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A Week in the Keys JetBlue RIC-FLL-RIC

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  • A Week in the Keys JetBlue RIC-FLL-RIC

    A quick bit of background information before I start this review. I am an Eagle Scout from a Boy Scout troop in the county that I live in. Six scouts and two adult leaders from my troop decided to organize a trip to one of the BSA’s High Adventure camps in the Florida Keys called Sea Base. The Scouts run three of these High Adventure camps, one in Florida, one in Minnesota called Northern Tier which is based around a week long canoe trip in Boundary Waters Wilderness Area, and the most famous of which is in New Mexico called Philmont which is a two-week long backpacking and hiking trip. Our trip to the Florida National High Adventure camp comprised of me, three other Eagles, two Life Scouts, and two adult leaders, one of which had recently earned his Eagle rank and aged out from the troop.



    Date: July 5, 2009
    Flight: JetBlue Airways B6 1281
    Aircraft: Embraer 190-100IGW N265JB "Blue Streak"
    [photoid=6187512]
    Seat# 3D
    SDT: 11:40 EST
    ADT: 11:39 EST
    Departure Weather: Rainy, low-80s
    SAT: 13:36 EST
    AAT: 13:16 EST
    Arrival Weather: Sunny, high-80s
    FlightAware Tracking

    We began our journey to the Keys on a rainy morning by meeting at the local bank. We said our goodbyes to our parents and loaded up our cars and headed for Richmond Airport. We unloaded out luggage and the eight of us took over the ticket counter. We got all of our tickets sorted out and breezed through security. Minus the few bottles over 3.4 onces mark and a hat hook we came out in one piece. We grabbed a few bottles of soda for our lunch that we packed and soon realized that the theme of this trip was going to be getting ripped off by the high prices of everything in airports and Florida as well. We sat down at our gate and waited boarding to begin. After a few minutes of waiting, boarding began. It went much easier than I had thought it might because it seems that ticket agents have a soft spot for people in uniform because we were allowed to board first along with a few of the soldiers from our local National Guard unit. We grabbed our seats and prepared for the flight to Ft. Lauderdale. Everybody was fascinated by the personal TVs on every seatback and we were playing with them for the entire trip. The door closed a few minutes after everybody boarded and we began our journey. A quick taxi to runway 34 was followed by a rather bumpy takeoff and we were underway to FLL. As we were climbing out everyone’s attention quickly turned from their PTVs to trying to locate their house among all the fog out the right side of the plane. We broke through the cloud cover and climbed to our cruising altitude of 38000 feet. Once cruising we were served our complimentary snack and beverage and I grabbed a Doritos snack mix and a Sprite. The hour and half long flight was made to seem much shorter by Comedy Central’s standup weekend playing a few feet in front of me. Before we knew it we were beginning our descent into southern Florida. Our descent took us inland from the Atlantic over northern Ft. Lauderdale and back towards the ocean. One of my fellow scouts soon discovered that the housing in the Ft. Lauderdale/Miami area looks just like the intro to CSI: Miami. Coincidence? I think not. We made a beautiful landing on 9L and taxied to our gate. Since we were a few minutes early we had to wait for our gate to open since it was occupied by another B6 E190. After grabbing our luggage from the baggage claim area and picking up our rental van, we began our journey to the Keys.




    The summary of our week at camp will come if you want, I don't want to bore you to death. The second flight will come later this week along with some pictures if I can find any that the other guys took.

    Comments and questions are welcome as always.

    -Chris

  • #2
    nice report
    Airlines: XT,KL,SN,ACA,DL,AF,TV,SN,OS,LX,WA,NW,FI,US,AW,CO,OH,OO,9W,AA,AE,FL,B6

    Aircraft:AT4,B763,B734,A321,B743,FRJ,B763ER,B772,A343,B733,F70,MD80,AR8,A319,CRJ,F50,D10,D95,A333,B752,B762,ERD,B764,CR9,B77W,AB6,ATR,B717,E190

    Airports: ANR,AMS,ATL,BRU,ATH,JFK,LGA,GSP,CDG,FCO,EWR,FAO,VIE,ZRH,MEM,DTW,KEF,PHL,CLT,IAH,MIA,JAX

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    • #3
      Nice Report, jetBlue is a good airline!

      Nehal

      Comment


      • #4
        Thanks for the compliments guys. I should have the second half written before the weekend and pictures should be up by the end of next week.

        -Chris

        Comment


        • #5
          Date: July 12, 2009
          Flight: JetBlue Airways B6 1282
          Aircraft: Embraer 190-100IGW
          Seat# 4B
          SDT: 12:32 EST
          ADT: 12:50 EST
          Departure Weather: Sunny, high-80s
          SAT: 14:35 EST
          AAT: 14:45 EST
          Arrival Weather: Sunny, low-80s
          FlightAware Tracking

          After an amazing week of sailing, kayaking, tubing, snorkeling, fishing, and a trip to Key West we sadly left our dorms at the camp and began our trip back to the airport in Ft. Lauderdale. We stopped in Miami to clean out our rental van of all our trash, dirt, and sunflower seed shells before returning it to the rental company. We arrived at the airport a few hours before our plane was scheduled to depart. While returning the van some of us decided to take a celebratory trip down the up escalator and back up the down escalator as one last hoorah! in Florida. After saying our goodbyes to the hot and humid weather of Florida we hopped on an airport bus and headed for our check-in counter. Shortly after grabbing our tickets and breezing through security (this time everybody was smart enough to put their larger containers into the CHECKED luggage) we arrived at our gate and set our stuff down. Since we had to leave camp early and only ate a few snack bars for breakfast we were hungry and set off to look for something to eat. We soon discovered that airport prices are a rip-off to begin with but once you put the fact that they’re in Florida into the equation you are bound to break the bank just to get a quick lunch. Most of us went hungry and settled for the free snack mixes that we would get on the flight. Boarding began soon after those who had braved the high prices finished their lunches. We found our seats and took in our last few minutes that we would spend on Floridian ground. After a few luggage issues were resolved we began our taxi to 27R for takeoff. We gradually began rolling down the runway and rotated shortly after passing by the terminal. Everybody settled in for our two-hour flight back to our homeland of Virginia. We passed the time by watching Comedy Central and VH1. Of course any channel would have been just as good since everything is hilarious after a week of sleep deprivation. The ride got a little bumpy after passing over the coastline above North Carolina but after a week on a boat it was nothing at all. Descending into Richmond most of us had fallen asleep and were awakened only by our controlled collision back onto terra firma by the way of RIC’s runway 16. After regaining our senses we grabbed out luggage and waited to unload from our E190. Since I was the crew leader for the trip I had to make sure everybody’s luggage had arrived and they had a way to get home so I was the last one to leave. I finally got home around 3:30, took a shower, and got a good 15 hours of sleep that night.

          Hope you have enjoyed the review so far. Pictures might come later if I can get my hands on any. Not sure about the N-number for this flight, if anybody could get it for me that would be great.

          -Chris

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