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Posts: 2,433
Quote:
Originally Posted by ant_west
Quite simply amazing photos - you've got quite a talent for composition
Thanks ant_west! I do try. I recently photographed a small gig in Sydney with a friend who knew the band. The band thought that my photos were better than the venue's 'official' ones, so I must be doing something right .
Quote:
Originally Posted by socalduck
Your pics from the air show are phenomenal! You should consider posting a few on Flightaware.com, as they will be greatly appreciated!
I'd be more than happy to upload them, I've sent you a PM.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Genius1
easyJet doesn't look too bad from the photos (but I think you could probably make a garden shed look comfortable with your photography skills ).
Haha, easyJet are normally ok. The lack of allocated seating is a bit of a pain though.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BA5E
Cannot wait to see and read the next episode, hurry up, you will have to stop working those long days.
Thanks BA5E! Well, work has calmed down a little bit now, although I've got another day trip to Adelaide coming up, the joys of 4.30am starts and 10.30pm finishes! The next update is in the works so hopefully I'll get something out this weekend.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gamecock
I really like the pic of the QANTAS A380 with the city in the background.
Thank you, I have this as my computer deskptop wall paper now.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mattyb2233
Incredible! love the private 747 shot!! the .0001 %
If only! I certainly wondered who that belonged to, it must be some sort of goverment jet.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Logan^
Awesome report matthandy, your getting me very excited trip back to the UK to see my parents in SQ J on the A380 as well, which is going to be excellent. I leave in 6 days or so.
How was the flight? SQ J on the A380 is definitely on my list of to-do's!
Quote:
Originally Posted by origin
An another excellent trip report, thanks.
Thanks origin, I'm glad that you enjoyed the report.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Moomba
I think people that don't hurry up and finish their trip reports should get a stern email from the Mods.
Just you try it......
Quote:
Originally Posted by HJBoeing
Yes KL does show this as well in their safety demo's.
Thanks, not just BA then.
Quote:
Originally Posted by qbrain
Some mods think finishing a trip report is overrated.
Haha, some mods think that finishing trips is overrated, let alone the report.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Genius1
And banned from F for life, naturally.
Damn, although that probably wouldn't affect me much I'm sad to say!
The Sultan of Brunei, Hassanal Bolkiah, is estimated to be worth upwards of $20 billion and is one of the relatively few absolute monarchs still in power.
Location: London, UK (Lord Mucci des Contes de Voyages, Diamond Hairbrush)
Programs: BA Silver, TK Elite, IC Gold Amb, HH Gold
Posts: 8,750
Quote:
Originally Posted by origin
I am looking forward to the next update.
Aren't we all
I believe matthandy has been rather busy lately. I hope he realises that his faithful readership are charging him by the day for every day that passes without an update.
I believe matthandy has been rather busy lately. I hope he realises that his faithful readership are charging him by the day for every day that passes without an update.
I appreciate he is busy, I do understand. I hope it didnt come across as rude.
This is the first thread I look at when i get up in the morning.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by origin
I think this is the same plane. I dont know him personally.
Thanks for the pics origin! How the other half live.....
Quote:
Originally Posted by origin
This is the first thread I look at when i get up in the morning.
Oh dear. You must have been having a few disappointing mornings recently!
Quote:
Originally Posted by blackmamba
amazing!
Thanks blackmamba, not sure I like your FT handle though .
Quote:
Originally Posted by Catweazle
Have you tweaked those photos at all? What program do you use, and what sort of camera, if you don't mind me asking?
Thank you Catweazle! I use a Nikon D800, all 36 megapixels of it. My photos are edited using Lightroom 4, it's changed my 'photo life'. There are more details at the start of the report.
origin, Genius1, Moomba, PETER01 and everyone else hanging on for the next part, it's coming up tonight. I've been very busy indeed with work, with several day trips to Adelaide and I've just started the process of moving house too, busy, busy!
Programs: BA Board Moët Laureate, BA Silver, EK Blue, Marriott Platinum, Hyatt Platinum
Posts: 2,433
A Few Days in the South of France
As we made our way out of the airport and started up the sat nav we decided to pay a visit to Monaco before heading to the hotel. I’ve never actually been, so it was a new experience for me.
I couldn’t get over how beautiful the coastline was as we made our way towards the Principality, it was absolutely stunning. We had to stop a couple of times to take some photos and take it all in.
