Yes, you’ve guessed it, it’s time for another standby spectacular (as Fbg has christened them!)
This time, I’m off to the idyllic Greek island of Skiathos, via Dubai with Emirates. This is my first time flying with them for anything longer than a 1-hour hop, so I was looking forward to seeing if they lived up to their promise. In fact, the Emirates of today has been likened to the Gulf Air of the early 90s – ambitious, respected, opulent, efficient….and populated by a bevy of British and Australian stewardesses! ;)
Why Skiathos? Well, when a very charming friend of yours has a villa on the beach……
(As a note of warning, this report relates to a trip last summer. I accept no responsibility for inaccuracies in terms of seat numbers, departure times, prices, aircraft registrations….you get my drift!)
Most of my flying through Bahrain International is done by arriving at 7pm (on the BA) and leaving at 2am (again, on BA.) So a departure at 7pm is relatively unheard of for me. Which was why I was surprised at how busy the terminal was…flights to a host of Gulf destinations plus the Indian subcontinent. A sea of humanity….punctuated by the cool efficiency of BAS handling the EK check-in desks. As the flight had plenty of spare seats available, I was given an Economy class boarding pass straight away. Passage through security was quick, accompanied by a family friend that I had bumped into in the checkin hall. I paid the usual quick visit to the duty freel, but seeing as I prefer to purchase on my return leg of trips, I didn’t buy anything. Then it was off to the Delmon Lounge, access granted by my Bahrain Airport Loyalty Club card. The Delmon Lounge is luxurious and has a good selection of beverages and snacks, but is simply too small for the amount of traffic it is forced to handle. The new lounge opening in September 2004 will be a godsend.
After a swift Gin and Tonic it was time to head down to gate 12 for boarding. There was very little wait and soon I was on board Emirates’ A330-200. Many people have written about Emirates’ interiors, but I found the tan and light blue colour refreshing and soothing. I made my way down to my seat in the rear Economy cabin. I do prefer the Airbus 2-4-2 layout to the 3-3-3 in the 777, especially on flights like today when I didn’t have anyone sitting next to me. So I sat by the window and spread my stuff onto the aisle seat next door.
However, pretty soon the flight seemed to fill up, mainly with young Bahraini lads off for a few days of fun in Dubai (this being a Wednesday night and the start of the Arab weekend). Nevertheless I kept my prized free seat and we pushed back on time.
After takeoff the service began and I was impressed by the efficiency and professionalism of the crew. Drinks and a small sandwich were handed out, followed by a tea and coffee run. The presentation of the catering, the onboard annoucements, the safety video and the inflight magazines in particular gave the impression of an airline that wants to be considered one of the big boys in global aviation. Nothing wrong with a bit of ambition!
Presently we were beginning our descent into Dubai. No holding this evening and we skimmed over the coastline, pass the Hyatt Regency and onto the left hand runway. (By the way, if you ever want to spot aircraft in Dubai, the revolving restaurant at the top of the Hyatt is highly recommended!)
We had a short taxi to our gate, dodging a Swiss A330 in the process, and we were deplaning.
BahrainLad
Jul 20, 04, 9:25 am
I love this airport! Dubai is so much bigger than anywhere else in the Gulf…it’s almost like a major European city in the breadth and depth of airlines that serve it. Whereas Bahrain and Doha are like Manchester and Birmingham, Dubai is the Gulf’s version of London Heathrow. After walking through those fantastic glass airbridges and up the escalator, I was met by a charming lady from the Maharba Welcome team…sometimes it helps to have friends working for Dnata! She whisked me through security and the transfer desk where I was given a standby boarding pass for my onward flight to Athens. Then it was down to the main departures level and a short walk to the Marharba lounge which would be my home for the evening. This is a nice facility with comfy sofas, a good selection of food and Arabic-style tented curtains which allow you to have some privacy during long layovers. I dumped my stuff and went over and looked out the window….straight into the eyes of a LH 747….yep, definitely in Dubai now! I spent the night browsing the Duty Free shops, having a few beers in the lounge and a catnap or two. At about 5am I decided to wake up fully and change some clothes. By this time some breakfast selections had been laid out in the lounge so I helped myself. As it was summer, the sun was coming up over the airfield and Emirates’ early morning wave of arrivals and departures was beginning to swing into action. I decided to go for a wander, find a coffee and a newspaper and generally people-watch. So Starbucks Espresso and a copy of the Gulf News were duly purchased and I watched thousands of people coming and going for their flights to all corners of the world. I think Dubai must have one of the most multicultural atmospheres of any airport terminal in the world. It truly is a world city.
Before long, my flight was called to a holding lounge as our aircraft was due to depart from a remote gate. I wandered up, presented my standby b/p and was issued with a new one for a seat in economy class. Oh well, never mind, Emirates’ service is supposed to be good even in Y….
Emirates
Dubai – Athens (45min stopover in Larnaca, Cyprus)
Dep 0835 Arr 1415
The bus ride to the A330-200 seemed to have the auxiliary purpose of a guided tour of the DXB airfield. Our aircraft was parked miles away at the end of row after row of Emirates 777s and 330s filling up for departure. Again, I had the privilege of a spare seat next to me on the AB side of the aircraft. The flight soon filled, this time with many Greeks whom I worked out had arrived in Dubai from Australia. This is a market Gulf Air is going after with an Olympic codeshare SYD-BAH-ATH but with varying success.
A long taxi and wait for departure this morning; there’s an interesting thread on PPRune about Dubai ATC difficulties, compounded by the dominant operator wishing to launch its entire fleet in a 90-minute timeframe every day at around 8am!
After takeoff we were treated to an excellent view of the high-rises on the Sheikh Zayed road, the Burj al Arab and then behind that, the magnificent Plam Jumeirah under construction. Shortly, menus were handed out detailing a brunch service until Cyprus and then a snack between Cyprus and Athens. I can’t remember much about the food, I recall that it was good and there was plenty of it!
Not much to write about the IFE, it seemed fairly standard for a premium carrier….many selections on the video and some cool games as well .They also had the nose/body cameras which are an EK trademark.
Our stopover in Larnaca was mercilessly short. The airport still as small and poky as it’s always been, so no deplaning or reboarding. At least they opened the back door of the aircraft so we could get some fresh air. It was the first time I’ve been in LCA during the daytime…..most of the previous times it was on the ex-LHR BA flight that arrived at 3am!
We departed from LCA and a small snack was served. Within about an hour we were descending towards Athens over the magnificent deep blue waters of the Mediterranean, punctuated by small green islands. It looked magical. As we descended further the Greek landscape became more visible and it reminded me of my beloved Portugal, where I spent 3 very happy years growing up. We landed, and pulled up at the gates of the new Athens airport. It seemed almost deserted and I even made the mistake of walking through the ‘Blue’ customs channel (force of habit!) even though we’d arrived from a decidedly non-EU country! But it wasn’t as if there were any Custom’s officers on duty anyway!
I went through to arrivals and enquired about getting into Athens.
Now, here’s where it gets interesting. Those of you who know Greece might be thinking “why’s he heading into Athens when Skiathos is the other end of the country?”
Good point.
The simple answer is that the only airlines who fly to Skiathos are a.) UK charter operators direct from, well, the UK….or b.) Olympic with a daily ATR service that isn’t exactly conducive to standby travel at the height of the summer season!
So, a search of Google and after consultation with my friend, the following route was discussed. Make your way into Athens, find a bus, go to “Agios Konstantinos” a small town up the coast where you can catch the hydrofoil to Skiathos……..oh, and be quick about it because it’s now 3pm and the last boat leaves from Agios at 7.30pm!
BahrainLad
Jul 20, 04, 9:26 am
After explaining my plan to the incredulous lady behind the information desk she persuaded that, despite a cost of EUR20 for the taxi, that would be the only way to get into Athens in enough time to catch the following bus. So I hot footed it over to the taxi rank. Ah, female driver. Excellent news…not likely to be as, ahem, “risk taking” as a male counterpart.
How wrong was I….?
