Round The World and other travels

A frequent flyer's collection of trip diaries

This is: Singapore & Malaysia 2014

Royal send-off from London

I woke up a little early, but successfully managed to snooze on until 7am, meaning that I'd had nearly ten hours of rest - excellent! Breakfast at the ex-Ramada DoubleTree where I had spent the night was its redeeming feature: they put out an impressive spread, albeit one that was heavily weighted - no pun intended - towards the 'full English' version of the first meal of the day. Properly set up for the final leg of the trip, I checked out and caught an ordinary red bus to Heathrow. As on the previous evening, there was to be no rip-off hotels shuttle for me.

I was eager to try out Heathrow's brand new Terminal 2 for the first time, and partly for this reason had chosen to fly the final sector back to Edinburgh on Virgin Atlantic Little Red. Originally conceived as Heathrow East, the new Terminal 2 is intended to be the home of Star Alliance at Heathrow. It stands on the site of the original Terminal 2 and the Queen's Building, and is due to be further expanded onto the site of the original Terminal 1. I took an instant liking to the building, preferring it to the British Airways home base of Terminal 5, which in my view has been full to overcrowding since the day it opened. I particularly liked the Aer Lingus lounge with its relaxing decor, this being the designated lounge for passengers on Little Red with the required status in Virgin Atlantic Flying Club.

RIGHT: Heathrow's new Terminal 2, also known as The Queen's Terminal
LEFT: Aer Lingus Gold Circle lounge in Heathrow's new Terminal 2

Eventually, I made my way to Gate A26, in the far southwest corner of the new terminal.

(Link to flight log in side panel)

The weather at Edinburgh was horribly miserable on arrival, but my spirits lifted somewhat when the luggage arrived quickly and my suitcase was the second to appear on the belt. After a quick sandwich lunch at Costa Coffee, I set off for home by tram, train and cab in filthy weather and a depressing lack of daylight.

On the second leg of the journey, there was little to see out of the window but rain and murkiness. I closed my eyes and conjured up images of luxurious flying on Qatar Airways, of equatorial sunshine and lightweight clothing, of spotless Singapore with its bustling malls and busy food courts, and of gazing in awe from the vertigo-inducing Skypark Observation Deck. These gave way in turn to thoughts of charming Kuching and relaxing Miri, and to vivid memories of colourful Kuala Lumpur. I have no idea whether I was successful in preventing a satisfied smile from spreading across my face. I rather suspect not.