16. Flight from Beijing to Shanghai, then transfer on to Heathrow

Early morning call at four am... yes I did say four am, and everyone made it on time...!!! It’s only a twenty minute drive to Beijing International Airport, and with Max’s help our transition through the departure lounge was pretty easy.

We’re all loaded aboard and the plane powers up along the runway at exactly 11:25, the timing of all of our flights have been spot on every time! We got a Chinese “breakfast” on this relatively short flight, it was interesting... rice porridge, a cold vegetable dish, a lovely sweet bun filled with hard chocolate and an orange juice. Needless to say we left our porridge but the rest wasn’t too bad, it filled a hole, as they say!

Landed on time and made our way through Shanghai Pugong Airport to the International Departures desk, bit of a hiccup with the Declaration Cards... or lack of them, but got through without too much trouble. Found the

Skyteam Lounge and enjoyed some cold drinks and a few snacks, including a tasty shredded duck dish with rice; even tried the Green Tea Swiss Rolls, which were far nicer than I expected them to be, wish I’d had some earlier now...!!!

After our relaxing interlude we headed back out into the throng of the shopping area, it was very expensive, which is nothing new for an airport; but regardless of the cost we splashed out on... a tin of chocolate for Elaine’s work colleagues! Oh, and I managed to find an affordable Terracotta Warrior in a little shop by the departure gate.

Boarding began at exactly 12:35, but the Business Class passengers were queued up to one side after passing the gate, for what turned out to be an executive minibus to drive us out to the waiting Boeing B777-300ER, and board using the forward entrance. Offered a hot towel as soon as we’d settled into our pods and a choice of drink just seconds later!

I spoke too soon about the brilliant time keeping of the flights we’d had so far, as the time drew close to the 15:20 takeoff time it was announced that it was delayed until 16:00, still I guess one out of five isn’t too bad!