Overlooking Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat
Ruined Chateaux
We arrived in Monaco a bit by accident, not really knowing where to go and aimlessly drove around for a bit. It was only a couple of weeks since the Grand Prix and before we knew it and totally by chance, we were driving along the start/finish straight and up the hill towards the casino corner! We did try to drive through the tunnel but we couldn’t find it and after driving around getting more and more stressed by the narrow lanes and lack of direction we decided to leave and head to the hotel.
Monaco seemed like a bit of a crazy place. Lots of fast cars dotted all over the place but it really didn’t have the class and charm that I had expected. Some of the buildings were downright ugly, with blocks of flats towering over the harbour. Hardly the exclusive paradise that I had been lead to believe.
Start/finish straight
Heading up the hill
And down again
Nice wheels
The drive to the hotel took about an hour and a half, through a large number of toll booths, but we were lucky in that they all took credit cards.
The Best Western Golf Hotel Valescure was tucked away in a village near to the town of Saint-Raphael. It was a quiet setting, but close enough to civilisation to provide plenty of opportunities for things to do outside of the hotel.
We arrived, parked the car and headed to reception. The lady manning the desk was absolutely lovely and in no time we had our room keys and took our bags up to our rooms to settle in. My friend had found a fantastic rate that included an upgraded room, free breakfast and a drinks voucher for each night of our stay.
My room was at the end of the block and was modern and comfortable. There was a flat screen TV on the wall, a large bed, a work desk and a reasonably sized balcony that overlooked the hotel garden. The bathroom wasn’t very big but it was modern and clean. In short, I was very happy with the room and was looking forward to the next three nights.
Hotel entrance
The bed
Work desk
Chairs and balcony
The bathroom
The view from my balcony
The view from my balcony
After settling in, we decided to take the car down to Saint-Raphael to eat by the harbour. We were all pretty tired so we didn’t spend too long looking for somewhere. To be honest, most of restaurants were rather touristy, but we ended up somewhere that looked reasonable. We did make the effort to have a go at ordering our meal in French and this was appreciated. After a great meal we made our way back to the hotel and retired for the evening.
The following morning I woke up to a beautiful sunny day. We were on holiday so had planned to take it easy generally, and had agreed the night before that today we would drive to St-Tropez.
Breakfast was fantastic. There was a huge range of options including fresh fruit, yoghurts, fresh bread, meats and cheeses and cereals. We decided to eat out on the veranda, as it was lovely and sunny. I chose to have some muesli mixed in with some fromage frais and some compote. It was really excellent and filled me up for the day.
After breakfast it was time to hit the road. The drive would take about an hour along some beautiful coast line. I had quite a few pre-conceptions about Saint-Tropez. I expected it to be a very expensive, classy place with lots of beautiful people walking around. In short, I expected to feel out of place.
We parked up in the marina and the first thing I noticed was the size of the boats. This I had expected also, but perhaps not the size or the quantity. These things were simply enormous, easily £50-100 million plus. The weather, whilst it was sunny it was also extremely windy, so there weren’t any boats actually out on the water.
Another thing that I noticed, were the cars. Again, there was a lot of money dotted around the car park, including a fantastic looking Rolls Royce convertible which had been driven over from the UK.
Nice
Some posh RIBs – I’ve never seen some as large as this before
Floating money
Amongst the power yachts I was pleased to see a few sailing boats, in my opinion, a much more skilled and refined way to travel.
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As we made our way down to the promenade I started to get a funny feeling about the place. There were a large number of yachts crammed together, backed into the promenade and moored up. With everyone walking past, it was clear that a number of people on these boats were taking the opportunity to participate in a spot of parading. I felt that this was rather odd behaviour. It was so obvious that some people were sitting on their yachts for the sole purpose of having people look at them, and possibly, feel jealous. To me, this would be like putting a transparent curtain between First class and the rest of the aircraft and allowing people to stand and watch as the First class passengers sipped Champagne and enjoyed their 5 course meal. If it was me, I would want to be more discreet, I wouldn’t want people staring at me. It left a bad taste in my mouth and I wasn’t impressed by it at all. Perhaps I am not the right sort of person for St-Tropez.
Sailing boats
Look at me, I’m on Daddy’s yacht
The promenade
Restaurants
The promenade
The promenade
It was a shame as the promenade was reasonably nice, but to be honest, it looked like any other promenade in a pretty French sea side town. There were a number of touristy restaurants along the side which didn’t look anything special. Apart from the yachts in the harbour, it didn’t feel like an expensive place.
