The wait for the flight was over, we board the plane and settle in for a ten and a half hour flight to Paris.
Eric checks out what I thought was a complimentary glass of apple juice to welcome us aboard but I discover after a thirsty mouthful that it's actually Champagne! (absolutely disgusting and I fear I'll be dizzy for the rest of the flight.) It is quickly replaced by orange juice to my relief.
As the flights have been re-scheduled, even though the delay at Johannesburg was five hours, our wait for the connection to Heathrow is only two and a half hours, as opposed to the original four. So now only three hours behind - but still means we will miss our booked bus connection back to Wales from Heathrow. Waiting in the lounge does have benefits of some refreshments, and a chance to freshen up.
Eric admires the selection of French pastries on offer. He liked the posh looking one, which was really only tasted like a Rice Krispie cake with a fancy topping on.
Time passes quite quickly and we manage to get in the priority boarding lane, which is good as the plane is jam packed. We are fairly near the front, but the plane takes its time filling up and departure is delayed.
Our concern now rests on whether the flight will get in with enough time to make our, newly booked from the airport lounge, onward link to South Wales. The flight is only forty-five minutes and the pilot assures us that we will be making up the lost time. He tells us to prepare for landing, but ten minutes later we are still in the air. Our piece of mind is not helped when we notice the plane seems to be going round in circles. The pilot then tells us he's not actually lost, but that we have to spend some time in a holding pattern circling Biggin to await a landing slot. So another delay before landing - anxious moments. Although we are near the front for an easy exit, our bags are two seats further back. Luckily a kindly American gentleman retrieves them and passes them forward. We plead longingly with some people in front retrieving their bags to please let us out before them as otherwise we may miss our bus. Amazingly they oblige and we sprint (as much as we can with luggage and duty free purchases) through towards the exit. We managed to clear customs in record time via the e-gates and are thankfully on the bus within twenty minutes of the plane reaching the terminal.
Well, that's all until we can decide where to go next.
Regards
Eric.
et. al.
PS - If you are really bored over the next few days and can find nothing useful to do we intend to update the missing wildlife and Eric pictures on the blog, as well as correct our punctuation and spelling mistakes!
