London on the Dreamliner

I am writing this from my clean, modest room at the Wesley Hotel in Euston, generously made available to me at 6.30 am - quite an early check in. I am quite awake

I don't usually go on and on about planes (or trains or automobiles for that matter). I travel comfortably these days, or not at all. I have too many joint, back and feet problems to do it any other way, especially on my own, but I don't usually post about it.   I am making an exception today because several friends have asked me to share my experience of the Dreamliner - so they can decide whether to give it a go.

My flight from Perth to London took 17 hours and 17 minutes. I slept for about 8 hours of that and dozed for a couple more. I managed to read the whole of book 6 in Bruce Beckham's DI Skelgill series and do a bit of embroidery.



My seat was 8A, a single unit on the left hand side of the aircraft. The row has two seats in the middle and one on either side.

The units have good compact storage - much better than the equivalent A380. There is plenty of leg room.

The bed operates a little differently to older versions. Rather than the leg rest rising to accommodate stretched legs, the top half of the bed descends lower and the leg extension is closer to the floor. This works well to give a very flat surface.

The seatbelt has two components - a lap belt and a chest cross-over which is used only for take-off and landing.


The table swings out from under the side bench.

We were offered a three-course meal after take-off. I refused all but an icecream sandwich, since I had a full meal on the way to Perth. I had hoped to stay awake for a few hours but was tired and went to sleep within an hour.

There were snacks available all through the night, including noodle dishes. I had a coffee about 10 hours in, and another about 13 hours in but nothing else till breakfast 2 hours before landing.

I had muesli, fruit and scrambled eggs with Chorizo sausage and tomato.

There was a reasonable choice of movies, television programs and Stan. I didn't watch any. Most people slept.

One advantage of such a long flight is that it evens out the demand on the toilets for changing. While there was a bit of a run in the last hour, most people, myself included, were able to find a good time to fit changing with their sleeping pattern. A down side was that the fairly large individual entertainment screens were not automatically dimmed. You could dim them in the settings. but most screens were very visible for several seats away if in the line of sight. It was not an issue for me but could have been for some.

progress

In terms of the length of the flight, it worked for me. I got up and stretched three or four time, but didn't walk around much. Most people stayed in their seats. I read and slept, stitched and, for the last couple of hours, watched the flight path. I think in future I would book a single seat on the right-hand side of the plane rather than the left, because the seat adjustments etc are on the window side of the seat and it is easier for a right handed person to reach them on the right hand side.

One advantage is that, according to a crew member, it is the first morning flight into Heathrow. We were about 12 minutes late and I suspect were the second flight in. It does, however, make for a smooth passage through Immigration. 

This was my first glimpse of London. I don't think I've seen it like this before. It had the eerie feeling of the days of smog - but it was just (very) early morning cloud cover.

There were also interesting effects from photographing lighted buildings from a moving car.





So here I am, back at the Wesley, generously accommodated very early. The room is small but the bathroom is brilliant - the best I am likely to see in my time in the UK.

My door-to-door time for the trip was 26 hours. I think my previous trips have been 33+ hours.  I'd do it again.

There is building work around Euston Station, so I will have to suss out my route before I need to navigate it with bags on Thursday. I presume this is the work that uncovered Matthew Finders grave. Might be my exploration later today.