AirTalk.org

Callum Johnstone · Guest

As promised, a few observations ... or a cure for insomnia!

I'm not as good at structuring these things as JD, so please bear with me :-)

Saturday morning flight from EDI to CGN with Germanwings (A319). About 90% full. Pax were predominantly German (as one would expect) but one or two Scots among them too. Germanwings is handled at EDI by GlobeGround, whose gate staff (predictably) had nothing to say in German. A little bugbear of mine, that we never seem to be able to cater for foreign pax properly at UK airports. Boarding was by priority numbers (in batches of 50) and there was much miming and pointing at Gate 1D as the Gate staff attempted to explain to some of the German pax that their number hadn't yet been called!

Got a nice view of the extended taxiways (can't be far off completion now) at the Newbridge end as we backtracked for take-off. Over on Taxiwayalpha we've been debating why a backtrack should be necessary for an A319 at EDI - answers on a postcard, please!

Quick 1 hr 20 minute flight (friendly cabin crew, nice leather seats - ex-Luftie plane, I gather?) and touch down at Cologne. Opted for a taxi into the city centre on arrival (couldn't be arsed with public transport and weren't too sure where our hotel was either, so seemed like a good idea at the time)

After a pleasant two-night stay in Cologne - onwards to Berlin. Decided to try public transport this time back to Cologne-Bonn Airport, but ended up scouting about the main bus station in Cologne looking for an airport bus which we later found out no longer ran! The reason ...? They had just opened a spiffy new rail link, even though all the public transport maps showed the line as still 'under construction'!

Monday afternoon flight from Cologne to Berlin Shonefeld with Germanwings (A320). About 80% full, I think. Again, excellent on-time service and despite the fact that it was a domestic flight, all announcements made in both German and English, which impressed me no end.

Onward travel from Shonefeld into Berlin city centre was a bit of a tedious affair. My Berlin pal had insisted on coming to pick us up ... and I should have taken him up on his offer! There is a train station at the airport (unlike at Tegel) but it's a shuttle bus ride away. This was my first time through SXF, and it is not a very impressive airport - but all that is set to change over the next decade, it seems. Much faffing about at the Airport train station trying to find the correct platform etc, and no member of staff about to ask!

After a fantastic eight night stay in Germany's capital - a city I have been to several times now, and it's still my favourite! - on to Munich with Germania Express. Took the TXL Airport Bus to Tegel. Never ceases to amaze me how small Tegel airport is ... you always feel it should be much larger!
100% full Germania Express F100 to Munich (mainly full of suits returning from a day's business in Berlin, it should be said), but again another efficient, friendly loco, and one which is happy to speak to you both in German and English, even on a German domestic flight.

Four beer-filled nights in Munich, then homeward bound. As we rode the S-Bahn out to MUC, we reflected that it was a shame we would not be flying directly back to Edinburgh, as originally booked, aboard Duo Airways, but promised ourselves a nice meal during our stopover at Stansted Airport as consolation.
90% full flight from Munich to Stansted aboard an easyJet 737-300 (one of the ex-Go aircraft). This time the only German spoken was a brief pre-recorded safety demo announcement, after which it was English all the way back to Essex!
On time arrival into STN - got my first ride on the Stansted Airport terminal shuttle - then the mild inconvenience of reclaiming our bags and checking them back in for our final leg back to EDI. Plenty of time for eating and shopping before our (roughly) 95%-full flight back to Edinburgh and the inevitable fifteen-minute queue for a taxi (at 10.30pm - not my idea of fun after a long day of travelling!) Quite a few London flights had arrived around that time, and we were lucky not to be at the very end of the substantial queue which had suddenly appeared out of nowhere ... welcome to Scotland!

Callum

Clive Braham · Guest

"Callum Johnstone" <callumjohnstone (AT) blueyonder (DOT) co.uk> wrote

As promised, a few observations ... or a cure for insomnia!

[snip]

.... welcome to Scotland!

Callum

Wunderbar Berichts Callum :-)

Callum Johnstone · Guest

"Clive Braham" <clive (AT) braham5 (DOT) freeserve.co.uk> wrote

Adrian Tupper · Guest

"Callum Johnstone" <callumjohnstone (AT) blueyonder (DOT) co.uk> wrote in
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Adrian Tupper · Guest

"Callum Johnstone" <callumjohnstone (AT) blueyonder (DOT) co.uk> wrote in
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Callum Johnstone · Guest

"Adrian Tupper" <adrian.tupper (AT) totalise (DOT) co.uk> wrote

Callum Johnstone · Guest

"Adrian Tupper" <adrian.tupper (AT) totalise (DOT) co.uk> wrote

Adrian Tupper · Guest

"Callum Johnstone" <callumjohnstone (AT) blueyonder (DOT) co.uk> wrote in news:1%
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Adrian Tupper · Guest

"Callum Johnstone" <callumjohnstone (AT) blueyonder (DOT) co.uk> wrote in
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Callum Johnstone · Guest

"Adrian Tupper" <adrian.tupper (AT) totalise (DOT) co.uk> wrote

Callum Johnstone · Guest

"Adrian Tupper" <adrian.tupper (AT) totalise (DOT) co.uk> wrote

Gernot Egger · Guest

fox1 · Guest

On 24 Aug 2004 20:37:13 GMT, Adrian Tupper
<adrian.tupper (AT) totalise (DOT) co.uk> wrote:

fox1 · Guest

On Tue, 24 Aug 2004 20:59:41 GMT, "Callum Johnstone"
<callumjohnstone (AT) blueyonder (DOT) co.uk> wrote: