TRIP REPORT – Taking the long way to Singapore – Oh. The Coach. How Delightful – and British Airways South Lounge

Oh. The Coach. How Delightful. With Heathrow Terminal 5 and British Airways South Lounge
TRIP REPORT: Taking the long way (and back) to Singapore

Some say every journey starts with a step forward. For me, those steps are into a cab and onto a coach. Let us head off to London Heathrow and see how much trouble awaits me… 

In this adventure

• I needed a break
• 02:40 on the coach? Nothing changes, with Heathrow Terminal 5 and British Airways South Lounge
• BA776 London Heathrow to Stockholm Arlanda (Club Europe)
• An afternoon in Stockholm featuring ABBA The Museum 
• Off to Stockholm Bromma, AY840 Stockholm Bromma to Helsinki Vantaa with NoRRA (Economy Class)
• A Rapid Helsinki Transit and The Finnair Lounge
• AY099 Helsinki Vantaa to Hong Kong International with Finnair (Business Class)
• Transiting Hong Kong and Cathay Pacific’s The Pier Lounge
• CX715 (AY5855) Hong Kong International to Singapore Changi Terminal 4 with Cathay Pacific (Business Class)
• Into Singapore, IBIS Budget Crystal
• The Mercure Hotel, Bugis
• Boating around the Singapore River
• Exploring Hawker Markets and random fooding around Singapore
• The Best Camera is the One You Have With You – Exploring The Gardens by the Bay
• Up to the Marina Bay Sands Skypark…
• …and the fallout of a stolen and returned iPhone
• Back to Changi Airport the Pokemon Centre at the Jewel and Terminal 4
• 3K513 (AY6379) Singapore Changi to Bangkok Suvarnabhumi (Jetstar Asia Economy Class)
• One night in Bangkok and the Avagard Capsule Hotel, Bangkok Suvarnabhumi
• An early morning at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi and The Miracle Lounge, D Pier
• AY142 Bangkok Suvarnabhumi to Helsinki Vantaa with Finnair in Business Class
• Out of Vantaa Airport and into Helsinki… and a little beyond
• Holiday Inn, Helsinki Airport
• Early morning at Helsinki Vantaa Airport and The Finnair Schengen Lounge
• AY841 Helsinki Vantaa to Stockholm Bromma with NoRRA (Economy Class)
• The slow return to Arlanda Airport (with a military band)
• D84459 Stockholm Arlanda to London Gatwick with Norweigan Air Shuttle
• How to get home… coach or train?
• Sometimes, Simple Isn’t Needed… Or Wanted

Living in the West Midlands means I have to travel down to London Heathrow in the dead of the night.

Nothing changes on that front – mainly because 1) overnight hotels at Heathrow are overpriced and 2) I lack the organisational ability to pack that far in advance – even if it’s a single bag.

So it’s a choice of the usual ugly bunch to get to Heathrow – National Express, Flixbus or Megabus.

And yes, we’re back on the National Express simply because they were the cheapest way of getting to the nation’s civil aviation hub.

Thus at 02:20, I was outside the flat again, with an Uber hailed for the ride over to Digbeth.

Nothing changes.

As usual, it’s a matter of waiting for a rideshare for the short hop, and riding over to the wonder of Digbeth Coach station. At least there wasn’t much of a wait.

Entering the coach station, it was busy – being the Wednesday after a bank holiday, with people heading to various points across the country – even at 2:30 in the morning.

With the coach boarding, I headed to the first of many legs for this trip.

National Express 210 Birmingham Digbeth to London Heathrow Terminal 5

Boarding the coach, it was busy for a morning service, with nearly all the pairs of seats having been occupied. Thankfully, the single seat at the front of the coach (used for accessibility passengers) was free. As there was no reserved sign on it, or a passenger requiring it, I took it.

And yes, I would have happily given up the seat if needed. As it was, it wasn’t.

The coach would be making a quick run to London Heathrow (and onward to Gatwick), with the only stops booked being Birmingham Airport, Heathrow Terminal 2 & 3, Heathrow Terminal 5, Gatwick North and Gatwick South.

