30th birthday trip...... ABZ-DUB-LHR-LAX-HNL-OGG-HNL-LIH-HNL-LAX-LHR-DUB-ABZ
Intro
I have finally turned old. I will be 30 in October. I am already suicidal at the thought of it. I always thought of myself as being married off after 25 and settled down. Well that didn't happen. So one dark January Friday evening when it was snowing gently outside in Aberdeen city centre, I decided to have a look and see what sort of summer holiday I could take to celebrate the big 3-0. I'm sure I must have read a thread on the BA forum about an ex-DUB sale in J (Club World) to Hawaii. So after some to-ing and fro-ing, I bit the bullet and booked my trip. I managed to get a cheapish Aer Lingus flight (£100) from Aberdeen to Dublin to connect down to London. I'd spend the night at a hotel at Heathrow (Holiday Inn) and fly to LAX and straight on to HNL on the Sunday morning. Now that is gonna be a long day! I was looking forward to trying out Club World in the double decker (which I hadn't been on before). I was keeping an eye out near enough daily just in case availability opened up in F to LAX but there was nothing. That was, until, the Tuesday before I left. I had dreamt that I got upgraded at the airport to 3F (which was a first class seat in my dream). I was having breakfast and remembered the dream and logged into my account and, as luck would have it, there was one seat in F sitting there. I moved probably the quickest I have ever moved and phoned the Gold line. 25,000 Avios later and I was confirmed in 2K for the LHR-LAX leg. RESULT! So fast forward 7 and a bit months and the big day has come! EI3241 (operated by Stobart Air), ABZ-DUB, EI-REI Who are Stobart Air?! Never heard of them before. Anyway, I got dropped off at the airport just after 9am. The poor lady in front of me at check in was having a 'mare. She wasn't on the passenger list even though she had a confirmed booking printed out. The check in lady said she'd have to call Aer Lingus and saw to me while she waited for them to answer. Luckily, I spotted the lady on the plane so all turned out well in the end. Currency was picked up from Travelex before I went through security. There was about a ten minute wait in the security line but it seemed to move quickly enough. https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5680/...968a5210_b.jpg https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5815/...25914a19_b.jpg The terminal wasn't too busy so I grabbed a seat, got a pint (obviously Tennents) and watched an episode of Odyssey on iPlayer. https://farm1.staticflickr.com/625/2...456cde40_b.jpg I had to laugh at some of the announcements made in the departures area. "easyJet are pleased to announce the departure of flight EZY..... to London Gatwick. At this time, we ask passengers needing extra assistance......" etc, etc. This was when the inbound plane hadn't even landed and was still about ten mins from Aberdeen. Ha! Thankfully nothing like that with my flight and I went along to Gate 2 about ten minutes after they called boarding and walked outside to the prop plane sitting waiting. https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5697/...8227f7b3_b.jpg https://farm1.staticflickr.com/767/2...c30c879b_b.jpg https://farm1.staticflickr.com/695/2...7af85c31_b.jpg I was originally sitting in 4A but the cabin crew guy asked me to move to the emergency exit which I happily did (but it turned out there was a lady next to me in the exit row anyway?!). Leg room was decent. https://farm1.staticflickr.com/703/2...f3f4b16d_b.jpg https://farm1.staticflickr.com/710/2...8d915b7e_b.jpg The flight was uneventful but seemed to take forever. I guess these turbo props don't go as fast as you think they do! We arrived in Dublin and got bussed to the terminal where I picked up my case and went through to the other terminal and checked the case in again to pick up in London. Fast track security was fast and I was headed towards the DAA lounge in no time. https://farm1.staticflickr.com/637/2...71e4bb0f_b.jpg I had given myself just over two and a half hours connection time but the flight to London turned out being delayed an hour. In between having beer and napping, the time passed pretty quickly. The lounge is not too bad. Food selection limited but the soup (chicken and veg) tasted great. https://farm1.staticflickr.com/697/2...99acb280_b.jpg Boarding was called for the BA flight to London so I left the lounge and went to the 300 something gate where there was a big scrum of people waiting to get on. |
Have subscribed to the what it going to be a very interesting TR, cannot wait, oh dear that big 30 catches up with us all at some stage in life, just enjoy the moment^:D
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Old at 30!!, I'm sure there's a few of us on here who would love to wind the clock back to 30 again :D (myself included) this looks like the mother of all TR's Stu, looking forward to it - enjoy
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Thanks for sharing. Looking forward to the rest!
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Oh my, another great report to be read. I thought that I travel quite a lot, but what did I know. I want your job that allows this constant travelling.
Don't worry! I'll 40 next spring, and I think the last 10 years have been the best of my life... |
Originally Posted by BA5E
(Post 25345810)
Have subscribed to the what it going to be a very interesting TR, cannot wait, oh dear that big 30 catches up with us all at some stage in life, just enjoy the moment^:D
Originally Posted by mike&co
(Post 25345906)
Old at 30!!, I'm sure there's a few of us on here who would love to wind the clock back to 30 again :D (myself included) this looks like the mother of all TR's Stu, looking forward to it - enjoy
Originally Posted by Schwann
(Post 25346259)
Thanks for sharing. Looking forward to the rest!
Originally Posted by teme
(Post 25346787)
Oh my, another great report to be read. I thought that I travel quite a lot, but what did I know. I want your job that allows this constant travelling.
