't get it...

Now onto the panda. A fine narrative technique to leave it unexplained, but lord is it frustrating to not know the back story...

Thanks muchly

Paul

pjh wrote:As per expectations, another great TR.

HL Mansions looks great; bit of a Manchester effect where something bad leads to something good.

We'll just have to differ in our opinions of Mrs Brown's Boys...I just don't get it...

Now onto the panda. A fine narrative technique to leave it unexplained, but lord is it frustrating to not know the back story...

Thanks muchly

Paul

Thank you kind sir - for your kind words about the TR and the house.

I suppose being Irish, I do get Mrs Brown's Boys. Some parts are quintessentially Irish and could pass over people's heads.

As for the panda - ask and you shall receive. No-one else asked but since you did here goes. Premier Inn were holding a Charity Week with different charities for different days of the week. That particular day's charity was Great Ormond Street Hospital and even though it was late in the day some staff were dressed as animals ( I saw a tiger there also) and the bar person was a panda. So no too many G&Ts, or anything else; just good old fancy dress.

honey lamb wrote:I suppose being Irish, I do get Mrs Brown's Boys. Some parts are quintessentially Irish and could pass over people's heads.

Could be the case, or it may be that increasingly I find I am out of touch with what passes for humour nowadays. "Miranda" for example - is that supposed to be funny? - and the less said about Michael McIntyre the better Sigh - back to the "Father Ted" DVDs....

honey lamb wrote:As for the panda - ask and you shall receive. No-one else asked but since you did here goes. Premier Inn were holding a Charity Week with different charities for different days of the week. That particular day's charity was Great Ormond Street Hospital and even though it was late in the day some staff were dressed as animals ( I saw a tiger there also) and the bar person was a panda. So no too many G&Ts, or anything else; just good old fancy dress.

Thank the lord. I know they are very expensive to lease from the Chinese government and was worried that Edinburgh Zoo was perhaps looking to offset some of the cost by flying one of them down to LHR to work the Premier Inn bar.

We once flew back from JFK on Halloween. All the VS Check In staff were dressed appropriately for the evening - Frankenstein's creation (look, you may call him a monster but he was the product of his upbringing as Gene Wilder points out...), Dracula, mummies (Egyptian, rather than mumsnet)....

Edited to add: Also, I know where some of the pens and pads from the CH are.....

HL, A great read as always.