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Quite enjoying this as I do all of your reports, JapesUK!
Fascinating museum.... now I'm reading a bit on the Bristol Type 173 Helicopter... quite a lanky thing.. perhaps like a grasshopper you'd want to swat. I've seen a military variant before... looks like this original civil version had some difficulties not crashing. I go off on an adventure (in the US) nearly every weekend. And take tons of photos. Maybe I'll write a few trip reports. It's been probably 15 years since I posted one here. Not to say some of your travels are benign, but I enjoy that... I think even the briefest trip by the most pedestrian flight can be fascinating. My coworkers and my flexologist (who I see every Monday usually after I've been away, for a good stretch) tell me that I take a plane like many would take a bus or an Uber. Looking forward to the rest of this! |
Thanks JAXPax and I would love to read of your adventures, no matter how benign.
I don’t think I have recounted the how and why of why I started writing trip reports. It stemmed from a conversation in some random thread where I said something akin to “although I enjoy all the aspirational trip reports, I would like to see more pedestrian ‘lounge and flight’ type reports” As VorelNaCestach can confirm, it can take me a while to process something, and in this case it took me a day or two to process the fact that I was flying the exact ‘lounge and flight’ type trips that I wanted to see more reports on. This spurred me to , as they say, eat my own dog food, and I found that I thoroughly enjoyed it. The rest is history. One of the funniest parts of the DO was the almost cathartic ability to tell others of your plans and schemes and ridiculous routings and the listeners considered it completely reasonable whereas anyone outside the community would consider it all sheerest lunacy. I heard the comment from a number of attendees that friends and family though them to be mad. |
I have finally made it back to the Moxy six and a half hours after I left this morning. We have had a real random wander across Bristol, and the watch is telling me we walked well over 20,000 steps which seems high but maybe it’s right, and maybe it is awarding a bonus for my nearly exploding my heart - more on that later!
My flight is not until 8pm so the plan for the next hour or so is to sit here rehydrating and catching up with the report. There was hardly any opportunity to keep the report live, and when we did stop I was having too good a time to do an update :) https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...206b69ad6.jpeg |
After breakfast we decided to start the wanders at the Suspension Bridge and work our way back to the city center. We very wisely chose to Uber out to the bridge avoiding the significant uphill climb.
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...714251ac4.jpeg https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...999f21a24.jpeg https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...1d829f399.jpeg https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...d40c01d81.jpeg https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...0d2c4ad39.jpeg https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...a31e2735f.jpeg Vorel was having great fun trying to replicate the iconic Concorde photo using a fridge magnet bought at the museum yesterday. https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...5e720f081.jpeg https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...39485f6e2.jpeg We were dropped off on the city side and walked across to the visitors centre. The staff here were incredibly friendly. The centre is pretty small but has some fun interactive displays. I can tell you that the bridge could withstand the weight of 740 Japes and many, many more Vorels :D https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...20e5f0d0e.jpeg https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...ca104fa4e.jpeg |
Crossing the bridge again back to the city side we espied an interesting looking building atop a nearby hill.
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...c010c6d36.jpeg This is the observatory and I highly recommend a visit. https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...e72b17e21.jpeg https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...a0d1d0a99.jpeg At the top of the observatory is a camera Obscura and this was fantastic, albeit that the little room was very warm once we closed the doors. https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...1e40016b5.jpeg There is also a cave underneath however the warning of the number of dodgy steps persuaded us that maybe we’d give it a pass :D https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...ca3df1fef.jpeg https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...5d7accd42.jpeg |
In the Uber on the way to the bridge Vorel had spotted a residential crescent similar to the famous crescent in bath and so our next adventure was to find it on the way back down. A little memory, a little luck, and we landed almost on top of it.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...f86dc295c.jpeg https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...1d18850d0.jpeg https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...8bd99b2c7.jpeg After this we decided that no visit to Bristol would be complete without at least setting eyes on the SS Great Britain and so we headed to the waterfront. https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...6a1d30cf6.jpeg https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...3903cdec2.jpeg At this point it is worth mentioning that it’s been a beautiful day in Bristol but by now we had been wandering for quite some time. Neither of us had an overwhelming desire to visit the ship and so we continued along the waterfront in search of hydration. |
Brown and Byes was a few minutes stroll along the waterfront.
