British Airways (BA) HEL-LHR-BOS in J: Cancellations, delays drama and snow! (pics)
Feb 23, 2009, 1:32 pm
#16
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 1999
Location: ORD/MDW
Programs: BA/AA/AS/B6/WN/ UA/HH/MR and more like 'em but most felicitously & importantly MUCCI
Posts: 19,719
Thanks for the great photo coverage of HEL, things sure have changed since I was last through there (some years ago)... I always appreciate great concourse photos.
Feb 23, 2009, 5:23 pm
#17
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: The OC ca usa
Programs: BA Blue forever!
Posts: 633
Your flights all the way from Finland to Maine makes our usual one from LAX to LHR seem really short-although we have usually been up 24 H by the time we hit the hay. Perhaps that's because we must deal with Super Shuttle on the CA. end and they require you to leave central Orange County for LAX 4H before take-off. Their drivers have been frightening lately-making the flight seem very safe. We haven't flown on a 777, the small refrigerator in CW looks more up to date. Enjoyed all those snow photos as I've only flown twice in winter. Windsor Castle was surrounded by green in my picture. Looking forward to your next report. Thanks.
Feb 23, 2009, 6:17 pm
#18
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Portland
Programs: HH Gold, Alaska MVP Gold
Posts: 4,074
Whoa, as I'm a relatively new member and this is my first trip report, I really didn't expect this many responses. Thank you, efincomputer, UCBeau, matthandy, aaron1262, faithwins, hoyateach, chanp and vulle! ^
Helsinki-Vantaa lacks some of the finer elements of bigger airports such as fancier lounges, but it's straightforward, clean and manageable. If I weren't Finnish, I'd say that Copenhagen is even nicer, but I won't!
Helsinki-Vantaa lacks some of the finer elements of bigger airports such as fancier lounges, but it's straightforward, clean and manageable. If I weren't Finnish, I'd say that Copenhagen is even nicer, but I won't!
Then again as a Finn, we like that kind of stuff
I'll allow that CPH is pretty nice though, and won't request you turn in your Passi
Feb 24, 2009, 3:53 am
#20
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: HEL (and regularly BOS & PWM)
Programs: BA Gold, AY
Posts: 247
Thanks, mag, BearX220, daph and Lobengula! ^
Some of my friends consider my enthusiaism to be more of the obsessive kind, especially prior to the trip... so thak you for that comment.
You're welcome - I know that FTer rarely end up flying via HEL, so the coverage has not been good. I'll see what I can do with that in the future, this shouldn't be my only TR departing from HEL!
Thanks! My 27 hours of travelling is normally around 18 hours (12 hours of flying including one layover), so that makes my "commute" even quicker when everything goes smoothly. I'd trade our snow in Helsinki to the sunshine in OC anytime...
Yes we do! Kippis
Your flights all the way from Finland to Maine makes our usual one from LAX to LHR seem really short-although we have usually been up 24 H by the time we hit the hay. Perhaps that's because we must deal with Super Shuttle on the CA. end and they require you to leave central Orange County for LAX 4H before take-off. Their drivers have been frightening lately-making the flight seem very safe. We haven't flown on a 777, the small refrigerator in CW looks more up to date. Enjoyed all those snow photos as I've only flown twice in winter. Windsor Castle was surrounded by green in my picture. Looking forward to your next report. Thanks.
Feb 24, 2009, 2:48 pm
#21
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Cham CH
Posts: 1,645
Nice report...especially recognising the things I see in T5 and HEL through another's eyes.
I actually had a nice conversation with Finnish border guy once! Even used my entire Finnish vocabulary (then three words...hei, kippis, kiitos...it's expanded vastly now to include terveisin & lentoasema). He wanted to know what "cheers" meant and why some Brits passing through said it. Never thought I'd use kippis at the border
I actually had a nice conversation with Finnish border guy once! Even used my entire Finnish vocabulary (then three words...hei, kippis, kiitos...it's expanded vastly now to include terveisin & lentoasema). He wanted to know what "cheers" meant and why some Brits passing through said it. Never thought I'd use kippis at the border
Feb 24, 2009, 3:06 pm
#22
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: HEL (and regularly BOS & PWM)
Programs: BA Gold, AY
Posts: 247
I actually had a nice conversation with Finnish border guy once! Even used my entire Finnish vocabulary (then three words...hei, kippis, kiitos...it's expanded vastly now to include terveisin & lentoasema). He wanted to know what "cheers" meant and why some Brits passing through said it. Never thought I'd use kippis at the border
Seriously though, nice to hear about a pleasant border control experience for a change. Cheers for your comments, heckenhocker.
