This is a Trip Report from the Premium Economy cabin
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Two absolutely blissful weeks on Grenada and it was time to get home to my girlie gundogs. Grenada is a simply wonderful little island, a jewel of the Caribbean. The island is not as commercialised as others and tourists are still seen as welcome guests. Nice people, quiet place, fabulous weather, great food and amazing pina coladas and rum punches and the banana cow is to die for (and after four of them I thought I might!!!)
Once again we had a few days of are we going or not; the previously seemingly quieter Icelandic volcano started to get more playful a couple of days before we left.
We did Virgin’s check-in and chill-out service; the hold luggage was collected at 10.30am, boarding cards were issued and then it was back to the beach and bar for a last few hours of sunshine. We watched our plane come in to land at Maurice Bishop airport from our pool bar, wow, the big bird (and I mean the 747, not the petite Mrs HWV) looks so impressive (I wouldn't want you to think that Mrs HWV doesn't look impressive, by the way....David, stop digging).
We were collected at 3.30pm for our 4.55pm departure. No problems at the airport; security was once again thorough. Into the air conditioned departure lounge. A problem with acoustics meant that all announcements were somewhat garbled so we sat near the gates and guessed what was being said. Special assistance passengers (interestingly not including people with babes-in-arms) were called first, then UC then PE.
The flight, on Virginia Plain again, was fine albeit a bit late departing. The bubble was once again clean, neat and tidy and everything worked including the entertainment system. I was pleased to see that 78H and K were as we had left them a fortnight before. Papers available were the Mail and Independent. Sparkling wine was offered and then seconds. 258 on board. We were 40 minutes late leaving Grenada, no reason was given.
We did the twenty minute hop to Tobago and a stop that should be under an hour lasted nearly two. So we left late, but a flight time of under 8 hours meant we would pick up a bit on the journey. No number was given of passengers but I think that we were pretty much full.
I watched an early episode of the brilliant Mad Men. The food was OK, I have posted the menus elsewhere. Other than missing the pretzels of course (we now take mini cheddars to act as blotting paper - I had forgotten how yummy mini cheddars are) everything was as it should be; plenty of wine, fruit round, baileys or brandy, hot towels etc.
The flight was fine, without the fun of the outbound. For me, these overnight flights are really about a bit of tv, a bit of food and then trying to get oneself into a position where it is possible to get some sleep. I had several of those falling asleep and waking myself moments; you nod off supporting your head on a hand, the arm collapses because you have fallen asleep, your head drops and you wake yourself up. UC started to look very attractive.
Breakfast featured hot or cold rolls (the bacon was delish) plus muffins.
We landed at 8.35. Immigration moved quickly, our luggage was once again on the carousel by the time we got there and we were in the car on our way out of the long stay car park 50 minutes after landing. Home in under an hour, half an hour of unloading the car and coffee then off to collect my girlies. The reunion with them was brilliant.
All in all two good VS flights and we shall look forward to the next one.
And now the discreet and sober words.
DISCREET. We could have done without witnessing a squabble between the stewardesses of the “can’t you get her to do it” nature. More seriously, the girls in the bubble got a visit from one of their downstairs colleagues who opened proceedings with “why do people have to bring their f*cking brats”. Silly silly girl.
SOBER. At Tobago we refuelled (84 tons apparently) and also got extra passengers. The stop should be just under an hour, as I have said this dragged on to nearly two hours. According to the Captain, refuelling was slow and then a passenger had decided that he didn’t want to “fly with us”.
We didn’t witness this change of mind by the passenger but some of our holiday chums did. Apparently a holidaymaker and his wife got on at Tobago and they had clearly been enjoying rather too many drinks, him particularly. Some debate was had, featuring the Captain and FSM, as to whether this individual would be allowed to travel. It was decided that he could but he would not be served any alcohol. On hearing this, the passenger got very abusive, more F words than on a typical hen night...yes, THAT bad!! Plus an assortment of other Anglo Saxon gems. The decision was immediately made by the Captain that Mr and Mrs Drunk as a Skunk were getting off. They were informed that VS would not be taking them home, that they would have to make their own arrangements to get back to the UK and that VS would pursue them for compensation for the resultant delays. The extra time spent at Tobago was due to the need to track and remove their luggage.
Hey ho, some people really are simply too stupid for their own good.
Regards,
David
Last edited by HWVlover on 09 May 2010, 17:21, edited 1 time in total.
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