Florida flowers and Caribbean cruising - the trip report! THIS SECTION COMPLETED 4/12 - Page 8 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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It was interesting the the room kind of gave you the "boot" when you told it you were checking out, a little creepy too. LOL It was really nice the you did not have to walk far at all to get through security though, which is a great plus for staying there I am sure.
It is a shame that the renovations to the airport seems to have taken all the seating away and the shops that anyone can afford. Who do they think flies out of there anyway and people do need to sit down sometimes. How great though that once you had your boarding gate that you could walk right on to the plane. We have always had to wait at the gate forever. So glad your flight was half empty as well, that is always nice that you are not crammed in like sardines.
It was interesting the the room kind of gave you the "boot" when you told it you were checking out, a little creepy too. LOL
It was a bit creepy!
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It was really nice the you did not have to walk far at all to get through security though, which is a great plus for staying there I am sure.
It is a shame that the renovations to the airport seems to have taken all the seating away and the shops that anyone can afford. Who do they think flies out of there anyway and people do need to sit down sometimes.
I guess they assume we'll all be racing to get our flights and that they want to attract a more upmarket audience...
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How great though that once you had your boarding gate that you could walk right on to the plane. We have always had to wait at the gate forever. So glad your flight was half empty as well, that is always nice that you are not crammed in like sardines.
Friday 20 February – part three: straight into the air!
We settled in to wait for everyone to board, and I caught up on Facebook, posted an update on the trip report on the boards, and managed to sneak in before we had to turn the phones off, getting a ticket for tonight’s Euro Millions lottery draw, after learning that it was a crazy jackpot tonight. Fingers crossed! Here’s the view from my window as we waited to taxi…
Then we were starting to push back…
Mark was very taken with the scalloped design around the engines of the Norwegian Air plane next to us. I have to be honest, as we walked up to the gate, I was amazed by how many Norwegian Air planes we saw. They’re obviously going good business out of Gatwick right now.
We made our way towards the runway, and I was able to get some wonderful photos as we did:
Now I will say here that I think my camera is much better than the one it replaced, albeit they’re the same model (for the uninitiated, I think my current score with Sony is four cameras in less than two years as both my main and replacement camera have had to be replaced, after the originals developed faults ), but also what helped is that I think this was a new plane, and the windows were very easy to shoot through.
At one point, we could even see our hotel:
We were straight on to the runway, and immediately we were off, which really impressed me, as usually we have a wait at Gatwick. Not today!
As soon as we were up in the air, I could see why England is often referred to as “this green and pleasant land”, as taken from the song Jerusalem, which is our unofficial national anthem. Of course, God Save the Queen is our anthem, but if we’re competing as separate countries in the Commonwealth Games for example, and England wins a gold, they will always play Jerusalem.
Some we were starting to see specks of cloud that gradually built up…
…. until eventually we couldn’t see the ground any longer.
Fortunately, by now the entertainment system was on. In fairness, it had started while we’d been taxiing, but it took me a while to get to grips with it, as it was a little over sensitive, shall we say? I managed to find one film I wanted to watch, and the next I knew, it had scrolled another 10 movies along…
Both of us settled down to watch the Equalizer first, and I have to say it was a much slower paced film than I was expecting. I was expecting thrills a minute, but not a bit of it. Sure, it had some real action sequences, but a lot of it was very slow going. That doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it, it just surprised me.
Soon, we were handed out our menus to choose our lunch, and having already had two glasses of wine before take-off (with so few passengers, refills were not an issue! ), I had another glass of wine. Oh boy, how am I going to make it through the rest of the day?
Then we had a bit of an interruption. The captain had already warned us that it might be a bit bumpy due to turbulence for the first hour or so, and we did have a few moments where it was. Not only did the seatbelt signs go on, but the cabin crew were asked to sit down, and that’s when you know it’s bad. Fortunately, it was only a few minutes, and then they resumed work again.
Our seatbelt sign stayed on a lot longer, but the captain was very good, and made it clear at one point that, while he was leaving it on for our safety, if we needed to get up to use the restrooms, we could, which was good, and a huge improvement on our Dallas to Honolulu flight, where the seatbelt sign was left on for the entirety of the flight.
Everyone had the same starter, which was white radish, and mixed leaf salad – described as crunchy nutty salad leaves with the light pepper punch of white radish with a herb dressing. The taste reminded me a bit of a Japanese dish.
For entree, Mark went for the seasonal beef stew, full of fresh seasonal vegetables and juicy beef chunks (so the menu says – I disagreed, as I would as a cow lover, and I have to say, the sight of didn’t look that great… )
I had the roasted squash risotto, butternut squash roasted with sage, blended with a silky cheese risotto, and it was excellent.
Everyone again had the same desserts, and that was in the plural. The first item was cappuccino mousse, indulgent coffee and chocolate mousse on a light sponge base, and I thought it was excellent. Even Mark, who hates coffee, ate it, which I think said a lot.
The other bit of dessert was rosemary herb crackers with mild Cheddar cheese. I think Virgin have really stepped up their food offerings, if this meal was anything to go by. It was very impressive. I was just a bit disappointed that I didn’t manage to get any cheese from Mark, as he managed to eat, which given his dairy allergy, was impressive.
We were soon offered our liquors, although disappointingly they had no Bailey’s, but they had Amurula, which I thought was fairly similar.
Next: this is the first time we’ve ever experienced that!
Wow, quite beautiful shots out the window! I'm impressed with your camera!
Lunch looked good, especially the salad! When I saw it before I read the description, I wondered if it had an oriental flair!
Oh wow, I absolutely love flights that are that empty! We're usually not that lucky, mind you, but it is a rare treat when we do Premium Economy looks wonderful. How does the extra space you get compare to other airlines? I'm impressed you got food on actual plates. Whenever we've flown premium economy, we got the same food as economy (the only thing "premium" was the extra space).
I cannot believe your lunch! :face lick: It has been so long since I have gotten more than 1/2 ounce of peanuts on our US flights. 2 glasses of wine before takeoff and liquor after your yummy looking dessert. Executive decision made: we are flying Virgin when we come over for the DLP half marathon!
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Haven't flown them in years, so I'm happy to see the service is still good! Although the lack of customers helped a bit. Very nice flight thus far!
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Lunch looked delicious, but I think yours looked a lot better than Mark's (and I do eat beef. sorry) You should be able to take a nice nap if you want to, with all that wine!
You can buy lottery tickets online?! Wish we could - I never seem to make it to the store during the big jackpot drawings... given we didn't hear that you booked 10 more cruises while on board, I'm going to guess you're not a mega-millionare?
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I would so love to be on a not jam-packed flight!
Mary - not enough trips!
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How great though that once you had your boarding gate that you could walk right on to the plane. We have always had to wait at the gate forever. So glad your flight was half empty as well, that is always nice that you are not crammed in like sardines. 
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PassPorter Guide Author
Here’s the view from my window as we waited to taxi… 
), but also what helped is that I think this was a new plane, and the windows were very easy to shoot through. 
I managed to find one film I wanted to watch, and the next I knew, it had scrolled another 10 movies along… 
), I had another glass of wine. Oh boy, how am I going to make it through the rest of the day? 
) 
I was just a bit disappointed that I didn’t manage to get any cheese from Mark, as he managed to eat, which given his dairy allergy, was impressive. 
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