Well, once again we had the boring part of the holiday to get through – the long flight home.
After a good breakfast we collected our cases, checked out of our room and sat in reception to await the arrival of the buses that would take us to the airport. Last time we flew back from Buenos Aires in 2006 we did so via São Paulo so we were on the plane a total of 15 hours, in a turbulent and seemingly un-ending overnight flight. So I wasn’t particularly looking forward to repeating the experience, but if we want to go to these far away places we have to put up with the long flights. Or, as Dolly Parton put it so picturesquely, “If you want the rainbow, you’ve got to put up with the rain.” 🙂
The journey to the airport took about an hour, but at least the queue at the British Airways desk wasn’t too long when we got there, so we checked in and dumped our bags quickly; in fact we were able to check our luggage all the way through to Newcastle. Then it was off to the executive lounge to while away a couple of hours in there, using our Priority Passes.
The Executive Lounge was a bit tatty as far as exec lounges go, but they had a good selection of free drinks, including beer, wine and spirits, and snacks of crisps, nuts and little canapés. They also had free wi-fi so I was able to check, and reply to, some of my emails.
Eventually our flight was called and we boarded the Boeing 777 aircraft; this time the flight would ‘only’ be 14 hours (no stopping in São Paulo) before our arrival in London Heathrow.
We took off on time and watched the bright lights of Buenos Aires receding into the distance below us as we headed north-east across the expanse of Atlantic ocean.
Another brilliant holiday had come to an end. Here’s to the next one!