DunaA320 From UK - England, joined Feb 2009, 584 posts, RR: 8 Posted (2 years 7 months 5 days 10 hours ago) and read 10745 times:
Lads holiday to Corfu - LGW-CFU-LGW on Thomson Airways
Back in May myself and some friends were discussing the possibility of a cheap last minute getaway to somewhere in Greece. We wanted to go somewhere lively with good nightlife and a good party atmosphere. After much discussion we found the resort of Kavos on the Greek island of Corfu. I had been there in 2007 with 6 other friends and had an amazing time, so I was up for returning for some serious drinking and partying!
Kavos isn’t a really stunning or beautiful place and not the sort of place families would go to (although we did have some families staying in our complex) but is perfect for teenagers/twenty-somethings to go wild for a week or two and is very English orientated.
We found the Olympion Village apartments on the First Choice website for £249 for 7 nights. I know lots of people who had stayed here in previous years and said how good it was, so on those recommendations, we went ahead and booked it and I must say on we were not disappointed!
We would be flying on Thomson Airways which was created in 2008 following the merger of Thomsonfly with First Choice Airways. Thomson Airways operate a large fleet of Boeing aircraft including: 7 737-300, 13 737-800, 25 757-200, 13 767-300 and a small fleet of 7 Airbus A320/A321. Many of which still carry the First Choice colour scheme. There was one thing we weren’t looking forward to and that was the 28” seat pitch common on UK charter airlines.
Friday 12th June approached in what seemed like days since booking and I got up at 7am ready to head to Chris’ house where I would leave my car for the week. After a quick shower and cup of tea I left the house at 8am ready the battle the M25 and A3 on my 15 mile journey over to Chris’ house. Chris’ step dad drove us down to LGW which took about 20 minutes and dropped us at the South Terminal at 10.30. Our flight would depart from the North Terminal at 15.00; however we were meeting James in Starbucks in the South.
By 11am Dale had arrived from BFS via LHR and National Express coach then we headed over to the pub for Breakfast and the first Beer of the holiday!
After Beer and Breakfast we took the train over to the North Terminal and pitched up at the Thomson Airways check-in area. No queues, bags tagged and off they went, lucky for us we were allocated seats 1 C, D, E and F, no 28” seat pitch for us!
After clearing security we had a quick wander around the shops in the terminal and had another obligatory pint before our gate was announced for boarding at 14.00
G-OOBJ
We would be departing from gate 52 today in the main terminal building, unfortunately we wouldn’t be leaving from the satellite pier “over the bridge”
Date: 12/06/2009 Route: LGW-CFU Flight: TOM4570 Aircraft: Boeing 757-200 (9th flight on 757-200, 1st flight on this aircraft) Reg: G-OOBJ Seat: 1F Scheduled Departure Time: 15:00 Actual Departure Time: 15:10 Scheduled Arrival Time: 20:00 Actual Arrival Time: 19:39
G-OOBJ was delivered to First Choice Airways on 21/05/2004 and previously flew for US Airways as N616AU, being delivered to them 24/05/1993
When we arrived at the gate area we saw G-OOBJ waiting. I was disappointed to be flying on a First Choice aircraft as I have flown them twice before and have never flown a Thomson. We had a wait of probably no more than 10 minutes before they announced boarding strictly by seat numbers. Rows 1-10 and 31-40 were called first.
On arrival to the aircraft we were greeted by a member of the crew who then pointed us in the right direction of our seats. We found row 1 easily enough and made ourselves comfortable for the 3 hour flight down to Corfu. Seats were the standard First Choice turquoise leather which were fine for a 3 hour flight, any longer and I think they might become uncomfortable. One thing I didn’t like about this aircraft was the lack of overhead air vents! It was quite warm onboard! Once onboard the captain made some announcements advising us on our routing and a flight time of 2 hours 30 minutes, which would get us into Corfu 30 minutes ahead of schedule.
Push back was dead on 15.00 and the cabin crew commenced the video safety demo. After a few minutes it became apparent this was not working and whilst taxiing towards the runway they frantically tried to carry out a manual demo quickly before take off.
Looking down rwy 26L
I must say I love how powerful RR 757’s are, we rocketed down the runway and that whining sound is just great!
