Our morning started fairly normally. Dave loaded the van with our very heavy bags while I got myself sorted out. However, he left his laptop at home so his work day did not start as planned. I chipped my tooth on Tuesday while flossing so the first thing I did after sorting out work was go to the dentist. An hour later my tooth was repaired, my teeth were cleaned and I went back to the office. Albeit with my left side of my face and tongue completely numb. Thankfully by the time we left for the airport all the feeling was back and there was no pain. We checked our luggage straight through to Heathrow and went to the lounge where I had something to eat. All I had eaten in the morning was one samosa. Our flight to Johannesburg left late but that was not a problem for us. We ambled through to international departures, stopping along the way to buy readers for Dave and lens cleaner for me.
We had an easy time getting through passport control. The gentleman from the department of home affairs right in front of us decided to let us through his gate, skipping half the queue. We stopped for a whisky taster before heading up to the lounge. After espressi I went for a massage. Not as good as last time but at least my neck clicked. I came back to the lounge and had a snack. There is a machine that makes pancakes so I had a few of those while getting a video of it working.
Boarding went smoothly and we have a friendly cabin crew member in the jump seat opposite us. We are in the emergency exit row which is super comfortable.
Supper choices were beef and white rice and hake and yellow rice. We had one each, and I had the fish. We both battled to fall asleep. I will ask for extra blankets on the return flight but at least the arrival temperature won’t be too much of a shock.
I eventually fell asleep at about 1am South African time and woke up a few times during the night. The lights were turned on at 6:45 SA time (4:45 UK time). We had omelettes for breakfast which were not too bad. The fruit was really good and by the time we were done we were flying over Paris.
After a serious cup of ‘fake’ coffee we completed our landing cards. As our entertainment screens were not working for the third flight in a row Mark gave me an email address to send a complaint to. Wonder what response if any I will get. We arrived in Heathrow airspace at 6am and got stacked up waiting to land.
England 2018 