Don't worry! I'll 40 next spring, and I think the last 10 years have been the best of my life... |
DUB-LHR, BA837, G-EUPS
This flight was pretty full and it looks like BA do well on this route. The seat next to me had this on it.... https://farm1.staticflickr.com/633/2...7617e243_b.jpg One of the crew seats at the front was broken so I had the CSD next to me for take off and landing. The usual hot towels were given out before we took off. https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5625/...7c4d3163_b.jpg Before long, we were above the clouds and making our way towards London. The flight time was announced as being just one hour but I think it turned out being less than that. https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5832/...a96dfcf7_b.jpg Afternoon tea was the Club Europe meal of choice today which was perfect for the time of day. Accompanied with some 'fizz'... https://farm1.staticflickr.com/626/2...a914e302_b.jpg https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5735/...70079574_b.jpg We dodged some bad weather on the way into London but after that, it was plain sailing into Heathrow where we approached in over Windsor. https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5717/...2cf2e2b9_b.jpg https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5832/...bea7964e_b.jpg https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5808/...b9f4cc6c_b.jpg I think we arrived at Gate 23. I was first off and made my way through a part of Terminal 5 that I had never been through before into baggage reclaim. https://farm1.staticflickr.com/565/2...c1b51b97_b.jpg My bags were off pretty quickly so I was on the Hoppa bus to the hotel in no time. I stayed at the Holiday Inn. Check-in was painless and they upgraded me to an Executive Room. There was a nice welcome gift waiting for me in the room. https://farm1.staticflickr.com/642/2...11b4b315_b.jpg https://farm1.staticflickr.com/707/2...0d9b6acc_b.jpg https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5656/...5d0a13bf_b.jpg https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5731/...f12dde0a_b.jpg https://farm1.staticflickr.com/775/2...237f7589_b.jpg I didn't do much in the evening. Had something to eat in the hotel bar along with a few glasses of wine. I got up in the morning and left the hotel on the Hoppa bus back to the airport. Terminal 5 was quite busy but I was through security in about 5 minutes and greeted with a blast of sun through the terminal windows. https://farm1.staticflickr.com/628/2...2ff1ed6c_b.jpg It was then a right turn to the special door taking you into the Concorde Room. https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5661/...c7e65c68_b.jpg I found a seat on the terrace and ordered a coffee. https://farm1.staticflickr.com/591/2...ff737d3f_b.jpg https://farm1.staticflickr.com/737/2...a4a31ce1_b.jpg https://farm1.staticflickr.com/642/2...1ce9d245_b.jpg https://farm1.staticflickr.com/619/2...7ca1d6d4_b.jpg The terrace was nice and quiet - I was the only one there. One of the staff kept coming around checking that everything was ok and offering further drinks. I happily obliged. https://farm1.staticflickr.com/596/2...81dc9a6e_b.jpg I had booked one of the treatments at the Elemis spa for 7.40am so headed over there just before that. I got the facial which was a very relaxing 15 minutes. https://farm1.staticflickr.com/644/2...4a9d8273_b.jpg After picking up a bottle of whisky in duty free, I headed back to the CCR where I went to the restaurant and had some breakfast. The place was, not to put so fine a word on it, a dump. There was dirty dishes lying at nearly every table and the staff decided to use the spare seat at my table as a dumping ground for their trays and cleaning materials. Not exactly first class.... https://farm1.staticflickr.com/578/2...aee37cb4_b.jpg https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5715/...451db6f8_b.jpg https://farm1.staticflickr.com/571/2...9b6a0f69_b.jpg Breakfast was nice enough, though. https://farm1.staticflickr.com/773/2...c55f1d66_b.jpg After I finished, it was about time to head over to the C gates. I took the walkway and got across there in just around 10 minutes where boarding for the flight to LAX had just started. https://farm1.staticflickr.com/771/2...22f6917a_b.jpg https://farm1.staticflickr.com/621/2...68f9dbc6_b.jpg |
Sounds like a good start to an epic trip. On the DUB-LHR leg, what was the castle you took a picture of?
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Originally Posted by HawaiiTrvlr
(Post 25352519)
Sounds like a good start to an epic trip. On the DUB-LHR leg, what was the castle you took a picture of?
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Originally Posted by stu1985
(Post 25353256)
Hi HawaiiTrvlr - thanks for reading! That's Windsor Castle - where the Queen and Royal Family sometimes stay!
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Looking forward to the rest of this epic trip. I am turning 30 next week and just the thought of it is freaking me out. Maybe I should have planned an epic trip like this too.
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Hey stu1985,
What a trip to mark your 30th! Would love to do something similar next year myself to mark the occasion. Subscribed to the thread and very much looking forward to the next update |
Spooky, I just logged on to see if you were ok - knowing there were weather warnings before you left! Looking forward to the rest eagerly! BUT, jam on top of cream? Stu, please!
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Originally Posted by avneeshj
(Post 25354803)
Looking forward to the rest of this epic trip. I am turning 30 next week and just the thought of it is freaking me out. Maybe I should have planned an epic trip like this too.
Originally Posted by run44
(Post 25354809)
Hey stu1985,
What a trip to mark your 30th! Would love to do something similar next year myself to mark the occasion. Subscribed to the thread and very much looking forward to the next update
Originally Posted by JamieABZ
(Post 25355414)
Spooky, I just logged on to see if you were ok - knowing there were weather warnings before you left! Looking forward to the rest eagerly! BUT, jam on top of cream? Stu, please!
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Originally Posted by JamieABZ
(Post 25355414)
Spooky, I just logged on to see if you were ok - knowing there were weather warnings before you left! Looking forward to the rest eagerly! BUT, jam on top of cream? Stu, please!
If you are ever on one of my flights, you will NOT be offered a scone till you have signed to say that you will abide by the CORRECT way of applying the jam and cream… CREAM and THEN jam… Absolute sacrilege any other way… ;) |
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