docjames
Senior Member
- Joined
- Jul 10, 2007
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Ok, so i'm no prose expert, nor do I have time to do a drron or QF009 or skyring-style report. But i will give a brief rundown on our RTW over the last month. The purpose of the trip (apart from some time away from work) was to see friends in various locations. We were going to fly QF/OW whatever the final destination (within reasonable pricing reason) in the hope of upgrades. Our destinations to visit friends were London, Norwich, London again, Munich (Oktoberfest), Abu Dhabi and Singapore. I wanted to add Stuttgart if we were already doing Germany (Porsche and Mercedes Museums). Once we'd added these combos together, a RTW fare was going to be easiest (to be honest, probably not massively cheaper than if we'd mixed and matched individual flights, but it was just easier. And a bit of fun. So we added NYC and Hong Kong (as there's no OW flights from either AUH or DXB to SIN.
Final flights booked:
BNE-LAX-JFK, (QF15/107)
JFK-LHR, (BA178)
LHR-STR, (BA920)
MUC-LHR, (BA957)
LHR-AUH, (BA73)
DXB-HKG, (CX738)
HKG-SIN, (CX 711)
SIN-BNE (QF52)
All booked in Y (L) but upgrade requests were put in via a relative's CL membership at T-90. Thanks to good advice here at AFF mrsdoc was excited as we could have two bags each, which meant more shopping as we only left with one bag each. Having preselected seating (incl exit rows and all BA flights except 178) we were ready.
Checked the night before we left - UG had come through and we'd been allocated 11JK on QF15 and 23EF on QF107. QF15 was late leaving but we didnt care. The captain kept us informed, but i suspect the main reason was to meet the landing slot in LAX (we had quite a tailwind most of the way). All was excellent - travelling as J should be. A great way to start our holiday. We both slept reasonably ok, albeit not for that many hours overall, but rested enough. 11JK is of course the bassinet position, with TVs in the armrest so the seat felt slightly narrower, even though looking at the others it really isnt. Weird. Also, once we ran out of water in our water bottles, the crew had no more so I had the surreal experience of standing half asleep in the rear galley whilst the FA tried to refill from a big bottle whilst it was (mildly) turbulent. Most amusing. I think more went on the floor than in my water bottle. mrsdoc liked the small luggage containers beside the seat, so when she wanted something from the handbag, it was there beside her, and there was no mess on the floor!
Oh, i forgot to add - MunnitalP had kindly sent me some express immigration cards. Thanks for those (we ended up getting some due to the upgrade in the end) but the queue for immigration took ages. Due to the fact that there were two counters for "express" and about a million for everyone else, we got through about 30 seconds before the people who entered non-express just prior to us. All in all, they may as well not bother.
LAX - anticipating a long wait at immigration/customs (a la TBIT) we sped off the plane after the downstairs J. We managed to pass everyone else and were greeted by a deserted arrivals hall. We were straight though immigration (where the agent was smiling, polite and chatty - weird!). Bags were about thrid down the little chute and we were outta there. Quick walk around the corner and were were in TBIT. 10 minute queue for screening and we took the lift the the QC. Renovations going on so the entry is a bit of a mess on the ground floor to the lift. Directed straight into the lounge. All-in, 25 minutes from wheels hitting tarmac to bum hitting seat in QC. Very impresed.
What we werent impressed by was the QC/J lounge. Tiny, cramped, poor decor, uncomfortable seats. Food selection ok-ish but pretty basic. Lucky we were one of the first few from our flight as presumably the flights ex-SYD was already there. It got even more chockers once the MEL flight arrived and it was standing room only. Not impressed. And for the number of people, not enough toilets. Certainly, it would almost have been better to just walk around the terminal (it was probably less crowded!)
QF 107
Dpearted on time. Service was a bit sloppy on this flight. Most of the FAs we encountered were great, one was absolutely apalling. Took the jacket of the pax across the aisle, didnt take mine (another FA noted and took it for me). Didnt offer us a drink prior to take off (others had 2 glasses of champagne). Surly attitude - clearly she really didnt want to be on that flight. Almost so bad i would have put it in writing to QF but frankly, this happens so often now I couldnt be bothered. I certainly wasnt going to let it ruin our holiday. Something I ate on the previous flight had disagreed with me, so I spent most of the flight feeling nauseated and intermittantly running to the J loo. Not ideal, but settled as we got closer. A couple of the FAs spent quite some time sitting on the crew takeoff seats and noticed me looking a little green, and offered if there was anything they could do. Short of fitting a seatbelt in the loo, not really. Felt better as we arrive din NYC so not sure what all that was about!