Mar 3, 2009, 5:29 pm
#27
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: HEL (and regularly BOS & PWM)
Programs: BA Gold, AY
Posts: 247
Flying back home - BOS-LHR-HEL in J
Part II - flying back home. No drama, no unexpected snow, and more bussing than I cared for.
After a hectic two week work trip I was more than ready to fly back home. The forecast for my departure didn't look good, though. Boston was exptected to get some snow and I prepared for the worst. Surprisingly everything went smoothly all the way to Helsinki!
I took a bus from Portland to Boston and apart from the usual rush our traffic, the bus trip went well. Concord Trailways' bus drivers are pretty good at finding their way through the congested roads and dodging aggressive Boston drivers (also known as M*ssholes).
I checked in at Boston Logan Terminal E around 17:45. After waiting to get to the CW desk for a couple of minutes, a BA representative from a WT desk came to ask whether I wanted to check in. It looked like the American fellow in front of me wouldn't be ready with his business anytime soon, so I gladly accepted her request and moved over to a WT desk. After the obligatory "did you pack your bag" questions I was already on my way to the security. It was so quiet that a separate premium pax line was closed. I wanted to feel special, but I had no choice but to take the only available line with no special feel to it. Oh well.
Not so surprisingly, I was told to open my camera bag and a friendly security lady examined it. She also took some kind of a sample with a piece of cloth, which was examined by a mysterious TSA machine. I asked her what she did and what the thing she used is, but all she could say was that it does a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Maybe it was used to find traces of explosives? With no explosives to be found, I gathered my belongings and found my way to the lounge.
Main lounge area.
Lounge bar.
Dining area.
Men's loo.
One thing that I love about the US is how people of different heights are taken into account in the loos...
BA's lounge in Boston is relatively small, but a nice one. First lounge is on right, all others are advised to take a left turn. It looked like F pax have waiter service, while CW pax have a self service pre-flight dining area. Because my flight was a sleeper service flight, I was given a voucher which granted me an entry to the dining area. I also asked for a free wi-fi password. Lounge dragon was very nice! Food looked good and better yet, tasted good. After a couple of glasses of both red and white wine, a salad, very buttery and tasty mashed potatoes, nicely marinated veggies, boring chicken and nice salmon, a chocolate chip cookie and grapes, brie and blue cheese, I was stuffed. I quite liked my pre-flight supper and think that BA has a good product there.
Supper invitation.
Drinks (well, just two bottles of wine. There's also a fridge below the countertop).
Starters.
Main courses.
Dessert area.
During my dinner the lounge started to fill up but it never got too crowded. I moved closer to the bar and decided to reward myself with a gin and tonic, which ended up being gin and ginger ale because I failed to notice that Canada Dry doesn't make tonic water only. Oh well, it was surprisingly tasty, and I'm never too narrow-minded about my alcohol anyway. At this point I was high on carbohydrates and well intoxicated, so I decided to loiter and do nothing worthwhile.
The view from my chair wasn't that special...
...but the bar was close! ^
BOS-LHR 20:20-07:40 18FEB
BA 214 777-200
Club World Seat 11G, Sleeper Service
When OLCI opened, all window and isle seats on the window side were already taken, so I had no choice but to choose a seat from the other side of the isle. I wasn't too upset about it as it was an overnight flight and I wouldn't be peeking through the window anyway. Luckily the middle seat next to me was free, so no-one would be hopping over me during the flight.
Now, allow me to rant a bit about being too shy in the lounge. I always enjoy having a discussion with fellow pax. It's a great way to pass the time and have a laugh or two. Unfortunately such moments are rare... anyway, when I was having dinner, two Italian fellows sat at the table next to me. My iPhone and MacBook Pro were on the table and I was browsing the web while eating... not too civilized. Anyway, that seemed to catch their attention and one of them pulled out his iPhone. The signs were obvious - had I said something, we might have actually had a nice conversation, but I kept my mouth shut. As fate would have it, their seats were in the same row as mine, and we also could have had a good boozing session on the plane. But it was too late already, I had missed my chance. Served me right for not having the guts to open my mouth. Could've. Should've.
My seat, 11G. NGCW again!
How else could I feel special?!
