Thank you for starting this one and for the introduction,
rxfleming! ^
While I am really looking forward to this trip, my youngest daughter, who is now 16, is really the one who’s desperate to go to see Harry Potter in Orlando. She's read the whole series of books 14 times now and is a little bit obsessed with the whole thing! Still, there are worse things to be obsessed about
I wanted to give her a treat after getting straight As in her GCSEs, so when the now infamous Norway fares came up, I pounced! I originally booked the trip for both my daughters, Camille and Chloe, as well as another friend, Martin, and we coordinated everything with
rxfleming to make sure we all ended up there together. However, Camille started university this year and also started a part time job, so, with lots of assignments to write and 10 weeks of compulsory training for her new role, she made the painful, but sensible decision to pull out of the trip. I still haven't decided if I'm more upset about the loss of 30,000 Avios or the fact that she's not coming
We flew out to Oslo on Wednesday and our trip was originally booked to London, Miami and Orlando on the Thursday, with a return on Monday, but following numerous AA flight re-shuffles, I took the opportunity to make some changes, so it now looks like this -
25th November
(GLA)-LHR–OSL (Economy)
26th November
OSL–LHR (Club Europe)
LHR–MIA (Club World)
27th November
MIA–MCO (AA domestic first)
29th November
MCO-MIA (AA domestic first)
30th November
IA-LHR (Club World)
1st December
LHR-OSL (Club Europe)
OSL-LHR (Economy)
I go to Miami almost every month on business and have quite a few friends there, so I’m glad we were able to make some changes to the flights and spend some time there either side of the hell that is Orlando! As it happens, I need to have a meeting with a supplier in Miami on Monday, so things have worked out rather well. We’ll meet up with
rxfleming on Friday night in Orlando and will travel back to Miami on the same flight. We’re all staying together while we’re in Orlando, so it should be a whole lot of fun!
For now, though, I’m sitting in my room in the Radisson Blu by Oslo airport, having flown out this evening with Martin and Chloe, a day ahead of
rxfleming . I arrived at the airport shortly after 15.00 for my 19.40 flight. I got there early as I wanted to catch up with a friend, Sara, who was flying to Australia this evening. Once through security I went straight to the Concorde Room, dropped my bags off and said my usual hellos. I then popped up to the Club lounge, met Sara and brought her down to join me. We had some bubbles and popped into the dining area to get something to eat, just in time for Chloe to arrive from her Glasgow flight, so we all ate together, which was nice. After eating, we relaxed by the bar area for a while, enjoyed some cocktails and were, as always, very well looked after. I spent some time chatting with the lounge managers, talking about the upcoming changes to food and furnishings, which was interesting, but more of that in a separate thread
Sara’s flight to Hong Kong was delayed so we all ended up leaving together, did a little bit of shopping and met up with Martin who had come straight from work.
Some pictures from our time in the CCR...
Boarding for our flight was from gate A12 and, in usual fashion, we wandered over 20 minutes before take-off to find that boarding hadn’t even started. When it did get going, I’m delighted to say that they followed the new process and announced CE and GCHs first, so we happily wandered onto the plane at the front of the queue. We had exit row seats, so a decent amount of leg room, and the flight was pretty uneventful. Halfway through, though, one of the girls working in CE came back with a few mini bottles of champagne, which was really sweet, as a ‘thank you for travelling with BA so much’. I do love little gestures like that!
We landed a little ahead of schedule and, after de-planing, found ourselves very quickly at passport control, which was a painless process. Once through the terminal the walk to the Radisson was quick and easy and we were checked into our room, a twin with an extra rollaway bed, very quickly. It's functional, but nothing special, and certainly not worth the advertised rate of over 300 Euros, which, being an experienced Flyertalker, I obviously didn't pay!
I have top status with Hilton and Starwood, so it's an odd experience staying somewhere and getting a 'normal' room!
The Radisson Blu, OSL
As you can see from the pictures, both Chloe and Martin are fast asleep as I write this and will, I'm sure, be delighted to see their pictures splashed across the internet in the morning
We have to be up soon for the 7.25 flight back to London, so I really should get to bed, but there will be more to come tomorrow. One happy thought before I go to sleep for anyone heading out this way to start a trip – Veuve Cliquot is just 299NOK at the airport, which is around £23, so waaaay cheaper than in the UK :-:
