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Voyage scolaire: Paris pour une semaine avec SriLankan!

 
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jbalonso777
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Location: Never, never land

PostPosted: Fri Jun 27, 2014 7:54 pm    Post subject: Voyage scolaire: Paris pour une semaine avec SriLankan! Reply with quote

Hello everyone.
And welcome.
To a rather special trip report.
I know its a terrible topic.
Before I start yapping about stuff, its time I move on to the introduction.

INTRODUCTION
Paris. France. Europe.
It all seemed like a far away dream for me.
A dream hidden in never land.

But such were the turn in events, this dream was a reality for me. As I mentioned towards the end of my previous trip report, my World Scholar’s Cup campaign never really got underway. Fortunes were switched around when a close friend of mine (and a teammate) had to drop out since she was heading back to the U.S. Furthermore, the cost of this trip increased by a whooping 45% when a change of destination was announced from Bangkok to Dubai.
Just then, Lady Luck decided to be on my side. A modern-foriegn languages trip to Paris was announced one fine day, and I knew going for this would be..something very special indeed. Quickly, all formalities were done and I was on the list along with 38 other people to Paris.

Time went by, the nice dummy of the Schengen Visa application prepared by the teacher in charge helped me to fill that nightmarish document in a mere 3 hours. Perfection was the name of the game Rolling Eyes
While filling that in, I found out that the hotel where I will be staying is the Ibis Hotel, Porte de Clichy, Paris.

PS - I do apologize for the topic. I know only the most inappropriate words in French (and yeah..people literally say 'mind your French!' or 'Sorry about my French' when these words are used. Rolling Eyes ), so I used Google Translate for the same. Yallah.

FLIGHTS & ITINERARY
Unsurprising, really.
But before I confirm it with you all, I think I should let you all know what it all felt like, before the tickets were booked by school. UL were offering the flights at an oh insane high price. QR were way way WAY cheaper. And that also included 4 different aircraft types: B77W, A346, B788 and A321. A far cry from the A332 only. One day in school I actually bothered asking which flight we’d be taking, and the teacher said: the direct one. Dang it. Embarassed Rolling Eyes
Well anyways. Here is what the tour itinerary looks like:
Put these two together, and then we get: the flights!
UL563 CMB CDG 0130 0900 28JUN14 A332
UL564 CDG CMB 1500 0450+1 05JUL14 A332




^^ the itinerary for those who are interested Smile
Now, for some personal stats.

-At 11 hours, UL563 will be my longest flight ever.
-This aircraft would be the second A330 I fly in, since BOM-HKG-BOM were only on one A330, VT-JWJ.
-This aircraft (A330-243) will also be my second A330 sub-sub type after the A330-202 (type: A330, sub type: A330-200, sub-sub type: A330-243).
-My last set of A330 flights were during the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa, and I haven’t flown on this type since then. And now, its the 2014 FIFA Word Cup in Brazil. If you think my next set of A330 flights are in 2018, nah, you’re wrong Razz
-My second airline which is a member of a global alliance! After the horrific show at CX, a oneworld member, these flights will be my first with UL as a newly inducted OW member.

VISA DAY!
Exams had started. Such was my intense concentration, I had forgotten about my Paris trip (and for good reason, I guess!). But then, I realized: being an exam class, we haven’t been to school in long. What’s going on with the Paris trip? Why is it oh so quiet? Maybe talking to the organizers will help.
One day, I did bother waking up at a unearthly 0700 hours ( Razz ), and head for school for some other work, but to enquire about the trip as well. And there was the good news - an appointment had been fixed with the French Embassy! So much for that, it was time to head back down to studying.

The day had arrived. It was years since I finally woke up to a gray morning (1100 hours Laughing But it looked like 6 in the morning. Such was the darkness) with the rain pouring down. Its always been the sun rays falling on my face, damn it.
A call came from school, it was Mr. D himself! (more names coming up..) ‘Don’t forget your passport, Jish! We’ll be leaving school at 1430 hours. Make sure you’re there before!’ were the words.
Be there before 1430 hours - hah! I made it to school at 1315 hours, since some of my friends were freaking out for their exam - 75% of them Chemistry, 25% of them Business. None of my subjects, so I just sat there, annoying people. And they’d rudely give me the uncanny gesture of the finger, or some swear words. I laughed. Oh well.

Anyways. Once that was done with, it was time to head to the embassy. Funny, the bus had 'CX' written over it. Well, the seats were not that good so.... Wink
Once at embassy, it looked all massive and all. Black gates. White walls. Black barricades. We entered through a metal scanner. And in we were in a rather deformed room. Not a particular shape, really. 29 of us. 20 chairs. And since my classmates and I 'shotgun' the last seats of the bus, we had to payback by standing. At least, the blast of the AC was on my face, so I did not complain. At least, teachers do know my spinal issues, so I was offered a seat. Nope for me, I was okay with standing Smile

It was a rather long process, waiting for a while before the biometric scans to be done. Was a bit tough to pass the time, but then there were the immature and sarcastic statements shared.
"What color hats is it this time?” asked Ms. P..
“Pink. Lets see them suffer!” said Mr. D, with an evil smirk. I knew I was going to miss Liki Nauda and my its counterpart, Hames Junt.

My turn arrived - as I walked in through the hinged black door, one thing struck my eye: the massive Airbus A380 landing into what certainly looked like Toulouse! Oh, if only I had my mobile for a picture! Anyways, scans were done relatively quickly, and I continued waiting - we were just half way there.
After a total time of a round about 1hr15min, we were on our way back to school. On the 'CX' bus. Sadly, going home was going to be a challenge since the car wasn't there, and none of the annoying tuk tuks weren't willing to go. Walking it was - something I never did. 25 minutes later, I was home. The visa day had come to an end.

...46 HOURS LATER...
Or probably lesser.
I got an email from Mr. D stating that the passports are ready with the Schengen visa in them. And that was less than 46 hours after I walked into the French Embassy! 29 passports. 46 hours. Pretty decent for a country who's working population is on the laid back and leisurely side. But that's okay! Maybe.
Frankly, it is a surprise, because the visa processes for South Africa and Singapore twice have taken over a week and a half, while the Embassy promised 2 weeks or less these visas to be done. Turns out, they might've meant 2 days or less!
While I'm at this, I must say that my new passport (renewed straight after my other school trip) took only 6 days to reach home. Right from applying for it to the post reaching home. 6 days flat. What a nice sign!

TIME MOVING SLOW, THE MINUTES SEEM LIKE HOURS
Actually, more like days seemed like months (Metallica song reference! Razz). Once the visa was received, every thing went back to hush hush once again. 2 exams still remained, those were done. The yearbook had to be made, that was done, and that included a 15 hour long day in school. Yeah. 15 hours. No regrets though, joining the committee..

Anyways, once that was done, I got the invite for Prize Giving in school, signifying the start of term for me in a very significant role in the senior school. And this prize giving day was just one day (today) before the start of the trip! Happy days indeed!
However, things did take an ugly turn when I learnt my upcoming trip (after this) had to be cancelled due to demands of school life. Again, no regrets in the cancellation, all worth it...
I will though, not let that TR go waste - I was working on that alongside this, so I'll post that as a reply to this thread..just so you know what I missed...
Still though, despite this setback, I had another turn in events, this time for the better: another trip! This though, was being planned for a long long time, and sure as hell is exciting! Very Happy

THE DAY ARRIVES
It was a pretty normal day in school, only difference being the Prize Giving later in the day (attended by Royston Ellis) and maths class was exclusive of algebraic sums, instead, a race in Brands Hatch with various Formula One cars of the 80’s. It was disheartening to learn that Mr D., Mr I. and Mr J (my government and politics teacher) were spending their last day in school. Well, the trip is with them, so I guess that's a decent send off..

…and that’s it for now folks..
I will be updating this thread rather slowly because:
a) there will be a lot to write..
b) there will be other stuff in which I’ll be shifting my focus to…so less laptop, more other productive things..
While I’m at it, please enjoy reading this trip report, comments and all will as always be greatly appreciated! Very Happy
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jbalonso777
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 27, 2014 8:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The trip report that never was…and never will be:

Hello everyone.
And welcome.
To my third (or fourth) trip report of the year 2014.
As you might’ve read by now - my Paris trip has just come to an end. Yup, I’m still recovering from that! Anyways, its time to move on. Its time for my annual summer trip to India (by summer, I mean monsoon in India and by India - I mean Mumbai Smile )
Therefore, before I begin, just to sum up my previous two 'India' trips:
July ’12: 9W to MAA, AI to CCU, 6E to BOM, and 9W back to CMB.
July '13: 9W to MAA, AI B787 to DEL, 9W to BOM, 9W back to CMB.
The ’12 diversion was justified: I had to accompany granny back home after her first trip overseas.
The ’13 diversion was just the craze of being an aviation nut! Such was the strain on the 13th of July 2013 (being awake for 37 hours from the 12th to the 13th!), I promised to myself that my next Mumbai trip would be on the more civilized direct flights to and from BOM….

INTRODUCTION
…and I did stick to my promise! My next Mumbai trip was a school trip, and surely no school would’ve taken us to Mumbai via Cochin, lol.
Anyways. Summer holidays. Flying alone, again. Time to get innovative!
A quick glance at the fares - UL were INR17k, 9W were at 20K.
Via MAA - all in the region of INR15k-16k, various airlines
Via COK - similar, on UL and AI.
I knew for a fact that I would inevitably have to go domestic, to enter Mumbai. No new terminal then?
Hell no.
I knew for a fact that SpiceJet would be my go to airline to enter and exit India, thanks to their inconvenient, yet convenient timings.
Inconvenient for the normal passenger (nasty o' clock as its called here), strangely convenient for me!
For a further explanation, it is a good idea, I guess, to move on and explain the topic subject.

WHAT ABOUT THE TOPIC?
6 flights
This refers to the number of flights in this trip.
How 6?
Well the normal Colombo-Mumbai-Colombo passenger would look at 2, maximum 4 (assuming via MAA or IXM) flights in the trip. But this is Jishnu - 4 is too less for him! He somehow managed to extract 6.
How, you might ask.
Well then. Mumbai’s new terminal 2 has opened and is a must-experience for me. ASAP! Interesting domestic flights were also on my bucket list. Reading Rishul’s TR and the following discussion, something popped up in my head: The Boeing 747! Hyderabad!!!
The 747 flight operated by Air India is a continuation of the JED-HYD-BOM AI964 flight. Leaving HYD at 1030, while my SG flight arriving into MAA at 0445, I needed ways to get to HYD. I needed ways to get on that 747!!
Any flight after 0600, I decided.
SG at 0540, too early. And I’ll be flying in on SG anyways.
6E at 0555, still early. Or maybe not - but I wasn’t going to risk anything.
9W at 0700, perfect! Now now, don’t go all jumpy thinking I’m a 9W fanboy: timing makes sense, and if anything were to go wrong with the SG flight, I’d be making a complete a** of myself by taking the 6E flight. So yeah. Smartness suggests - fly JetKonnect. Wink
And with a heap load of miles available in Dad's JP account (by not flying), throwing away this opportunity would be making a complete tomfoolery of myself.
Anyways Very Happy
As for the return, again similar. However, this time, instead of JetKonnect, I decided to fly IndiGo, due to the law of averages. Also, since their fares were bloody cheap, and made even cheaper with the mobile app. A complete win!

4 bookings
4 airlines were on the cards: SpiceJet, JetKonnect, Air India and IndiGo.
But unfortunately, that wasn’t to be.
One fine day (May Day, to be precise), Dad told me that my BOM trip was turning towards a no no because of the insane high fares. I told him - trust me to come with the most radical solutions. As I told him one by one, he told me to proceed with the bookings ASAP. Victory again for me! Laughing Laughing
Round 1 of the booking began: looking all well and good on SpiceJet...before it tells me that an error occurred and I need to try again later. Dang it. Evil or Very Mad
Round 2: After a SpicyFail, I was hoping for no JetFail. And indeed, just a matter of a few minutes after I punched in my data, a Redemption Ticket was sent to my email.
Round 3: Air India. 2012 was a massive fail, 2013 was a pass with flying colors, and so was 2014. I officially had my name on the passengers' list for a flight on the Boeing 747! Shocked Shocked
Better flying with them while they fly, sad to see them end up this way.
Round 4: IndiGo. What could possibly go wrong with India's coolest airline? Anything. Probably everything. First of all, the fares increased by a whooping INR800! And, to add salt to injury IndiGo have this silly policy of international credit card holders who MUST be present in the trip. Or else get off the plane. If salt isn’t enough, adding lemon juice to the wound would be perfect - two failed bank transfers later, I decided: to hell with this. I’ll fly with FIBGA only.
Round 5: Once again, no JetFail(s), almost a carbon copy of Round 2, 9W2408 it was decided.
Round 6: SpiceJet again. Same issue. SpiceFail. This also included a rather horrifying experience with the call center, full attitude being thrown at me. Wow.
Round 7: SpiceJet WORKED this time, more so because I used a different computer. Worked like a charm. I selected seats 7A and 14D.
7 rounds. 3 fails. 4 bookings.

A summary of the flights:
SG0002 CMB MAA 0320 0445 18JUL14 DH8
9W2409 MAA HYD 0700 0805 18JUL14 B738
AI0964 HYD BOM 1030 1210 18JUL14 B744
AI0965 BOM HYD 1625 1755 29JUL14 B744
9W2408 HYD MAA 2110 2215 29JUL14 B738
SG0001 MAA CMB 0100 0220 29JUL14 DH8
(Complete North American domination - contrast to the 7 flights on Airbus' and one ATR off recent!)


SG's seat map(s) of the Q400, and my obvious seating selections. Pretty decent experience, I did opt for the SpiceJet MAX thingie, but I didn't go for any preferential seating, since that costed extra. As it is SG MAX costed extra so...


And this is just to prove that I seriously was considering IndiGo. Too bad their website failed and promises were respected when it mattered (to me) most..
Oh well, always a next time! (No, there's G8 and I5: LCCs with A320s. Bye bye 6E Twisted Evil )

Terminal 2 - really no description required for this. Chattrapati Shivaji International Airport’s much talked about Terminal 2.

One mighty dream - you might've guessed it by now.
The Boeing 747. A quad jet. Finally! (Really, quad jet is an understatement for the 747)
The Q400. So many missed chances, finally a chance!
Also, rather insignificantly, finally getting my Boeing count for 2014 underway. (Just like it took MI 6 matches to finally win..and get their account open)
I've never really had even half a chance to get on a quad jet. Emirates, rather Airbus kinda messed it up when when the A380 developed cracks, and therefore this was downgraded to a B77W. Even UL to CDG was never a A340 chance - more so because the A340s are predominantly used on the shorter middle eastern routes, as they do not have the new interior. This is as close as I can ever get - almost a now or never thing, really.

Just to summarize a few things:
1. 9W2409 is a relatively new rotation. I talked to our in-house expert Ameya sir about it, he told me it is the result of, you guessed it: 9W cutting down on flights. It started a few days before I did the bookings.
2. This will be the last time I take such a radical way into BOM, and that is for good reason - it means that this time next year, I will be heading out of Sri Lanka for good. I'm happy. Smile
3. And that does mean taking Dobby along with me. Like I've said before - the baggage hold door for the A320 and B737 (UL & 9W) are not wide enough to let his crate enter. Radical Dubai beckons? Wink
4. I did consider taking AI343 (the MAA-BOM continuation of SIN-MAA-BOM on the A330). However, the fare was a bit on the higher side. So really, paying less for a flight on a 737 and 747 is a better deal than paying almost INR1k more just for an A330. And I just flew on a A332… Furthermore, Rishul covered the flight twice already, brilliantly! Very Happy
On the downside though, that does mean I won't be on my third and final sub-sub type of the A332 - the ones with PW engines. Well, Korean Air flies to the Maldives so…..
Speaking of considering things: Air Costa was on the cards too. However, in both ways MAA-HYD-BLR my transit times were too short, meaning a miss in of the flights was highly probable. So much for another new (South) American aircraft..

And there is the abrupt end, folks. Not much to add.
Cancellation was a rather easy affair..
SG created a credit shell..
9W took away 500 miles each way, via emails and all.
AI took away 65% of the fare despite being a ‘refundable’ ticket. Quick confirmation, no hassle.
This TR may be redundant, but trust me, there are a couple of quad jets in the upcoming TR for sure! Wink
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Last edited by jbalonso777 on Thu Feb 12, 2015 6:59 pm; edited 1 time in total
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The_Goat
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 27, 2014 11:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sorry about your Paris trip. Some other time, for sure.

Have a nice time in India.
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abhijith16
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 28, 2014 12:46 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The_Goat wrote:
Sorry about your Paris trip. Some other time, for sure.

Have a nice time in India.


Um, it's the India one that got cancelled. He's onboard tonights UL563.
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Nimish
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 28, 2014 6:01 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Have a great time in France Jishnu - we look forward to the details and pictures Smile
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avbuff
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 28, 2014 12:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Have fun in Paris and a small caution .. be very careful of your belongings.

Paris is notorious for thugs flicking your things in daylight without noticing. Be extra careful with your personal belongings.
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Spiderguy252
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 02, 2014 1:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Looking forward to the pics - I guess some have already made their way onto Facebook/WA. Wink
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jbalonso777
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 06, 2014 7:56 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hey everyone!
I just got back home after the long flight from CDG this morning/last night/last evening. Plenty of pictures to go run through, but I'm guessing the first part of this TR (UL563) should be a pretty straightforward affair. But please do bear with me if I do get too slow in posting the parts of this TR..

The_Goat wrote:
Sorry about your Paris trip. Some other time, for sure.

Have a nice time in India.

Speaking of school: classic example of a student not paying attention in class? Wink

abhijith16 wrote:
The_Goat wrote:
Sorry about your Paris trip. Some other time, for sure.

Have a nice time in India.


Um, it's the India one that got cancelled. He's onboard tonights UL563.

Thanks for clarifying it while I was away...busy Razz

Nimish wrote:
Have a great time in France Jishnu - we look forward to the details and pictures Smile

Had a blast, sir! Yes, I will be writing the parts of this TR very very soon!

avbuff wrote:
Have fun in Paris and a small caution .. be very careful of your belongings.

Paris is notorious for thugs flicking your things in daylight without noticing. Be extra careful with your personal belongings.

Thanks Ojas, we did take plenty of caution, but there were still some 'casualties' unfortunately, I wasn't a victim though. More details coming up Smile

Spiderguy252 wrote:
Looking forward to the pics - I guess some have already made their way onto Facebook/WA. Wink

Oh, I could not stop myself from posting those pictures! But then again, significant difference in camera and phone pictures...the former will be here! Oh and..I got greater pics of the Concorde! More on that..coming up!

It will be a short while till I get the first part of this TR sorted, till then, ciao!

Regards
Jish
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jbalonso777
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 07, 2014 5:17 pm    Post subject: Post #777! Reply with quote

Post number 777 is about a flight on an A332. Enjoy reading! Very Happy

DAY 1: 27TH JUNE 2014
Compared to the Mumbai trip, this trip was a bit more organized, both in terms of the way I prepared for it and the school's organization for the same. That evening, bang on time, I left home and headed for the airport, wherein I caught up with my friends. Taking 35 students on a trip is not easy, so we were divided into 4 'buddy groups', the buddy leader being a teacher and deputy buddy leaders being a member of the sixth form (me). I caught up with my group, but then there was a slight delay because ironically one of the teachers' got late. We were assigned a time of 2145 hours to get to the airport, all of the students got there by 2155, but the last teacher reached only at 2210 Razz
We were handed our tickets. Obviously, I was curios to know where my seat was: A and K being the window ones, on a wide body of course. But no sign of this on the tickets though Sad
We walked in to the check in area, and oh my were there huge queues! That's something I missed out on the BOM trip since the BOM flight is the first of many fully packed flights to destinations such as MLE, FRA CDG (wide body) and BLR, BKK, SIN (narrow body).

CHECK IN
Another luggage scan was done wherein I was stopped because of the lumbar belt I was carrying. That done, we joined in one of many never ending lines in front of the UL check in counters. It was 2230 by now. A quick peek at the other side: EK counters still there, CX counters open (for BKK and HKG), same with SQ (to SIN). CX and SQ had passengers in the line, but a very straightforward process, all pax getting their boarding passes really quick.
But for us? We had issues. It was haywire everywhere: groups lining up at the J class check in, other clueless people at the FFP premium status counter, Y class check in was equally confusing. I started reading a magazine and I took a look at the digital clock overhead: it was now 2338 hours! How I managed so long in the check in line is a mystery as scary as the disappearance of MH370.
I asked user abhijith16 to tell me which aircraft it would be..
ALA is not in CMB
ALB is in CMB
ALC headed back to CMB as UL883, possible UL563
ALD headed to PEK
ALG headed to DOH
ALH flying in from CDG
So, down to ALB/C.
Still in the middle of the line, I received my first kiosk boarding pass only to find out I was assigned seat 59G. Not a window seat then Sad
Still though, I wasn't complaining since none of my other friends got a window seat so woohoo! Razz
Few of us were seated from rows 54-60, while others in the mid-20s.

It started smelling like rotten fish after a while, and then the terrible smell of durian decided to make its presence. The heat of the terminal (perhaps A/Cs were not working) and that annoying fly flying around made for a very very uncomfortable scenario. By now, my group and I came up to the conclusion that our buddy group leader is afraid of The Grudge. Yeah, that scary Japanese woman. How did we bring that up, you might ask. Well, there was this lady who had long blonde hair and layers of lipstick. She was called The Grudge's doppelgänger, something which scared our leader big time. Although the lines were long and all, dropping the bags barely took a minute. Once this was done, it was time for immigration...

IMMIGRATION
...where as you'd expect, the lines were long too. But this line was moving much quickly, quite a surprise to be honest, since the processes of immigration and all take quite a long time in CMB.
But then, I spoke too soon Smile
You see, Sri Lanka and I have this very mutual understanding: I hate Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka hates me. With that in mind, I went into the counter. There were some issues with the old and new passports, so the guy was quite rude about the same. 5 minutes later, he literally shooed me off. Rolling Eyes
This felt more like a general India hate than mutual understanding. Oh well.

STUFF BEFORE BOARDING
We didn't have too long to go through duty free, many people mostly bought chocolates and crisps for the flight. Gate 9 was our gate. A miscalculation on my part suggested that our aircraft had been swapped for an A340! But that wasn't to be, we headed for the gate in our groups. As we got closer and closer I realized gate 9 is on the other side of the terminal, and not the A340. Boarding for SQ469, the A333 service to SIN was just about being completed. Probably one day even I will be boarding this flight. Wink


DAY 2: 28TH JUNE 2014
BOARDING
There was a long line at security. Once again I was asked about my lumbar belt. The agent checking the passports, visas and boarding passes was quite rude..asked all of us to 'look straight at him' and verified our faces to the pixelated one on the passports and the visa itself. Oh well. Since I did not see any proper boarding passes, I noticed that the proper boarding passes do have a oneworld logo on it. Anyways, a quick glimpse I took: 4R-ALC was going to operate my flight to Paris. This confirmed by predications of the BKK-CMB flight being followed by the flight to CDG.
Boarding was soon announced at around 0040 or so, 50 minutes prior to departure. First were the J class pax, FlySmiles top tiers, OW top tiers, etc, then families with kids, wheelchair, and then finally Y class pax seated from rows 50 to 64. For those who are interested, ALC's configuration is 'Configuration 1' on UL's website.
Anyways, we boarded, with the teacher asking me what engines these things have, I said RR Trent 700. She was startled at first, wondering why its not CFM56. That, is of course for the A340s.
We received the usual ayubowan welcome. I saw the new business class seats and instantly I was happy because I was on UL's refurbished aircraft!
That though, was short lived. As I turned into economy, I was shocked: it wash't just the old UL Y seats, it was the EK A332 like ancient seats. And even the common PTV (the ones in the center of the bird) were not even drop down: they were the fat ones! The pictures will give you a better description, later.

NOOO!!!!

I made my way to seat 59G and settled down. An aisle seat. I searched everywhere for a window seat. The plane looked packed, sadly. I saw 3 window seats right behind me, but my excitement was short lived when I learnt that it was reserved as crew rest seats, as indicated by the curtains around it. Indeed, one of the flight attendants came around and put the curtain, but that was before take off, strangely. Refresher towels followed by menu cards, were distributed to all passengers. From my view, the flight looked reasonably full, but not completely full, though. The captain came over the PA system, he gave the flight details: initial cruise of 36000 feet, a flying time of 10hr30min, heading in a northwesterly direction, overflying the middle east, Iraq, Eastern Europe, Germany and then finally into Paris, where the weather looked decent, however, there would be turbulence along the way.
I had a few of the Year 9s sitting with me, obviously people whom I did not know very well. Up ahead in row 54, one of my friends' (sixth former, that is) reported on the WhatsApp group that she had 4 seats (59D/E/F/G) to herself. I was the only one with the phone on, so I told her I'd be there as soon as we took off. Well, I wasn't desperate for a window seat just yet as the flight would go on in the darkness for a long time.


DEPARTURE
Unlike airlines in India, who wish to leave around 20 odd minutes before departure time, so that then the FAs can say 'pleased to announce a before time arrival', UL takes its time. This was my fifth flight with them (oh wow Shocked), and yet again the departure time came and went. It was at 0140 when we finally got pushed back for departure. The RR engines were slowly brought into life. Oh, how much I missed holding a camera videoing the beautiful sound of the RR Trent 700 engines being brought into life! A manual safety demonstration was conducted, strangely. Similar to AI's B787s. Anyways, we slowly taxied to the usual runway 32 for departure. Without a stop along the way, power was slowly applied to the RR engines and we slowly gained speed to roll down the runway as ALC gracefully took off into the night skies of Sri Lanka. Here's the thing about wide bodies and narrow bodies: when full power is applied to the engines of NBs, you can feel yourself being pulled back to the seat. However, this does not happen with WBs. Why so?

INFLIGHT
Once at 10000 feet, the seatbelt sign was turned off. I quickly made my move from 59G to 54G. The lights were kept dim, not completely off though. As we flew over the southern tip of India, the crew started the meal service.
But before that, I had to make the 'bed' since I apparently knew how to 'get this sh** done on an empty flight'. Okay then. Rolling Eyes
Its not easy sleeping on 3 seats in Y (I'm looking at you, EK and CX) so obviously, 2 seats was never going to be easy.

The view I was going to have...

My 'bed' Embarassed

Just before the meal service, I went up to my other friends who were in rows 28 and 29. I saw something there which looked like a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow: a window seat empty! And it was on the starboard side too, so obviously, good for the sunrise pictures! I told my friends I'd get there as soon as the trays and all were collected and taken away.

Meal service started.
Lets take a look at the menu, shall we? (Pictures taken at home, menu stolen from the plane Razz )



Stuff which I did not dare to order...neither did I want to..just saying!

Three options for a meal at almost 3 in the morning! Impressive!

Drinks were given first, I asked for a EGB ginger beer... Non alcoholic, just a cool name, that's all Razz


I ordered the cornish pastry..
A tray was placed in front of me and it looked very empty to say the least..


I bit into it just before I realized I have to take a picture for this TR Razz
Cornish pastry sounds very British and all, but in reality it was just another one of those rolls you'd find in a local pastry shop here in Colombo. I left the cake half way though because it was too dry. Tea and coffee service followed.
I was quite disappointed with the meal: while at the right temperatures, it wasn't filling. Quality was slightly on the downside, too.

Just before the trays were collected, the aircraft hit some turbulence. And this was just the beginning of a mild to violent turbulence for the next few minutes. Obviously, this meant that I'd have to wait for my move to the window seat Sad
This turbulence lasted for almost 20 odd minutes, but it was enough for the window seat to disappear: it was Mr RI of all people who took the seat, and fell asleep there. Dang it Sad
Now, all I had was my friend to talk to..and since she was not going to sleep any time soon, I had no issues of getting bored Smile
Speaking of getting bored: IFE was utter crap (for today's standards, at least), but I must admit: the touch screen (yes it was touch!) on UL's old screens were much more responsive than CX's new current generation of touch screens. Just saying! Laughing
The camera worked well for take off and landing, but it was useless otherwise Sad
The movies were not on demand, so whatever was playing many people saw....mostly The Lego Movie.
Music selection was also not good enough...but then it was a very old system so..

Anyways, we both had now tucked in and we started our chatter amongst the snores of the other people onboard: yeah, everyone in the rear section was asleep, just the two of us awake!

Lights turned off just after the meal

Looking back...and the huge TV screen...better pics later..

Headed for the washroom after a few minutes..



OLDNESS!

Not bad!

Just before tucking in..

Since we were the only two awake, one of the FAs came in and gave us glasses of water: yeah, he only had 2 glasses on the small tray! He also told me: 'your girlfriend behind is calling you.'
Unbelievable.
First the Captain on UL141 to BOM, and now a flight attendant on UL563 to CDG. What is it UL crew and teasing me! Shocked
Anyways, bottom line is that one of the girls in row 59 wondered why I moved ahead, and here he takes it 7 miles ahead -_-
He told us to let him know if we needed anything at any time, and ask any questions, if any. I made the move: oh oh! Can we see the cockpit then?! However, this was denied, and understandably so. I told him I'll get in touch if I need anything. This was just the start of something. More on this later.

My friend and I started chattering away about almost anything and everything: from 'deepest thoughts' to debating what is an apt name for the seats in column E & F in a 2-4-2 config: they cannot be called middle seats since there are only 2 rather than 3 seats (assuming 2-2 + 2-2, making it 2-4-2), to wondering what the 'T' stands for in Ferrari's 2014 F1 car the F-14 T. Yeah, does sound like the F-14 Tomcat, but the T actually stands for Turbo, signifying the return of the turbocharged engines in Formula One. But since its so darn slow, probably Truck or Tractor or even Tram would be perfect. (Ameya sir? Razz )
About 3 hours went like that, overflying the Arabian Sea. By the time we neared Dubai and Doha (middle east, that is), both of us fell asleep.
I slept in the most uncomfortable way I could find but yet, I managed some sleep. I asked for a sleep mask about 20 minutes later, found the sweet spot in my sleep and dozed off for a bit.
I woke up and removed the sleep mask only to find out that the sun had risen and that..the chance of any good pictures were gone Sad I fell asleep once again

Fire. Flames. Tanks. Armed vehicles. Guns, bazookas, shots fired, people crying for help, soldiers fighting. Cars exploding, buildings tumbling. Sirens blaring. I had found myself in the middle of a Great War. How did I get there? About 2 or 3 terrifying minutes in this war, I was shot on my shoulder. Thrice. A few seconds later, I was shot again. Shortly after that, something fell so hard on my face that I woken up from what was an action packed nightmare: the shots fired were my friends waking me up. Oh wow. Shocked
They were rudely laughing at me because of the eye mask. Ugh. Evil or Very Mad
A quick check of the map: we were overflying Baghdad! And I had that nightmare all the while as we flew over Iraq! Coincidence?! Either way, it was creepy to say the least! Shocked
After my rude awakening (still annoyed about it. Mad ), I decided to move up to row 29, and eventually seat 29K to salvage whatever pictures of the sunrise I could manage. We had now climbed up to 38000 feet


My first picture of the wing. Nice, isn't it?Embarassed

Cabin, and those huge screens!

