A Northern Irish Day.
As we’re back in the United Kingdom (or as my passport cover eloquently puts it “United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland”), it’s back to using real currency to buy things, which will be useful in a shake as I’ll need to get into town to grab my next connection. Heading to the Border there was a bit of a queue building, but I was seen to soon enough. After messing with my passport to get the reader to work, I was let into the UK. It was then a case of heading downstairs and collecting luggage. At this point, I said farewell to circumknowitall as my luggage began to trundle around the belt. Everything in hand, it was off through customs, then then hunt to find a cash machine. Why you might ask?
Alas, being at Belfast International Airport is much like being at a UK Railway Parkway station. In other words, the airport is in the middle of nowhere. This of course leads of the local bus company taking full advantage of you and charging a £7 for the privilege of a 20 mile bus ride. £7 plus another £2 to get to BHD later. Ouch. And of course, it was a single decker bus, so it packed out. Wonderful at 9am in the morning.
Whilst the Airporter would had been cheaper overall, the times didn’t work out right sadly - least of all with my extended connection.
Arriving in the city centre (and being victim to a bit of peak time traffic which was thrown into chaos thanks to a tiny bit of snow), I was dropped off at Linenhall Street, and I wandered into a Cafe Nero to 1) attempt to wake up in 2) repack my bags now that I was carrying a lot more than earlier.
City Hall
A Big Cappuccino and a bit of time to pack everything into two bags (that’s another challenge), and soon enough I was ready to face the world - or so I thought. I walked around Belfast, taking in the Christmas market at the City Hall, and wander eastwards, looping back towards Victoria Square... where the tiredness begun to hit me. Not so good when you’ve only been walking for about an hour and a half. In the end, I took refuge in a Starbucks with a Venti Americano with an extra shot to try and keep me awake. It also gave me the chance to download some pics and recharge the laptop.
Even this didn't work...
An hour wasted there, I had another walk, and saw it was coming up on 2pm, and my body was saying “that’s enough of that”. I paid attention for once to my mind and changed course heading for the Europa Bus Centre, where I ponied up my £2 for a local ticket for a 4 mile trip in 25 minutes to Belfast City Airport.
Outside Europa Bus Centre
BHD
Pulling into the check-in area I saw that the 14:15 flight was still open. I checked briefly at the the sales desk, but they confirmed that the cut off had been passed and whilst the flight hadn’t even yet begun boarding, it was too late. It was nice of the ground staff to try, so I checked my bag in (3 kilograms under the brought limit of 15kg). With that tagged, I munched on the lunch I got a Tesco, emptied my water bottle and went through the quiet security lanes at BHD. The formalities were done within a minute as no one else was waiting, and I was in the departures area before 14:30. And yes, the earlier Birmingham flight hadn’t been called with a 40 minute delay posted.
Oh well.
I grabbed a coffee, and slumped down for a bit. Since I was within range of the BMI lounge (which as I was flying FlyBe, I couldn't access), I grabbed their Internet connection and watched daylight turn into twilight into evening. Allegedly at 18:30 we were due to depart. And at 18:30... a delay was announced with the flight put back to 19:00. As 19:00 crept up, we were still waiting until 19:20, when the go to gate command was issued. And a sea of humanity moved at once down to the departures zone, and down into the cold waiting area where boarding passes were ripped up, and we waited for to board.
The final bird of the trip
The weather by this point had deteriorated, with a rain falling into the evening. Thankfully, we were allowed to board the plane keeping contact with the wet to a minimum.
George Best Belfast City Airport - Birmingham Airport
BE415 - FlyBe, Embarer 195, Seat 2A Economy Class
226 miles flown, 1 FlyBe Reward point earned.
I boarded the plane and made my way to 2A, whilst main loading was continued. With 62 people boarding, it was going to be a reasonably loaded flight.
The plane being an Embarer 195 as we know, it’s only slightly impossible to louse up one of these internally (normally displacing window and seats so they’re not aligned). This bird seemed to have the windows aligned correctly (well at the front of the plane anyway). During boarding the cabin crew were being very strict with seating positions due to “weight and trim restrictions”.
That and I wager they were hoping still to sell the expensive seats. This is FlyBe after all.
As the doors sealed up, 62 passengers were aboard, and soon enough it was time for pushback and a manual safety demonstration.
The plane taxied all the way to the bottom of the runway, turned in an impressively tight space, and the two GE Turbofans spooled up and rocketed the plane down the runway.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hh54AkPt28
The cabin itself is a standard Embraer cabin - and lets face it - that’s not a bad thing. It means comfortable seats, a reasonable amount of leg space (if anything, the 30” advertised seat pitch felt a bit more than that), and with no one next to me, room to veg out.
Bulkhead space
Passenger service unit
Overhead space
Seat pitch
What they tout as their green fleet with Electrical Appliance labels
With a quick 40 minutes in the air the crew sprang into full sales drive mode, and seemingly did a good trade with 3 flight attendants aboard. Heck - they even had time to do a “duty free” service. And yes. I did partake for one reason alone.
Don’t look at me at that tone of voice. It’s not that I need to create more space for the model plane collection. Honest...
Again, people were buying so FlyBe must be doing something right.
With such a short flight time, the cabin was cleared down quickly, the plane secured before we commenced vectoring for Birmingham, flying over the city, then heading to Coventry before turning back for Birmingham Airport.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjlTrUQyJ_Q
Touching down a mere 4 days from when I left the same piece of tarmac, the mileage run was almost over. The ERJ taxied over to the combined terminal (what in the old days I would had called the EuroHub or T2) and docked. Within minutes, a jetbridge had docked next to us, and the doors opened and I was on my way.
Overall: A reasonable experience in the air - spoiled by the weather and a distinct lack of communication from FlyBe over the delays on the ground. Sadly FlyBe in my eyes lives up to its old name: FlyMayBe. And I hate to be blunt, but there was a communication breakdown. More information and announcements were needed so people didn’t have to glance at monitors waiting for the next update.
After being cleared through arrivals, I went to the luggage belt (not carousel - it was a belt this time), where there was a 10 minute wait for luggage. Eventually, mine spat out and I was on my way.
Told you it was a belt...
Stumbling through Birmingham Airport, I somehow made it to the train station. Another £2 ticket was purchased and I descended to the platform where a Virgin service to Wolverhampton had just pulled in. 10 minutes later, I was at Birmingham New Street, before grabbing a cab back home, depositing me outside my block of flats.
Finally, 4 days, 13000 miles or so and 3 nights in the hotel - I was at my Front Door.
And after taking this photo, I unpacked, then headed to my bedroom and snored.