We screamed off onto the new motorway and headed for the centre of Athens. I thought she knew where I wanted to go; turns out she thought I knew where I wanted to go; and both of us were no-where near where either of us wanted to go! So I resorted to borrowing her map of Athens and succeeded in circling “Syntagma Square” with an Emirates ballpoint pen……problem solved.
Once I arrived in the square it was blindingly obvious as to the form. Queue in front of a tiny travel agent (little more than an office decked out with faded posters of Greek islands), slap down your EUR30 return and receive a combined bus and hydrofoil ticket. Was there a booking system? No. Manifest? No. Advance purchase restriction? No. Change penalty? No. Miles and Points……..?
After chatting to some British backpackers (Just when you think you’re in the middle of no-where, an upper class British twit appears…..every time!) who seemed to be as bemused as I was, I grabbed some mineral water from a street vendor and got on the boiling coach. Fortunately the aircon started fairly swiftly and we inched out way out into the bustling Athens traffic. And inched, and inched, and inched.
An hour later we were still crawling through what seemed like the centre of Athens. Some Americans at the front were getting concerned that we would miss the boat, after staring at them with unjustifiable contempt the Greek stewardess (word used literally!) explained that this was all factored in and that the boat wouldn’t leave without the coach.
Eventually we got onto the motorway and started eating away at the 166 kilometres between Athens and Agios. The journey didn’t turn out to be too bad, lots of interesting countryside and a rest stop halfway through where we restocked on food and water. At about 7.15 we pulled up at the dockside in the small town of Agios where our Flying Dolphin hydrofoil was waiting. I managed to bag a seat towards the front on the left hand side by a window. Having never been much of a sea traveller (despite holding a powerboat-driving qualification) I was interested to see how this journey would go.
Very well as it turned out. We ‘pushbacked’ from the dock and chugged out into the open water. We went faster and faster and the boat raised up from the water which made for a very smooth ride as we skimmed across the water. Being at the front, I had a good view; the rear windows being obscured by spray. The safety demo was played on tiny combi-TV-video at the front of the cabin and the service consisted of a bar at the rear of the cabin. Most people read or slept….I chose the former.
After about an hour and a half it was announced that we would be shortly arriving in Skiathos. My phone rang. Nick (who has the villa):-
“Which side are you sitting on?”
“What!? Erm…..left.”
“Can you see the beach?”
“Yes.”
“That’s ours. Champagne’s in the fridge, see you in a few minutes.”
Cool.
As we slowed down the rest of the island came into view. It looked like an exact picture postcard of a Greek Island. Perfect. We docked, and Nick and some more Uni friends were standing on the jetty.
Total travel time Bahrain-Skiathos: 26 hours.
Skiathos was, well, fantastic. So much so that I decided to extend my 5-day visit to 10, and this necessitated a hilarious visit to the local Flying Dolphin booking office. I’d like to change my ticket please. Fine. Give me your ticket. I will cross out date x and replace it with date y. Thank-you-have-a-nice-day. Err…..don’t you need to tell the company that date x will be –1 and date y +1? Obviously not.
The rest of the time was spent lying on a beach, playing chess on the balcony of the taverna, going into town in the evening and having delicious seafood, getting riotously drunk in the English pub and then preening ourselves in front of the sophisticated continentals on the quayside and then partying at BBC nightclub, getting back to the beach for dawn and watching the sun come up on the deck of someone’s boat. We also hired a speedboat and a little Suzuki jeep to go exploring.
BahrainLad
Jul 20, 04, 9:27 am
And now for the return…..
The return was the same routine as before, only this time I had to be at Athens airport by 1405 for a 1605 departure. This resulted in having to catch the 7.30am Flying Dolphin to Agios and then the coach back down to Athens. Miraculously everything worked out OK, including another mad dash through the Athens traffic in a taxi, and I arrived at Athens Airport shortly before 2pm.
I walked through the tranquil surrounds of Athens airport towards the empty looking Emirates checkin desks. After a bit of typing at his console and a few hushed words with his colleagues, the news was broken: Although the flight was empty from Athens to Larnaca, it was fully booked for Larnaca-Dubai. If they let me on in Athens, there was a real possibility they may have to kick me off in Larnaca. Not a good sign. Flights from Cyprus to the Gulf are fairly irregular and I could end up stuck there quite easily. What to do? Go back to London and fly back from there? After some heated debate with my parents as to the best course of action, I returned to the EK desk at about 3.15pm. “Well Mr. BahrainLad, you’re in luck: all the way to Dubai in Business Class.”