Leaving LGW
Overview of LGW
A drinks service started shortly after take off and we took a bit too much advantage of the offer on 2 Smirnoff Ices for £5. I think we had 6 each in total!
Drink time!
Seat pockets made great drink holders
After the drinks service those passengers that had booked in flight meals were given their meals. I must say how impressed I was. Best airline food I’ve ever had! Its not something you would expect from a charter airline! On offer was Chicken in a tomato sauce (advertised as Chicken Pomodoro) with mash potato and mushrooms in white sauce with a Waldorf salad on the side. For dessert, a small piece of Cheesecake. This meal was so good I would have eaten another one!
The obligatory meal shot
After the meal service was over and cleared away the crew passed through the cabin with the in-flight shopping, I bought myself a 787 model. Thomson Airways are due to receive 12 787 aircraft.
Legroom shot
The rest of the flight was pretty uneventful and the time seemed to pass by very quickly, probably due to the drinking!
Half an hour before landing the crew started preparing for landing. Our descent into Corfu took us over some beautiful scenery before back tracking on ourselves for arrival onto runway 35.
Over the famous bridge at the end of the runway
We landed just 2 hours and 29 minutes after leaving LGW. Reverse thrust was applied and I must say the 757 doesn’t waste anytime in slowing down! The ramp was fairly busy when we arrived with predominantly UK airlines and a Jettime 737 heading back to CPH.
Thomson 757 and easyJet A320 (my first sighting of one)
When leaving the aircraft we were bussed the short distance to the terminal building to Passport control which consisted of a man and woman who just waved you through without even remotely looking at the passports. No stamps available here!
G-EZTA easyJet’s first A320 departing back to MAN
Baggage reclaim was a bit of a nightmare as none of the screens indicated what flight would be on which one of the 2 carousels. There was our flight from LGW as well as 2 other TOM flights from BHX and EMA that arrived shortly after ours. You can imagine 3 full 757 loads in the at the baggage carousels!
After collecting our bags we exited into Arrivals to be met by a rep who directed us to out coach for the 1 hour transfer down to Kavos, where we would be for a week.
On arrival to our apartment complex, we had been given a 2 bedroom apartment, the rooms were huge, much bigger than I would have ever imagined!
My room shot
Main bedroom with kitchen
Most of our week was spent by the pool during the day and out drinking and partying every night. I had such a good time and made so many friends in such a short space of time.
Pool
Sea with mainland Greece
The weather was fantastic, clear skies and temperature off around 100F most days!
Greek Night at the apartments
My highlight of the week was Radio 1’s Judge Jules playing a DJ set in one of the clubs in Kavos, this was amazing and defiantly worth the €20 we paid to get in.
Typical night scene
Judge Jules
Sunrise
If anyone is visiting Kavos I must recommend a couple of places to eat: TKD’s – An Australian themed bar/restaurant with its famous alcohol and fruit filled watermelons and cocktails. The food I had there was pretty dam good! More expensive than some other places but defiantly worth it. They bought us a round of cocktails on the house there too.
The famous watermelons
Another place is The Drunken Squid a Mexican/Chinese themed restaurant that bills its self as “the best food in Kavos” and they aren’t wrong. Chris ordered Ribs there and they were bigger than the plate. The Cajun chicken I had there was very filling and was done just perfectly. We also got our first round of drinks free too!
Ribs!
After a pretty mental week of staying out until 7am at the earliest most nights/mornings it was time to head back to the airport for our return leg back to LGW
The following Friday came and it was time to be leaving the sunshine of Corfu for grim England. We were collected by the coach at 17.30 for transfer back to the airport and this took just under an hour.
This is how close you can get to the action – from the main road
View down the runway
On arrival to CFU you are directed in all different directions depending on what flight you are on. You have to queue in front of a board with your destination on, and are then called up in small groups to check in for your flight. This process was more organised that 2 years ago when we had to stand outside in the sweltering heat for almost 3 hours before being called inside to check in groups of 2! As mentioned in previous trip reports, when you check in at CFU, the process is a bit strange. You firstly put your bag on the scales to be tagged and weighed ect… as you would normally do, then you must take it with you again around the corner for your luggage receipts to be checked then you hand it over to be x-rayed, a strange process but didn’t cause too many problems. At Check-in we had asked for row 1 again, but it wasn’t available, we were all allocated aisle seats, luckily for us with the legroom issue. We were allocated 3C and D and 4C and D
After clearing the security checkpoint, we then went for a look in the Duty Free shopping, I bought a bottle of Disaronno
Aegean A320
You get very good view out onto the ramp at CFU but due to the low evening sun being in our eyes we did struggle a bit to see.
