Where have you been? What have you seen?
#1612742
We decided we'd jump in the aeroplane at the weekend to escape the royal wedding.

The original plan had been to go to France (a bit of a tradition among the more republican elements of my family is to go abroad for any major royal family event) but it seems this was a popular option. Scouring the various hotel booking sites midweek, there was nothing to be had in Le Touquet or St Malo (or anywhere else in northern France worth going to) at anything like a sensible price. You were talking 300 Eur for the last room left in a basic hotel located 10 miles out of town.

Newquay was decided upon. Very reasonably priced (£30 landing including a radar-vectored ILS) for a 'proper airport' and the parking overnight was buttons, a couple of quid or something. The flying school (Fly Newquay) handle light GA and they were very friendly and helpful. It was the first time my girlfriend had come on a trip to a 'proper airport' and mixed it with a few bigger aeroplanes, so that was nice. A Flybe Dash 8 was doing circuits on the Sunday when we left.

The middle of the route on the way down (Boscombe to Yeovilton) was glider-tastic. Loads of them everywhere, and some got quite close. They're very hard to spot and having two pairs of eyes in the cockpit was very useful.

Stayed in a lovely place called '55 yards' which is a sort of bar-cum-boutique hotel in the middle of town. Less than a hundred quid for the night and very well appointed.

We'll certainly fly to Newquay again, might try staying in Padstow next time.

One interesting little thing. My girlfriend has come flying with me maybe a dozen times now, so she's got a reasonable idea of how things work and what's going on when I'm talking to ATC. After the trip she asked me "How come Farnborough are so curt and snippy with everyone, when Bournemouth, Exeter and Newquay are really friendly and relaxed?"

I just explained that Farnborough are really really busy and it's a challenge for them. But it's telling that a non-aviator should notice the issue.
TheLodger, akg1486, Matth1542 and 2 others liked this