Finally, a decent pic!

Confirm the registration!




The glare came in. I shut off the window shade and talked to Mr. RI. He told me why he's leaving school, and asked me where I'm looking to go to for university. Some really helpful tips he gave, and I'm sure they'll come in handy very very soon! We talked about some camera stuff as well. In the meantime, we were given a...uhm...sandwich. Yeah...

Cheese and tomato in between the bread. It tasted terrible! But yet, I had it since the meal was infilling anyways and I was super hungry!

Spent about 20 odd minutes there in total. I decided to head back to my seat....only after I went to the other aisle and get a wing picture from there, hehe Razz


Asked one of the Year 9's to do this. He did a decent job...


Why only the wing, when the entire cabin is there too? Wink

That fat screen!


Heading back to turn around to my aisle Razz

I bumped into the 2 FAs there. One of them was making tea for himself and the other FA with whom I was about to talk to. I started off with the obvious: how did he get into aviation? He told me that it was just 2 years ago when he stepped into a plane for the first time, and now here he is flying wherever UL flies! He asked me about my aspirations, and I let him know about the same. I went a bit technical - I asked him why the A340s do not fly into CDG. Other than last minute operational swaps, the A340s are banned from the EU! This came as a huge surprise to me, if I be honest! Furthermore, he also told me that the new A350s will be on par with EK, QR and EY, well in terms of IFE at least! He offered me another one of those terrible sandwiches which I politely declined, but I asked for a Sprite instead. And that request was fulfilled instantly. We chatted a bit more about the flight to CDG in general, he told me that this time around the flight was a bit more empty than usual, just around 200 pax onboard. Lead purser Riccardo (yes, Riccardo, not Ricciardo as in Daniel Ricciardo!) came to the back to check on the 2 FAs and he started chatting with me as well. This also included a question about OW, and obviously, it is working out for them, so far. Especially on the Australia bound flights! Out of nowhere the FA once again asked me questions about...you know what..and I dodged those bullets yet again Rolling Eyes
It was now around 0500 Paris time, still with around 3.5 hours to go.
I spent a good hour or so chatting with the FAs, then I headed back to my seat, 54G.




Some very interesting stuff written on that! Smile

UL's A332s do not have washrooms in the rear..


But then, before heading back to my seat, I sat in seat 55A for a bit


Those windows are so old!


Back in 54G!

When you get bored, you take these type of pictures Razz

Lights were turned on about 3 hours prior to landing, before beginning the breakfast service..

Hot wet wipes which got really cold as they were used..

Still over Asia, almost entering Europe!


Meal trolleys pulled to the front Smile

3 choices again!


I went for the first choice...obviously!

And a tomato juice with that Smile

And Ceylon tea to finish it off!

In terms of quantity, the meal decent, but quality wise, a bit on the downside. Fresh fruits weren't fresh, yoghurt was of a rather cheap quality, and the egg wasn't completely cooked. The sausage and potato was pretty okay. Better meal compared to the first one overall Smile

While having breakfast, all of a sudden, the throttle was pushed forward. I didn't wonder for too long what was happening, it was simple: we were climbing up to 40000 feet, the new cruising altitude.

It was time to make another seat change, this time to seat 64G, the very last row as I sat with the teacher and chat with her about some stuff. The friendly FA came around and told me, 'You'll get a UL branded pen only if you agree to fill in the comments form.' One does not simply say no to this - I filled in the form, giving appropriate ratings to everything. And handed this over to the FA who took this with a smile! Smile
The crew rest seats were made back to normal seats as the curtains were drawn back, and the FA came to me and invited me to sit on one of the three new window seats available. AWW YES! Very Happy

My final seat movement for this flight: seat 62K!




The curtain thing..and old panels..







Headed off for the washroom one final time...only to find it in a nightmarish state!





YUS! Razz



Seatbelt and the fabric

One for the recline, one for the lumbar support. And I must say, the lumbar support helped me big time! Very Happy


Asked for a coke, request greeted with a smile! Very Happy


Signs of aging, of course.


That IFE box did not take too much space Wink


Half of it..



Safety card!


IFE stuff. I barely needed it, of course.




DESCENT AND ARRIVAL
The first officer came over the PA as we flew over Germany to give us details about our arrival into CDG: arrival at around 0840, 17 Celsius, slightly cloudy and to expect turbulence at around 17000 feet due to the same. The FAs came around collecting: menu cards, headsets, blankets. Purser Ricardo also gave us a sendoff by informing us of the exit locations (yeah, just like on the 787, a pre-landing safety demo indicating where the exits are nearest to us). Also, an ayubowan goodbye wherein the crew members who showed us the exit locations did the namaskar thing with their hands, before pulling their seats down and sitting down.

A WizzAir A320 gave us company as we neared FRA.


And an Embraer!

More!

LH CRJ, I'm guessing?
This was one crazy air show for me as every time I saw a plane from the plane, I jumped a little like a little kid!





Descent has begun!


I'm going to sit right back and enjoy this ride Twisted Evil





EUROPEAN SOIL!


That vortex.
I missed it on 9W's A332 while landing into HKG, but I've found redemption right here! Very Happy


Cannot get more of it!





PARIS IT IS!


^^ And that will be it for now. Stay tuned for the video Razz

Soon after a very gentle touch down at 0839, we taxied off runway 27R.
Let the spotting begin! Oh and also the hunt for Concorde. Will I get to see that spectacular bird?!

TG A380 for starters

AF 77W and China Eastern A343




That GE90!



The official birds for the official French people have to be French, obviously!

ECAir B752 with winglets

And all of a sudden my froze when I saw the Concrode. Just when I realized I hadn't clicked a single picture, I hurried myself into putting the camera into continuous mode and clicked away! This truly magnificent bird was one which I hoped to see, and now, that dream was now reality!

Let me tell you, there are much better pictures of this bird. But since its on the return flight, you need to wait a bit Razz


Back to reality Razz


CDG's T1 is probably one of the most interesting ones out there!


Sleek bird, sleek livery.


I hope to be on one of these birds very very soon. Wink


So I've spotted HSBC in BOM, DXB, CPT, JNB, SIN and now CDG (no, not in CMB Razz ) Truly, the world's local bank!

Engines shut down, the crew members serving us came and personally said goodbye to us, before we were all let to disembark. There were some vigilant checks of our passports and visas before we were let to go for immigration and carrying our bags. But this was done in a nice way of course, and the first of many 'Bonjour!' greetings! Immigration was a very very quick affair, barely 10 seconds at the counter. Bags collected, buddied up again, and we boarded a Renault bus to our hotel: Ibis Paris Berthier, Porte de Clichy

4R-ALC: merci!









An escalator maze here in CDG's T1!






Flight route

After landing into CDG.

So that's it for the first part of this TR. A decent flight with SriLankan Airlines, but with its own flaws, however mostly on the positive side. In the next part: Avenue des Champs-Élysées and the Bateaux Mouches boat trip on the Seine.
Stay tuned for more!

Regards
Jish
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avbuff
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 07, 2014 6:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nice detailed reporting ... and the concorde moment was the iconic one .. thanks for sharing.
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stealthpilot
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 07, 2014 11:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nice TR.
Sucks you couldn't do the QR Combo ..... forget the 77W/321- worth it for the 346 (and as an afterthought that 787 Razz )
Iv never been in CMB at night, during the day you can see quite a bit hope it was the same at night.
The food looked terrible ..... always sad to get an old interior a/c but o well.

Seemed like a normal flight with nothing wow or exciting, hope the return was better.
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 08, 2014 12:29 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

avbuff wrote:
Nice detailed reporting ... and the concorde moment was the iconic one .. thanks for sharing.

Thanks for your early reply! Very Happy
Yup, it sure was a magnificent moment when I saw the Concorde, an amazing feeling! It went up a step or two when I saw the bird even closer while return! Smile

stealthpilot wrote:
Nice TR.
Sucks you couldn't do the QR Combo ..... forget the 77W/321- worth it for the 346 (and as an afterthought that 787 Razz )

Thanks for your reply too! Very Happy
Its quite obvious I'm getting this reply for an Airbus person Wink
But I'll be with you on this one - it surely was worth it for the A346! But I was a mixed about the 77W and 787...777 being my favorite, I was looking forward to that more than the 787!
But then, the teacher's would look at convenience over anything else, obviously, so it was UL as the eventual choice, sadly. I missed a lot by not doing the QR combo Sad

stealthpilot wrote:
Iv never been in CMB at night, during the day you can see quite a bit hope it was the same at night.

Pretty decent views at night, too. If you get the camera settings right, you'll have some nice pictures Smile

stealthpilot wrote:
The food looked terrible ..... always sad to get an old interior a/c but o well.
Seemed like a normal flight with nothing wow or exciting, hope the return was better.

Yeah, food sucked Sad
I was looking forward to the new UL interior, but then, I've mentioned the mutual understanding between Sri Lanka and I, so it was obvious Razz
Return was more or less the same, to be honest. The fact that I had friends with me was the only entertaining part of the flight(s)!

Regards
Jish
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 08, 2014 12:29 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

DAY 2 CONTINUES...
CHAMPS ELYSEES, BATEAUX MOUCHES RIVER CRUISE

Once onboard the bus, all of us complained about how old the plane was, why didn't the IFE work, etc. The signs of being completely tired from the flight were shown in our responses to a very enthusiastic Mr. D (it still baffles me how he had the energy! Oh wait, he slept, the rest of us were mostly awake. Ha, my bad). Anyways, I saw a few of the sights of Paris in the ride of the bus, with the sound of the turbocharger in the bus's engine making it quite awesome! Honestly, while the seats were a bit narrow, it sure was way more comfy than ALC's seats! Oh and in case I forgot to mention (I did Razz ) - it started raining as soon as we exited the terminal! Perhaps the weather grudge had followed us in from CMB, just saying! But really, not the ideal start for the trip we wanted.


Onboard the turbocharged Renault. Drizzle turned into rain!


IKEA. Wherever you go, you find one. Mostly.


Stade de France. Coming up later in this TR!


Brilliant advertising!


Hmm, a driver with only half of his arms. A radio station advert. What are they implying?


The TGV!



The hotel basement


Coffee vending machine!


Lobby

The hotel looked pretty decent from first impressions.

The hotel.


Coffee vending machine!

The hotel looked pretty decent from the lobby. But when we got to the fourth floor (our floor), we were welcomed to a maze to find our room. But later, we found alternate lifts close by to the room. Furthermore, when we entered the room, it was probably the biggest shock of the roommates' and my life! The room was tiny! They barely fit in 2 slimmer than usual single beds, a washroom barely 2m wide, a tiny desk, an open cupboard. Window was pretty big though. And they managed to fit in a small HDTV. Instructions were to rest and freshen up in around about 1hr30min, so that we could leave by 1230 to begin the tours and all. Not enough to rest our weary selves to be honest, but this was nothing compared to what was about to attack us in the next few days!

At 1202 sharp, we headed off to the Porte de Clichy métro station to head for Champs Elysees. Everyone in the trip were handed their yellow caps, but luckily, the sixth formers (us) had a less hideous blue cap. Oh yay! Very Happy


Onwards!


I was surprised to see graffiti almost everywhere I went! Other than the Eiffel tower, perhaps. Even in the parts between metro stations!


Walking into the metro station, it felt very old. God only knows why I was expecting a SIN or HKG type metro system! But anyways, it was dark, it wasn't filthy, but it smelled at times. Also, the overall ambience made it look very dark, you'll see in the pictures. What did it remind me of? Kolkata metro, obviously! Razz




We walked out of the metro. It was still drizzling, but I somehow managed to handle the camera away from the rain, amongst other things.


Looking westwards, down Champs Elysees Avenue..


Ferrari 458 Speciale.
All my trips are complete when a certain few boxes are ticked, spotting a Ferrari is one. And this is a bit different compared to the normal 458 Italia, of course!


We were shooed off for lunch...but only for 20 odd minutes. With budget restrictions already in place even before the word go, I decided to buy a ham and salad sandwich. And cheese, don't forget the fromage. This was the first of many hard bread dishes which I had in Paris, and I must say - I'm not at all a fan of it!



Macaroons!


Too broke for a crêpe already! Sad

It was the first of many hurried walks (in the rain though!) to the Bateaux Mouches boat terminal. There was another Ferrari which passed along the way, but it was slightly old AND it was raining significantly, so I did not bother taking a picture of the same. But anyways, I will let the pictures to do the talking from now on because:
1. it was too wet, so I had handle my camera in the same
2. it was too cold!
3. it was mostly in French so there was nothing that I could understand Sad
Apologies for the terrible pictures, as you will see, surely the rain did not help one bit Sad

That exhaust!



They kept saying metal in French, which in fact translated to: METALLICA! So every time I heard metallica, a shivery me would try and yell: METALLICA!





Musee d'Orsay







Gothic architecture at the Notre Dame.


A LGBT parade passed by, electric atmosphere out there!





That love lock bridge thingie..




I doubt if these 'spares' were being sold..



Eiffel tower! I did not click too many pictures of this because I knew I'd take more and better ones when I get there..



The metro! Well they sure look old, don't they?



Everyone seems to be enjoying it! And there I was in the corner, shivering Razz


Everyone passing on the bridges waved at us! And that was very nice, obviously Smile


Back in the metro we went. Next stop? Some shopping and then dinner!


Graffiti!


Oldness written everywhere at this station!

We walked out of the station and this time it was poring! I somehow managed to save the camera more than myself! Walked into a very full Starbucks where I organized myself a little, and then into Hard Rock Café.

HRC!


Alcohollica! Razz


G n R stuff!


What a beautiful way to start the Paris trip. -_-



Photographing the clouds was difficult Crying or Very sad

We went into the Bistro Romain (ROMAIN GROSJEAN! Razz )
Menu was: feulliete au fromage, emince de poulet / champignons et riz, mousse au chocolat
Dinner at 1830 hours. Felt a bit early, but it was okay considering the fact that the walk was quite long anyways AND the rain made it more difficult to negotiate!



It was getting too cold now. My woolens were not enough, oh and lets not forget the rain, which made it worse. We were back in the hotel by 2050 hours and HOLY COW the sun was still up! This caught me by surprise a lot, I must say! But then before I went to sleep, I did a bit of research into this and then knew why this happened: latitude stuff, of course. This explained why the sunrise in SIN was only after 0645! (I'm looking at you, CX crew.)


2100 hours. How, just how?


The room. Rolling Eyes

This ended day 2 of the trip, certainly a very quick start to proceedings.
In the next part - Disneyland: valuable lessons learnt.

Regards
Jish
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me111993
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 08, 2014 12:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

lovely report Jishnu, thanks a lot for sharing.

That UL 332 interior is a carbon copy of EKs, barring the seat cover.

you had no say on what seat you wanted?

Wing view pics have come along nicely.

looking forward to the return.

cheers.
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 08, 2014 1:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

jbalonso777 wrote:

Furthermore, when we entered the room, it was probably the biggest shock of the roommates' and my life! The room was tiny!



