Sounds good! Makes me want to go back to Prague now. My first time I covered quite a bit of the network but have no record. The second time i didn't get much opportunity but did note what I went on. I too hope you add pictures.
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Juliano's World Frenzy/Tech's Trip Reports
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Blindtraveler
Established Member
Sounds fun, hope you are sleaping well whilst I'm not.
It might be a local thing but an accommodation provider who doesnt keep light out of its bedrooms is a poor one IMO.
It might be a local thing but an accommodation provider who doesnt keep light out of its bedrooms is a poor one IMO.
shredder1
Established Member
Nice read Tech, amazing country, I`m back in October for a two day Grumpy tour in Northern Czech, plus 2 days roving southern czech shed bashing and then I may nip over to Germany, Poland and Slovak
shredder1
Established Member
Fantastic Tech, glad you are enjoying it, its some tram network isnt it you, looking forward to reading day 3. I`m booked into the Hostel Rosemary near the station for 2 nights in october £6 a night, lol
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Techniquest
Veteran Member
Hassan: Most likely but I will find out for sure when I check off my trams. A big job for next week...
Shred: Have an awesome time!
16/08/2017 - And Now...The Continuation...Of Tech's World Frenzy, Day 3
A very lazy morning had after a solid 7 hours of sleep, with packing begun and a small bit of bookwork in the form of checking off my Metro sights and haulages from Day 2. A most needed powerful shower had, I eventually got moving and started the day on tram line 1 to score the curve heading north. Winner 9340 took me all the way to Hradcanska, which cleared tram line 1. The mission this morning was to get the furthest out bits of the tram network done, not all of the branches I need were to get done but if they happened to be later on I wasn't complaining at that. Anyone who's tried following the map of trams in Prague will agree it's a rather large mix of lines!
Winner 9066 took me forward on line 8, and because of a severe lack of food and coffee I got off at winner shack Zelena and not the terminus! What a fool...Winners 8469+8468 took me to the terminus at winner shack Nadrazi Pobaba, to join fresh dud 9066 back to Hradcanska. A right long queue of trams was here but I bailed from the front door, nearest the cab to get out instead of waiting what could have been ages getting into the stop. I just made it onto winner 9359 on tram line 20 to end of the line winner shack Divoka Sarka. And yes, this time I made sure I got off at the terminus! Straight onto winner 9312 to Nadrazi Veleslavin, as while I need the south western end of line 20 I'm more interested in getting on Metro now.
The thunderstorm was certainly coming, as by now it was also raining quite significantly. A coffee from Hello! cafe on the Metro station for 39CZK was just what the doctor ordered, it must be said! I decided to do a bit of a shack attack while here, starting with winners 3146+3255+3253+3251+3120 to winner shack Dejvicka. To winner shack Borislavka I took winners 3362+3663+3628+3639+3367, returning east only a few minutes later on winners 3503+3802+3801+3800+3502 to winner shack Hradcanska. Onwards to winner shack Petriny with winners 3175+3402+3279+3248+3165. I'm more than aware this report is not terribly interesting at this point, believe it or not it's really difficult to make an exciting read out of Day 3!
Onwards I went to Malostranka with winners 3180+3205+3444+3449+3. Finally on line A I took winners 3399+3693+3692+3691+3398 to Mustek, where I changed for line B as I still needed to clear the eastern half. To end of the line winner shack Cerny Most then, with winners 3313+3470+3472+3474 doing the deed. I forgot to get the 5th unit on that set, epic fail! After finding my first food of the day in the form of a slice of pizza upstairs, I headed west again to winner shack Florenc, taking winners 3333+3622+3621+3620+3328 on the lengthy run. I changed now to clear line C, and with it the Prague Metro. The Siemens units in charge of this were winners 4148+4147 for the mileage move to Haje. With that mission cleared, I went for a look around and took a phone call before using the facilities for 5CZK.
Much better, I joined winners 4115+4116 for the trek to winner shack Muzeum. Here there was a lot of heavy rain for a fair while, so visited Albert supermarket. A most divine iced doughnut and a 6 inch soft roll covered in cheese and bacon went down beautifully, it must be said. I also sourced a couple of winning beers for later in the evening, and the rain was still going, so it was back to line C [and as I type this bit of the trip report up I had God Save The Queen on, more about that later... - Ed] for some shack scoring! Winners 4141+4142 took me to winner shack Strivkov, 8 minutes later I joined winners 4189+4190 to winner shack Prosek. Fresh duds 4142+4141 took me back west to winner shack Kobylisy. It was only a few minutes before I joined winners 4132+4131 to winner shack Nadrazi holesovice. Fresh duds 4190+4189 took me onto winner shack Vltavska, and I really didn't like the look of the area at all.
So much I disliked the area I felt I could be mugged, so I abandoned any tram bashing and retreated to the safety of the Metro. Fresh duds 4148+4147 took me west, and it was a revenue check next. I showed him my passport too, and had to alight at Hlavni nadrazi with the trio of RPIs...
Basically, when I bought my 72 hour pass and luggage ticket from the TVM in the baggage reclaim area while waiting for my case to come down, the machine cut the two in half but cut through the middle of the pass! I didn't know this until he showed me what the ticket looked like on a proper one, and he wanted to fine me. The other two clearly took pity on me and made him let me go, so I went upstairs and got a new ticket. I was, understandably, angry with the situation and hot-footed it next to the nearest tram to Biskupcova. I was heading there anyway, but I was planning to just have a short break and put my beers in the fridge for later on. Now I was absolutely tamping, and my last move of the day fell to 8713+8669, only about 5 hours earlier than planned...
I spoke to Blindtraveller for well over an hour, and I ended that call happier than I was. The mood I had been in had me wanting to just get on the plane and return to England asap! After that I went to Lidl for some cheap food as I was now rather skint. I ended up deciding to bust out the magic plastic, as I was basically in an emergency situation and that's what I have the plastic for, to get me out of hell. I'm not amused about using it, but what can one do? Back to base camp just as another heavy bit of rain came down, well timed! I then spent the rest of the afternoon getting stuff ready to go, beginning the attack of the epic pile of bookwork, drinking the two beers and just generally chilling out. Much later in the evening, at nearly 2200, I finally got this trip report complete!
So what was I referencing earlier in this part of this trip report? While I have tunes I traditionally play before going on a flight, before the homeward flight I have other favourites too. They are Rule Brittania and God Save The Queen. I normally look forward to returning home to the UK and the patriotic music always seems appropriate. Whether that makes sense to anyone else or not, it works for me. I won't lie to you, I was glad to see the back of Day 3!
Shred: Have an awesome time!
16/08/2017 - And Now...The Continuation...Of Tech's World Frenzy, Day 3
A very lazy morning had after a solid 7 hours of sleep, with packing begun and a small bit of bookwork in the form of checking off my Metro sights and haulages from Day 2. A most needed powerful shower had, I eventually got moving and started the day on tram line 1 to score the curve heading north. Winner 9340 took me all the way to Hradcanska, which cleared tram line 1. The mission this morning was to get the furthest out bits of the tram network done, not all of the branches I need were to get done but if they happened to be later on I wasn't complaining at that. Anyone who's tried following the map of trams in Prague will agree it's a rather large mix of lines!
Winner 9066 took me forward on line 8, and because of a severe lack of food and coffee I got off at winner shack Zelena and not the terminus! What a fool...Winners 8469+8468 took me to the terminus at winner shack Nadrazi Pobaba, to join fresh dud 9066 back to Hradcanska. A right long queue of trams was here but I bailed from the front door, nearest the cab to get out instead of waiting what could have been ages getting into the stop. I just made it onto winner 9359 on tram line 20 to end of the line winner shack Divoka Sarka. And yes, this time I made sure I got off at the terminus! Straight onto winner 9312 to Nadrazi Veleslavin, as while I need the south western end of line 20 I'm more interested in getting on Metro now.
The thunderstorm was certainly coming, as by now it was also raining quite significantly. A coffee from Hello! cafe on the Metro station for 39CZK was just what the doctor ordered, it must be said! I decided to do a bit of a shack attack while here, starting with winners 3146+3255+3253+3251+3120 to winner shack Dejvicka. To winner shack Borislavka I took winners 3362+3663+3628+3639+3367, returning east only a few minutes later on winners 3503+3802+3801+3800+3502 to winner shack Hradcanska. Onwards to winner shack Petriny with winners 3175+3402+3279+3248+3165. I'm more than aware this report is not terribly interesting at this point, believe it or not it's really difficult to make an exciting read out of Day 3!
Onwards I went to Malostranka with winners 3180+3205+3444+3449+3. Finally on line A I took winners 3399+3693+3692+3691+3398 to Mustek, where I changed for line B as I still needed to clear the eastern half. To end of the line winner shack Cerny Most then, with winners 3313+3470+3472+3474 doing the deed. I forgot to get the 5th unit on that set, epic fail! After finding my first food of the day in the form of a slice of pizza upstairs, I headed west again to winner shack Florenc, taking winners 3333+3622+3621+3620+3328 on the lengthy run. I changed now to clear line C, and with it the Prague Metro. The Siemens units in charge of this were winners 4148+4147 for the mileage move to Haje. With that mission cleared, I went for a look around and took a phone call before using the facilities for 5CZK.
Much better, I joined winners 4115+4116 for the trek to winner shack Muzeum. Here there was a lot of heavy rain for a fair while, so visited Albert supermarket. A most divine iced doughnut and a 6 inch soft roll covered in cheese and bacon went down beautifully, it must be said. I also sourced a couple of winning beers for later in the evening, and the rain was still going, so it was back to line C [and as I type this bit of the trip report up I had God Save The Queen on, more about that later... - Ed] for some shack scoring! Winners 4141+4142 took me to winner shack Strivkov, 8 minutes later I joined winners 4189+4190 to winner shack Prosek. Fresh duds 4142+4141 took me back west to winner shack Kobylisy. It was only a few minutes before I joined winners 4132+4131 to winner shack Nadrazi holesovice. Fresh duds 4190+4189 took me onto winner shack Vltavska, and I really didn't like the look of the area at all.
So much I disliked the area I felt I could be mugged, so I abandoned any tram bashing and retreated to the safety of the Metro. Fresh duds 4148+4147 took me west, and it was a revenue check next. I showed him my passport too, and had to alight at Hlavni nadrazi with the trio of RPIs...
Basically, when I bought my 72 hour pass and luggage ticket from the TVM in the baggage reclaim area while waiting for my case to come down, the machine cut the two in half but cut through the middle of the pass! I didn't know this until he showed me what the ticket looked like on a proper one, and he wanted to fine me. The other two clearly took pity on me and made him let me go, so I went upstairs and got a new ticket. I was, understandably, angry with the situation and hot-footed it next to the nearest tram to Biskupcova. I was heading there anyway, but I was planning to just have a short break and put my beers in the fridge for later on. Now I was absolutely tamping, and my last move of the day fell to 8713+8669, only about 5 hours earlier than planned...
I spoke to Blindtraveller for well over an hour, and I ended that call happier than I was. The mood I had been in had me wanting to just get on the plane and return to England asap! After that I went to Lidl for some cheap food as I was now rather skint. I ended up deciding to bust out the magic plastic, as I was basically in an emergency situation and that's what I have the plastic for, to get me out of hell. I'm not amused about using it, but what can one do? Back to base camp just as another heavy bit of rain came down, well timed! I then spent the rest of the afternoon getting stuff ready to go, beginning the attack of the epic pile of bookwork, drinking the two beers and just generally chilling out. Much later in the evening, at nearly 2200, I finally got this trip report complete!
So what was I referencing earlier in this part of this trip report? While I have tunes I traditionally play before going on a flight, before the homeward flight I have other favourites too. They are Rule Brittania and God Save The Queen. I normally look forward to returning home to the UK and the patriotic music always seems appropriate. Whether that makes sense to anyone else or not, it works for me. I won't lie to you, I was glad to see the back of Day 3!
Kite159
Veteran Member
Harsh on the ticket machine messing up your ticket running into RPIs 
shredder1
Established Member
They usually let you get away with stuff like that and accept that we are tourists, Took me a while to get use to stamping tickets in machines after you`d bought them. I hope you got chance to try Kozel ale over there, the dark Kozel. A fantastic report though Tech, I was there with you on the trams, done most of the routes and the funicular. Looking forward to returning, Czechs like a second home to me now, Dobre.
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As I already said off forum, that was super harsh on the RPI incident! Quite obvious what happened and I'm not sure what they expected you to do! Massive downer but always best to try and make the best of a bad situation and I think you managed it!
I thought you were gonna go on to talk about the 'God save the queen' badge on untapped!
I thought you were gonna go on to talk about the 'God save the queen' badge on untapped!
That's a shame about the ticket. Very unfortunate and not at all your fault, it's great to visit these different countries but not always easy to understand when something's gone wrong. Glad BT and God Save the Queen sorted your mind out though...
I can empathise with your ticketing issues, having had penalty fare threats chucked at me from an over zealous RPI on the Seville Metro!
It really does knock your mood, though I waited until I was the right side of the barrier before telling the RPI exactly what I thought of their daft ticketing rules!
When I used the Tenerife trams this summer I actually failed to work the validators but thankfully a friendly local showed me the ropes with them.
It really does knock your mood, though I waited until I was the right side of the barrier before telling the RPI exactly what I thought of their daft ticketing rules!
When I used the Tenerife trams this summer I actually failed to work the validators but thankfully a friendly local showed me the ropes with them.
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87electric
Member
- Joined
- 27 Jan 2010
- Messages
- 1,024
Will be impressive to see your Tram stats. A city like Prague with over a 1000 working is going to be tough to note down numbers. My trick is to print out an A4 sheet of the fleet and just circle them as i see them. This stops writing down countless numbers and also repeating the numbers. New sheet on day 2 etc.....
Bad luck on the ticket and RPI situation. I've found on my Euro travels that RPIs are not tourist friendly at all. It is an easy buck to make. That is their job.
Hard nosed Traffic Wardens. Only once have i been in a sticky situation and i got the 40 euro fine and i sure did learn from that one.
Bad luck on the ticket and RPI situation. I've found on my Euro travels that RPIs are not tourist friendly at all. It is an easy buck to make. That is their job.
Hard nosed Traffic Wardens. Only once have i been in a sticky situation and i got the 40 euro fine and i sure did learn from that one.
That was a brilliant read and I hope you really enjoyed it. One thing I would disagree with is that Macedonia is real Eastern Europe. It is above Greece with loads of Greece being further East. It is below Serbia, Hungary, Slovakia, and Poland which don't feel Russian. Finland, Estonia and Latvia don't feel very Russian either and they border the country.
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shredder1
Established Member
We did all the former Yugoslavian states last year, most have very sparse rail services apart from Slovenia, but Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Bosnia and Macedonia trains need to be time carefully, some places are just one train a day, worth getting out to those countries though, they are amazing, We also crossed Albania, only one line operating at the moment from Durres to just outside Tirane, worth a visit though, but the railways are all but skint. Also expect some long minibus journeys. The Ukraine feels Russian, even though they hate them, lol
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Techniquest
Veteran Member
Fair comment on the countries, I'm not in a rush to do them personally.
Thanks for the vote of sympathy gang, most appreciated. That was not a fun situation to be in whatsoever!
17/08/2017 - And Now...The Continuation...Of Tech's World Frenzy, Day 4
Up at 0547 ahead of my 0600 alarm, it wasn't overly long before I left the hotel. A few of my pre-flight tunes were played while I still had WiFi of course first! After buying my 90 minute ticket for 32CZK I was waiting for line 11 but gave up waiting for that, ending up on line 9 with 9349 to Vaclavske namesti. It was rather foggy this morning, leaving the impression it was autumn not summer!
Duds 3190+3235+3267+3199 took me along line A to Nadrazi Veleslavin, and it was only a few minutes until bus 6903 took me on route 119 to the airport. I was unsure if it was 3159 or 3259 in the middle of the set so I've not counted either of them. I could have gone a little later to the airport, but I wanted to have a bit of time at the viewing terrace before I checked in. Sadly, there's way too much fog to see much of anything, so after finding my way to departures I finished off yesterday's meat and bread for a sandwich for breakfast. Still with 20 minutes until the check in desk opened, I sourced a small [think plastic party cup size - Ed] coffee for 26CZK. I have a feeling the 21CZK I had left would be unusable, oh well they can join the collection of foreign coins I have at home! It was time for the last of my pre-flight tunes, DJ Jean's The Launch, before check in opened. Quite a few people were checking in for the Flybe flight to London Southend, and it took 25 minutes to get through the process. It felt a lot longer than that!
Security at most airports immediately follows passport control, here it's at the gates themselves which is interesting. I noted a few planes, a couple I can't find in my AFQR or couldn't quite get the registration of. Security was nice and easy, apart from the Brits in front of me who couldn't open their bag and didn't realise aerosols can't be taken on the plane. Fools! My plane home on the 1005 to London Southend was in the hands of Flybe, winner G-FBEJ, happy days!
Pushback was 4 up at 1001, and after noting more planes on the way to the runway it was into the air at 1016. £2.50 was well spent on a Kenco coffee, and a decent size one at that. At 1050 I finally had my notebook updated after a lot of frantic scribbling away! The enormous job of checking off all those trams, including making sure what I had down as winners, was still to come, and if you could see the amount I had to process you'd feel sorry for me. I did give up noting all my tram sights after a while, as it was distracting me from enjoying the ride too much. Of course, I had Tech's Mobile Disco on during the flight! The enormous job of ticking off trams was complete about 45 minutes later, do expect an enormous list in the new sights thread! A very irritating bit of bookwork done there! Back on the ground at 1048 [now back on GMT! - Ed], at the terminal at 1052, 8 up.
