Having left my overnight stop in Lilongwe I arrived at the airport in plenty of time for rmy flight. I waited at the sole international check in desk and took the opportunity of it being empty to weigh my bags as I had no access to scales in Blantyre. To my relief all was fine and after about a 10 minute wait the check in opened and I had handed by luggage over, I must say with some concern. When I left Heathrow my bags had a bright green label attached advising that the bag must be transferred at Addis Ababa. No such system seemed to be in place at Lilongwe, just a bit of confusion followed by the stacking of the bags in a separate pile in a corner of the check in area! However, after 12 weeks in Malawi I was reasonably used to the relaxed attitude so was not actually as worried as I would have been when I first arrived in Malawi.
The flight to Addis was completed without incident on a nearly new plane, in stark contrast to the outbound trip which was completed on an aircraft that must have been close to loosing it's airworthiness certificates. So when I arrived at Addis airport I tried to get in to the Sheba Miles lounge [African air miles!], having joined up to this scheme run by Air Ethiopia, just after I had flown out in March. I was greeted by 2 fairly large security guards who then referred me a member of the local airline staff who looked up my details, and gleefully announced that I was not allowed in as I was only a blue member, not silver or gold. And they say Britain is still riddled by the class system! So having proclaimed grumpily to anyone who would listen that I thought the scheme run by the airline was a waste of time and was not worth joining, I wandered off in search of a berth to rest for the 5 or 6 hour wait for my connecting flight. I say anyone who would listen but actually it was only the 2 guards and the staff member because she was such a successful gatekeeper there was nobody actually in the lounge!
So a comfortable seat eluded me but I managed to find a quiet place to be able to sit and read to pass the time. Now call me grumpy, and I know that many will, but why do people feel the need to sit next to me when there is a whole bloody airport to sit in. And with 3 children under about 6! A family arrived and deposited themselves next to me so I decided that if I was to be able to get on with my reading I needed to move. I offered them my one seat as well as the ones they had already taken and headed off. They looked rather hurt but I have spent enough time sitting with my own kids when they were small to know how annoying they can be for people without kids. So I buggered off for a bit of peace.
After a coffee and several hours reading I decided that the time had come to make myself comfortable for the flight, and wandered off in search of the facilities. As I came out of the loo I casually glanced at the departure screen and noticed that the flight had changed it's departure gate to the opposite end of the airport. Not a large airport so I strolled down there and went through security very easily as the gate, in contrast to the original gate, was almost clear.
Having gone through the screening I collected my bags together and looked for the seating, only to be greeted by no empty seats and a large queue. Being British I, naturally, started queuing and waited about 15 minutes and moved 4 feet. I had been looking round and noticed 2 people just wander off in another direction and decided that I would go and see where they were going. So I left the queue and as I approached saw a notice stating that the entrance was for Lufthansa flights only. Bugger, back to the queue. Waited another 10 minutes and this time managed to move about 15 feet so things were looking up when an English guy came up and asked if the queue was for the London flight. I quickly advised him that I did not know but was reluctant to leave the queue again and he offered to ask at the desk which he did. It transpired that I had been queuing for no reason as the London flight desk was past the Lufthansa one.
So I happily left the queue and went to the desk indicated, which had 2 people checking tickets. As I passed the desk I checked with one of the staff that this was indeed the London flight check-in. Confirming that it was he indicated that it was the far desk that I needed. I looked up and could not actually see the end of the line! I trudged off to find the end of yet another queue and started again. This time progress was even more glacial than before, and as the flight was actually due to be take off in about 45 minutes I was starting to get a bit concerned about actually getting on the flight. After about 35 minutes and a journey of some 9 feet suddenly a member of the airline staff decided that enough was enough and he just waved everyone through to the tarmac and waiting aircraft boarding buses. A quick check of my boarding pass and I was on the bus and in the aircraft in about another 10 minutes. As I got on the aircraft I was pleasantly surprised to find that I was able to turn left to the good seats. Or so I thought!
I found my seat with plenty of legroom so I settled in and decided that this would be a good way to end 12 weeks overseas. All was fine until shortly after take off when they pulled the curtain to seal off the business class just a row in front of me, preventing me seeing the screen that was displaying flight information and various films for the journey. And a baby started to cry. However, I decided that I was not too worried as I intended to sleep as much as possible on this journey so after a meal served at about 2am, I settled down to sleep. Unfortunately that's when I found out that the seat did not recline as it was tight against a bulkhead behind. So sleep was elusive, as along with the lack of recline there was a hole at the base of the seat back and hence no support for my back. I was given a blanket to stuff in the hole but that did not really help. The lady in the next seat had managed to fall asleep, and left her reading light on which was now burning very brightly overhead. Normally not a problem except that when I tried to find the switch I found that it was down the side of the arm of the seat and the occupant had fallen asleep against that particular arm. I either had to try to turn it off and risk the lady waking up finding me groping around her midriff or try to sleep with a light burning my eyes out. I chose the later for fear of arrest on the tarmac at Heathrow!
Although sleepless the flight passed fairly quickly and I was just starting to enjoy a really good sunrise when the stewardesses came round and closed all the windows blinds to keep out the light. When I asked why, I was told that 'The sun will wake people up.' Talk about adding insult to injury for someone who had hardly slept a wink! So the remainder of the journey was spent listening to music and soon we started out approach to Heathrow, and flew in down the Thames estuary and over central London. What a splendid sight it was with the various landmark buildings and bridges easily visible along the way. Tower Bridge, The Belfast, the London Eye and the Palace of Westminster were all laid out below as well as many of the London parks, although I could not readily identify them. In the distance the arch of the new Wembley stadium which even unlit in daylight is quite impressive.
Landing was smooth and the transistion from aircraft to baggage claim to the arrivals area was accomplished in a little under 45 minutes, with all bags arriving intact and I was soon able to greet my family and start the final leg of my journey home.
And much to my wife's surprise I was content to sit in the passenger seat and let her take me home, something I would never have done before I went to Malawi.
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