Welcome to the World of Parisian Hotels. That is what pricy real estate does for you.

jbalonso777 wrote:


Walking into the metro station, it felt very old. God only knows why I was expecting a SIN or HKG type metro system! But anyways, it was dark, it wasn't filthy, but it smelled at times. Also, the overall ambience made it look very dark, you'll see in the pictures. What did it remind me of? Kolkata metro, obviously! Razz

Regards
Jish


That is because it is very old. The Paris metro system, particularly in the central part of the city, was laid out between 1900 and 1910. It is also an integral part of the city's landscape and has grown with the city, unlike in most other places where the metro was added as an afterthought. So much so that addresses in Paris always have the name of the nearest metro station mentioned.

The Paris metro does an excellent job when it comes to mass transport. It is one of the most efficiently run metros in the world, if not the most.


Regarding the Concorde, I wonder if you had time to visit the Musee de l'air et l'espace in Le Bourget? They have not one but two Concordes there, which you can climb into. It is a place that is not to be missed for an aviation enthusiast.
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 08, 2014 12:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Brilliant TR Jishnu - thanks for sharing. Loved all the seat hopping on the a/c, I generally do that once - the moment the "boarding complete" announcement is made - and to a better seat that I might have checked out before hand.

UL seems pretty decent - at least the crew were friendly and the seats weren't too bad. The food does not look too good, but then I would have taken the local (Sri Lankan) choices - for something more authentic Smile.

Paris - raining all the time. This is really - Europe - raining all the time. Whether London or Germany or Switzerland - seems to be a regular theme. Perhaps why the whole of Europe is so green Smile.

The checkin/ queues at CMB seemed quite out of place, it's generally quite fast these days at most airports. I wonder if this is to do with the "Group" check-in? Or is it this slow/ chaotic even for regular pax?
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 08, 2014 4:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Great pictures and interesting TR. Glad you saw the concorde. Hope I get to make a trip to Paris soon !

LoL for the F1 T Very Happy
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 08, 2014 4:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nice report.

But why o why o why o why would they take you to Hard Rock and Starbucks?
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 08, 2014 6:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

me111993 wrote:
lovely report Jishnu, thanks a lot for sharing.
That UL 332 interior is a carbon copy of EKs, barring the seat cover.
you had no say on what seat you wanted?
Wing view pics have come along nicely.

Thanks for your comments, Rishul! Smile
Yeah, I guess I've now had a taste of EK's A332 a bit, so I'll avoid booking flights on those.
Nope, no say in the seat because check in was done through kiosks. I did have a choice by checking in online, but I learnt that was possible a long long time later Sad
There were many empty windows, so I'm sure if it was a normal check in, I had a shot of requesting for a window seat Confused The return fared much better, though! Smile

The_Goat wrote:
Welcome to the World of Parisian Hotels. That is what pricy real estate does for you.

I learnt about that a few days later, I will write about it Smile
But its crazy how space is a premium in Paris!

The_Goat wrote:
That is because it is very old. The Paris metro system, particularly in the central part of the city, was laid out between 1900 and 1910. It is also an integral part of the city's landscape and has grown with the city, unlike in most other places where the metro was added as an afterthought. So much so that addresses in Paris always have the name of the nearest metro station mentioned.

I learnt that later as well. Plus, there were new metros which I went on later in the trip! I think the term 'metro' did originate from the Paris métro itself, if I'm not wrong. But I do hope they refurbish the older lines soon, by introducing more of the new rubber wheeled rakes on to this line..


The_Goat wrote:
Regarding the Concorde, I wonder if you had time to visit the Musee de l'air et l'espace in Le Bourget? They have not one but two Concordes there, which you can climb into. It is a place that is not to be missed for an aviation enthusiast.

Unfortunately, that will have to wait for the next time Sad
There were time constrains anyways, and this wasn't part of the itinerary since most of us (excluding me) were not into aviation anyways. So hopefully whenever I go next, I will see that museum for sure!
Thank you for your reply Very Happy

Nimish wrote:
Brilliant TR Jishnu - thanks for sharing. Loved all the seat hopping on the a/c, I generally do that once - the moment the "boarding complete" announcement is made - and to a better seat that I might have checked out before hand.

Thank you too for your reply, sir! Very Happy
Much appreciated.
I usually tend to stick to my original seat, even if the plane is quite empty, because usually I select my seats towards the rear of the plane, so they're empty anyways. Furthermore, I didn't check out any preferred seats on this bird, since I knew I would most likely have to stick to one seat - that didn't happen! Razz
But in all honesty, this probably is the first and last time I'll change seats in a flight more than once! Rolling Eyes

Nimish wrote:
UL seems pretty decent - at least the crew were friendly and the seats weren't too bad. The food does not look too good, but then I would have taken the local (Sri Lankan) choices - for something more authentic Smile.

They were pretty much the same on the return flight, too. Only the food was a bit better, perhaps. Seats on the outbound, although much older, were more comfy than the inbound! I would take the more authentic option on any airline, but not UL since the options are exactly the same as everyday food at home! But yeah, perhaps the local options would've been a bit better...

Nimish wrote:
Paris - raining all the time. This is really - Europe - raining all the time. Whether London or Germany or Switzerland - seems to be a regular theme. Perhaps why the whole of Europe is so green Smile.

Haha! Nice way to look at it!
Three of the teachers' were English, so they joked that they brought in the English summer with them Wink

Nimish wrote:
The checkin/ queues at CMB seemed quite out of place, it's generally quite fast these days at most airports. I wonder if this is to do with the "Group" check-in? Or is it this slow/ chaotic even for regular pax?

There were 3 groups, excluding us so make that 4 groups in total checking in for different flights. So perhaps that explains the out of place check in, but I do hope its not a regular affair..

Once again, thank you for your reply! Smile

ameya wrote:
Great pictures and interesting TR. Glad you saw the concorde. Hope I get to make a trip to Paris soon !

Thanks Ameya sir!
Like I've said already, I had an even better view on return!
And I do hope you can chalk out a trip to Paris - and of course, like The_Goat said, a trip to the Musee de l'air et l'espace in Le Bourget..

jasepl wrote:
Nice report.

But why o why o why o why would they take you to Hard Rock and Starbucks?

Hey Jason!
Great to hear from you Very Happy
Thanks for your comment!

Uh no, they did not take us there..before dinner, we were allowed some shopping (or free) time, so some of us went to different places, I stuck with Starbucks (just to reorganize my bag due to the rain mayhem) and HRC (because a few of the others' wanted to buy stuff from the shop). So yeah, it was unplanned! Smile

Also, I forgot to mention: thanks to their membership into OW, UL has seen much improved loads on their flights to HKG, the purser told me.
Interesting indeed.
Secondly, last year's Paris trip..
UL563 was delayed by over 6 hours!
But the aircraft was still the same...4R-ALC it was!



And another wing view pic, taken by one of the Year 9's Smile


Regards
Jish
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 08, 2014 8:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

DAY 3: 29TH JUNE 2014
DISNEYLAND
(dammit)
The hotel breakfast was mostly on the cold side, the only meat being: ham. There was a variety of bread, cheese and yoghurt along with that, while there were some tortilla, crêpes, and the like. I mostly sticked to cheese, ham, croissant, yoghurt and hot chocolate. And this was the same every single day.

We left the hotel at around about 0815 that morning, with the English summer in full swing Razz We took the metro up until Gare de Lyon, where a newer metro invited us. And yeah, it felt so much better!

I can't exactly remember what the interchanges were, but from Gare de Lyon to Disneyland, it was onboard a new mode of transport: the Réseau Express Régional. We'll just call it the RER. We were warned about pickpocketing every where, but more so because on the RER. A story from last year wherein the guide's hand bag was slashed in broad daylight because she was attending to a sick student gripped us all. We were warned and cautioned.
But even before we were on the RER, we learnt of our first victim of pickpocketing. Not exactly victim, because the phone which was about to be snitched fell off the pickpocket's hand, resulting in a cracked screen (yeah. Cracked screen on a Nokia Razz ). That phone lived another day to tell the stories of the adventure in Paris.
Oh and speaking of Gare de Lyon, almost every one of us were reminded of Mr. Bean's Holiday, in his words: 'Chhoo chhoo, Gare de Lyon'.
Anyways, the RER came in, and it was to be my first ever double decker train ride! I wanted to be on the upper deck, obviously Razz







Despite being deemed unsafe in terms of pickpocketing and all, most of us felt much better in terms of comfort on board the RER. Good fun Smile


Disneyland station. No dedicated trains unlike HKG Wink



It was quite a long wait before we entered the Disneyland Park, about 1030 when that happened. Instructions were to return to the big circle thing by 1400 hours. While we waited for the tickets, we took plenty of pictures of our buddy groups, and with other teachers, etc. We also questioned the relationship between Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse. Are they dating? Or are they just brother or sister? 'If its the latter, than that's just incest!' said one of the teacher's. And oh we all started laughing hard! There were plenty of more discussions, even reaching to levels of the crisis in Iraq! But anyways, it was time to enter Disneyland Park. Obviously, HKG disappointed me a lot, so I was hoping Paris would be something better. Hmm, looking at Main Street USA, I knew some things were obviously going to be similar compared to HKG, but more rides so it was looking good! Plenty of reasons for optimism!
Did I say: optimism?
Haha, said the weather Gods. Rain was bound to disrupt our plans! So as soon as we entered, it started raining. Yay. Massive amounts of yay.


Everyone grouping up!



Hmm, the HKG entrance a bit more impressive, with Mickey being on a surfboard on a splashing fountain. Physics!


Look at those clouds! Sad




The lines in between were interesting..too bad the tram wasn't working!


Main Street USA again..


A FUEL STATION!


Couple of restaurants..


Hertz Laughing


I was willing to invest in a nice ice cream (even in the cold, yeah) but then again, the machine was 'reloading'. Maybe it was a sign..?



Such Castle, Much Wow..
Wow wow..


Here's the thing about hanging around with girls: shopping is a nightmare. We killed almost an hour and a half because of the womanly temptations they have. Evil or Very Mad
This left us with barely 2 hours to go on any rides: way to kill prime time by shopping when the park was sort of empty! Once they finished their shopping, lines grew longer and longer for the rides, eliminating any hope of being on any one of those. I still wonder what difference it would've made in terms of shopping if we actually did wait for the latter half! Well, more rides, that's for sure!



Middle eastern theme...Aladdin!

It was now when I went on a 7 minutes shopping spree: bought a Jack Sparrow hat and eye patch for myself, a bowl for Dobby, a light saber for the elder brother (some people never get old! Very Happy ), and other little souvenir stuff.
7 minutes compared to 90 minutes is a significant difference! Twisted Evil
The only interesting thing we found on the map was related to The Pirates of the Caribbean.

Found the Black Pearl!

And just to make things better: it started raining all over again! Things couldn't get better. We found shelter in a place which actually was Davy Jones' locker Exclamation

Seriously..rain rain go away!



Inside his locker!




The rain actually went...and blue skies started to emerge...and it was getting really warm as well! Shocked




Indiana Jones themed roller coaster. Wait time: 45 minutes. If only all that shopping did not have to happen.....



Rafiki and Timon!
The specific shopaholic girl tried to take a selfie with Rafiki...only to be pushed out of his way. AWW YESSS! Twisted Evil



UP movie theme!
He looks a lot like Marco Mattiacci, I swear.









Lunch consisted of a very basic but outstandingly delicious ham and molten cheese toast with a chocolate chip muffin. Good to go till dinner! Very Happy


Heading back!

At 1400 hours, it was time to head out of the Disneyland Park and head for the Walt Disney studios. That was just adjacent to the Disneyland park. We had around about 3 hours to kill here. Obviously, it started off with shopping.......
But then a much smaller amount of time spent there because thankfully they realized its the exact same stuff in those stores too. Whew!

The sun's out!


Inside one of the studios Smile


Movie set


Stich thing, I presume?


Chevrolet car

There were plenty of things on show in this studio, mostly stuff used by Disney in the production of all the movies. There was a chewing gum vending machine.
Hmm.
'Insert 1c and then lift up the vertical bar for the gum of your choice' it said.
We put the cent in, it wouldn't go in. We tried lifting the bar, nothing happened.
It was only then we realized that we had made a complete ass of ourselves because that was one of the many things on show and not for commercial use! Laughing at our own dumbness, we walked out of the studio, and found a elusive bench to sit on.
5 minutes we'll sit here, we promised to ourselves.

The elusive bench on the left of the woman in a blue jacket.

Quick map review: The Hollywood Tower Hotel was the only interesting ride out there. So with this in mind, 5 minutes soon turned to 45 minutes as our group cracked the lamest jokes and laughed at them...because there was nothing else better to do! After this, we finally walked out to the hotel thing..

Wait time: 55 minutes. Never mind. Rolling Eyes

Walked around the park a lot..so bored.

Buzz Lightyear!



A PLANE!!



Those are a bunch of creepy faces, aren't they?! Shocked


Another interesting ride...45 minutes wait time. Hell no!




CARS!

Our boredom reached a new level when we met the teachers along the way. They said that the hotel ride 'was very interesting'. It had sarcasm written all of it, so thank God we didn't wait in line for so long! After about 5 minutes, we decided to stalk to the teachers' by following them wherever they went. Yeah, that is how bored we were Crying or Very sad
After about 20 minutes of this, one of them saw my face...mission failed, we ran like there was no tomorrow!



Found another bench to sit on, and the view I had was ^^ that.

Was time to head back (YAAAAAAAY!)

Herbie!


...and more shopping ughhh


We were given 20 minutes of shopping here. Are you kidding me!


Hmm convenient, but I wonder how heavy it is?


Still questioning the relationship, hehe


Dinner for tonight would be at...

Its only upon entering the restaurant I found out that there was a ride (called AC/DC or something), and this was there:

WHY WHY WHY WHY!!!
Why do bad things happen to me!


Back at the food place, like an idiot I decided to order a chicken burger rather than a cheeseburger because...well, I cannot explain my wisdom in thinking that a cheeseburger would be cheese only and no meat Neutral




The mask from...The Mask!

It was almost 2000 hours when we left back for the hotel. 8pm and the sun was shiny as hell. Back on the RER, it was time to reflect back on the day: HKG Disneyland was boring, so was Paris. I wonder if I'll go to another Disneyland anywhere in the world...
Dad was right. Disneyland(s) is/are boring.
Lights out by around 2200, it was time to rest after what sadly for me was a rather wasteful day.
Day 3 had better, much better prospects: Notre Dame, Latin Quarter and of course, The Eiffel tower!




Stay tuned for the report from these sights! Smile

Regards
Jish
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 08, 2014 9:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

What an extensive TR; thanks for posting!
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 09, 2014 5:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

sabya99 wrote:
What an extensive TR; thanks for posting!

Thank you for your reply! Smile
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 12, 2014 10:38 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

DAY 4: 30TH JUNE 2014
NOTRE DAME, LATIN QUARTER, EIFFEL TOWER

This is it I guess, the part you've all been waiting...the highlight of it all, the Eiffel Tower!

Day 4 was certainly bound to be more interesting because, well obviously: the elusive Eiffel Tower! And along with that, the Notre Dame Cathedral and time inside the Latin Quarter. It was time for the usual breakfast: apple juice, hot chocolate, croissant, cheese and ham. A quick departure at 0900, we headed off for the Porte de Clichy metro station.