Baggage reclaim, and a search of my bags, done I bought a Travelcard including travel to/from Zone 6, for £22.40 and joined dud 321428 to winner shack Rochford. After sourcing a bottle of flavoured water from the nearby Sainsburys Local, I joined winner 321445 in the motor coach to winner shack Hockley. I got a text from BA to inform me of a 3h15m delay to my flight tomorrow, and that I will get refreshment vouchers at check in. I believe I will also be entitled to the air industry's version of Delay Repay as a result of the delay. I've now wasted £10 on my easyBus tickets as they are valid up to an hour each side of the booked time, but not over 3 hours later!
Coffee purchased at the kiosk at Hockley and I feel so much better for it! Dud 321439 took me forward to winner shack Rayleigh, and after updating my AFQR and notebook, I joined winner 321440 for some 321 motor noise to winner shack Billericay. Still no reply from BA, but to Shenfield I got winner 321318 for more 321 thrash! Prittlewell remains to be scored one day, but I need shacks on the Southminster branch still so will combine the efforts then.
I was taking the 321 to Stratford, but Kite gave me the good idea of bailing at Shenfield to try my luck on finding another winner first. Sound advice, as I scored winner 360116 for the non-stop run to Stratford! Double duds 315831+315855 took me to Ilford so I could drop off my case and have a quick PNB. Eventually I'm paid and checked in, thankfully I had ID and £20 deposit, which I was not warned about before. My room has a fridge and a microwave, but the bed is terribly uncomfortable and worse than a Travelodge bed! Unimpressed to say the least! Eventuallly I get an answer from BT on the phone, and 20 minutes or so of a phone call resulted in the advice being to get to the airport for the normal time, in case the delay doesn't happen and a replacement plane is found.
Back on the rails after 50 minutes in Ilford, I joined double duds 315839+315857 to Stratford. I was gutted to discover 345008 on passenger work as I left on my next move, but my first spin on the Central line paid off with quadruple winners 91289+92462+91195 to Mile End. Shortly after were double winners 91143+92232, dud 92428 and winner 91295 to Bethnal Green. My luck was still in, taking triple winners 91011+92252+92044 and dud 91265 on the back to Liverpool Street. 4 sets of quadruple duds came next, then my luck was back with double winners 91057+92242 leading double duds 92244+91073 to Bank. Onwards to St. Paul's I had winner 91051 leading triple duds 92026+92224+91169.
Forward eventually after multiple duds with double duds 91045+92094 with winner 92090 and dud 91039 on the back, which I took to Chancery Lane. I had previously allocated an hour to be spent on the Central line, and by now it was nearly up already!
Onwards to Holborn eventually with dud 91313, double winners 92444+92167 and dud 91107. The next train thankfully produced a score to Tottenham Court Road, with winner 91191 leading 92122+92408+91267. My hour was just about up when the opportunity to go to Oxford Circus was had with winner 91027 leading triple duds 92420+92216+91133. Here I had been 61 minutes on the Central line and I wanted some Southern shacks next, so changed onto the Victoria line for 11045+11046 to Victoria.
I discovered upstairs that I had missed calls so dealt with that first, then an ultra quick service at BK got me my combined lunch and tea, devouring that rapidly on winner 377622 and dud 377615 to Sutton. I needed the two intermediate shacks on the Epsom Downs branch, and changed for double duds 377608+377707 to winner shack Banstead. I also got a required 700 for sight at Sutton, ever so slightly closer to clearing Thameslink for sight! To winner shack Belmont next, as I was due to meet up with Blindtraveller soon enough after his trip to London with family. Dud 377625 had winner 377702 with it for the run to Epsom Downs, a line I'd not covered for many years before today. 377702+377625 took me all the way to London Victoria on a very slow journey, all shacks via Waddon. I'm not sure I can suffer that, but I found some free WiFi so took full advantage of it all the way to London via the slow route. It was hard not getting off at my last two Southern shacks within the zones, but at least they'll be easier to get than the two I did today. Oh, and BA did eventually reply on Twitter, hours later!
I met up with Blindtraveller, and after we collected a bunch of Advances for him we made our way to the Victoria line. 11044+11043 took us to Euston, where we stocked up on some supplies and took them outside with us for a catch-up on our recent trips. I believe I ended up chatting about Prague more than he did about his day in London mind! After a good long break, we joined dud 378230 for the trip to Stonebridge Park, as he was staying in the Travelodge I had originally booked. Basically I also booked York Hotel in Ilford, which he paid me for, and he took my place in the Travelodge to avoid my having to suffer it. I'm not convinced yet I prefer York Hotel but I'll pass proper judgement on it later. Metroline's DE875 took us 2 stops on route 112 and it was a walk alongside the North Circular Road until we thankfully found a bridge to cross over on.
After we parted, I had a short wait for Metroline's DE2064 on route 112 back to Stonebridge Park station, a few minutes later I scored winner 378204 to Willesden Junction. Here I discovered my sister wasn't well, and an attempt to call her wasn't answered. Definitely not well then! Onwards to Stratford I had dud 378216 for the long ride across the top of London. Tech's Mobile Disco came to the rescue and saved me from the boredom of the NLL! At Stratford I score 3 Central line sets for sight, and even one of my last GA MK3s for sight, and having just missed a pair of 315s that I need I considered chasing them. I got double duds 315860+315849 to Ilford, and if I wasn't low on battery and absolutely stinking of sweat [this waterproof coat isn't breathable and keeps one very warm! - Ed] I'd have gone chasing those 315s, even though they weren't due back at Ilford until 2323!
Yes, after climbing the stairs to my room I was too tired to continue. The room being really hot didn't help either...
EDIT: After a shower and shave I felt able to go bashing again, so did and scored double winners 315836+315838 to Manor Park! Double duds 315843+315852 brought me back!
Thanks for the vote of sympathy gang, most appreciated. That was not a fun situation to be in whatsoever!
17/08/2017 - And Now...The Continuation...Of Tech's World Frenzy, Day 4
Up at 0547 ahead of my 0600 alarm, it wasn't overly long before I left the hotel. A few of my pre-flight tunes were played while I still had WiFi of course first! After buying my 90 minute ticket for 32CZK I was waiting for line 11 but gave up waiting for that, ending up on line 9 with 9349 to Vaclavske namesti. It was rather foggy this morning, leaving the impression it was autumn not summer!
Duds 3190+3235+3267+3199 took me along line A to Nadrazi Veleslavin, and it was only a few minutes until bus 6903 took me on route 119 to the airport. I was unsure if it was 3159 or 3259 in the middle of the set so I've not counted either of them. I could have gone a little later to the airport, but I wanted to have a bit of time at the viewing terrace before I checked in. Sadly, there's way too much fog to see much of anything, so after finding my way to departures I finished off yesterday's meat and bread for a sandwich for breakfast. Still with 20 minutes until the check in desk opened, I sourced a small [think plastic party cup size - Ed] coffee for 26CZK. I have a feeling the 21CZK I had left would be unusable, oh well they can join the collection of foreign coins I have at home! It was time for the last of my pre-flight tunes, DJ Jean's The Launch, before check in opened. Quite a few people were checking in for the Flybe flight to London Southend, and it took 25 minutes to get through the process. It felt a lot longer than that!
Security at most airports immediately follows passport control, here it's at the gates themselves which is interesting. I noted a few planes, a couple I can't find in my AFQR or couldn't quite get the registration of. Security was nice and easy, apart from the Brits in front of me who couldn't open their bag and didn't realise aerosols can't be taken on the plane. Fools! My plane home on the 1005 to London Southend was in the hands of Flybe, winner G-FBEJ, happy days!
Pushback was 4 up at 1001, and after noting more planes on the way to the runway it was into the air at 1016. £2.50 was well spent on a Kenco coffee, and a decent size one at that. At 1050 I finally had my notebook updated after a lot of frantic scribbling away! The enormous job of checking off all those trams, including making sure what I had down as winners, was still to come, and if you could see the amount I had to process you'd feel sorry for me. I did give up noting all my tram sights after a while, as it was distracting me from enjoying the ride too much. Of course, I had Tech's Mobile Disco on during the flight! The enormous job of ticking off trams was complete about 45 minutes later, do expect an enormous list in the new sights thread! A very irritating bit of bookwork done there! Back on the ground at 1048 [now back on GMT! - Ed], at the terminal at 1052, 8 up.
Baggage reclaim, and a search of my bags, done I bought a Travelcard including travel to/from Zone 6, for £22.40 and joined dud 321428 to winner shack Rochford. After sourcing a bottle of flavoured water from the nearby Sainsburys Local, I joined winner 321445 in the motor coach to winner shack Hockley. I got a text from BA to inform me of a 3h15m delay to my flight tomorrow, and that I will get refreshment vouchers at check in. I believe I will also be entitled to the air industry's version of Delay Repay as a result of the delay. I've now wasted £10 on my easyBus tickets as they are valid up to an hour each side of the booked time, but not over 3 hours later!
