The beginning
Trip Start
Feb 23, 2007
1
25
Trip End
Mar 18, 2007
Outwell, Downham Market to London Heathrow, United Kingdom
Friday, February 23, 2007
At midday my transport to the station arrives ( my Scouting friend Beryl Boyce is to be my taxi service.)
It is just a short ride to Downham Market railway station for the train to London Kings Cross.From there it will be the underground to Heathrow Airport.
Beryl takes some pictures at the station with my bags for my records and wonders how I will manage the bags on my own. ( At this point I haven,t a clue either). The photo is the first time I attempt to carry all three bags at the same time.
My train arrives and at last my journey begins and Beryl takes a final picture of me departing (hopefully) as the door closes and I am on my way.
I manage to pick up all 3 bags and approach the exit to the main platform stations- the inspector lets me go without me having to show my ticket. ( I would have had to put everything down again) wonderful .Then its onto the underground- down the steps through the electronic ticket barrier - again not wide enough to go through - heaving each bag through separately first the smaller bags then the large red one( borrowed from Amanda). Here there was a definate risk to other travellers who followed me through as I now had a pile of bags in their way. Finally I am on the underground ( at least it goes direct to Heathrow so no changing) the journey will take about an hour. I rest the large bag on the seat and stay holding the other bags.15 stops to Heathrow and I nearly fall asleep. As we approach one of the stations a message comes up that they were evacuating the station and I thought the train would stop and we all had to get off...just what I don't need, but nobody rises so I wait and our journey continues.
At Heathrow I get to the check in desk (with a trolly now) for Qatar Airlines but it is not open yet another 20 minutes and I will be on my way.
Do I want an isle seat or window and plum for a window which I will get for both journeys so I can get a good view as we land. My two cargo bags are checked in . I am given a lable for my carry on bag and then with more than 2 hours to fill my next task is FOOD and a book to read. I find a book but no McDonalds so visit Caffe Italia for a delicious pizza ( pity I could not eat it all ) . Now to wait for my boarding gate. Security is tight at the airport with one carry on and a limit on liquids in plastic bottles (excluding water) that can fit into a sealed clear plastic bag. Everything goes through the xray machine,in a tray I put my jacket and then we continue as everything checks out. This way we are all told - mystified we all go right and our shoes need xraying. (The guy who thought it would be novel to put explosives in the heal of his shoe certainly causes problems with everyone having to remove their shoes for checking.)
Its now 18.40 I am waiting for our departure gate to be anounced and watching the world go by. The anouncement shows up on the board and I make my way to the departure gate. The plane will not be full but the plane departing an hour later is full. I take my seat and am joined by a lady who is a freelance writer on business in India then to Kathmandu (after I leave). Then we depart and once in the air after safety instructions dinner is served- dissapointing but most airplane food is unappetising.As there are plenty of empty seats my companion moves to a middle section seat so we can stretch out and hopefully get some sleep. We land in Doha at 6am but it is 2am UK time on the 24th February.
