31/10/2016
I started off the day by going to the new Cafe/Diner next to my local store (run by the same people), and enjoyed a large breakfast there.
The day was set aside for last small jobs of preparing my apartment to be let out, ahead of my departure. Of course, some of that meant that I would need to be in touch with customer services - who proved to me that things haven't changed since I left that job role all behind me ;)
Colin arrived with Dad around 5pm, and Sara made it around 5.30.
I Weighed my baggage to ensure I was still inside the weight limit - and now feel reassured that actually I'm probably incabable of lifting the weight allowance!
We made it to the airport in good time and I posed for photos to upload to Facebook, before we headed up for drinks at the bar to see me off.
It was at this point I experienced a momentary panic, being uncertain whether I had packed my Spot Gen3 device (The GPS device), though based on the triple checking of the flat there is no way that I can have failed to pack it since it isn't in my flat!
I decided to have a pint of Tenants as it's a typical glasgow lager, and posed in front of the departure board for more photos.
By 7pm I was chomping at the bit, so we said our goodbyes and I headed through security.
Boarding started 15 minutes early, which meant that the flight was ready for take off in plenty of time and there was no sense of rushing.
The Nessie toy has already done its job - one of the flight attendants asking me if I had found Nessie :-) I expect Nessie to feature quite a lot in the next year if that's anything to go by!
We are now above the North sea, 5413km to Dubai, cruising at 10668ft altitude.
ETA Dubai: 0723h local time.
ICE sounded like a great concept to me, however the reality (at least in this flight) is not so great.
There was an issue with the fully interactive aspect shortly after take off, it may not have been fully fixed, as radio only works with screen disabled, otherwise it breaks up, and movies are unwatchable due to compression errors.
I wonder if this will be any better on the next flight, or if it is a generic thing - I've not really seen any negative reviews so maybe it's only on this plane!
The hospitality on the other hand is amazing, and there was a reasonable selection of food available , with reasonable sized portions of food (I didn't eat it all), and the 'Mad Fish' Semillon Sauvignon Blanc is delish - two complimentary glasses too, making it even more delish :)
I have however discovered that I can't maintain an SFTP connection, so the photo uploads will need to happen at another location :)