Day 1 & 2. Toronto – London – Glasgow – Sep 09 & 10th, 2013
On August 9th, we took off with British Airways from Toronto, after a thirty minute delay, at 22:00 hrs. As you can imagine, I had a late chicken dinner at 23:15 hrs. I had a delightful white Castilian Val de los Frailes Verdejo 2012.
For once, I actually fell asleep. I think this is because in my row of three seats, there was nobody in the centre seat and the window guy turned off all the lights and went to sleep. But, being asleep, I missed breakfast and the issue of landing cards. I cadged a card from the galley.
The flight on the Boeing 747-400 to Heathrow was an incredibly short six hours and three minutes, landing at 09:15 local ( 04:15 Toronto time).
Then came the big test of my new British Passport. I had filled out the landing card but the immigration officer brushed it aside saying that Brits didn’t need one. He just glanced at my virgin passport and waved me on without even stamping it.
We then had about a four hour layover at Heathrow, during which I checked out camera prices. The GoPro V3 Black underwater helmet camera was 210 pounds in Toronto. The Heathrow price in “Duty Free” was 330 pounds – what a rip off!
At Heathrow Terminal 5 they do not post the gates until 45 minutes before flight time. We finally got gate 2 for 12:10 – it was delayed by 20 minutes because the computer systems crashed.
At the gate during we married up with our British Londoner Tour Manager. After another delay, we travelled to Glasgow on a BA Airbus 320. The highlight was seeing very extensive winds farms south of Glasgow. It was only one hour fifteen minutes before we were on the ground.
Our coach driver met us at the airport. We dragged our bags out to the parking lot, passing the covered walkway that a crazy man had tried to car bomb about five years ago.
It was a short drive into the centre of town. The Millennium Hotel was in the very core on George Square. Having been advised to stay awake, I went for a walk scouting for food stops for the inevitable DIY meal. I passed several tartan shops and suddenly spotted my souvenir. A lovely tweed bucket hat made from West Hebrides cloth.
The Welcome Dinner was a late 20:00 hrs. It was not really that inspiring. We went into a rather drab dining room and sat at tables of four. The Tour Manager did not join us so it was not really a Welcome Dinner. The wine was Adam’s Ale. The service was glacial, with only one waitress for twenty guests. I had soup, chicken and strawberry cheesecake. I skipped coffee and left at 21:45 ready for bed.
I slept very well, but I knew the price would be a sleepless second night.
The Travels of David Ironsides 