We sat down for some lunch, which, while touristy, was pretty good and not too expensive either. The wind was still howling and it knocked over a couple of signs along the promenade.
After lunch it was time to explore. We walked down to the water’s edge and then, after almost being blown over decided to retreat into the town/village itself. To be fair, I was happy to get away from the touristy promenade.
Moving around the corner I was surprised to see a small beach tucked away from the tourists. This is more of what I had expected, something a bit more classy and secluded. The beach was great, but sadly, the weather wasn’t really conducive to a swim.
Rough seas
Rough seas
Lovely beach
As we made our way into the village streets I was amazed by the transformation. Gone were the touristy restaurants and flashiness and in were beautifully lined streets, with flags, flowers and colour. St Tropez was transformed, it was beautiful.
I couldn’t help but snap away and take it all in. The village streets were fantastic, quiet and charming. We spent quite a while just wandering around, taking photos and enjoying the atmosphere.
Scooters, a European staple
Flags
Beautiful streets
Colour
Flags II
Church
More Colour
Chairs
Windows
It was about 5pm at this point so it was time to head off. Unfortunately, everyone else had the same idea! The resulting traffic jam meant that it took several hours to crawl back to the hotel.
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After a long car journey, we arrived at the hotel and decided to meet up at the bar and use our drinks vouchers. The hotel didn’t actually have its own bar, but it was attached to the golf club so hotel guests were invited to use the bar there. We had been given one voucher for each night of our stay but we were allowed to pool them. The friendly barman told us what drinks we could have. I tried to go for a Kir Royale but that wasn’t on the list, sadly. The barman suggested that we sat down outside and he would bring the drinks to us. We sat in the grounds of the garden and had a nice chat before thoughts turned to dinner. We weren’t really in the mood for another trip into and the hotel restaurant was quite full on, with a set menu so my friend came up with another option. There was a strip of shops within walking distance and on this strip was a pizza place, great. We walked down there and I saw the pizza shop, but it was closed. Ah well, ‘fermé’ is not an issue for this pizza shop, it has a special trick up it’s sleave.
As we approached the frontage we could see what looked like an ATM, however, this machine dispensed pizzas, not money. I really thought that my friend was pulling my leg when he told me about this contraption. Sceptical, I made my selection (only two choices when the place is closed), paid and then watched as the machine gave me a countdown (to the second) of when the pizza would be delivered. Hmm, four minutes and then I’ll have the last laugh, I thought.
24 Hour Pizza
And so, as promised, at precisely the indicated moment, a pizza box was pushed out of the machine. I brought it over to where we were sitting and cautiously opened the box. Well, I had to eat my words, it looked great and tasted great too!
Apparently, the owner is quite a dab hand at engineering challenges and had created a contraption that takes the order and then loads the pre-prepared pizza base into the oven, removes it when cooked and then delivers out the front of the machine, quite impressive really.
Yum, yum
After pizza we headed back to the hotel/golf club bar. The same barman was still there and we happened to be the only patrons. We ordered a few drinks again and the barman bought them over. We spent the next hour or so drinking and chatting amongst ourselves before retiring to bed.
After the hectic trip to St Tropez the day before, we had decided to spend the day by the pool doing bugger all . We started the day with a full on breakfast again, with lots of things to choose from. Everything was fresh and seemed to be laid out with care. Again, I went with a mixture of granola, fromage frais and some compote. We took our time with breakfast, we were in no rush, today was about being on holiday, nothing more.
Granola and jams
Fruits and juices
After breakfast it was time to head down to the pool. We had to gather up a number of sun loungers and put them together and I had to fetch an umbrella from one of the other pairs where people had left (more on that later). We settled down and just enjoyed a very lazy morning by the pool.
I noticed that being in Australia had really trained me to think about the effects that the sun can have. I was straight on with the sun tan cream but my friends took a more relaxed approach. Of course, the effects of the sun in Australia are a lot worse, but still, I’d rather be safe than sorry.
My view
The pool
We did take a quick dip in the pool but it was pretty cold! It was only early June and obviously the sun hadn’t had a chance to heat it up over the previous month or so. After a couple of hours, a couple that we’d seen by the pool during breakfast came back. The gentleman trudged over to us and motioned for me to give back the umbrella that I had ‘stolen’. Hmm, this must be a new one on me. They left their loungers several hours ago and left nothing there, no towels, books, shoes, so I’m not sure on what basis he could claim that it was his. I kicked up a bit of a fuss, but he didn’t seem to understand so in the end we just let him have the umbrella back. I managed to find another one, even if I did have to assemble it myself.