After about an hours waiting in the departure lounge, we were called for boarding, as like when we arrived, we were bussed to the aircraft.
Date: 19/06/2009 Route: CFU-LGW Flight: TOM4571 Aircraft: Boeing 757-200 (10th flight on 757-200, 2nd flight on this aircraft) Reg: G-OOBJ Seat: 3C Scheduled Departure Time: 21:00 Actual Departure Time: 21:00 Scheduled Arrival Time: 22:15 Actual Arrival Time: 21:50
We were in very close proximity to the Jettime 737 that was leaving for CPH. You could feel the jet blast blowing the side of the bus as it taxied away from us.
Jettime off to CPH
Feel the blast
Our 757
When we pulled up next to our 757 we saw we would be flying on G-OOBJ again, bit of a disappointment for the same aircraft again. Whilst waiting to make our way up the steps, another FCA 757 was on approach, which looked like it would have been fun to be on board. It did a really heavy bank lining up for runway 35 then a little bit of correcting then slammed down on the runway!
RR power!
When we boarded we noticed something different, we were seated in row 3 but it was actually the second row of seats… they had renumbered the rows on the aircraft since we flew on it the week before, probably to make it standard to the TOM fleet I would imagine. Now we know why row 1 was not available!
There was some problem with the air flow of this aircraft, as it had no air vents we couldn’t cool ourselves down but the cabin was so hot where we were sitting, but if you walked back about 3 or 4 rows, it was nice and cool! Strange!
After the doors were closed the video safety demo was shown, and we soon started backtracking down the runway for departure. Take off was bumpy and quite short, we rocketed into the air right on time, heading North.
Soon after we were in the air, the cabin crew were released and handed out customer service questionnaires for us to complete on the holiday we had just had. Whilst completing these, the captain then gave a very detailed report on our routing tonight and advised us we would be arriving into Gatwick a little bit earlier. It then wasn’t long until the drinks service started. We were sitting in the second row and it took them about 15 minutes to serve us, due to a range of problems, one being no bottle opener at the front of the aircraft and another was a member of the crew tried to open a bottle of Smirnoff Ice and it covered him! He returned from the galley soaking wet!
As the pitch on these seats were so tight, I had worked out how to raise the aisle armrest so was able to sit sideways and actually have some legroom.
Meanwhile the overhead IFE screens were showing the moving map feature before the Jim Carrey film “Yes, Man” was going to be shown.
Anyway after they had done the drinks run, the meal service started. This time we had Beef and Ale stew with a side pasta salad, and sticky toffee pudding. Was not as nice as the meal on the flight out but still, very tasty and the portions were good too! (No pics of this one, sorry)
When the meal service was cleared away we spent most of the flight talking to each other with the odd wander up and down the aircraft.
As we approached Paris, we started out descent. The Captain then told us that if we were sitting on the left we could see various Parisian landmarks. After the announcement we were asked to prepare for landing and the crew did a final rubbish collection of the cabin.
Half an hour later, after a pleasant 2 hours 50 minutes in the air we had touched down on runway 26L at LGW 21.50. After a short taxi to the North Terminal we parked up on stand and exited the aircraft through door L1 strangely, normally L2 on a 757.
We arrived at Passport control, and to our surprise, no queues! We then had a short wait for our luggage to arrive, before one Chris and myself got picked up and taken back to his house.
I had such a fantastic time in Corfu and met some amazing friends out there. Can’t wait to return again!
DALCE From Netherlands, joined Feb 2007, 1462 posts, RR: 13 Reply 7, posted (2 years 7 months 3 days 22 hours ago) and read 9068 times:
Hi Matt,
Nice to read your CFU report so short after I dropped mine here
CFU is really a great island to stay.
