Onto the final bits - finishing a TR always makes me a little sad as it seems to make the end of a trip more 'final'. There are not a lot of photos to go - we had worn out our fingers in Norway.
We had driven alongside this lake just north of Oslo a couple of weeks beforehand. Lake Mjosa - Norway's largest lake.
Mushroom stuffed Chicken Ballotine - ok but nothing special
It is always a surprise the route a flight takes - the curvature of the earth fools the mind, my mind at least, into plotting a route all wrong.
We arrived in Doha at around 00:30 and the Al Mourjan J lounge was bursting at the seams. We had trouble getting a seat together and at one stage I had to delay using the toilet as there was a queue.
We thought we were a bit late getting to our departure gate and rushed onto the J Bus - another non-airbridge departure - only to sit there for about 25 minutes as the rest of the J pax straggled out.
We were advised by the Captain that all pax were on-board and that we would soon depart - only to sit there for another 30 minutes with nothing happening.
Even the ground crew got bored.
After what seemed an excessively long take-off roll we eventually got airborne and saw the last of Doha in the night
90% of the flight was spent above, or often in, and extensive cloud cover. It was bumpy for most of the trip.
Lining up on Changi
Almost down
I was facing 'backwards' in the J Suites and again it was only really noticeable on take-off and landing. But I fooled myself when we landed. I was closely watching the forward facing camera and when we touched down and the braking and reverse thrust began I thought we were doing a 'go-around' as I was being forced back into my seat. I had forgotten that I was actually facing backwards.