So it came to pass that that time of year was here again, all too quickly - we'd booked testing slots for Tues-Fri of the 1st 3 weeks of February and a backup slot in the 1st week of March, and it was time to do the old slog over the channel.
I'd checked in online for this flight on Sunday evening as it was originally supposed to leave on Monday 2nd, but some light snow showers in Brizzle meant the inbound flight from BRU was cancelled. With no plane at Brizzle to fly on, the outbound was unsurprisingly cancelled.
SN weren't too bad about rebooking - the choice offered was between trying to go via FRA later that afternoon (ummm, yeah really, not knowing the forecast for Europe, what if I'd been stuck there??) arriving at 2205hrs, or rebooking for the following morning's flight. I chose the latter - the evening flight wasn't offered for some reason (weather not given, even though the forecast was that the weather would get steadily worse). So, after collecting my car from the Silver Zone car park where I'd deposited it not 1.5hrs previously, it was off home to Clevedon to work from home the rest of the day.
Overnight Monday, we had about 4in of snow down in the South West, so were weren't too sure whether the flight was going to go on the Tuesday morning or not - quick check of the BRS website and all was well (strange, given the weather conditions compared to the day before). A 50 minute drive to do the 14 miles to the airport through Yatton, Congresbury and Churchill saw me arrive at the Silver Zone at around 0910hrs. Did the baggage drop off (no point arsing around with 100ml containers when going for a week) and everyone was confident that the flight would go.
Through a very very quiet security check in about 5 minutes (laptop out but no shoe carnival) and into BRS' woefully unexciting departures lounge - no point going to the Servisair lounge here, it's open-roofed, so you still get the sound of the departure lounge and for the sake of an hour, I never feel like you get good value (unless it's free of course [:D]). Instead I nipped round to Burger King for breakfast and to keep an eye on the departure board.
At 1010hrs, we were called for boarding through Gate 1 - at BRS there are no 'real' gates (the best you get is to walk down a tunnel to Gate 7/8) and no airbridges. So we were plonked on a bus to take us round to the aircraft. Before this though, I was pulled to one side by a plainclothes policeman and asked a few questions about where I was going, line of work, return date, etc.. Dunno why, but there you go....
Boarded with no problems - an Avro RJ100 waiting for us and seat 9A is becoming my regular location - no real view, but alongside the engines so no overpowering smell of JetA. The other advantage is that SN configure the RJ100 to be 2-3 and as 9A is on the port side, it's rare to have an occupied seat next to you. I do like the amount of legroom you get on this config though - my knees are usually around 3-4in away from the seat in front.
Taxied at ~1050hrs and we were wheels up at ~1055hrs for a 1hr flight time. I know we took off to the West because as we were climbing and turned to the right (North), I got a glimpse of my hometown's Pier off to the left. After that though, I soon lost my bearings, but had a wonderful view of the country being covered in snow!
Didn't take advantage of the chargeable onboard service (I was flying B:Light Economy - B:Flex Economy is the one where you get the free paper, snack & drink, but it costs 2x as much and the seat is no different!).
We landed at BRU ontime at 1155hrs (1255hrs CET) and it was time for the usual farcical non-Schengen arrival - disembark, go up the airbridge for about 20yds, turn right to go down some steps to the apron, then board a bus to take us to the B pier, up an escalator, then a bit of a stomp to Immigration. Through there and my bag was already going round baggage carousel #1 - straight through Customs and off to the taxi rank and down Leuvensesteenweg to get to the office some 4hrs later than originally planned.
Nothing bad, nothing spectacularly good though - just an everyday, unexciting, European commute.....
Cheers
Michael