Coffee purchased at the kiosk at Hockley and I feel so much better for it! Dud 321439 took me forward to winner shack Rayleigh, and after updating my AFQR and notebook, I joined winner 321440 for some 321 motor noise to winner shack Billericay. Still no reply from BA, but to Shenfield I got winner 321318 for more 321 thrash! Prittlewell remains to be scored one day, but I need shacks on the Southminster branch still so will combine the efforts then.
I was taking the 321 to Stratford, but Kite gave me the good idea of bailing at Shenfield to try my luck on finding another winner first. Sound advice, as I scored winner 360116 for the non-stop run to Stratford! Double duds 315831+315855 took me to Ilford so I could drop off my case and have a quick PNB. Eventually I'm paid and checked in, thankfully I had ID and £20 deposit, which I was not warned about before. My room has a fridge and a microwave, but the bed is terribly uncomfortable and worse than a Travelodge bed! Unimpressed to say the least! Eventuallly I get an answer from BT on the phone, and 20 minutes or so of a phone call resulted in the advice being to get to the airport for the normal time, in case the delay doesn't happen and a replacement plane is found.
Back on the rails after 50 minutes in Ilford, I joined double duds 315839+315857 to Stratford. I was gutted to discover 345008 on passenger work as I left on my next move, but my first spin on the Central line paid off with quadruple winners 91289+92462+91195 to Mile End. Shortly after were double winners 91143+92232, dud 92428 and winner 91295 to Bethnal Green. My luck was still in, taking triple winners 91011+92252+92044 and dud 91265 on the back to Liverpool Street. 4 sets of quadruple duds came next, then my luck was back with double winners 91057+92242 leading double duds 92244+91073 to Bank. Onwards to St. Paul's I had winner 91051 leading triple duds 92026+92224+91169.
Forward eventually after multiple duds with double duds 91045+92094 with winner 92090 and dud 91039 on the back, which I took to Chancery Lane. I had previously allocated an hour to be spent on the Central line, and by now it was nearly up already!
Onwards to Holborn eventually with dud 91313, double winners 92444+92167 and dud 91107. The next train thankfully produced a score to Tottenham Court Road, with winner 91191 leading 92122+92408+91267. My hour was just about up when the opportunity to go to Oxford Circus was had with winner 91027 leading triple duds 92420+92216+91133. Here I had been 61 minutes on the Central line and I wanted some Southern shacks next, so changed onto the Victoria line for 11045+11046 to Victoria.
I discovered upstairs that I had missed calls so dealt with that first, then an ultra quick service at BK got me my combined lunch and tea, devouring that rapidly on winner 377622 and dud 377615 to Sutton. I needed the two intermediate shacks on the Epsom Downs branch, and changed for double duds 377608+377707 to winner shack Banstead. I also got a required 700 for sight at Sutton, ever so slightly closer to clearing Thameslink for sight! To winner shack Belmont next, as I was due to meet up with Blindtraveller soon enough after his trip to London with family. Dud 377625 had winner 377702 with it for the run to Epsom Downs, a line I'd not covered for many years before today. 377702+377625 took me all the way to London Victoria on a very slow journey, all shacks via Waddon. I'm not sure I can suffer that, but I found some free WiFi so took full advantage of it all the way to London via the slow route. It was hard not getting off at my last two Southern shacks within the zones, but at least they'll be easier to get than the two I did today. Oh, and BA did eventually reply on Twitter, hours later!
I met up with Blindtraveller, and after we collected a bunch of Advances for him we made our way to the Victoria line. 11044+11043 took us to Euston, where we stocked up on some supplies and took them outside with us for a catch-up on our recent trips. I believe I ended up chatting about Prague more than he did about his day in London mind! After a good long break, we joined dud 378230 for the trip to Stonebridge Park, as he was staying in the Travelodge I had originally booked. Basically I also booked York Hotel in Ilford, which he paid me for, and he took my place in the Travelodge to avoid my having to suffer it. I'm not convinced yet I prefer York Hotel but I'll pass proper judgement on it later. Metroline's DE875 took us 2 stops on route 112 and it was a walk alongside the North Circular Road until we thankfully found a bridge to cross over on.
After we parted, I had a short wait for Metroline's DE2064 on route 112 back to Stonebridge Park station, a few minutes later I scored winner 378204 to Willesden Junction. Here I discovered my sister wasn't well, and an attempt to call her wasn't answered. Definitely not well then! Onwards to Stratford I had dud 378216 for the long ride across the top of London. Tech's Mobile Disco came to the rescue and saved me from the boredom of the NLL! At Stratford I score 3 Central line sets for sight, and even one of my last GA MK3s for sight, and having just missed a pair of 315s that I need I considered chasing them. I got double duds 315860+315849 to Ilford, and if I wasn't low on battery and absolutely stinking of sweat [this waterproof coat isn't breathable and keeps one very warm! - Ed] I'd have gone chasing those 315s, even though they weren't due back at Ilford until 2323!
Yes, after climbing the stairs to my room I was too tired to continue. The room being really hot didn't help either...
EDIT: After a shower and shave I felt able to go bashing again, so did and scored double winners 315836+315838 to Manor Park! Double duds 315843+315852 brought me back!
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Kite159
Veteran Member
So what are your two final Southern shacks within the zones? 
Sounded like a productive day anyhow
Sounded like a productive day anyhow
shredder1
Established Member
Wow great write up nd fanstastic trip Tech, can`t wait to get back.
alexf380
Established Member
Just caught up with this and I must say Prague sounds like one hell of a good time, and that was some good work in London once you'd landed. Two more Southern shacks in the zones is a great position to be in.
Did I read it correctly that you're off somewhere else almost immediately?
Did I read it correctly that you're off somewhere else almost immediately?
Cheers for that, am off to Croatia next month with little side trips in to Serbia, Bosnia and Montenegro. All new countries for me.
Great read again Tech. Looking forward to the next installment. Am really looking forward to my trip now.
You mentioned being interested in visiting New Zealand earlier, make sure you go there at some point, it is a magical place, shame the Auckland suburban services aren't still loco hauled, I was lucky enough to catch them before the end. Australia is great to but I prefer New Zealand. Hong Kong is amazing if you are looking for somewhere to break the journey although obviously it will be pricier in most cases than using the Middle East 3 airlines.
You mentioned being interested in visiting New Zealand earlier, make sure you go there at some point, it is a magical place, shame the Auckland suburban services aren't still loco hauled, I was lucky enough to catch them before the end. Australia is great to but I prefer New Zealand. Hong Kong is amazing if you are looking for somewhere to break the journey although obviously it will be pricier in most cases than using the Middle East 3 airlines.
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Techniquest
Veteran Member
I'll reply to the comments later, as I'm due to hear my alarm in 3.5 hours and that truely doesn't bear thinking about! However the trip report for today has been completed, staying awake especially to type it all up for you lovely people:
18/08/2017 - And Now...The Continuation...Of Tech's World Frenzy, Day 5
A lousy night's sleep was disturbed multiple times by slamming doors, people outside being loud and by a couple of nightmares. To say I was glad to hear the alarm at 0600 is an understatement! With final preparations complete, I got my £20 deposit back and checked out. After a swing by an ATM, I tapped in and flagged the first pair of 315s as they were dud. I might as well try my luck while here, I convinced myself. Another pair was flagged and just as well as I got double winners 315856+315842 for the slow journey to Stratford!
I don't normally like Nero coffee, but with little choice without going through the barriers, it had to do and in fairness it wasn't too bad in the end. Winner 22 and dud 85 took me on a mileage move to London City Airport, and this move was incredibly well timed...At West Silvertown I saw DLR unit 52, my last one to see on the DLR, happy days! After going back to tap out, having been used to being on paper tickets yesterday, I made my way to bag drop. I'm told there my flight is delayed by 4 hours hours, and issued with a £10 refreshment voucher. I used some cash for a Pret filter coffee for 99p, then updated family and other people about the situation. It was to be a long fester...I found some seats with power sockets, so charged up and banged Tech's Mobile Disco on while I started the bookwork.
At 1103 I just had the moves book update to finish as well as the Red Pen, Shack Attack and New Sights memo files to complete. A ham cheese and tomato croissant was eventually settled on for breakfast from Pret, as I was saving my voucher for the bar! I also took up a spot near the runway for some planespotting! At 1244 the moves book update was FINALLY complete and I could now relax! The only book work left to do then was mostly online stuff, the memo files were being left until the flight to Milan.
It was finally time to use the £10 refreshment voucher I was given, which I used at The City Bar & Grill as there were two Meantime brews on I needed. £6.25 each pint, and sadly neither of them were all that good! By the time I started drinking them, it was around 1300 so only 95 minutes to go. It's been a long day and I have never ever spent this long at an airport! My previous biggest delay was 50-55 minutes on an Aer Lingus flight which encountered navigation equipment problems before take-off, but this was running at 255 minutes!
