From Helsinki to London

Flying over to Australia from Finland takes a while, we probably all know this. The way I chose to fly was through London Heathrow, which meant a fuel-stop in Singapore. Total travel time nearly 30 hours.

Flying with my father was something I knew was going to be challenging, but I thought it would be sitting in the cramped seats that would get to me more. He is a smoker, so the first challenge was to get him to buy some nicotine-patches. Being a stubborn man, it wasn’t easy. Compounding this was my frustration at the fact that he seemed unable to read the signs at the Airport. Note, we are still in Helsinki-Vantaa at this point. He also wanted to try to change his return flight for an earlier one, since he would otherwise have to wait in LHR for 5 hours on the way back. For some reason, negotiating this was also my task.

The plane. First flight HEL-LHR, 3 hours. A British Airways Boeing 757, the cabin of which had seen better days. Our seats were excellent, first row of the second cabin section, legroom for an elephant. The plane was less than half full as well, meaning I could put a seat between myself and my father, who at this point was pissing me off with his usual unwanted commentary as well as apparently hilarious suggestions of opening the emergency door mid-flight. Because of the structure of the plane, the cabin crew seats are located at the beginning of every cabin section, facing back. For take-off and landing, therefore, I had the purser facing me, looking rather like she had given up on life. Her outward appearance was similar to that of the aircraft interior.

London Heathrow, early evening. Getting off the plane, then toilets. Then father needs a smoke (he has not put on the patch yet). I point out to him that smoking is prohibited everywhere in LHR and direct him outside, pointing out the smoking-area signs. He walks out and lights up, facing a pillar with a very distinct international symbol depicting a cigarette with a red crossed-out circle around it. How nice. Next he starts asking me why there are no ashtrays here, I just point to the glass.-enclosed smoking box and try to not explode.

My brother, who is studying at LSE is supposed to meet us here, so we head down to the Underground entrance to wait for him. And wait, and wait. After waiting for a bit more, he does arrive and we take the Heathrow express to terminal 4, from where our Quantas flight is leaving later. Once there, the BA ticket office, where I am yet again asked to see about an earlier flight for my father. I tell him to figure it out himself, since he obviously still didn’t understand that fully booked means what it says. We visit the local pub, a Lloyds where, my brother tells me, the prices are quite a bit higher than the same places downtown. I have a “luxury” hot chocolate, they have a local from the tap. The marshmallows and warm liquid do a lot to zen me out.

Proceeding to the departure area, another security check, this time I am selected for the new body X-ray system. Not only do I have to remove my shoes, belt, watch and so on, I have to stand in 3 different positions for the thing. This all takes so much time that I am sure it will never go into full operation in this configuration. Apparently I passed though. Now its just a medium length queue to the plane and my next post.