Anyway, I was happy that I'd fly in NGCW again. With AVOD! Coats were collected and I felt like having a glass of champagne. I went to the loo and upon returning to my seat, noticed that others had received menus. I had to ask for one. We waited at the gate for some time while the plane was being de-iced. It was snowing outside, but it was nothing serious. I never got more champagne... We finally took off at 21:15 and at that time were almost an hour late.
Sleeper service menu.
Mmmm.... hot... chocolate....
I chose hot chocolate and cookies from the NightCap menu. I also wanted to get some sleep, but had to try AVOD first. I ended up watching How to Lose Friends & Alienate People, starring one of my favourite British comedian, Simon Pegg. I'm afraid to say that the flick was nowhere near Pegg's other great movies, such as Shaun of the Dead or Hot Fuzz. I decided that I didn't care how it ends, and started sleeping. Or, tried to sleep... the cabin temperature was way too hot and because I had come down with a cold a few days earlier, the dry and hot cabin air didn't really do any good to my congested nose. I should've asked if it was possible to lower the temperature, but I didn't. Eventually I fell asleep, but kept waking up because of constant traffic on the isle. The male FA that served my side of the cabin didn't bother moving stealthy on the isle, which only made my impression on him worse. Don't get me wrong, he was professional and all, but he was also very impersonal and barely spoke anything. Maybe he was having a bad day...
The breakfast.
Woke up an hour and a half prior to arriving in LHR, just in time for breakfast service. Breakfast, while ok, was nothing to write home about. We landed in an orderly manner and were bussed from our stand next to T5C to the main terminal.
Pax disembarking the plane.
T5C under construction, our plane is on the right.
Fast forward through the bus to T3 and uneventful security, I had time to go see the T3 CX lounge as my connecting flight to HEL was in AY J, and Finnair uses the CX lounge. It was a couple of corridors and one staircase away from the shopping area.
Again, J pax louge was on left, F lounge was on right. While the J lounge was nowhere near the size or style of BA's T5 Galleries lounges, it was nice. In my opinion it's good to have different kind of lounges so that one can look forward to the better ones and feel special there, while still feeling quite alright in lesser lounges.
This is the first "room" when you enter the lounge (See those marble walls? Lounge desk is over there).
Second room with a big flat screen TV and a computer room on the other side. Third and last room is pretty similar to the second room, but offers even more privacy as most pax would probably choose to stay in the first or second room. All these rooms are lined up.
Drinks and food.
Computer room looks stylish, but you're better off not watching anything questionable as there's little privacy.
Showers! I think there's thee of them. I was stinky and tired after my overnight flight, so taking a shower really came in need. Shower controls were a bit tricky and water temperature responded to them with a delay, but once I got the hang of it, it was great. There's a really big overhead nozzle that made the shower feel better than your average shower nozzle. Unless you're used to huge, luxurious nozzles!
Facilities for your other needs are next to the shower.
Due to lack of ventilation, my bathroom was pretty hot afterwards, so I'd advice you to either take a colder shower (not an option for me) or be prepared for after sweat.
The PA system was being tested while I was in the shower. "Testing... testing... 1... 2... 3.... SQUEAAAAKKK!! *almost going ultrasonic*" I never heard a boarding announcement for my flight nor did I care to hear it as the PA system was clearly having a bad day.
LHR-HEL 10:20-15:15 19FEB
AY 832, Airbus 320
Business class seat 1C
Boarding was usual Finnair short haul shambles with one long line. I finally got on board only to find out that overhead lockers were bursting with bags. After barely managing to squeeze my bag in the locker, my coat was collected and hot towels were given shortly after that. We departed at 10:40, or 20 minutes late.
My seat, 1C.
Row 1 on the other side of the isle.
Good leg space... kind of.
AY's J seats don't differ from Y seats in any way, apart from a blocked middle seat. They're uncomfortable and therefore don't offer added value on short haul flights. I had forgotten that my seat in row 1 was a bad choice, as arm rests were fixed.
Taxiing to the runway.
An A380! OMG! I was slightly excited to see this plane for the first time ever. Would I want to fly her? Naah... who wouldn't...
I guess she's going to stay firmly on the ground for a while!
I now know where "somewhere over the rainbow" is.
Once we reached cruising altitude, the cabin crew started drink service. Weirdly Y pax got their drinks first. Maybe J meals took longer to prepare... meal was edible, dessert was great.
Edible meal.
AY's clothespin-like napkin holder is always a nice touch.
