BA Boomerang, Bratwurst and Buddha - Berlin to Hong Kong - Day 12 (Heathrow - Berlin - Heathrow)

[BONZO]

BA Boomerang, Bratwurst and Buddha - Berlin to Hong Kong


CAST LIST

Me (Shaun): 50 something, loving all the travel
Alison: 50 something (just!), also loving all the travel
Link to trip report index: here


Sunday 25th September 2016
We both woke up around 2 hours before landing – I’d slept quite well (Alison here: nothing to do with the gin and tonics, wine, champagne, port etc I’m sure!)

Alison had someone sitting to the front of her by the window who had to step over her legs – the young woman didn’t appear to be an older or infirm person, but she was incapable of stepping over high enough so that she didn’t kick Alison! We think it was her first time in Club World as she didn’t know how to work the seat, had to be repeatedly reminded to put her seat upright for take off and landing as well as to not have anything on the floor at those times. She also talked throughout the safety video! :angry:

We were offered breakfast, but I just had juice and coffee as I like the full English breakfast in the arrivals lounge more than the offering on board. Alison had muesli, juice and coffee.

We landed on time (having circled a couple of times so that we didn’t land too much before 5am) and got off the plane at Terminal 5C. We headed through the utilidors rather than waiting for the transit train – it was nice to stretch our legs after being sat on the plane for so long. We were just about the only people down on the lower levels



And we ended up beating the train passengers to security!

We headed back through landside (as we were travelling hand luggage only there was no waiting for cases – just a very quick trip through the passport e-gates) and Alison had an inspired thought. We decided to go straight to the car park (via the shuttle mini bus) and dropped off nearly all things, just keeping the bare minimum with us for the next 2 legs. Good thinking Alison! (Alison here: I do have good ideas sometimes!)

We jumped back on the minibus and headed back into the terminal for the arrivals lounge.

We enjoyed a lovely breakfast:





and then a nice shower. The shower cubicles leave a bit to be desired to be honest – functional, but not plush. Alison said the hairdryers aren’t very good. But they serve a purpose and after travelling for so many hours it was good to freshen up.

We headed through security to the second lounge of the day and grabbed a couple of coffees before relaxing watching planes taking off.



Eventually it was time for us to head down to Gate A13 for our flight which turned out to be really quite busy. Staff were asking for large hand luggage to go in the hold due to limited cabin space – luckily we didn’t have to worry about this as we’d dropped our bags at the car already! (Cue smug look from Alison!) It could have been an issue for us as we had a very tight turnaround – we were doing a back to back flight, where we literally got off the plane and immediately queued up to get back on it again!

We boarded quite quickly and settled into our seats. We didn’t have anything to eat – just had a coffee each (keeping that caffeine topped up!). We landed on time and headed off the plane, then turned right around and headed through security (which is right at the gate at Berlin airport) and sat and waited for boarding to be announced.

A few minutes later we queued up and boarded the plane and headed straight back to Heathrow. It was all very quick and easy – a bit boring having to do those last hops but well worth it to save the money that we did!




So our final thoughts of the holiday:

Highs(in no particular order)

Day at Cheung Chau Island
Day trip to Macau (and winning HK$2057!)
Evening at the Happy Valley race course
Mira hotel (especially the lounge access and the great staff)
Having a free wi-fi dongle (supplied by The Mira)
MTR – very clean and efficient
Hong Kong Disneyland

Not so highs

Lots of smokers everywhere
Being pestered a bit “Hey – you want to buy a watch/a suit/a bag?”
Bit too hot and humid (for me) for doing touristy stuff, it was perfect for the beach though

In summary, we had a great time – and we’d definitely go back! We walked so much – over 82 miles!

Next trip is in a couple of months….to Boston!





Datapoints:
Starbucks count today: 0
Starbucks total for trip so far: 6
Steps today: 6793
Steps total for trip so far: 174,308
Miles today: 3.4
Miles total for trip so far: 82.2

[amymiller]

Just read through your report and thoroughly enjoyed it. I visited Hong Kong myself back in November so was good to relive some of it through your report.

Impressed you made it up to the 10,000 Buddhas, it was just too humid for me and my husband, plus we were short on time, so we turned back around. Nice to see your pics and what I missed though and gives me a reason to return I suppose!

[Cutiepie]

Thoroughly enjoyed reading your report. They are always so informative. Thanks for sharing and I will be reading your Boston one next.

[Twin mummy]

Really enjoyed reading your report, sounded like a great holiday.

[pinkcandy]

Fantasic trip report! Just sat and read the whole trip, Thank you for sharing

We are off to Hong Kong in April and you have given us some fab ideas so thank you!

[BONZO]

Thanks all for taking the time to read through and taking the time to comment, hope the report gives some useful pointers for you.

[Guest]

I loved reading your report, thank you.

But something has been puzzling me, why did you do the flight to Berlin and back at the end? Holiday was over, you were hand luggage only, why didn’t you just leave?.

[BONZO]

Originally Posted by Bridgetx

I loved reading your report, thank you.

But something has been puzzling me, why did you do the flight to Berlin and back at the end? Holiday was over, you were hand luggage only, why didn’t you just leave?.

See more...

A couple of reasons - 1 is that we wanted the tier points to maintain our status with BA. The second is that if you do it too much you can come under the spotlight and we don't want BA to reprice our tickets to finish in London!

[Guest]

Originally Posted by BONZO

A couple of reasons - 1 is that we wanted the tier points to maintain our status with BA. The second is that if you do it too much you can come under the spotlight and we don't want BA to reprice our tickets to finish in London!

See more...

makes sense.

[Glee Fan]

I've just read the whole thing and what a fab trip you both had! So many hints and useful information as well. The hotel looked lovely too.

I always enjoy reading your reports! Thank you both