The beach was a lot quieter than I expected





and the boardwalk offered no shade except in the innumerable restaurants that lined the land side. I quickly started to feel the burn, clearly the two long walks this morning resulted in a decent bit of sunburn. Add to that a lovely cooling breeze coming off the sea with the side effect that it was lifting the fine beach sand and scouring any exposed surface, and it was time to leave.

Google maps showed a 75 minute walk back to the hotel so that was out of the question, time to order up an Uber.

My driver was jhonn silver, luckily he wasn’t long




First stop once exiting the taxi was the local Gelateria

 

Returning to the hotel, I sat down in the bars and pretty much immediately dozed off. I had been pondering what the best course of action was for the few hours I had left as it was far too hot for more wandering and therefor the choice was between a city bar and the airport. I decided that I would be far better off snoozing in the lounge at the airport than in some random bar so I booked an Uber and away we went. I slept the entire way to the airport, so no idea how long it took





There is a fast track lane at the airport however, despite the boarding pass showing Fast Track, computer said No and off to main security I went. This didn’t actually make any difference, no queues and straight through



Immediately after security is duty free which stretches both left and right. Pretty small offering, no Remy XO and no Gentleman Jack, so no price check today.




At this point my phone decided to die as I was making my way to the lounge so no further pictures of the airport itself, I may go back later. It took me a.minute to haul out my power brick and bring my phone to life, after which lounge access was painless.













I’d describe the lounge as ‘not great, but better than I expected.’

I’ve hidden myself away in a little side room and now it’s time for a snooze as I’ve been nodding off repeatedly whilst writing this!

 

After three hours of intermittent snoozing I decided that it would be wise to head to the gate rather than risk more snoozing and missing the flight.

The departure terminal has most of the gates to the right of security and the low number gates are to the left with passport control.

The lounge is at gate 12. The departures area itself is a long sweeping curve and the main walkway can just about handle a small crowd. It is a bit of a bus station vibe to the whole thing








when you arrive at border control there is a massive tensa maze. If it is empty, look down the right hand edge as there are multiple entry points to shortcut chunks of the maze



Security was quick and easy and then into the departures pen where there is a shop and a bar.






I decided a bit of solid food was in order so went for the chicken burger which was surprisingly good.



Our plane was late arriving and I saw it arrive at the gate at 20:30 and a few seconds later the announcement came out that boarding has started!

 

Boarding was a complete farce. As noted in the last update, they started ‘boarding’ the minute the plane landed. Clearly there was absolutely no chance anyone was getting on board for at least twenty minutes so I hung around and finished my beer. About ten minutes later I wandered over to the group 1-3 queue. I asked the first staff member why there had been no group 0 call and she told me ‘it was broken’

At the boarding pass checkpoint I asked again why there had been no Group 0 and was told that it was a new company and they did not have to do group 0. I was also asked for a second form of ID which was a first

And then I joined the queue on the jet bridge as expected. Eventually we were let on board 22 minutes after the plane had landed which was not bad.

seat 1C tonight and currently perching on 1B whilst boarding completes

Next Stop: London Heathrow

 

VLC-LHR
BA445
G-EUUB

I was last on board G-EUUB very recently, it’s the plane that carried me to Stuttgart a few short weeks ago.




We eventually pushed back twenty minutes late and then sat for five minutes until they disengaged the tug. By 21:30 we were trundling around the airport and soon on our way.

There are six rows in the Club cabin this evening and it’s not all full, for instance 1A and 1F are empty.

The crew were on their feet as soon as the seatbelt light was off and almost the first this they did was to each open a bottle of champagne. They’ve clearly got the priorities right

There was a choice of the crispy belly pork, rigatoni, or chicken tikka

I chose the chicken and either the recipe has been changed or my piece of chicken wallowed in the marinade for longer than most, because it was delicious.




Standard trio of drinks to keep it company.

The champagne was not sitting well today so I switched over to to the JW for the remainder of the flight.




We had another excellent crew tonight, they were constantly up and down the cabin proactively offering top-ups for peoples drinks, and they were friendly and chatty. An excellent experience all in all.