Hotel whereabouts

This is when I learnt that there this station also catered to one of the 5 RER lines in Paris. Line C, this was while the metro was line 13. However, the lack of enough woolens and the rain was starting to have an ill-effect on me. Anyways, at the RER station, I noticed that these trains, albeit double decker, were quite old. With scratches on the windows and of course, the brown/beige interior giving it a rather old-ish feel. But in many ways, the RER did feel better because the trains waited for much longer at the stations, and of course being quicker.

Another dark photo of the platform.
For all the railway bugs, its worth noting that the metro runs on power via a third line on the ground, the RER uses overhead wiring via pantographs.

CATHEDRAL OF NOTRE DAME DE PARIS
We took the RER towards the St. Michel Notre Dame station. Quite a long ride, it was enough for me to catch up on some sleep. Speaking of sleep: the times in Paris suited my body clock perfectly! Back home in CMB, I usually sleep at around about 0300, while waking up at say 1000 or 1100. Do the maths, you'll notice it fit my Paris trip itinerary perfectly! Anyways, once at the station, we got off (obviously Razz ) A short climb of stairs, fighting through what possibly was the coldest wind ever, the magnificent 12th century Gothic Architecture structure called the 'Notre Dame' stood before us, as the blue skies and bright shiny sun made for a very welcoming atmosphere.



A long line had already formed to get inside the cathedral, while it grew longer and longer as seconds turned into minutes. A quick group picture later, we were all let just half an hour to explore this beautiful piece of architecture. And as typical Indians (of course..), we cut the line, and joined in. All of a sudden, the already long line grew longer from the centre strangely Embarassed


We cut the line



However, not one word of displeasure or whatever was heard. Just shows how accommodating they are...or probably we were just too busy in our own conversations that we didn't bother to respond to any calls of such sorts Razz



Pics from the inside:







The inside of the cathedral was just magnamonous. It was unbelievable. The sheer of size of it! And it surely is hard to believe that all the art and carving were done by hand in the 12th century! Beautiful stuff. But what really attracted most of the people were the glass paintings right in the center of the cathedral. Not only were the huge, the designs on them were simply stunning! But then, half an hour passed really too quickly. It was time to leave. I rushed through the second half of the cathedral. What I did notice was a souvenir shop tucked away in the end, in one corner. It had to be there, of course! Razz



Western Facade..


Notice the broom? Razz



Once we stepped, I decided to take a quick toilet break: quick is an understatement because the toilet was WAY underground, through a tunnel almost. And when I did finally solve the maze, there was a long line. Worth the 7 second wait Smile Also, the toilet (and wash basin!) had the metro station like entry gate, ensuring its one at a time, but really a significant waste of time!

Once this was done, it was a short walk to the Latin Quarter. Taking a short cut through the garden, we reached the narrow streets of the Latin Quarter.








LATIN QUARTER

The World Cup atmosphere. Always present!

This is exactly how I pictured Paris and its streets: narrow, with stones laid on the road rather than tar. And a million 2 wheelers, may it be motor bike, scooter or even bicycles! We were told to meet up in front of church, and given a whopping 2.5 hours of shopping time! Shocked Obviously, as you might have read from my previous part: shopping is not my thing! Mad However though, I did bare with the shopping for a very respectable 20 minutes. I split away from the group to find a nice spot to sit and rest: I was feeling slightly woozy and of course, back pain didn't help. These were already some terrible signs, barely a third into the trip! Oh well, I found a nice shwarma place where I ate...shwarma. I somehow managed to kill an hour in that bistro. Following this, I wandered off onto the main road (we weren't allowed to Cool ) where I got equally bored and went back to our meeting point with about 45 odd minutes to spare. Luckily for me, there were some others who were equally bored, so I sat down and closed my eyes - a well executed 30 minutes of power nap Smile Good rest, just what I needed.








I love the outdoor seating arrangements in the French Restaurants!


Well, that's interesting! Shocked



Once we buddied up post the Latin Quarter thing, we still had half an hour to kill, so more shopping time! I was getting tired of this already Sad
Lucky for me though, the currency exchange took a 25 minutes (despite being a horrible exchange rate, I had no choice!), it was time to get back on an RER head for: the Eiffel tower! Very Happy



Full form! Surprised


Old-ish RER

EIFFEL TOWER
It was quite a short RER ride, but conversely a very long walk from the Tour de Eiffel RER station to the bottom of the tower. Our group was beaten by a bunch of kinder garden goers, which made Mr. D a bit angry as he told us - 'you should keep up guys, a group of little children walked faster than you on this stretch!'
After this little...incident..he warned us about pick pocketing. For example, an interview...or selling something. Bottom line - just be careful!
Asked about a fear of heights, I raised my hand. Yes, I love flying, but then one can trust RR, PW, GE, IAE, etc to keep you up in the air. But just on one tower with no force against gravity? Heck no! Shocked


RER line





Thank you for staying away, English summer! Very Happy


Probably more entertaining than the tower itself? Mr. Green



'Oh no! The tower is still under construction!'


Yup, still under construction. The Eiffel tower was never completed, its always been a lie. Wink

One of the interviewers approached me:
'You speak English very well?'
'Uh, no I don't, so sorry'

Talk about awkward things happening, that was one of them! Rolling Eyes
But spur of the moment, so really it was quite funny when I thought about it over and over Idea






'Get off at level 2, follow the arrow to the lifts to level 3'


View from L2

The line for the level 3 lifts were quite long, but since there were 6 lifts doing the job, it was pretty darn efficient! There was a video playing, identifying the basic safety procedures for tourists. Mr. D had to comment:
'Oh, watch out for people in red morph suits, they are pickpockets!'
'Walk like the man in the TV..take an equivalent of two steps, make sure you exercise your knees really well..'
'Look out! The dripping liquid might be acid so if it drips onto your head and seeps in, your brain might melt which will allow your skeleton to jump out of your body....or maybe its just water..'

Another claustrophobic lift ride later, we entered the equally claustrophobic level 3. It was only then when Mr. D said to us: 'there is another level guys..' More levels on this already tall structure! Shocked
The top part though, was quite open. Almost all of us spent easily around 45 odd minutes here. Some pictures:



THAT's the original Eiffel Tower. We're just looking around from a huge replica Wink










There goes the RER! Smile



There was a pretty impressive washroom up there..I mean, olden days architecture, and then there was a modern washroom up there. I wonder if there is an awkward pipe heading downwards Razz Furthermore, the dude beside was an Indian, so I said to him: 'Bonjour, sir jee!' His expression was priceless as he had a blank face and rushed out of the washroom really soon! Lastly, someone from my group tripped on the tower. Story she could say if someone asked her what she did in Paris: 'Me? Oh, I fell on the Eiffel tower' Smile
I got a bit bored of taking pictures, realizing that I took 3 rounds of this top level. So I headed down with a few others. I found this:

NANTES!!!!!!!!!!!!


'My people..'
Every time any one from the sixth form group saw an Indian, they'd say: oh look Jish, your people! Smile

Once downstairs, it was a longish wait for everyone else to arrive. Once everyone did arrive, we had a Championship of thumb wrestling. (I made it till round 3, beating my own expectations Smile

They came in all the way from London Smile


More impressive stuff!


Goodbye Paris tower..er..Eiffel Tower!

I learnt that France was taking on Nigeria in the FIFA World Cup. The atmosphere was soon building up, and one could feel it. Once we 'buddied up', it was time to get on a string of 3 metro/RER rides to the Monte Carlo Restaurant for dinner. We got into the first RER by the skin of our teeth, where I realized: my mobile cellular telephone device was not with me! In panic, I hurriedly searched my bag for the same. Our station was just 2 stops away. Thankfully, I did find my phone, which was tucked away in some gab of my bag. That's when I mixed up the metro tickets too, so it was panic all over! Also, thankfully I did find my ticket because there were inspectors looking out for the same! Whew, lucky me!
Long walks and 2 metro rides later, we reached the Arc de Triomphe!


Well, well! A Pharaoh has come alive!


Free juice!

It was absolutely horrific to know that we were given an hour of free time for shopping! Most of us decided to sit in the corner of the Avenue des Champs-Élysées. Sitting there, just the 4th day into the 10 day trip, I realized I was starting to get home sick, mostly missing my laptop. Ask no more Razz
I walked around a bit, just to distract myself perhaps..








Dinner was served by a rather rude bunch of waiters, but the food was pretty decent. Coke, a beef thing, mixed veggies, rice, pork starter and a dessert were on the menu....my choices, rather.


Things started to go a bit awry when 4 of the 5 sixth formers started talking in local languages: 2 of them in Sinhala, 2 of them in Dhivehi. Think about what the Hindi/Bengali speaking boy had to go through Sad
I felt alone, but thankfully, Temple Run and Subway Surf and Fruit Ninja and Ninjump exists...so I played all of those games on my phone. Yay.

Post dinner, we were invited to wild celebrations as France had beaten Nigeria in their match. Mostly everyone had flags, as they stuck out of their convertibles, or standing up on their bikes. Electric atmosphere! Many riders also revved their bike engines at the traffic signal...good fun, but we all know how engines get killed. Rolling Eyes




2 metro rides later, we were back in the hotel. For me, it was a demanding day. But really, just taking in a tablet or 2 ensured that I was perfectly fit for the next 3 days! Again, lights out at 2230, it was time for more sound sleep....
Day 5 will feature Stade de France, the science museum and some stuff from the Mt. Montmartre, including the Sacre Cour..



Stay tuned for the next part!

Regards
Jish
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 12, 2014 7:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

DAY 5: 1ST JULY 2014
STADE DE FRANCE, CITÉ DES SCIENCES ET DE L'INDUSTRIE, MONTMATRE, SACRE COUR

STADE DE FRANCE
Day 5 had arrived and with the usual beginnings, it was time to head for the Stade de France on the metro which was a direct one, surprisingly. But we were warned of a long walk, and oh my was it a trek! The gap between the first one at the gate (Mr D) and the last one was a whopping 7 minutes! On the way, there were plenty of places to be seen, I found an Air Canada A330 landing into CDG...



We were soon introduced to a very very friendly Dutch guide who would be giving us a tour around the Stade de France stadium. While impressive in almost every single aspect, the one downside I found were the staircases which people had to use: it looked incomplete and looked a lot like fire exits rather than regular stairways. Even the Wankhede has a better staircase! Rolling Eyes
We had a very informative detail session, as we occupied 40 of the 81338 seats at this impressive stadium..







The Stade de France was built primarily for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, and to good use because France beat Brazil 3-0 to be the champions. Despite that, the stadium is further used for music concerts, wind surfing, athletics, rugby, monster truck derbies, etc. It is also located in St. Denis because it is a central point in between CDG airport and the city itself, while the other parts of the city already has stuff such as Ronald Garros. Furthermore, this otherwise quiet area has more employment opportunities thanks to the stadium. It is expected that the financial cost of building this will be overcome by 2020, as more and more revenue is gained as the stadium is being sold for commercial and national purposes. Other facts include...the grass is changed no less than 15 times a year! But that's mostly because of concerts and all....apparently a terrible sad excuse of a band called One Direction played here just a few days ago, and the crowds damage the grass (obviously..) so it has to be replaced. But what mattered to me is this: METALLICA PLAYED IN 2012!!! HECK YEAH! Very Happy
But the fact that we were told about 1D, made sure a few of the girls got very excited. And this meant that it was the start of my 1D rants which did not end until we said goodbye at CMB!
After doing a Mexican Wave (which was enough to drag the attention of the workers!), it was time to head for the VIP section of the stadium. While on the stairs, I screamed: 'ONE DIRECTION SUCKS!!', I got 2 instant replies, one sarcastic, one honest. 'HOW DARE YOU?!?!' said Mr. RI, sarcastically, while Mr. J said: 'METALLICA RULES!!!'
At the VIP box section, we entered the Michelin private box. The a lap of the entire VIP section is about 900m, with the coloured carpets signifying the Olympic ring colors. One of the students' from our group was selected as the host for this, all the three english teachers had some words: 'Where's the champagne, A? Its a football game! Cheapskate.'



View from the VIP boxes. Blue chairs = VIP.

We were then taken to the changing room. The one used mostly by the French team. In fact, it was rightfully pointed out that it was this very washroom where Zinedine Zidane took a leak before World Cup glory. So everyone started taking pictures of every urinal, every commode! Shocked
Me? Well, I found this jersey which said 'JAGUAR', probably the only thing I could recognize.....



That's an amazing changing room, I will admit.


Warm up area. Temperatures can be set in accordance to rugby and football requirements, while the bright lights ensure players do not get blinded by the lights outside, furthermore, it is sound proof, so that tactics cannot be heard! Nets are there to prevent band members and players from destroying the lights..



Is that what I'm seeing it is!! Shocked Confused Razz


Retractable stands for athletic requirements. Costs millions of euros just to move it, albeit 15 meters!

It was now the end of the tour, and we had time to visit the museum or go shopping at the souvenir store...obviously I went for the former! Evil or Very Mad

Heikki Kovalinen's winning helmet.
Stade de France played host to the 2004 Race of Champions which was won by Heikki Kovalinen, but overall in terms of teams, once again France had a very respectable (they won) set of results!


Renault F1 race suit



METALLICA!!!! AND NOTHING ELSE MATTERS! Very Happy Very Happy

I passed the souvenir part of it and head straight outside where some people had already opened the newly bought World Cup 2014 ball, and started a street football thing. I joined in! Very Happy


More shopping time was given at the slightly more interesting sports shop, wherein I bought a Vittel (VETTEL Twisted Evil) water bottle, and some Gatorade. Perfect for the day!


MADE IN SRI LANKA?!?!?! ShockedShocked

Good stuff! Very Happy

Lunch was the not so interesting McDonalds fast food restaurant. Uh wait, McD is green in France (and the EU, I think) while its red otherwise!
Another long long walk followed to the RER station, single deck this time! Despite being a non stop ride for us, it lasted a good 15-20 minutes! It was also enough for a train to pass by in immense speed. We changed at I think Gare du Nord, from where we boarded new rubber tyre equipped metros to the Porte de la Villette station. Where were we going, you might wonder.

CITÉ DES SCIENCES ET DE L'INDUSTRIE
The largest science museum in Europe.



We were booked at a show in the large silver sphere. A french documentary about the Grand Canyon Water supplies. It was a good 30 minute nap on those very very comfortable chairs!


Inside Smile


Very impressive indeed!

We were given about 2 hours to explore this museum. But then, the brilliantly lazy sixth form group of mine found a bench and sat there for the next 2 hours! Least bothered in science, or in anything, rather! I went along, discovering what else is in there, ditching them. Wise choice, as I soon found out!


Airbus conference!!!!
A very ballsy me said GO BOEING and ran...but that was 2 hours later with my group..so WIN WIN!



Two of the most interesting fish in the aquarium....yeah.



Things got way more exiting after this!


Sud Aviation helicopter...saved many lives until retirement in 1998(9?)



Transforming car!

I walked into the transportation part of the museum. I was 5 years old all over again Smile





Had to reduce weight of an A380...so I changed it into a composite fuselage, removed the seats for horse saddles, removed food, removed magazines, removed blankets. 2 tons saved!




The Mumbai cabbie picture was taken from a F1 source!












Astronomy Smile




Ever wondered what happens to a helicopter when its upside down? Wink

Argonaute submarine:








MONTMARTRE
Rather than taking the direct metro, we took the newly opened tram to the metro station. It has to be one of the fastest trams out there - reaching almost 60kmph at one point!



