Graduation and first anniversary present!

[NDiddy]

Woke up the next morning to a wonderful breakfast put on by PP. A tip for those staying here - make sure you arrive for breakfast at least an hour before it completes. There is limited space in the main breakfast area so they send you to some other place which people weren't too happy with.

A shower, a quick check out and it was off to BKK for our ride down to HKT.

Check in

Very quick - Got notified that there was a change in equipment. We were supposed to be on a 747 (2 classes only) but got switched to the regional A330-300. The 2 PNR's that we had were not linked to the Mr's and I were in different seats. However that was quickly resolved and it was off to the Domestic J lounge:



As you can imagine the lounge was completely chockers, with everyone either on a HKT or USM flight departing at roughly the same time. Warmly greeted at the front desk and was politely told that there would be no boarding announcements and to keep an eye on the time.

Seating area:





Seats were comfy, wifi was good and there is a "garden room" which is out the back for more space but not too many people were in there. Food was very basic but edible, drink selection was all non-alcoholic so no getting lubed up before the flight. Still it's a nice lounge with good staff however anything more than 1.5 hours in here would be a struggle.

 

[NDiddy]

Flight Details

TG215 BKK - HKT
Aircraft: A330-300

Scheduled Departure: 14:30
Actual Departuew: 14:40

Scheduled arrival: 15:40
Actual arrival: 15:50

Seats 22A/B

Older style J seats which were actually very comfortable. A full J cabin and a reasonable full Y class as well. Looks like this flight is the flight of choice for the morning arrivals from EU.

 

[NDiddy]

No individual IFE's and the main screen + the drop downs were not in use apart from the safety demonstration. Flight time was approximately 1 hour and there was only time to serve a quick drink and a light lunch.

Orange Juice:



Fish with salad and a coconut rice pudding:



I don't mind these older J style cabins for short haul flights. Cabin crew were very attentive and the service was still quite exceptional. Bags were tagged as priority and cam through pretty quickly once we arrived in the terminal and we headed off for a 3 night stay in Kata at the Metadee resort.

Had a wonderful time in Kata doing SFA and spent one day catching up with our friends (the wedding we went to the night before our trip) which was terrific. We took a trip to their hotel which was the Westin Siray Bay - really lovely spot (albeit isolated). Well worth looking into for those wanting peace and quiet away from the regular places.

In Split at the moment and about to head off to see Diocletions Palace so I'll post more when we're back at the apartment tonight. Till next time

 

[NDiddy]

A lovely 3 days soaking up the sun, meeting up with friends, enjoying good food and too much beer resulted in us having another OMG o'clock start. What a morning this was going to turn out to be (as my previous post alluded too). Alarm set for 3.30am with a 4.30am checkout scheduled. The room was prepaid which included free use of the minibar and snacks so check out was very quick.

We chose to get the hotel car to take us to the airport and ended up in a limo van which was very nice indeed. The hotel packed us a takeaway breakfast which we nibbled on during the 50 minute journey to the airport. The airport was surprisingly busy but it was to be expected with most holiday makers having onward connections to their own cities from BKK.

So we arrive at the Thai J class check-in and it was apparent pretty quickly that something was up. 10 minutes of typing away on a comp and talking to his supervisor, the gentleman informed us of the issue with the Air Berlin flight. He was not very clear on the details and "seemed" to indicate that only smaller aircraft could take off due to an issue with the runway. Anywho he advised us that he would try and get us on a Bangkok Airways flight which was leaving at 7:00am (25 mins before our Thai scheduled departure). I was happy with that as it turned out that the Thai flight was going to be delayed till 10:00am.

It took almost an hour to sort us out with Bangkok Airways and there was just enough time to grab our BP's, clear security and board the plane. While in the line I noticed that a number of pax had BP's that showed yesterday's date and a departure of 21:55. Quickly jumping onto the free wifi, it turned out that this flight (along with others) had been stranded due to the Air Berlin incident. For those who missed markis10 link here is the article I read: Air Berlin emergency landing closes coughet airport for six hours - The Nation

I was a little disappointed as I was looking forward to flying the A300 (never flown it before) and it's due for decommissioning by the middle of this year. So my next report will be on PG280 HKT - BKK

 

[NDiddy]

Flight Details

PG280 HKT - BKK

Scheduled departure 21:55 20th December
Actual departure 07:10 21st December

Seats: 12B/C

Check In

We were allowed to wait to one side until they sorted the Thai transfer passengers and once they had us in the system we skipped the massive queue and went to the front of the line. I advised them of our connection in BKK to CDG and asked if they could check the bags through to CDG. They said they could and even had the baggage tags with the correctly marked TG932 flight to CDG. Something didn't sit right with me and I've shouldn't have bothered but didn't say anything else. We got our BP's at 06:20 so just enough time to clear security and make our way to the gate.