Finnair's short haul entertainment offering is a mixed bag. While it's great to be able watch take off and landing from the overheard monitors, there's no way to plug in headphones, so in flight entertainment is silent with subtitles. And some were pretty crappy with spelling errors and awkward language, like "here is my salad, now I want it with my vinaigrette." Embarrassing. Me Tarzan. You Jane. Later on FAs preferred to chat and giggle in the galley for a good while. Service was friendly, though, and it always seems more personal in Finnish.
Just before landing... weather looking very typical for February in southern Finland.
We arrived almost on time, but again had to be bussed to the terminal. Not again! But: FIRST ONE OFF THE PLANE!
Snow removal in HEL is efficient and fast, here's some of the equipment at it.
One of Finnair's A319 in retro livery.
Finnair's long haul MD-11 and A330s.
Because our plane parked literally to the furthest end of the airport from the bus entrance, it took a while to get to the terminal, and yet another while to get bags. Didn't really mind that as I was finally home, though. This time everything went smoothly and BA's TATL service was good, and while Finnair didn't stumble, my biggest gripe with them is the J cabin which isn't any different from Y. And I did end up blowing gross, bloody snot for a few days - flying when suffering from cold is never fun.
Flying in J was a special treat for me, but I doubt that I'll be flying TATL in J the next time. On the other hand, I racked up over 12,000 BA miles, which means that I have enough miles to upgrade from WT+ to CW one way. And since I now have 320 Tier Points, my shiny silver BAEC card is just one trip away...
Writing the report took ages, and I realized that my old and reliable point and shoot camera doesn't perform well in low light conditions. But nevertheless, thanks for taking the time to read this report, and thank you for all the nice comments so far!
As an added bonus, here's a night shot of downtown Boston I took a while ago.
And one from Portland...
After a hectic two week work trip I was more than ready to fly back home. The forecast for my departure didn't look good, though. Boston was exptected to get some snow and I prepared for the worst. Surprisingly everything went smoothly all the way to Helsinki!
I took a bus from Portland to Boston and apart from the usual rush our traffic, the bus trip went well. Concord Trailways' bus drivers are pretty good at finding their way through the congested roads and dodging aggressive Boston drivers (also known as M*ssholes).
I checked in at Boston Logan Terminal E around 17:45. After waiting to get to the CW desk for a couple of minutes, a BA representative from a WT desk came to ask whether I wanted to check in. It looked like the American fellow in front of me wouldn't be ready with his business anytime soon, so I gladly accepted her request and moved over to a WT desk. After the obligatory "did you pack your bag" questions I was already on my way to the security. It was so quiet that a separate premium pax line was closed. I wanted to feel special, but I had no choice but to take the only available line with no special feel to it. Oh well.
Not so surprisingly, I was told to open my camera bag and a friendly security lady examined it. She also took some kind of a sample with a piece of cloth, which was examined by a mysterious TSA machine. I asked her what she did and what the thing she used is, but all she could say was that it does a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Maybe it was used to find traces of explosives? With no explosives to be found, I gathered my belongings and found my way to the lounge.
Main lounge area.
Lounge bar.
Dining area.
Men's loo.
One thing that I love about the US is how people of different heights are taken into account in the loos...
BA's lounge in Boston is relatively small, but a nice one. First lounge is on right, all others are advised to take a left turn. It looked like F pax have waiter service, while CW pax have a self service pre-flight dining area. Because my flight was a sleeper service flight, I was given a voucher which granted me an entry to the dining area. I also asked for a free wi-fi password. Lounge dragon was very nice! Food looked good and better yet, tasted good. After a couple of glasses of both red and white wine, a salad, very buttery and tasty mashed potatoes, nicely marinated veggies, boring chicken and nice salmon, a chocolate chip cookie and grapes, brie and blue cheese, I was stuffed. I quite liked my pre-flight supper and think that BA has a good product there.
Supper invitation.
Drinks (well, just two bottles of wine. There's also a fridge below the countertop).
Starters.
Main courses.
Dessert area.
During my dinner the lounge started to fill up but it never got too crowded. I moved closer to the bar and decided to reward myself with a gin and tonic, which ended up being gin and ginger ale because I failed to notice that Canada Dry doesn't make tonic water only. Oh well, it was surprisingly tasty, and I'm never too narrow-minded about my alcohol anyway.
At this point I was high on carbohydrates and well intoxicated, so I decided to loiter and do nothing worthwhile.The view from my chair wasn't that special...
