38 Flights completed, but still no GGL!!!

So all 38 flights completed but I'm not GGL.

The reason being that the JFK-LAX leg on my second trip was booked into Business and not First due to the aircraft being switched to the A321T 3 class plane. On trip 1 this didn't matter as I was rebooked into F but on trip 2 I was rebooked into business meaning 140 TP's instead of 210TP's.

So overall I have 4940 TP's leaving me 60TP's short of GGL!

Trip 2 Flight 18 Day 17 BRU-LHR

It's the final flight, sitting in the BA lounge in BRU it's an incredible feeling. The TP run is almost complete and now sat here in BRU knowing that there no chances of missed connections is a real relief.

In a way it's quite odd how passing through the same airports so many times can make you feel like you have a connection with them and in some strange way I'll miss the stale smell on those old AA 757's and passing through LAX and HNL every other day! I imagine it will be a while before I see those airports again.

When I look back at getting on that first flight on April 13th, taking off and putting my headphones on starting a crazy adventure for what was almost 6 weeks in total I'm really glad I decided to do this. It was an amazing experience.

Back to real life very soon....

Flight goes without anything noteworthy and I'm back in Blighty and a bus journey away from my own bed. Looking forward to it.

38 flights completed in total, did I make GGL?

Trip 2 flight 17 day 17 HEL-BRU

Aircraft: A320
Class business
Tier points: 40

It's the final day, and just one connection before landing back into LHR!

There is an enormous sense of relief, passing through London yesterday and having to put in an onward journey to HEL was psychologically quite demoralising, still here we are and it's a pretty uneventful trip through HEL and down to BRU.

Trip 2 Flight 16 Day 16 LHR-HEL 18.40

Day 16 LHR-HEL 18.40

Class: Business

Airbus A320

Tier Points: 80

I have lots of time to spare and it’s a pretty nice day so I head to see the Olympic park as it’s quite close to London City airport. The DLR at London city is fantastic, driverless. How long before TFL gets rid of those £50k+ huge pension and perks drivers on the underground system?

I’m not really sure what I was expecting to find, I see the Olympic stadium being renovated, the weird sculpture/viewing tower thing and the aquatic centre. All in all it’s a bit of a mess here. I’m glad I visited but certainly nothing here to warrant a special trip. It’s not particularly clear to me why anyone would visit it as a ‘park’. It was also very lacking on references to the Olympics, they could certainly have done a much better job of putting up some statues of athletes or pictures of the event/site as it was during the Olympics as a standing memory of 2012.

I get a reply from an old school friend and he can meet me on his lunch break so I head for Southwark on the tube for a few drinks.

We have a good catch up, I then get on the tube and head to LHR as my girlfriends flight lands there at 3pm.

Piccadilly line is massively crowded, I’ve got a moral objection in giving money to the overpriced monopoly that is the Heathrow express and judging by the amount of people on the Piccadilly line with luggage I’m not the only one. In the interest of keeping the tube free from LHR passengers with baggage someone needs to regulate the Heathrow Express prices, its madness that people are using the tube from central london whilst near empty express trains go direct in from Paddington.

My girlfriend lands on time but unfortunately her bag was not put on her flight (she connected HNL-LAX-LAS-LHR). BA confirm the bag is not in the UK, she has a receipt from HNL showing that it should have been forwarded all the way. Only time will tell if it turns up.

Due to the faffing with the bag she misses her bus and has to wait another 2 and a half hours for the next one.

I would love to just drop my last 3 flights and go home now but I can’t. I’m feeling pretty rough after 3 long flights and 2 elongated connections. As I clear security at T3 I’ve been going for almost 36 hours without a hotel.

I briefly go to the F lounge at T3, grab a light salad and some water and then board.

I’m falling asleep on the runway, after take off I’m pretty much solid asleep until Helsinki. We land, Helsinki airport is a joy to navigate and I get the shuttle bus to the Holiday Inn.

Its midnight in Helsinki and its still light. I get off the bus at the wrong stop and have a very plasant 5 minute walk in a mild and light Helsinki. Birds are singing.

I’m an IHG platinum (status matched from Hilton diamond) and have paid for the hotel on points, I’m upgraded to an executive room. I’m intrigued to see what an exec room at a holiday inn consists of. I was suitably impressed. The most impressive thing of all was the seemingly free minibar in the room, I helped myself to some chocolate and water from it and was not charged for this.