Another very old metro ride later, we reached Montmartre. But there was a massive set of stairs which we had to go on! Oh, say no to the funicular tram! 5 minutes later, most of us made it upstairs...tired and close to dying. First, we headed for the restaurant La Cremalliere. Menu: poulet frites, creme caramel




Bland. Very very bland.


This was decent.

More shopping time was given. But before that, I decided: right now, I will take a leak first. After a walk lasting a third of a kilometer, I learnt that taking a leak was no less than 1 euro!
1 euro.
One can expect class, no?
No.
Broken plastic parts, toilet paper all around, wet.
Water barely came out of the taps, while the soap was nonexistent.
Brilliant rip off.

Anyways, I did my second round of shopping...souvenir shopping. After this, I found a quiet lane where strangely, MOST of the people from my school were there. Creating a very loud scene! Our school made its mark in the quiet streets of Montmartre!


WOW! Shocked




YAY DIWALI!


Quiet lane turned into something worse than a music concert (except 1D, lol)




SACRE COUR
Not too many pictures here, of course..
Just a quick few snaps..





See the plane there?!


Internet graffiti!


Street performers





Better ways to go down! Razz



A quick frisbee championship later, we were back on the metro to get to the hotel. Lights out, it was off to bed for all of us.

Day 6 includes the Musee d'Orsay and something very interesting.
More on this later, I'll post it as soon as I can! Smile

Regards
Jish
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 14, 2014 1:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

DAY 6: 2ND JULY 2014
MUSEE D'ORSAY,
SHOPPING Evil or Very MadEvil or Very Mad

As you can probably guess by now, shopping is not my thing. Mad
So obviously, this will be one of the shortest parts of this TR, if not, THE shortest.

Half way into the trip, I really was begging for a day's rest...something which would only properly happen once we got back to CMB. Oh well, a quick usual boring breakfast later, it was time to head for the RER station for a direct train to the Musee d'Orsay..


View out of the hotel

I got a seat on the RER with Mr. D himself. First of all, he asked how the trip was so far...and whether or not the sleep is comfortable or not. He then told me: space is a premium in Paris. He told me his stories of living in Paris just a few years ago: barely a room with a washroom in the closet, a sofa and a kitchen. All of this in an apartment in the slight outskirts of Paris for nothing less than 600 euros! It was now when I appreciated the hotel we were staying in for the trip. Wow indeed, prices are unbelievable in Paris!
We finally reached the Musee d'Orsay..





Once inside the museum, our bags and all were taken away. Further disappointment inside when I learnt that pictures were NOT allowed to be taken. Brilliant. So all I did was just have a quick look the Vincent Van Gogh 'selfies', following which I found a nice spot where I sat and..rested for a bit. Recharging the batteries for the rest of the days..




Sneaked in some pictures through the phone..

After a couple of hours here, it was time to take an RER to the Place Georges Pompidou.
Found an MEA A332 on the way, ME211 being operated by OD-MEB



Walking towards Pompidou..


HOLY COW!!! ShockedShocked



THE largest hamster house!

We were sent off for lunch, I had an egg Bordeaux type thing, and duck preparation..



The first of 2 shopping sessions were up next, I got significantly tired of this. In fact, some of us got so bored, that we took selfies with the police. Yeah. Embarassed
I did do a bit of shopping in the first session. I went out a 3 level electronics store. A Metallica CD was on the cards Smile
All I needed were the Black Album ('Metallica') of 1991, and 'Ride the Lightening' of 1984, my personal favorite album (used to be Death Magnetic..but then I appreciated Cliff Burton's amazing skills!). Thankfully, luck was on my side, and both these CDs were worth 44 euros, however, thanks to a promotion going on, I got them at a bargain 14 euros! A complete win for me!
Time moved really to darn slowly as most of them went shopping, while the broke ones or the tired ones (me) found a corner in some square...sorry I have very limited details about this day, that's how uninteresting it was!
Some pictures:


Hmm... Salad Fingers, perhaps?







Probably the hottest and sunniest day in Paris during our trip: 33 deg. Celsius!

Any environmentalists here? Or wildlife enthusiasts? That isn't a lady bird..

Dinner was at the Creperie Beauborg, menu included: crepe complete (oeuf, jambon, fromage) and crepe au nutella..



Crepe.

Post dinner, Mr. RI came over to check on us.
'Had a good crepe all of you?'
'Yes sir! Twice! Best crepe ever!'
I said.
'What about the sweet crepe?'
'Oh yeah..I went for the chocolate, the rest went for Nutella..my crepe was a darker brown shade compared to the normally coloured crepe..'
I answered..
'Haha, that's nice! Now the toilet's over there, just in case you want to take another crepe!'
Now, change 'crepe' into 'crap' and then you'll see why laughed our butts off at this conversation! Laughing

After dinner, it was a game of football...our school vs a random bunch of some slightly older chaps...who were equally good, already playing there. Challenge on!
There was some very interesting graffiti around...








Always a nice feeling when you tick something in life..
I now have all of Metallica's studio albums!
Very Happy

Since we did have more than an hour and a half to kill, we went back to the hotel, changed, and went to the nearby park...which was fun, especially as we tried to 'Spiderman' our way on the skateboard/roller blade things!

Day 7 includes Mona Lisa, and probably a slightly longer part..
Stay tuned!

Regards
Jish
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 15, 2014 10:57 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

So I'm really running short of time now..
I'll just post a few pictures from the last 2 days and focus on the flight directly..

DAY 7: 3RD JULY 2014
LA TOUR MONTPARNASSE, LOUVRE











Cleopatra's needle


They talk about globalization as the process in which the world turns into Western ways...clearly the 3 wheelers here show even the Western world look for Eastern traditions!





Jardin de Tuileries
Also found an EY A346 (special F1 colors) and an Air Transat A333 landing..






























True enough, one DOES need 2 or 3 full days to see the Louvre! Surprised

DAY 8: 4TH JULY 2014
VERSAILLES










[img]xv[/img]





















That'll be all for the non-aviation part.
UL564 coming up...and more of the Concorde! Smile

Regards
Jish
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 16, 2014 1:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

DAY 9/10: 5-6TH JULY 2014
SRILANKAN AIRLINES UL564 (AC6880) PARIS-COLOMBO


It was a depressing mood the last day...
It was time to head back home to vacations. Almost 2 months of doing nothing.
Furthermore, I did have a fallout with one of the teachers', which ensured a depressing end to the trip.
And the rain had returned, this time the pouring kind. So it wasn't a good start a the day.

abhijith16 (the Aussie man!) sent me a message early in the morning saying that 4R-ALG would be the bird taking me back to Colombo.
At 13.2 years, 4R-ALG is an old-ish bird, but delivered to UL only in July 2010. It used to be G-WWBB with bmi British Midland (leased to SAA for a bit). MSN404 is fitted with 2 RR Trent 772B-60 engines. Configuration 3 on UL's website.


Hmm, interesting..UL not listed in the OW section of the Ibis Hotel online check in services..
Oh, my hands were itching to get the web check in done...but it wasn't allowed damn it Sad

Another one of those boring breakfasts later (albeit later than usual...I was getting sick of it, no doubt!), we were all called downstairs to load up and board the turbocharged Renault coach to head for the airport....OR NOT!
Shopping along the way, but of course! Evil or Very MadMad


The wrong is English Wink

SHOPPING. MORE SHOPPING.
We were so close to the airport. But we still had quite a lot of time before check in. So of course, spend it by doing a bit of shopping. Where did we go?
Aeroville.


On the way...

Funnily enough, someone from our group started singing a song..Foo Fighters' 'The Pretender..'. I joined in in the chorus!
'What if I said I'm not like the others?
What if I said I'm not just another one of your plays?
You're the pretender!
What if I said I will never surrender?
'

Sadly though, the we reached the mall Sad




Oh look! Very Happy

I entered a toy store. And indeed - I became a child all over again! Very Happy

OH WOW! Shocked
I did my final bit of shopping here, I bought a Douglas DC3! A fine addition to my fleet Very Happy

On the way out, I saw a beautiful A340-300 take off..belonging to Air France, who else? And I must say - the CFM56 engines were beautifully loud! There were 4 lines of thin black smoke coming out of each of the engines! I was too slow to take a picture, thankfully someone else did!


Onboard the bus, I realized I was sitting on the wrong side if indeed the Concorde was to pop by...but that wasn't to be. Soon, we were at the curbside (very close to airside!) and got off at the dedicated coach area, very close to the UL check in..


I must say, while the T1 has a very interesting design and a fantasy land (from a lower level) for us avgeeks, it really looks quite incomplete and a bit on the ugly side!
I heard what sounded like a GE90 start up close by, but it wasn't with the usual ground-shattering bass. I looked behind: TC-JNK, a slightly delayed Airbus A330-300 of Turkish Airlines was being pushed back for its flight to Istanbul as TK1822. So here's the bottom line - GE CF6 does sound like a less loud version of the GE90 from the outside, but onboard its something else.


The beautiful hum of the A333 played in the background as we organized ourselves while she gracefully departed..

CHECK IN
Hall 2 it said, for SriLankan Airlines. There were about 6 or 7 counters open for the UL flight, but surprisingly: disorganized! I was second in line for our group (yeah, the battle for window seat was on!), but it was only 25 minutes after I joined the line when I finally got to check in.

Ironically, I had an encounter with a proper child in France of all places! Yep, not a JetChild, but this agent here surely does take pole position in being the most smartest among the other children I've experienced. Smile

So here's what happened.
I receive a half hearted 'bonjour..', the last of my trip.
So the woman asks me to place my luggage in some weird way, either way the weight reduced from 18.7kgs to 16.1kgs. I shall not say a thing about this, because it worked to my advantage Smile
I request her to see if there is a window seat available, wherever in the aircraft and to assign it to me...she said she'll check.
She goes through my passport..all well and good. Then the saga starts...so here's the thing: I have a new passport which I renewed in SL, with an existing SL resident visa. So, there is a 'copy' of one in the new passport, along with a new resident visa, the extension. So the woman tells me:
'Your visa is invalid, you need to obtain a visa on arrival..'
'Oh really?'
I said. 'Check my old passport, the original visa is there..'
She gave me a look. And began her flip-the-page business.

She went through all of the expired extensions and told me 'all your resident visa extensions have expired...'
Really? Wow.
Okay then I took the passport and switched to the page which was the original visa and not the extension(s). Unfortunately, the entry visa was on the adjacent page. So this woman very conveniently tells me:
'But this is the entry...'
'The OTHER page..' I interrupted..
Now satisfied, I asked her if there are any window seats..
'No' she said, 'the flight is full'
She asked me to get my bag pack weighed strangely, and gave me 2 hand luggage tags for that and the camera bag. I walked away pretty damn amused by what just happened!

I walked back to the common area where we're all supposed to meet after check in. Only to realize the child at the check in forgot to give me my eticket back!
I went back to the counter..
'Uhm, hi..sorry..but you did not give me back my ticket..'
'Oh..'
she said, and slammed the ticket on to the check in desk...well well. Rolling Eyes

PRE-BOARDING STUFF
It took quite a long time before we all gathered and headed for immigration. We went through the maze of escalators and all. And into immigration. There was only one agent who divided us into Schengen passport holders and normal passport holders. CDG management could put in a couple of signs at least! But anyways, I stood at the immigration counter for barely 5 seconds!

Also, we were given this interesting time advisory thing...

Ponctuality is UL's top priority. I'm sure it must be, because everyone I know (frequent flyers in SL, that is) tells me that UL stands for 'Usually Late'


International zone, according to UL's advisory. Curbside is far away!


The old BOM T2 is right here, CDG's T1! Wink

We were given half an hour for...you guessed it, but thankfully for the last time, shopping. Perfect time to get lunch! But I only had coins left, (I later learnt enough for 2 meals! Ugh) so I wasn't bothered to organize and get those out. Instead, I decided to call up Dad and given him instructions to track my plane on FR24, since my granny was about to land in CMB (from CCU/MAA) and he wanted to show my flight location and all to her..

Once shopping was done, we buddied up once again to head for the satellite terminal of the octopus shaped T1. Gate 12B it was. walk under the tarmac, on the travelator though. We reached the security check point. Although the process was very slow initially, it started getting quicker and quicker. A TG and SQ taxied by to head for the respective destinations (Oh, when will I be on one of them? The latter especially? Wink ).
While looking around, I stopped all of a sudden because my eyes saw something rather beastly. It wasn't very streamlined as compared to the normal planes, it looked very aerodynamic. It looked fast. It looked like a rocket. Yes people, I was staring at the beautiful preserved Concorde once again, and this time, I had a much better view!

'Jishnu! Look at that, hurry up and get here!' said many of my friends.
They all knew what the Concorde is, and what it was capable of. Always a great feeling when everyone is taking pictures of the same thing! It was either the Concorde, or 4R-ALG.

Interesting V pattern of seating at CDG..


CSA Czech A319 and our bird, 4R-ALG


But the bird of the moment!
F-BVFF

From Wiki:
Quote:
(215) first flew on 26 December 1978 from Toulouse. It remains on display at Charles de Gaulle International Airport in Paris, being cosmetically reassembled, after the withdrawal of the type was announced mid-way through refurbishment. It last flew on a charter flight to Paris Charles de Gaulle on 11 June 2000 after flying 12,421 hours


Thunder showers kept coming and going, so did the sunshine. Talk about bi-polar weather! Shocked
We all waited patiently for boarding to start. Many were chatting, some got 'social' with their hand held devices, others went to the shops to buy some stuff...
...me? I was clicking pictures of the planes. What other better things can you do?! Laughing


HSBC. Wow.


SriL!



B77W still remains a beast in my eyes.... Smile







BOARDING
Boarding started a bit later than scheduled at around 1430. I knew it would be impossible for them to fill up the plane in half an hour. But looking at UL's trends and the full form being 'Usually Late', a delay was imminent. By how long, was the question. Boarding was fairly organized as a long U shaped line formed. I cut the line, but of course Razz
The check in agents were doing the boarding procedures, but not the child I had encountered though.


Beautiful A330!


Almost there!

A usual smily Ayubowan welcome was given to us. A peek into the J class - IT WAS STILL OLD! And that then, was the end of my hopes of getting the new UL Y offering on this flight. Yeah-hey. Boohoo, rather. The next 10hr30min on this thing. How I said, how will I survive on a plane with so many people and so less entertainment options?!
Okay, enough with the complaining.
I headed to my first seat, 55F. The original seat.
Everyone else took their seats, and after a long and hard session of persuasion later (using the sunset as an excuse Razz ), I struck a deal: after the seatbelt signs are off, I'l be seated in seat 56K for the rest of the flight. Mr. Green
There was a slight confusion over the seats for a passenger: his seat was taken by someone in our group. So he did not find a seat. Luckily for him, 51A was empty, so he sat there.


Second deal of the day struck: I asked one of my friends to take as many pictures as he could till the seatbelt signs were off. He happily obliged, and the pictures coming up are all his effort Smile
Crew were pretty robotic if you ask me..
First the refresher towels were given, then the menu cards. A headcount was done with the clicker device. Captain came over the PA, I really did not pay much attention but what I did hear: 9hr45min flying time, departure after 1530 and an initial cruising height of 35000 feet.

F1 check - the 2014 British GP Qualifying was on.
I was updating the AI WhatsApp group with my movements, only to get a message from user stealthpilot telling me: Good you aren't watching qualifying!
Worried, I checked what was up: the Ferraris had qualified only 18th and 20th.
'Wow, they really have managed to make a real tractor for themselves!' I said to myself. But since it was raining, and it started getting dry, the disappointing result is justified, however, not what one would expect from a team who've won over 30 championships!

