Trip to Cranfield UK

[alberttky]

Went to Cranfield, England last week to renew my SEP rating. I flew to LHR and proceeded to Cranfield for my licence renewal.

Flight Info...
SQ322/07JAN/SINLHR
A380 9V-SKF
Gate: B5

Typical busy Terminal 3 during the evening...


Nice touch of the staff at Check-in...


Just as busy post departure immigration...


The dugong that would bring me to LHR... SKF


Boarding from B5 today...


Yet another nice touch for the staff for giving me 72D on the upper deck!


Supper was served not long after take off. The choices were lamb with potatoes, Chinese-style fish with rice, and Indian-style chicken. Having had fish and chicken during my dinner earlier, I decided to go for lamb instead.


Slow ground speed due to strong headwind...


Overflying Afghanistan...


One crew member handed me magazines to kill time.


To be continued...

[alberttky]

Approximately 3 hours before arrival the crew started serving breakfast. The choices were either seafood fried noodles or western breakfast. Thinking I will be having a few unhealthy British breakfast later on, I decided to go oriental.


Very nice of the crew to give me this.


SKF at LHR Terminal 3 after arrival. Looks like one of the aerobridges is U/S.


Sun rises rather late at this time of the year. Outside T3 at 7am.


My rented car for the trip, and my first time driving an Italian car. Drives very well!


Hotel lobby at the Mercure Parkside Milton Keynes


Small single room but enough for me...

[alberttky]

Some scenes at Cranfield Airport...





after a session of flying in the morning I decided to drive up to Birmingham...


Bullring Shopping Centre

[alberttky]

Some picture outside my hotel on a beautiful wintry morning...




The famous British winter weather has been very kind to me this time.



What's being in the UK without a typical British breakfast?


After passing my flight test I decided to reward myself to some good dinner at my hotel, starting with a duck terrine:


Some fish fillet with potatoes and poached egg and hollandaise sauce. Interesting combination...


Topping it up with a strawberry cheesecake and ice cream

[alberttky]

The day after passing my flight test I gave myself a day of shopping, starting with breakfast: Eggs Benedict with fried potatoes:


Factory outlets at Bicester Village:



More country-side driving...






The temperature dropped on the day I left UK. Frost build-up on my rented car overnight:

[alberttky]

Driving to Greenwich to meet a friend for lunch before heading to LHR:


Near Canary Wharf


Meatball pizza at Pizza Express


Arrived back to Terminal 3 after returning my rented car.


Didnt' take any photos of the check-in area. SQ have their check-in counters at Row E. The check-in areas at T3 are really small! SQ used to use VS' check-in counters when I last visited back in 2010.

Duty Free Shopping at departure airside:



Departing out of Gate 3 today


Couldn't take a picture of my aircraft from the gate, so I took a picture of the neighbouring aircraft:

[alberttky]

Seat 40D in 9V-SWT B777-300ER.


Compared to the seat I had on my way to LHR, I missed out on a lot of amenities: USB charger, mirror, cup holder, reading light underneath the IFE screen, coat hook.


Dinner was served shortly after drinks services. The choices tonight were chicken with potatoes, Chinese-style fish with rice, or Indian curry lamb with Basmati rice. I went for lamb.


Strong tailwind pushing us and had us at the gate at Changi 50 minutes ahead of schedule!


Lunch just before arrival - Fried noodles


A shot of the cabin on short finals WSSS R02L.


All in all a very good and productive trip to the UK. I was glad the weather was on my side, allowing my 3 very good days of flying. Looking forward to my next trip up in 2 years time.

[CarbonMan]

Thanks for the pics, Alberttky, of the English countryside. Not sure if I can stand the sight of the typical English breakfast though. (I don't mean that it is bad, just too much of the same thing).

[eriond]

Nice report! I thought FastTrack slips are given to all PPS members in Y as a standard, so assuming you are QPP (judging from your J tag + magazines), it is the norm isn't it?

[j.lin]

Thanks for the wonderful report! Doesn't your PPS entitled entry to SKL? Or are you sick of the food there?

[flying.monkeyz]

Thanks for the report!

[alberttky]

Thanks. Good thing I didn't have those English breakfast everyday!

I am not a PPS. I was travelling as a staff passenger.

When you take care of your staff, they will take good care of you. ;-)

[eriond]

Ah, I see! Thanks for the clarification.

[CarbonMan]

Thanks. Good thing I didn't have those English breakfast everyday!

I am not a PPS. I was travelling as a staff passenger.

When you take care of your staff, they will take good care of you. ;-)

Staff travel - don't they bump you up to the front as standard practice?

[alberttky]

Staff travel - don't they bump you up to the front as standard practice?

Not necessarily. Some staff are upgradeable. I'm not.