ARN-LHR-JFK-BGI-MSQ-BGI-JFK-LHR-ARN. Or simply The West Indies

[Petrus]

Hej igen alla Norrbaggar. Nytt äventyr över påsk. Report på engelska som vanligt. Enjoy.

___________________________

I aim to let the pictures do the talking in this report. I am pressed for time recently and as such won't be able to give
the report as much love as done previously. Nevertheless, I hope you find it interesting. Also, there won't be photos of the BA flights this
time since we've seen it all haven't we? If you insist, I can reuse photos from previous reports.

Backdrop: We had not been for a proper beach/sun holiday since November 2005. That time it was Mauritius of Indian Ocean Fame.
This time we had the fortune of visiting Mustique (or Maaaaastik as the locals say) in the West Indies.

Planning began in December during our ARN-LCY-JFK-Niagara-YYZ-NYC-LCY-ARN adventure, also covered in here. We stopped over in Chelsea for lunch and met a close friend at The Pigs Ear who suggested we hop along to Mustique over Easter.

Early February tickets where booked. Since Easter is peak holiday travel, prices where through the roof to BGI, which is the natural
place to connect for the jump over to MSQ, unless you have a private jet and land on a smaller island closer to Mustique.
As such the routing became ARN-LHR-JFK-BGI-MSQ-BGI-JFK-LHR-ARN. We made use of the flat available in NYC. The stopover was two days before heading South. All separate PNR's. Saved us a whole load of cash since WT+ was on sale from LHR for 550GBP.
One PNR from ARN would have set us back over 1000GBP a person. We where hoping for MFU availability.

Sector 1:
ARN-LHR BA773
09.20am A321
Seat 22A?
Euro Traveller

Cab at 7.15 to the utterly useless and shit ARN T5. The Menzies check-in lady was usless too. I had called BA to link the BA bookings. I brought my BAEC number containing the bookings. We had checked in online. The only thing we did not bring was BP.
She could not manage. It took her 5 minutes to find our bookings. She muttered, was not pleased with having to provide service
because she was not used to the system. Classic ex-commie state behaviour. If you can't solve it, tell customer "computer says no".

Eventually we where on our way to the sad lounge. I shall not rant about it again. Flight was 99% full. This was April 1st, and the first day of normality after the strikes. 40 minute delay due to ATC restrictions. We made up good time on the way to LHR.
We had an A gate by the domestics. We decided to test if FC or South FT was quicker. FC was empty so Mrs Petrus was outside GF
in about 5 minutes. It took me 11minutes via an empty IRIS que. We had a 5h layover due to separate PNR's. Rather safe than sorry.

Sector 2:
LHR-JFK BA115
5am B747-400
Seat 12K
Club World

We dropped our stuff at the GF wardrobe and went to Plane Food for lunch. It was ok but obviously nowhere near Ramsays high end establishments. Killed sometime in the shops, with Mrs Petrus acquiring lounge wear for the flight to NYC.
Back in GF for some champers and snack before heading to T5B and the US security. It was rather chaotic and a scrum was in place
at the gate before boarding. Lots of people simply walking in trying to board, being ushered back by ground staff.

Do people not read signs anymore? Pre-boarding was announced, infants etc, but more or less everyone tried to board and chaos ensued. At first I thought the world had gone mad as it is normally not like this, but then I realised it is one of the biggest holidays
of the year and the general public is traveling en masse. Hence, trouble! Fast Track? Yes but non-status non Premium pax stormed in anyway with GS shouting to little avail. Eventually we made it the gate agent. NOT CHECKED IN
Score! It was a lovely surprise. We now sat in 12K/J. The small forward 747 CW cabin. Lovely seats.

We where stuck on the ground for 1h because of tech. An indicator on flight deck had broken and the engineer had to
come and replace it. I probably had 3 glasses of Champagne during the wait. Could be worse.
Crew where good.
Flight took off and I checked out The Informant with Matt Damon. Scallops (so so) for starter and lamb I believe for main (not bad).
Sleep until 40 mins prior to NYC arrival. Immigration was empty!

36h in Manhattan went past quickly.

Sector 3:
JFK-BGI AA1385
8.20am B757-200
Seat 18A
Coach

Cab from 42nd/11th av. to JFK around 6am. I like the AA terminal 8. Premium area was deserted and so was priority security.
We headed up to the Flag Ship lounge over looking JFK and Manhattan skyline at the horizon.
The lounge is a nice place. If the food was proper I would actually say it's very good.
We had some breakfast before heading to our gate.

Priority access clearly marked on our BP mean a quick entry to the jetty. Flying time was 4h and it went by quickly.
As Emerald and Sapphire we had secured excellent exit row seats.
Arrival at BGI was excellent since if you have a private charter connecting to the Islands, you go straight to the tiny
transfer desk and avoid immigration and main security. Signs waited for us as we arrived, bags taken, checked in at transfer desk,
mini security and we where in BGI depatures for a 1h wait for a friend coming in on Jet Blue from LGA.

