A drive through north-west France

RooFlyer · 2026-06-09T02:42:40+1000

So, onto Oman Air. Happy to try them over QR (booked a bit less than a year ago), but they downgauged a Dreamliner to a B737-9 reciner BKK-MCT.

WY818, B737-9
Dep BKK 12:00 arr MCT 12:00. 1 C

It was surprisingly OK! UI was in row 1 with a full width legroom and plenty of width

Rows 2 and 3 less desirable.

4 rows of 2-2; it was 1/2 full

PDB Champagne (Piper H) and nuts

Its 'dine on demand' - big tick for that. 'Down Under Shiraz' (????) Big cross for that. The others were OK.

I chose the set experience.

Lemon fish soup was different and very nice. With the accompaniments.

Lamb shank was a bit dry, but enjoyable.

San Sebastian cheese cake to finish.

Coming into Muscat. For about 5 1/2 hours in a recliner, the flight passed reasonably quickly. I'd avoid doing it again, but with Row 1, its tolerable.

RooFlyer · 2026-06-09T02:59:06+1000

Because of changed flight paths, only had about an hour in the terminal before my flight to LHR departed. Tortuous routing to get to the lounge and a very unfavourable impression of staff in the terminal. Chatting in groups, rather rude and dismissive with questions.

Lounge pretty good though. Large and varied in seating etc.

To the plane B787-900. Annoying when they board and then held up in the airbridge, esp as it was 46 degrees and roasting hot.

Also roasting bon board. No air vents.

The version had Business Studio as well a Business. Studio used to be First Class but now sold as Business Studio. Same food and drink, just a doored seat. I put in a paid upgrade offer and was really glad I didn't get it, not least because there was a family of 6 there, incl 3 girls abt 8-12 and a young chap abt 4. But mainly because my seat at 10A was really good. Its the bulkhead and by the window. Its a 2-2-2 config, but the window seats have aisle access via a little corridor around 1C and G.

Huge amount of legroom and a good sized ottoman (didn't see 10C). However because the screen is so far away, you have to use the controller - its small and really fiddly. IFE selection OK.

Studio. Not worth paying the extra if to are in row 10 window.

They worked on 10C for about 10 mins, but got it working and the guy could sit there.

RooFlyer · 2026-06-09T03:46:08+1000

WY101 B787-9, 10A
Dep MCT 19:10 (plus delay) arr LHR 19:10 (plus delay).

It was roasting on board and without air vents it was a matter of sitting it out. I got a sweat up on my face. Offered juices as PBD and a hot towel (hot?). I asked for a cold one and that was brought cheerfully. Then arabic coffee and a date.

We pushed back and then sat on the apron for abt 10 mins. Roasting still. Aircon barely noticable.

Abu Dhabi just along the coast

Some massive industrial site ion the coast of Türkiye. Check the engineering of the terraces.

Dine on demand again. I chose the Modern European option. Chilli lobster.

Steak challenge. beef tenderloin. Not the best, not the worst I've had on board. Was tender. The purple thing is potato.

Cheese etc with a port.

Inevitable short delay into LHR

Straight onto a vacant immigration machine, then bag was one of the first off. BUT zipper was open a bit. I was afraid it had been raided, but no, everything still there.

So, Oman Air. Pretty good. Overall the food was good, wines OK to good. FA service very unknowledgeable about wines, but trying to please. May have been a CSM greeting - I can't recall. 10A/K in business as good as studio,

I'd be happy to fly them again for, say $3.5K vs $5K for QR (just giving relativities). You only get 400MB of wi-fi for free; otherwise its additional plans, IIRC US$25 for a big dollop. Really bad in this day and age.

I love to travel · 2026-06-09T04:27:45+1000

Looks goid

RooFlyer · 2026-06-09T04:38:45+1000

Staying at the CP at LHR T4. Standard room, nice enough and quiet in spite of road outside. I took a pill and slept pretty well.

Next morning, I trundled my checked bag over to T3 Luggage Storage while I head up to Manchester for a couple of nights. Will be flying out of T3 in the lounge crawl. Then an Uber over to Windsor, staying at the TraveLodge. I chose this as it was close to both the train station and the Castle; it was noisy, and basic. 30 mins free wi-fi and then you pay. Also pay for early check-in. That type of place.

