Bollocks. I must have been there but 15 minutes ahead of you... Serves me right for not keeping up

I left it right quick for the calm oasis of Privium, you could go upstairs for Aspire I guess.

That’s poor timing

We shall keep the mystery up until London in the summer

Down to the gate for 20:30 and literally one minute before boarding commenced. The bins over row 1 are used for emergency equipment so I foresee more business class grumbling at the lack of space…. Maybe, or I may just be the only one in the front of the bus as nobody else has appeared yet.

Another cheerful crew, surprising so given they just did an overnight in Manchester




Boarding is in full flow now, lots of announcements about putting bags under seats etc, a surprise give that this is fitted with XL bins.

Twenty minutes to scheduled departure so every chance that we will be going out on time.. did I just jinx it?

Next Stop: Otopeni in, maybe, three hours time

Absolutely hilarious listening to boarding this evening. Anyone who has more than one bag gets told ‘one bag in the overhead bin, everything else under the seat’ . I don’t think I’ve heard exactly the same response twice but generally it’s yes, or OK or similar.

One guy just came on board with three bags, received the same instructions, and responded “I try” he received a very yoda “don’t try, do” which left me chuckling.

20:52 and the throngs have reduced to a laggardly dribble of passengers but no sign of the dispatcher yet. Captain is off the flight deck and watching the parade.

20:55 and the doors are closed and the captain is making his announcement from the aisle, not seen this for a long time.

A smooth flight expected, a 2:25 flight time, but probably 15 minutes to wait for push back before a short taxi to the runway, so adding all that up, hopefully an on time arrival.

And the purser has offered a drink whilst we wait, coffee and a biscuit works for me

The captain was absolutely on the nose with his timings, the instruction to arm the doors came at 21:10 and we were pushing back immediately thereafter. The safety demonstration started straight away and threw me as it always does when there is no life jacket bit. And then the promised short taxi and off the ground at 21:20

Drinks and a bag of the delicious cheese puffs were offered as soon as the seatbelt light was off and I decided to roll with the wine for the first part of the flight. I find the Pinot Grigio perfectly potable.




A little later the wanderbox arrived and it was the falafel again so I basically extracted the Macarons for later and the rest went back. More wine accompanied the box, just to keep me hydrated, you understand






I think I have captured this before but I’m not 100% sure. This is why the KLM boxed meal is known as a wanderbox




Having enjoyed my wine it was time to switch to a coffee and a whisky or two to take me through to landing. All chilled out and settled for the remainder of my trip, imagine my surprise when the captain appeared in the cabin and has spent the last twenty minutes having a chat, that’s another first, I like how this guy rolls!

With about a half an hour to go I wandered into the galley to get a coffee and a baileys or two to see me through to landing and I ended up having a fabulous chat with the younger crew member who was fairly new to KLM. She was telling me that it had always been an ambition to be KLM crew as her parents had been. An ex beautician who’d changed careers because she just wanted to fly and a lovely young lady who is clearly loving her job.

Not long after we had the Pilots announcement at 23:20 that we were twenty minutes from landing, would be landing exactly on time, and that the current temperature in Bucharest was -10 Celsius!! Brrrrrrr!

Landing was on time and the captain managed to hit every single light in the runway! THUMP, THUMP, THUMP, the entire way along the runway. Once we pulled up at the gate the pursers announcement of “ladies and gentlemen, as you may have noticed, we have now arrived at Bucharest” had me in stitches

Great crew, I need to find out if KLM have some sort of recognition scheme similar to BAs golden tickets.

Walking the entire length of the airport I emerged at the leading edge of departures and immediately had a coughing fit due to how cold and dry it is! -10 is not fun!

I’ve just arrived at the hotel at 01:10 and it is straight to bed and, maybe, 6 hours sleep before I need to head out to my appointment

See you in the morning

Hoping the dentist goes ok today

Thanks!

Good morning from Bucharest where it is still pretty chilly



I was on autopilot last night and forgot to post the room pictures





I’ve about an hour or so before I need to head to the surgery so it’s time to get ready to face the day, I’ve not even unpacked yet, just nose-dived into bed as soon as I reached the room

Well, this is fun, absolute gridlock on the way into Bucharest this morning



I’m feeling a White Rabbit moment approaching

Best of luck for the dentist!

That KLM catering looks consistently atrocious

Made it! Exactly on time!

Shouldn’t have bothered, the dentist that I saw last week (not my usual consultant) forgot to book this weeks appointment

I’ve just had a quick 5 minutes in the chair and the periodontist is going to fit me in at 11am for an hour to try a less intrusive procedure. Frankly I’m more than happy because I never thought about sedation for this visit so if I do have to come back for a more intrusive procedure I can line that up.

For now, it’s Starbucks time, as I’ve not had time for a coffee yet!

Thanks!

Yes, you definitely do not fly SH KLM business for the food, that’s for sure!

I'd be livid.