Well here I am back to the UK, first time since 2011.
Sydney airport was a minor nightmare with its automatic check ins but there were plenty of people to help you, eventually they took me to a manual check in hidden away.
I thought UK border security was slack I walked through the green lane (nothing to declare) quite by accident at Heathrow, absolutely no-one there, my bag meanwhile was loaded on the Manchester plane without going through any inspection. (that might be unfair - I am used to Australian immigration quarantine and biosecurity which is taken very seriously.
However Heathrow and Manchester must be two of the worst airports in the world, certainly in my experience, everything is so far away, no travellaters (those moving pavement things) and absolutely no-one to ask directions or advice from. On the upside Manchester does have a free pickup point which works well if you can find anyone to tell you about it (very confusing signage (Meet and Greet or Express Pick up - two different places, no explanation as to the difference).
The food on BA and Qantas was fine, the Qantas plane had older seating the BA plane from Hong Kong was much newer though the actual space was about the same… The flight attendants on both airlines were good, Qantas staff was more efficient but less friendly but I had this lovely young girl on BA who sounded a bit gormless (probably me not used to the British accent) but who looked after me like I was the only person on the plane.
The lounges in Sydney and Hong Kong were run by Qantas and very good, plenty of food and drink but the BA lounge at Heathrow was too crowded, food good but hard to find a seat, queues for the toilet and showers. Not very impressed nor by the airport as a whole (as i said)
Some photos:
Qantas seat:
Seat adjustment:
Seat adjustment was similar on both flights.
BA seat:
Qantas meal:
Entre:
Main:
BA full English breakfast just before Heathrow (there was a big evening meal too but I forgot to take a photo):
I am so glad that they have both gone back to metal cutlery.
The English countryside is just so different to flying over Australia (which takes up half of the journey to Hong Kong)
The old fashioned flight map on Qantas was better in my opinion than the new wizzbang Panasonic system on the BA plane.
My initial observations after a day with my brother - somewhat jet lagged. It is light so late nearly 10pm before it got dark - I mean I know this but it is still a surprise. The only other observation was the lack of birds. I saw half a dozen flying looking out the window most of the day and a magpie, blackbird and a couple of pigeons in the back garden. From my house in the same period I would have seen many dozens if not hundreds of birds, it was very noticeable to me.
Oh yes, it is cold - 15° can never be described as warm 
Well that is me after getting up at 4am Wednesday AEST and arriving in Manchester 9am Thursday BST, it is tiring I can tell you, who ever sleeps properly on a plane?
