Despite the official beginning of war in Iraq on Wednesday night, passengers on the British Airways flight arriving in Bermuda from Gatwick Airport in London last night not only appeared unrattled by travelling but they also did not notice any heightened security in the airports.

"Frankly, I felt fine," said Cambridge Beaches president and CEO Michael Winfield.

"Certainly in England it's not the first day of the war ... having said that, it was a fairly light aircraft (without a lot of passengers), but I didn't sense anyone talking about it, worrying about it - it was a very calm and peaceful flight."

As for security, Mr. Winfield said vigilance in the airports had not changed noticeably. "Gatwick's always been good for security," he said.

"I wasn't aware of it, I didn't see any extra security.

"Actually, I thought as I was getting the train between the two terminals that there wasn't that much security - I think the British are just better at hiding it.

"There's a very different feeling towards the war in the UK than over here."

Tourist Luis Prato did not have quite the confidence of Mr. Winfield. While he agreed he felt pretty safe on the flight, he added that was because he had "tried not to think" during his journey.

When asked about security, he said: "Well, in Gatwick you would expect it to be pretty bad. But it made me feel safer - in a way."

One woman, who declined to give her name, seemed very philosophical about the war. "I can stay at home and something can drop on the house," she observed.

"I came here to see my family - so I wasn't planning to cancel," she said, explaining that perhaps if she had been coming on holiday she might have thought twice.

However when asked if she had been nervous during the flight, she replied: "No - let's put it like this. I'm coming in the other direction. Catch my drift?"

And retired Bermuda Police officer and Irishman William Woods said he had not been at all worried about travelling.

As for security, he said: "I didn't notice all that much ... I come from Northern Ireland, from Belfast, and they're very stringent there.

"But there was nothing out of the ordinary in Gatwick."

Hilary and Arthur Warburton, an English couple living in Australia, put the seeming lack of heightened security down to a problem of timing.

"There were no differences. They just haven't had time (to put new security regulations in place)," said Mrs. Woods.

However, she added: "We felt fine - we were not at all nervous."