Feeling more than a little relieved, I did some last minute shopping (magazines mostly) and boarded the Emirates A330.
I know that at lot has been said about the EK J configuration, and it certainly isn’t as comfortable as Gulf Air (2-2-2) but I found it adequate for this medium-length daytime flight. Certainly, the lack of passengers on the first sector was ideal as I had 3 middle seats to myself. It got a bit more crowded later on though….but more on that later.
Departure from Athens was one of the most sprightly I’ve ever witnessed (apart from one obvious exception ;) ) due to our low load. I honestly thought we had rotated far to early! Soon the cabin crew distributed menus, amenity kits and a welcome drink. The snack for this short hop was a delicious (and voluminous) chicken satay. As for beverages, I stuck to champagne.
No sooner had the trays been cleared away than we were descending into Larnaca. Here, the aircraft really filled up until every seat was full in the J cabin. I was on the aisle in the middle block, next to me was a charming middle-aged Australian couple. It was at this point that the cabin began to feel very cramped.
Immediately after departure more welcome drinks were distributed and the meal service started. The menus are at home but I recall that the entrée was a well proportioned steak with associated accompaniments served from the trolley. This was rounded off by desert and espresso. All the while the cabin crew kept my glass topped off with an excellent Merlot.
Perhaps it was due to the full cabin, but the meal service only came to an end when we were approaching Dubai. By now it was almost 11pm and connecting flight information was being flashed up onto the monitors. A gentle bounce as our wheels kissed Arabian soil and we were inside the Sheikh Rashid Terminal of Dubai Airport. Due to an administrative snafu, my Marharba escort had gone AWOL and the lounge had no record of me! So I spent most of the night on a reclining lounger in the quiet area chatting up some gorgeous English girls on their way to Bangkok ;). The sun came up at about 5am again and I did my usual coffee, newspaper, people-watching routine.
Emirates
Dubai – Bahrain
8am – 8am (local)
Not much to write about on this flight; another remote gate and a small breakfast of croissants and coffee. Only problem was as we approached Bahrain the sky was getting yellower and yellower…a sand storm. This, caused us to go around…even though many of the passengers didn’t seem to notice.
Total travel time Skiathos – Bahrain: 23.5 hours.
So, a very satisfactory trip on Emirates. Great fun doing a bit of cheap ‘n cheerful travelling in Greece, and a wonderful time in Skiathos.
Next up – Newcastle-London-Bahrain-Dubai-Bangkok-(Phuket or Surat Thani) and r/t at the end of August.
Thanks for watching.
Bretteee
Jul 20, 04, 12:00 pm
I always wanted to go to Skiathos. I am now sold after reading your post. There is a very nice looking hotel there on a hill. I think it is called Skiathos Palace. My parents about 20 years ago decided not to go there because they did not want to walk up the hill from the beach. So we went to Corfu instead.
BahrainLad
Jul 21, 04, 3:14 pm
I would say Skiathos is defintely well worth a visit.
Can't comment on the hotel; Nick's villa is right on the beach...about 2 metres away. His was the first house built; almost as soon as the paint was dry all other construction was banned. So they share it with a small taverna...and no-one else.
There are some excellent restaurants (The Windmill, Jailhouse) and bars (The Ship Inn, ICE)....plenty to keep a young man occupied!
Peab0dy
Jul 23, 04, 10:56 am
Thanks for the great post, BL. I've had my eye on the Greek islands for years- yours may be the post that puches me into action!
naxos
Jul 24, 04, 10:45 am
I have not been to Skiathos since 1972- it was beautiful then- I remember the starling white beach at Lalaria and the empty pine filled beach at Koukanares. I would like to return- thanks for the memory. We had quite a journey on our bus ride to Agios- first we got on the wrong bus and had to switch and then a mad dash for the boat- no Flying Dolphin or flights back then.