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Terça-feira, 22 de Outubro de 2002
Virgin Express Boeing 737 doing Madrid-Brussels
Flight Details
TV855
Virgin Express
Date: 22 October 2002
Dep: Madrid Barajas (MAD)
Gate: C
Boarding Time: 1030
Dep Time: 1045
Load: 100%
Seat: 9D
Class: Economy
Aircraft: Boeing 737
Arr: Brussels Zaventern (BRU)
22nd of October 2002. I got up early. I think it was the first time I did it since I moved in to my new flat a week ago. My Spanish flatmate (who was also the owner of the flat) wished me a nice trip before he left for work. I was excited. I had it all prepared the night before. I was ready to go to Belgium.
My flight with Virgin Express (now defunct) bound for Brussels (Belgium) was leaving at 10:45 in the morning. I had to get out of the flat at around 08:00 since I lived some 15 kilometres from the Madrid Barajas Airport. But thanks (and no thanks) to the Madrid subway, going to the airport would take only 20 minutes.
Check-in was a breeze but I was delayed for a bit because I went to the wrong gate. I was supposed to go to the Schengen gate and not to the non-Schengen one. Anyway, that was fast though and before I knew it I was boarding the Boeing 737 of Virgin Express.
We took off smoothly and during the flight, the attendants gave us some free sandwich packed in a Virgin Express-branded plastic. That's it. But it's alright because as we know, Virgin Express was a low-cost airline and many low-cost airlines don't give out free stuff anymore. But anyway, since I could not imagine eating a sandwich without drinking something, I hesitantly bought an orange juice for 5 euros.
After more than 3 hours of flying, we were about to land in Brussels Zaventern Airport. The sky was gray and I thought it was going to rain. From the air, the Bruxellois landscape was all green. We had a bumpy approach but smooth landing.
Brussels airport has a nice architecture and it's a friendly airport.
My Belgian friend, Gino, met me at the airport. The weather was perfect. Chilly but sunny. This is my kind of weather. I was happy to see Gino again. He was my classmate in Madrid and it was nice of him to drive all the way from Antwerpen just to meet me at the airport in Brussels.
The drive from the airport was scenic and the autumn foliage was beautiful. It's very different from that of the Spanish Central plateau where Madrid is located.
At the Brussels city centre, near the Palais de la Bourse, we went to meet another friend, Nathalie. We ate in a small restaurant and had some chat about our Complutense and Madrid days. I was really happy to see those guys again.
We also visited Antwerpen together (and some cities near Brussels) and we had a nice time. Antwerpen is a lovely city actually. More beautiful than Brussels which is larger and more cosmopolitan in nature.