I visited Brick Lane Bagels near Gate 2 to investigate their beers on tap, and oh my days I loved the Truman's brews I had! Just as I ordered a half of winning lager the gate was called, so it was rushed somewhat and I eventually joined, once the queue slowly moved, winner G-LCYR with BA Cityflyer and we got push back [or in the case of London City, pull forward - Ed] at 1435, 225 down. Apparently the delay was caused by an aircraft being damaged by lightning, I bet that will be used as an excuse not to pay compensation!
Up in the airport at 1445, it sure doesn't like long to get an Embraer 190 into the air! As wr came through the clouds, turbulence was quite noteworthy, to the point I've never gripped an armrest or indeed pushed my hand against the thankfully empty seat in front of me before! That really wasn't fun whatsoever, and I have to admit that would have put me off for life if it had been my first flight. Even 20 minutes later I was still nervous! Some water was offered by then and I gladly took one, after which I relaxed somewhat, more so after the complimentary coffee. Heineken and Tiger didn't appeal whatsoever, but a sobering tiny coffee, after 4 winning beers in 75 minutes, certainly was! My AFQR got updated and of course Tech's Mobile Disco was on while I sat back and relaxed. The memo files could wait until another time, and after another but lukewarm coffee [please bear in mind these cups are smaller than what I had at Prague Airport at Prague Hlavni Nadrazi - Ed] I was all set for landing in a required country.
OK, so I wasted £10 or so on easyBus tickets I can no longer use, but assuming BA do indeed refund me [I'm not relying on that! - Ed] the refund will cover that too. OK, I'm not amused at losing 4.25 hours of my mini city break, but I do still have enough time to get some pizza, gelato and Italian beer which is all I was going to Italy for. Well, that and some required flyage! The crew member serving me informed me he was tomorrow morning's flight too, although quite how he knew to ask if I was on tomorrow morning's flight I'm not sure. Maybe he was in the bar area when I was earlier, he did look familar after all but who knows?
1611 UK time and landing procedures from 39,000 feet in the air began. I was back on the ground at 1726 [now back on GMT +1 - Ed] and arrived at Milan Linate at 1730, 225 down. I was out of the plane on a front door only unload at 1736, a few minutes later I continued on a shuttle bus to the terminal itself. After baggage reclaim was dealt with, I eventually found the ticket machines for the bus. It wouldn't accept my 20 note, and you can't buy on the bus. A bottle of cold water was bought for 1,50 in Hudson News, then I had change for the machine. You have to validate your ticket in the top of the orange machines on the buses, and the first one I tried didn't like me. A fellow passenger pointed me to the one at the back which did like me, printing a code on the back. Bus 2971 took me into town to Duomo Metro station. Star Fly operate expresses into town at 5 single, but I chose the local stopping bus, 1,50 for a 90 minute urban ticket. I assume this would be valid for a journey onwards by Metro, but I foolishly didn't check.
It was 34 degrees Celsius in Milan when I arrived, a pleasant situation compared to the 16 degrees I left behind in London. The bottle of water was, understandably, welcome! A 32 minute or so journey dropped me off at somewhere near Duomo Cathedral, and after checking where it was with a bus driver I headed over straight away. It's a very impressive building, although closed to tourists by now. I found a place that sold gelato in the square, 3 for a scoop of chocolate and one of vanilla gelato with a wafer and chocolate sauce. It was worth every penny, especially I hadn't eaten since around 1050 UK time and that wasn't much!
A wander around didn't find anything of interest in terms of food or beer, and after taking several photos and noting many trams, I headed downstairs to the Metro at winner shack Duomo. I joined line M3 and winners 8045+8047 to winner shack Centrale FS. I had a quick look around then found Caffe Panzera for a proper Italian pizza, none of this nonsense you get in British supermarkets or, indeed, almost any pizza place in the UK. My diavola pizza, basically a margarita pizza with spicy salami slices on it, was not cheap at 10 but it was between 12 and 14 inches across. Thoroughly enjoyable, more so than my beer anyway, especially as that was 7 for a 450ml glass! I briefly met some Australians touring the country before I left, and left my case in the cafe before realising at the pedestrian crossing and running back for it!
After a call to my sister who's recovering from being ill, I gave up looking for a shop to buy a drink from, and joined line M2 after buying a ticket. The southbound platform is currently being renovated, so first of all I joined winner 995 to winner shack Caiazzo, changing quickly for winner 932 to winner shack S. Agostino. I went the wrong way up the road, thankfully Google Maps was on hand to confirm my suspicions. I stopped off as Essendaal hypermarket for some liquids, and 2 660ml bottles of beer and a big bottle of own brand pop came to 3, not bad! I needed help using the self-scan machines, but I was soon out and downing a lot of that pop in no time, as it was still very warm outside, let alone inside!
Check in took slightly longer than expected at my final base camp of the trip, Sant'Ambroeus Hotel. Still, I was in and once I eventually found the light switches I dropped everything off and discovered the bed is hard. As I type this before I crash out, I would prefer this one to the one in York Hotel last night. That one might as been called York Hostel for the comfort I had in it!
Re-packing the case and everything else took a surprising amount of time, and one of the bottles of beer got wrapped around stuff in the washing bag, as I couldn't face drinking two large beers so late in the night. If I'd had a better amount of sleep ahead it might have been different. Still, the alarm is set for 0330...
18/08/2017 - And Now...The Continuation...Of Tech's World Frenzy, Day 5
A lousy night's sleep was disturbed multiple times by slamming doors, people outside being loud and by a couple of nightmares. To say I was glad to hear the alarm at 0600 is an understatement! With final preparations complete, I got my £20 deposit back and checked out. After a swing by an ATM, I tapped in and flagged the first pair of 315s as they were dud. I might as well try my luck while here, I convinced myself. Another pair was flagged and just as well as I got double winners 315856+315842 for the slow journey to Stratford!
I don't normally like Nero coffee, but with little choice without going through the barriers, it had to do and in fairness it wasn't too bad in the end. Winner 22 and dud 85 took me on a mileage move to London City Airport, and this move was incredibly well timed...At West Silvertown I saw DLR unit 52, my last one to see on the DLR, happy days! After going back to tap out, having been used to being on paper tickets yesterday, I made my way to bag drop. I'm told there my flight is delayed by 4 hours hours, and issued with a £10 refreshment voucher. I used some cash for a Pret filter coffee for 99p, then updated family and other people about the situation. It was to be a long fester...I found some seats with power sockets, so charged up and banged Tech's Mobile Disco on while I started the bookwork.
At 1103 I just had the moves book update to finish as well as the Red Pen, Shack Attack and New Sights memo files to complete. A ham cheese and tomato croissant was eventually settled on for breakfast from Pret, as I was saving my voucher for the bar! I also took up a spot near the runway for some planespotting! At 1244 the moves book update was FINALLY complete and I could now relax! The only book work left to do then was mostly online stuff, the memo files were being left until the flight to Milan.
It was finally time to use the £10 refreshment voucher I was given, which I used at The City Bar & Grill as there were two Meantime brews on I needed. £6.25 each pint, and sadly neither of them were all that good! By the time I started drinking them, it was around 1300 so only 95 minutes to go. It's been a long day and I have never ever spent this long at an airport! My previous biggest delay was 50-55 minutes on an Aer Lingus flight which encountered navigation equipment problems before take-off, but this was running at 255 minutes!
I visited Brick Lane Bagels near Gate 2 to investigate their beers on tap, and oh my days I loved the Truman's brews I had! Just as I ordered a half of winning lager the gate was called, so it was rushed somewhat and I eventually joined, once the queue slowly moved, winner G-LCYR with BA Cityflyer and we got push back [or in the case of London City, pull forward - Ed] at 1435, 225 down. Apparently the delay was caused by an aircraft being damaged by lightning, I bet that will be used as an excuse not to pay compensation!
Up in the airport at 1445, it sure doesn't like long to get an Embraer 190 into the air! As wr came through the clouds, turbulence was quite noteworthy, to the point I've never gripped an armrest or indeed pushed my hand against the thankfully empty seat in front of me before! That really wasn't fun whatsoever, and I have to admit that would have put me off for life if it had been my first flight. Even 20 minutes later I was still nervous! Some water was offered by then and I gladly took one, after which I relaxed somewhat, more so after the complimentary coffee. Heineken and Tiger didn't appeal whatsoever, but a sobering tiny coffee, after 4 winning beers in 75 minutes, certainly was! My AFQR got updated and of course Tech's Mobile Disco was on while I sat back and relaxed. The memo files could wait until another time, and after another but lukewarm coffee [please bear in mind these cups are smaller than what I had at Prague Airport at Prague Hlavni Nadrazi - Ed] I was all set for landing in a required country.
