Thankfully, I slept most of the flight. I was starting to wake up when they came through with breakfast, but I really felt like sleeping more, so I kept my eyes closed and tried to get a little more rest.
My layover in London is about 10 hours, and I really did not want to spend it sitting at Heathrow. Fortunately, a friend from the Oracle user community lives in London and generously offered the use of his shower, couch, and, most importantly, internet connection. I grabbed a quick shower, repacked one of my carry on bags, and settled on the couch for a little light reading. My eyes grew heavy and I fell asleep before I was able to read more than 2 pages!
David woke me up for a quick snack and email access before heading out to catch the tube (stopping on the way out to say ‘Thank you’ to his generous wife Angela). As we approached the escalator to take us to the platform, I learned a very important lesson in the London Underground…when you feel the wind…walk fast! As the trains travel, they push the air in front of them. Having no other place to go, the air comes out at the platforms, heralding the arrival of the next train. Unfortunately, the wind is not labeled Northbound or Southbound and our train had not yet arrived.
A short train ride, one transfer and we were at Bond Street station. A short walk along the dark, slick London streets (we just missed the rain!) brought us to an Irish pub and a couple of pints of Guiness. Lee showed up a few minutes later and we went upstairs for dinner. I had the traditional Fish and Chips with mushy peas, and, of course, another pint of Guiness. David and Lee are wonderful dinner companions and we barely talked about Oracle!
My time in London was far too short brief to spend with friends. I am forever grateful that they rescued me from a 10 hour layover at Terminal 4 in Heathrow, not a fun place to spend even an hour.
I made good time back to the airport and breezed through security. When I saw an agent at the gate, I went up to see if they could move me to a bulkhead seat, and to my surprise, they upgraded me to Club World on the flight from London to Bangkok, I was on a fully reclining seat! What a way to travel the 12 hours, I could actually lay on my side to sleep!