FIRST TRIP OF 2019 HAS BEGUN THE JOURNEY TO THE EAST

I am waiting to check in to Georgian Airlines counter which does not open for another hour or so at Terminal 2 D, the poor cousin to the other luxurious terminals of Paris CDG airport. Minimalist in design, serving mostly the airlines that fly into CDG from the former soviet Union, I saw logos of Azerbaijani airlines and Turkmenistan airlines and the airline I will be flying also one of the outcomes of the fall of the Soviet Union.  The Airline of the Republic of Georgia..
I have always had a soft spot for two Caucasian republics  Armenia and Georgia.. I had a chance to visit Armenia once before, and I look forward to visiting Tbilisi and the other parts of Georgia in the future.
The first journey of 2019 has already begun for me, even though we are still in 2018, but I left Miami on the 13th December and will not be back in Cuba until the 9th of January 2019, qualifying this trip to be the first trip of Year 2019 and it is shaping up nicely.

I do not like to rush through my journeys nor begin them that way. A leisurely morning at my sister's house in Miami , on a nice Miami day fit for December. My flight to Brussels was from Fort Lauderdale to London and then on to Brussels. I tried to change it to fly to Paris, I am so glad I did not because I would have arrived amidst a Air Traffic Controller Strike as well as a Railways strike and it would have been difficult to get to Paris and then to Brussels.

For those of you who may not know, if you hold AMX Platinum Card, they give you 35 dollars rebate during the month of December when using the card for UBER drives. So a $55 drive from Kendall in South Miami to Fort Lauderdale Airport cost just $20, taking into consideration that it is 44 miles/70 km away!
FLL is a poor cousin to MIA, the airport I normally use. FLL gives competition to MIA and has very strong points about some of the airlines fly there. Unfortunately it is also the HQ of SPIRIT airlines, the most disliked airlines in USA.. to each his own.
British airways has just one flight a day, in an ageing 777 aircraft to LGW London Gatwick. 

I was surprised how short the flight was on this day. Just 7 hours to get to London! The two cities that I like equidistant from Miami   London and Buenos Aires... ha what delightful differences..

On checking in, an extremely sun tanned European blond lady pushing into Senior category who was absolutely ignorant of simple things like putting in my TSA pre check number, but I was pleasant and patient with her, and was very pleasantly surprised when my boarding pass showed that I had been upgraded to First Class.. Luck was with me on this day.. (hope the rest of the trip too..)
There was NO lounge at the International Terminal and the food and drink offerings were on par with Omaha, Nebraska..ah well.. you live and learn..(at least not that cold)

The well worn British Airways was waiting for us. The boarding process and departure all had some clinical precision and steeliness to it. Sadly noted that most of the FAs were older. I have nothing against age or flying or working as a FA, but having seen the world of Flight Attendants, you definitely get a more spirited and friendly service from a younger FA regardless of their nationality.

Seat 4 A was comfortable!
The service on board was rather clinical and without smiles and I said to myself: Hey AA American Airlines, you have a competition on your way down as a Bad Airline Service from your sister airline, British Airways.

The dinner service was swift and once it was over the presence of FAs were rare.
I am a fan of Qatar Airways and I would have flown Miami to Doha to Brussels if I could have organized such a ticket but all my tricks of Frequent Flying did not help me this time, at this very busy time of the year..
Arrival at Gatwick was quick and the Immigration officer had the required frown on his face. Within a few minutes I had collected my luggage and waiting at the bus stop to take the National Express bus to Heathrow airport for my connecting BA flight to Brussels 

In just a little bit over one hour, through the motorway as the sun was coming up, we arrived at Heathrow Terminal 5 of BA.
I was accommodated on an earlier flight and surprisingly enough the Security was not as rigid as I remembered them to be.
Being an Emerald level flier of the One World alliance (both on American and Qatar), one privilege is the First Class Lounge at Heathrow Terminal 5, South and i have been here many a times and it has always been welcoming. I enjoyed being there until it came time to leave to board the flight to Brussels.

I slept all the way to Brussels. I had a nice breakfast at the Lounge (a British breakfast mind you.. minus the beans, sausage etc..) and did not miss the BA inter european offerings.

The arrival at the Brussels airport was smooth, collected my luggage and went downstairs to get on to the bus that would take me to the European Quarters where I would spend the next four days.
The temperature was around 0 C around 30 F but there was no rain or snow or wind. A quick walk from the bus station along my favourite avenue of the area, ave Archimede, and viola..
The first part of the Journey ended with the familiar sight of the park ..