We’d booked a tennis court for early in the afternoon as our the time came we headed over for an hour in the hot sun. We were all pretty bad, and several balls ended up over the fence and into the other courts. We managed to avoid annoying the locals too much. Tennis wrecked us, so it was time to check out the hotel spa. The spa consisted of a Jacuzzi, steam room and sauna as well as a tricky shower. My friend already knew about this and invited me to try it out. It seemed pretty normal, but it had a trick up it’s sleave. After a minute the hot water would turn off and you’d be blasted by ice cold water from the sides! It was quite a shock but actually quite refreshing.
The spa
The jacuzzi
The jacuzzi
A couple of hours later and we were all pretty wrinkly so it was time to head up to our rooms to get ready for dinner. We’d decided to head to a local hotel, the Mercure, for dinner as it had recently been renovated. Not having had lunch we turned up before the restaurant had started serving. We pretty much leapt into our seats when they opened. We were served by a very friendly waitress. We endeavoured to order in French, which was appreciated, but inevitably the waitress spoke perfect English, so we reverted to that. At least we tried. The food was excellent, and really well priced. Unfortunately for my friends, I was a little distant at dinner. I was working out in my head whether I could spend one last night with my sister and niece before heading back to HKG and SYD the following day. We were due to fly back to LGW the following day and then my flight back was the day after that. I hatched a plan that involved hiring a car from LGW, driving down to Sussex, staying the night at my sister and brother in law’s place then driving back to Kent, dropping off the car, meeting my friend to visit my flat (I still have a flat in the UK) and meet the tenant before heading to lunch and then on to Heathrow. I explained this all to them over dinner and they seemed ok, but as I’d pretty much just ruined their plans for tomorrow evening I think that they were being quite good about it. I couldn’t get this overwhelming thought in my head that I needed to see my niece again. I guess it’s fair to say that I was totally smitten.
After dinner we headed back to the hotel and to the bar again. The same bar man recognised us and suggested that we sat outside. After a short while he took our drinks orders and then served the drinks directly at our table. He was really very good indeed and we left a large tip to show our appreciation.
The rest of the evening was spent arranging the following day, booking the car and talking to my sister to check that my plan would all work out. She said that she was delighted to have me stay, so that was it, all sorted.
The following morning we had breakfast and headed to the spa again. My friends were a bit nervous about being late for the flight that day, so again we left really very early indeed, about 1pm for 17.50pm flight if I remember correctly. The thought of spending several hours in the airport with nothing to do (no lounge!) did not appeal, but I went with the flow.
We checked out and then drove to Nice airport. We actually arrived rather early, as predicted, at about 2pm and it only took us a few minutes to drop off the car and make our way into the terminal. As we entered the check in area it was clear that people were checking in for an earlier flight. I suggested that we try our luck and see if we can move to the 3.05pm flight (almost three hours earlier than our booked flight). I expected a resounding “non” from the agent at the sales desk, but with a friendly smile she said, of course! We were all ushered over to have our booking changed and then we went round to the check in desk to hand over my bag and get new boarding passes. This was all pretty seamless and it didn’t cost us anything, no charges at all. I was quite amazed. So a low cost airline like easyJet can do it, but 'full service' airlines like BA and Qantas prefer to spout ticketing conditions and fare rules at you instead? Interesting.
easyJet check in desks at Nice
We rushed our way to the gate and found that a queue had already started forming. At 2.50pm (15 minutes before push back) there was no sign of the aircraft. It was obvious that we were going to be delayed. The aircraft actually arrived at about 3pm and the passengers were rushed off before boarding began at 3.10pm. As we made our way on to the aircraft there was a young family with a child who looked very badly affected by chicken pox, with spots all over his face. Several of the parents in the queue struck a wide berth and there were lots of whispers about whether or not the child should be flying. I shared their concerns, I didn’t want chicken pox, but worse, I didn’t want to pass it on to my niece. As we had our boarding passes scanned the ground staff were frantically trying to work out whether they should travel or not. The family was getting quite agitated, but I can understand the approach of the ground crew.
We were on board at 3.10pm. For some reason it took forever for all of the passengers to board. I fear that allocated seating would have been better because people wouldn’t faff around so much. We secured a row of seats at the back and settled down for push back, which came at 3.35pm (30 minutes late).