NYC was awesome as always, stayed at Grand Hyatt. The issue I have with this hotel is the dark lobby, and the bathrooms are getting tired. Otherwise the executive floor is great (breakfast included and open for drinks / snacks (non-alcoholic although alcohol available for a charge). The tipping in the US always drives me nuts but as we were only there for two days it was a little easier to bear. Before some chime in, yes, i know minimum wage is rubbish, i just wish it was all priced in. But i'm sure that topic could rival the Amex thread with differing opinions. I must say, we had a corporate rate @ $225/nt so no complaints, although if I was paying nearer to RRP I'd be looking at other hotels. SPent pretty much all of the two days at the USOpen, say both mens semis, womens final (go Kim!) and then the mens final. An awesome two days of tennis.
Tuesday morning and off to JFK for the flight to LHR. We were seated in the mini-Y cabin immediately behind Y+ (747-400). The crew member looking after us was great, but certainly was very busy the whole flight. Only negative? The sandwich they served before arrival into LHR was still frozen (mine wasnt the only one, i'd say about 50%!) THe aircraft is starting to feel a bit old, and the pitch was hard to take having just been in J two days before! The breakfast immediately after takeoff however was excellent. Immigration at LHR was reasonable (my first time in T5 - what an amazing terminal!) and we were on the tube. Has anyone else noticed how it's really easy to find the entrance for the airport express train (to paddington) and not the tube? Funny that. Not. What also wasnt funny was the signal failure that made a one hour trip to Kings Cross take 2 hours. Grrr.
I wont bore you with details of our time in London or Norwich, except to comment - we took the train to Cambridge (where some friends picked us up). It all ran to time, but was a bit of a pain how they only tell you which platform the train is leaving from ten-fifteen minutes prior to departure. Picture us with bags, standing amongst a scrum of poeple who all charge to the far platform once the number comes up. Other than that, the train was great - fast, clean, perfectly to time. Excellent.
LHR-STR was a 2hr flight. The exit row on the A319 has heaps more room than the normal rows (unsurprisingly). It was amazing i could pre-select it, not sure how that happened but i certainly wasnt going to ring BA and tell them. Snack was rubbish, but they were happy to give two drinks at a time. We actually got to STR early, so our gate was not available and we had to bus in from a hard-stand. I hate catching the bus when you've just arrived (or are about to leave) somewhere. Grrr. Anyway, bags came through quickly, arrived at Avis counter to collect keys to the GOlf+sat nav i booked. At this point, told the golf is unavailable with sat-nav. Well, i had it booked, so give me a car WITH sat-nav. First rung up is A-class Mercedes (what a heap of junk can I say), but they want ot chage me extra. I start argueing that i have a booking and if they cant provide, it's up to them. No go. I begrudginly pay the extra EU12 it cost (for the entire rental - it's the principal of the matter, plus the fact I acually wanted to drive the new golf (we have an old one!). I also knwo that when I tried to book with Hertz (whom i usually use) the price was almost EU200 more expensive so i cop the EU12.
Porshce museum and Mercedes museum were awesome. THey, and the Holiday inn Express are covered here: http://www.frequentflyer.com.au/com...iews/holiday-inn-express-stuttgart-19736.html
Briefly, Oktoberfest could be a whole TR report in itself, but it was awesome (we went with a local to a local tent so that no doubt helped a lot). Oh, and the S-barn and U-barn in MUC are awesome.
We allowed heaps of time to get to T1 @ MUC for the 915pm flight to LHR, anticiapting that MUC (as we had been told) can be chaotic. When we got there, our flight was the only remaining departure and the place was deserted. We had 5 of us travelling, but only 2 paid members of QC so we attempted to get all of us into the BA lounge. No go. Door dragon says no. Manager is on ground floor if you want to go there and complain. Hoping to make her feel guility (thinking this is crazy, why cant the rules be bent a little - the palce is deserted!) we leave one of our party sitting on a seat at the front door and go in planning on scoffing some food, grabbing a couple of papers to read and then heading off to wander around the terminal. About a minute in, our mate walks in. Turns out the manager was nearby when we arrived so she had to strictly follow the rules. As soon as the manager left, she let our friend right in to join us. Thankyou, non-dragon lounge lady. THe lounge at T1 is pretty small (unsurprisingly), and the food selection wasnt great, but it was nice and quiet, plently of computer terminals and newspapers, and huge booze cabinet/fridges. The flight home was pretty much like the first, only a wet bar this time (evening flight whereas the earlier was a 3pm flight). Tube back from T5 after relatively quick baggage claim and immigration queue. Didnt take two hours this time!
