stut
Mar 21, 05, 7:03 am
Well, they're in Star Alliance, so I can use that as self-justification for spending £30 more than Ryanair. Actually, throw in the cost of the Stansted Express, and it's not far off... So, Porto it is, with a couple of friends, for no good reason (certainly not the port, as there's only one of us who'll actually drink it).
The journey to LHR by Tube is... Well, it's as good as it's going to get at 5 on a Friday evening. I get there, and my neck isn't cricked, it can't be that bad.
T2 is chaotic, but the C/*G queue is nicely quiet, and I manage to head upstairs to security very quickly. Security is slow, about 10 minutes to get through, but, well, it's Friday evening, and they've got consultants leaving and weekenders going to put up with. The BP inspector on the queue has a minor spat with a self-important little man ("I will take my coat off when I get there, thankyou"), so waits until he's gone past, winks at the queue behind, and mouths "strip search".
I suddenly realise that I'm both hungry and completely ignorant as to the lounge's location, when I suddenly realise that the food selection at T2 is as grim as the taped-up carpet. So I go on a lounge hunt instead which is a bit "oh, yes, they're Star, but they're not on our sign yet, Alitalia handle them yes, but not the lounge, maybe Air France, well, yes, if you're a TAP FF, but not Star, we are Skyteam but you need to be on Skyteam to use Elite Plus..." But I remember the *A rule, and argue my way into the Lufty SEN lounge, lured by the wraps. And very nice they are, too.
We leave, unannouncedly late, after too much time in an end-of-pier holding pen gate. Unlike most flights I end up on, boarding was remarkably civilised. People actually adhered to the per-row announcements and weren't trying to bring their kitchen-sink-on-wheels on board.
LHR-OPO
It's an A321 cabin, clean and unspectacular. The grey leather seats are a little scruffy, but it's all nice and clean too, so no complaints. The pitch is tight where I am, though (halfway back), must be about 30". Still, the guy in front won't be reclining (a physical impossibility, given my legs) so there's something at least. The middle seat is left empty, which is a relief. No idea if this is a *G benefit like BD/LH/OS, but there's only a couple of empty seats on the plane, so it could well be.
(Unfortunately, panic attacks have become a more regular feature of my flights than I'd like - actually nothing to do with the flying - but I can heartily endorse TP's sick bags an an effective cure for hyperventilation. It usually goes once we start take-off anyway.)
The service is rather grandiose on this flight, given it's a small, SK-style box with a sandwich and a piece of cake. I guess it's because of the number of crew, and they can do it this way, but there's a whole procession of people handing out different bits and pieces... Still, I can't complain, they're smiley and attentive (bells for more drinks responded to immediately, I noticed, even down't back).
The flip-down screens are left flipped down, with alternating airshow and random travel guides. Nothing riveting, but enough to stare at soundlessly for a few minutes to stop the crossword annoying you. But this flight doesn't last too long, anyway, it's 2 hours in the air, and we're headed down again (rather more steeply than I'm used to, mind.)
By this time of night, most buses have gone, but the taxis aren't exactly dear, so I hop in one, and am in town in 15 minutes (one of my more white knuckle taxi rides, but not a patch on Bratislava).
OPO-LGW
The taxi back to the airport is altogether less white knuckle, but it doesn't take long. The new airport they're building here looks quite good, but it's not open yet. They appear to be building it on top of the old one, and remarkably unobtrusively. But no spangly new terminal for me. Oh no. The TP check-in is rather busy, with the C queue seemingly being ignored. It's a melee, so I join in and find a counter just opening that I can slip up to.
Being charitable, the check-in agent obviously had braved her way into work with a remnants of a nasty case of laryngitis, and was therefore unable to speak. Nonetheless, she managed to change my 24F to 7D, with a 'hmph', which, again, I can only assume to be an unspoken 'oh, certainly sir, what was I thinking, giving you that seat'.