We had a short taxi to the active runway and soon we were on our way back to grim and rainy England.
The seatbelt sign was turned off after about 10 minutes so I loosened mine up. I rarely take it off as I’ve read the stories about unexpected turbulence and I have no plans to crack my head open on an overhead locker.
The service started and I took a look at the menu. The prices weren’t actually too bad and since we hadn’t eaten (we just rushed to the gate) I decided to try out the bacon roll. This came as part of a meal deal with a hot drink. When the crew member came along to take my order he got all confused about what I wanted and then got even more agitated when I asked if it was possible to take a Pepsi Max instead of a coffee for the meal deal. I was rather shocked at his response: “no, you cannot swap it, that is why it is clearly specified on the menu, I don’t make these decisions!”. Well that was me told then. I appreciate that he probably gets asked that question a lot, but all he had to do was to say, “sorry Sir, but no, unfortunately you have to take a hot drink with that particular meal deal. If that’s a problem would you like something else instead?”. I’d have been ok with that, but that’s not what he said. I snapped back that I didn’t understand where his attitude was coming from, but he didn’t really say much. No doubt I was the subject of conversation in the galley. A good manager would have pointed out to him that if he changed his attitude he might get some nicer responses back. Idiot. I have to say that it’s the first time that I’ve encountered rude crew on easyJet, they are normally very friendly.
In the end, my friend had the coffee and we paid for the Pepsi seperately. The bacon roll was actually reasonably good and actually quite a bit better than those served on BA I must add.
Anyway, the flight was reasonably uneventful after that. We started our approach into Gatwick and had a rather bumpy landing at around 4.20pm, we’d made up 15 minutes en-route.
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Up In The Air
The cabin
The menu: don’t even think about swapping anything in the meal deals
The offending meal deal
On stand at Gatwick
It took a little while to exit the plane and then quite a while to get to immigration. Gatwick seems to have developed some especially long corridors. Here’s a tip, if there’s a choice between a ramp and stairs, take the stairs, it’s about 3 times quicker than the long winding ramp that leads down to immigration.
As we approached immigration I could see that there were a number of machines available for people with biometric passports. I’d never used one before so I decided to give it a go. It was a bit temperamental and I had to move about a bit for it to recognise me but it eventually did and let me through. My friend’s girlfriend didn’t fare so well and had to go to the normal desks. My friend used a normal desk and was out first. Still, I tried it.
My bag took a little while to come out and once it did we went through the blue channel and then started to search for the car rental desks. I found a bunch of phones near the arrivals area. Apparently, you were supposed to call down to the car hire companies. Well, the Europcar phone didn’t work but eventually we discovered that all of the car hire companies were located downstairs, opposite to the bus station on the lower ground floor.
G-EZII
Baggage claim
I said goodbye to my friends (I’d see them tomorrow morning) and then made my way to the Europcar desk. As luck would have it, the longest queue in the building was for Europcar, all of the other desks were practically empty, typical.
I had booked a “Golf or similar” but of course ended up with a Hyundai, not a Golf. I’d love to do a survey to find out how often people actually get the named vehicle rather than the ‘or similar’, I’m convinced that it never happens.
Anyway, the car was fine and after a bit of traffic I was at my sister’s house. I had a lovely evening doing very normal things. My sister cooked a fantastic pork chop dinner and we all settled in front of the TV with a few glasses of wine for the remainder of the evening.
I had a very special moment with my niece that I have to share. I said at the start that I didn’t intend to share a photo of my niece with you, but it was such an amazing moment that I have to really. After feeding her she cuddled up and fell asleep on my chest. She was so cute and so precious that I had to take a photo. I felt very content indeed and knew that this would make leaving in the morning very difficult.
Beautiful Isla
After helping to bath Isla (she cried when she was taken out of the bath rather than when she went in which is a bit odd) it was time for bed. I had to be up reasonably early in the morning to go back to Kent so I set my alarm for 7.30 and enjoyed a very contented night’s sleep.
Still to Come
Flying back to Hong Kong on BA in Premium Economy, one night at the amazing Ritz-Carlton and then Hong Kong to Sydney on Cathay Pacific in Business Class.
.
. We started the day with a full on breakfast again, with lots of things to choose from. Everything was fresh and seemed to be laid out with care. Again, I went with a mixture of granola, fromage frais and some compote. We took our time with breakfast, we were in no rush, today was about being on holiday, nothing more.
