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I've written about my Cairo experience and my Four Seasons experience, and today it's all about my first Business Class experience!
When I found out I was flying with British Midland International I immediately had a look at their website to see if they did a business class service, and then proceeded to keep my fingers crossed. I was so excited when the news arrived that me and Nicky would be flying business class!
I have never flown anything other than economy before, and have always longed to see what it's like behind the curtain that divides the economy class section from the business class section.
I'm going to tell you all about it!
My journey from Birmingham began at 5am with a 2 and half hour coach trip to Heathrow Airport. We quickly found the BMI Premium Check-in area. This area was sectioned off, and a member of staff was there to greet us. There was the bonus of no queues too! And even if there had of been some people ahead of us, there were some comfortable looking chairs nearby to take the weight off. As you can imagine, check-in was quick, friendly and efficient. Great start!
Once we had gone through Heathrow's security, I had a quick glance in some of the duty free shops, but I was really keen to check out BMI's business class lounge as I was starting to feel a bit tired and hungry from my 2am start to the day.
There were two staff members who welcomed me to the lounge.
It was a huge area with lots of seating and rooms. For example, there was a room that was perfectly set up for using laptops with plugs on the desks. All through the lounge there were comfortable chairs and settees and coffee tables.
There was quite an array of food available for breakfast; cereals, yogurts, fruit, hot rolls, and pancakes for example. Having a suspected wheat/gluten allergy, I asked a member of staff if I could just have bacon and eggs. Within minutes I received a plate that was loaded with rashers of bacon and scrambled eggs, far more than I could eat with the best will in the world!
Nicky arrived after doing some duty free shopping, grabbed some breakfast and said that she was feeling tired too (she hadn't slept at all the night before!).
But there's no need to worry about finding a place to catch forty winks in the business lounge, they have thought of everything and have provided beds, complete with a bedside table and table lamp!!
The beds are in a quiet area of the lounge and are partitioned off by curtains, affording a little bit of privacy.
There wasn't much time to snooze though as our flight was soon called. It was running about an hour late, but that was no problem in such accommodating surroundings.
Passing the time in the business lounge is so much more pleasurable, not only are there the comfortable chairs/settees to relax on, there's an array of magazines and newspapers to read, and several tv's to watch. Or you can take a seat at the bar and enjoy watching the planes take off and land through the floor to ceiling windows overlooking the runway. Of course, with free wifi you can stay connected and catch up online too.
I made a little Qik video and streamed live from the lounge. It's a bit shaky but hopefully it will give you a bit more of a view of the area and what's on offer.
And then the mega exciting part of the trip - it was time to board the plane!
We took our places in the large leather seats. Not only is there the extra legroom that you would expect, but we were in the emergency exit aisle so we had even more room!
No sooner had all the passengers boarded then we were given a choice of drink. Champagne, orange juice or water. Um.....champagne please! Cheers
Soon after take off we were handed menus. And some more champagne. And a little gift box which I got super excited about!
I selected the poached pears, fresh figs and yogurt to start.
For my main course, I chose scrambled eggs, steak and lamb. Both dishes were equally nice and I really enjoyed them. As you can see the presentation was great too.
The 5 hour flight passed quickly chatting to Nicky, reading, and watching films. I selected The Rite, which is a pretty silly film about priests and the battle against evil starring Anthony Hopkins, but I really enjoyed the 2010 remake of Brighton Rock.
Another glass of bubbly? Oh, ok then!
The descent began and I caught my first glimpse of the River Nile. Excitement started to build up again. One of the flight attendants tried to help us see the pyramids, but we were sitting on the wrong side of the plane (on the left) and the seat belt sign was on, but I was happy enough with this view knowing I'd be seeing the pyramids soon.
It was so nice to feel so looked after on a flight. I can see why people chose the business or first class option. The whole experience was very comfortable and relaxed and it was a lovely stress free beginning of my short holiday to Cairo.
Thank you for such an amazing experience BMI!
1 comment:
Looks amazing Karen!
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