BA2595 CTA-LGW 14 JUL 14 (EURO TRAVELLER)

After a 5-day break in Sicily, without any luck finding those delicious Noccellara olives, it was time to head home. Other than the disappointment with those stupid olives, it was a good holiday. Did OLCI at the hotel the night before, and we got SEQ 1 and 2! Shame that this isn’t a VS flight, but I was still quite excited.

We also managed to get the exit row seats, and not being very tall people ourselves, we were able to stretch out our legs and still failing to touch the seats in front!

Catania airport isn’t the biggest, so after a short queue at security, we were able to get to our gate. Oh wait, no we couldn’t, because there was border control that we had to go through, and no one was there. I guess it was only really flights to the UK that have this issue, as the UK is not in the Schengen agreement, so the border control is manned only when those flights are boarding. So we wandered in and out of a few shops at the airport, but there really weren’t all that many of them.

After waiting for about half an hour, border control was open. It was just as well because past that point there are only vending machines (and toilets) so really not that much to do. Also it was freezing. After spending another 15 minutes or so in the “fridge”, boarding began by zones, though the vast majority of the pax completely ignored their zones.

It may have been the same aircraft as the outbound, and if not, this one also badly needed a refurb. I think I read somewhere though that BA is currently refurbing its A320s for the European routes, though I cannot imagine that this route would be anywhere near the top of its list of aircraft to refurbish.

Take off was not very smooth, in fact it felt like the wheels dragged on the runway somewhat.

The flight was at 19.15, so shortly after we were airborne, the raisin and cashew nut snack pack was served, followed by those Urban Eat boxes. Once we’ve managed to break into them, we found a chicken and pesto wrap, a chicken and bacon bap and same as outbound, Lily O’brien chocolate mousse with caramel. They tasted ok, as far as plane food goes really.

The rest of the journey was drama-free, and Mr W and I very much enjoyed the extra leg room that the exit seats had to offer. Landing was a lot more smooth thankfully, and without checked luggage we whizzed through customs etc. The taxi was already waiting for us, and we were home within half an hour. Ready for work the day after and another 2 flights (on LR) the day after that!