Great flight with Monarch to Manchester followed by a quick visit to Warrington to see my parents courtesy of sister Liz.
Stayed at Radisson hotel this being the closest one to Terminal 2. Rooms are fine but there was a pervading smell of smokers lingering in the corridors which was none too pleasant. Another issue I would have if one was to be critical was the coffee and tea service in the room. Just Earl Grey tea bags no normal tea. I mean I wouldn't expect there to be Yorkshire tea but a little effort to get close to the normal stuff would have been good.Wendy felt the duvet cover was too small for the king size bed but as I didn't have any of it I couldn't really comment.
Up at 3.00am showered and booked out by 3.30 and off the the terminal. So far so good. Queued with bags and then came up against Attila the Hun's great grand daughter. A humour less individual better suited to dealing with mechanical objects rather than the public. Two bags weighed 46 Kg with an allowance of 23kg each.Because the larger bag had 3kg more and the smaller one 3kg less we assumed we would be safe. Attila's rele thought differently and requested 100 E for the excess. Failed miserably in trying to persuade her she was in the wrong (job maybe). Off to the ticket office to pay or at least challenge it with somebody more reasonable. Oh not to be. Eventually the Air France lady turned up and although more pleasant than Attila her attitude was strangely more stubborn and no less insulting. Not forgiven us for Agincourt obviously.
Eventually we got on the flight but some people decided not to so the flight was delayed. Amazingly we got to Amsterdam on time and now here we are on the way to Johannesburg. Long flight but out traveling companion seems to be a very pleasant German girl off to surprise her boyfriend in Kimberley of all places. Hope he hasn't got a home girlfriend as well!!
