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#941750 by ultreen1
20 Feb 2018, 22:42
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Cast your minds back to November 2015, we had just filmed couples come dine with me (yes, seriously) and after that ordeal we needed to book a holiday! We tried to be sensible and hold off but it HAD to be done.
I guess, after cancelling Miami in September for various reasons but then realising we were wrong about cancelling...the plunge was taken and another holiday booked!

Having the option of PE or UC and the other half going for PE it was a stand off...knowing I'd win easily it wasn't difficult turning Simon around.
"Fine dear, we can go PE. I'm ok with no bed or bar"
"I don't care about that" he exclaims!
"Our status has crashed so there'll be no clubhouse if we fly PE!"
"We will pay for guest pass" he tells me.
Feeling I'm loosing at this point I bring out the big guns..."Simon, will you be able to cope knowing other ppl have better seats than you? Better food? More booze? Can you cope? (Yes we're shallow)
In all of 2 seconds Simon had changed his mind and convinced himself the idea was his...we were flying UC!

Having booked the flights the next task was sorting out the parking!
Now! Princess loves a bit of DTCI but since the last time we flew purple parking have changed the way we used to do it...as most of you know the pp captain would pick you up and drive you through. This is no longer the case, VS now have an agreement with purple parking. The pp captain will take your car from the upperclass wing and park it for you. The price difference for meet and greet and the upperclass experience is shocking.
As much as princess loves DTCI i love it more. So regardless of price I booked it...
Now I had to tell Simon!
Knowing how he reacts when I spend money, I needed to play this differently, make him think he's getting what he wants...again!
"I've booked the parking dear but I've gone with Heathrow meet and greet, the price for pp and dtci isn't worth the extra cost"
"No dtci? But how will we check in? Won't they drive us up there?" He asks.
So I explain the new changes stating we would need to walk into the terminal and check in like normal people...
"Well, you better have booked fully refundable parking because WE ARE! doing DTCI" He loudly interrupts!
Feeling I'm winning here I end the conversation by saying I'll sort it out but I don't promise anything.

Fast forward to January....

"Darren, we haven't booked parking!"
I put his mind at ease and showed him the booking reassuring him we will be using the UC wing, without a mention of the cost he was off my case and went back to nursing his Chablis...well it was 3pm after all!

Sorry to ramble on but I will get to the actual flight.

Right, I feel the need to share with you good people a superstition I have regarding flying out of JFK and the JFK CH. Whenever we are flying out of JFK in UC something happens and we end up not going. I've never been to the JFK CH and really want to try it out, but I feel I have this curse against me because I always miss out on it for one reason or another.
With this CH curse forever over my head something was bound to crop up...and it did!
In January we were supposed to sign for our new venture and with solicitors from both parties working at a snails pace it looked like we would be running a month late taking us into Feb!
I start to get anxious about the handover and the holiday being so close, I bring up the possibility of cancelling (the CH curse strikes again). Simon wasn't so keen to cancel, he felt he needed this break badly and wouldn't budge. I'd like to say we didn't argue but we did. In the end we had to get "our Ker" (Simons mum) in to mediate and get her opinion.
She insisted we went and quite rightly said it would be the only holiday we could have till September because of the bees and she would look after things during our week away.
We would have 2 weeks once we signed to set everything up then handover to "our Ker". Not great but doable. We were still going even if I was a bit stressed.
The curse might just be lifting I thought.
Then the price of our hotel dropped saving us £250...it was meant to be, what curse you ask!?

1st Feb arrived, paperwork delayed (sent to wrong solicitor and forgot to put our names on the documents)...ok, don't panic still plenty of time.
5th Feb, call to say we will sign on the 15th. One day before our flight!

If we hadn't taken advantage of the lower hotel price (non refundable) we would have cancelled it all, but not prepared to lose the money for our hotel we would still be going.

On Sunday I got our "Ker" up to scratch with her new role for the next week and on Monday we finally signed.
I received a text reminding me to check in online, I used the app and it worked well, seq 5+6.

So the day of our flight we woke up at 7am to pack our bags, nothing like last minute packing! No cubes for us!

We left the house at 9:20am on a very sunny but cold morning. The traffic wasn't an issue and thanks to clear skies we were able to spot a few Virgin planes whilst we made our way down the M4.

