At half time in the 3rd State of Origin (Qld uncomfortably ahead) Pearce drove us to the airport. At 9.00 pm there is apparently not a lot going on at the Brisbane International Airport. No queue at check in. No queue at security. No queue at immigration. Within 15 minutes of being dropped off, we were air-side (about 2 and a half hours before our scheduled departure). By this time NSW had scored twice and things were not looking too rosy for the Maroons. Jenelle wandered the duty free shops and John wandered the empty airport corridors chewing his finger nails. After ten or fifteen minutes of denial we found a TV and watched Qld finally put NSW to the sword.
Singapore Airlines is amazing. All our flights left on time and arrived on time. The planes were immaculate; including the toilets which can become a bit unruly after a 13 hour flight. The staff were impossibly attractive, polite and attentive. Our only complaint was that the seats were as hard as rock; jagged rock at that. By the end of our trip both of us could barely sit down.
We arrived at Heathrow at 3.20pm. We were through immigration at 4.30pm. We arrived at the transit bus station at 4.36 only to see our Hotel Hopper bus drive off. Waited until 5.05pm for next bus. Then had to wait ten minutes for the next driver to take over. Finally arrived at Hotel at 5.30pm.
Although we had had a fair bit of sleep on the flights and we had had a few hours in the Transit Hotel in Singapore we both arrived totally wrecked. After a nice chicken salad at the McDonalds, conveniently located next door to the hotel, we both crashed for the night.
The next morning we felt somewhat refreshed but not 100%. We spent the day hanging out. Sorting out our housekeeping, getting connected to the internet ($75 for 50 hours unlimited download over 90 days) and organizing our UK mobile phone ($14 including $10 credit). In the afternoon we had a pint of beer in a genuine local pub; listening to the banter between the locals, watching a young lady flogging illegal DVD movies for a fiver each and wondering why there would be a copper ashtray on the wall featuring the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge.
