Arcticterntalk.org

The blog of a travelling psychiatrist and football lover. Who happens to be a halfway decent photographer. Takes a cynical view of the world

Archive for the tag “british airways”

Reflections on Norway and Lovely Free Wifi


Norway has to be one of the most civilised countries. Having been here only two days I have yet to find anyone who is anything less than polite and helpful. Anyone who serves you with food and drink has all the attitude you need and none of that surly dont care stuff either. The food is fresh and simple. Lots of nice bread, fruit and fish. Flying on Norwegian Airlines ( in Row 30 I should add economy cheap class), there was free wifi on the plane above 10,000 feet. Taxi drivers smile and are helpful. People are intelligent and interesting. Admittedly this place is not so cheap.  Something like 8£ for a hot dog at the airport, but it did come with mashed potato, relish and a decent bread roll.  In short I like this place.

Wifi if it is free at 10,000 feet and free in the airport and free in all hotels. Why Marriott hotels and others is it not free in UK? Explain to me also why all airlines cannot offer free in-flight wifi?

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London City Airport. Has the love affair ended?


LCY is a very convenient airport and in general terms functions well. I came across it by chance a few months ago and have used it as often as possible as it frankly beats travelling and experiencing the hell that is Heathrow.  That was until something went wrong.  When things run smoothly then all is well but when something goes wrong in a small airport then how does it cope. LCY is a small airport. There are no lounges and or anything luxurious. A huge open space that subdivides ino a few eating and drinking areas. Last thursday things went wrong. Having arrived early and spent 2 hours there it was a happy occurrence to then find out from the departures screen ( no announcements of this happy event) that my flight to Edinburgh was cancelled long with the last of the day. No reasons given.

At that stage one discovered that two plane loads of folks, perhaps 250 maybe more, were queuing at the ticket desk which had two people working. British Airways no doubt would have employed good souls but to be placed at the back of this queue meant that I did a quick estimation that even if each customer was sorted in 5 minutes ( new flight/complaints/hotel for the night etc), I might be there for hours and in fact very many hours.  Possibly all night even. so here is a situation that does not work in a small airport. This is a shame as I shall now think twice before using a small airport again ,  maybe the larger airports would have more staff, more flights, and a speedier resolution.

So a few photos as momentos . The queue snaked around and around and in fact like a giant conga twined itself through the 2 cafe’s in the airport.

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British Airways Build Planes with Apartments on top


The rumour is either that BA has so many delays that hotels are becoming expensive, or that increasing levels of luxury are being demanded from the expensively suited folks who travel in the various upper this, or executive that classes. Either way it came a no shock to see a BA plane with a small aprtment block built on the top for such reasons.

a splendid idea in fact.

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Reflections on The Cayman Islands. Starfish Point


The Cayman Islands have to be one of the most beautiful places in the world. Seven mile beach is just that. The downside is the cost. As I understand how things work here, no tax is paid so the government claim their money on all items sold. Hence a litany of taxes and charges are added to each and every bill. An hour in the Kirk supermarket, a lovely clean supermarket that I wish we had in UK, is sadly enough to depress one when looking at the cost of food items. Think of a UK price and then increase it between 2-4 fold.

The Island itself is full of lovely coves and beaches and snorkelling reveals hundreds of fish and other underwater paraphernalia. The hateful sea urchins live surprisingly close to the shore, maybe less than 10 yards in places. Even 20 yards from shore there are moray eel type fish living in their little holes, spitting sand at snorkelers.

Starfish Point is well worth visiting , to see guess what, Starfish. In 20 minutes we also saw a wild dolphin, sea cucumber and an odd red jellyfish. The point is accessible by car but you need to know where to go and where to park. Most visitors come by boat and spend maybe 30 minutes there whilst we spent 2 hours. A hot place and there is no shade and no facilities of any kind.  The official boat trips seem to come earlier in the day and the starfish are collected from a little way out and you can find maybe 6 easily in the shallow waters, maybe more. So, midday is not a bad time to go.

Starfish Point on Grand Cayman

Starfish Point on Grand Cayman

Starfish Point on Grand Cayman

Starfish Point on Grand Cayman

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Embraer 190 SR


A pleasure to travel on this aircraft  today from London City Airport to Glasgow. What actually struck me was that the legroom if you sat in seats 2 C and D was phenomenal. They literally were missing a row of seats. This had another benefit, that the trolley that normally wrecked havoc as it went up the aisle with passengers coming down the aisle, could be parked in there, allowing folks to skip happily into the toilet. The two rules of flying that cannot be broken are that firstly one should carry every item from the household onto the plane and secondly that all passengers must visit the toilet at least once.

What however I did not know was that the aircraft series has been in production since 2002, and 908 have been delivered. They seat between 94 and 114 . My one today seated 98 according to British Airways.

There is however a little safety information to digest according to Wikipaedia.

Dubai in the United Arab Emirates


Sometimes travelling for work has its pleasures and this is one such occasion. A routine British Airways flight was turned into a great experience by being upgraded to first class. Nice service and nice staff. Worth paying for? Definitely not. Save your money for your hotel room in Dubai. This hotel The Park Hyatt is superb. every little thing is special. The free coffee machine in the room, the two Danish Pastries left for an early morning arrival, the staff showing me how various things work in the room ( like the coffee machine). The balcony overlooks the marina and at sunset looks gorgeous. Not quite a Cayman Islands sunset but not too shabby either.

The Immigration process was not too bad either. Decent numbers of officials, quick entry and then quick exit from the airport. Terminal 5 please take notice.  Busy enough but not too chaotic, so all in all a great first impression. Some unusual birds pecking away on the lawn next the marina, bizarre colourings, have no idea what they are. Now wishing that I had brought my cameras…….

