Flight review: Aer Lingus – Belfast (BFS) to London (LHR) Flight EI34.
By Patrick Griffin. I arrived at Belfast International Airport (BFS) at 11.55 for my 13.10 departure to London Heathrow (LHR) on flight EI34. I had paid to check in a bag but in the end only brought cabin baggage with me (the reason will be explained later) so I decided to check with the ticket [...]
Review – Aer Lingus Lounge at London Heathrow Terminal One.
By Patrick Griffin. A few years back when I lived in Dublin and had family in England I would fly with Aer Lingus every couple of weeks or so. I remember they had a number of executive lounges dotted around Dublin airport (I can recall at least three) and one at Heathrow. Over the years [...]
Flight review: Aer Lingus – London(LHR) to Belfast (BFS), Flight EI37.
By Patrick Griffin. This flight was operated on an Airbus A320 aircraft and is an economy only service. Fares are offered in ‘low’ and ‘flexi’ economy options – the former being the cheapest and the latter being fully refundable and with a whole raft of extras for a premium price. Typically ‘low’ fares are advertised [...]
Review: Stena Line Belfast to Stranraer – Stena Caledonia.
By PATRICK GRIFFIN. It has been more than a decade since I took the ferry for the short hop from Belfast to Stranraer in Scotland. Well if I am to be really accurate I should say I have never taken the ferry from Belfast to Stranraer, because they sailed from Larne to Stranraer when I [...]
Review: LHR T5 arrivals and British Midland economy – LHR to BHD.
I had arrived for my 13.20 flight from Heathrow’s Terminal One to Belfast City Airport more than three hours earlier on a BA flight to Terminal Five so I had a bit of time on my hands. First I went to the BA arrivals lounge for a shower but before I could get to the lounge [...]
First Foyle Pride 2010: In pictures.
By Patrick Griffin. Saturday saw the first ever Pride Parade in the Northern Ireland city of Derry/Londonderry and thousands of people turned out to mark the spectacularly colourful historic day. Just 62 miles (100km) down the road in Belfast the gay community had been holding their annual pride marches for the past 20 years – [...]
Review: British Airways Business Class. JFK to LHR. Boeing 747 Upper Deck.
Flight BA182 is the last flight of the day out of New York’s Kennedy Airport to London Heathrow. This route is operated by a mix of Boeing 747s and Boeing 777s, for example the BA114 which leaves an hour earlier is operated by a triple seven (or at least it was on the day I [...]
Dublin – Dirty Windows, Culture, Art and No Drinking.
By Patrick Griffin. On a whim, and because the sun was shining, I decided to drive to Dublin for the weekend. As I had been to Dublin several times before (I even lived there for a number of years until relatively recently) there were some randomish rules. The Temple Bar district was out of bounds [...]
Belfast Pride 2010 – A Picture Gallery
By Patrick Griffin. IT was the 20th annual Belfast Pride event so it simply had to be something special. Something extraordinary. Something out-of-this-world even. And it was all three of the above. In a city where more traditional parades can sometimes spark riots of destruction and violence, Saturday’s parade transformed Belfast into a riot of colour, noise [...]
Review: London City Airport and British Airways Flight BA0001 to JFK.
By Patrick Griffin. Flight BA0001 from London City to JFK, New York. The last time I flew on British Airways flight BA001 it was an unforgettable experience and, quite literally, the end of an era in the world of aviation. It was October 23, 2003. British Airways were still operating from Heathrow Terminal 4 [...]