Airplane Agonistes 2

The night in the Royal Park Haneda was very satisfactory - a good shower, ability to be horizontal (which is all the body wants after economy seats for 9 hours or so) and sweet solitude x 2. The Royal Park is in Terminal 3 so very easy to access once the inevitable customs/immigration/baggage claim things have been negotiated.
Up at 6 straight to the airport, and onto our aircraft, an A350 configured with 3x3 seats. Ugh. We were in the middle 3 with me in the dreaded middle seat. On my other side I sat next to a ninja warrior who barely ate, slept with mask on and black hood over her head, and only visited the toilet ONCE in the 14 + hours we travelled aloft. I almost asked for her autograph! Meanwhile Graham & I were up and down like yo-yos, ate everything put in front of us, and were awake almost the whole way.
Our pilot flew us over the arctic and after 14 or so hours we arrived in sunny Heathrow. As usual with the ramshackle way in which Heathrow is run, we arrived early and were kept on the tarmac for half an hour while a space was made for us to park. We took a London cab to our digs and were met by the fabulous “Winks”, aka Carrie, who welcomed us and provided everything we needed for a good breakfast, including the most brilliant cob loaf of artisan bread. We love the place!Les mer