Good God the runways over the ocean !

Advantages: Clean , good facilities , well layed out ,all mod cons , good duty free
Disadvantages: Not such a good departure lounge , too many using the airport at once

...I have already posted a review about our holiday to Madeira this year and, seeing Funchal airport on this site, wanted to give a brief summary. Funchal airport is actually situated about an hours drive from the capital , Funchal . It is called Santa Caterina and is quite near to Santa Cruz on the eastern side of Madeira . As you approach the island you travel over Sao Laurences a barren and brown looking rocky headland that tapers out a fair way into the Atlantic Ocean. From here you glimpse Machico , the old capital of the island . Before you have time to get your breath you are banking over, and dropping at considerable speed to approach the runway . This runway was extended over the sea in order to accomodate the larger holiday airplanes . It is supported by massive pillars which on one of our trips we rode through whilst...

grafter123 01.01.2007 (02.01.2007) · Read review
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Review of Funchal Airport (FNC)

Pestana Grand Hotel - Funchal, Madeira.

Advantages: Good rooms, helpful staff, free bus into town
Disadvantages: Its a bus ride from town.

...on table top holders in others. They are called espetada and are well worth a go. The main specialtiy of Madeira is of course the wine. There is no shortage of tasting opportunities but unfortunately we both hate the stuff so can't give you much more detail about it. The hotel welcome presentation sets out all of the activities and trips available and I believe tries to sell you a timeshare. The levada walks are popular and well worth doing one or two. Take a waterproof jacket, some decent trainers or walking boots and a jersey as it can get cold, wet and misty at altitude. We hired a car and did our own thing for the week. Hiring the car gave us access to a couple of sandy beaches although one was man-made and a bit grotty. Pestana have a number of hotels around Funchal. The first Pestana hotel that we stopped at in the airport coach...

zoetna 23.11.2007 (24.11.2007) · Read review
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Review of Pestana Grand Hotel, Funchal

Trees Lounge

Advantages: Great acting
Disadvantages: Abit depressing but with lighter parts

...This Steve Buschemi's debut as writer and director. Made in 1996 it is a relatively unknown film but was a critcal if not commercial succes for Buschemi The film is about an alcoholic named Tommy (Steve Bushemi), the film starts and he is trying to wangle one more drink out of the barmaid 15 minutes after 'time'. The barmaid Connie(played by Carol Kane - Hester Street, Taxi) is obviously familiar and serves him with Tommy, which is an interesting tenet to the film as everyone knows everyone in this small suburb and everyone knows Tommy and he seems to recoil from it in shame. The bar 'Trees Lounge' is always populated by Tommy, an elderly alcoholic Bobby and another successful alcoholic Mike (Mark Boone Junior - Batman Begins, Lonesome Jim) Tommy starts to form a friendship with Mike thinks he is a looser. Mike is a strange character...

Phelthew 04.06.2008 · Read review
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Review of Trees Lounge (DVD)

The Departure Lounge Cafe

Advantages: Lovely rural location, easy to get to, great food and pleasant staff.
Disadvantages: Does not take credit or debit cards and no Stella!

...The Departure Lounge Café THE PLACE WITH THE PLANE **** WHERE IS IT? ******* Basingstoke Road Alton Hampshire GU34 4BH Tel: 01420 80111 Email: pastyfarley@hotmail.com No official website as far as I know yet. Open seven days a week from 10 till 4. Sunday 7.00am - 9.00am Takeaway for Car boot Sale only ***** WHAT IS IT? ***** I found this place completely by chance and how pleased I am to have bothered to stop in the car park. I only came down for the car boot sale and low and behold saw this gorgeous little eatery tucked away in the corner. This little known café has only been opened a year so everything inside is still relatively new and shiny. Situated inside the HILLSIDE NURSERIES car park, it is easy to pass this completely without realising what a little gem Alton has on offer for food...

mrsmopples 30.05.2007 · Read review
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Review of The Departure Lounge Cafe

Curry, but no lounging!

Advantages: Stylish
Disadvantages: We felt rushed, small portions of popadoms and naan

...I found myself in Nottingham at on New Years Eve 2007 and, at the suggestion of a chum who is a big Gordon Ramsay fan, we went to a restaurant that the foul-mouthed chef had worked his magic on in his 'Kitchen Nightmares' TV show - Curry Lounge. I must admit I was a little unsure whether I actually wanted to visit a place that was in enough of a mess that Ramsay had to sort it out, but I assumed that it would probably be fine after he'd finished with it. Besides, it was good enough to win second place in the curry of the year (for Nottingham, I think) beforehand, so it should be pretty good, I thought... THE LOCATION Curry lounge can be found at 110 Upper Parliament Street, 2 or 3 minutes walk from the tram stop in Nottingham town centre. It's worth looking up the location yourself online, or at least make sure that the friend...

baalzamon 12.02.2008 · Read review
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Review of Curry Lounge, Nottingham

Dorisol Mimosa Hotel, Funchal

Advantages: Comfortable, clean hotel with lots of facilities close to Funchal Lido
Disadvantages: A pull uphill to the door - but it is Madeira - everything is uphill!