19th century prominent (in Tas) artist, poet and writer Louisa Anne Meredith sent Queen Vic an album of some of here sketches and I was going to view them, in the Royal Collection. This was amazingly easy to arrange - they are very welcoming (unlike many Australian institutions). On-line application, then advice to bring 2 forms of ID to get my pass.

The pass office. Open this door and ...

Short walk to the castle.

Henry VIII gate. Met by 4+ armed and not-very-friendly policemen. I was told to ask them to point me to "the side door" where someone would come and get me, but they were having none of that!! Pass examined very closely, who I was seeing and why. They made a call and my contact came down to get me.

Walk inside the castle to the Royal Collection print room.

The Castle was closed today, so these guys put on a show just for me.

Windsor Castle Quadrangle off to the right, my destination straight ahead, with the State Apartments beyond that.

St Georges Chapel from King Henry VIII gate. Have to visit another time to have a look inside that.

A very good couple of hours. No shareable pics from inside. I'll be able to publish a paper on what I saw in the album.

RooFlyer · 2026-06-10T02:38:48+1000

Next morning, trains up to Manchester. I bought my tickets a few months out via Trainline. With their app, easy and worked well.

Trainline : Search, Compare & Buy Cheap Train Tickets

Trainline, your quick & easy way to book train tickets across Europe. ✓ Save 61% on UK Rail ✓ Live Train Times ✓ Save with a Railcard ✓ Get the app

www.thetrainline.com

Reading

Cross Country Rail First class. 1-2, expensive and not very good. Wi-fi <1 MBps; snacks and a sandwich offered off a trolly. Power point hard to access. Loo smelled. (Compare to Avanti West Coast later).

Arrive Manchester Picadilly.

RooFlyer · 2026-06-10T02:57:46+1000

Stayed with a mate from Uni for a couple of nights. Great to catch up.

Next morning, I was on the hunt for great libraries. First up, The John Rylands Library, which is under the umbrella of the University of Manchester.

John Rylands Research Institute and Library (The University of Manchester Library)

Promoting world-leading research using the unique special collections of The University of Manchester Library – National Research Library in the North. Find out more.

www.library.manchester.ac.uk

John Rylands Research Institute and Library - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Worth a read, but if not:

The John Rylands Research Institute and Library is a late-Victorian neo-Gothic building on Deansgate in Manchester, England. It is part of the University of Manchester. The library, which opened to the public in 1900, was founded by Enriqueta Augustina Rylands in memory of her husband, John Rylands. It became part of the university in 1972, and now houses the majority of the Special Collections of The University of Manchester Library, the third largest academic library in the United Kingdom.

Special collections built up by both libraries were progressively concentrated in the Deansgate building. The special collections, believed to be among the largest in the United Kingdom, include medieval illuminated manuscripts and examples of early European printing, including a Gutenberg Bible and a Mainz Psalter, the second largest collection of printing by William Caxton, and the most extensive collection of the editions of the Aldine Press of Venice. The Rylands Library Papyrus P52 has a claim to be the earliest extant New Testament text. The library holds personal papers and letters of notable figures, among them the novelist Elizabeth Gaskell and the scientist John Dalton.

John Rylands made a fortune in cotton, which means he was a slave-owner, a point that causes some awkwardness.

When his second wife died, he then married her 'companion'. When he died, Enriqueta Rylands put some of the loot into building the library and continuing to collect, including for own own collection.

On opening in 1900, the library had 70,000 books and fewer than 100 manuscripts and by 2012, more than 250,000 printed volumes and over one million manuscripts and archival items. The main foundation of the library's collections acquired in 1892 was the Althorp Library of Lord Spencer regarded as one of the finest library collections in private ownership with 43,000 items - 3,000 of which originate from before 1501. Mrs Rylands paid £210,000 for Spencer's collection which included the Aldine Collection and an incunabula collection of 3,000 items. The incunabula included a few block books and the St Christopher block print (southern Germany, 1423) the latter being the earliest dated block print whose date in undisputed. During subsequent years, more than 1,000 more incunabula were added to the collection (from various sources).

RooFlyer · 2026-06-10T05:22:39+1000

You enter through a modern block and a welcome and chat by volunteers. Then up a flight and you enter into this gothic masterpiece. And no, Harry Potter was never filmed here - although said to have inspired a number of scenes.

So,e special exhibitions - illuminated books and manuscripts.

The green is lighting. From about 1452 - possibly Europe's oldest book, made via wooden block printing (each page an individually carved wooden block),