Trip 2 Flight 15 Day 15 21.45

Day 15 JFK-LCY 21.45

Class: Business

Airbus A318

Tier Points: 210

I have a 6 our layover in JFK. It’s a really nice day in NYC and I think about dropping my bag off and heading into the city to do some tourism but realistically I’ve got a monster of a journey still ahead of me and I’d only get 2 good hours in the city before needing to turn around back to the airport.

I head on through to the BA first class lounge. I take a shower then I boot up and get caught up on emails and work. The showers in LAX are much nicer than here. In fact I’ve only been to the BA lounges in JFK twice and both times the toilets have been like a war zone. Paper towels over the floor, urine around the floor of the urinals and contact lens cases and glasses from the lounge next to the washbasins. Does anyone ever clean the toilets?

After a couple of productive hours I make my way to the pre flight dining section of the lounge and get tucked into a very nice spicy Korean beef dish, after a couple of large glasses of wine I’m also a bit tipsy. I finish off with some delicious Brie from the cheese board, a really nice meal.

Its eventually time to board. I’m in row 6 next to the window. My plan was to sleep through this flight but I’ve overdosed on sleep today already and as we get settled in the air I find myself copltely unable to sleep. I put on some music and after about 2 hours I eventually drift off into a very broken sleep.

I wake up with 2 and a half hours to landing, take a quick toilet break whilst trying not to wake my seat partner as I climb over. It’s a pretty full flight – 30 people out of 32 Max – and everyone’s tucked up in bed.

I can’t go back to sleep and the flight crew start squirriling around making breakfast preparations.

Anyone who knows me will understand that I’m only ever up early for Christmas day, well this year we can add June 2^nd to the calendar. It’s 8am UK and the flight attendant notices me awake and offers me breakfast. It’s a fruit bowl followed by a full English and a croissant and was a very decent attempt at 38,000ft.

The rest of the passengers slowly wake up, I must praise the flight crew on how discretely they serve the breakfast being very considerate of those still sleeping.

As more and more people wake the windows of the plane start to open and dark turns to light as the white clouds reflect light into the cabin from outside.

The captain informs us that we will be landing 15 minutes early, all seats to upright and we are heading into LCY.

Trip 2 Flight 14 Day 15 LAX-JFK 07.00

Day 15 LAX-JFK 07.00

Class: Business

Airbus A321T

Tier Points: 140

Again the connection in LAX is right next to my arrivals gate, we arrive slightly early and the flagship lounge doesn’t open until 5.15am so I make a call back home where it’s around lunch time. I can already see that as the time difference unfolds my body is going to have all sorts of fun.

I head to the flagship lounge for some yoghurt and berries and scrambled eggs. I admire another RB211 powered 757 departing into the LA sunrise, according to RR an RB211 powered 757 takes off or lands every 38 seconds. Impressive stuff!

Soon enough it’s time to board, it’s a new Airbus 321T so I’ve got a lie flat bed. I turn down the meal service and tuck myself up for another sleep. The next thing I know is the captain is calling cabin crew to landing procedures as I wake up on the approach to JFK. A smooth flight. I have a 6 hour layover in JFK which I’m not looking forward to.

Trip 2 Flight 13 Day 14 HNL-LAX 20.45

Day 14 LAX-HNL 20.45

Class: First

Boeing 757

Tier Points: 210

After a fabulous week in Hawaii it’s time to bid a slightly emotional farewell to HNL, it’s my 8^th time through the airport in 5 weeks. It’s always a treat to wander through the open air causeways from gates to terminal here and feel the tropical heat and smell the aviation fuel.

I drop my girlfriend off at the best western plaza airport hotel (she is flying first thing tomorrow) and  drop the car off. I must give a huge recommendation to Atlas Choice car hire, they were super cheap in both Miami and here in Honolulu and although off airport the service both times was flawless.

I’m ready to complete the adventure and am quite happy with the fact that there are only 6 flights left to go.

I check in and head through to the Admirals club where I have a Budweiser before the flight. I don’t have a lot of time. Again the lounge here is pretty basic.

We board on time, it’s a full flight and everyone boarding looks a little run down.

I can’t face any more AA pizza so I turn down the offer of a meal, deploy the travel pillow and get myself off to sleep. The 757 is not the most comfortable place to rest but I manage a pretty solid sleep all the way through to 40 minutes until landing.

5 to go…