After two days in london, back on the tube, more T5 action. New lounge is great (we had used it waiting for our flight to STR). We were invited ot go to the lounge in concourse B but we were uncertain if it would have the range of stuuf so we elected to wait in T5A lounge. When we eventually moved out, turns out it's exactly the same! Oh well.
Flight to AUH was good - smooth, had exit row so plenty of room. The 777 they run on this route doesnt have the seat map listed on ba.com. it;'s a 4 class aircraft with the smallest ecomony section on a plane that size i've ever seen! There's a thread lurking around where serfty interprets this for me when i was trying to seat select for those that can be bothered searching (I cant at the moment). Seems it runs on the middle-east routes where there's a high % demand for premium seats. The plane itself was quiet enough, but the seats were showing their age, and the IFE on loop is terrible. CX has the same and it's a total pain. At least i'll give it that it's an old fit out, and hopefully it'll get upgraded with time. The system on the 744 was better, but neither is anything like the system on QF (380/744/330).
Again, our short time in AUH and DXB could fill a whole report, so wont go into that, but suffice to say, amazing, weird, hot, insalely effective airconditioning in every building or sealbale object, and would love to go back in a few years and see what else has been built. But I really get the shudders every time i think of the environmental consequences of building things like ski slopes in a shopping mall where the external climate is 40deg++.
AUH airport is relatively small. Interestingly, the a/c was going on to Oman, and about half the pax stayed seated on the a/c (only a 1 hour turnaround). Again, despite pulling up at a gate, we climbed down the steps and onto a bus. Which promtly did about 350degree loop of the (round) terminal buliding and dropped us off within sight of the 777. Very surreal. Immigration and customs was quick and efficient (at this point i'm thinking - this really makes BNE look bad).
DXB on our departure. A taxi between central Abu Dhabi to DXB was 216dirhams (~$75) and is about 150km and took just over an hour. At this point i'm thinking of the last time i took a cab from Hawthorn to MEL and it was $85 and 55 minutes. Hmm. As we had a day to spend in DXB, we left our bags at the left luggage counter in T1 (cost: 10dirhams/bag ~ $3 each). We decided to use the new rail that has been built - fast, efficient, airconditioned. Very much like the one in HK or SIN. Only it'[s only about half finished so only half the stations are open. Whioch meant a shuttle from T1 to T3 and then the reverse on our return. By the time we did that, hauled the bags around, checked in and then took the tunnel under the tarmac into the passenger terminal, we felt like we'd done about 10 laps of the airport. We had the slightly unsettling experience of handing over the passports to the immigration agent, who looks at them for a while, bats at the computer, and hands them back due to "system failure". We were the only ones in the entire hall that this happened to. We gent sent over to the office mentally preparing for full interrogation. After much bashing at the computer there, we are sent back through. No idea what the problem was, in all likelihood, it was a computer issue, perhaps de to our arrival into AUH and departure from DXB. Surely was cant be the only pax to do this, but perhaps the agent at AUH hadnt entered something as it should have been (or the systems dont like tlaking to each other).
At this point we were tired, hot and sweaty. As we were travelling on CX, no lounge access, so we investigated the airport hotel. A necessity as based on the flight schedules we could see, DXB is at it's busiest from 8pm to about 5am. Rooms were like $200 for 4 hours, so we ended up just using the showers (about $14 each but clean, of 4* hotel standard with plenty of toiletries etc). Best $14 we spent.
CX flight was ok - I really dont like the reduction in power post the main takeoff when over populated areas. On a quiet aircraft like the A330, it's really disconcerting. And I know what's going on. Ugh. The new shell seats with the slide forward bases are terrible, i couldnt get comfortable at all (6'4"). The IFE was on loop and was took tired to watch that. Ended up with about 2hr sleep on the 8hr flight. The pax across from me coughing up a lung every 3 minutes didnt help. The snack prior to arrival was a virtually inedible cheese and lettuce roll. Neither of us ate it, knowing we were landing in HK and would soon be stuffed with Dim Sum. Crew were quite polite, efficient. Male FA was very helpful when I asked for landing cards and health questionnaires (although they should have given them out but they managed to go down one side of the cabin and forget the other!)
HK was awesome. mrsdoc had never been and it's been 15 years since i'd been there (as a teenager) so was great to get just a two day taste. We'll definitely be back as soon as possible. Highlights of the Peak, Dim Sum, bar in Soho, Night market. Lowlight definitely the pollution hanging over it on our day of arrival and departure (at least it was clear when we went up the peak). As a doc, it was interesting to see the swine-flu response. Every public area had masses of dispensers for antiseptic hand gel, as well as cough and spit ettiquette posters. Singapore was similar but not to the same extent. I think it was an excellent public health effort.
