Titanium - The flight and the rest of the journey home

Titanium

The title of this post is Titanium, like Aluminium, which I used as the title for the flight out to San Francisco, the element Titanium (atomic number 22) is a vital element in aircraft manufacturing. Indeed the Boeing 787-900 we travelled on today is made up 15% of Titanium. Titanium is used because it withstands comparable loads better than aluminum. It also has minimal fatigue concern, which is a good thing on airplanes. 

The Flight

We left the KLM-Air France lounge at 5:20pm and were boarded straight away. We had a refreshing Orange Juice while everyone else boarded.

The plane pulled away from the gate at exactly 6:00pm as scheduled and as were in the air by 6:10pm PST - 2:10am BST.

We were served pretzels and drinks (Diet Cokes for us) and at just after 7pm (3am Saturday BST) we had dinner. I'm afraid that with only my phone camera to hand I couldn't take photos of the food. I tried three, but none of them looked as nice as the food itself did.

The starter was a lovely Greek salad with feta, cherry tomatoes, basil and a balsamic vinaigrette which you could pour over if you wished. We wished!! The vinaigrette was sharp and tasty, it complemented, rather than overpowered the salad.

For mains Drew opted for Bulgogi Beef, a spicy korean dish with jasmine rice. The beef had raw chilli on top as well as being well flavoured throughout. Drew enjoyed it.

I opted for the Pesto Chicken, now it is Saturday, this was simple but tasty, with chunks of chicken in a pstor sauce with mashed potato and very tasty, el-dente, kale.

The desserts were peach and cream cheesecake and cheese and crackers. As is our tradition Drew had both cheesecakes and I had both cheeses. Drew said the cheesecake was very, very rich. It was a struggle to eat both of them (apparently). He managed without any complaint. <<Co-pilot's note: I am, dear readers, as you know, a Martyr!>>

We had finished by 3:40am with a lovely cup of PG Tips. My first tea for three weeks. 

I watched Skymap and slept to the background of Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, Alan Jackson, Loretta Lynn and Blake Shelton. If you don't know who these heros of country music are you should be ashamed of yourselves 😂. Seriously, I am a country fan and these were the best available. Dolly's selection was two hours long, Johnny's 90 minutes and the others between 60 and 80 - so there was enough to be going on with. I realised I was sleeping when I work up with no music on.

I wasn't asleep all the time, as I tracked us on Skymap, so I know we flew a different route from the one in which we had arrived. We flew inland from San Francisco airport over Salt Lake City and on across the centre of the USA. On this occasion we only turned north as we entered Maine, flying up over Houlton, Maine then via New Brunswick and across Newfoundland before crossing the Atlantic and crossing Ireland (Dingle was the first town we flew over in Ireland) and South Wales. 

I think I slept between 4 and 5 of the ten hours. Drew managed some sleep too, about three hours, between watching The Lost Boys and Space Cowboys, two classic films.

At 10am BST the lights gradually come up a process which takes 30 minutes to complete, so that people are woken gently. At 10:30am breakfast is provided. 

Fresh fruit, not a great photo, due to the lighting

The days were when breakfast was bacon, sausage and egg. But now it is all grains, yogurt and fruit. Drew had my yogurt and granola and I had his fresh fruit. The fruit is really chilled and tasty, the picture makes it looked washed out, but that is simply the lighting in the plane. 

I washed breakfast down with a cup of tea, but I do feel I'll need to buy breakfast/lunch when we land. 

We arrive at Heathrow at 12:13pm the plane taxis for a while getting to the gate at 12:25pm.  We go through passport control by 12:45pm and pick up our bags straight away (another advantage of Premium Economy, faster bag pick up). 

Travelling back to Wales

Panini and Coffees - Heathrow Bus Station

We walked to the Heathrow Central Bus Station arriving at 1:00pm where we had a panini and coffee each while waiting for our coach at 2:10pm. Drew had ham and mozzarella with a latte and I had meatballs and mozzarella with an americano.  

The coach ride was smooth, we both had short dozes and were grateful neither of us were driving. Given how hot it is today in England and Wales we were very grateful for the lovely air-conditioning that the bus provided.

We arrived at Sophia Gardens at 5:30pm, ten minutes before schedule and walked to the front of the Castle to catch the 132 at the stop Drew's uses to come home from work. 

Drew on the 132 coming across the Coryton Gyratory

The bus arrived at the same time as we did so we were back in Tongwynlais by 6:05pm. 

Our Front Door - we have arrived

We get to our front door, pause for a photo and are home. It is nice to be home, but I'll miss the fun of the holiday. 

An hour later our cases are unpacked, washing in the machine, milk bought from the Spar for cups of tea. Settling back in time has begun.