that's a wrap

So that's it then. I got back on Sunday. Not a terrible flight on BA, I'd chosen the best seat available in World Traveller Plus (BA's premium economy class), the very front row of that class in the aircraft which meant it had masses of legroom. The entertainment was good, even if I can't quite remember what it was, and the flight was less than half-full which meant the service was great, non-hurried, and they offered me 3 beers at once when serving(!). The descent from luxury was completed with a 285+281 bus combination to get home. Back down to earth in style, that.

So here's a map of where I went, not including Gibraltar and Dubai.

Maps generated by the
Great Circle Mapper -
copyright © Karl L. Swartz.

Quite mad that. Here's some stats. Should I include Dubai and Gibraltar in these? Hmm. Maybe I'll do both.

• Don't know how many countries, technically. Is Gibraltar part of the UK? Is Hong Kong SAR part of China?
  
• 7 or 9 cities. Gibraltar, Dubai, Sydney, Auckland, Perth, Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, New York.
  
• 11 or 15 flights. All but one in business class. Fatcat bourgeoisie scum that I am, a proper champagne communist. Business class is great though.
  
• 4 or 5 airlines, depending on whether you include GB Airways as separate (BA franchise who fly to Gibraltar). Them, BA, Qantas, Cathay Pacific, American Airlines. The oneworld alliance, innit.
  
• 5 different aircraft types I think. Not sure about this one. I think I flew on Airbus A320s, A330s, A340s, plus Boeing 747s and 777s. Not really sure tbh!
• 34349 miles on that map above; 43360 miles including Gibraltar and Dubai, 43444 miles if you include the diversion to Abu Dhabi.
• 16 lounges visited. BA Terraces Heathrow terminal 1, Gibraltar peninsula lounge, 2 x BA Terraces terminal 4, BA Terminal 4 arrivals lounge, BA Terraces lounge Dubai, shared Qantas/BA lounge Singapore, Sydney international terminal Qantas lounge, Auckland Qantas lounge, Sydney domestic terminal Qantas lounge, Perth international Qantas lounge, Hong Kong Cathay Pacific "The Wing" and "The Pier", Singapore Cathay/shared Skyview lounge, Narita (Tokyo) American Airlines Admirals Club, JFK BA Terraces terminal 7.
  
• BA Executive Club silver tier achieved. Can't report on how many tier points and miles I earned because some of them haven't shown up yet, and I'm still in dispute about the points 'cos my account has been dicked around with (I think... the maths are quite complicated). And now I've joined BMI's frequent flyer thing too, straight in at Silver because they match BA status, heh.
• 8 hotels. Hilton Dubai Jumeirah, Mercure Auckland, Crowne Plaza Perth, Harbour Plaza Hong Kong, InterContinental Singapore, Novotel Citygate Hong Kong, Marunouchi Tokyo, Hilton Garden Inn JFK Airport New York.
• 12 forms of transport, I think. 15 planes, 1 private car, loads of cabs, 2 funicular railways, 4 cable cars, 1 monorail, a bunch of buses, 4(?) coaches, a few trains, 9 boats (although I'm really not sure about this), some underground trains, and 1 gardeners' buggy.
• 8 currencies but only 4 denominations: Sterling, UAE Dirhams, Australian/New Zealand/Hong Kong/Singapore/US Dollars, Japanese Yen.
• THOUSANDS of Diet Cokes.

This is doing my head in a bit so I'll stop there, at least for now. These aren't stats I noted down during the trip, I'm coming up with them on the fly and it's all a bit much for a Saturday morning. And Soccer A.M. is on making it difficult to concentrate anyway. Oh, shit, I also need to get a bit of a shift on and head round me Dad's. I bet the journey's going to be a mare thanks to South West Trains engineering works 'n all.