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 [...]
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 [...]
Belfast City Airport to London City Airport via London Gatwick.
By Patrick Griffin. I arrived at Belfast City Airport (BHD) at 5.30am. I love pre-dawn travel when going on a trip, it engenders a real sense of adventure, being alive, up and about and with somewhere to go before sunrise. It gives a sense of anticipation and expectation about the new day which is about [...]
Review: Toulouse Airport and BA business class to Heathrow
By Patrick Griffin. I like to fly with British Airways whenever I can so I was delighted when I discovered they flew directly from Heathrow to Toulouse. Firstly because the airport was only a short train journey from my ultimate destination in France and secondly because I had never been to Toulouse-Blagnac Airport before. Sad [...]
Review – Belfast to Birkenhead ferry.
By Patrick Griffin. I ARRIVED at the ferry terminal exactly 52 minutes before the 27,700 ton red and white Mersey Viking was due to set sail from Belfast. I drove my car up to the Number Two check-in booth, stepped out and smiled at the uniformed staff member inside. She didn’t smile back.
I flew Ryanair and missed out bigtime!
SO I flew to Glasgow with Ryanair for a fiver. It was one of those rare fares when it really was a fiver so as a result I got to miss out. Big time. I missed out on the delightfully wallet-busting smorgasbord of fees which the ‘low fares airline’ likes to dish out as ‘optional [...]
Heathrow Hilton – how to pour tea.
AT London Heathrow with five hours to kill until my flight, I headed to the Hilton Heathrow at Terminal 4 for lunch.
The waitress arrived with a black wooden tray containing a pot of tea, a jug of milk, a glass cup on a silver metal plate, a silver spoon, a tiny (but rather tasty) biscuit and three miniature hour glasses housed in a metal frame.
The teapot itself was rather futuristic. It comprised a round see-through glass shell with a conical metal top which housed a perforated metal basket containing the tea. A small metal rod emerged from the top lid, angled horizontally to the pot itself.
The pot had been filled with hot water and the waitress carefully laid the tray at the table in front of me before removing the pretty hour glass contraption which was placed next to the tray.