Thu Jan 03 12:35:04 2008
En-route to Sydney
London to Singapore
Ah, the joys of travelling half-way across the world on the first day after the Christmas break. Half the drivers on the M4 seemed to be asleep, weaving dangerously. There was a monster traffic-jam at Heathrow. The car hire company wanted us to drop our car where there wasn't actually any space and the Russian (?) lady whose job it is to direct customers didn't speak much English. All of these things combined to make a less-than-promising start.
However, one of the spiffs of business class tickets is priority check-in and fast-track security. Despite being an hour later than we had planned we made it easily with enough time to sample the free wines in Lounge D. I am getting quite good at blind wine tasting. Identified both the Savignon Blanc and the Chardonnay correctly. Maybe an alternative career would be open to me?
Having already indulged in the pre-flight wine, they promptly gave us champagne as a welcome on the plane. And then more wine. The wine on the flight was noticeably worse than in the lounge. As the Other Oenophile so rightly remarked, a Barossa Valley Shiraz shouldn't have a zing to it.
The amount of free alcohol on offer was largely to hide the quality (I use the word loosely) of the food, which frankly would have been a disgrace in economy class, never mind business. I'm absolutely certain that the "scrambled eggs" were the worst I have ever tasted, to the extent that I considered them inedible. Made from powdered egg, apparently. Honestly, give me Qantas catering any day. (But they're double the price of Singapore Airlines, whose staff, it must be said, are fantastic and service is excellent. In fact apart from the food the whole flight has been excellent, and of course Singapore Airways have the added spiff of the A380...)
I'm typing this entry in the Raffles Class Lounge at Changi Airport. Free Wi-fi and free showers. But still absolutely terrible food. I have no idea what time it is but it isn't the time at the top of this blog (my laptop is still on UK time). Another nine hours to Sydney. On the A380. Really looking forward to the experience.
