European Vacation 2008

03.May - local Pub
WE arrive only a couple of hours earlier and made our way down the road to the “local” - which we are happy to report has not changed in the last two years (? have the TV screens got bigger ?).

We had the usual drinks - Jim his white wine by the glass, Jacqui her Bourbon & Coke, Hans his glass (or 2) of lager.
J & J had a big salad plate with “prawns” and smoked salmon
H had to try the local Bangers & Mash - done here in a large Yorkshire Pudding with an onion gravy - good honest tucker.

04.May - local small restaurant - used to serve a lovely bean soup - it’s now a trendy Tappas Restaurant.

Seeing the Pub does not serve food after 5pm on a Sunday we ended up here.
The small plates at about 6 pounds each are not too small and between the 3 of us we had 6 plates to share around - including some spanish sausages, Whitebait, Fresh Baked bread, King Prawns & some squid rings.

It was OK considering Tappas are a native of Spain and service was by a Polish lassie …..

 www.clarence-hotel.co.uk

This establishment in Windsor (West of London) has been our preferred place to stay for the last 3 trips to London / UK. It’s close to the airport (LHR) in a quiet location - except for being in the flightpath of the early morning (6am onwards) airport traffic.

The hotel offers comfortable onsuite accommodation and an excellent (friendly) breakfast service.
NOTE: Late night or very early morning arrivals are not well catered for as there is no “night porter” service and the front door is locked [every client has a key once signed in :-)]

Windsor is (as most will know) the home of the Royal Family (Windsor Castle) and it’s also next to Eton which is a well known College town.

Both towns - Eton & Windsor offer a good choice of little eating houses and speciality shops - some in old fashioned village atmosphere.

Our stay at this hotel: Saturday 03. -  Wednesday 07.May 2008
Rates: 82 pounds per person incl breakfast

We have survived the long flying stage from Perth to Hong Kong and after a brief period in transit on to London Heathrow airport.

The 8 hours stage from Perth to Hong Kong (departure 15min past midnight from PER - arrival 08:00 in HKG) must go down as one of the most uncomfortable flights we have been on for many years. The aircraft should have been taken out of service a long time ago. The Business Class area seating reminded me of “cattle class” on a Qantas flight I was on in 1994. OK - Anybody who knows me will agree that it is not easy finding seating for me that is comfortable - I am 2m tall and built like a “BSH”. That is one reason we do spend the considerable extra money on Business Class. I also make sure I have a seat in the front row so that I have that little extra leg room.
NONE of this was of any use in this aircraft.
But we were told by another frequent flying traveller that this airline (Cathay Pacific) is not the only one (he mentioned our own National carrier doing the same thing) who will put clients travelling this route (Perth to Hong Kong) into this out of date accommodation during a night flight where one expects to have some possible sleep time …… definately not possible on this flight !!

On a positive note: The cabin staff was most helpfull and attentive and even apologetic ….

The next stage to London was much more up to date with the modern business style seats etc. We got some good sleep at last and landed on time (4pm) at LHR. - The taxi driver gladly took my Google Map print out to get us for a fee of 65 pounds to our hotel in Windsor - where the familiar friendly staff made us feel at home. A couple of drinks and some food at the local corner pub before hiiting the pillows for a good nights sleep.

…… end of day 1 - 03.May 2008