VS075 MAN-MCO 4 May 09 (PE)
Posted: 06 May 2009, 03:05The room was clean and moderately sized with all the amenities one could expect (coffee and tea making facilities, mini bar, trouser press, etc). We did not eat in the restaurant, preferring the more casual brasserie, where the speciality burger went down well with us both. Not quite up to Clubhouse standard I would imagine, but tasty nevertheless. A couple of cold Guinnesss were consumed while reading the Sundays and it was time for bed [|)] However, the room was HOT, so much so that I had great difficulty in sleeping, despite the comfortable bed and crisp linen.
Next morning the present Mrs Treelo declared that she too had had difficulty drifting off to the land of Nod. (Thinks: so who was the fragrant creature beside me snoring louder than the loudest snoring creature in the world [ii])
Check out was painless and quick, as was the 5 minute trot along the glass/plastic covered walkway that links the Radisson with T1 and T2 at MAN. Making a beeline for PE check-in, we were waylaid by one of an absolute plethora of ground agents who insisted on printing off boarding passes everyone has to do it now [:?] as part of a general scrum around the machines, before allowing us to pass on to the desk and check-in. A quick romp through security without any shoe carnival but with laptops out of bags and we ascended to the relative haven that is the Escape Lounge. Despite having read of shortages of provender, there was a full choice of cereals, pastries, croissants, bagels etc plus drinks. It was nice to escape the noise in the main terminal which currently is like a building site.
Boarding time came and we sauntered the short distance to the gate. Priority boarding worked (of sorts). There was a priority boarding sign, access past which was granted by a young lady whose singular task was to unfasten, admit entitled passengers and refasten the barrier to its post. The positioning of the boarding sign meant that, once admitted, one had to forge a pass through Y pax who were queuing at the gate.
However, we were quickly onto Pretty Woman (NOVA hey ho) and settled into 79A-C. Fizz was quickly dispensed and the FSM was very much in evidence during boarding (and in fact throughout the flight). Take-off was around 10 mins late but, according to the captain, due to a lack of head winds, we landed around 20 mins early [y]. The all male PE CC were very attentive and highly visible throughout, drinks run carried out and plenty of juice and water along with a well-filled fruit bowl were at the back of the cabin. Mrs T had the vegetable ravioli with mushroom sauce which she quickly polished off and my beef casserole with potatoes and polenta was equally palatable. Rant On: Why do CC insist in chewing gum? It wasnt even done in an unobtrusive manner cud chewing springs to mind but to his credit, the gum disappeared was the crew was released following take-off [V]. Rant Off.
Watched Valkyrie and Paul Blart : Mall Cop; the latter was hilarious and well worth a look. No problems with the flight which was one of the smoothest I have taken apart from the landing which was a trifle bumpy.
Quickly off, no queue at immigration and we would have been at the luggage carousel first had not my lady wifes fingerprints caused a problem which meant that we were whisked away to a private room for further investigation [:0]. I was anticipating the snap of rubber gloves when a security operative announced in a blas manner that, since the US started taking all 10 prints, this was something they were experiencing 15 or 20 times per day and was caused by the system overloading. He pottered around with a computer and 10 mins or so later we were released to get our bags. Priority baggage worked well and within 40 mins of landing we had got our hire car and were on the way to our rental villa in Kissimmee.
All in all a very good flight and food, along with a first rate crew. (Pity about the gum)