First 36 Hours Not Great
Yesterday was day one of our trip to the UK and the South African leg went very smoothly. The driver arrived with the airport shuttle bus on time and we got to the airport a few hours earlier so we could relax in one of the lounges.
To be honest this was very disappointing and will be skipping this in the future as there was no value for money with what these lounge facilities cost. Everything I am doing is either multiplying by 5 or 7 depending if they have children's rates or not.
The flight was with Virgin which I cannot really fault as they do not control the weather. We had turbulence the entire leg of Africa which was roughly 7 hours of watching lightning flashes in the clouds just below the flight path. Fascinating to see this, but not throughout the flight whilst being bashed around. This made any chance of trying to sleep impossible even though I knew the chances were slim because of the seat sizing. Don't complain if you do not upgrade.
The flight landed on time just before 5am which now meant we had a 4 hour wait for the hire vehicle. Originally I was promised 6.30am, but then changed saying they could not make this work. 9am came and went which eventually became 10.30 am. The Polish guy who dropped off the vehicle left me with less than 1/4 tank of fuel which is odd and noted this along with a photo on the phone. Standard practice is you supply a full tank and you hand the vehicle back with a full tank so there are no hidden charges.
The Air BNB informed us the people renting had asked for a late checkout which was now 4 pm so we killed time having lunch. We checked in after 4pm and have completed a list of things not what I would call up to standard for the price we are paying. Filthy stained carpets and non existent internet which was one of the reasons we selected this place.
A green haze whilst landing at Heathrow today had me researching what causes this and it was not pollen. This green cloud layer was above the normal cloud layer and it took for ever to work our way through into the grey part. This morning during sun rise there was an eerie green tinge above the clouds and when we descended into this green mist/haze it was very real. This is new and 8 years ago this was not there so it definitely stands out as a worry. Has anyone else seen this because this was like a horror movie and it is not pollution or pollen.
We are going to have an early night tonight to get back on rack as I for one have not slept yet and we are over 36 hours already. I am just saddened at the lack of services in the UK which seem to be done by foreigners. The Polish guy this morning I had trouble understanding what he was saying and he is the front man meeting the public representing the company. No one cares what is going on and I will never be using this company again. I thought SA was bad, but quite honestly so far it is better than the UK. I will slowly get photos uploaded, but now I am just too exhausted to even try.
How long you over for? Not sure about that green haze!
Leave on Wednesday as this visit was more about seeing my mother who is not well. Expect to be coming back again possibly in September and then every alternate month for 1 week at a time.
Sorry to hear she's not well, that's quite a commitment flight wise!
Yes but then you cannot put a price on this even though you can lol. This is seriously pricey as I have bought the entire family over and will be back again in 6 weeks I think. I would love to meet up if possible because you are not far away.
I've seen several times similar 'green' clouds. It's just reflection, I've seen it over other vegetables, not over corn. Strange, but I always seen it near to sea, never deeper inside in the continent, maybe just coincidence, maybe there is further reason.
I don't really know what you expected from UK, Europe... 🙃 I better not go into it.
Lol. I expect grey clouds and not a sea of green above those grey clouds. Fascinating and scary all at the same time. I will be looking out for this next week when we fly again.
If you wanna see even more weird ones, next time go to the Highlands. I've seen there huge variety of clouds - both in color and form. (not often summer, but other parts of the year, brown sky, clouds for example, but really brown, didnt even find similar photo about it online.) Like being on another Earth, especially if you go out into nature, say to climb hills west, north-west of the Fort-William-Inverness axis. As you go north, north-west, if you got lucky, the sky gets weirder and weirder. (but the bloody wind is almost always strong...)
Those aren't because of human activity either - the lowest density in the UK, I guess in top3 in Europe, too. Totally natural - the air is very clear from pollution up there. + From the North coast the Northern Lights are also visible in the summer.