Day 05 - Tuesday 17th May

After enjoying another excellent breakfast in the hotel restaurant, we packed up and checked out of the hotel. The concierge desk arranged a taxi to take us to the airport. This time, the fare was only 95 Yuan - less than half the price that we were charged by the taxi driver who drove us from the airport to the hotel on Saturday.

Terminal 3 is very large and impressive. It was probably built for the 2008 Olympics. There is a train service to take you from the building where you check in to the building containing the departure gates. I waited in the China Air business lounge while Suzy checked out the shops.

For this leg from Beijing to London, we were flying with British Airways (using Qantas Frequent Flyer points). It was a 10 hour flight that left Beijing at 11am and reached London before 3pm on the same day. Although it wasn't an overnight flight, we managed to get a few hours rest.

The seat configuration is interesting because adjacent seats face in the opposite direction. This means that you don't need to climb over the person next to you to get out. The seat positions are very flexible. You can adjust it to lay flat and horizontal when you want to sleep.

Business class was only about one quarter full and so we got great service. I thought the food was excellent but Suzy didn't think it was that good.

Nicky had organised a car and driver to take us to our B&B in Golders Green. Despite the fact that it was peak hour, the trip was very easy and only took about half an hour. After settling into the B&B, we set off to catch the bus to Nicky and John's place at Hampstead.

It was great to see Nicky and Amelia. We were pleased that Amelia seemed to recognise us but she was quite shy and kept snuggling up to Nicky.

Nicky had organised a CashPlus MasterCard for me to use in the UK. The card uses UK pounds and is registered at Nicky's address so I can use it in the UK for online purchases such as topping up a UK mobile phone. It also operates as a normal MasterCard except you need to put money into it to spend (it's not a credit card).

John got home in time for dinner and drove us back to our B&B later in the evening..