5 hours on the Costa Brava

An opportunity to increase my hours flying on Gulfstreams couldn't be passed up so yesterday I could be found checking in to the Harrods terminal at Luton with my good friend Wes just after 6am. A minimal queue at reception and at just the mention of our names, we were escorted in to the lounge where we helped ourselves to coffee. We were flying on Pen-Avia's G450 and just before departure, the captain came for a chat and then we were climbing in to a van that took us to the steps of G-ULFM. A few photos were taken although the sun had only just risen.

Once on board, emergency procedures were explained and I was strapped in to the jump seat for the departure. We taxied off stand 71, headed up Delta and were cleared to backtrack and depart from runway 26. Airborne at 0720 and a steady climb to FL450. I returned to the cabin where coffee was served. Tried to soak in the whole experience but all too soon, we were descending and we landed in Girona, Spain (GRO/LEGE) at 0854z (0954 local) which gave us a flying time of 1 hour 34 minutes. Some more pics were taken as the weather was slightly better than home and then driven to the terminal. We picked up a hire car, drove to Barcelona for an Easyjet flight back to Luton which just wasn't the same.