Examining the new at Aircraft Interiors Expo 2018 – With FlyBe
In this… calamity….
- Other airports exist other than Heathrow
- Did I mention I hate suitcases? Off to Birmingham Airport
- FlyBe BE7109 Birmingham to Hamburg
- Into Hamburg
- The IBIS Budget St Pauli
- Aircraft Interiors Expo – A look back at the coverage
- The Crystal Cabin Awards 2018
- Back to Hamburg Airport
- FlyBe BE7110 Hamburg to Birmingham
- Home James
- Innovation is key. Also being prepared
With only two weeks on the ground, it’s time to get my backside in the air again – and this time in a much more professional capacity as I turn into a presser/journo/blogger type person as opposed to travel writer person. This time we’re focusing more on regional travel and how the travel experience is on a regional to regional route, as well as budget hotels… and the biggest aircraft interiors conference of the year.
Other Airports exist other than Heathrow….
My travels are more Heathrow focused that not. And that’s not because I love Heathrow (regulars will know what I think of the place), but rather its a choice of connections and connectivity).
This year (for the first time in a few years) Aircraft Interiors Expo and my Chicago Trips haven’t ran into each other – which means a few things important things – namely, I get time to get over any jet lag from Chicago, and also it means I can utilise a local airport to fly to and from Hamburg.
Which is another rarity for me.
The additional saving of £60 or so on not storing luggage at Heathrow airport is a bonus too.
Flying between Birmingham and Hamburg, there are two realistic options:
- Direct with FlyBe
- Indirect with Eurowings
Whilst Eurowings was pricing up reasonably for one segment, the other was being more than a pain in terms of timing and cost. Considering this is the sort of thing I want to be in, out and done in (as opposed to hanging around waiting for things to happen), I decided to book with FlyBe.
In terms of ticketing, it was a matter of heading over to the FlyBe site and selecting the flights that worked. Annoyingly, combining different fare types seemed to be an impossibility on the FlyBe site (I was looking to boost my luggage on the way home… the bag tends to weigh more on the way back from Hamburg).
In the end, I decided to chance it with the Just fly tickets – with a return coming in at £108.05 return. Not ideal, but better than heading down to London again.
Besides, that would be in my future a lot sooner than I would had liked as it was.
With travel between my flat and Birmingham Airport easy enough to organise, it was time to select a hotel for this trip.
Regulars will not be surprised that once again, I would be experiencing the delights of the Ibis Budget St Pauli.
Why?
Simply put: When I get to a hotel at the end of a conference day I want to be able to collapse in with the minimum possible amount of steps required. If the hotel offers a passable breakfast and working Wi-Fi, I’ll take that any day of the week. The cost of hotels during a conference season do not help too – so I’ll choose something simple rather than all the mod-cons.
That, and they did remove the cruddy number locks and beds last year, and replaced them with a proper bed – so the mattress doesn’t slide around on them
So, a simple hop if we look at the map below.
Maps generated by the Great Circle Mapper – copyright © Karl L. Swartz
This is all well and good – but the AIX Curse is something that happens every year. Allow me to explain. The AIX Curse/Curse of AIX normally hits some of the attendees on their travels – be it missing flights, baggage broken, odd delays en-route to Aircraft Interiors Expo.
And I felt that the AIX Curse would visit this trip. Certainly choosing FlyBe didn’t help balance my odds (with their habit of cancelling or delaying flights).
But how would it hit?…
Next: Did I mention I hate suitcases?
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