Brisbane to London

Our domestic flight to Sydney on the Qantas 737-800 “Woolongong” was a little bumpy.  I nearly ended up with a hot coffee poured over me as we hit turbulence as the coffee was being served.  We didn’t have a lot of time in the Qantas lounge before our international flight, after transfer from Terminal 3 to Terminal 1, but we were able to have a gelato each in the lounge.

We were seated on the front row of the upper level of the A380 on the Flight QF1 to Dubai and London.  I was able to catch up on several movies.  I especially loved an Australian movie called “Goddess”.  I managed to get 4-5 hours sleep on this leg and Doug managed six and a half.  He was able to plug in his CPAP machine and got as good sleep.  A man behind me had a serious snoring problem and we both struggled to get to sleep before resorting to ear plugs.  I tried headphones but it’s hard to sleep with headphones.  I felt like waking him up with a lecture on sleep apnoea.

Dubai airport was busy and we circled for 25 mins so our time there was curtailed.  We both managed to have a shower in the lounge although there was a queue for that.   The terminal had an interesting curved shape.  We didn’t see much of it as it was in the middle of the night, and limited time.

Surprise surprise, we found ourselves circling Heathrow too before a smooth landing, after a 6 ½ flying time.  Brisbane does not have exclusive rights to flight delays.

We arrived at our Kew Hotel, the Coach and Horses at about 8.30 a.m. and they very kindly made up and allowed us into our room early.  It is a lovely friendly place and is across the road from the entrance to Kew Gardens.