Round The World and other travels

Boarding was via both Doors 1 and 2. I used Door 1, giving the shortest possible route to my seat, but some of the First passengers had still to board when the front door was closed. I was offered a drink and decided to have a nice, refreshing apple juice. I couldn't help noticing the elaborate coffee pot sitting in the front galley and sure enough, before long I was being offered some dates and Arabic coffee. I took some dates to have with my apple juice but, rather unadventurously, declined the offer of Arabic coffee. (From the size of the cups, I assumed that it would be extremely strong.) I think there were 8 passengers in the cabin, out of a possible 14, and the seating arrangements seemed to bear little resemblance to the OLCI view.

We pushed back just a little behind schedule at 0916 and were airborne by 0935. The cabin service began with hot towels, after which I enjoyed some Champagne and canapés, my drink being topped up twice. Rather strangely, given that it was early in terms of local time and even earlier in the UK, the meals service was going to be lunch and then afternoon tea, rather than anything breakfast-related. Not that I minded in the slightest, I hasten to add!

The CSD raised the partition between the empty middle seats in the front row, which was a very nice touch, adding greatly to the sense of privacy. For lunch, I had the red lentil and tomato soup, followed by the duck main course and cheese and biscuits. I stuck with Champagne and still water up to the cheese course, at which point I had a glass of port and then rounded things off with a cappuccino. Another excellent in-flight dining experience

This time I had remembered to load a DVD into my laptop, so I was able to enjoy, for the first time, the recent re-make of the British classic, The Italian Job. I thought it was very entertaining, although I think it owed more to Ocean's Eleven than the original. Our route this time took us over Iran rather than Saudi Arabia, and the mountain scenery below looked absolutely spectacular. Unfortunately, the landscape seemed to generate a great deal of turbulence, so it was a bumpy ride at first. After that, it was a case of crossing the Black Sea, Turkey, passing over Bucharest, then Hungary, and over Prague, Bamberg (which is on my wish-list!) and Antwerp. Once again, I was asked by the CSD to complete a survey.

Afternoon tea consisted of some nicely presented sandwiches and warm scones with jam and cream. Most enjoyable, I thought. We had another hot towels service with just 10 minutes to go, which I nearly missed as I had been dozing! We touched down on Runway 27L at 1353, which was fine and handy for Terminal 4. Nevertheless, there was some kind of delay at our coaching stand and we had to sit for a few minutes before finally pulling into place rather adrift of the schedule at 1400.

Another excellent flight, marred ever so slightly by a nearby passenger who couldn't seem to move a muscle without causing a mini-earthquake, and who liked to drop / throw things rather than place them. You know the type - hash, bash, wallop, crash. All the subtlety of a Mack truck. There's no accounting for who you end up with, even in First