Lounging Around.

We have access to most of the airline lounges as I have my British Airways Gold Card (One World) and hubby has a Senator status with Swiss (Star Alliance). Access to these lounges make a HUGE difference to the whole travel experience, especially long haul.
 
On my recent trip I flew from Zurich to Melbourne with changes in Sydney and Singapore. On Arrival in Singapore after spending 13 hours in my pyjamas to be able to have a hot shower in the lounge at Changi Airport made a world of difference to how I felt. I changed into sweat pants and t-shirt for the leg to Sydney, grabbed a couple of more hours sleep and didn't feel too bad at all when I landed. 
I went to the Quantas lounge on arrival, changed into normal clothes, did my cleanse, tone and moisturise routine and almost felt like a normal person again. I had a scrummy breakfast, charged up all my devices, updated my newspapers and checked my emails and Facebook before the short commuter flight to Melbourne. 
On the return trip from Singapore my flight was an overnight one. I'd managed to sleep for most of the flight to London and just got off the plane in my pyjamas (the guys in the airport have seen much worse sights I'm sure). I headed straight for the lounge, had a long hot shower (lovely Elemis products in Heathrow T5 as an extra bonus) ordered a bacon and egg sandwich and curled up with a pot of tea until my short flight to Zurich was boarding. 
The peace and quiet (usually there are no announcements) in the lounge is so much more relaxing for a few hours wait in the airport compared to the chaos in the main terminal building too. 
On top of the showers and the food, most lounges have champagne too, and lots of it. In some lounges you have to ask for it, Manchester springs to mind, but is there a better way to start a trip ??

I love Airline Lounges. My Facebook friends know that most of my trips start and end with a photo of a glass of champagne in an airline lounge around the world. Some friends have now started tagging me in their FB posts in airline lounges too.... 

I'm going to post a review of some of the airline lounges as a separate blog post. My favourites being Heathrow T5, Qantas lounge in Sydney's International Terminal and the JAL Lounge at Tokyo.
If you are a lounge lover, where are your favourites ?