End of Trip – Lisbon to Washington via London

Awake early, and out on the last segment of the trip. Lisbon to London was the last segment of the ticket from Mozambique, and ended it all with a one-way award from London to Washington. For a trip that was this big of a deal for me, I wanted to make sure I ended it right, and that meant an award in first.

We completely skipped check-in since we still had boarding passes from the previous day, and headed straight to security which was quick and a complete non-event. We hadn’t been to LIS in about five years, and were pleased to see there was a new TAP lounge. Had some good munchies for breakfast, and soon it was time to board.

TAP flight 354, Lisbon to London Heathrow
Depart 7:40 Arrive 10:30, Flight Time 2:50
Airbus A320, Registration CS-TNS, Manufactured 2009
Seats 2A, 2B

Not too much to say about this flight. It was completely full in both classes. Service was efficient and we got everything we needed (which was mostly a couple diet cokes and a bit of rest) and the flight flew by. We circled for about 15 minutes just west of Heathrow, and landed just about 5 minutes late – not bad at all.

The end of this segment really brought home the reality that the trip was finally over. Matt was staying in London, and I was back to DC. Having never taken a trip over 16 days before, I was amazed how a trip twice that long just flew by. I guess that’s the perfect sign that it lived up to all expectations and was an amazing time!

Chilled for a bit in the Star Alliance Lounge at Heathrow (where the staff was unusually cold – no bacon rolls today!) and then it was time to board the final segment of the trip. At least there was some decent self-serve champers in the lounge!

United flight 939, London Heathrow to Washington Dulles
Depart 13:05 Arrive 16:36, Flight Time 8:31
Boeing 767-300, Registration N647UA, Manufactured 1992
Seat 1K

Last segment, and definitely a below-average trip in United First with a very strange crew. The food was as expected, but the crew was just odd. Once, when I got up to use the lav, I hadn’t noticed the seatbelt light was on, and the purser told me: “I need to tell you you’re not supposed to be up. What you do with that isn’t my responsibility.” Um, strange? It was also one of those crews that just gave you the food with zero interaction…going through the motions. I know everyone is bitter about the merger, but if you take it out on the passengers it’s only going to make things worse folks!

A couple shots of the food. Some strange green soup and salmon starter…at least the salmon was good!

Landed a bit ahead of schedule…and it was all over. Just like that. Thanks for reading everyone…and any feedback more than welcome. I have a real doozie of a trip coming up in a few weeks and would love to hear any feedback folks have!