Australia 2025

On a wet morning, after breakfast, I checked out of the Oaks Hotel for the second time, walked to the railway station, and took the Airport Line for the short journey through the suburbs to the Airport Station at a cost of A$5.20.
After using up the last of the Aussie currency, I left Perth at 14.15 on a Singapore Airlines' Airbus 350, arriving at Changi Airport at 19.20. I listened to Mozart's last three symphonies, Beethoven's 1st Piano Concerto, and a Bach recital.
To kill time at Changi, I had a snack and went to the Butterfly Garden although the butterflies were inactive in the evening.
The walk from an A Gate in Terminal 3 to my B Gate must have been at least one kilometre.
The Singapore Airlines' flight to London left 30 minutes late at 23.30 but made up time to arrive at Heathrow at 05.30 after a 13 hour flight (7 hour time difference) on an A380-800 which had an upper deck accessed from the rear of the plane by staff. I dozed off occasionally but mainly listened to Mendelsohn, Faure and Rachmaninoff.
It didn't take long to leave the airport and I took the Elizabeth Line. Unfortunately, due to a strike by some Underground staff, the train wasn't stopping at every station so I alighted at Paddington which was packed. I started walking in the hope of stopping a cab but I'd gone through Hyde Park and down Park Lane before a cab stopped.
I arrived home at 08.30 on 8 September, six weeks after leaving for Gatwick, only to find the lifts out of order.Läs mer