Hotel review here. http://www.frequentflyer.com.au/com...ntinental-grand-stamford-hong-kong-19738.html
"New" HK airport was good (I hadnt been there, only to Kai Tak!) We had time to stop and have more Dim Sum at the restaurant overlooking the checkin area. Plenty of duty free. By this point we were realising that the prices everywhere are virtually identical. It takes a discerning shopper to pick the bargains. mrsdoc qualifies for this. We were up to our third bag by this stage. Fortunately it never became 4.
Flight was late departing, again the loop entertainment on the 777 was annoying. They had the older style (non hard shell) seats which were much better. Arrival in SIN was easy although long taxi to the gate. Took the mini-bus to the hotel - SG$9 each - a taxi back cost us SG$16, although as we werent arriving to late it was kind-of like a free tour of the city by the time we were dropped off at the Holiday Inn Atrium! Review here: http://www.frequentflyer.com.au/com...views/holiday-inn-atrium-singapore-19737.html
After a relatively relaxing time in SIN, we headed out to changi to checkin. As it was saturday evening, and we had the overnight flight home and commitments sunday, plus I had work monday, with mrsdoc flying off interstate for work early monday am, we were dreading this flight a little. It was made much easier when we were handed boarding passes - 1A and 1B. Again on points. Well worth it. Can I say, SIN has really gone down hill fromthe last time i transited there. The shops are nowhere near up to the standard of any airport on this trip (including BNE and AUH). mrsdoc was annoyed as the handbag she wanted to buy, which was in every city and airport so far, which I suggested she buy in SIN so we werent carting around, wasnt available. Guess who copped it for that one.
J /QC lounge was very busy, and food was hopeless. Getting used to it now. Didquieten down as we got closer to flight time (2125). Will need to get emerald or fly F to get decent lounge food. Also, showers were in hot demand, so I went immediately upon arrival at lounge and got one straight away, mrsdoc went later and had to wait about 30 mins. Flight was confortable, crew were bright, enthusiastic, CSM introduced himself personally and then introduced the J cabin manager. It's always nice when they do this. It happened on QF15 too (and when we deplaned the CSM remembered some of our discussion - very impressive). We were a little late leaving do to a "door showing not closed", but made up time and only landing 5 mins after arrival. Quite happy with the flight, although it's a bit of a tough one - leave 930/10pm, dinner after take off, by the time that's over and you wind down, you get about three hours sleep and they're starting to wake you up for breakfast. Next time, i'll probably skip breakfast or just have a coffee about five minutes out from descent.
BNE arrivals was a shambles. Again the fast track card from MunnitalP (and J class - I'll have to get those back to you Mr! or else on-gift them) but the condition you cant use them for customs unless you have nothing to declare. Express immigration (which you can use) took the sameamount of time as non-express again, and was the slowest of our entire trip. Second slowest? Departing Australia at BNE. Felt really disappointed to have travelled all the way around the world to find us the worst. Sadly, we had a chopstick set, and rather than risk the fine, we got in the non-express queue. Now, previously, we've declared stuff like chocolate or lollies, or other things like chopsticks, and whilst you're in the queue (or waiting for bags), a customs agent walks up and down checking what it is you're declaring and deciding if you really need to go red (or in this case, everyone goes red until you reach the front of the queue). We go past 4 agents, and then to the desk. When we tell the agent, he says "is that it?" and waves us onward without looking at the wood. There's the best part of 15mins. Quite irritating, but of course, if we hadnt declared, and they'd decided to look, we risk a (large) fine. Not worth it. But there has to be a better system of filtering red vs green.
Well, that ended up longer than i thought. A few final thoughts.
1. Upgrades are SO worth it for long haul.
2. A series of 6-8 hour flights (in any cabin) is a lot easier than the 6+14 to either LHR or JFK. It was kind-of nice to "hop" our way back, slowly adjusting to smaller timezone shifts, rather than one big jump.
3. I no longer consider SIN a good airport.
4. Most (non-F) airport lounges are getting pretty crummy food and amenities wise. Some are worse than domestic QPs.
5. LAX T4 was a breeze. Awesome.
6. CX hard shell seats are terrible. I will be avoiding them where possible.
7. BA was pretty good and I was happy we chose them JFK-LHR (vs AA whom last time we flew ona 763 were awful. Might be different on the 777 of course).
8. Everyone except Australia and London (tube) can run a clean, efficient train network. Seriously, our train networks here are rubbish.