But work to do, an ADHD talk to write. Marina View from Park Hyatt Dubai Black Image Dubai Marina Marina Sunset Balcony View copy Sunset Balcony View

Dirty Pretty Wings


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Reflections on Scotland


Scotland is really not an average place. Expectations of lochs and bagpipes are millions of miles away when one lands at Edinburgh airport. The surrounding areas are industrial if one is being polite. Driving along one finds places like “Ratho” ( is that Rat Ho, or Rath hoe?), that bring one to the worst roundabout in the world. Said roundabout has more traffic lights than the whole of london and all are set perfectly so that only one car can get through. Gridlock is not a possibility but a guaranteed state of affairs.

The motorways are tedious and even though fields are around they are invariably decorated with smoke producing buildings, towers and who knows what else. In short this is not the idyllic part of Scotland as one drives to Dunblane.

In Dunblane what used to be the Dunblane Hydro is now the Doubletree by Hilton………..which is the better? Double is actually not a bad description as they see fit to advertise : “Tea for two for only 31.50£”. Which is actually also the price of breakfast for two…………so one might then see why I chose not to donate money to this institution that wanted 176£ for a room for the night.

Lastly, it is good to see that the Tramway in Edinburgh is getting nearer completion and is being built at the airport. That will be joyful!

Dunblane Hydro or Doubletree by Hilton?

Reflections of Glasgow


It has been a few months sinceI was last here and I always enjoy visiting. Coming in to land it was clear that there was no drought here. Many fields were waterlogged and rivers on the verge of flooding. The airport seemed quiet until one approached the taxi queue. Posters advised and indeed almost entranced me to use Glasgow Airport Taxis. Listings of wondrous reasons why. The sad reality was that the plane was full and around 100-150 people descended onto a taxi rank where there were no taxis. Each minute a few would arrive, take a single passenger and off they would go. Two things struck me. Firstly the sole man in charge of masterminding the entry of a person into the taxi ( would enjoy reading his job description) might well have considered for example saying ” this taxi is going to SECC, anyone up for sharing?”. My guess is that there would be relatively few places folks were heading. He did not, so each taxi departed with a solitary fee paying passenger having spent upwards of 30 minutes waiting in a queue. Secondly, the taxis were all mini buses. Most were designed to hold 7-9 people. Again these would depart with one passenger. Ludicrous. The alleged reason for the wait for an accident on the M8 ( I saw nothing of the kind) and a breakdown ( again nothing seen by me). What I suspect is poor planning. Clearly plane landings are predicted, clearly things can go wrong, but in general terms if you have a monopoly on a service you should be able to either provide that service or amend the service you do provide. Waiting for the taxi for some people was longer than the length of their flights. So I am afraid Glasgow Airport Taxis, you have failed on your commitment but I guess in your own way have provided an exceptional customer experience.

The taxi driver was an interesting character. I made the mistake of talking football with him. He then talked at me the whole journey and was still talking to me as I entered into SECC. The reason was his unhappiness, if I might tone it down, about Glasgow Rangers and their punishment being banished to Scottish League 3 with a transfer embargo until 2014 ( he said). I said what happens if all the players leave and you have none, surely then you can sign players? He skipped answering that one, but it was a sad tale. Whatever one thinks about the alleged crimes that Glasgow Rangers have committed, these have not been done by their fans.

Glasgow Airport

Glasgow Airport

Glasgow Airport Taxis

Cycling from London to Istanbul for Charity 4500 kms. Aeriel view of where they cycled – sort of.


Just to remind anyone, a group of Exeter students including my son Charles Bushe cycled to Istanbul in temperatures of often 40 degrees this summer. The 13 cyclists did an incredible thing to raise money for Help for Heroes. Below I have reposted what i originally wrote. But today i flew back from Jeddah in Saudi Arabia to london and for most of the journey the plane followed the route that they cycled. it took them around 40 days and the plane around 5 hours to do that stretch. I hope these photos remind folks what an epic thing that was to do. the quality is not good as they were taken with the humble i Phone 4S.

A week ago on 26th July 13 students from the University of Exeter commenced a 4500km cycle to Istanbul. Why? To support Help for Heroes. Many of these students had just completed their degree and graduated 2 weeks before. Somehow they found time to train,organise and generally prepare for this strenous trip. Aside from the obvious physical aspects there were numerous other planning aspects to consider. For example how to spend as little as possible on the trip, as this would reduce the sponsorship amounts for the charity. So, they spend most nights in tents and some nights in cheap hostels. The van they were donated is not of the Formula 1 category and rather like a beached whale is not deemed well enough to migrate the Alps, so will go around and meet the cyclists on the other side. To date they have reached Lyons and are having a well deserved rest day. My son Charles Bushe texted that he had spent a good day but things like washing needed to be done. They will have finished and be back in UK on September 8th. They deserve as much support as is possible. Even if you can only donate £1 then please do so and also importantly please pass on this message so that others can donate.

They are all good folks and already it is clear that they have bonded well together and are supporting each other when needed. For example the first day of their cycle down to Folkestone the temperature was well into the 30′s C, and there were obvious heat problems. A couple of them have had minor injuries such as a fall and tendonitis but they all keep going.

The links are below.

http://www.justgiving.com/Charles-Bushe  for Charles

 

for the others they can all be accessed here.

http://www.justgiving.com/teams/London-Istanbul2012

 

So, even if it appears a very small sum of money do please donate and help them to collect a decent sum for Help for Heroes. Do not forget that all the weather we have had here they have had too and have continued to cycle! Even Charles 11 year old sister has donated 5£ of her pocket money. Charles also gave up his olympic tickets to see the weightlifting to go on this cycle. Many thanks and again please pass this on to all that you know.

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