OK, so I wasted £10 or so on easyBus tickets I can no longer use, but assuming BA do indeed refund me [I'm not relying on that! - Ed] the refund will cover that too. OK, I'm not amused at losing 4.25 hours of my mini city break, but I do still have enough time to get some pizza, gelato and Italian beer which is all I was going to Italy for. Well, that and some required flyage! The crew member serving me informed me he was tomorrow morning's flight too, although quite how he knew to ask if I was on tomorrow morning's flight I'm not sure. Maybe he was in the bar area when I was earlier, he did look familar after all but who knows?
1611 UK time and landing procedures from 39,000 feet in the air began. I was back on the ground at 1726 [now back on GMT +1 - Ed] and arrived at Milan Linate at 1730, 225 down. I was out of the plane on a front door only unload at 1736, a few minutes later I continued on a shuttle bus to the terminal itself. After baggage reclaim was dealt with, I eventually found the ticket machines for the bus. It wouldn't accept my 20 note, and you can't buy on the bus. A bottle of cold water was bought for 1,50 in Hudson News, then I had change for the machine. You have to validate your ticket in the top of the orange machines on the buses, and the first one I tried didn't like me. A fellow passenger pointed me to the one at the back which did like me, printing a code on the back. Bus 2971 took me into town to Duomo Metro station. Star Fly operate expresses into town at 5 single, but I chose the local stopping bus, 1,50 for a 90 minute urban ticket. I assume this would be valid for a journey onwards by Metro, but I foolishly didn't check.
It was 34 degrees Celsius in Milan when I arrived, a pleasant situation compared to the 16 degrees I left behind in London. The bottle of water was, understandably, welcome! A 32 minute or so journey dropped me off at somewhere near Duomo Cathedral, and after checking where it was with a bus driver I headed over straight away. It's a very impressive building, although closed to tourists by now. I found a place that sold gelato in the square, 3 for a scoop of chocolate and one of vanilla gelato with a wafer and chocolate sauce. It was worth every penny, especially I hadn't eaten since around 1050 UK time and that wasn't much!
A wander around didn't find anything of interest in terms of food or beer, and after taking several photos and noting many trams, I headed downstairs to the Metro at winner shack Duomo. I joined line M3 and winners 8045+8047 to winner shack Centrale FS. I had a quick look around then found Caffe Panzera for a proper Italian pizza, none of this nonsense you get in British supermarkets or, indeed, almost any pizza place in the UK. My diavola pizza, basically a margarita pizza with spicy salami slices on it, was not cheap at 10 but it was between 12 and 14 inches across. Thoroughly enjoyable, more so than my beer anyway, especially as that was 7 for a 450ml glass! I briefly met some Australians touring the country before I left, and left my case in the cafe before realising at the pedestrian crossing and running back for it!
After a call to my sister who's recovering from being ill, I gave up looking for a shop to buy a drink from, and joined line M2 after buying a ticket. The southbound platform is currently being renovated, so first of all I joined winner 995 to winner shack Caiazzo, changing quickly for winner 932 to winner shack S. Agostino. I went the wrong way up the road, thankfully Google Maps was on hand to confirm my suspicions. I stopped off as Essendaal hypermarket for some liquids, and 2 660ml bottles of beer and a big bottle of own brand pop came to 3, not bad! I needed help using the self-scan machines, but I was soon out and downing a lot of that pop in no time, as it was still very warm outside, let alone inside!
Check in took slightly longer than expected at my final base camp of the trip, Sant'Ambroeus Hotel. Still, I was in and once I eventually found the light switches I dropped everything off and discovered the bed is hard. As I type this before I crash out, I would prefer this one to the one in York Hotel last night. That one might as been called York Hostel for the comfort I had in it!
Re-packing the case and everything else took a surprising amount of time, and one of the bottles of beer got wrapped around stuff in the washing bag, as I couldn't face drinking two large beers so late in the night. If I'd had a better amount of sleep ahead it might have been different. Still, the alarm is set for 0330...
Blindtraveler
Established Member
Thanks for sharing that. I thought your bus was a tenner return?
A mixed sounding day. Stuff all that airport nonsence personally, id have wanted a refund.
A mixed sounding day. Stuff all that airport nonsence personally, id have wanted a refund.
Loved that Tech, a great read as always. Italy is a boss country and I hope you get to go there again. The ex had an auntie married to Uncle Mario and they lived in Torino. He worked in the car industry but his dad was high up in FS and uncle Mario had a huge collection of railway clocks.
My worst flight delays were in Brisbane for 8 hours and Wrocla for 6. Brisbane Airport is lovely with great views over the apron. Sadly no planes were moving due to a tropical storm. I felt bad for the passengers on 2 Air New Zealand flights that arrived but could not offload for about 4 hours because of the storm. Our bags were sat outside in the rain for about 5 hours in the rain waitig for our Jetstar flight to Christchurch.
My 6 hour delay in Wroclaw was ace, free Wi Fi, cheap Polish beer and a smoking booth whilst waiting for a replacement Ryanair 738 for our one that went tech. Unlike yourself Ryanairs 738's aren't my favourite plane (A340) but I really don't mind them. In Brisbane and Wroclaw the departure lounge had a massive window looking over the apron and runway.
My worst delays were both about an hour and with Ryanair in Bergamo and Rome Ciampino airports. Things may have changed but 7 years ago the terminals were corrugated iron sheds and we ended up sat on the floor.
My worst flight delays were in Brisbane for 8 hours and Wrocla for 6. Brisbane Airport is lovely with great views over the apron. Sadly no planes were moving due to a tropical storm. I felt bad for the passengers on 2 Air New Zealand flights that arrived but could not offload for about 4 hours because of the storm. Our bags were sat outside in the rain for about 5 hours in the rain waitig for our Jetstar flight to Christchurch.
My 6 hour delay in Wroclaw was ace, free Wi Fi, cheap Polish beer and a smoking booth whilst waiting for a replacement Ryanair 738 for our one that went tech. Unlike yourself Ryanairs 738's aren't my favourite plane (A340) but I really don't mind them. In Brisbane and Wroclaw the departure lounge had a massive window looking over the apron and runway.
My worst delays were both about an hour and with Ryanair in Bergamo and Rome Ciampino airports. Things may have changed but 7 years ago the terminals were corrugated iron sheds and we ended up sat on the floor.
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Kite159
Veteran Member
Although your trip to Italy was short I hope it was worth it
Techniquest
Veteran Member
I eventually got home last night, after some hours in London then the journey home via Birmingham. Food shopping had to be done, then a chippy tea was had. Washing done, unpacking half done and now working through catching up with everyone and everything. FlightDiary update done, I'm impressed with my figures now 
Already looking at where to go next!
Ouch to those epic delays, the delay at Wroclaw sounds like it went smoothly and fast, obviously helped by the beer lol. You'd have not liked my delay at LCY, no smoking area there post-security. There is at Prague though, same for one in the baggage reclaim area. Suspect you know about the one at Manchester T1 near The Grain Loft.
Not had an A340 yet so I can't comment. I really want to try some more craft out.
Day 6 trip report is coming up later, I have the Scores on the Doors to finish off and that will be done later. My Red Pen update file is the last one to do and once it's done, and the numbers are totted up, I'll get it all posted.
Already looking at where to go next!Ouch to those epic delays, the delay at Wroclaw sounds like it went smoothly and fast, obviously helped by the beer lol. You'd have not liked my delay at LCY, no smoking area there post-security. There is at Prague though, same for one in the baggage reclaim area. Suspect you know about the one at Manchester T1 near The Grain Loft.
Not had an A340 yet so I can't comment. I really want to try some more craft out.
Day 6 trip report is coming up later, I have the Scores on the Doors to finish off and that will be done later. My Red Pen update file is the last one to do and once it's done, and the numbers are totted up, I'll get it all posted.
Techniquest
Veteran Member
Totting up done, here we go!
19/08/2017 - And Now...The Continuation...Of Tech's World Frenzy, Day 6
0330 and I had managed maybe 2.5 hours of sleep, noticable as I wondered why I had set the alarm so early. A few moments later I realised what was going on and I was soon up and about, finalising preparations for departure and checking out of the hotel by 0350. Then I got grim news, the taxi I had pre-booked via the MyTaxi app [discovered thanks to Maps - Ed] had the driver cancelling on me! So I went and found where the bus into town went from, but with no idea if they would sell tickets on board or not, with no machines available, I went with Plan C. Walking! I spent the next 59 minutes walking at a brisk pace, no easy feat with a case in tow, through the 25 degrees Celsius weather. Yes, even at 0400 it was that warm! It was very confusing as to where the service carrying easyBus passengers was actually going from, but I queued up with passengers by a coach going to Linate Airport at 0530, StarFly's 7057 taking me there
It was due to arrive at the airport at 0555, and my flight due to take off at 0655. Would I make it in time now, thanks to the taxi driver cancelling my ride having accepted it a few hours previous? It was all to play for! It's worth pointing out now that there's no point in booking easyBus tickets, as a return cost me £10.50, but a single on the day costs €5 and a return €9. Therefore it's actually cheaper to buy the express coach fare on arrival! We left nearly 3 down, really not helpful! We arrive at 0549, 6 up, thanks to almost nothing in the way on the roads, and I headed straight to bag drop. Thankfully more than one check-in gate was opened and I'm through after just a few minutes. Straight to secuirity, which was only a few minutes to get through, and it was RA to passport control which was cleared by about 0611.
