Life, The Universe and Everything – 42! – with British Airways in Club Europe to Zurich
Editors Introduction: Welcome to the last trip report of 2017… and one to celebrate me getting a little bit older, if not wiser. By now, you should had guessed from the titles that I’ve taken more than a fair share of inspiration from Douglas Adams, writer of “The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy” (A trilogy in six parts – working around the first three books, and the TV Series (but not the film). If you’re not up on Hitchhikers lore, it’s a good time to look into it. And find out what the Ultimate Answer of Life, The Universe and Everything is).
Contents
- In the beginning I begun to write this trip report. This made a lot of people very angry, and has been widely regarded as a bad move.
- First action of being 42 – Coach 210, British Airways Galleries South
- BA710 London to Zürich in Club Europe
- A brief wander into Zürich featuring the Canon 50mm F1.2
- Mostly Harmless – The Zürich Airport Observation Deck
- The Aspire Lounge, Zürich Airport (B/D Dock)
- BA717 Zürich to London in Club Europe
- The Race, The Coach, The Cold
- Six by Nine? Forty Two?
In the beginning, I started to write this trip report. This made a lot of people very angry, and has been widely regarded as a bad move.
Well, another year on this planet, another year filled with stresses of life, the universe and everything – and me wanting a break.
Things in the office I allegedly do work in seemingly go from bad to worse, with 12 hour days in the saddle becoming a regular occurrence rather than occasional – which after a few weeks grates heavily.
So, with my birthday coming up, I wanted to do something special. Originally, I had Tokyo in my targets, with a lovely Air France/KLM fare pricing up at £391 return.
I missed that thanks to the office.
Two weeks before, I found a jewel of a fare to New York on American Airlines for £331 all in. Sadly, my boss had other issues, and had to leave the office for two weeks, leaving me near enough in charge of a project.
That threw anything long-haul in the bin. Which was most annoying.
In the end, I looked at what I wanted for my day out (because anything more than a day would end in free pain).
Things I wanted to do on my birthday list included
- Planes
- Local food stuffs
- Decent Avios availability as there was no way in hell I was paying cash for short-haul.
From this simple check list, there are three easy options to hand:
- Amsterdam – it has a viewing platform, and also – stroopwafels
- Frankfurt – again, there’s a decent viewing deck in Terminal 2, and there’s Haribo Goldbears. Also, CurryWurst if you know where to look.
- Zurich – again there’s a good observation deck. There’s also chocolate.
And I was having trouble making up my mind. Which is best? Which would be the most fun? Which would get the best photos?
The cost in Avios was not a problem – As we know the Bank of Avios rates go down as well as down, and are very much like Galactic Banks, collecting and spending Avios can be seen as a sign of a deranged imagination.
In the end, I relented, and put it out to a Twitter Poll. Because I believe in Democracy. Or something like that (although my comments section is run as a dictatorship… if you’re going to whine, I suggest the joy of setting up your own Blogger/WordPress instance, Twitter, FaceBook or whatever social platform that takes your fancy or fetish).
And boy did you all deliver a verdict and a half, with 54% voting for Zurich.
Who am I to deny my readership?
With a week to go before I due to depart, I sat on the result – not intentionally, but mostly because I was rushed off my feet in the office, shuttling data back and forth like a good little engineer should.
It was only until two days I was planning to go did my co-worker remind me to book the actual ticket.
Oops.
Thankfully, availability in Club Europe was wide open in British Airways for both of the flights I wanted – BA710 on the way out (it being the first flight out of the morning) and BA717 (because I knew exhaustion would be a thing, so getting the second to last flight back to the UK would be an intelligent thing).
In total, I spent 15,500 Avios + £50 fees on a Business Class ticket.
If I chosen to pay cash for this trip… well… I would had been staying at home instead.
This is part of the joy of having a stockpile of Avios that can be used on trips quickly and cheaply.
With such timings, I would need to be at Heathrow at a certain time, and leave at a certain time. That of course means National Express for my own sanity.
Or lack of thereafter.
So, here’s the map for the day trip.
Maps generated by the Great Circle Mapper – copyright © Karl L. Swartz
So, with no hotels to worry about, or anything inconvenient… all I had to do was check in, and hope the weather wasn’t going to play a part and try to ruin my birthday day out.
Friday Evening
Oh crap. Where did this white stuff come from?
Next: First actions of being 42 – An Uber in the Snow, Coach 210 and British Airways Galleries South
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