Anyways, back to aviation. Here's some snaps taken by my friend Smile




A318!



So. Much. Orange! Shocked




TAM landing in CDG.
Hmm, the French football team perhaps? No wait, if they're patriotic, they'd fly on Air France..




Ah, decent looking TV!



I wonder how many people say - 'Ive flown on a Quadjet! Its a tiny one though, no not a 747SP or DC8!'



Safety video playing...something I did not get on 4R-ALC..


BEAST!




DEPARTURE
1530 came and went, it was at 1537 when the 2 RR trent engines were brought into life as we slowly started taxiing (a rather long one!) towards the runway. More pictures? Of course!









Red and blue!


Some pictures which even I wouldn't take, hehe


Runway!


What it looked like Smile

It was a unique take off indeed, since we did not have to hold short, the pilot applied a bit of power while moving in from the taxiway onto the runway, before continuing this process as we aligned with the runway and took off into the cloudy skies of France. Oh yes, how much I missed not holding the camera as we took off, especially with the RR engines doing their job, while sounding stunning at the same time! Quite a lot of corrections were made, in fact we headed north...straight north at point of time, plus it was very bumpy as we climbed..













Dat vortex tho...



Oh, I forgot to mention how new these windows were Wink





INFLIGHT
It was 30 seconds when many of us started looking upwards..yes, looking at the seatbelt sign. Once we heard the ding, and the light go off at 10000 feet, about 7 or 8 of us got up to make changes in the places we sat. I quickly got up and settled down in 56K. My seat for the rest of the flight Smile Woohoo!
I had a new seat mate, of course.
And from now on, all pictures have been taken by me.


I'M BACK! Very Happy



My seat mate was fun to talk to! That meant I did not have any boredom to worry about...for as long as it lasted. Although, it was slightly annoying when she took my headphone away because her headphones weren't working. Yeah, she tried to watch The Lego Movie...I prevented it! Twisted Evil
Oh yeah, there was announcement regarding the IFE: turn to page 8 of the IFE guide in the seat pocket, and that Sets 1, 2 and 3 would be shown during the course of the flight.
So because this was a very tedious process, I had to do this for my seat mate Sad
Drink services started soon, and they were 'already out of coke' barely an hour (or barely half an hour!) into the flight.
I took an EGB then...
We also received a packet of small snacks.
'Its cashew nuts. I'm telling you. Can't you feel it?' said my seat mate to me as I continued with my random in-flight discussions.
'Trust me, its biscuits. Its a radical thought, but believe me.' I said.
'Haha, I'd like to see your face when you're proven wrong, Jish!' she said to me.
I was still confident.


Can of EGB, the glass and of course, savory biscuits! Wink

So obviously, it was the other way: priceless look when I saw her face, hehe Laughing
But how did I know? I flipped over to see the manufacturer details (things you do when IFE is not even half decent...), only to see it is packed by Maliban Biscuits, and they're called 'Savory Biscuits'. Hah then, a win for me! Razz


Into eastern Europe we go!

1 trolley was pulled towards the front, another already being pulled up from the back. Lunch time, it was.


Menu
I had opted for the lamb.
And by opted, I mean mentally opted.
That means, in my head I had decided to eat the lamb, because I had no choice anyways since a main course was already on the tray, without being asked for my choice. Bummer.
I must say though, the cabin filled in with the smell of Chicken and Indian spices and biryani. So I'm guessing that was the popular choice and it got over very soon.

Lunch.
As you can see, no bread roll for me.
I was being a gentleman and I gave it to my seat mate....
....actually, she just took it away from me and I had to wait. Uhm.. Rolling Eyes



Food analysis, shall we?
Potato wegdes - decent. A bit on the dry side, if I be honest.
Lamb - dry on the outside, just about moist on the inside. Passable.
Thyme jus - amazing. Brilliant flavor in there!
Vegetables - decent again, nice and moist.
Salad - pretty standard, again.
Bread - nice, warm and soft. Melted butter along with that!
Currant biscuit - what biscuit? it was cake mostly...and the taste of cinnamon was over powering...


Nice quality of cheese, I loved it!
The crackers were amazing! Crispy, just the right amount of salt, and 4 of them!

Trays were soon collected as we cruised at 35000 feet..





There was plenty of activity going on outside, I saw one E175 pass by the opposite direction..
There was plenty of activity going on inside too, as most of us got up and crowded the aisle big time. But the FAs were okay with it...Mr D asked them and the purser said 'whatever makes your flight comfortable!' Really nice of them. But I stayed put mostly. Then nature called for a short break..


Interesting air pressure dynamics! Surprised


Note the brown arm rests...that's a sign of refurbishment! Smile

I headed for the washroom. I opened the door. And HOLY COW! It was THE largest washroom on a plane, ever! If only they added a window.....


Mother of God!


Amenities


Walked back to check the galley out and see if the crew were available to talk..but they were quite busy so...never mind Smile

A mention to one flight attendant in our aisle: she had a smile all through the flight. From boarding and helping us out with the cabin luggage right to the end when she collected the blanket and headphones. And this also included putting up with our shenanigans of blocking the aisles twice during the flight (she had a tray of glasses of water, maneuvered through us with perfection!), attending to all calls from the passengers swiftly, and of course, bringing us Coke when I started off a chain reaction of people in my group asking for coke. Thrice - once I ordered, then there were multiple orders of 4 or 5 cups the following two times. All of this with a gentle smile. Of course, she did not have the personal touch thing but in all honesty, her breed of flight attendants are quite rare on airlines such as SriLankan (and I'll put 9W, 6E, AI into this category). She walked down the aisles very frequently offering drinks, water and a couple of snacks during the flight. Unfortunate I forget her name but whoever she may be: you've won my laud Smile

Round 1 of aisle blocking came to an end as all of us were asked to sit down and pull the window shades down. We were just about exiting European airspace at this point. It was not more than 15 or 20 minutes later when I saw since the teachers' had fallen asleep, I opened the window shade to see the sun finally setting as we finally entered Asia and lower latitudes. Plenty of pictures I had taken, but here are the pick amongst them..





Soon, everyone dragged their window shades back up to see nature's amazing work, right up from the sky. No less than 7 people gave me their phones and/or cameras to picture this beautiful scene. That's when I ordered for a Coke which was given to me really soon by the FA I mentioned, but it was Coke! Something which I forgot, was apparently 'over' during lunch. What even. (By the way, the FA who told me Coke is over..wasn't the one whom I mentioned..)

My request prompted more requested, and like I said, all a smile, no matter what the guys said '3, no 4, wait 5!' However though, these were served in glasses as compared to my can. Another win for me? Wink
However though, my win was short lived as real immaturity from my part and my seat mate prompted her coke glass falling off the tray and under the seat in front. This lead to a very sticky feeling on my socks for the rest of the flight. Well damn it Embarassed
But this time I actually was a gentleman, and offered her half of my can of the drink since I was feeling very bloated just after a couple of sips.


Newness..I mean, oldness!


Always a happy feeling to see the horizontal stabilizer! Mr. Green






No personal AC vents!


Hmm, do I smell a different route?


At 37000 feet, WAY OFF Baghdad! Clearly a different route here!


Barely half way there!


Ah, no wonder flying time is just under 10 hours, look at the speed!

Round 2 of aisle block was initiated by me as I walked down just for a stretch (back issues). And to take a picture of the cabin. The FA was sitting there and smiled at me as I asked if its okay to take a picture of the cabin..


That's the moon, not the lights on the wing Razz




Iranian city



The FA walked by with some pretty nice tasting butter cookies and outstanding salmon sandwiches! Bread was soft, salmon was tasty, fresh and cold while a thin slice of cheese just did the trick!


I had a nice seat mate - she did not like the sandwich so I had two! Laughing


Ah, Pakistan here we come!

It was now when I remembered what The Aussie Man told me - at around about 0200 IST the middle eastern airspace gets very congested, so even flights leaving from AUH (to say..South India) have to over Pakistan and then all along the west coast of India before finally heading to their respective destinations, rather flying over the Arabian Sea.
We were over Iran, flying time was just over 3hr30min. We entered Pakistani airspace and then this number went up to 4hr15min. Bearable. However, as we flew more into Pakistani airspace, Colombo was merely 6hr05min away! I was of course, secretly very happy because it meant more time up in the air! However, I heard many moans and groans as ALG was being pulled up to 39000 feet. 'Great!' said Mr. D. One teacher however was a bit concerned about the fuel in the aircraft, and whether or not it would be enough for us. I told her most likely the pilots have calculated this re-route back to Colombo as congestion is very frequent in this part of this time of the day (night), or else we'd be landing at the proper home...either DEL, AMD or BOM! Smile But then, the system corrected itself by showing 3hr33min sometime later..
Lights were dimmed after sunset, but now they were brought back on. This of course signified: dinner! But of course, more like a mid night snack. This was preceded by a hot towel service (paper towels being dragged out of a silver pack..) which grew cold for a second use soon after using it for the first time..





Now, I opted for the beef lasagne.
I've described before what opted means - basically means that I do not get what I ask for, I only have to eat what they give me.
So of course, what was placed before was a main course, which was the tuna and broccoli lasagne. I was disappointed of course, but the nice FA whom I mentioned apologized for this. Accepted. But in all honesty, why have 3 options when you effectively do not have a choice? More on this later..


Food analysis again, shall we?
Bread - nice and warm, and in all honesty, THE BEST bread on a plane for me.
Butter - easily sliceable, not too cold and not too warm

Crackers - took them with me back home Razz



Coleslaw salad - the usual one you'd find, nothing too extravagant.
Fresh fruits - mix acidic and slightly rotten tastes, that's what it was. I left it.

Tuna & Broccoli lasagne - more broccoli than tuna, very warm. Cheese was the type which melts in your mouth, sauce was pretty good. But broccoli did not feel fresh while the smell of tuna was overpowering.

Again, a mixed bag of a meal.


Hello India!

I was feeling extremely tired. I dozed off as soon as I kept my cutlery on the tray. I woke up again to put the blanket on since it was getting extremely cold onboard.


Legroom and footrest!


No questions about who made the seats Wink
Oh the lumbar support wasn't working on this plane, sadly. Both the seats I was seated in.

DESCENT AND ARRIVAL
I slept pretty well, only to wake up once and see we were crossing Mumbai, and the second time I woke up I saw the lights of Thiruvanantapuram. Too bad of an angle to click a picture, with both phone and camera. Oh well. Blankets and headphones were all collected in quick succession, ensuring the passengers were given minimum discomfort (by keeping them awake for lesser). Captain Mario Perera made his announcement but I was too tired to get any details out of it.



Landing. Wow.
It had to be the most perfect landing I have ever experienced! ALG glided down pretty quickly, but the touchdown was barely felt, and I'm not even lying! The only sign I had that we had touched down was the sound of the reverse thrust. Amazing stuff! In fact, the landing was so beautiful that everyone in my group talked about that when we got to the terminal. Touchdown was at 0448 hours, just 3 minutes late. We taxied along and parked beside a Korean A330-300, which was in its stopover at CMB on its ICN-CMB-MLE flight..





I switched on my phone.. (okay, it was already on...I switched off airplane mode). My phone wouldn't stop vibrating because a very enthusiastic Dad sent me a million messages! Rolling Eyes




(UL582 was 4R-ADF, an A343 from FCO heading for CMB, of course..)

The Aussie Man caught me napping over India:


Barely stuck to FR24's route Razz

Engines cut out, the holiday had come to an end. Time for the vacation (aka boredom) to begin. As I walked through the cabin, I could not help but notice the mess ALG was in! Cups kept on the floor, aside. Magazines, out of their place. Blankets, crumpled and crushed. Bits of paper from the meal (sugar, pepper, etc..) were thrown around. Headphone wires, tangled. I noticed the mess on ALC as well, but this mess was significant enough and unbelievable!

This prompted me to question AI's strategy on cleanliness on the triangular flights. Especially the ones to MEL and SIN! It sure as hell must be pigsties if passenger's aren't moved out!
I thanked the crew for the flight and exited the plane. ALG would now do the morning run to MLE and return before hauling UL's longest flight to LHR in the afternoon.

Immigration was quick surprisingly, but what really killed the time was the not-so-cooperative baggage carousel.

Okay so when you're in the mood, please work. Okay? We have all the sweet time, in fact, we'll wait till the sun has risen fully. Cool? Cool.
Stop go stop go went the carousel. Annoying much. Got my bag and all of a sudden it was a hint of sadness as it was time to bit adieu to all the teachers and friends. I thanked Mr D for this amazing trip and being my form tutor/mentor in my IGCSE class. I thanked Mr J for his constant support during my AS course of Govt. & Pol. And I just wished Mr. RI well since I did not know him very much...and he wished me well for my upcoming post as Prefect for the next year.

Warm welcome from Mum and Dad, it was time to head back home and get on with the preparations for the upcoming year! But first? I needed sleep. Sleep that lasted almost 10 hours. I woke up just in time for the 2014 British Grand Prix. Kimi Raikkonen's crash was certainly painful to see, its anyways painful to watch F1 being a Ferrari fan in 2014. Plus, I must say Alonso and Vettel's driving was simply remarkable. That's all. Novak Djokovic winning Wimbledon was something to savor, though!

Coming up in the next part is the summary and the all important trip announcement. Wink

Until then..

Regards
Jish
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 24, 2014 5:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Finally got the time to read it all. Excellent stuff and sounds like you had a great trip.

Nice capture of the Concorde as well. Smile
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 14, 2014 8:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Varun, thanks for your words! It was an amazing crazy trip for sure! Very Happy

SUMMARY
Here is the summary to my Paris trip, I hope you all feel the same as I did after this trip (and for you, after reading it)
Obviously, I will focus mostly on SriLankan Airlines, because you know for a fact you know what a fantastic trip I had and what an amazing place Paris is! Yes, I did criticize the space in the room but the conversation with Mr D made me think otherwise, and appreciate it. Of course, the long days did become tiring and it was getting a bit too much just on Day 4, but now I feel, it was worth everything! Will I return to Paris? Of course! But the prime focus being interesting flight combinations…QR for example!

On to the more relevant part: SriLankan Airlines. Lets take a look at the negatives first:
Old birds, meaning outdated IFE. Of course, UL has A333s and A350s coming in so I expect this to improve instantly. However, the content in this is a mystery to be solved for another day..
Food. Probably the most disappointing part of the flight(s). Meal 1 was low in quantity and quality, while the rest of the meals were down on quality. They were quite filling otherwise, but thank God the hunger pangs were around to force myself into eating every bit of the meal.. But then this begs the question: if I did order for the Sri Lankan option, would I have got a higher quality of food? This, is another mystery to be solved for another day.
Speaking of options: why have 3 options (which is impressive) when they’re eventually going to force us to have just the one option, which we may or may not have asked for?
Aircraft cleanliness is another thing they need to look at, as you saw, the washroom on ALC was just messed up!
These three things really did not give me an impression of a oneworld carrier. But then, these 3 factors are really easy to rectify, so I expect these to be a crucial factor in taking on the competion (Indian airlines, MEB3, etc)
And now, the positives.
The crew. UL563’s crew was the highlight of that flight, the personal treatment given was as good as J class, expect the fact that they didn’t address us by names, but that’s perfectly acceptable! Very Happy The crew on return were a more representable interoperation of UL’s crew, and certainly the smiles put them on par with Emirates in my opinion (and experiences).
The little things, such as the extra card thing for the baggage identification stubs, refreshment towels (packaged), the pen (writing smooth! Shocked ), constant service of drinks @ regular intervals, short eats snacks, eyeshades (albeit on demand) etc are things which you’d expect to find on the likes of EK, SQ, QR, (CX?), etc. These things though, are RARE to find on 9W or AI, in fact, they’ve been removed from service I imagine, and I would be extremely surprised to see any of these made available.