9. We didnt see any grafitti in our entire trip (until we got back to australia where we saw some in the airport). This scourge on our capital cities needs to have tougher penalties applied.
10. It'll be really interesting to see what DUbai and Abu Dhabi are like in 10-20 years. Of course, by then, the polar ice caps will have melted.....
Happy to take questions (sounds like i'm giving a lecture) - no, let me know if there's more info you want on any of the airports/lounges/cities i've visited.
Happy travels.
Final flights booked:
BNE-LAX-JFK, (QF15/107)
JFK-LHR, (BA178)
LHR-STR, (BA920)
MUC-LHR, (BA957)
LHR-AUH, (BA73)
DXB-HKG, (CX738)
HKG-SIN, (CX 711)
SIN-BNE (QF52)
All booked in Y (L) but upgrade requests were put in via a relative's CL membership at T-90. Thanks to good advice here at AFF mrsdoc was excited as we could have two bags each, which meant more shopping as we only left with one bag each. Having preselected seating (incl exit rows and all BA flights except 178) we were ready.
Checked the night before we left - UG had come through and we'd been allocated 11JK on QF15 and 23EF on QF107. QF15 was late leaving but we didnt care. The captain kept us informed, but i suspect the main reason was to meet the landing slot in LAX (we had quite a tailwind most of the way). All was excellent - travelling as J should be. A great way to start our holiday. We both slept reasonably ok, albeit not for that many hours overall, but rested enough. 11JK is of course the bassinet position, with TVs in the armrest so the seat felt slightly narrower, even though looking at the others it really isnt. Weird. Also, once we ran out of water in our water bottles, the crew had no more so I had the surreal experience of standing half asleep in the rear galley whilst the FA tried to refill from a big bottle whilst it was (mildly) turbulent. Most amusing. I think more went on the floor than in my water bottle. mrsdoc liked the small luggage containers beside the seat, so when she wanted something from the handbag, it was there beside her, and there was no mess on the floor!
Oh, i forgot to add - MunnitalP had kindly sent me some express immigration cards. Thanks for those (we ended up getting some due to the upgrade in the end) but the queue for immigration took ages. Due to the fact that there were two counters for "express" and about a million for everyone else, we got through about 30 seconds before the people who entered non-express just prior to us. All in all, they may as well not bother.
LAX - anticipating a long wait at immigration/customs (a la TBIT) we sped off the plane after the downstairs J. We managed to pass everyone else and were greeted by a deserted arrivals hall. We were straight though immigration (where the agent was smiling, polite and chatty - weird!). Bags were about thrid down the little chute and we were outta there. Quick walk around the corner and were were in TBIT. 10 minute queue for screening and we took the lift the the QC. Renovations going on so the entry is a bit of a mess on the ground floor to the lift. Directed straight into the lounge. All-in, 25 minutes from wheels hitting tarmac to bum hitting seat in QC. Very impresed.
What we werent impressed by was the QC/J lounge. Tiny, cramped, poor decor, uncomfortable seats. Food selection ok-ish but pretty basic. Lucky we were one of the first few from our flight as presumably the flights ex-SYD was already there. It got even more chockers once the MEL flight arrived and it was standing room only. Not impressed. And for the number of people, not enough toilets. Certainly, it would almost have been better to just walk around the terminal (it was probably less crowded!)
QF 107
Dpearted on time. Service was a bit sloppy on this flight. Most of the FAs we encountered were great, one was absolutely apalling. Took the jacket of the pax across the aisle, didnt take mine (another FA noted and took it for me). Didnt offer us a drink prior to take off (others had 2 glasses of champagne). Surly attitude - clearly she really didnt want to be on that flight. Almost so bad i would have put it in writing to QF but frankly, this happens so often now I couldnt be bothered. I certainly wasnt going to let it ruin our holiday. Something I ate on the previous flight had disagreed with me, so I spent most of the flight feeling nauseated and intermittantly running to the J loo. Not ideal, but settled as we got closer. A couple of the FAs spent quite some time sitting on the crew takeoff seats and noticed me looking a little green, and offered if there was anything they could do. Short of fitting a seatbelt in the loo, not really. Felt better as we arrive din NYC so not sure what all that was about!
NYC was awesome as always, stayed at Grand Hyatt. The issue I have with this hotel is the dark lobby, and the bathrooms are getting tired. Otherwise the executive floor is great (breakfast included and open for drinks / snacks (non-alcoholic although alcohol available for a charge). The tipping in the US always drives me nuts but as we were only there for two days it was a little easier to bear. Before some chime in, yes, i know minimum wage is rubbish, i just wish it was all priced in. But i'm sure that topic could rival the Amex thread with differing opinions. I must say, we had a corporate rate @ $225/nt so no complaints, although if I was paying nearer to RRP I'd be looking at other hotels. SPent pretty much all of the two days at the USOpen, say both mens semis, womens final (go Kim!) and then the mens final. An awesome two days of tennis.