...but the bar was close! ^
BOS-LHR 20:20-07:40 18FEB
BA 214 777-200
Club World Seat 11G, Sleeper Service
When OLCI opened, all window and isle seats on the window side were already taken, so I had no choice but to choose a seat from the other side of the isle. I wasn't too upset about it as it was an overnight flight and I wouldn't be peeking through the window anyway. Luckily the middle seat next to me was free, so no-one would be hopping over me during the flight.
Now, allow me to rant a bit about being too shy in the lounge. I always enjoy having a discussion with fellow pax. It's a great way to pass the time and have a laugh or two. Unfortunately such moments are rare... anyway, when I was having dinner, two Italian fellows sat at the table next to me. My iPhone and MacBook Pro were on the table and I was browsing the web while eating... not too civilized. Anyway, that seemed to catch their attention and one of them pulled out his iPhone. The signs were obvious - had I said something, we might have actually had a nice conversation, but I kept my mouth shut. As fate would have it, their seats were in the same row as mine, and we also could have had a good boozing session on the plane. But it was too late already, I had missed my chance. Served me right for not having the guts to open my mouth. Could've. Should've.
My seat, 11G. NGCW again!
How else could I feel special?!
Anyway, I was happy that I'd fly in NGCW again. With AVOD! Coats were collected and I felt like having a glass of champagne. I went to the loo and upon returning to my seat, noticed that others had received menus. I had to ask for one. We waited at the gate for some time while the plane was being de-iced. It was snowing outside, but it was nothing serious. I never got more champagne... We finally took off at 21:15 and at that time were almost an hour late.
Sleeper service menu.
Mmmm.... hot... chocolate....
I chose hot chocolate and cookies from the NightCap menu. I also wanted to get some sleep, but had to try AVOD first. I ended up watching How to Lose Friends & Alienate People, starring one of my favourite British comedian, Simon Pegg. I'm afraid to say that the flick was nowhere near Pegg's other great movies, such as Shaun of the Dead or Hot Fuzz. I decided that I didn't care how it ends, and started sleeping. Or, tried to sleep... the cabin temperature was way too hot and because I had come down with a cold a few days earlier, the dry and hot cabin air didn't really do any good to my congested nose. I should've asked if it was possible to lower the temperature, but I didn't. Eventually I fell asleep, but kept waking up because of constant traffic on the isle. The male FA that served my side of the cabin didn't bother moving stealthy on the isle, which only made my impression on him worse. Don't get me wrong, he was professional and all, but he was also very impersonal and barely spoke anything. Maybe he was having a bad day...
The breakfast.
Woke up an hour and a half prior to arriving in LHR, just in time for breakfast service. Breakfast, while ok, was nothing to write home about. We landed in an orderly manner and were bussed from our stand next to T5C to the main terminal.
Pax disembarking the plane.
T5C under construction, our plane is on the right.
Fast forward through the bus to T3 and uneventful security, I had time to go see the T3 CX lounge as my connecting flight to HEL was in AY J, and Finnair uses the CX lounge. It was a couple of corridors and one staircase away from the shopping area.
Again, J pax louge was on left, F lounge was on right. While the J lounge was nowhere near the size or style of BA's T5 Galleries lounges, it was nice. In my opinion it's good to have different kind of lounges so that one can look forward to the better ones and feel special there, while still feeling quite alright in lesser lounges.
This is the first "room" when you enter the lounge (See those marble walls? Lounge desk is over there).
Second room with a big flat screen TV and a computer room on the other side. Third and last room is pretty similar to the second room, but offers even more privacy as most pax would probably choose to stay in the first or second room. All these rooms are lined up.
Drinks and food.
Computer room looks stylish, but you're better off not watching anything questionable as there's little privacy.
Showers! I think there's thee of them. I was stinky and tired after my overnight flight, so taking a shower really came in need. Shower controls were a bit tricky and water temperature responded to them with a delay, but once I got the hang of it, it was great. There's a really big overhead nozzle that made the shower feel better than your average shower nozzle. Unless you're used to huge, luxurious nozzles!
Facilities for your other needs are next to the shower.
Due to lack of ventilation, my bathroom was pretty hot afterwards, so I'd advice you to either take a colder shower (not an option for me) or be prepared for after sweat.
The PA system was being tested while I was in the shower. "Testing... testing... 1... 2... 3.... SQUEAAAAKKK!! *almost going ultrasonic*" I never heard a boarding announcement for my flight nor did I care to hear it as the PA system was clearly having a bad day.