I loved the road just behind the runway, you could really look into the eyes of passengers from there.
Thanks for dropping your report!
Joost (D-ALCE)
flown on : F50,F70,CR1,CR2,CR9,E75,143,AR8,AR1,733,735,736,73G,738,753,744,319,320,321,AB6. Next flights AMS-ZRH-AMS on
OA260 From Ireland, joined Nov 2006, 22454 posts, RR: 60 Reply 8, posted (2 years 7 months 3 days 18 hours ago) and read 8923 times:
Great report. Corfu seems to be popular this year. Its been years since I went. Im not a fan of apartments but the ones you stayed in looked really nice. Food looks good also especially those ribs !!
Glad you all had a nice time in Greece.
OA260
OLYMPIC AIR - ΟΛΥΜΠΙΑΚΗ "Η ΕΛΛΑΔΑ ΨΗΛΑ" "GREECE FLYING HIGH"
SkyHigh777 From United States of America, joined Aug 2005, 364 posts, RR: 1 Reply 9, posted (2 years 7 months 3 days 18 hours ago) and read 8889 times:
Great TR! And thanks for including pics of Corfu, seems really cool. Is that an enormous hickey on your abercrombie buddy's neck in the pic with the watermelon!? HAHAHA I sure as hell hope it is. I'm going to Greece in September for 2 weeks (Mykonos, Santorini, the usual) and your pictures are making me want to leave already!
Chris78cpr From United Kingdom, joined Feb 2004, 2791 posts, RR: 55 Reply 10, posted (2 years 7 months 3 days 10 hours ago) and read 8664 times:
Quoting SkyHigh777 (Reply 9): Is that an enormous hickey on your abercrombie buddy's neck in the pic with the watermelon!? HAHAHA I sure as hell hope it is.
I am said boy wearing the abercrombie top and yes it was a giant slagtag! hahaha Got that from one of many girls from the week!
Nice report Matt, brings back some quality memories! Deffo gonna be doing a return trip next year! Had so much fun and met so many awesome people out there, i want to go back now!
Ah well, Ibiza in 3 weeks will have to do!
5D2/7D/1D2(soon to be a 1Dx) 17-40L/24-105L/70-200F2.8L/100-400L/24F1.4LII/50F1.2L/85F1.2LII
DunaA320 From UK - England, joined Feb 2009, 584 posts, RR: 8 Reply 11, posted (2 years 7 months 3 days 10 hours ago) and read 8656 times:
Quoting Sebjacques92 (Reply 6): You might have just inspired my next holiday
No problems, do it, you'll love it!
Quoting DALCE (Reply 7): Nice to read your CFU report so short after I dropped mine here
CFU is really a great island to stay.
I loved the road just behind the runway, you could really look into the eyes of passengers from there.
Unfortunatly on both my visits to Cofru, ive never had the chance to go there. I was sitting next to a couple on the flight home who went down there one day for a look.
Quoting OA260 (Reply 8): Glad you all had a nice time in Greece.
Ive never had a bad time in Greece, I think thats why I keep going back, love it there! My 5th visit to Greece now, and definatly not my last!!!!
Quoting SkyHigh777 (Reply 9): HAHAHA I sure as hell hope it is. I'm going to Greece in September for 2 weeks (Mykonos, Santorini, the usual) and your pictures are making me want to leave already!
Hope you have a good time!
Quoting Chris78cpr (Reply 10): Nice report Matt, brings back some quality memories! Deffo gonna be doing a return trip next year! Had so much fun and met so many awesome people out there, i want to go back now!
Im deffo on it for next summer... big time!!
Quoting Chris78cpr (Reply 10): Ah well, Ibiza in 3 weeks will have to do!
JRowson From United Kingdom, joined May 2004, 322 posts, RR: 16 Reply 12, posted (2 years 7 months 3 days 10 hours ago) and read 8654 times:
Quoting Elevate (Reply 2): Is James ever not on holiday?!?
Lol, I wish I could be permanently on holiday. This was my 2nd trip of the year and first proper holiday, so somewhat cut back compared to recent years.
Nice report Duuuna.....good times had by all!!!!
James Rowson. Canonite and lover of all things L. JAR Photography.
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