Tuesday morning and off to JFK for the flight to LHR. We were seated in the mini-Y cabin immediately behind Y+ (747-400). The crew member looking after us was great, but certainly was very busy the whole flight. Only negative? The sandwich they served before arrival into LHR was still frozen (mine wasnt the only one, i'd say about 50%!) THe aircraft is starting to feel a bit old, and the pitch was hard to take having just been in J two days before! The breakfast immediately after takeoff however was excellent. Immigration at LHR was reasonable (my first time in T5 - what an amazing terminal!) and we were on the tube. Has anyone else noticed how it's really easy to find the entrance for the airport express train (to paddington) and not the tube? Funny that. Not. What also wasnt funny was the signal failure that made a one hour trip to Kings Cross take 2 hours. Grrr.
I wont bore you with details of our time in London or Norwich, except to comment - we took the train to Cambridge (where some friends picked us up). It all ran to time, but was a bit of a pain how they only tell you which platform the train is leaving from ten-fifteen minutes prior to departure. Picture us with bags, standing amongst a scrum of poeple who all charge to the far platform once the number comes up. Other than that, the train was great - fast, clean, perfectly to time. Excellent.
LHR-STR was a 2hr flight. The exit row on the A319 has heaps more room than the normal rows (unsurprisingly). It was amazing i could pre-select it, not sure how that happened but i certainly wasnt going to ring BA and tell them. Snack was rubbish, but they were happy to give two drinks at a time. We actually got to STR early, so our gate was not available and we had to bus in from a hard-stand. I hate catching the bus when you've just arrived (or are about to leave) somewhere. Grrr. Anyway, bags came through quickly, arrived at Avis counter to collect keys to the GOlf+sat nav i booked. At this point, told the golf is unavailable with sat-nav. Well, i had it booked, so give me a car WITH sat-nav. First rung up is A-class Mercedes (what a heap of junk can I say), but they want ot chage me extra. I start argueing that i have a booking and if they cant provide, it's up to them. No go. I begrudginly pay the extra EU12 it cost (for the entire rental - it's the principal of the matter, plus the fact I acually wanted to drive the new golf (we have an old one!). I also knwo that when I tried to book with Hertz (whom i usually use) the price was almost EU200 more expensive so i cop the EU12.
Porshce museum and Mercedes museum were awesome. THey, and the Holiday inn Express are covered here: http://www.frequentflyer.com.au/com...iews/holiday-inn-express-stuttgart-19736.html
Briefly, Oktoberfest could be a whole TR report in itself, but it was awesome (we went with a local to a local tent so that no doubt helped a lot). Oh, and the S-barn and U-barn in MUC are awesome.
We allowed heaps of time to get to T1 @ MUC for the 915pm flight to LHR, anticiapting that MUC (as we had been told) can be chaotic. When we got there, our flight was the only remaining departure and the place was deserted. We had 5 of us travelling, but only 2 paid members of QC so we attempted to get all of us into the BA lounge. No go. Door dragon says no. Manager is on ground floor if you want to go there and complain. Hoping to make her feel guility (thinking this is crazy, why cant the rules be bent a little - the palce is deserted!) we leave one of our party sitting on a seat at the front door and go in planning on scoffing some food, grabbing a couple of papers to read and then heading off to wander around the terminal. About a minute in, our mate walks in. Turns out the manager was nearby when we arrived so she had to strictly follow the rules. As soon as the manager left, she let our friend right in to join us. Thankyou, non-dragon lounge lady. THe lounge at T1 is pretty small (unsurprisingly), and the food selection wasnt great, but it was nice and quiet, plently of computer terminals and newspapers, and huge booze cabinet/fridges. The flight home was pretty much like the first, only a wet bar this time (evening flight whereas the earlier was a 3pm flight). Tube back from T5 after relatively quick baggage claim and immigration queue. Didnt take two hours this time!
After two days in london, back on the tube, more T5 action. New lounge is great (we had used it waiting for our flight to STR). We were invited ot go to the lounge in concourse B but we were uncertain if it would have the range of stuuf so we elected to wait in T5A lounge. When we eventually moved out, turns out it's exactly the same! Oh well.
