sydunipete

Now, where were we? (Sorry for the delay in posting : Christmas and New Year sort of got in the way.)

I actually quite liked Belgium. But then again I like beer and I like chocolate, so the odds were always good. Except those crazy Belgians get things a bit mixed up and mix beer with chocolate, beer with cherry and beer with just about anything else that isn't nailed down.

Brussels was a very easy city to get around. It seems to have been built on the only hill in all of Belgium / Holland. It has that European street layout reminiscent of a spider web created by a spider tripping on LSD.

And, as attractive as it is, my travel advice in Brussels (like Paris) is get out of it. Withing 2 hours on an excellent train network, or buses, you can be in Ieper for sobering World War I battlefields, Bruges (surely one of the most beautiful cities in the world), Amsterdam (IMHO the marijuana cafes have given the city a very downmarket facade) and I'm sure many other equally interesting places - but time didn't permit.

When we arrived at the airport there was no queue at check in so this was effortless. It was quite a walk from check in to security though. SAS has its own lounge in a cluster of airline lounges and offered several beers and a pretty average Bordeaux Red. Quite typical of Belgium. No nibblies, just biscuits, bread rolls, salad, cold meat and cheese.

Toilets were ok. It was a reasonably busy lounge but enough space for all. 1 hr of WiFi was provided free of charge and was hassle free to connect. The lounge provided a short walk to gate A47 where our BD82 was waiting painted in Star Alliance colours.

Newspapers were available on boarding, but not handed out to business class. Boarding was due at 19:55 but started a few minutes late. Door closed at 20:25 for a 20:40 due departure. 2-3 seating configuration with 1 row of business class with the middle of the 3 kept free. Cushions on business class seats, but not economy Extra. Aircraft was 100% full. An unaccompanied minor was given one of the spare seats in Business Class. Take off at 20:35.

Meal service began promptly. Cold chicken and pasta - which was more tasty than it sounds. Cheese, chocolate and a warm bread roll. Paul Mas red wine was provided as part of the very fast and efficient service. The galley curtain was then drawn which made it hard to signal for fresh bottles of wine. It still managed to get through 3 mini bottles without raising a sweat.

Economy extra passengers got a Euro box.

There were red pegs on both SK short haul flights this trip (see notes elsewhere about cost cutting by SK where red pegs are no longer provided on long haul business class flights).

Landed at 21:42. Gate B5 at 21:46 and luggage was ready after a short 5 minute wait and we were in the wonderful Hilton Copenhagen airport about 5 minutes after that.

Sorry for the lack of photos.