Hydrogen - Enjoying the No 1 Lounge

Hydrogen

Trying to name posts using an item from the periodic table is more of a challenge than I expected - thanks Robin - today it either had to be food or the lounge. Well it is the No1 Lounge, so of course our post title is the No 1 on the periodic table. 

Friday Morning

Waking

After going to sleep at 10.00pm last night feeling very tired, I awoke full of life and energy at 3.00am. What an amazing sleep. I then realised that 3am here is 7pm on Thursday in San Francisco. I guess I'm going to live today on UK time and work it out tomorrow. 

I uploaded yesterday's photos to Flickr and wrote the blog post about yesterday.

For many years on these blogs I've worked hard, sometimes struggled to get photos to fit around the text, to show who was having which meal etc. However, I realised last year that about half (or a little more) of the readers of the blog are reading it on mobile devices not computers. And what looks very tastefully managed on a PC screen makes no sense at all on a smaller screen. So you will note that photos are mainly centered in this year's blog. Not due to laziness on my part, but the the ubiquity of mobile devices. 

The alarm went off at 4.30am (8:30pm Pacific Standard Time(PST)). Drew woke, I made him tea and shaved, brushed my teeth and showered (called abluted in the rest of the blog to save words!)

Breakfast

We went down to breakfast at 5.30am, when it opened. Quite often, as early risers, we are lonely at breakfast, but not here.

About 50 people were ready and waiting at 5.30 - they managed the queue very well, so we were not unduly delayed.

We had a tasty Premier Inn breakfast.

Drew enjoying his meaty breakfast while reminding me it is Friday, hence the smile!!

Breakfast was for me, of course, vegetarian as it is a Friday. As you can imagine, and see in the picture, Drew enjoyed reminding me that I wasn't allowed meat. Some might say it was an undo pleasure he took in it. 😈 <<Co-pilots  note: unfounded accusations, dear readers, completely unwarranted and unfounded accusations >>

A pleasant, if meat free, breakfast

To the Airport

The Heathrow Hoppa arrived, on time, at 6:45am. We got to Terminal 3 at 7am and, because we had booked Premium Economy and had checked in yesterday, we just needed to drop our bags off. Much to my surprise my bag was only 12.4kg and Drew's 14.3kg. I wonder where the extra weight has come from?

Much to my amazement we were through security by 7:10am and comfortably sitting in the No1 Lounge by 7:20am. I wonder if we are getting better at preparing for security, or if they are quicker, but neither of us made anything beep, which hasn't always been the case.

I have extolled the value of paying to get into a lounge in previous years. Free drinks, free snacks and even a second breakfast. All in a peaceful, air-conditioned comfort.

So here is the annual photo of Drew with his iPad enjoying the comfort. 

Drew in the No1 Lounge

The first time we took a similar photo was here in 2013!!

Drew circa 2013

We again had drinks, snacks and a light meal which was lovely. 

Bacon Roll and Brown Sauce

A bacon roll for Drew, so he could tell me how nice the meat tasted.

A fish finger wrap

A fish finger wrap, with gerkins, cos lettuce and crisps for me. It was perfectly nice, though had no meat.

Now it is 10:15am (2.15am PST), boarding starts at 10.20am and the plane is due to leave at 11:15am (3.30am PST). It has been really comfortable in the lounge, getting a full three hours worth has been good value.

Time to publish this post - see you all on the other side.