Security is quick. The airside part of the terminal appears to be a small bus station in both form and function (and a rather smoky one at that), so I head up to the TP lounge, where they thankfully let me in without the whole wild goose chase at Heathrow (mind you, I do need to lose weight since I stopped smoking...) The lounge is tiny, but has drinks and snacks, and comfy seats, so I don't care. It's of the era when non-smoking areas were the distinct entity, not the smoking areas. But, well, smoke still doesn't bother me, so not a problem. I leave slightly early, mostly through boredom, and so I can get an Observer downstairs for the crossword. There's a little non-Schengen area, that seems to be serving nothing but the UK at the moment.
Once again, there's an unannounced delay, half an hour again.
7D, it turns out, is a much better seat, as the convertible seats up front have an awful lot more legroom. I have the seat next to me blocked again, and again, it's one of only a couple on the plane. Not complaining.
And the service is identical to the way out, pretty much. We land at LGW in the midst of a whole flotilla of charter aircraft from medium-to-long haul destinations, so full of predictably bad-tempered people (8 hours plus at 28" pitch? Yay!) One particularly unpleasant woman has a stand up row with a guy manning the ROI/CI queue, who won't let her through because she's come in from neither of those places. Nothing like that to make you feel at home.
Gatwick South isn't a nice place, but it's got a handy station in it, which makes up for a lot of shortcomings. I manage to hop straight on to a train for Clapham Junction... Only to find that every person who's arrived in the last half hour has gone into that carriage only, and decided to leave their luggage in the most obtrusive places possible. Once I clear this Krypton Factor style assault course, I finally manage to find a decent free seat. Has to be said, for a brand new train, this is grim. It's filthy already, ground in filth as well as the litter strewn all over it. Welcome to London, folks...
The Sainsbury's Local at Clapham Junction had a 'Port at half price' offer on. Anyway... That's pretty much it. The bus hoe had a faulty rear door that managed to wind up the driving pretty much to breaking point. And bad tempered double decker bus drivers going at high speed through South London can make your second white knuckle ride of the weekend.
So, in summary... T2 grim, TP fine but cramped at the back, OPO airport needs a cure for laryngitis, Porto lovely (the food especially)...
The journey to LHR by Tube is... Well, it's as good as it's going to get at 5 on a Friday evening. I get there, and my neck isn't cricked, it can't be that bad.
T2 is chaotic, but the C/*G queue is nicely quiet, and I manage to head upstairs to security very quickly. Security is slow, about 10 minutes to get through, but, well, it's Friday evening, and they've got consultants leaving and weekenders going to put up with. The BP inspector on the queue has a minor spat with a self-important little man ("I will take my coat off when I get there, thankyou"), so waits until he's gone past, winks at the queue behind, and mouths "strip search".
I suddenly realise that I'm both hungry and completely ignorant as to the lounge's location, when I suddenly realise that the food selection at T2 is as grim as the taped-up carpet. So I go on a lounge hunt instead which is a bit "oh, yes, they're Star, but they're not on our sign yet, Alitalia handle them yes, but not the lounge, maybe Air France, well, yes, if you're a TAP FF, but not Star, we are Skyteam but you need to be on Skyteam to use Elite Plus..." But I remember the *A rule, and argue my way into the Lufty SEN lounge, lured by the wraps. And very nice they are, too.
We leave, unannouncedly late, after too much time in an end-of-pier holding pen gate. Unlike most flights I end up on, boarding was remarkably civilised. People actually adhered to the per-row announcements and weren't trying to bring their kitchen-sink-on-wheels on board.
LHR-OPO
It's an A321 cabin, clean and unspectacular. The grey leather seats are a little scruffy, but it's all nice and clean too, so no complaints. The pitch is tight where I am, though (halfway back), must be about 30". Still, the guy in front won't be reclining (a physical impossibility, given my legs) so there's something at least. The middle seat is left empty, which is a relief. No idea if this is a *G benefit like BD/LH/OS, but there's only a couple of empty seats on the plane, so it could well be.