Flight to AUH was good - smooth, had exit row so plenty of room. The 777 they run on this route doesnt have the seat map listed on ba.com. it;'s a 4 class aircraft with the smallest ecomony section on a plane that size i've ever seen! There's a thread lurking around where serfty interprets this for me when i was trying to seat select for those that can be bothered searching (I cant at the moment). Seems it runs on the middle-east routes where there's a high % demand for premium seats. The plane itself was quiet enough, but the seats were showing their age, and the IFE on loop is terrible. CX has the same and it's a total pain. At least i'll give it that it's an old fit out, and hopefully it'll get upgraded with time. The system on the 744 was better, but neither is anything like the system on QF (380/744/330).
Again, our short time in AUH and DXB could fill a whole report, so wont go into that, but suffice to say, amazing, weird, hot, insalely effective airconditioning in every building or sealbale object, and would love to go back in a few years and see what else has been built. But I really get the shudders every time i think of the environmental consequences of building things like ski slopes in a shopping mall where the external climate is 40deg++.
AUH airport is relatively small. Interestingly, the a/c was going on to Oman, and about half the pax stayed seated on the a/c (only a 1 hour turnaround). Again, despite pulling up at a gate, we climbed down the steps and onto a bus. Which promtly did about 350degree loop of the (round) terminal buliding and dropped us off within sight of the 777. Very surreal. Immigration and customs was quick and efficient (at this point i'm thinking - this really makes BNE look bad).
DXB on our departure. A taxi between central Abu Dhabi to DXB was 216dirhams (~$75) and is about 150km and took just over an hour. At this point i'm thinking of the last time i took a cab from Hawthorn to MEL and it was $85 and 55 minutes. Hmm. As we had a day to spend in DXB, we left our bags at the left luggage counter in T1 (cost: 10dirhams/bag ~ $3 each). We decided to use the new rail that has been built - fast, efficient, airconditioned. Very much like the one in HK or SIN. Only it'[s only about half finished so only half the stations are open. Whioch meant a shuttle from T1 to T3 and then the reverse on our return. By the time we did that, hauled the bags around, checked in and then took the tunnel under the tarmac into the passenger terminal, we felt like we'd done about 10 laps of the airport. We had the slightly unsettling experience of handing over the passports to the immigration agent, who looks at them for a while, bats at the computer, and hands them back due to "system failure". We were the only ones in the entire hall that this happened to. We gent sent over to the office mentally preparing for full interrogation. After much bashing at the computer there, we are sent back through. No idea what the problem was, in all likelihood, it was a computer issue, perhaps de to our arrival into AUH and departure from DXB. Surely was cant be the only pax to do this, but perhaps the agent at AUH hadnt entered something as it should have been (or the systems dont like tlaking to each other).
At this point we were tired, hot and sweaty. As we were travelling on CX, no lounge access, so we investigated the airport hotel. A necessity as based on the flight schedules we could see, DXB is at it's busiest from 8pm to about 5am. Rooms were like $200 for 4 hours, so we ended up just using the showers (about $14 each but clean, of 4* hotel standard with plenty of toiletries etc). Best $14 we spent.
CX flight was ok - I really dont like the reduction in power post the main takeoff when over populated areas. On a quiet aircraft like the A330, it's really disconcerting. And I know what's going on. Ugh. The new shell seats with the slide forward bases are terrible, i couldnt get comfortable at all (6'4"). The IFE was on loop and was took tired to watch that. Ended up with about 2hr sleep on the 8hr flight. The pax across from me coughing up a lung every 3 minutes didnt help. The snack prior to arrival was a virtually inedible cheese and lettuce roll. Neither of us ate it, knowing we were landing in HK and would soon be stuffed with Dim Sum. Crew were quite polite, efficient. Male FA was very helpful when I asked for landing cards and health questionnaires (although they should have given them out but they managed to go down one side of the cabin and forget the other!)
HK was awesome. mrsdoc had never been and it's been 15 years since i'd been there (as a teenager) so was great to get just a two day taste. We'll definitely be back as soon as possible. Highlights of the Peak, Dim Sum, bar in Soho, Night market. Lowlight definitely the pollution hanging over it on our day of arrival and departure (at least it was clear when we went up the peak). As a doc, it was interesting to see the swine-flu response. Every public area had masses of dispensers for antiseptic hand gel, as well as cough and spit ettiquette posters. Singapore was similar but not to the same extent. I think it was an excellent public health effort.
Hotel review here. http://www.frequentflyer.com.au/com...ntinental-grand-stamford-hong-kong-19738.html
"New" HK airport was good (I hadnt been there, only to Kai Tak!) We had time to stop and have more Dim Sum at the restaurant overlooking the checkin area. Plenty of duty free. By this point we were realising that the prices everywhere are virtually identical. It takes a discerning shopper to pick the bargains. mrsdoc qualifies for this. We were up to our third bag by this stage. Fortunately it never became 4.
