As it is the last weekend of 2018, I want to use this blog as a chance to look back at all the flights that I have done this year. In 2018 I flew 16 times to 11 different destinations on 7 different airlines. Next year I hope that I will fly a similar number of times to a similar number of destinations, however currently the only flights I have confirmed for next year are to and from Seville in April, as well as to and from Jersey earlier in the same month.
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| Swiss A220-300 landing at London Heathrow |
February
My first flights of the year were to and from Lisbon, flying on British Airways from London Heathrow. On the way out I flew from Heathrow Terminal 3 for the first time, a terminal that I found interesting due to the large amount of high end brands that have shops there. However before I even got to the airport I was able to do a little bit of plane spotting at Hatton Cross where I took some of my favourite photos of the year as it was at sunset so the photos all were taken in golden light, with the planes silhouetted against the sunset. As for the flight, all our carry on suitcases were taken from us at the gate, due to the flight being too full, a feature of flying that I am finding is become annoyingly common at the moment, meaning I ended up carrying most of my things onto the plane in a small plastic bag bundled in my arms. Once in Lisbon from an aviation point of view it is a very good city as the flight path to the airport passed directly over the city. This meant that during the days, I was able to whilst sight seeing also do a bit of plane spotting at the same time as sight seeing in the main city.
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| Boarding at the Back of the Plane |
On the way back our flight wasn't until the evening meaning that I wasn't able to do any serious plane spotting at the airport. However more frustratingly was British Airways doing what is becoming more common for them on short haul flights (in recent years I have also done this in Naples and Venice) and not bothering with a jet bridge and instead forcing passengers to be bussed out to the plane before boarding by steps. For me I find this just slows the boarding process and just adds an unnecessary extra step to getting onto the plane, which I do not appreciate. As for the flight I don't really remember anything about it in particular, seeing as it was reasonably late in the evening, and I was tired from the long day that I'd had.
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| EasyJet A319 |
March
In March I got to fly on easyJet on a return trip from London Gatwick to Jersey. I honestly do not remember anything of either of these flights so I can only assume that both the flights were pretty normal and that there isn't much more to say about them.
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| British Airways 777 |
July
In July I had my biggest trip of the year, flying on 5 separate occasions. My first flight came from London Heathrow to Hong Kong, flying British Airways on their A380. This was the first time that I was ever able to experience this aircraft in any form, so I could not wait for this flight. I was fortunate to be able to sit on the upper deck in British Airways Club world class. This was one of the longest flights that I'd ever been on, so I ended up sleeping for most of the flight. I was also impressed by how quiet the A380 was on takeoff, with it feeling like it made effectively no sound during take-off, leaving me worried about if they had enough power to take-off.
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| Air Belgium A340 |
Once I'd arrived in Hong Kong we spent a few days there. However whilst we were sight seeing, going to see the big Buddha, we took the cable car to get to it. What was special about this however was that the cable car track came alongside the airport, meaning that you got a unique view of the airport from above which I found fascinating to see, and allowed for unique view of the aircraft taking off.
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| Cathay Pacific A350 |
The day after this we left Hong Kong flying to Bangkok on Cathay Pacific. Before the flight I spent some time walking around the airport terminal, using the opportunity to do some plane spotting. Hong Kong is ideal for this due to the large windows contained in the whole airport, which mean that it was easy to take photos of any aircraft parked at the gates. As for the flight however I was less impressed. I was flying on a Cathay 777 having missed out on the chance to fly on Cathay's first A350-1000 on an earlier flight. The 777 that I flew on had not been refurbished for a but too long so the interior felt quite old and cramped, but the flight was over soon enough.
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| Thai Smile A320 |
A few days after we were back at Bangkok airport again to fly again, this time on Thai on a short domestic flight down to Phuket. This was on board an A330, which contains one of my favourite interiors of all time, due to its bright use of colour and also the sufficient headroom on board, which is lacking on the small narrow bodies that are most commonly used in short haul routes.
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| Scoot A320 |
Yet again I flew again about a week later, flying from Phuket to Singapore, on board a Jetstar Asia A320, the smallest plane I flew on this month. This flight was pretty enjoyable and was comparable to any other budget airline that I'd flown on before. So then finally after 24 hours we flew back to the UK for our last flight of the month. This flight was again operated by a British Airways A380. After spending a few hours in the terminal at Singapore, which I was not that impressed by after being told that it was one of the best airports in the world, although that might have been because it was reasonably late at night and so most of it was closed up. However once we were on the plane there was a fault with the plane, which lead to the captain restarting the plane to various degrees until the plane worked again, which eventually it did following the plane being reset to the extent that the only power left on board being the emergency systems. For this flight I was once again in Club class on the upper deck, however this time I was in one of the middle seats, which was one of the favourite seats I've sat in as it is enclosed on three sides, giving you a sense of having your own small personal space. Eventually after being on the plane for 17 hours I got off after my longest flight of the year.