We arrived at LHR at 10:50, drove to the bollards at the UC wing and was met by a man with in a high vis. The bollards were broke so we had to use the terminal to check in.
I queried our PP booking and asked if the guy would be outside waiting for us. He radioed up and got the driver to come down.
So we made our way to the outside of the terminal where the lovely lady from the UC wing was waiting for us. The PP captain took our car and we were escorted thro the terminal (like celebrities, with a few glances from some) and up to the UC wing to check our bags in.
Security was quick enough but there was a family who were clearly running late for their flight, they weren't in UC but were brought thro by a virgin girl. They didn't have anything ready, left bits in their pockets etc..
Managed to sit down in the very busy CH by 11:15, not bad!
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Clubhouse
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2 flights got called and it soon emptied, service was very good today. Our champagne was always kept topped up.
I booked a lay down massage as there was lots of availability. We ordered some food, I had the cod and Simon had the ch burger.
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Cod & CH burger
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My massage was needed as I had hurt my shoulder lifting the day before. I'm clearly getting old but the massage did help.
I had a salad and some smoked salmon from the deli bar.
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Salmon
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We played spot the LA pax...always funny.
But, all too soon our flight got called, we packed up our bits and walked down to gate 22. Is this the furthest one away? I think it was...every time I fly I get to the gate and I'm gasping for a drink...
#941751 by ultreen1
20 Feb 2018, 22:46
Today we were on Maid Marion, we boarded via L2 and were greeted warmly and asked to turn left...so we did!
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MM
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We sat down in 8&9 A and made ourselves comfortable, champagne offered and accepted. Couldn't make out the FSM until he did the introductions, he wasn't very interactive but his crew were. He didn't interact in the upper cabin much during the flight but his crew more than made up for this.
The upper cabin was full today but PE and E were empty. Before we took off we had some wanderers from E come look at the cabin...I shot some evils and shouted f*** off back to economy and they soon scarpered.
Once airborne the usual routine ensued, introductions, drink, crisps, meal selection, more drink...you get the idea. One thing that did happen once the seat belt signs were off, 2 men on their laptops went and sat at the bar!!! I thought to myself "we have some bar hoggers here" and being one myself I was concerned I wouldn't be able to spend time there having a few drinks with pax and crew. After they had eaten and done their "very important" work they left. Phew!! But it was touch and go for a few hours!!
I paid for wifi to keep me connected with the world and so I could play clash of clans.
All I did was annoy my friends with pictures of food and updates to my Facebook.
Food was quick to come around, I had the terrine to start, followed by the beef, sticky toffee pudding and finished off with cheese and port. Being a gluttonous fatty bum bum I drank plenty of wine with my meal to keep me hydrated.
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Terine
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Steak
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#941752 by ultreen1
20 Feb 2018, 22:50
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Dessert
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Cheese
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With food done with we headed up to the bar, there as a lovely New Yorker and a delta elite at the bar who we hit it off with...
This is where it gets messy! We all continue to drink and have a good old giggle. Halfway through our "session" I decide to have a walk around to stretch my legs. I wander down the back and have a sit down in economy, what I didn't realise is I dropped something out of my pocket whilst “down the back”!
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Economy
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#941753 by ultreen1
20 Feb 2018, 22:52
I return to the bar where we drink far to much. We stayed at the bar for ages and decided to leave when afternoon tea was being served.
We both skipped afternoon tea but continued drinking at our seats.
The rest of the flight is a blur if I'm honest, I listened to my music and didn't bother with the ife.
Simon did find a novel way of communicating to avoid the neck ache you get...
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Best way of communication...
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When we started out decent into JFK Simon waved at me and said they've just called your name on the tannoy, as I was listening to music I didn't hear anything. I told him not to be stupid you're just trying to wind me up. 5 minutes later the CSM comes over and asks if I'm Darren Morgan, I only dropped my Amex in economy! Oh the shame!!! So he came to return it to me, I get up and he hands it over to me.
Now, still being quite oiled from all the drink I stretch my arm and hand out to receive my Amex. I grasp my missing Amex but what happened next was all in slow motion. All I (and the rest of the cabin) see is a my Amex flying through the air and landing in between the seat, but it goes right in between where I can't reach...The CSM looks at me and says don't worry we can get an engineer to get that out for you!
To cut a long story short...I ordered a new one.
Amex comfortably under my seat we arrived at JFK, we were first off and got through security in record time!
The taxi to the hotel was a blur but we had arrived!
Whilst in NYC we met up with Blacky and his brood and also Joeyc in a Irish bar close to our hotels...I drank to much tequila! It Was very nice to meet them both! After meeting them we (me and simon) went off to a bar called blazing saddles...enough said!

Well friends that was my last TR and it was written 2 years ago, I hope you enjoyed it!

Darren
#941803 by ultreen1
24 Feb 2018, 11:31
Thanks commanderB
If you like that one read my TR of VS43 a few years ago. Or the Miami one! Oh god memories!! :-D
Enjoy your flight!
#941806 by hiljil
24 Feb 2018, 14:34
Thank you for a most enjoyable TR. Well worth the wait :-D

Great photos too.
#941808 by Bretty
24 Feb 2018, 22:28
Worth the wait you old lush. And did you really tell someone to eff off back to economy? Very bold! Great pics too.
I hope it won’t be your last TR, as in I hope you’ll fly VS again soon. I know like us you’ve moved over to BA because of the wider network. I’m hoping that whenever we want to fly somewhere that VS flies, we manage to do it.

Oh, and did you make the JFK CH in the end?
#941828 by joeyc
25 Feb 2018, 17:37
A great TR Darren, thank you for reminding me of a fun eve out in NYC with you guys.

Tequilla was all on you, I stuck with the beer that night.

Hopefully see you in the VS network again soon :cool:
#941921 by tomthumb
03 Mar 2018, 12:13
Very enjoyable TR - and I like how to fit in the pictures it was broken up into segments
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