On paper, with 3 negatives to 2 positives, you might say that the flights were bad. But not quite! I honestly think UL did a very decent job on both flights. Except for the food, the other 2 negatives can (and will) be eradicated very easily. UL is now a member of OW and its working well for them. They have new planes coming in with a pretty decent hub in CMB (no comment on HRI). And once the food is (hopefully) sorted out, there is one thing I will say: look out for the beastly peacock from the tiny island down south. They have the potential, and they will give a hard time to the likes of AI, 9W, EK, QR, EY, etc (assuming flights to CDG..). For a fact I know UL have a superior product on my frequently flown CMB-BOM-CMB routes, but Jet will have much more convenient timings from November onwards. Price will eventually be the deciding factor.


Here's the plane I bought: best souvenir for me! Very Happy


UL stuff...

A FEW QUESTIONS?
I have a couple of questions which I gathered on the course of this trip. I forgot most of them sadly, but here's 2 which I remember:
1. When full power is applied to the engines of narrowbodies, you can feel yourself being pulled back to the seat. However, this does not happen with widebodies. Why so?
2. Both planes literally looked like pigsties when it was time to exit. I had quite a sorry feeling for all the people who'd have to clear up the mess! So here's the thing: on AI's triangular - obviously, DEL-SYD is a LONG flight, so then since the passengers are not allowed to disembark for the flight to be cleaned, what fate do the SYD-MEL-DEL passengers have to face?! Or are the planes cleaned properly? Neutral

THE NEXT TRIP!
In my opinion, I kinda think this report was a personal failure because of the outrageously long non-aviation part. Not only did I start non-stop spamming, it also meant that your replies had stopped flowing in, so it is a clear indication that I ensured this trip report lost reader interest after that point..
Also, I messed up the color usage in the heading and sub-heading because I did get a bit overwhelmed with this all.. Rolling Eyes
Anyways, moving into the next trip! Very Happy
I was quite sad when I learnt the Mumbai trip won't be happening: no new Q400, no oh-so-familiar 737, no classy 747!
But then, the best possible gift arrived in the form of a trip Hong Kong to and Taipei!!
The airline of choice is Singapore Airlines and a Taiwanese carrier. You'll find out in the TR Wink Although, I can tell you the TR will be wide in terms of the airplanes which will operate the flight(s): 5 of 6 flights will be on wide bodies!

By all means expect a MUCH shorter trip report because this trip will happen a few days prior to school's opening, and now that I have to prepare for various examinations, while balancing a crucial role in the school's student body, there barely will be any time to complete this!
Until then, this me signing off from the Paris trip report.
Regards
Jishnu

PREVIOUS TRIP REPORTS
2014
Mumbai with my mates: madness multiplying massacre?!

2013
2 A's and an A - beloved Bangalore, cheery in Chennai!
Jaw-rattling to joyful Jaffna!
Dreamy Diversion to Delhi: Mumbai, here I come!
Finishing off Singapore: Comprehensively Contrasting Cathay!

2012
Kolkata during the Durga Puja
Quick quick! Formula One in Singapore!
I'm coming home! (Flight 4 of 4).
I'm coming home! (Flight 3 of 4).
I'm coming home! (Flight 2 of 4)
I'm coming home! (Intro and flight 1 of 4)
Emirates to South Africa! (4/4)
Emirates to South Africa! (3/4)
12 days in South Africa. And a flight with Kulula.
Emirates to South Africa! (2/4)
Emirates to South Africa! (1/4)

2011
An International Transit with 9W: BOM-MAA-CMB
They know how to be brilliant! 9W BOM-CMB-BOM (Okay, maybe not anymore Rolling Eyes)
Konnecting to Bhubaneshwar
16 Hours in Colombo
Mumbai-Colombo-Mumbai on Jet Airways
Nagpur (not its oranges) on Jetlite
North Bengal (And CCU) 54 pictures & few videos (9W/IT)

2010
Kolkata during the Durga Puja (2010)
International on Jet Airways: Hong Kong! (2010)
Brainstorming! CCU-BOM (via BBI & HYD) on S2 & 6E
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 15, 2014 8:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi Jishnu - as always - another spectacular TR - incredible - thanks so much for taking the time & Posting!

No - I was certainly not getting bored from all the non-av pictures - they were fun to see. I was waiting for you to post the summary before I commented, and wondering why the summary was so late Smile!

UL seems to have good potential - new a/c can definitely make a difference. However the meals need to be improved ASAP based on your feedback - that does not require a A350!

I'm glad your class had fun on this Paris school trip - and look forward to your TPE TR Smile
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PostPosted: Sat Aug 16, 2014 8:35 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nimish wrote:
Hi Jishnu - as always - another spectacular TR - incredible - thanks so much for taking the time & Posting!

Thank you sir! Always a pleasure writing these! Very Happy

Nimish wrote:
No - I was certainly not getting bored from all the non-av pictures - they were fun to see. I was waiting for you to post the summary before I commented, and wondering why the summary was so late Smile!

Ah! I did plan on posting the summary exactly a week before the next trip, but somehow I got delayed.. Embarassed But I'm glad you liked the non-av pictures Smile

Nimish wrote:
UL seems to have good potential - new a/c can definitely make a difference. However the meals need to be improved ASAP based on your feedback - that does not require a A350!

Yeah.. It probably is one of those rare times when a change can, quite literally, happen overnight!

Nimish wrote:
I'm glad your class had fun on this Paris school trip - and look forward to your TPE TR Smile

I'm super excited! I'm sure you all will enjoy seeing a destination which I doubt has been covered on this forum!

Regards
Jish
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 06, 2014 7:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The joys of a progressive TR are reading about a trip in parts, with a sense of motion, as the writer intended it, reading others' comments, and soaking in the atmosphere. In this case, even though I am reading this months after it was put in, I cannot say that I have missed any of the fun. A typical Jishnu TR, replete with interesting observations,lovely descriptions, witty quips, and loads of gorgeous photographs! I can relate to these even more, since I was around the place at around the same time as you were, and some of the places I visited were the same. It also makes sense for me to delay my TR till its logical position in the queue, since there is no way it would stand up to the brilliance of this TR! As usual, the comments are in parts, with respect to the various parts you posted.

Part 1:
- Interesting introduction, in the turn of events! The QR one would have been much more awesome, but then, a long journey on SriLankan also has tis charms: this is not something that the average Indian flyer is used to seeing, or reading about
- Nice planning the day-to-day itinerary! I wish I could do things like that. In my case, my France trip turned out to be so hurried, and I was so unprepared with plan Bs, that I sincerely regretted my not putting in that bit extra, which would have made it even more enjoyable.

Part 2:
- Very interesting planning: most of us aircraft nutters can associate with the sudden joys, and excitement, and the surge of feelings that cross one's mind! It is a real pity that the exotic India trip did not materialise.

Part 3:
- Durian smell...hmm...
- Lovely description of the departure: on the ground, as well as on the plane!
- The menu cards are...impressive! However, your description of the food...one expects much more from South Asian carriers!
- Jishnu: you manage to remember so much of what went through your mind prior to sleep, as well as after waking up, that too on a plane! I really wish I could do that.
- Anything for an airline banded pen Smile
- Very nice inflight pics, of the wings, and the contrails. How do you manage to identify flying aircraft near you?
- You were lucky to see the French official A343 as well as the A310! I only saw the latter, that too, as I was travelling on the Air France bus from CDG to the city
- The Concorde! The closest I have got to the Concorde was in 1979 at LHR, when it was parked at a gate right in front of me. And was I not excited?

Part 4:
- Ibis is at least a decent hotel. I have stayed in some real cheap accommodation in many places, rooms almost just enough to hold my huge figure, and rooms without any windows as well.
- Nice pictures from the street! I love this, along with your pithy observations, and comments.
- I managed a ride on some really ancient Metro coaches in Paris, in addition to more recent models. You have a picture of one of them right after your second Eiffel tower picture.
- The boat ride pictures were great! I also loved the metallic T-Rex skeleton
- The Notre Dame Cathedral! I missed this one: there was no time, and the crowds on the street were too much for me to do the walk, from the Louvre.
- Too bad about the horrid weather...I was a bit luckier. The food pictures look Mmm... Smile

Part 5:
- Nice pictures from Disneyland, Paris! I wish I had an eye for detail, like you. Too bad the bad weather followed you here. As a little child, Disneyland was always fascinating for me. However, I also notice that in the 2000s at least, the properties are advertised as `Disneyland Resort' and the like, in the US, at least. Relatives have visited some of them, I have never had the inclination to pay a visit as yet. I have seen much of them in photos. Nice and thoughtful shopping in 7 minutes: wow!

Part 6:
- Thanks for the lovely pictures and descriptions of the Notre Dame cathedral and from the Eiffel tower. I only saw the latter from the ground, that too, in first light, as I had not planned my trip well, given my time constraints. I also managed to sneak in a dekko at the Arch D'Triumphe
- Very interesting comments from Mr. D! Smile
- Lovely silhouette picture while coming out from the Metro!

Part 7:
- Wow, this had sights I would not plan on seeing on a tight time budget, so thank for sharing these memories with us!
- You seem to be intent on pulling fellow member Jason's legs, that too in a country which he visits often! I too saw a TGV for Nantes n the schedules, and remembered him, and his witty quips
- The fishes: a flounder and a red groper?
- The helicopter looks like an Alouette III, which many of us Indians know better as the `Chetak', though I am not good at identifying helicopters. They are hardly aircraft, you see Razz

Part 8:
- Photography not allowed in the Musee D'Orsay...I wonder, why. The Louvre allows it, thankfully!
- Crepe and ...ha ha!

Part 9:
- I guess the Louvre was the only place I spent some decent time in, but it was all worth it! I can relate to most of the pictures you have put up, here.
In the end, I was so tired that I jsut tried to follow the map, and see the main sights alone.
- Versailles: wow! I really wish I were there, but then, I have your pictures to comfort me.

Part 10:
- Bata is something we forget about: the Czech origins. It has become very India to most of us!
- Interesting check-in experience, from the Turkish A333, to the `child'!
- Nice CDG snaps! Lots of exotic planes, on view. Vortices and contrails on the flight!
- The food looks very nice, and it is also nice that you had a nice FA on board!

Thanks for a lovely experience, Jishnu, and I surely look forward to much more from you!
Cheers, Sumantra.
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 13, 2014 9:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sumantra sir, always a great pleasure to read your TR length and in depth replies! Very Happy
Thank you so much for the lovely words and comments! And yeah, looks like you have an excuse to delay your TRs now - Ameya sir won't be happy about this! Laughing

I shall reply to your replies, in parts as well Smile

P1:
-True about UL. Not many Indians look into this choice to go anywhere, although, I have seen UL consistently being the cheapest option on the BOM-NRT route, via CMB of course. CMB-NRT is a nice long 9 hour flight, mostly on the A340s. I'm sure some Indians do look at this choice, too.
-I thank Mr. D for putting such an amazing itinerary together, he did a fantastic job, no doubt! Very Happy

P2:
-Yes, sir. It was a huge setback when I heard about it Crying or Very sad The biggest loss I felt was the AI B744 flight...but then again, this was ALL made up for with an SQ A380, BR MD90 and a B74E! Very Happy

P3:
-Durian...you might hate it (young people), or you might love it (middle aged or old people!)
-Menu cards are one thing which sets UL apart from our Indian carriers, and good on them! Very Happy
-Haha! That dream/those thoughts are perhaps some of the weirdest I've had on a plane...and an empty plane made these thoughts even more interesting!
-Speaking of airline branded pens, a friend of mine got a KLM pen. I WANT!
-Simple, I just zoomed into the plane on the camera display, and tried to get whatever detail, then identify it accordingly Smile
-Was great to see the A310! Something very very rare today!
-I was a bit downbeat about the Concorde chances...but wow seeing it actually was amazing! Very Happy

P4:
-I will not complain about the hotel, knowing how much space costs in Paris!
-The metro was interesting in Paris, to be honest! From really old stuff, to some new SIN/HKG type metros! The RER was quite amazing, too.
-Yeah, Notre Dame is quite far away from the Louvre! RER was your only choice, I guess....
-Weather was really depressing, I shall not deny that Crying or Very sad

P5:
-If you really want to visit Disneyland or Disneyworld (God, they're confusing!), its the one in the U.S. (Florida) which you're looking at. No point in going to the one in Paris or Hong Kong!

P6:
-You missed the Eiffel? How could you! Shocked Its okay though, next time, on another set of AI Dream)liners Wink
-Thanks for your comments here! Very Happy

P7:
-True sir...I never really knew what exactly the Stade De France was....until Metallica performed over there Laughing
-Haha! Who doesn't want to pull Jason's legs? Wink Oh well, I'm sure he takes it in a light hearted manner though, none of it was intentional!
-I'm quite bad with my helicopter knowledge too...in fact, I'm quite bad even with air force birds! I need to learn a lot....

P9:
-Louvre does require...easily about 3 days! But then again, everyone rushes for the Mona Lisa anyways so....
-Great to know, sir! Versailles is a very significant place, I'm sure you'd know! Quite an experience, too.

P10:
-Oh, I did not know that about Bata! Thanks for the intel!
-Thanks for your comments again, sir! Very Happy

I look forward to reading your other replies now.

Regards
Jish
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 13, 2014 8:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for taking time out, to go through my replies! Some points here.
- PM-AI used to have menu cards in Y for some sectors, occassionally. I specifically remember the AI 191/144 combination: AMD-BOM-CDG-EWR and vice versa. The *A AI currently has them only in the premium class, unfortunately.
- AI-branded pens: I've got one from the AI Washington DC office, along with a nice mouse pad, in 2005. Nice Smile
Cheers, Sumantra.
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 29, 2014 11:30 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

sumantra wrote:
Thanks for taking time out, to go through my replies! Some points here.
- PM-AI used to have menu cards in Y for some sectors, occassionally. I specifically remember the AI 191/144 combination: AMD-BOM-CDG-EWR and vice versa. The *A AI currently has them only in the premium class, unfortunately.
- AI-branded pens: I've got one from the AI Washington DC office, along with a nice mouse pad, in 2005. Nice Smile
Cheers, Sumantra.

Oh dear, how did I mange to miss out a reply!
Speaking of branded things, I received a SriLankan Airlines cap from a friend, whose Dad is a pilot with UL, flies the A320/A321/A322 and the A343! Basically, entire fleet Razz
Always a joy to get free airline stuff Very Happy

Regards
Jish
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 29, 2014 11:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

jbalonso777 wrote:
Speaking of branded things, I received a SriLankan Airlines cap from a friend, whose Dad is a pilot with UL, flies the A320/A321/A322 and the A343!
I remember you getting an invite from the front office on one of your flights, was it the same gentleman? Wow!
Cheers, Sumantra.
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 30, 2014 3:56 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

sumantra wrote:
I remember you getting an invite from the front office on one of your flights, was it the same gentleman? Wow!
Cheers, Sumantra.

The Captain on UL141, CMB-BOM invited me to the flight deck on my school trip. (Mumbai with my mates: madness multiplying massacre?!). That was a different Captain, however it was the friend in question whose Dad informed the captain of the very flight that I was aboard Smile

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