The queue for the cafe near gate B26 was taking too long to go through, so I used the Lavazza Blue coffee machine instead to get an espresso, the closest to proper Italian coffee I was going to get. For €1 it was good stuff, so good I had another one straight away! The second one didn't give me a stirrer so all my sugar was at the bottom. Still, it was thoroughly worth the money! A 330ml bottle of Coke [can you tell I was craving caffeine and sugar? - Ed] was also sourced from the adjacent machine for €1,60, better value than the 500ml bottles in the cafe for €3! Boarding had commenced by now, and it wasn't moving fast hence why I'd stopped for the coffee. I'd now achieved all my objectives in Italy, although it would have been nice to see a Trenitalia train, that would have been a bonus.
BA Cityflyer's G-LCYR [fresh dud from yesterday! - Ed] was on the 0655 Milan Linate to London City, and the plane was lightly loaded so I had no-one sat next to me (24C in the aisle yesterday and 22D by the window today) which gave me so much more room. Pull forward (too small a flight I suspect for the main terminal) was bang on time at 0655, and it was into the air at 0702. It was a smoother take off than yesterday, but there was still a noticeable bit of turbulence way up through and even a bit above the highest level clouds. Nothing at all like yesterday mind! I got served a mini ham and cheese panini for breakfast, granted it was microwaved but oh my days it was tasty!
Sadly complimentary food and drink on BA will soon be a thing of the past altogether, a matter of either days or weeks I believe now. I scored quite a few planes for sight on this part of the trip I see, happy days! My complimentary coffee went down well, although as you can probably imagine not as well as my espresso at the airport! Bookwork was all back up to date just after 0800 GMT+1, of course things like my Flightdiary and RailMiles updates will come along in due course. The memo files, well they can wait too, it was time to sit back and enjoy the remainder of my last flight for what is likely to be a long time!
Landing procedures began at 0818, back on the ground at 0733 (back to GMT now) and arrived at 0736, 19 up. Passport control and baggage reclaim cleared by 0750, and a Pret filter coffee was enjoyed while checking out what was heading to Woolwich on the DLR. A winner was seen, so I bought my Travelcard rapidly and got up to the platforms to await its return. Dud 29 and winner 52 took me to Canning Town, where I changed for the Jubilee line. It took a bit of festering, but I joined double winners 96037+96064 to West Ham where I had about 8 minutes of sitting around before joining dud 96109 and winner 96020 to Stratford. Just 10 more 96ers to go, 2 of which I need for sight! Of course, I bet you all know what I was going to do next...
Yes, Central line bashing! Triple duds 91157+92138+92146 led winner 91325 on a seemingly mandatory move to Mile End. The next train had dud 91105 leading winner 92130 with duds 92174+91009 on the back to Bethnal Green. Forward on the next train with duds 91223+92110 leading winner 92194 and dud 91231 on the back to Liverpool Street. A couple of quadruple duds were flagged next, then it was onto dud 91127 leading winner 92126 and duds 92182+91215 on the back to Bank. I changed tactics now and transferred on the long walk to the Northern line. First up was double winners 51533+51534 to Moorgate, and there wasn't much going that I need on the very warm line, so when I got double winners 51503+51502 I took them to Kings Cross St Pancras for a coffee break and another change of tactics. The Northern line can wait until the winter!
After a badly needed PNB aboard dud 700027, I bailed at Farringdon while I figured out my next move. I had less than 4 hours to play with now already! I was going to south London by Thameslink, but then I ended up on double winners 21021+21022 to Kings Cross St Pancras instead. Over to the Victoria line and onto 11081+11082 to Victoria, as I was now going to do the mission I was going to do an hour previously...First call was coffee though, having failed to do so at St Pancras. Reason? The Pret didn't have coffee on the menus displayed so saw no point queuing. OK so they probably sold coffee but never mind! At 1015, I had less than 3.5 hours to play with before the end of the fun and games, by gum the last 6 days have gone fast!
Ritazza coffee sourced, then I joined dud 377619 on a fast train to Sutton, getting some badly needed charge on the way. Dud 455832 was in charge of carting me off to winner shack Wallington, with dud 455811 taking me to my final Southern-served shack in the Travelcard zones. 4 shacks within Zones 1-9 remain, 2 each on both Chiltern and c2c. Dud 455842 took me to West Croydon, as I wanted to try my luck on LO. Sadly the next two departures were duds so gave up and joined dud 377623 to Balham via Norbury. I think you can tell what my plan was here...Puccinos coffee sourced, then to the Northern line. By 1232 time was fast running out and I was running the risk of non-stop duds, so after a while I jumped on double duds 51560+51710 to get a bit closer to town.
My luck was finally in at Clapham North with double winners 51568+51569 back to Clapham Common, jumping straight onto dud 51537 and winner 51538 to Stockwell. I was allocating no more than 15 more minutes down here before jumping on the Victoria line to Euston, as I was more than ready for lunch, having only eaten that little panini on the flight all day. Safety net not needed as I scored double winners 51602+51716 to Euston via Bank. I could and perhaps should have changed at Kennington for stuff via Charing Cross, but it made sense to stay on the train going where I want to go, as time was nearly up. I noted during the journey that I only need 5 BA Cityflyer craft to clear their fleet too, although what they use their Saab 2000 on I have yet to figure out. Leased from Eastern Airways I see, sounds like a good excuse to look them up.
Of course, while the brain was idle it started thinking where to go next! The week off in October is half-booked so now it's figuring out what to do with the second half. A flight may be involved, at the same time it may not be. What sparked the train of thought off? Remembering I had €5 in my wallet! After a BK lunch, I joined 390020 for the tiltage to the Bat Cave, initially in First Class. However I hadn't realise the Weekend First upgrade fee had gone up from £10 to £15, so I went to my booked seat in coach C instead. Coffee bought and I did a bookwork catchup with the aid of Tech's Mobile Disco. The majority of offline bookwork was done, leaving just the Red Pen, Shack Attack and New Sights update files to be completed.
A coffee and bottle of water sourced at Pret in a bid to deal with a sore throat that's been bugging me since this morning, I joined 170514+170508 for the final journey of the epic 6 day bash. Apart from major farces like the RPI issue in Prague, the 3 and a bit mile walk this morning and the 225 minute delay at London City yesterday morning, it's been a grand trip. Not in any way cheap, but for what I've achieved I'd say the money has been well spent. I estimate it to be somewhere around £600 all in, but for two city breaks and some epic time in London that was simply a bargain. The Scores on the Doors will be incredible when they're done, and I've vowed to do a European YTD as well as a UK YTD. That will take some time to do, and of course as I got patriotic on the Droners I was back to deciding where to go next!
By Great Malvern I had only just finished the New Sights and Shack Attack files, the Red Pen one would have to wait for now as I now needed a break. It was nearly halfway done when I got close to Hereford though! I was getting a lift home after finishing food shopping, and I was glad to be on the final trek as I'd picked up a cough and sore throat since leaving Milan, not amused! I've purposefully delayed posting this part of the trip report just so I can include Scores on the Doors. I'm sure you'll all understand why it took a while to tot it all up!
After doing some food shopping, it was off to the chippy for some fish and chips before heading home. The glass from Prague survived, as did the bottle of beer from Milan, much to my surprise. Washing went on as soon as I got in, and after the much needed de-rancification I started the unpacking before collapsing into a deep sleep around 2120.
Scores on the Doors for Day 6:
Winners: 19
New sights: 14
Shack scores: 2
And the important bit:
Scores on the Doors for Days 1-6 combined:
Winners: 182
New sights: 402
Shack scores: 70
19/08/2017 - And Now...The Continuation...Of Tech's World Frenzy, Day 6
0330 and I had managed maybe 2.5 hours of sleep, noticable as I wondered why I had set the alarm so early. A few moments later I realised what was going on and I was soon up and about, finalising preparations for departure and checking out of the hotel by 0350. Then I got grim news, the taxi I had pre-booked via the MyTaxi app [discovered thanks to Maps - Ed] had the driver cancelling on me! So I went and found where the bus into town went from, but with no idea if they would sell tickets on board or not, with no machines available, I went with Plan C. Walking! I spent the next 59 minutes walking at a brisk pace, no easy feat with a case in tow, through the 25 degrees Celsius weather. Yes, even at 0400 it was that warm! It was very confusing as to where the service carrying easyBus passengers was actually going from, but I queued up with passengers by a coach going to Linate Airport at 0530, StarFly's 7057 taking me there
It was due to arrive at the airport at 0555, and my flight due to take off at 0655. Would I make it in time now, thanks to the taxi driver cancelling my ride having accepted it a few hours previous? It was all to play for! It's worth pointing out now that there's no point in booking easyBus tickets, as a return cost me £10.50, but a single on the day costs €5 and a return €9. Therefore it's actually cheaper to buy the express coach fare on arrival! We left nearly 3 down, really not helpful! We arrive at 0549, 6 up, thanks to almost nothing in the way on the roads, and I headed straight to bag drop. Thankfully more than one check-in gate was opened and I'm through after just a few minutes. Straight to secuirity, which was only a few minutes to get through, and it was RA to passport control which was cleared by about 0611.
