East Midlands to Brussels with BMI

The report of the first of my holiday flights.

We left Scarborough for Derby on 31st August, and endured a dreadful company called East Midlands Trains, who were running a replacement bus service from Sheffield to Derby. There was little or no information provided about the buses, the rail company staff seemed more interested in standing talking to each other than doing something about the increasing number of queue jumpers or providing clear information about where the buses were going.

We eventually got to Derby on the bus and spent the night in a pleasant hotel close to the railway station.

On 1st September we caught the bus from Derby station to East Midlands Airport, a pleasant ride through rural areas (Castle Donington is particularly pretty) which costs £3 per adult for the single journey.

As we waited in the check in area, an annoucement came over the PA system that a Spitfire would be taking off, and so I went outside to one of the bus stops to catch the warbird on video. It was too distant to take a photo.

Our flight was BD235, flown by BMI Regional, scheduled departure time 14:20. After checking in, and being given seats 18D and 18F, we made our way into the dearture lounge and bought some sandwiches from Boots, as we had no intention of facing BMI’s weird offerings!

It is easy to photograph planes at EMA, as everything is on one level.

EasyJet Airbus. I think it was going to Spain.

First Choice – one of the holiday airlines.

Ryanair.

Thomsonfly.

Our flight was to be operated by ERJ145 G-RJXB.

G-RJXB waits at boarding gate four.

Our boarding call was made at 14:05, and the sparse collection of passengers were boarded very quickly.

The crew consisted of two stewardesses – Zoe and Marcia – and the captain was John Russell.

We were on the back row of the aircraft and we could see the engine.

The view from my seat.

Before we pushed back a newspaper was handed out. At 14:21 we were pushed back and we taxied to runway 27, whilst the safety demonstration took place.

The inflight magazine.

The pilot announced that the flight would take around one hour and that it would possibly be raining when we landed in Brussels.

We took off at 14:28 and climbed through some cloud, which was slightly turbulent.

Just after take off.

The view of the engine.

The snacks were offered, but we did not tackle a sandwich, and instead I had Worcester Sauce flavoured pretzels and orange juice to drink.