Cruisinaltitude.com: It's about the journey: Bristol, England: Bristol, England to Newark, NJ (EWR)

CO77 17FEB08 Bristol International, Bristol England (BRS) to Newark-Liberty International, Newark NJ (EWR) 10:25a 1:25p 752 N??108

Flying Time: 7:17

I made my way to the 16 cloth seat BusinessFirst cabin on this 757-200. As I got settled, my seat mate arrived as well. I exchanged my jacket for an amenity kit and a menu and was offered a pre-departure drink. I opted for water and so did my seat mate.

As I waited, the Ryanair Boeing 737-800 pushed back and later took off. Just before that a KLM Fokker F70 landed and taxied to the hard stand on the right of us. This was followed by an easyJet Airbus A319. Soon, the A319 pulled up in the space where the Ryanair jet stood.

At 10:07 the doors and the steps were pulled away. The safety demo started, but had to be stopped as only the sound was working. This meant that the demo had to be done manually, so they did that.

At 10:18a, we pushed back and headed for runway 9. We made a left turn and headed down the runway taking to the air at 10:27a. As we went down the runway, I saw an easyJet A319 at the hardstand near the tower.

I got a good view of the terminal as we barreled down the runway.

There was also another one with stairs attached at the other end of the airport.

As we gained altitude, you could see the airport and its surroundings. It was really nice to see. It just looked very cold as well.

I also saw a hill with a lot of wind generators.

Soon after takeoff, we were given hot towels and then our chair tables were covered with a pink table cloth. The flight attendant had a little trouble getting to me as I was by the window so I opted to help her out. The entertainment system started, but was re-booted again before I had a chance to start watching anything. The system is Audio/Video On Demand and uses a touch screen interface. There is no handset attached, hence, there are no games on the system.

My choices for entertainment are:

Movies (21) – Bee Movie, Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead, Bone Dry, Dan In Real Life, Elizabeth: The Golden Age, Follow That Bird, Good Luck Chuck, King of California, Kiss Me Kate (Classic), Love in the Afternoon (Classic), Martian Child, Michael Clayton, Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporiums, Paradise, TX, Scenes in The Park, Sydney White, Things We Lost In The Fire, We Own The Night, All the Presidents Men, Madagascar (with Arabic subs), Phantom of the Opera
Short programs (16) – Continental Airwaves, CSI: Las Vegas, CSI: Las Vegas, CSI: Miami, Everybody Hates Chris, Everybody Loves Raymond, House, Inside The Actors Studio, Malcolm In The Middle, Phil Silvers Show, Road Runner Show, Shaun The Sheep, The King of Queens, The New Adventures of Old Christine, The Simpsons, The Story of India
Music (50) – including Bruce Springsteen, Barry Manilow, Chris Roth, Dean Martin, Foo Fighters, James Blunt, Kanye West, Queen Latifah and Nat King Cole
Flight map – a map showing our current location

At about 10:52a, the Captain came on the PA and gave his welcome aboard as well as reiterating the flight time and the current local temperature which had not changed since his announcement on the ground. He also said something about our route of flight and Shannon, Ireland, but it was difficult to hear him over the cabin noise.

I was given a small bowl of cashew nuts as well as a glass of water and asked what would I like to drink. I had a choice of American or French chardonnay, so I chose the French; it arrived within minutes.

I looked over and saw a passenger watching a portable DVD player; the TV show "Lost" was on.

She brought butter, salt and pepper, a saucer for the bread, more wine and utensils with a cloth napkin wrapped around it. She offered bread (multi grain, wheat, white and garlic), I chose garlic, but she said it was not hot enough and that she would return later with more.

Next came the appetizers (peanut marinated chicken breast skewer with coriander sauce, potato and truffle soup and savory vegetable and mushroom filled pastry).

Then the Mesclun salad mix with orange, pink grapefruit and almonds and my choice of tomato and thyme vinaigrette or sour cream dressing; I chose the vinaigrette.

I then started watching “Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead” as it seemed interesting.

The main course arrived next, it was halibut with grilled Shrimp served over saffron risotto, with fresh sautéed spinach and tomato ragoût with onion and bell pepper. For some reason I did not like it at all, so I did not eat much of it. It looked really good though.

Cheese and crackers and fruits came next and then an ice cream sundae.

I was full and tired, so I went to sleep just after being given a bottle of water.

I awoke when we had 1:58 to go and after using the lavatory, one of the flight attendant came by with a snack basket containing potato chips, chocolate, cookies and bread sticks. I noticed that the arrival time was set for 12:44p; wow, I thought, I hope we stick to that as my connecting flight is at 1:25p.

At 11:31a, we were given hot towels as a start of the arrival meal service. We had 1:12 to go at this point. The meal was Salmon with horseradish sauce, Fresh seasonal fruit, Chicken Cacciatore Pocket, Minced dark meat chicken, Emmental cheese and tomato sauce with white wine, mushroom and herbs in a pinwheel pastry pocket, with a cherry tomato, gherkin, Kalamata olive and onion garnish plus Chocolate.

The Captain said there were reports of turbulence so keep your seatbelts fastened. He also said that our descent will start in 30 minutes.

With about an hour to go, an arrival video was shown with information on arriving in Newark. It also showed how the documents should be filled out.

After the video, the lead flight attendant advised that he would be handing out documentation for everyone and that there was one correction; we would be arriving in Terminal B (oh no, that has now cut into my connection time severely, this will be a runner).

With about 0:48 to go, the Captain came over the PA and announced that we had 221 miles to go and that there was overcast skies, the temp was 16F and the winds were from the south touchdown at 12:47p local time.

We had this winding traffic pattern that gave us a brilliant view of the Manhattan skyline as well the Statue of Liberty and the Verrazano Narrows bridge connecting Staten Island with Brooklyn.