Trip Reports - Florida holiday with EI/VS (w/pics)

Okay so this is my first attempt at a trip report so don't be too critical ;)

PART ONE (DUB-LGW)

So basically, I'm only 15 lol, and this is my 3rd time to go to Orlando. My parents had booked a villa not too far outside Davenport, FL (Just off the I-4, and route 27 [I think!]). And have having previous trips to Florida -both to SFB- , in 2004 with Aviajet (Oh god don't get me started....) on their wet-leased 767-300ER (TF-ATU) from Atlanta Icelandic...... and then again in 2006 with Monarch on one (G-SMAN) their two A330s which wasn't so bad, but their Premium product is reminiscent of my Y trip (LHR-IAD) with UA.

So this time, we splurged out and booked with Virgin Atlantic, having read RAVING reviews of their Y class. We booked VS 15 & 16 (LGW-MCO) and EI242 & 245 (DUB-LGW, I forced my parents to get EI, they are my favorite airline, and well, BA was too expensive, and that left EI and FR......).

So on with the report ;)

Date: June 27 2008
Flight: EI 242
ETD: 06:40am (Actual 07:10am)
ETA: 08:00am (Actual 08:07am)
Aircraft: Airbus A320-214
Registration: EI-DVE St. Aideen
Seat: 21 A
Class: Y (All Y on EI short-haul fleet)
Runways: DUB-28 LGW-26L

So we checked in at Area 14, Aer Lingus' dedicated basement check in area for flights to the UK, Germany, and Italy. That was grand, nice and swift. We headed on out to security, where the line was almost filling the departure area.... It took 30 minutes to get through it all, and then found out that our plane was boarding, and it was parked in Pier D (The new one, with the long long walk) at Gate 93... so after a 10 minute gallop to the gate, we were among the last to board.

http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg212/michael_ennis/SL270003-1.jpg
http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg212/michael_ennis/SL270004-1.jpg
http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg212/michael_ennis/SL270005.jpg
http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg212/michael_ennis/SL270006-1.jpg

http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg212/michael_ennis/SL270007.jpg
Parked next to EI-DLJ heading off to Bologna-Forli (ACARS)

Take off was very powerful, waited for 15 mins at Runway 28 due to the morning rush at DUB. We blasted away, if I can upload it to youtube it's small enough.

FA's began service straight away, BOB and Duty Free. One thing I noticed about EI's new duty free service. The lead FA asked interested pax. to press the crew call bell if they wanted anything from the shop. I flew with EI the year before and they did a full service (FRA-DUB). Was this due to the duration or new policy???

http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg212/michael_ennis/SL270015.jpg

Anyway before we knew it we descended into LGW, we passed VERY near to LHR,
you could see T5 and all, I didn't manage to get a good photo though...

We turned left a good few times, and eventually to intercept the 26L ILS.

http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg212/michael_ennis/SL270016-1.jpg
Flaps 20

Soon enough, we landed on 26L, very nice landing, light touchdown. He did take a while to retract the flaps though. I didn't think much of it, although. We then began the 10 minute taxi to our gate. We went off to the South Terminal, gate 7 if I remember correctly. We disembarked, said our thanks to the wonderful crew and headed to the check in for VS.......

http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg212/michael_ennis/SL270021.jpg
Our plane, best shot I could get...

http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg212/michael_ennis/SL270022.jpg
U2 319 just in from Milan Malpensa (LIMC-I think Malpensa)

PART TWO (LGW-MCO-LGW) To be continued tomorrow. lol

So far its a great TR.

Great pics and description.

Looking forward to reading the rest

Adam

Nice job! Very nice pics!^

Thank you for your report, I enjoy reading it, great! Especially from someone of your advanced years!:D Looking forward to read the second part!

Hope you are having/had a great time in Orlando.

^ Nice job! Thanks for sharing.