Siden jeg likevel er hjemme fra jobb i dag pga "vinterkräksjukan" og en murrende hodepine, så kan jeg jo poste en liten tripreport fra sommeren 2011. Tripreporten er på engelsk, siden jeg har skrevet denne tidligere.
Sevilla & Jabugo - The Quest for 5J
It all started back in January, when Hilton announced their Any Weekend Anywhere sale. We browsed the participating hotels list, and found out that the Hacienda la Boticaria in Sevilla would join Hilton as a Waldorf=Astoria property during 2011 (Hotellet forlot Hilton-kjeden etter bare noen måneder, og er pr i dag ikke lenger et Waldorf=Astoria hotell). We quickly decided that we wanted to try this hotel, and booked a stay there in August. We opted for a King Deluxe room with a private terrace, at €169.50 per night for 3 including breakfast. €56.50 per night per person is not a bad deal! (prisene har gått endel ned etter at hotellet forlot Hilton-kjeden)
As soon as the stay was booked, we went shopping for flights - as it turned out, Brussels Airlines had a promotion at the time, and we got our flights for €120 return, connecting through Brussels. A week after booking the flight, we got a call informing us that the flight had been rescheduled for a 6:40AM departure instead of the original time which was around 11AM or so. Nothing we could do about that, so we accepted the change of time - it would give us a short stop in Brussels.
Since we booked in January, we had plenty of time to plan what to do during our short break in Andalucia - and one thing was clear from the very beginning: We HAD to go to Jabugo. Some of you might know why... more about that later!
On the day of departure, we got up real early and drove to OSL, parked our car and entered the terminal building. We had already checked in online, and we just had to go to the bag drop counter before passing trough security and then straight to our gate. For the very first time at OSL we went to the dedicated bus gate, as Brussels Airlines' Avro RJ-100 (OO-DWD) was parked on a remote stand.
The flight was not fully booked so boarding was quick and efficient. With the four powerful engines on the RJ-100 we experienced a very short takeoff only a few minutes after boarding. It was our first flight on a RJ-100, and we were impressed by the spacious and comfortable economy seats. The 1hr 50min flight to BRU was comfortable but otherwise uneventful.
Our connecting flight to Sevilla (SVQ) was scheduled for takeoff at 11:30AM. An Airbus A319 (OO-SSK) was lined up at gate 40, and the flight was almost fully booked except for some seats in premium economy and business. Seat pitch was decent enough for the short flight to SVQ, and the slimline Recaro seats were not bad.
A view of the BRU terminal building from the tarmac.
About an hour in flight, we passed over Biarritz in France. The Aéroport de Biarritz Anglet Bayonne (BIQ) is clearly visible from above.
After 2hrs 30 mins in the air, we touched down at Aeropuerto de Sevilla San Pablo (SVQ). The temperature was about 39 degrees celsius, quite a difference from the 15 degrees at home.
A Vueling (Spanish LCC) aircraft on tarmac in SVQ.
Since we're inside the Schengen area, there was no immigration to clear. However, our luggage was placed on a different conveyor belt than all the other luggage, a special originating-outside-of-EU-conveyor-belt... which we only discovered after all the other passengers had picked up their luggage. We actually had to go backwards in through the empty customs area to pick up our bags - and there was not an officer in sight so we just walked straight out with our bags to pick up our rental car.
Sevilla & Jabugo - The Quest for 5J
It all started back in January, when Hilton announced their Any Weekend Anywhere sale. We browsed the participating hotels list, and found out that the Hacienda la Boticaria in Sevilla would join Hilton as a Waldorf=Astoria property during 2011 (Hotellet forlot Hilton-kjeden etter bare noen måneder, og er pr i dag ikke lenger et Waldorf=Astoria hotell). We quickly decided that we wanted to try this hotel, and booked a stay there in August. We opted for a King Deluxe room with a private terrace, at €169.50 per night for 3 including breakfast. €56.50 per night per person is not a bad deal! (prisene har gått endel ned etter at hotellet forlot Hilton-kjeden)
As soon as the stay was booked, we went shopping for flights - as it turned out, Brussels Airlines had a promotion at the time, and we got our flights for €120 return, connecting through Brussels. A week after booking the flight, we got a call informing us that the flight had been rescheduled for a 6:40AM departure instead of the original time which was around 11AM or so. Nothing we could do about that, so we accepted the change of time - it would give us a short stop in Brussels.
Since we booked in January, we had plenty of time to plan what to do during our short break in Andalucia - and one thing was clear from the very beginning: We HAD to go to Jabugo. Some of you might know why... more about that later!
On the day of departure, we got up real early and drove to OSL, parked our car and entered the terminal building. We had already checked in online, and we just had to go to the bag drop counter before passing trough security and then straight to our gate. For the very first time at OSL we went to the dedicated bus gate, as Brussels Airlines' Avro RJ-100 (OO-DWD) was parked on a remote stand.

The flight was not fully booked so boarding was quick and efficient. With the four powerful engines on the RJ-100 we experienced a very short takeoff only a few minutes after boarding. It was our first flight on a RJ-100, and we were impressed by the spacious and comfortable economy seats. The 1hr 50min flight to BRU was comfortable but otherwise uneventful.


Our connecting flight to Sevilla (SVQ) was scheduled for takeoff at 11:30AM. An Airbus A319 (OO-SSK) was lined up at gate 40, and the flight was almost fully booked except for some seats in premium economy and business. Seat pitch was decent enough for the short flight to SVQ, and the slimline Recaro seats were not bad.


A view of the BRU terminal building from the tarmac.

About an hour in flight, we passed over Biarritz in France. The Aéroport de Biarritz Anglet Bayonne (BIQ) is clearly visible from above.

After 2hrs 30 mins in the air, we touched down at Aeropuerto de Sevilla San Pablo (SVQ). The temperature was about 39 degrees celsius, quite a difference from the 15 degrees at home.


A Vueling (Spanish LCC) aircraft on tarmac in SVQ.

Since we're inside the Schengen area, there was no immigration to clear. However, our luggage was placed on a different conveyor belt than all the other luggage, a special originating-outside-of-EU-conveyor-belt... which we only discovered after all the other passengers had picked up their luggage. We actually had to go backwards in through the empty customs area to pick up our bags - and there was not an officer in sight so we just walked straight out with our bags to pick up our rental car.
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