Europe: Start voting now! SN2038 Birmingham Airport to Brussels National Airport
In this musical spectacular…
- Who wants to go to Eurovision?
- Where did my wallet go? Off to Birmingham Airport
- SN2038 Birmingham Airport to Brussels National Airport
- Some time at Brussels Airport
- SN3819 Brussels National Airport to Lisbon Airport with the AeroSmurf
- Into Lisbon and The Tuk Tuk Hostel
- Exploring Lisbon with a Canon 100D
- The Eurovision Song Contest
- Off to Porto with Comboios de Portugal
- Time at Porto Airport
- FR8513 Porto Airport to Birmingham Airport
- To the trains!
- Eurovision… Douze points!
SN2038 Birmingham Airport to Brussels National Airport
Brussels Airlines, Seat 10F
288 miles flown, 228 loops earned.
I was welcomed aboard the Brussels airlines A319, and headed down to my home for this flight – the exit row.
Everything is pretty much economy – except the first row.
Yes – I might had paid for seat reservations, but I’m having an exit row thank-you please.
The seat itself is based on the Lufthansa NEK (ex Recaro BL3250 seats). It’s reasonably comfortable for a previous generation slimline seat – and with the legroom you get for an exit row seat – more than passable.
Again – since I’m on an Airbus, we have 18” shoulder width – in other words, you feel comfortable when sitting down, and hot having to bunch your shoulders in
Boarding took time as the plane would be taking a full load to Brussels that morning.
Once everyone was aboard and settled, the cabin was secured for the 55 minute ride to Brussels National Airport.
And then the safety video played. And this, ladies and gentlemen is a piece to behold.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwLJq3bgysA
Yes. It’s surreal as it gets. Welcome to Belgium. See my post on it...
The safety card… is less surreal.
Less surreal safety card.
With a long taxi to runway 15, all that was left to do was to watch
The plane taxied down to Runway 15, and in short order, powered up the two engines for the take off run. With ease, SN2038 took to the sky.
I seem to be lucking out on windows with awful scratches on them.
With the plane climbing to a its cruising altitude, the cabin crew begun the sales push. Whilst Biz&Class and Fast&Flex passengers were given their snacks, whilst everyone else had the option of choosing from the onboard catering guide.
We’ll come back to this later. Trust me.
Although my seatmate was happy to get a drink…
And a fleet guide as IFE. Although little did I know I’d be seeing the AeroSmurf close-up later.
Also handy: How to connect at Brussels Airport. We’ll see how easy this is in a notch.
I guess since I’m flying, I’m flying the flag for you…. (Scooch – Flying The Flag, United Kingdom 2007)
Additional IFE: The Sickbag.
With a coffee in me already, I was good to go and skipped the catering service, so I sat back and watched as the plane cruised over the UK, the North sea and across into Belgium.
It’s a short hop in comparison to some of the flights I’ve taken – and 55 minutes in the air passes very quickly.
All too soon, the signs were switched on with the seatbelt sign – indicating it was time to land. The hard-working crew cleaned up the cabin in preparation for arrival, and the cabin was secured.
With ease, SN2038 landed at its home base of Brussels Airport – ending the first segment of this trip.
From the runway, it was a reasonably long taxi to the gate, passing the Schengen terminal, before turning for the non-schengen area.
TUI planes at the Schengen Pier
Hainan Airlines Airbus A330 and Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
Thai Airways Boeing Airbus A350
With the plane at the gate, everyone was up and about – and I made my way to the exit too.
Overall: a Business-friendly flight, that was done quick and fast. And for a 55 minutes segment -that’s sometimes all you need.
Next: A few hours at Brussels Airport
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I still cannot believe that there’s a travel blogger post with Scooch in it! 😛
About scratched windows, Latam Brazil are the worst ever.
I flew SN on a R/T from OPO to TXL. Quite a nice flights, despite losing my bag all the way 😛
Oh come on… that was low hanging fruit – even by my standard.
There’s a video now in each of the upcoming posts in this trio report -with some very tenuous links.
If we’re doing eurovison… by jingo… we’re going to do it properly!!!