Farnborough 2008: Departing London-Heathrow International

19JUL08 Arriving in London-Heathrow International, London England (LHR)

I had decided that I'd had back home as I felt rotten as my cold continued. I had breakfast and then headed out.

It was 9:07a when I got to Terminal 4 via the Picadilly line, exactly an hour from when I boarded the train at Kings Cross St. Pancras station.

I made my way up two floors to the departure level, found the Continental counter, checked in, did the security checks then headed to the security lines.

I was through there in no time and made my way to the Holideck near gate 11. I showed my credentials and entered the Lounge. Of course, I headed straight for the tower area so I could see the planes.

I was surprised that the Singapore Airlines (SQ) A380 was not at its gate. It must be late or not operating today I thought. I watched a few more planes land before going downstairs to the Quiet Room. I am still amazed each time I see a Boeing 747-400 land as it is a spectacular site!

I got online and watched a few more planes land. Eventually the Continental Boeing 777-200ER that would hopefully take me back to Houston landed and made its way to gate 24. It was indeed about 30 minutes late in arriving. That made our departure time 11:34a as my TripAlert had said.






At about 10:45a, I began to head to the gate area. It was quite a walk. Once there, I asked the agent if the I had a seat and indeed I did thankfully.

I was looking around for my colleague's wife as I knew that she was on the flight as well. As it turns out there were only two more empty seats so she would not make it. We talked a bit and it made sense for her to try the British Airways (BA) flight at about 1:15p or so.

Boarding started about 11:10a and I boarded when it was my time. It was odd as this lady pushed right in front of me and the guy checking the passports did not see that, oh well...