D-Day (Departure) Glasgow to Heathrow 17th March

We were up well ahead of the arrival of our breakfast - watching the depressing BBC News - we saw some last night and ended up turning it off as it was just so depressing.

So far it looks like we should still be able to get home - fingers crossed. SmartTraveller has advised all Australians overseas to return home, so we definitely made the right choice last Friday.

Our breakfast arrived, but to be honest I wasn’t really hungry. We were both feeling stressed and snappy trying to pack and get organised again - I hate living out of suitcases. But eventually we got back on track and worked together to get things sorted.

We were out the door by 8.30ish and drove to the “Flying Scot” car park to hand over our hire car as this is where Clarksons (the hire company) collect it from. They gave us a lift in their mini bus to Glasgow Airport where it was too early to check in. So we went and grabbed a drink and snack at Starbucks until 10.30am when we could check in.

The people at the British Airways desk were very helpful, but it turns out that Qantas hadn’t issued out ticket numbers, even though the booking was in the system. We had to stand aside whilst they looked into it. Vince and I were very concerned as we had spent literally 5-6 on hold each time we had rung Qantas, so our hopes were fading fast that we would be able to get on a flight today.

Luckily, the staff obviously have more of a “hotline” the we did, and turns out it was just a glitch because the had to refund us couple of hundred pounds in fees back and the credit card we originally booked with was cancelled (as it was compromised ages ago). So this was holding up the issuing of the new tickets.

Once we were checked in it was a pretty simple process to get through security (with the obligatory “body scan” and “pat down” that I always seem to get. This time however, Vince didn’t get through unscathed either - his turn to set the alarms off not just me for a change.

But it was no real issue and before we knew it we were waiting for our flight. We went into a bar and had a drink whilst we waited and eventually boarded at 12.35pm through Gate 21 on the British Airways plane. It was short flight and we arrived in London at 2.15pm at Terminal 5.”

Heathrow was huge and we had a long way to walk and that was just to get to the place to catch a connection bus to Terminal 3 where out Qantas flight would leave from at 8.35pm So we had a really long wait!

We went to speak to the Qantas staff as previously advised on the phone, to enquire about an upgrade to Business Class. No luck unfortunately, they are fully booked and in fact the plane is 16 “overbooked” - so I guess we should be happy we have a seat home at all.

We went to a restaurant called “The Curator” and we both had a curry, Vince had the chicken and I had the prawns. I also had a couple of glasses of Moet Chandon to take the edge of! I love to travel, but I hate the actual “travel” part of it. I wish we could have the Start Trek technology and just “Beam Me Up Scotty” instead of all these planes, trains and automobiles! LOL

Although it was a very long boring wait, there was a manicome of entertainment provided by some of the other passengers, some not only wearing surgical face masks, but splash goggles and full PPE, either plastic or in the case of on fellow silver fire retardant material. The first we saw was at check-in and the staff were all trying to keep a straight face. After the person had gone I said to one of them “Do you think if I walked past her and coughed on purpose she would be okay with it”, he replied “I think she would self combust!” and we all laughed. It was by far mostly Asian people taking the full precautions or wearing face masks. Maybe they will end up being the sensible ones who knows, but most people are following the advice that the mask won’t protect you, it only helps to stop you spreading droplets if you cough or sneeze.

Vince kept a keen eye on the news and updates, and I did a bit of blogging which I had missed over the past few days with all the business.

We also heard from Duglad (the Dinosaur Guy) from Skye to say that the event on the 19th where he was going to launch his book is now cancelled and postponed until all this is over. The Government issued a directive for people to stay indoors if anyone in the home has a fever or cough and for everyone to employ “Social Distancing” to avoid contact with others, including avoiding events, pubs, restaurants and theatres. This is serious stuff for peacetime, it’s reminiscent of the War Years. Scary!

My laptop is about to die, so this will have to be the end of this blog. Stay tuned for our “in flight” adventures in cattle class, 13 hours to Singapore, an hour or so in the airport, then 5 hours to Perth, we are due to arrive at 00.30am on the 19th March - my birthday!