I mentioned earlier that I might be meeting a fellow flyertalk member and it has been my absolute pleasure to briefly meet TPRun and say hi. Hopefully get the chance to share a few beverages at some point in the future.

I left my luggage in the luggage store when I went for the wander around the terminal which was a quite strange feeling, more than once I looked for my bags. Once my brain got used to the idea they were elsewhere it was quite freeing to be able to scoot around unencumbered, Just been back to the store and collected them before I completely forget them!

I have had the flyertalk tag on display all morning and in a lounge full of BA golds I wondered if anyone would say anything but alas no. Maybe I come across as unapproachable

Gate A7 this afternoon which means a stroll the whole length of the terminal and by the time I arrive they�ve already called groups 1&2. I am on the plane and seated with 25 minutes to go so it bodes well for an on time flight. It�s a standby crew that have the pleasure of a trip up to Newcastle and then an overnight before coming back on the first flight in the morning.

A grizzling child a couple of rows back seems to have been abandoned in row three whist his parents have gone on to the back of the plane!

Cabin crew have taken the stray waif to his parents and silence reigns

We were about 20 minutes late taking off and the very experienced crew knew exactly what they were doing with service being quick and efficient. I’d ordered the Muslim meal for this leg and it was very interesting. A sandwich with what appeared to be thinly sliced aubergine was not for me, a roll with a coriander something or other was very refreshing, and the large white lord knows what with a topping of seeds and chilli was very good, and hot. Did I say that it was spicy, very SPICY! Thoroughly enjoyed it.



And the standard afternoon tea menu




No sooner had we eaten than it was 10 minutes to landing and we were home, quickly off and through the airport, uber ordered and he was already outside, and now home at 5pm, 16 hours after I woke up in Bucharest. A long but fun day and I get to do it all again next week. Two down, two to go.

Great to meet you, fellow TP Runner / Trip Reporter! I did notice the coffee certainly something stronger next time - if you�re not waking up at 2am!

Great reports! Looking forward to the next lot.

Thanks for bringing back some great memories- I was in Bucharest as well, from 14-17 October, staying at the slightly less upscale Park Inn section of the Radisson. We had NATO guys all over at breakfast, in for some training exercises. They'd been in Sighisoara, our previous destination, too.

I envy you those meals. I was with a tour group (Overseas Adventure Travel) that usually does a good job with restaurants (had some amazing farm-to-table meals in Albania and excellent restaurants in Croatia last year) but what we got though Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania were predictable combinations of meat, bread, cheese and potatoes with little effort to season them. I try to exercise moderation with all of those foods.

Good luck with the implants. I may be in line for my 8th individual implant- a crown popped off and the dentist needs to see if what's under it can be saved. I joke that I'm slowly replacing all my teeth on the installment plan.

And congratulations to JapesUK on getting this TR featured in the FT email

Err, thanks, but� what FT Mail? Should I be blushing?

TalkMail. I think it gets sent out weekly or something.

Just curious how compatible 5 hours in the dentist chair and a 4 course meal are. I can't see myself enjoy any food after 5 hours of what I imagine nothing short of torture to my mouth.

Hmm. I thought it was discontinued, never received any since November `22.

Hi drminn. When all of the initial surgeries were being done and I was constantly healing from one after the other, absolutely not at all compatible with solid food of any sort. My diet for the first few months of this journey comprised exclusively of yoghurt, soup, porridge, and chopped up soft noodles and had the side effect of my losing all the lockdown weight I�d gained. It is only in the last couple of months that I have been eating �normal� food at all, and even then I�ve been pretty cautious. You�ll notice there�s nothing overly sticky/chewy/hard in any of the food choices.

And we’re off. I was in Birmingham for a couple of nights on business again this week and only travelled home yesterday, arriving at around 6pm. Now about 10 hours later it’s time to hit the road once more! To recap on the plan for this weekend:

An early rescheduled departure from Newcastle due to my original scheduled flight being cancelled means I have a 10 hour! transit in LHR. Assuming we arrive on time this morning it’ll be off to the AA first lounge for pancakes before finding a comfortable spot in the BA first lounge to work for a few hours. I’ve a half day holiday booked so that around lunchtime I can embark on a lounge safari for the second half of the day. The safari will probably mostly be in the business lounges as I did a first class lounge tour on the last trip. The second flight is early evening and arrival at the hotel should be close to midnight. Saturday is going to be some, currently unknown, amount of time in the dentist chair, and then out for a meal at the iconic caru cu bere in the evening. It will be an early departure Sunday but travelling back OTP-LHR/LCY-EDI then LNER to NCL. This will be my first time ever in LCY and on City Flyer so looking forward to that.

Taxi is scheduled to arrive in 10 minutes time so as usual it’s time to finish my coffee and head off to NCL airport for the next instalment of this yo-yo trip to Bucharest.

Nearly fifteen minutes from kerb to lounge this morning, a small part of that due to the changed foot traffic flow in place due to the ongoing construction, but mostly due to me lollygagging and chatting to various staff about the construction and new scanners.

A remarkable clear and balmy morning considering the drenching the are has received of late, still some minor flooding on a couple of the roads heading to the airport this morning




The BA desks were looking pretty busy but as I am hand baggage only it was straight through to departures. The initial boarding pass check was clear however the approach to security is completely changed. There is one of the new scanners immediately to the left as you approach security. Chatting to the security guys a little later they say that it should be coming online this week so maybe next week I�ll get to see it in action.




Immediately after this there is a long temporary tunnel and all of the foot traffic converges into this




Once through the tunnel the fast path lane reappears on the left.

Easily through security and after a few minutes chat to the chaps manning the security screening I was off to the aspire lounge.

All change here too as the plus lounge is now closed for renovations. A through the keyhole type view of the plus lounge space taken through the gap in the chained up door




with an hour to kill it�s time to grab a coffee and take a look at the buffet

Traditional morning trio acquired and decided that I will pass on the breakfast this morning as I have a special meal ordered.

The lounge is remarkably quiet compared to my normal Saturday morning visits, rather pleasant overall.

As an aside, the very personable young lady on reception reminds me of someone and it has been bugging me for a couple of weeks now until the penny finally dropped. She bears a striking resemblance to the actress in the day after tomorrow, Emmy Rossum.








With twenty minutes to gate it�s time to sit back and enjoy the fizz.

Gate 3 as usual and boarding already underway with 25 minutes to departure. We are on G-TTNF today and looking at the diary it�s my first time on this particular plane. Crew are off to Zurich after this one, which reminds me that it�s somewhere I must go back to as I have only ever spent a day there when I was living in Switzerland.

Row one today and currently sat in 1B to avoid the inevitable battering if I was resident in 1C during boarding. Seat spy is showing 1A as blocked so may have the three seats to myself, in which case I�ll stay here for most of the flight.



Lovely, lovely leg room and proof that I can iron trousers when I know they�ll appear in photos

There are only four rows in front of the curtain so it should be a relatively easy run for the crew in Club Europe this morning.

Boarding complete with ten minutes to go, a good start to the weekend. Smooth flying anticipated and with the jet bridge pulling away there is every chance of an early arrival.