The team gathered to pack all of our kit together under the watchful eyes of the baggage masters, Rick Webb and Rupert Riley. The process of not packing more than 23kg seemed to be difficult for some…
With everything packed and ready for the early morning’s airport transfer, our final pre-tour talks began where the captain reminisced about the 3 1/2 year stint he has had so far and hoping that we wouldn’t be delayed by another year, and then finally handing out our tour badges.
We woke up very early after some had decided to celebrate the beginning of tour in the bar. The coach was swiftly packed and we were Heathrow-bound. The team engaged into sheep-mode as to not get lost, and we patiently waited for the Adjutant and armourer to get us through check-in. We then waited some more… and more… It was dawning on most of us that we were very tight on time and we’d need a miracle to make the scheduled departure. From afar the rest of team saw several members of Heathrow security, a senior representative of BA, and Tom Rylands in creative discussions regarding how best to pack the ammo onto the plane. You can probably tell just how well this went.
At this point, all credit must be given to Lorraine from British Airways. Massively helpful, very sympathetic and fighting our corner, when this didn’t go to plan she ensured that we were put up and catered for in the terminal’s Sofitel hotel. Not quite the starting venue we had hoped for, but very nice and a good venue for our first team dinner and a small birthday celebration…