And so the holiday begins…

Dave has been warning me that I should prepare for things not to go smoothly and, true to expectations in the current travel environment, we were delayed 2 hours out of Sydney which meant that we landed late into Heathrow. Before we landed the cabin manager came to see us and let us know that the connection to Berlin was now too tight so they had moved us onto a flight 7 hours later then the original one. We are now scheduled to leave Heathrow at 330pm. We are currently sitting in a lovely British Airways lounge and wondering whether our bags will be there when we get to Berlin…

The feeling of jet lag is like no other I know. I’ve typed the same line 3 times due to my vision being blurry. My head is throbbing, I’m slightly dizzy, my mouth is dry and the fact that the keyboard on Dave’s laptop has a dodgy letter Y is far more upsetting then it might normally be 😉

We have showered, had what I think is our 3rd breakfast in 24 hours and are sitting quietly while trying to stay both awake and resting at the same time. Swirling around is is a mixture of lovely British accents, fragrant coffee aromas and the odd annoying child begging for more food, or lollies or whatever it is that spoiled, well-travelled children want.

Qantas, for all the criticism it is currently enduring, did a fantastic job of service on the way over. We flew Premium Economy and I must say the comfort, service and food were all first rate. Considering the pressure the staff are under, with staff shortages and full flights, the were among the best I have experienced. Apart from an intoxicated French woman demanding over and over again to go upstairs (we were already upstairs on the A380 – not sure if she wanted to visit the rooftop terrace haha ) the passengers were polite and kind, spending much of both legs asleep or watching their screens.

Which meals we ate when is a blur. Dave discovered the help-yourself bar offered toblerones, so you can imagine his regular visits there. Shortly before landing in London we were served scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage and tomato along with a warm muffin and fresh fruit. It was actually incredibly tasty, it’s beyond me how the eggs could still be soft and moist!

So that’s it for now. Tomorrow in Berlin I’ll post some more, and it will hopefully be post jet-lag and coherent.