The first flight we went on was from London Gatwick to Tampa. One of our best friends, Adam, was taking the Florida Bar there, so we decided to help him celebrate. Mike and Melissa (two of our other best friends) flew in from Toronto, and Sara (another best friend!) drove down from Jacksonville.
But before I get on to Tampa, I need to describe the flight there. I’d always heard British Airways was super-fancy, so I was pretty excited to fly business class with them. The lounge at LGW was OK… but I guess they’ve moved all their efforts to Terminal 5 at LHR.
The lounge at LGW.
So we boarded the flight – BA 2167. It was a 777-200. Not super-new, but not too shabby either. Business class was set out really strangely –this herring-bone pattern. We were facing backwards, which was really strange for take-off and landing.
There was a tonne of legroom.
The media centre and all my legroom.
KIR ROYALE TIME!
Hampton stretching his legs out.
It was nice to have our own little area where (almost) no one could see us. But…
You can kinda see in the first picture the person sitting “next” to Hampton, facing forward. This was a bit awkward… cause you were pretty much facing them. However, there was a screen you could put up. But my screen didn’t work too well. AND when they serve food, they put down the screen, lean over the person next to you, and hand you your meal.
Speaking of food, let’s go on. It was generally OK. The starter (a potted crab thing) was really nice. The main, a chicken-in-sauce thing, was kinda dry. They did have Gü cakes, though, which made up for it.
Starter: salad and potted crab.
Hampton's Main: Some kinda steak thing.
My Main: Chicken with sauce.
Dessert: a super-chocolatey thing.
Snack: Gü carrot cake. SO NOM.
A funny bit of TV they had on the plane: Heston Blumenthal’s efforts to improve BA’s aeroplane cuisine. It’s part of a series called Heston’s Mission Impossible. It’s a good show, and although it paints BA in a kinda good light (as good a light as one could imagine, given the show is about places with notoriously bad food), it was still a strange choice.
The mini-meal before we landed was OK. There was a pre-packaged sandwich, which was gross. But this was saved (ish) by the SCONES WITH JAM AND CLOTTED CREAM. So. effin’. good.
The gross sandwich.
The DELICIOUS scones.
Anyway, then we landed. I’m always really afraid of immigration (in the US they’re really, REALLY mean for some reason). But the guy I got at Tampa was amazingly nice. So friendly! I want to fly into Tampa all the time now.
