This is a Trip Report from the Premium Economy cabin
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So daughter, son-in-law and 3 grandkids with attendant teenage mood swings and infant tantrums meant that the TR has been slightly delayed. What with facebooking teenagers and whack-a-mole-playing infants, all I can say is thank heavens for wi-fi enabled laptops and garden sheds. This TR has been written in segments, hence the delay in posting. Well that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.Anyway, back to the plot.
Regular readers of the Treelo family Spring TRs may remember that we invariably hop on the VS 75 following an evening's relaxation at the Radisson at MAN. But this time I thought it would be rather fun to try for a refurbished MAN/LGW 747, so opted for the VS 73, which doesn't leave until after lunch. How wrong can one be? The refurb was pushed back slightly which meant that we had no chance of a refurbed aeroplane, so that plan crashed and burned. We ended up (I think) on V-ROY, not refurbed)
Anyway off we trogged, up the M6 and parked in the T2 multi-storey - a deal of £80 for 15 nights parking was just too good to pass up - and sailed through a very quiet check in and security. In fact from parking the car to sitting in the Escape Lounge took all of 20 minutes, which must be a record. Now, perhaps it is me, but I do feel that standards for the old Escape Lounge have slipped somewhat since 2011.
The quantity, quality and choice of snacks was very limited and not the freshest I have experienced either. Perhaps the time has come on our next jaunt to attack a full English in Frankie & Benny's and then find a quiet corner to park ourselves until boarding. Priority boarding worked well and we were soon ensconced in 799A-C with a glass of fizz in hand.
I reckon that there were almost a third of the bubble PE seats unoccupied, although UC and Y were pretty full. Pre-lunch drinks were offered and then came lunch and the present Mrs Treelo declared that her choice of chicken something was quite palatable. My choice of (alleged) braised beef was probably the worst in-flight meal it has ever been my misfortune to have. 
Bearing in mind the PE meals are served on china with proper cutlery, the inedible piece of disgustingly tough junk placed before me could not even be cut. The accompanying potatoes and veg were fine and the pud and bread roll were really rather nice. But the 'beef'........ 
. OK, rant over. Ice creams were served later on and the usual sandwich offerings made prior to landing.The captain had announced that he was trying to get to a stand before the threatened rain started and he made it - almost. We ground to a halt some 5 or 6 metres away from our airbridge and there we were to stay for a forecast 10 minutes until the lightning travelled far enough away from MCO to let the ground crew resume their duties. This 10 minutes stretched to 20, then 30,
![][|)](./images/smilies/icon_smile_sleepy.gif "Sleepy"){kind=icon}
until after 40 minutes we were able to proceed to our stand. Once stationary we were very quickly off the plane (thanks 79A-C) and a quick trot saw us enter an almost deserted immigration hall. We were very quickly, and courteously seen and were soon standing by the carousel which started spewing out bags immediately. Bags were 3rd and 4th off and, following a rapid walk to the escalator and monorail ride we arrived at the Alamo hire car garage in almost record time. Once we had selected our vehicle (thank you Alamo OLCI) we were on the road to our first overnight stop in Davenport around 35 minutes after deplaning. This was followed by a stop in Florida City (south of Miami) and, after a trip across on Hwy 41 skirting the top of the Everglades a couple of nights in Naples and Sarasota before spending a relaxing time in a Davenport villa to complete the circle. Relaxing that is when Mrs T could avoid the siren call of the shopping malls.All in all a very nice flight (apart from the 'beef') and one that did exactly as it says on the tin.
As we returned on the same flight and I slept most of the way, I'll leave a return TR to Neil.
Last edited by Treelo on 06 Jun 2012, 18:18, edited 2 times in total.
Thanks,
John.
John.
I certainly will check it out for future trips. Thanks. 