...Bearing in mind the price of this hotel, we were agreeably surprised by the quality. The room was clean and of a reasonable size with a lovely sea view and overlooking the swimming pool. The staff were friendly, especially the chambermaids! The breakfast was good, with a good selection of food,although being self-service it was a bit of a scramble if you arrived at around 9am, when we all seem to want to eat our breakfasts! The only problem is that the hotel is a sharp pull up from the road (as is most of Madeira) although those with cars or using taxis will have no problem arriving at the door. The walk into Funchal is very manageable by us two 69 year olds but we are fitter than some and enjoy levada walking. The levada near the hotel has 150 steps up to it!...

Cebolas 03.03.2008 · Read review
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Review of Dorisol Mimosa, Funchal

Pestana Bay Hotel in Funchal, Madeira

Advantages: Informal, clean, decent food, right near the beach
Disadvantages: Hideously expensive bar and wines

...We stayed at the Pestana Bay "Aparthotel" four-star hotel in Funchal (the capital of Madeira) in August 2005 and I'm happy to recommend it to anyone reading this. It was clean, conveniently placed (i.e right near the beach and with a nearby bus stop for trips into town), not too formal or "stiff upper lip" and the breakfasts were pretty good. COSTS: We paid just over £500 each including flights, for a 2-week stay in August, which we thought was pretty good value given that it's not the cheapest of locations. This included buffet breakfast each morning. The bar is expensive and probably best avoided if you need to watch the euros- we paid something like 10 euros for a Southern Comfort and coke, and a small bottle of beer. There are plenty of bars in Funchal where you can get the same drinks for under four euros, so I would advise...

bagoproverbial 22.12.2006 · Read review
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Review of Pestana Bay Ocean Aparthotel, Funchal

Alicante Airport

Advantages: Good location, decent amenities
Disadvantages: Can't think of any

...I use Alicante airport for my annual break in Spain and find it is convenient and fairly easy to use. It is situated just outside Alicante on the Costa Blanca, around 46.5km from Benidorm. It is within driving distance of Valencia, around two hours and 179km. Arrivals You would probably fly to Alicante if you were staying in Benidorm, Torrevieja, Altea, Calpe, Moraira or Teulada. It is popular with budget airlines such as Easyjet and Bmibaby and there are flights from many regional airports in the UK such as East Midlands, Liverpool, Bristol, Newcastle and Stansted to name a few. There are around ten car hire companies who operate out of the airport including the big names like Avis, Europcar and Hertz, these desks are located in the arrivals hall and can get busy at peak times. There are also local car hire companies who...

tor0908 16.07.2009 · Read review
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Review of Alicante Airport

chicago airport

Advantages: Gets me from A to b efficiently
Disadvantages: It's an airport!

...Chicago airport. On a recent visit to san Diego, we had to have a stop in Chicago airport for a couple of hours...most of my travelling seems to be spent in airports! It was the busiest airport in the United States until Atlanta became the busiest and it was apparently voted best airport in North America in 2000...that's 8 years ago so i don't know which airport has been winning since then. The airport is 20 miles from downtown Chicago but since we weren't actaully going to Chicago we didn't actally leave the airport so I can't comment on the transport links. **The Terminals** Of course when stuck in an airport these are the places you see most often. There are 4 terminals and strangely enough these are Terminals 1, 2, 3 and Terminal 5 which is the International Terminal...whatever happened to number 4? All of the terminals are...

danielalong 23.10.2008 · Read review
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Review of Chicago Airport

Doha International Airport

Advantages: Clean, loads of seating areas, all flights were on time
Disadvantages: Could maybe have some more food lounges

...Arriving At Doha Airport When we arrived at Doha airport, we were taken by a shuttle bus to the main airport building. As you enter the airport, you will notice that there are two directions you can take which are well signposted. One path takes you to the main part of Doha airport and the second route takes you to any other connecting fights. Facilities There is a small food court in the departure lounge at Doha airport. Here you can choose from roll, sandwiches etc to the normal fast food such as burgers and chips. There is also a little shop which sells ice cream and drinks. The prices were very reasonable and no where near as expensive as we expected it to be. There was also a coffee shop. There are lots of toilet facilities including disabled toilets and mother and baby changing rooms. There are prayer rooms located in...

Jamie73 01.02.2008 · Read review
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Review of Doha International Airport