The remainder of the flight I spent reading a Jack Reacher novel and the time passed quickly, soon enough we were ten minutes to landing.

On the ground at 22:40 and hopefully not a bus gate.

 

And not a bus gate! I’d forgotten we were coming into T3 and the short taxi to the gate caught me by surprise. From wheels on the ground to standing at the Hoppa bus stop was exactly 20 minutes.



In T5 we would still be trundling around the airfield, or waiting for buses.

Next Stop: Radisson Red

Lucky I’m a sceptic. Google maps put the hotel hoppa on bus stop 17, it is actually 12-13. Hightailed it over there with time to spare.

 

That weather looked brutal.....glad you stayed hydrated

 

Outstanding report as always. 40 degrees 🥵

 

The Radisson Red is the first stop on the hoppa bus but it took some time as one of the tunnels was closed



We made it eventually, about twenty minutes in all




The two vivacious young ladies on checkin were an absolute delight, bantering and joking with everyone, lots of smiles all around for weary travellers at close to midnight.

The lady checking me in apologised for there being no room upgrades available but I told her I really was not fussed for a five hour stay





The bar closes at midnight so there was just enough time to order a cheeky bedtime beverage







And now it is time to briefly enjoy this late night beer before heading back to the room and, maybe, 4 hours sleep before I have to head back to the airport

Next Stop: The land of nod

 

Having set the alarm to its loudest and most raucous tone I was ripped from the arms of Morpheus 04:10 after a mere three hours sleep.

Showered, shaved, and repacked all within 20 minutes has to be something close to a record for me. all there is to do now is to wait for the Hotel Hoppa bus to whisk me over to T5 and the final part of this adventure

 

The hoppa bus turned up at 04:50 and I have just arrived at the Concorde room at 05:20 so not bad at all.

There was a large American two family group on the bus and I ended up chatting to them about the trials they were going through. They were flying Denver to Hamburg, and, 48 hours in, had made it as far as London and the next stop was Berlin! Unfortunately they had no idea where their luggage was, apart from ‘not here’.

Also talking of luggage, a BIG queue at baggage enquiries this morning, at least thirty people long




The First Wing check-in was queued out of the door but as I was Hand Baggage Only it was straight through security.

Unsurprisingly, the first lounge was very quiet



And there were only a few people in the Concorde Room, all out on the gallery, which provided the perfect photo opportunity

 

I thought I would try the American pancakes and I chose badly. The pancakes were chewy and accompanied by English back bacon.




Returning from the washrooms I espied the inestimable KARFA who is also heading up to NCL. Always a pleasure to meet fellow FT’ers. I forgot to mention earlier that I also briefly met Royalscot and his partner as I was headed to the First wing. Luckily he spotted me as I was in a world of my own!

 

Wow you legged it, in your J-wear too??? Must be the OJ hydration pre-gaming the day before.



Jerez (Sherry) next time, via MAD?

 

Heading to the gate at 06:30 and boarding was already in full swing



Our plane this morning was G-TTNX which is one of the brand new cabins and still looking very smart





A nice friendly crew and an on time departure made for a pleasant flight, most of which I spent chatting with KARFA. There were only 4 rows in club this morning but the crew were in the cabin the entire flight checking on people and offering top-ups or additional drinks.

Full English, and a contender for the smallest breakfast sausage award




And very soon we were ten minutes to landing. The usual Newcastle arrival of a very short taxi to gate A3, then straight out landside, and a 1 minute wait for an Uber, from which I am writing this final update.

I’ve a full working day today so I expect it is going to be pretty painful but it was worth it

Thanks for joining me on this ridiculously last minute trip and see you next time for the FT Bristol do next weekend.

 

Excellent entertainment. I sat on the verandah watching the rain whilst I read this. You'll be pleased to hear Ginger Tom rushed over and climbed into my lap, and my little dog came and sat beside me. I hardly had room for my Changs, which there are plenty of this weekend, contrary to popular rumours. A thoroughly good 4 beer read.