Going to Europe

[John_Cillis 2,406]

I have something exciting coming up.  On May 24th I'll be flying to Europe for a month long tour (non-stop from Phoenix to London on a British Airways 747-400).  I'll be visiting England, France, Spain, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Holland and Belgium.  I'll be using Trafalgar tours.  It's my my first vacation in four years and my first flight in four years as well and my first trip since I retired from Computer Engineering.  I'll be flying Premium economy which has wider seats, more legroom and more amenities. 

Can't wait until I go, the ten days before the trip will go very fast.

John

[Matthew Kane 1,343]

Enjoy that 747-400 because it will most likely be your last on that aircraft type, love that kind and it will be sad to see them go. Air New Zealand where I live have replaced them with 777s and 787s now, sadly disappearing from the southern hemisphere skies.

But on that note the new 777X-8 will be able to fly non-stop from Auckland to New York, that will be a major milestone when we finally get those.

747 - Queen of the skies

777 - King of the skies

[jcomm 5,889]

5 hours ago, Cactus521 said:

I have something exciting coming up.  On May 24th I'll be flying to Europe for a month long tour (non-stop from Phoenix to London on a British Airways 747-400).  I'll be visiting England, France, Spain, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Holland and Belgium.  I'll be using Trafalgar tours.  It's my my first vacation in four years and my first flight in four years as well and my first trip since I retired from Computer Engineering.  I'll be flying Premium economy which has wider seats, more legroom and more amenities. 

Can't wait until I go, the ten days before the trip will go very fast.

John

Welcome to this side of the pond :-)

I'm sure you'll gonna love it, and I just regret that you can't visit our beautiful Portugal !  Maybe next time ( ? ).

Visiting Europe for an American must feel like visiting our parent's home after a long stay away... Visiting Asia and Africa should feel for all of us like visiting our Grandparent's home, although unfortunately, and probably like after all it happens with inter-personal relationships, we sometimes find it difficult to understand them, miss the technology at their homes, and, even worst, don't have the best patience to listen to them and tell them what they really need to listen to...

I started in Maths and Computer Science, and diverted to Meteorology, where I still am staying ( for quite a long time I guess because retirement age around here grows happily towards the 70... ) - TBH, the best thing I like in putters is being able to run flight simulators on them... :-) 

I would really like to do the same, towards your side of the pond, when done with computer weather forecasts....

All of the Best - Enjoy your stay !!!

[tonywob 4,768]

Sounds like great fun. My advice is to try and visit places outside the capitals, you will almost certainly get a better feel of "real-life" is those places, you'll mix more with the locals and I've generally found it a more rewarding experience to get off the beaten track than to be stuck around crowds of tourists all day spending money on food and tourist tat.

I'd love to do the reverse and go from the east to the west coast of the US, slowly without a tour. One day, when I can get a few weeks off work :)

[John_Cillis 2,406]

14 hours ago, ytzpilot said:

Enjoy that 747-400 because it will most likely be your last on that aircraft type, love that kind and it will be sad to see them go. Air New Zealand where I live have replaced them with 777s and 787s now, sadly disappearing from the southern hemisphere skies.

But on that note the new 777X-8 will be able to fly non-stop from Auckland to New York, that will be a major milestone when we finally get those.

747 - Queen of the skies

777 - King of the skies

It will be my first flight on a 747 in 23 years.  Last time I flew on a 747 was from Dulles to SFO in December of 94.  Last time I flew to Europe, in 95. I flew on a 767 from Pittsburgh to Frankfurt.  The 767 was arguably the most comfortable flight I ever had to Europe.

John

 

[brucets 94]

John -

That's a heck of a trip!! Trafalgar has been around a long, long time! I sold their products as a young travel agent in the late 60's! Very good company! Take a lot of pictures and make some notes daily, cuz when you get back here to PHX it'll be a big blur!! 

As I live in SCW I'll fly the trip in real time on the 24th. I did so last summer when a friends here took the same flight.

Have a great trip!

 

Bruce

 

Btw -- What is this *reputation* thing? Whatever it is I just gave you one thinking I was replying to your post!!

 

 

[out 769]

Enjoy your trip, John! Europe might be a relatively small continent, but it is so diverse, both culturally and naturally.
I am sure after you return to the States, you will buy a few Eurpean airports to fly to virtually.

[Flic1 969]

I took my first trip ever to Europe back in October.  I visited Rome, Tuscany Region and Florence.  A very cool trip and amazing to see a different culture and some of the small towns in Tuscany.  The Italians are wonderful people and I would love to go back someday.  I flew to Rome on a United 767-400 and flew Lufthansa back on an A340-300. United had been using the 777 all summer (that was the aircraft on my reservation) on the KIAD-LIRF route and they switched to the 764 right before my trip.  I had never been on a 777 so was looking forward to it but the 764 is a nice plane as well.  We were lucky enough to upgrade the entire trip to 'business-first' which was very nice!

 

 

[BrendaM 0]

Hi John, sounds like a great trip! Hope you are enjoying 
I have just come back from Alicante, Spain and I am in love with the place, visit it every year, sometimes even twice. It’s very convenient when you have friends living in a paradise place like Alicante. I am actually quite seriously looking at Alicante real estate market https://tranio.com/spain/valencia/alicante/, it seems quite possible to buy an apartment there.

[ErichB 3,638]

Sounds like a great trip.  Have fun on the 747-400.  I sometimes fly the Heathrow - Cape Town rtn if I go BA  and she's still an amazing machine.  

[NatGeo 2]

Not sure if you have a motorcycle license, but if you do then definitely rent one and go tour the Alps!

[flightmanage 0]

I was born in Russia, my business is located in Turkey, I often have to fly a Boeing 747 or 757 in business class, it is quite convenient, in the summer I have a rest in my own house in Turkey as well. So I fly back and forth a lot

[W2DR 1,859]

Welcome to the forum(s).......Doug