Round The World and other travels
A frequent flyer's collection of trip diaries
This is: Portugal - California 2004
Back to Portugal
After a busy morning spent completing final preparations which, uncharacteristically, I had left rather late, I left for the airport in bright, sunny conditions just after noon. It was an easy drive right up to the final mile or so, when everything ground to a halt. I wondered whether it was down to the ongoing works at Gogarburn, the Ingliston Sunday market or the airport itself, and decided that this was the order of decreasing probability. Soon enough, I had found my way for the first time to the new site of the Secure Airpark, far more convenient than the previous location in Broxburn. They were ready for me and a straightforward shuttle bus transfer soon had me arriving at EDI.
The
airport seemed fairly busy, but of course that didn't bother me
I had planned to
use the Fast Bag Drop but, as the queue at the premium check-in desk
was shorter, I used that instead. The check-in agent managed to be
professional, efficient and friendly, all at the same time
I had read a lot in the run-up to the trip about demotivated ground
staff, so it was great to experience at first hand an example of
excellent customer service. Strangely, there was no queue at all at
security - that's right, none whatsoever. And once through, airside
seemed near-deserted! This was odd indeed as, quite apart from the
check-in queues, there seemed to be hordes of people sitting around
landside. What were they up to
The Terraces Lounge was pleasantly quiet. As I wandered around to choose a seat, I couldn't help noticing that some of the armchairs were now becoming a little frayed and I hoped that they wouldn't be allowed to deteriorate too much. I relaxed for a while and took it in my stride when the screens indicated a delay of some 25 minutes to my flight.
(Link to flight log in side panel)
On
arrival at LHR, I had no trouble at all in negotiating the familiar
path through Flight Connections to the international side of
Terminal 1. I had time for a visit to the lounge, which was just as
well after those minimalist on-board crudités! One advantage of the
recent T1 / T4 shuffles is that, as a BA Gold, there is now a First
lounge available in Terminal 1
I enjoyed sampling it for the first time, but did not take any
photos as there was no opportunity to do so without invading
people's privacy. I had some sandwiches and a cup of coffee, then
headed for the gate for my next flight.
(Link to flight log in side panel)
There was a bit of
a wait for the luggage at the terminal building in Lisbon, no doubt
caused by the remote parking position allocated to our aircraft.
This was the least of the worries, however, as once outside, it
became apparent that an enormous queue for taxis was snaking its way
towards the pick-up point. It took all of 15 minutes to work my way
through the queue. The journey to the hotel was fairly short, as I
knew it should be. Unfortunately, the driver tried to rip me off and
indeed succeeded, albeit to a limited extent. By some means or other
, the meter had stopped working during the course of the ride
First he asked for EUR17.20 and I startled myself by replying with a
rather butch-sounding "Try again, mate!"
He pretended this had been a mistake and changed it to EUR12.20. I
suspected that this was still on the excessive side but decided to
pay it rather than have an on-going fight about it. The hotel
receptionist later confirmed that it should only have been EUR10 and
later, when I checked my change, I found that he had actually taken
EUR13.40
Not a happy introduction to the Portuguese capital
On a more upbeat note, I was given
a complimentary upgrade to an Executive Room at the Holiday Inn,
which was in an excellent corner position of an all-Executive floor,
and was reasonably spacious and commendably quiet