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A Merry Malaga Christmas
Merry Christmas one and all!
Welcome to my 32nd and last trip report of 2024! Every year at Christmas I’ll do my best to get out of the house and, with the exception of lockdown, I’ve managed to be elsewhere for most of the last 10 years. The original plan for this year was to head to Austin, Texas for a few days. I booked the Austin trip around 9 months ago and changed circumstances at work meant that the extended Christmas break was proving a bit of a stretch. A few months ago BA cancelled all bar one of the flights from Newcastle for Christmas Day which broke my itinerary and offered up the opportunity for me to cancel the booking and book this shorter trip to Malaga instead. Austin is definitely on the cards for 2025, I’m just waiting until I earn some more GUFs before booking. I’ll be working this morning and then heading out to the airport around lunchtime for the late afternoon flight to London. On Christmas Day I will be flying out to Malaga first thing in the morning. A day and a half in Malaga and then return to Newcastle on the 27th. As this will be my third trip to Malaga this year I have very little planned beyond wandering around, kicking back, and drinking beer! The only organised or pre-booked activity that I have planned is that same food tour that I booked on my previous two trips, I guess I’m setting a personal tradition for Malaga visits. Next Stop: Newcastle Airport early this afternoon. |
I see you're sleeping well again. 3:38am :D
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Happy Christmas to you sir, and thanks for all the trip reports this year!🎅🎅
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Newcastle airport is incredibly quiet, there’s hardly anyone anywhere! Even the BA checkin had a tiny queue
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...fb18e6359.jpeg It is so quiet that I went from curb to bar in under 5 minutes! And no secondary stop for the iPad for the second trip in a row, seems like they may have updated the programming, one can hope. First stop is aster and thyme for the now obligatory glass of Castelnau. There are exactly 4 customers in the entire place https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...b9ea61a45.jpeg The airfield is equally quiet. https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...968a0dde5.jpeg Looking on expert flyer and the plane is maybe one third full, maybe even less. |
On to the Aspire lounge. It’s actually fairly well populated in the Luxe side of the lounge which may account for the fact that the hot offering are well picked through and have seen better days! I’ve not eaten anything today so a fairly comprehensive grazing board for me.
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...e8769b592.jpeg with an hour and a half to boarding it’s now time to see how much of the stock of Madri I can make disappear :D |
Todays sweet bird of freedom is G-EUUZ, which I’ve been onboard twice before, once early in 2024 and the second time in late 2023 to OTP.
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...93b7db52e.jpeg there are a total of 47 people on board and boarding is complete with the doors shut and there is still 17 minutes to scheduled departure, pretty impressive! The standard captains announcement thanking everyone for being on board in good order, and then the follow on ’Heathrow don’t like us to turn up too early so we’ll probably sit on the stand for another ten minutes’. Next Stop: Heathrow at around 6 pm |
Originally Posted by JapesUK
(Post 36758914)
The original plan for this year was to head to Austin, Texas for a few days
I'm heading to LAS on 26th. It will be a WT+ trip. No C or F this time. Was way to expensive. At least I can enjoy the first class lounges at T3 because I'm flying with AA from T3 to DFW. |
Originally Posted by BMarkus
(Post 36759906)
Sad that you had to change your trip. Anyway I hope you are enjoying Malaga.
I'm heading to LAS on 26th. It will be a WT+ trip. No C or F this time. Was way to expensive. At least I can enjoy the first class lounges at T3 because I'm flying with AA from T3 to DFW. |
We were off the ground pretty much exactly on time and it has been a quick and easy trip down to London.
I’d ordered the Gluten free meal for variety rather than medical reasons and the two prawns were absolutely delicious however everything else returned from whence it had come https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...b49a102d8.jpeg A large baileys with coffee to wash down the meal, and a large JW to keep me company for the remainder of the flight https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...71731966e.jpeg https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...cda543d99.jpeg The crew were really nice but, as often happens with an exceptionally small cabin, the service suffered because they had nothing to do so they hid behind the curtain and gossiped. At the gate in Heathrow at exactly 6pm, time to find the best route to the hotel. |
I’m surprised how quiet your flight out of Newcastle was; I wonder if it’s similar ex LHR today?
Got me intrigued to see how the airport lounge and flight loads look tomorrow. Hoping your good luck continues (the lack of a secondary security scan is a signal!) into the rest of your trip. Merry Christmas! |
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...8afc23d26b.jpg
This was on the windowsill behind me at the Saddle Bar. Merry Christmas 🎅! |
Originally Posted by JapesUK
(Post 36759979)
Enjoy those T3 lounges, I’m sure I don’t need to tell you to visit the Cathay lounge :).
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Quite a wait for the 423 bus but it gave me time to be Good Samaritan and tour guide to five separate people all wondering if they were at the right stop or how to get to their hotels. 423 turned up eventually and I’ve returned to the Leonardo hotel again. Tonight there is no goodies or upgrade, just the bog standard room I actually booked, how dare they :D
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...88836e20b.jpeg The hotel itself is not really getting into the xmas spirit, very muted. https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...4c4765ba9.jpeg As was commented upon upthread by alex67500 , I’ve been awake since a little after 3am and so I am going to commit the cardinal sin and eat in the hotel restaurant before getting an early night! Let’s see how the food is here at the Leonardo. |
You knew better than to eat in the hotel restaurant. I knew better than to eat in the hotel restaurant! You knew I knew better than to eat in the hotel restaurant!!
Chicken katsu curry was the dish of the day. The rice was fine, the chicken was well cooked and nice and crispy of the outside, the sauce… oh, the sauce…. Anyone remember these? https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...b381e0d3e.jpeg I have not thought about these for forty years! One mouthful of the curry and it was an instant flashback to these diabolical boil in the bag curries! https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...3aa2cd228.jpeg The menus for anyone brave, or daft, enough to want to experience it for themselves! https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...01cc4d2c0.jpeg https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...b83b16349.jpeg And the bill. https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...99b9c3788.jpeg |
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