Flight was late departing, again the loop entertainment on the 777 was annoying. They had the older style (non hard shell) seats which were much better. Arrival in SIN was easy although long taxi to the gate. Took the mini-bus to the hotel - SG$9 each - a taxi back cost us SG$16, although as we werent arriving to late it was kind-of like a free tour of the city by the time we were dropped off at the Holiday Inn Atrium! Review here: http://www.frequentflyer.com.au/com...views/holiday-inn-atrium-singapore-19737.html
After a relatively relaxing time in SIN, we headed out to changi to checkin. As it was saturday evening, and we had the overnight flight home and commitments sunday, plus I had work monday, with mrsdoc flying off interstate for work early monday am, we were dreading this flight a little. It was made much easier when we were handed boarding passes - 1A and 1B. Again on points. Well worth it. Can I say, SIN has really gone down hill fromthe last time i transited there. The shops are nowhere near up to the standard of any airport on this trip (including BNE and AUH). mrsdoc was annoyed as the handbag she wanted to buy, which was in every city and airport so far, which I suggested she buy in SIN so we werent carting around, wasnt available. Guess who copped it for that one.
J /QC lounge was very busy, and food was hopeless. Getting used to it now. Didquieten down as we got closer to flight time (2125). Will need to get emerald or fly F to get decent lounge food. Also, showers were in hot demand, so I went immediately upon arrival at lounge and got one straight away, mrsdoc went later and had to wait about 30 mins. Flight was confortable, crew were bright, enthusiastic, CSM introduced himself personally and then introduced the J cabin manager. It's always nice when they do this. It happened on QF15 too (and when we deplaned the CSM remembered some of our discussion - very impressive). We were a little late leaving do to a "door showing not closed", but made up time and only landing 5 mins after arrival. Quite happy with the flight, although it's a bit of a tough one - leave 930/10pm, dinner after take off, by the time that's over and you wind down, you get about three hours sleep and they're starting to wake you up for breakfast. Next time, i'll probably skip breakfast or just have a coffee about five minutes out from descent.
BNE arrivals was a shambles. Again the fast track card from MunnitalP (and J class - I'll have to get those back to you Mr! or else on-gift them) but the condition you cant use them for customs unless you have nothing to declare. Express immigration (which you can use) took the sameamount of time as non-express again, and was the slowest of our entire trip. Second slowest? Departing Australia at BNE. Felt really disappointed to have travelled all the way around the world to find us the worst. Sadly, we had a chopstick set, and rather than risk the fine, we got in the non-express queue. Now, previously, we've declared stuff like chocolate or lollies, or other things like chopsticks, and whilst you're in the queue (or waiting for bags), a customs agent walks up and down checking what it is you're declaring and deciding if you really need to go red (or in this case, everyone goes red until you reach the front of the queue). We go past 4 agents, and then to the desk. When we tell the agent, he says "is that it?" and waves us onward without looking at the wood. There's the best part of 15mins. Quite irritating, but of course, if we hadnt declared, and they'd decided to look, we risk a (large) fine. Not worth it. But there has to be a better system of filtering red vs green.
Well, that ended up longer than i thought. A few final thoughts.
1. Upgrades are SO worth it for long haul.
2. A series of 6-8 hour flights (in any cabin) is a lot easier than the 6+14 to either LHR or JFK. It was kind-of nice to "hop" our way back, slowly adjusting to smaller timezone shifts, rather than one big jump.
3. I no longer consider SIN a good airport.
4. Most (non-F) airport lounges are getting pretty crummy food and amenities wise. Some are worse than domestic QPs.
5. LAX T4 was a breeze. Awesome.
6. CX hard shell seats are terrible. I will be avoiding them where possible.
7. BA was pretty good and I was happy we chose them JFK-LHR (vs AA whom last time we flew ona 763 were awful. Might be different on the 777 of course).
8. Everyone except Australia and London (tube) can run a clean, efficient train network. Seriously, our train networks here are rubbish.
9. We didnt see any grafitti in our entire trip (until we got back to australia where we saw some in the airport). This scourge on our capital cities needs to have tougher penalties applied.
10. It'll be really interesting to see what DUbai and Abu Dhabi are like in 10-20 years. Of course, by then, the polar ice caps will have melted.....
Happy to take questions (sounds like i'm giving a lecture) - no, let me know if there's more info you want on any of the airports/lounges/cities i've visited.
Happy travels.
