We took off virtually on time at 1835hrs and our flight time is six hours and 56 minutes, so virtually seven hours. Currently, there are six hours and 38 minutes until we land at London Heathrow - we've just taken off in other words - and right now it is light outside. There is cloud below us and wispy clouds above and the plane in which we are travelling is an Airbus A330-200, ship number N861NW. You might be wondering how I know all this information, and it's simple: it's all written down for me on the flight information screen. Just so you know, the cloud has disappeared and below me I can seen land. I'm guessing it's Canada but I might be wrong and I've yet to find a flight map. Wherever it is, it's very green and relatively flat outside. I've just pressed the button that says 'flight tracker' and a map has appeared. I think we might be still in North America but we're certainly heading east at present although soon we'll be heading North East and out across the North Atlantic Ocean towards the UK. Land is once again obscured by cloud. It looks as if we'll be travelling over Newfoundland before we reach the sea. Land has appeared again and I've been handed a bottle of mineral water and some cutlery - the two items aren't related in any way. We are 3,575 miles from home and there's six hours and 24 minutes to go. We are travelling at 35,001 feet and it's looking a little mountainous out there right now. Temperature wise it's minus 60 deg F. Now that's cold.
Just to let you know, I'm sitting in seat 37J and have nobody sitting next to me; this is great news, really great news, as it means I can stretch out a little bit. The map has frozen for some reason, but we'll ignore that. Below the land has disappeared again although I can just about make it out here and there.
The words 'please wait' have appeared on my screen. Well, there's not much else I can do other than read or eat. Land has made a brief appearance again and now it is gone. Things change fast when you're flying.
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| Gate A36, Detroit airport, USA. |
There are six hours and 12 minutes until I arrive in London.
[Time has elapsed]: There's now four hours and 52 minutes to go and I'm watching No Country for Old Men. I've seen it a lot, well, at least three times, so it's on in the background so to speak. Dinner was amazing and I'm glad to say that Delta really is an amazing airline. The outward flight was wonderful and now I'm on the return journey and the food was great, chicken again and this time with rice and needless to say I ate the lot and the accompanying rice salad and the dessert, the whole shebang. I also had a glass of Pellegrino (my favourite mineral water) and finished off that bottle of still water I was given earlier on in the flight.
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| On the ground at Detroit... |
When No Country for Old Men finished I watched Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, but never saw it to the end. Not that I haven't seen it before. I switched all my screens off, opened up one of the pillows and tried to get some sleep, which, as always, proved impossible. Getting that pillow out was so optimistic. As the clock continued its countdown I noticed that, with 90 minutes to go, there were signs of daylight. It's now fully light outside now and below us is a bed of white cloud. There are now 19 minutes to go and as always I find it hard to believe that we'll be on the ground in that time.
People are still watching movies and trying to sleep.There are 16 minutes to go of six hours and 59 minutes (I swear it said 56 minutes earlier). As I write this we have travelled 3,914.95 miles.
My plan once we've landed is to call a cab and then find somewhere to drink tea and chill a little, then, when I get home, I'll relax, probably with another cup of tea.
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| In the air en route to London Heathrow airport... |
The pilot - or somebody on the flight deck - says we will be landing shortly, but I still can't believe we'll be on the ground in 11 minutes. Somehow, they always manage it so I won't be too cocky. Mind you, this is London Heathrow and planes have been known to circle a few times before landing. That said, the pilot did use the phrase 'final approach'. Seven minutes. Surely they will have to reset the clock. I just know that when we come through the thick cloud that is currently below us we will still be a long way from the ground, we always are. Six minutes to landing, says the clock, the cloud is getting closer, the flaps are up and the sun is out. It's far colder than it was in Detroit (at least I think it is).
My iphone still says it's 0148hrs, Detroit time, but that will change when we're on the ground. We're in the cloud now but no sign of land. One minute to touchdown. Really? Hold on, land ahoy - they were right -and we ARE about to land. Touchdown! I've switched off airplane mode on the iphone and the time now reads 0655hrs as the plane makes its way to terminal building. It's misty outside and I can see a lot of British Airways planes on the tarmac. I'm not keen on British Airways.
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| On the tarmac at London Heathrow airport...misty and cold |
I decided not to get a cab. Why waste money? Instead I got home for absolutely nothing - thanks to my Oyster Card - and I didn't bother stopping for a coffee either. I took the Elizabeth Line to Farringdon then took a train to Moorgate and then onwards to London Bridge where I picked up a Thameslink train to East Croydon. From there I took a cab, but it was a fraction of the cost it might have cost me had I booked one from the airport. I reached home around 1000hrs and spent the day sitting around, nodding off here and there but I was fine, I even stayed up until gone 2300hrs watching television. All week I felt a little weary as did my colleague, who had been on the same trip, but slowly life returned back to normal and now I need to try my best to ditch all the bad foods and drum up some motivation to get fit.
