Sunday 9 January 2011

Newcastle International Airport & ..... beyond


With all this bad weather that we have been having recently, it just makes me want to fly off somewhere hot !! I don't intend to be biographical in this post but it may come as a surprise to you that I was never in an aircraft during 2010 and yet during the previous 6 years, I was never away from the above machinery and the associated company. For those who know the workings of this company, you will understand my relationship with these metal birds as I once received a £10 voucher for being a frequent flyer.... a very unusual event in this very tough business.

( Although I have material for 3 current posts, I am almost there with sorting out the data, numbering and communication between the new camera and computer... so I thought in the meantime I would re-live some bittersweet memories this month from the second half of 2009 when I first went digital giving a snapshot of the last 6 years of my life and an opportunity to show some of the images in the right hand side bar.)

Airports are usually sterile places and unique in their role but follow the same pattern of safety and mis-trust of the passenger and while you have to wait for hours, lets see if we can relieve them off their money on things that they really do not need !!

Treasure.......Watch out for the sharks !!

The only "empty" seats of the departure lounge

The mirage of Duty free !!!
Time to think about why I am here and my attention turns to what is happening outside, baggage loading, fuel pipes, 25 minute turn arounds. Deciding who I'll be sharing my journey with..... I was the casual traveller sharing the accommodation with the suited businessmen.

The flagship, the scary and the budget... you decide !

Occasionally the monotony was broken by emergency landings and unusual observations......

cornered .... is it one of ours ? !

separated at birth, re-united at gates 6 and 10 !!

Then all of a sudden, the excitement of the rush, when the gate was flashed up on the board. No booked seats, just speedy boarding, group A and B and the stampede for a seat like cows at a farmers auction market.


In the previous 6 years, I had the privilege of using EasyJet for a host of destinations around Europe including Paris, Barcelona, Budapest, Prague, Venice, Rome, Krakow and Nice ....


...but it was not on these flights that I got to know the cabin crew well, it was on an internal domestic flight that saved a 5 hour train journey.


57 trips on a choice of late evening flights which was just in time to see the sun set out of the westward facing window.


Only 42 minutes in the air before it was time to land as the sun began to set on my flight...


To be continued ..... with my destination


15 comments:

  1. Looking forward to the next episode 'J'

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  2. Great shots and a great post about the airport. They can be so dull. Love the picture of the three planes.

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  3. Great sunset shots!! You have certainly been many places--traveling is such fun and there are a myriad of wonderful places in the world to see. You sound like you have many more exciting places you are planning on going. Going to love hearing about all of them.

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  4. Thank you for this winged letter , J!
    Fits perfectly with a gloomy, foggy Monday...
    As soon as I can never be a bird (in this life) is good to find a place close to the sun, up on the clouds where nothing metters... not even those 2D sharks or the mirage of Duty free or my ugly frozen Mondays!
    See you soon !
    I wish you a great, magical week!
    My regards!

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  5. Ciao J., I'm laughing with tears in eyes, your irony supported by the images is
    extraordinary!
    Have a good week!

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  6. Great post, J_on_tour! I like those sunsets. I saw a similar one, coming back from India, on the flight from Istanbul to Budapest. But I was to tired to take out my camera and shoot. Pity!

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  7. I'm sitting here in a total state of envy. The US is so far from everywhere I want to visit, so it costs a ton just to get anywhere, not to mention the costs at the destination.

    Am enjoying the new additions to the sidebar. Would love to visit Train Heaven.

    As always, love the captions, especially the 'mirage of duty-free.' :-)

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  8. As a "frequent fliar" , you're able to offer good, authentic descriptions and pictures of airports in the world.

    The picture of the departure lounge at the Newcastle airport is a "strong" one due to the empty seats.

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  9. Beautiful sunset, that's a great bonus of your flight! Good luck!

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  10. the sunset are charming.and i like the pictures with the many chairs.

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  11. Hi J.
    I understand that you don't like traveling with
    an airplane, he?
    Great post about it!!

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  12. I read your air related depiction in one breath, J_on_tour, and I understand better now the origin of your nickname here :-)

    I like the picture with the red part of plane...

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  13. Trevor Woodford... Thanks, you know where it is now ! I'm travelling tantalising close to your familiarity.

    Farmchick... I agree, airports are dull places. Thankfully I can see some action outside to vary the scenery.

    forgetmenot... Thanks, I don't have many recent sunset shots, so maybe with your inspiration, I might go looking for some more. This post was an excuse to show the opposite end of the country.

    Wind... Thanks, pleased it brightened up your day. The sharks referred to the following two pictures !!

    Sciarada...Thanks, when you spend a lot of time needlessly in a place like this, your mind can go one of two ways. Thankfully, I still kept my humour.... not sure about my sanity though.

    Lily Riani... no longer suspense... although no where fantastic... however I try to do my best with it.

    Traveling Hawk... Thanks, It is always difficult to motivate myself to take views from a plane window. I had to make a decision before sitting in my seat whether I was going to hold the camera or not. Strange, at the time I had no way of knowing that people from all over the world were going to see these.

    Cranberry Morning... Thanks, Don't worry, I encourage arm chair travel !! Just like the coffee table book that you once mentioned. The captions have been assigned to those photos ever since I first took them.

    Duta... the empty seats represents the expense that it is to sit in them. All the other lounge seats were well filled at peak times. The airport was more roomy and pleasurable than Bristol Airport I was flying to, mainly due to the fact that they accepted more flights than they could deal with and having a large construction project going on at the same time.

    Rafael Lam... Thanks, usually it was light in the summer and dark in the winter, this was a september thing.

    Pharaonx... Thanks, you may have noticed that I like the repetition theme occasionally.

    Monika... The plane was fine, it was all the other obstacles that I had to avoid ... such as the persuasive woman at the entrance trying to sell me a credit card every time !!

    Vicki Lane... Thanks, I was fortunate as I had no idea what I was going to see when the plane took off. It was quite avoiding the reflections through the thick window pane even with the lens sitting flush with it.

    Petra... It was the trip advisor name that was created that I mentioned in post 50 and will be mentioning again on a part of this trip. The colour of the plane symbolises the airline company that I was travelling with.

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