That suited me, considering how much sleep I had – the fewer stops, the more chance I could doze off at least. The coach pulled out of Digbeth a few minutes later than scheduled, but we were soon on our way via the local roads to Birmingham Airport.

It seems that whilst the new security control areas are active, the reconstruction at this place was in full swing.

And this tent is just embarrassing. 

I can handle that – except this airport has been a hot mess more than once – so skipping the Ryanair flight from here wasn’t much pain (and if I’m honest, there was plenty of low-cost fun ahead).

The coach continued and headed down the M42 and M40 towards London. It was at this point I discovered the first thing I left at home – earbuds.

I sighed. Not much could be done about that – other than paying extortionate prices at Heathrow. Hopefully, I’ll find some cheaper ones along the way. I drifted in and out of sleep on the coach – there wasn’t much else to do.

Eventually, the coach joined the M25 London Orbital Motorway, and after a short run on it, peeled off the M4 and the Heathrow Approach road.

Finally, we made it to Heathrow Central. It took everything I had not to go into autopilot and get off the coach.

Thankfully, the pit stop at Heathrow wasn’t too long, and once again, we were on the road again, this time navigating the local roads that surround Heathrow.

Eventually, the coach pulled into Terminal 5. I grabbed my rucksack from the storage area and headed in.

Arriving at terminal 5, I headed to Club check-in to grab my boarding pass. Yes, I could do it with an Apple Wallet pass, but there is just something about a physical boarding pass.

Call me old-fashioned.

Thankfully, there was no queue for check-in, so I cleared that hurdle straight away. I was informed that a gate had been confirmed and to head to the South Lounge.

With that, I was rather happy – a gate had been confirmed for a morning departure at Heathrow – wonders never cease. I headed through security, which thankfully in the dead of the morning took only a few minutes – even with a bag being pulled aside.

Apparently, The Harry Potter shop has changed… to a Giraffe. Franchisous Moneyos!

I headed to the British Airways South Lounge – as the flight to Stockholm Arlanda would be going from Gate A22 – the far end of the terminal.

I also needed to spend time checking tickets. The joy of travel.

British Airways Galleries South Lounge

This is a rare sight – trust me. 

Heading into the lounge, I was greeted by Horse Lamp first, and then by a member of staff.

With the formalities done, I found a quiet spot (and yes, there were plenty of quiet spots in the lounge for once – that’s nice to see after seeing how rat-run the place gets).

It also seems the airline has done some work in the lounge – with a lot more new furniture placed in the place. Whilst it doesn’t add much to the capacity in the lounge, at least it improves the ambience of the place.

After settling in, it was time for traditions. Mornings mean breakfast – and if the BA Club lounge can do one thing, it’s a very good breakfast.

Fruits

Carbs

Cereals 

Smooth(ie) operator… 

The hot stuff. 

And I might have stopped by the bar too.

Not this one…

This one…

With food secured, I went to check the Finnair site to start the check-in process. And nearly used all manner of swear words out loud when I found out what the website did.

I had put in a load of good seat reservations before the flight – and the system removed them all, as it put in my Finnair Frequent Flyer number, as opposed to my British Airways one.

Thus, I had unassigned seats to Helsinki and Hong Kong, as well as the return.

After feeding the system my BA number again, I was able to assign seats without cost (as Finnair loves to monetize everything).

More annoyingly, I could not change any of the seats for the return flights, as Finnair removed those assignments too.

Am I of the conclusion that Finnair’s IT is worse than BA’s? You bet.

Dealing with that frustration meant I didn’t have time to stock up on seconds at the lounge. Annoying, but getting the seats I wanted for these long-haul flights was a little more important.

With time running down, I packed up the laptop and bag and headed to the gate.

I might see you again this year Horeslamp. Remember, Avios are fattening. 

Annoying, but hopefully I would be able to sort a lot more of this out further down-route.

Heading to Gate A22, it was a quiet boarding scrum – enough people to indicate it would be a full enough flight, but at least people were keeping away from the gate area.

Priority boarding was enforced, with British Airways using Group 0, then Group 1. I headed to the podium at Group 1 and blipped my way through.

It was time for an adventure to begin.

Next:

BA776 to Stockholm – Club Europe time

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