On 17th November, we had our last flight of the year when we returned to Manchester from Brussels. We were staying in the Eurostars Royal Embassy Grand Place Hotel, which was a very nice hotel and one which we would go to again. The only problem was the taxi – we asked the receptionist to get us a taxi, he told us there were only two taxis available, and people were in front of us so we would have to wait 20-30 minutes. We waited, and the only taxi which came took someone who had only been waiting for five minutes, so my Mum went to complain. Eventually we got sick of waiting for the taxi, and instead walked to Centraal station. This **** up with taxis is something we would expect in Paris.
Centraal is an underground hole, and the most dismal of the main Brussels stations. Shortly before our train arrived, an Oostende train pulled in at the next platform, and how I envied the people going on that train, the service we would have been catching to go to Brugge 🙁 After a short wait, the familiar yellow triangle of the front of the sh*tty thing came into view, and we managed to get in the carriage with the better seats and armrests. This ride was better than the one of two days before, as this time we could see more through the windows, and I managed a glimpse of my most beloved city landmark looking splendid in its new shiny coat. After leaving Zaventem, the train headed underground for the final run in to the airport.
We checked in for flight SN2177, and were given seats 10A and 10C. Boarding would be gate B29, something I like about Brussels is the boarding gate number on the card so you have a better idea where to go. We headed upstairs to the eating area.
Close to the seating area, we saw an abandoned suitcase. This did not look good, so we avoided it, and told a passing policeman, who said that it would be long to one of the homeless people sleeping in the airport, and it was not a problem!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How did he know that it did not contain something explosive??!!?? Very bad security, Brussels Airport loses points for that one 😡 We had dinner in Brussels Cafe – sausages on bread for me (very good) and ham on bread for my Mum. We had genuine Stella to drink.
After dinner we went into the departure lounge. At this point, I was very pleased to see (and bag) my first-ever Etihad A330 on the stop over to Toronto from Abu Dhabi.
BA Airbus passing Etihad A330.
We had quite a bit of handluggage, including two bags of beer and a soft toy cat we bought in the shop in the departures area.
The toy cat in the BRU departure lounge.
Had they changed our airline at the last minute? 😆
That’s better!
By: Comet - 25th November 2005 at 13:13
Thanks for the comments everyone. It’s nice to get the location of the river and island, I thought it may have been in the south east but my Mum wasn’t sure. That’s why the Airshow display is always good to see then you know exactly where you are 😀
Little G-EMBK has been around on all our flights of the year, in March it was flying to AMS from MAN, in September it was parked next to us at BHX and last week we saw it leaving from MAN. I had never seen that plane until March 2004, most of the fancy ones at MAN seem to be the Dashs. I will be sorry when that plane loses its tartan tail.
By: LBARULES - 24th November 2005 at 20:20
Excellent report Louise, I have seen G-EMBK parked up at LBA for about 3 days this week!
By: Manston Airport - 24th November 2005 at 19:14
The snack on board consisted of a cherry tart with a carton of water. The tart was one of the pleasantest snacks I have had on SNBA.
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Unknown river.I was sad to see the end of our Belgian flights for 2005. See you again in 2006 SNBA!
That’s the isle of sheppy and river swale. my home town sittingbourne is in that picture and nice report there Louise and great Picture’s aswel.
James
Fokker Fan
By: G-CDFF - 24th November 2005 at 18:56
Yet another excellent report and brilliant pictures Louise! I really enjoy reading your reports! 😀
By: Comet - 24th November 2005 at 18:46
The snack on board consisted of a cherry tart with a carton of water. The tart was one of the pleasantest snacks I have had on SNBA.
The nice snack, rounded off with two Neuhaus chocolates!
We encountered some slight turbulence higher up, but nothing too bad. One thing which was noticed was the lack of magazine distribution on the flight.
Eventually we sighted England and began our descent.
Unknown river.
Approaching MAN. It was clear and sunny at this point of the flight.
At 15:13, the gear lowered, and at 15:15 we landed in Manchester after a very pleasant flight.
Touchdown in MAN and a BA Airbus.
The Airbus again.
A Lufthansa Regional CRJ.
Also, we saw our old friend from our other Belgain trips of 2005 as it was about to depart somewhere!
Little Tartan Tail (officially G-EMBK) about to leave. This is my favourite BA aircraft of them all.
I was sad to see the end of our Belgian flights for 2005. See you again in 2006 SNBA!
By: Comet - 24th November 2005 at 18:45
We flew towards the Atomium, and had some good views as we climbed away.
Shortly, we climbed into thicker cloud and out of sight of land.
Clouds along the way.
By: Comet - 24th November 2005 at 18:44
Our flight was to be operated by our old friend (?) OO-DJG, a BAe 146. This was my third flight in this aircraft, my least favourite of the lot.
OO-DJG is just visible at gate B29.
At 14:42 we were called to board. By this time it was raining. We entered the aircraft and were greeted by an unpleasant aroma resembling the inside of a used sick bag. It was disgusting! I have never been on an aircraft which smelled so bad.
We settled into our seats. There were two stewardesses on board (why, SNBA, don’t we have stewards on our flights any more?) Again I had my favoured back engine view, and this time we were able to put our coats into the overhead bins.
The engines.
Inside the airborne stink bomb.
There were several spare seats on the plane, so my Mum moved across to seat 10F and I stayed in my own seat. The bag of beers ended up being placed in seat 10C and secured with the seat belt.
The beers in their own seat.
At 15:02 we were pushed back and taxied to 25R. We were told that the flight time was expected to be one hour and 10 minutes. Two aircraft were taking off in front of us.
At 15:10, we took off and climbed through thin cloud.
Just after take off.
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November 24, 2005 at 6:41 pm