LHR-HEL 10:20-15:15 19FEB
AY 832, Airbus 320
Business class seat 1C
Boarding was usual Finnair short haul shambles with one long line. I finally got on board only to find out that overhead lockers were bursting with bags. After barely managing to squeeze my bag in the locker, my coat was collected and hot towels were given shortly after that. We departed at 10:40, or 20 minutes late.
My seat, 1C.
Row 1 on the other side of the isle.
Good leg space... kind of.
AY's J seats don't differ from Y seats in any way, apart from a blocked middle seat. They're uncomfortable and therefore don't offer added value on short haul flights. I had forgotten that my seat in row 1 was a bad choice, as arm rests were fixed.
Taxiing to the runway.
An A380! OMG! I was slightly excited to see this plane for the first time ever. Would I want to fly her? Naah... who wouldn't...
I guess she's going to stay firmly on the ground for a while!
I now know where "somewhere over the rainbow" is.
Once we reached cruising altitude, the cabin crew started drink service. Weirdly Y pax got their drinks first. Maybe J meals took longer to prepare... meal was edible, dessert was great.
Edible meal.
AY's clothespin-like napkin holder is always a nice touch.
Finnair's short haul entertainment offering is a mixed bag. While it's great to be able watch take off and landing from the overheard monitors, there's no way to plug in headphones, so in flight entertainment is silent with subtitles. And some were pretty crappy with spelling errors and awkward language, like "here is my salad, now I want it with my vinaigrette." Embarrassing. Me Tarzan. You Jane. Later on FAs preferred to chat and giggle in the galley for a good while. Service was friendly, though, and it always seems more personal in Finnish.
Just before landing... weather looking very typical for February in southern Finland.
We arrived almost on time, but again had to be bussed to the terminal. Not again! But: FIRST ONE OFF THE PLANE!
Snow removal in HEL is efficient and fast, here's some of the equipment at it.
One of Finnair's A319 in retro livery.
Finnair's long haul MD-11 and A330s.
Because our plane parked literally to the furthest end of the airport from the bus entrance, it took a while to get to the terminal, and yet another while to get bags. Didn't really mind that as I was finally home, though. This time everything went smoothly and BA's TATL service was good, and while Finnair didn't stumble, my biggest gripe with them is the J cabin which isn't any different from Y. And I did end up blowing gross, bloody snot for a few days - flying when suffering from cold is never fun.
Flying in J was a special treat for me, but I doubt that I'll be flying TATL in J the next time. On the other hand, I racked up over 12,000 BA miles, which means that I have enough miles to upgrade from WT+ to CW one way. And since I now have 320 Tier Points, my shiny silver BAEC card is just one trip away...
Writing the report took ages, and I realized that my old and reliable point and shoot camera doesn't perform well in low light conditions. But nevertheless, thanks for taking the time to read this report, and thank you for all the nice comments so far!
As an added bonus, here's a night shot of downtown Boston I took a while ago.
And one from Portland...
Last edited by speedymac; Mar 4, 2009 at 6:14 am Reason: Typos, fixed broken image links
Mar 4, 2009, 5:54 am
#28
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Kent, UK
Programs: BA Gold, SPG Platinum, Marriott Platinum, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 3,809
Great 2nd leg, thanks! You should have struck up some conversation in the lounge, it's amazing what a difference it can make to a lone traveller to have a bit of a chat with a fellow passenger. I should do it more too.
Your photos at the end of the report are fantastic. Bloody show off
What equipment do you use? Are they stitched panoramas, or cropped?
Looks like you've used an ND grad too....
Thoroughly enjoyable report and lucky to have NGCW both ways! Well done.
Your photos at the end of the report are fantastic. Bloody show off
What equipment do you use? Are they stitched panoramas, or cropped?
Looks like you've used an ND grad too....
Thoroughly enjoyable report and lucky to have NGCW both ways! Well done.
Mar 4, 2009, 6:35 am
#29
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: HEL (and regularly BOS & PWM)
Programs: BA Gold, AY
Posts: 247
For the trip report photos I used a Canon PowerShot S80 point and shoot camera, because I didn't want to cause any attention with my bigger camera, which is a Canon EOS 30D. Night shot of Boston might be stitched from several photos, can't remember that for sure - but Portland Head Light is certainly just one image, albeit a cropped one. ND grad effect is probably due to tweaking in Adobe Lightroom and using a circular polarizing filter...
