Up in the air

Long story short told: Virus aviaticus - I think I officially got it now.

By far the best, most amazing and most fascinating thing there is.
I couldn't say I wasn't a bit nervous, but reading through several aviation blogs helps (Thanks nff, towermaedel, skypointer, G!, jetvisuals, fourgreens, einexpatimexil, wings level - it's a bit quiet in the blogger sky recently, but I certainly hope these come to live again... some day... if only here and there... pretty, pretty please!).
Checking austrianwings for aviation news helps. Watching ACI helps, too. Knowing that every part of the plane gets cecked on a regular basis helps a lot. And knowing that pilots are well educated and regularly trained to deal with any kind of emergency that might occur helps big style.
In the end, I was quite excited.

As I had no proper time to prepare myself and my luggage however, I was mostly concerned about things I *might* forget. Not enough, my suitcase-lock decided to get stuck while packing and I couldn't get it open no matter what. After some lots of of trying and cussing, and finding out no repair team works on the weekend (the curse of last minute packing!) there was no other way but to switch to backpack and handbag.

In comparison, renting a shuttle after my cauffeur cancelled his service one day before leaving was like a piece of cake.
So was getting up in the morning and the way to the airport, with some beautiful misty morning landscapes on the way. So was the check-in and getting through the security.
Until the nervousness cicked in again, only to turn into excitement.

On the way to take-off with Adria, our national carrier

Runway ahead

After an impressive acceleration, we're up in the air

Fairytale in blue and white

Obligatory wing-picture :)

Clouds in all kinds of shapes and sizes.

Turns out there's a little storm on the way, the plane makes a few bumpy ups and downs, but nothing any frequent flyer finds worth mentioning.

Clouds so close you feel like reaching out to touch them

Into white

Sun comes out

Approaching Brussels, the houses are getting bigger.

Here we are at Brussels airport, with Brussels Airlines representing the majority of aircraft at Pier A, while Pier B is occupied by long-haul flights.

Belgocontrol is watching you ;)

 

~ to be continued ~