(Unfortunately, panic attacks have become a more regular feature of my flights than I'd like - actually nothing to do with the flying - but I can heartily endorse TP's sick bags an an effective cure for hyperventilation. It usually goes once we start take-off anyway.)
The service is rather grandiose on this flight, given it's a small, SK-style box with a sandwich and a piece of cake. I guess it's because of the number of crew, and they can do it this way, but there's a whole procession of people handing out different bits and pieces... Still, I can't complain, they're smiley and attentive (bells for more drinks responded to immediately, I noticed, even down't back).
The flip-down screens are left flipped down, with alternating airshow and random travel guides. Nothing riveting, but enough to stare at soundlessly for a few minutes to stop the crossword annoying you. But this flight doesn't last too long, anyway, it's 2 hours in the air, and we're headed down again (rather more steeply than I'm used to, mind.)
By this time of night, most buses have gone, but the taxis aren't exactly dear, so I hop in one, and am in town in 15 minutes (one of my more white knuckle taxi rides, but not a patch on Bratislava).
OPO-LGW
The taxi back to the airport is altogether less white knuckle, but it doesn't take long. The new airport they're building here looks quite good, but it's not open yet. They appear to be building it on top of the old one, and remarkably unobtrusively. But no spangly new terminal for me. Oh no. The TP check-in is rather busy, with the C queue seemingly being ignored. It's a melee, so I join in and find a counter just opening that I can slip up to.
Being charitable, the check-in agent obviously had braved her way into work with a remnants of a nasty case of laryngitis, and was therefore unable to speak. Nonetheless, she managed to change my 24F to 7D, with a 'hmph', which, again, I can only assume to be an unspoken 'oh, certainly sir, what was I thinking, giving you that seat'.
Security is quick. The airside part of the terminal appears to be a small bus station in both form and function (and a rather smoky one at that), so I head up to the TP lounge, where they thankfully let me in without the whole wild goose chase at Heathrow (mind you, I do need to lose weight since I stopped smoking...) The lounge is tiny, but has drinks and snacks, and comfy seats, so I don't care. It's of the era when non-smoking areas were the distinct entity, not the smoking areas. But, well, smoke still doesn't bother me, so not a problem. I leave slightly early, mostly through boredom, and so I can get an Observer downstairs for the crossword. There's a little non-Schengen area, that seems to be serving nothing but the UK at the moment.
Once again, there's an unannounced delay, half an hour again.
7D, it turns out, is a much better seat, as the convertible seats up front have an awful lot more legroom. I have the seat next to me blocked again, and again, it's one of only a couple on the plane. Not complaining.
And the service is identical to the way out, pretty much. We land at LGW in the midst of a whole flotilla of charter aircraft from medium-to-long haul destinations, so full of predictably bad-tempered people (8 hours plus at 28" pitch? Yay!) One particularly unpleasant woman has a stand up row with a guy manning the ROI/CI queue, who won't let her through because she's come in from neither of those places. Nothing like that to make you feel at home.
Gatwick South isn't a nice place, but it's got a handy station in it, which makes up for a lot of shortcomings. I manage to hop straight on to a train for Clapham Junction... Only to find that every person who's arrived in the last half hour has gone into that carriage only, and decided to leave their luggage in the most obtrusive places possible. Once I clear this Krypton Factor style assault course, I finally manage to find a decent free seat. Has to be said, for a brand new train, this is grim. It's filthy already, ground in filth as well as the litter strewn all over it. Welcome to London, folks...
The Sainsbury's Local at Clapham Junction had a 'Port at half price' offer on. Anyway... That's pretty much it. The bus hoe had a faulty rear door that managed to wind up the driving pretty much to breaking point. And bad tempered double decker bus drivers going at high speed through South London can make your second white knuckle ride of the weekend.
So, in summary... T2 grim, TP fine but cramped at the back, OPO airport needs a cure for laryngitis, Porto lovely (the food especially)...