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Bucharest - Again!
And now for something completely different, not!
The time has come for me to return to the dentist chair for a slightly overdue checkup. This weekend wasn’t originally planned to be a trip to the dentist, but unfortunately my consultant has left the practice and therefore the originally arranged visit has had to be rescheduled to fit into this trip. To make this work, the dental visit will be on Monday morning with my consulting surgeon. I have done almost no planning for this weekend, however I have visited Bucharest so many times now that there’s not much left in the city for me to see or do that I haven’t already seen or done. I was looking at the possibility of going to visit a different town or city on Sunday but I’ve decided that a much better plan will be to explore the plethora of microbreweries within the city :D The plan of the weekend (times are local time): Saturday 10am NCL-LHR Noon T3 Lounge rampage 6pm LHR-OTP, arriving midnight Sunday Much food and Beer, the grand Bucharest brewery crawl. Hmmm, maybe that should have been the thread title! Monday 10am Dentist 3pm OTP-LHR 6pm Concorde Room 8pm LHR-NCL Yes, as dull as dishwater! Actually, so dull that now I’ve written that down I’ve no idea why I’m bothering with a trip report. Lets call it my gift to insomniacs ;) |
I’ve got a two night stag do in Bucharest in March. The best man is about useless as chocolate trousers, so I will follow with interest for some ideas I can
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I appreciate you starting this on a Friday. I can now better plan my coffee time the next couple of mornings! 🤣
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Good morning from a damp and dreary start to the day here at Newcastle airport.
The traditional shot of the BA queue which is longer than I would expect given it is only 90 minutes to departure https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...247a3e2b8.jpeg Bragging rights in full swing, there is ‘best airport in the world’ on pretty much every screen :) As you can see above, they’re not being subtle about it, that is a seriously gaudy background. The airport is looking a bit ratty this morning with multiple equipment failures. https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...0ad1b95e9.jpeg One of the two lifts https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...435be5414.jpeg Up escalator on the right hand half of arrivals to departures https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...12dcf79ca.jpeg Down escalator on the left hand half of arrivals to departures On the bright side there was absolutely nobody in fast track and decanting my iPad from the bag meant no secondary for the first time in a very long time. First stop: Aster and Thyme for the Priority Pass glass of bubbles to start off the day. https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...7716047fc.jpeg |
Having enjoyed the glass of fizz in Aster and Thyme it was time to head to the Aspire lounge, and no surprise for anyone here
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...23238ad22.jpeg https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...eef91cd4d.jpeg https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...4b30289e8.jpeg When I returned to the table with my sausage bounty KARFA was there and waiting :) During our conversation he mentioned that he was no fan of the mini stotties as they fell apart. I said that had never been an issue for me and I’m sure you know what comes next! The stottie self destructed into a crumbly bready mess! He jinxed me :D |
By the time I reached gate A10 boarding was in full swing. Looking across from the plane A3 is still cordoned off.
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...4936091f5.jpeg G-EUOE is our plane for today and another new one for me. https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...661a221dd.jpeg https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...c857e490c.jpeg https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...526964227.jpeg Sat atop 1B to avoid the boarding battering and menus have been distributed https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...5bb564f2f.jpeg https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...902f26f96.jpeg I’m very disappointed to find that we are outside breakfast time and so no delicious kosher bun for me. |
Flew into Newcastle last night and I think we were on gate 7; never seen this before, what’s going on?
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Should you stay longer than a day in OTP, I would recommend day travel to Brasov to see Dracula's castle....
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The pilots announcement that we would be on our way shortly as there were a couple of bags left to load was a tiny white lie as I had just the moment before heard that they needed to offload a bag, presumably due to a missing passenger. It didn’t take them too long to track down the wayward bag and we were on our way and off the ground just 12 minutes late.
The crew were quick off the blocks with service. The IFL had already asked myself and @KARFA, who is in 1A this morning, if it was OK to unwrap our Kosher special meals. He did something I had not seen before, he left the menu label on the tray so we could see what the meal was. https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...11becca73.jpeg https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...2fb09a2dd.jpeg https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...0b5b45ee4.jpeg The salt beef with honey mustard dip was very pleasant, the Rhubarb pot returned to the galley untouched, it’s without doubt my least favourite dessert from Hermolis. All accompanied by the standard trio, of course. With supposedly thirty minutes to go we had an early pilots announcement that we were ten minutes from starting our descent as we had been slowed down by London. Makes a change from ATC restrictions on departure I guess. The remainder of the flight passed uneventfully and we were on the ground in Heathrow by 11:30, fifteen minutes after the pilots estimate, and are currently taxiing to the A gates. Next stop for me is T5 landside and the Photo Booth , as I need to get a headshot for the companies web site, and they want one with me wearing a jacket :( |
Originally Posted by Arcadio
(Post 36608064)
Should you stay longer than a day in OTP, I would recommend day travel to Brasov to see Dracula's castle....
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Originally Posted by Nimrod1965
(Post 36608001)
Flew into Newcastle last night and I think we were on gate 7; never seen this before, what’s going on?
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T3 security is a complete disaster today, this is the end of the fast track line!
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...10f575be5.jpeg I’ve never seen anything like it. Staff I have spoken to so far have no idea what is going on or why it’s a complete mess There are staff scurrying around with trollies loaded with tensa barriers and this the another chunk of standard security queue https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...951b57f53.jpeg https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...d7b8a6653.jpeg |
All I can think of is that there were a lot of delays and cancellations at Heathrow yesterday as it was thick fog until around 11ish, maybe still suffering from that? Luckily for me, my 1830 NCL wasn’t one of the cancellations and although slightly delayed, wasn’t bad
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Somewhere between 45 minutes and 1 hour later and I’ve finally cleared the absolutely steaming hot security area and first stop of the day is The BA first lounge and First Dining
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...a596aec76.jpeg https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...9e3b6b223.jpeg https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...eb92d1769.jpeg Different invite today, much larger. First time I’ve seen these, up until now it has been small cards. Apparently these are the proper invites that have been out of stock for some time. The Dining Room is busier than I’ve known it, at least half the tables occupied, so no roaming photos around the space on this visit. I’ll almost certainly be back later. |
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