once more past that horse with a lampshade on its head

Back to Heathrow to catch the plane. For this flight we were in the 'turn left' part of the plane.

Our friendly check-in person gave us priority check-in and fast track, so we passed through all of the T5 systems in about 10 minutes. That included me being given that full body scanner treatment and then having my backpack swabbed for explosives. Welcome back to the -ahem- random checks.

We were therefore speedily into Terminal 5 airside, and it being a longer flight, the extra time gave an excuse to try both the main Executive lounge and then the Galleries one at the T5 B Gates. The main South lounge was serving breakfast, but the Galleries at the end of the short B Terminal train link was already on to lunch.

Then to the plane, which we boarded through a separate (non-existent) queue which meant no hold-ups to reach the seats. It was one of those Boeing 787 Dreamliners. I've been on a few Dreamliners before, but this was the first time I recollect travelling on one with BA.

Champagne before take-off as well as a complete bedding kit from the White Company. That's blanket, duvet, mattress(!) and pillow, as well as one of those amenity kits with toothpaste, socks, earplugs and so-on.

I'd already stowed all of the linen overhead and drunk half the champagne before I thought to take a pre-takeoff picture.

And my picture isn't a very good food shot, so here's an approximate re-cap of the various courses served throughout the flight - albeit illustrated in a random order. It includes the gin and tonic and those little nutty things, but misses out the Magnum ice cream and the rather enjoyable red wine.

The service from a trolley for the starters and puddings is a good idea, and reminds me of the heady days when one could get slices of Boeuf Wellington individually served from the trolley.

Two meals, a couple of movies and we were on our final descent. A pleasant 7h30 flight time.