Sector 4:
BGI-MUS MAW361
2.30pm BN-2
Seat 2A
Charter

A slight walk from BGI terminal out on the tarmac to our little Britten Norman BN-2 work horse. Bags where loaded and off we went.



50 minute flight before landing in Mustique. What a landing it was! Steep dive before leveling out and then hard break. You can almost touch the hill before the runway on the final approach. So cool.

Alas, we had arrived in Paradise. Immigration was, well a tiny desk where you also paid USD25 to get your Mustique driving license, assuming you have a real one of course. It was a swift formal procedure to get the St Vincent and Grenadines Stamp in the PP.

I got the honours of driving behind our butler who came to greet us. He was outstanding by the way. A legend. So where the entire staff in the villa we rented. FYI we had one butler, two maids, a chef and the constantly stoned gardener.
The villa was spectacular with 4 bedrooms. You can look it up on the Mustique website if you are interested.

Some photos:

One of two balconies in our room


The left side of the pool, overlooking one of the beaches


Another beach


Some guy...


Macaroni Beach, spent a good few days here





Catch of the day. Chef prepared the Tuna, Mackerel and Barracuda for dinner.


Cotton House Lunch


The runway


Departures


The hill before touch down


The view from the salute. Bequia and St. Vincent


Departures to Security


Busy day

[Petrus]

Sector 5:
MUS-BGI MAW362
11.30am BN-2
Seat 4B
Charter

Mandatory tax to be paid on departure of 16USD.



Bye bye. See you next year!


BGI approach


AA rocket


Sector 6:
BGI-JFK AA1385
14.50pm B757-200
Seat 18A
Coach

I read most of the trip. We where slightly nervous due to the connection in JFK. Scheduled arrival was 8.20pm at T8 and
our BA flight left at 22.40 from T7. Too much of a delay from ATC or in immigration would make it tight.
It worked out perfectly. Touched down ahead of schedule with a looooong taxi and 10 min wait due to traffic.
Parked at the very far end of T8 so another 10 min walk to immigration which was empty though.
Priority bags worked nicely. Up to Airtrain for the short hop to T7. We made it for 9pm.

Sector 7:
JFK-LHR BA182
22.40pm B747-400
Seat 29A
WT+

JFK T7 yet again impressed me. Best BA station there is. Some quick Tax Free shopping and a salad before heading up to Terraces.
Avoided Gold section altogether. Flight was called and it was very busy. We made ourselves 'comfortable' in the rock hard WT+ seats.
I slept most of the way, without the help of pills. Arrived in good time and used FC successfully.
Mrs Petrus passed/slept out in GF due to tiredness and of course pregnancy. She was in her 12th week at this point.
Before this we made use of the shower facilities. I then had lunch, champagne and some wine etc.
3 hours went by quickly. I really very much like T5!

As usual and each time I'm around there's a sing sling whale


And also an aussie this time



Sector 8:
LHR-ARN BA780
1.50pm B767-300
Seat 3D
Club Europe

NOT CHECKED IN. Well that's a nice ending to the trip. Op-upped again. Mrs Petrus was fast a sleep while I had some lunch.
No champagne as I would be driving later on.


Mustique is highly recommended if you want privacy and luxury. The place is as pretty as any island in the West Indies.
However, you pay for the privacy. It is worth it. We had a fantastic time and the staff at our Villa where brilliant. Almost like a family.
We're going back next year with Petrus no 3 (if everything goes well). The chef demanded we come back so she can nanny
our baby.

[jcnorway]

Takk for nok en flott rapport, Petrus!

Hva er hemmeligheten bak all disse op-ups? Noen tips til en stakkars BA Silver?

[Discus]

Takk for rapporten og ikke minst inspirasjon til sjekke litt nye reisemål.

[Petrus]

Originally Posted by jcnorway

Takk for nok en flott rapport, Petrus!

Hva er hemmeligheten bak all disse op-ups? Noen tips til en stakkars BA Silver?

Takk takk och god 17 maj!

Boka dig själv på flighter som ser ut att bli fulla. Använda expertflyer.com för att kolla detta. Kostar 5USD/månad men är ett måste för frequent flyers.
Beställ inte special meal. Du låser dig då.
Online Check-in.
Single traveller hjälper. Enklare att flytta.
Guld kort hjälper också.

[Someone]

Morsom lesning, fra en øy vel ingen har har skrevet trip report fra før

[T.A.K]

Hyggelig lesning :-)

[LNv22]

Eksotisk! Herlig med litt frisk pust fra et sted jeg aldri har lest noen rapport fra før!

Takker for det.