Day 15: Wed 28 Sep - Madrid to London to Singapore, 13h15m

After a restless sleep due to thinking the worst with respect to my flights, I was up just before 6am and did some more packing and searching the room and bathroom for items I may have overlooked. Had a coffee and rang Greg. I checked-out about 7:20am and was in a taxi soon thereafter. I arrived at Terminal 4 of the Madrid Airport, and as luck would have it, the BA counter was open for my flight, but only for those in Business Class or Gold/Sapphire FF and above, and this was three hours before the flight was due to depart. I was through passport control in no time as the terminal was still pretty quiet. As my flight was leaving from T4S (satellite), I had to make my way there via the underground, driverless train. That took about five minutes, then another bag check (liquids, laptops, etc) and passport check and I found the Iberia VIP lounge that is in the middle of the duty free shop. It is a nice open and airy lounge with 2 feeding stations, with a good variety of breakfast items; just as well as I had forgone my already paid for breakfast at the hotel. There were some who even had wine for breakfast. I thought about it, just because I could, then remembered all the hours I still had to get through, so had a third coffee instead!

There are no boarding announcements made in this lounge, so I kept an eye on the board and when I saw it was boarding I made my way to the departure gate. Fortunately, there was only one couple in front of me in the 'special people' lane and I was in my seat well before departure. As it was a BA flight, it is not really a business class seat, but as it was only a two hour flight, it was not a problem. We were, however, fed like kings, with four courses on the tiny tray - a herbed bulgar (looked like couscous), The Original Chicken Tikka Masala (the main I chose), a selection of British cheeses (Croxton Manor and Somerset Camembert with fig relish) and for dessert a duo of chocolate mousse that was very nice indeed! I only managed two of the four courses (bet you can't guess which two?!)

We landed five minutes ahead of the original schedule of 12:00pm, and six minutes later than the update I received last night that flew me into a tailspin! I knew I had a nine hour layover, so I did not rush to get to the bus that would take me to T3 where the QANTAS Club is and my flight to Singapore leaves from. However, the planets aligned and 30 minutes later I was in T3. No passport control because I was in transit, however still had to do the bag search. Silly me, I put everything but my little bag of fluids out on the trays, so had to spend an extra 10 minutes sorting that out. I had a nice young man, who asked if there was anything in my bag that he should know about and I told him about my stupidity and he laughed like I'd made his morning. Anyway, after running the drug/explosive wand over it, all was good and I was free to proceed. How long have I been travelling? Could have kicked myself, however, I knew I was in no hurry, so didn't panic.

I did panic a bit when my internet would not work in the terminal and I couldn't find the QANTAS Club. Thankfully, my darling husband texted me just as I was trying to find my way and pointed me in the right direction. The lounge is a First/Business/Gold FF/etc lounge and is on two levels. Upstairs is for more general lounging with a small selection of eats and a big bar full of drinks. Downstairs is where the real dining happens, apparently. Why would you want to eat before boarding a flight where you know you will be well fed anyway? There are some that do. I guess it depends on what's on offer? I'll let you know soon. it is also home to the QC Gin Bar. 

There were two dishes that I was very tempted to try, a beef and a pork dish, however, I decided to wait until I was on board (should have eaten in the QC as the tagliatelle with slow cooked beef ragu, gremolata and parmesan had very little beef in it and too much pasta). 

We boarded on time and departed on time. I had seat 24K which again was an aisle and window seat, with the console on the aisle side affording me another cocoon. I passed the 13 hours flight to Singapore by watching two movies: Father of the Bride and Elvis, and sleeping.

Breakfast at Madrid airport


The QANTAS Club at London Heathrow T3, not a bad place to spend 9 hours



I got this msg via txt and email whilst waiting in the QC. Thank goodness I was already in-transit.


The showers in the QC


The Gin Bar menu, I had a Tanqueray with aromatic tonic, Aperol ice cube and lime; and a normal Tanqueray with tonic and lime


On board the A380, upstairs


Cheers


Where the really special people get to 'live' for 13 hours


A380 Bar area









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