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...2612a5b3c.jpeg https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...0c87324ad.jpeg https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...8de111ccf.jpeg https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...b320a6938.jpeg I chose a Peroni and a flat white, Vorel went for an elderflower presse and a Prosecco royale. We initially planned to sit in the sun but in the end the shade was much more appealing. https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...acf37fe20.jpeg |
At this point there was only one building we really wanted to return to, the museum of art, and a quick google showed that it was on the far side of Brandon hill so straight line over the top seemed obvious. Nope, stupid idea :D
On the way to the tower we passed by the rather impressive cathedral. https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...f15f3a046.jpeg https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...9de0f3180.jpeg By the time we were three quarters of the way up I was puffing like a knackered cart horse and perspiring heavily. Beside me Vorel was skipping up the hill like a spring lamb! A small pause and sit down to let the heart rate settle, and off we went to the top. https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...dc582a903.jpeg walking around the crown of the hill we made our way to our last target, the museum https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...e8d1af1d4.jpeg |
I have just followed the link to this JapesUK , it’s a superb trip report , thank you ever so much . It was great to meet you .
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Recovering my baggage from the locker at the moxy I ordered an Uber which set a new Bristol record by arriving in under a minute. From Uber arrival to reaching the Bristol lounge was exactly an hour and that was split almost perfectly 50/50 in travel time
and airport navigation. The cab dropped me off at the dedicated drop off point and from there it is a very short stroll through a covered tunnel to reach the terminal building. There are signs everywhere detailing the drop off charges https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...35a88f855.jpeg Entering the terminal building, arrivals is to the right, checkin to the left, and departures on the first floor. There was a significant queue at the easyJet desks but as I am travelling with hand baggage only I headed straight to departures https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...4f3d6efc2.jpeg https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...581fe2060.jpeg https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...15200c98a.jpeg https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...35a645ce8.jpeg https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...ed271bd00.jpeg Clearing security took around ten minutes and that was with no fast track and included a secondary screening for the obligatory iPad swab. Once past security there is the standard duty free shopping run before you arrive into the terminal. I was surprised at how large the terminal is, at how busy, and at how claustrophobic the first floor feels with the low ceilings and even lower support members. After a long march in what felt the entire length of the building, I eventually arrived at the aspire lounge an hour after leaving the moxy. https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...d48c760b5.jpeg https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...506b7d438.jpeg https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...844aceea9.jpeg https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...fc1b25c10.jpeg https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...d6b241cdd.jpeg https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...2f9bfd7e7.jpeg https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...5c5e41a62.jpeg https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...f5aaef139.jpeg https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...da1931fcd.jpeg https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...6487c6748.jpeg https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...440d2c6e5.jpeg |
Originally Posted by simonsmith
(Post 36412024)
I have just followed the link to this JapesUK , it’s a superb trip report , thank you ever so much . It was great to meet you .
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And finally, into the lounge. It was very busy but there was a high seat available so I took up my pew and enjoyed a cruzcampo and a sampling of the buffet
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...df69d8b84.jpeg https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...1ff4427c6.jpeg https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...5d34e93bb.jpeg https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...d5f9e77ae.jpeg https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...df8579511.jpeg https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...0f1f4c7a5.jpeg https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...551df0a06.jpeg https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...f7555c77c.jpeg https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...8ffebbc36.jpeg I have to say that all of the staff in the lounge that I dealt with were great, it was like being in Newcastle. At that finally catches me up to date. The bar in the lounge closed at 19:00 and the lounge itself closed at 19:30 which is in a couple of minutes time. |
I was asked by someone at the DO as to how long these reports take to write and all I could answer was “a long time”. Today I can be a bit more exact. I wrote the breakfast update whilst we were sat at the table. All the subsequent updates have been written since I arrived at the moxy and they have taken two and a half hours of almost constant effort. A lot of that time is waiting for photos to upload as FT seems particularly slow for this.
That huge amount of time taken is why it is really difficult to keep up when with someone else, I’d have to spend almost all the time with my head in the phone rather than enjoying the company of others. |
Thanks for the report, an enjoyable read as always.
For your (or anyone else's) next departure from BRS, take the stairs or lift next to inmotion (visible in one of your photos) upstairs. This enables a dramatically shorter and less congested route to the lounge compared to the signposted route up the escalators at the far end of the terminal. |
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