Trip Reports Forum | A Weekend To Remember - Paris & The A380

Part 1

3 AM on a Saturday morning is a very unusual time for me to be awake at! But i was very excited! Our train connection from Leeds to London was at 5 AM so i was up bright and early at 3 AM to get ready. We set off in the car at 4:15 AM and caught the train at 5:05 AM. Arrived at London at 07:29 AM. Had breakfast and set off on the tube to Heathrow for 8 AM. Arrived at Heathrow at 9 AM which is way to early to catch our plane which departed at 12:50 PM. So we got into the renaissance hotel and took a few photos and at 10:30 AM we watched the massive AF A380 land on 27 L. We ordered a taxi and with our friends we met in Heathrow years ago headed off for terminal 4. Very very very fast check in / baggage drop as we checked in online. Even faster security. Didn't expect it from "busy" Heathrow (this was my first time flying out of Heathrow). As soon as we got through security they called us for boarding . An hour before the flight departed they called us for boarding. So there she was parked up at the gate. Magnificent. In my opinion the second best passenger plane you could fly on (The first being Concorde). We were on the lower deck in the rear cabin. Seats 45 J, K & L. I made sure i jumped in the window seat before anyone else. . I was quite amazed as the legroom was massive as we were at right at the front of the rear cabin facing the wall. Our portable TV's folded out of the chair and we had 2 windows because of the massive space - which was great! I sat there waiting for announcements, first in French, then in English. the captain informed us that they were running checks on the cargo door as it wasn't shutting properly. We were delayed by an hour but i wasn't bothered cos we were sat on the biggest passenger plane in the world! At last we taxied out to runway 27 R and it was absolutely belting it down with rain. We were made priority and jumped through the queue and was just placed behind a virgin A340 - 600. 2 minutes went by and we were lined up finally on the runway. Less than 10 seconds later we were powering down the runway with masses of spray coming off the wings. Seemed like 20 seconds and we were up in the air. The cabin crew couldn't get out of there seats for a while as the plane went through turbulent clouds! Some nervous screams and laughs came out as the plane dropped in the turbulence. I wanted more but it was over and we were above the clouds cruising and 25000ft for about 5 minutes. As soon as we ascended we started to descend! Very nice descent and lined up on the finals. One of the smoothest landings I've ever had but the captain used every bit of the runway up. Seemed to taxi for ages to terminal 2E. We disembarked the plane in bright sunshine and left her behind to go and explore Paris for a couple of days!

Part 2

Paris was amazing! It could of been better because it rained all day - went to the usual sites Notre Dam, Eiffel Tower etc. But i don't want to blab on about it. I'm gonna blab on about the flight instead. . Charles-De-Gaulle airport is absolutely massive! It amazed me how big it was. I wasn't expected much bigger than Heathrow but it was! Got the handy shuttle bus back from the suite Novotel Roissy CDG at 07:30 AM. There's no mention about that hotel and spotting but when we were there planes were taking off pretty near to the hotel - would be half descent if you had a good room and a long lens Anyway check in / baggage drop was very slow - i made sure i checked in online again and got the same seats. It was such a big place that we had to get a little monorail shuttle thing to the security and gates. Security was quick if they didn't need to empty one of our friends bag out full and put it through again. Got to the gate which had shops around. Best thing was that they parked there A380's side by side - there was 2 of them parked side by side which was an amazing site! Once again we boarded an hour before departure and we left around on time. Much more prepared at CDG than LHR. It was raining so got another rainy take off. Not an eventful take off and flight. We got a cup of coffee and a biscuit on the way back. But the landed was quite good. We circled several time around London and could easily spot London landmarks! Finally lined up for landing at 27 R. But as we came into final we looked a bit off the runway - just slightly to the right. We was waiting for him to straighten out but he didn't. (We could see this on the TV Screen's) Was over the piano keys still off to the right but at the final moment one movement of the rudder and we on line. But wow the landing was hard. He was going in very fast and had to use his spoilers on the descent and approach. Everyone jerked forward in there seats. But we stopped fairly quickly and taxied swiftly to the gate.
We tried on the way to get into the cockpit but failed so this time we got up quickly and rushed to the front where there was a not so orderly queue. Took 10 minutes of waiting but we finally walked up the short stairs into the magnificent cockpit. Wow - first time id ever been in a cockpit and what a way to kick start it off. It was massive and could easily fit us 3 and another couple and the captain and first officer in. Got some pictures which ill attach later. All in all a great trip and the best plane i've ever been on (so far)

A very nice read! I would love to go on an A380! Hopefully some day I will.

well put together, great pics

Yep seconded, great read, glad you had a good day.

Thanks For All The Comment!

Nice read mate, and some great shots there. Not sure about the yellow socks though!!

Did you edit yours live so to speak or did you use a program on your PC then copy/paste.

Am trying to put mine up but when I do the preview I get these '%2019' texts all over the place, think it's because I use Word.

Sorry, I meant the text part. When I look at the preview I have all these 2016 and 2019 codes everywhere a ' is.

For example;
it's
comes out like
it%2019s.

Even tried pasting into notepad then into the site but it still doesn't work.

Might just have to do it manually.

Sorry mate, just being sarcastic. I have a friend who wears the most outrageous socks possible. The louder the better! Bumble-bee trainers?? Going to search engine that!

Sorry forgot to ask - In your penultimate photo (empty cabin), what class is that?