My friend was two flights away from KLM Silver.
Me? I haven't set foot on a KLM plane since I was on one of their inaugural Inverness - Stagnated flights (sorry, my computer spell-checks Stagnated as Stagnated and I can't be bothered to change it, it seems fitting somehow) operated by KLMuk, back in the day.
I remember the day well, Inverness at stupid o'clock (I lived about 120 miles north at the time so left in the middle of the night to get there), a lovely hot breakfast and arriving into a deserted and beautiful Stagnated Airport for a fun day in London.
We were told to expect refreshments on the Stagnated Express, but, in a revelation which was to be prescient, Stagnated Express had forgotten to arrange anything for our group. However, there was a trolley service, which was something.
Now, I digress. The chance to try out KLM was too good to miss. I am on my way to BA Silver so there was the danger that trying another European airline would show me the error of my ways, but that was a risk worth taking. I mean, KLM economy could hardly be better than Club Europe could it?
Just in case you BA bashers are expecting this to be a, er, BA bashing thread, you couldn't be more wrong, as you'll see. KLM were good though.
Our route would be Birmingham > Amsterdam > Humberside. And no, I am not really sure either. But that was three airports I have never used before so that's, a plus.
I headed up to Birmingham the day before on the lovely Chiltern Railways from Marylebone Station. They are a little slower than Virgin Trains, however they don't smell of toilet, and have a flat off peak return of £29. If you choose specific trains fares are even cheaper.
Marylebone is a lovely station with some remnants of Network Southeast branding (again, if you like that kind of thing). I deliberately picked one of Chiltern's "Silver Trains" - this is locomotive hauled and has a Business Zone (essentially First Class but Chiltern won't admit it) section, with free tea and coffee and biscuits for an extra tenner (off peak.)
Today, because the ticket machine was not working, all of us sitting in the carriage got the upgrade for free.
This is what the carriage looks like inside
The trains are hauled by beasts like this, slightly at odds at the quaint Moor Street Station in Birmingham.
I then walked over to the shiny new Birmingham er, New, Street station for my train to the airport, and the Ibis.
It was then on to a packed Virgin Pendolino for the short journey to Birmingham International. The train smelt of toilet.
From the station you have to get a little train to the terminal. It used to be Maglev but then we ran out of imagination and it's run on some kind of pulley system now, I think. The carriages were tiny and each of the two carriages was self contained so you couldn't see into the other one. Which for people watching isn't good, if you end up with a boring crowd. But again I digress.
I thought the entrance to Birmingham International was pretty .... low key. It was incredibly warm that day, and the airport was hot. The low ceilings before security just made it feel very old fashioned and oppressive.
But I wasn't at the airport to fly (yet) - I was going to stay at the Ibis at the airport. I have stayed at a few Ibis hotels, Accor seem to have this business plan which involves splitting buildings in two and having a different brand in each half. In this case, Ibis and Ibis Budget, with a Novotel around the corner. The room was about £50 (B&B) and the bed was comfy and they saved an awful lot of time and money by having a chalk drawing of flowers on the wall. (BA?) And a chalk drawing of books. And a chalk drawing of shelves. But the overall effect was fun. The staff was friendly too, and in fact, after my awful experience at the Gatwick Hilton two weeks ago I cancelled my two future Hilton stays at Heathrow and changed them to Ibis Styles, I honestly think Ibis is the same level as most UK Hiltons. But this thread is not about complaining, it's going to celebrate some lovely places in the UK.
I had a 4am start to catch my Birmingham - Amsterdam flight, so didn't stay up too late...