Another adventure starts! Alan picked me up from home at 6.00 a.m. and we had a speedy journey to Terminal 2 at Manchester. This time, I'm flying Qatar Airways to Doha where I change for a flight straight to Yangon. This avoids the irritation of flying to Bangkok (overflying Burma in the process) and then having to take another flight back to Yangon. It's my first time with Qatar Airways so we'll see how I get on.
It's a while since I flew from Manchester and, at first sight, the terminal building seemed a bit daunting. A bit of a walk took me to the Qatar Airways check-in desks where a friendly Lancashire girl quickly completed the formalities. With just one carry-on shopping bag (including my trusty Fujitsu notebook computer) I made my way upstairs and more walking took me to the security area.
There are a number of 'Rapiscan' baggage scanners - each associated with an elaborate conveyor system for transferring the plastic boxes for items of luggage through the X-ray machine and then, once emptied, returning them to the loading point. Body scanning was by the normal 'portal' scanner, accompanied by smiles from the staff.
More walking took me to the glitzy Duty Free and retail area. I picked up my Sunday newspaper from W.H. Smiths. Nothing as prosaic as a normal sales till here - just a row of computer screens each associated with a scanner to check both the purchase and the Boarding Pass. Fortunately, two young members of staff, a boy and a girl, were in attendance. The process didn't seem that simple when the girl rapidly processed my newspaper - I shudder to think how long it would have taken me unaided. I don't think I'm really cut out for this automated age.
Duty Free (seemingly reluctantly) disgorged me to the departure gates area. I managed to find the signs leading to the 'Escape Lounge' (appropriate name) which, amongst other airlines, handles Qatar Airways. Real people here and, again, friendly. I started to relax a little.
Manchester Airport Control Tower (the camera's leaning, not the Control Tower).
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Manchester Airport
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