The queue for the cafe near gate B26 was taking too long to go through, so I used the Lavazza Blue coffee machine instead to get an espresso, the closest to proper Italian coffee I was going to get. For €1 it was good stuff, so good I had another one straight away! The second one didn't give me a stirrer so all my sugar was at the bottom. Still, it was thoroughly worth the money! A 330ml bottle of Coke [can you tell I was craving caffeine and sugar? - Ed] was also sourced from the adjacent machine for €1,60, better value than the 500ml bottles in the cafe for €3! Boarding had commenced by now, and it wasn't moving fast hence why I'd stopped for the coffee. I'd now achieved all my objectives in Italy, although it would have been nice to see a Trenitalia train, that would have been a bonus.
BA Cityflyer's G-LCYR [fresh dud from yesterday! - Ed] was on the 0655 Milan Linate to London City, and the plane was lightly loaded so I had no-one sat next to me (24C in the aisle yesterday and 22D by the window today) which gave me so much more room. Pull forward (too small a flight I suspect for the main terminal) was bang on time at 0655, and it was into the air at 0702. It was a smoother take off than yesterday, but there was still a noticeable bit of turbulence way up through and even a bit above the highest level clouds. Nothing at all like yesterday mind! I got served a mini ham and cheese panini for breakfast, granted it was microwaved but oh my days it was tasty!
Sadly complimentary food and drink on BA will soon be a thing of the past altogether, a matter of either days or weeks I believe now. I scored quite a few planes for sight on this part of the trip I see, happy days! My complimentary coffee went down well, although as you can probably imagine not as well as my espresso at the airport! Bookwork was all back up to date just after 0800 GMT+1, of course things like my Flightdiary and RailMiles updates will come along in due course. The memo files, well they can wait too, it was time to sit back and enjoy the remainder of my last flight for what is likely to be a long time!
Landing procedures began at 0818, back on the ground at 0733 (back to GMT now) and arrived at 0736, 19 up. Passport control and baggage reclaim cleared by 0750, and a Pret filter coffee was enjoyed while checking out what was heading to Woolwich on the DLR. A winner was seen, so I bought my Travelcard rapidly and got up to the platforms to await its return. Dud 29 and winner 52 took me to Canning Town, where I changed for the Jubilee line. It took a bit of festering, but I joined double winners 96037+96064 to West Ham where I had about 8 minutes of sitting around before joining dud 96109 and winner 96020 to Stratford. Just 10 more 96ers to go, 2 of which I need for sight! Of course, I bet you all know what I was going to do next...
Yes, Central line bashing! Triple duds 91157+92138+92146 led winner 91325 on a seemingly mandatory move to Mile End. The next train had dud 91105 leading winner 92130 with duds 92174+91009 on the back to Bethnal Green. Forward on the next train with duds 91223+92110 leading winner 92194 and dud 91231 on the back to Liverpool Street. A couple of quadruple duds were flagged next, then it was onto dud 91127 leading winner 92126 and duds 92182+91215 on the back to Bank. I changed tactics now and transferred on the long walk to the Northern line. First up was double winners 51533+51534 to Moorgate, and there wasn't much going that I need on the very warm line, so when I got double winners 51503+51502 I took them to Kings Cross St Pancras for a coffee break and another change of tactics. The Northern line can wait until the winter!
After a badly needed PNB aboard dud 700027, I bailed at Farringdon while I figured out my next move. I had less than 4 hours to play with now already! I was going to south London by Thameslink, but then I ended up on double winners 21021+21022 to Kings Cross St Pancras instead. Over to the Victoria line and onto 11081+11082 to Victoria, as I was now going to do the mission I was going to do an hour previously...First call was coffee though, having failed to do so at St Pancras. Reason? The Pret didn't have coffee on the menus displayed so saw no point queuing. OK so they probably sold coffee but never mind! At 1015, I had less than 3.5 hours to play with before the end of the fun and games, by gum the last 6 days have gone fast!
Ritazza coffee sourced, then I joined dud 377619 on a fast train to Sutton, getting some badly needed charge on the way. Dud 455832 was in charge of carting me off to winner shack Wallington, with dud 455811 taking me to my final Southern-served shack in the Travelcard zones. 4 shacks within Zones 1-9 remain, 2 each on both Chiltern and c2c. Dud 455842 took me to West Croydon, as I wanted to try my luck on LO. Sadly the next two departures were duds so gave up and joined dud 377623 to Balham via Norbury. I think you can tell what my plan was here...Puccinos coffee sourced, then to the Northern line. By 1232 time was fast running out and I was running the risk of non-stop duds, so after a while I jumped on double duds 51560+51710 to get a bit closer to town.
My luck was finally in at Clapham North with double winners 51568+51569 back to Clapham Common, jumping straight onto dud 51537 and winner 51538 to Stockwell. I was allocating no more than 15 more minutes down here before jumping on the Victoria line to Euston, as I was more than ready for lunch, having only eaten that little panini on the flight all day. Safety net not needed as I scored double winners 51602+51716 to Euston via Bank. I could and perhaps should have changed at Kennington for stuff via Charing Cross, but it made sense to stay on the train going where I want to go, as time was nearly up. I noted during the journey that I only need 5 BA Cityflyer craft to clear their fleet too, although what they use their Saab 2000 on I have yet to figure out. Leased from Eastern Airways I see, sounds like a good excuse to look them up.
Of course, while the brain was idle it started thinking where to go next! The week off in October is half-booked so now it's figuring out what to do with the second half. A flight may be involved, at the same time it may not be. What sparked the train of thought off? Remembering I had €5 in my wallet! After a BK lunch, I joined 390020 for the tiltage to the Bat Cave, initially in First Class. However I hadn't realise the Weekend First upgrade fee had gone up from £10 to £15, so I went to my booked seat in coach C instead. Coffee bought and I did a bookwork catchup with the aid of Tech's Mobile Disco. The majority of offline bookwork was done, leaving just the Red Pen, Shack Attack and New Sights update files to be completed.
A coffee and bottle of water sourced at Pret in a bid to deal with a sore throat that's been bugging me since this morning, I joined 170514+170508 for the final journey of the epic 6 day bash. Apart from major farces like the RPI issue in Prague, the 3 and a bit mile walk this morning and the 225 minute delay at London City yesterday morning, it's been a grand trip. Not in any way cheap, but for what I've achieved I'd say the money has been well spent. I estimate it to be somewhere around £600 all in, but for two city breaks and some epic time in London that was simply a bargain. The Scores on the Doors will be incredible when they're done, and I've vowed to do a European YTD as well as a UK YTD. That will take some time to do, and of course as I got patriotic on the Droners I was back to deciding where to go next!
By Great Malvern I had only just finished the New Sights and Shack Attack files, the Red Pen one would have to wait for now as I now needed a break. It was nearly halfway done when I got close to Hereford though! I was getting a lift home after finishing food shopping, and I was glad to be on the final trek as I'd picked up a cough and sore throat since leaving Milan, not amused! I've purposefully delayed posting this part of the trip report just so I can include Scores on the Doors. I'm sure you'll all understand why it took a while to tot it all up!
After doing some food shopping, it was off to the chippy for some fish and chips before heading home. The glass from Prague survived, as did the bottle of beer from Milan, much to my surprise. Washing went on as soon as I got in, and after the much needed de-rancification I started the unpacking before collapsing into a deep sleep around 2120.
Scores on the Doors for Day 6:
Winners: 19
New sights: 14
Shack scores: 2
And the important bit:
Scores on the Doors for Days 1-6 combined:
Winners: 182
New sights: 402
Shack scores: 70
Last edited:
Techniquest
Veteran Member
I've got to be honest, I've been glad to have a day at home to rest up! Not even started on my RM update, did up to arriving at Manchester Airport on Monday. Working out mileage data for Milan and Prague will not be easy! Quite, I still have a ton from Brussels and New York to deal with yet...
Already starting looking up bits and bobs for my next explorations, but will probably wait for a full week off in the spring for that. A mini city break is still being looked at though...
That looked like a great trip Tech. Despite the odd problem it sounded very enjoyable and it's always great to experience different countries. The trains in Italy are great (I've been on a few over there), I'll hopefully get to Prague sometime and ask you for a bit of advice on where to go.
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