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| Flybe Bombardier Dash 8-Q400 |
August
In August I was back flying again to Jersey, however this time it was from Southampton flying on Flybe. On the way out they let us out if the terminal into a pen before they were ready to start boarding. This gave a good opportunity to take a few photos on the airfield, and also meant I was the first person onto the plane. Also on both flights, I was seated bellow the engine meaning that I effectively could see nothing out of the window, apart from the engine itself.
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| British Airways 747 |
October
In October I went on my second longest trip of the year, this time going to America instead of Asia. Again I was flying from Heathrow Terminal 3, however this time as it was light I decided to walk around the airport a bit more and I found that as soon as you get out of the main waiting area, the terminal opens up a bit and so u can see the planes on the airfield. Therefore I sat by one of these windows for a while watching the planes coming off the runway which continued until a Cathay Pacific 777 decided to block off my view.
However by this point it was time to board our plane, a British Airways 747 to Las Vegas. For this flight I was again seated in Club class, on the lower deck unfortunately, however I was seated right at the front of the cabin with a window view, which meant I had one of the best views of the wing in my opinion. In addition to this it was also sunset during most of the flight, which gave one of the most beautiful views that I've had during a flight which I was fortunate to be able to enjoy for most of the duration of the flight.
A few days later having relocated from Last Vegas to the Grand Canyon by car, I was up flying again, however this was in a helicopter. I'd never flown in a helicopter before so this was a new experience for me, however it was one that I found very enjoyable. It was also nice to be able to fly over one of the most picturesque places in the world and seeing it from above and I'd definitely recommend doing helicopter sight seeing trip if you ever get the chance.
The day after this I was flying again in an aircraft I was a bit more familiar with, an A320 operated by Alaska air. This was one of the original Virgin America examples, however it had already been re-painted in the Alaska air livery. Before the flight however I did enjoy exploring Las Vegas' airport, with one particular highlight of mine being the departure screens at the gates, which showed a picture of the destination as well as the destination itself. This flight was again operated at sunset so again I got the good views of the sunset, this time of over the wing instead.
Once we arrived in San Francisco one of the main highlights of the city was the hotel that we were staying in. Positioned near the end of the runway, I was able to get up early each morning before we went out and watch and photograph the planes landing, which I enjoyed waking up and being able to do. However before not too long it was our time to fly back again to London, flying a British Airways 777. This flight came relatively late at night, so when we arrived at the airport barely anything was open in the terminal, which made our wait for the flight relatively dull. However once we were on the flight I slept most of it away, making it a relatively quick flight back to the UK.
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| Wing of the 747 |
However by this point it was time to board our plane, a British Airways 747 to Las Vegas. For this flight I was again seated in Club class, on the lower deck unfortunately, however I was seated right at the front of the cabin with a window view, which meant I had one of the best views of the wing in my opinion. In addition to this it was also sunset during most of the flight, which gave one of the most beautiful views that I've had during a flight which I was fortunate to be able to enjoy for most of the duration of the flight.
A few days later having relocated from Last Vegas to the Grand Canyon by car, I was up flying again, however this was in a helicopter. I'd never flown in a helicopter before so this was a new experience for me, however it was one that I found very enjoyable. It was also nice to be able to fly over one of the most picturesque places in the world and seeing it from above and I'd definitely recommend doing helicopter sight seeing trip if you ever get the chance.
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| Alaska Air 737 |
The day after this I was flying again in an aircraft I was a bit more familiar with, an A320 operated by Alaska air. This was one of the original Virgin America examples, however it had already been re-painted in the Alaska air livery. Before the flight however I did enjoy exploring Las Vegas' airport, with one particular highlight of mine being the departure screens at the gates, which showed a picture of the destination as well as the destination itself. This flight was again operated at sunset so again I got the good views of the sunset, this time of over the wing instead.
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| Air Canada Express CRJ |
Once we arrived in San Francisco one of the main highlights of the city was the hotel that we were staying in. Positioned near the end of the runway, I was able to get up early each morning before we went out and watch and photograph the planes landing, which I enjoyed waking up and being able to do. However before not too long it was our time to fly back again to London, flying a British Airways 777. This flight came relatively late at night, so when we arrived at the airport barely anything was open in the terminal, which made our wait for the flight relatively dull. However once we were on the flight I slept most of it away, making it a relatively quick flight back to the UK.
December
I will not go into too much detail on December as both the flights that I am taking this month are going to be the topic of my next two blog posts. However I will say that they were again a round trip from Gatwick to Jersey, flying out on British Airways but back on easyJet. On the way out we got caught up in the second day of chaos at Gatwick caused by the drone, however we were fortunate that the airport was only shut for an hour this time, meaning that our flight did not end up being cancelled, but only delayed for about an hour. However to hear more about this you will have to read my blog next week. As of writing this I have not flown on the easyJet flight but I am looking forward to it and hoping that it will go well.
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