V-Flyer

Virgin flight 4 of 4.....

Well, the last leg!

Arrived at ELS airport and checked out another sort of flying club - Border aviation club. Went for a hours flight in a Cessna 172 along the Indian ocean. My UK PPL isn't valid in SA so I took a local instructor along with me. We were fortunate enought to see two whales so spent 10 minutes orbiting above them at 500 ft - truly amazing! Had to stop 'coz I was getting dizzy and I'm sure I was also trying the patience of ATC (who were really incredibly helpful when they heard my English accent on the radio and realised I was visiting ans wanted a sightseeing flight). Interesting crosswind landing due to the into wind runway being closed due to firefighting (bush fires).

Check-in with SAA was fine (this time!), departed ELS for JNB about 20 minutes late, but made it up en-route.

Virgin check-in was straightforward - my luggage had been checked through from ELS to MAN. Headed up to the Clubhouse at JNB where service was excellent - plenty of seats this time. Still no internet though!

Boarded 'Queen of the Skies' after an interesting incident on the transfer bus - the overhead rail that we were all holding on to broke off when we went round a corner! Fortunately no-one fell over or was injured, but I did get intimate with a large lady.......

The same crew as on the way out and just as good - made a big fuss of me, remembered my name, what I wanted to drink etc - how good is that. Had a chat about where they had been and what they had been doing. They were raving about going to the lion park where they had been able to pet a hand reared lion.

I am now convinced that it must be the FSM that sets the tone for a flight. Again she was highly visible and spoke to every UC passenger after take off, handed out pens and UK boarding cards for those that needed them. The rest of the crew were equally attentive and friendly.

I went for the Soup (Pea and Mint) and the beef again (creature of habit!) followed buy the cheese - all really good.

Cabin was too hot overnight and woke up sweating twice. Why do they do this??

Didn't get a treatment again - this time due to hardly any being done as a result of turbulence and the seatbelt sign staying on for much of the flight. IFBT was really apologetic as she said she was determined to 'do me' as she had missed me on the way out. When asked what treatment I would like I told her to surprise me and for her to choose - this seemed to cause some amusement. Obviously doesn't happen often!

Arrived in LHR 10 mins late due to ATC. Straight through to Revivals where I am writing this from - how I love those showers!

Currently waiting for my BMI flight up to MAN and the Tristar car service home - before heading off to Paris tomorrow.

Oh well, only 4 weeks till Summer hols!

Ian

Thanks for all your TR's all really a good read. Glad the flight was up to scratch as the OB.

Dominic

Thanks for the TR [y]

One thing to try to stay a little bit cooler when attempting to sleep in UCS. Lie the other way round, ie with you head at the ottoman end. You might get the odd funny look though but it does seem to keep you cooler as there seems a better air flow around your head at that end of the UCS bed.

Also rather than sleeping under the duvet, lie on the duvet and ask for an economy/PE blanket to sleep under.

Regards

thanks very much a great set of trs and good read to boot! bet your body clock was/is well up the wall

Thanks All

Useful tip about sleeping 'the wrong way round'. I did see someone doing that once and thought it looked odd, but thinking about it it does seem sensible.

As for body clock John - one of the nice things about South Africa is that there is only 1 hour time difference. I certainl coudnt have coped if this hadn't been the case.

Regards

Ian