Seats

No J cabin on this flight but we were kindly seated in the second emergency exit row (the first being completely empty). The seats were just fine and the leg room more than enough for the 1 hour flight to BKK.







Meal

Breakfast was surprisingly tasty with an omelette, chicken in croissant (is this even a thing?), fruit and a blueberry yoghurt.



Flight was pretty good, all things considered and I think the crew did a really great job of keeping the service levels up given the no. of pax who slummed it for 10+ hours in coughet airport.

So we got of the plane and as we were about to pass the carousel I said to the Mr's that I wouldn't mind double checking that our bags didn't suddenly appear on the conveyor belt. We had some time up our sleeves and although this was eating into precious lounge and spa time there was something niggling me about this. Lo' and behold the first 2 bags of the belt are OURS. WTH? It would have been a very cold night in Paris had these bags not come through with us. Trusting my gut paid off and in more ways than one.

I was lamenting the fact that we would not be able to use the Royal First Check In in BKK (There's a great youtube clip on it) given that we would be transit pax's and now with bags we made our way to the international departures for the flight I was most looking forward too...

 

[NDiddy]

Flight Details

TG932 BKK - CGD

Scheduled deparure 12:40
Actual departure 13:10

Scheduled arrival: 19:20
Actual arrival: 19:15

Seats 1D/G

Check In
For those who are not aware, Thai have dedicated check-in counters in Row A of the International departures section (ala SQ in SIN). Obviously a much better choice than the standard carpet treatment at the specific flight row. Pics first:











What a great check-in experience. As soon as you even look remotely close to entering the Royal First area, one of the baggage boys dressed in a very dapper vest comes rushing to you to take your bags and greeting you like a long lost friend.

The check-in area has about 4 industrial size air-con units fixed to the floor and keeps the whole area very cool indeed. Once you sit down you are brought a bottle of water and some cold scented towels just prior to once of the check-in ladies retrieving your passports. And that's it. Nothing else to do but just relax and enjoy the treatment. We had a lovely conversation with the lady when she handed our BP's back about the coughet incident. After thanking her we were lead to the exclusive F/J security screening area before heading down the escalators to the J class lounge where our Thai buggy awaited to take us to the F lounge.

 

[Sprucegoose]

Hey love the details here, well done.

You had good winds to Paris I see.

 

[NDiddy]

The buggy whisked us away past the stares of many a J pax and we finally arrived at the F lounge (I stupidly forgot to take a photo of the entrance). Now I've never been to an F lounge and can only admire the photo's I've seen of the QF F lounge on here but I thought this place was pretty freakin amazing. When we entered we got shown to our little suite:



where more cold scented towels and juice were served:



and when I say little suite (it was bigger than the Ibis Hotel we stayed at in Paris). Check out the TV and comp screen sizes:



Since we had an early start and I was keen to get the spa treatment going we just ordered some lovely coffee to start proceedings:

 

[NDiddy]

Hey love the details here, well done.

You had good winds to Paris I see.

Thanks mate - Glad you're enjoying it. Interesting thing about the winds - for most of the journey we were actually faced with a head wind so no idea how the pilot made up the time. I wasn't too fussed though and could have stayed longer on the plane

 

[NDiddy]

Our booking for the spa was very easy and we asked them to give us 15 minutes to finish the coffee and we booked ourselves the full body oil massage. I didn't take any photo's of the spa rooms but believe me when I say you won't be disappointed. But first no Thai spa experience can start without.....

more scented cold towels and some herbal juice thing:



5 minutes later and the Mrs and I were split up into separate suites for our massages. The room is very expansive with a great bathroom and shower attached. I was asked if I wanted a quick shower and willingly obliged. Word of warning, the underwear that they provide leaves very very little to the imagination. Think of it as fishnet underwear and that should set the scene. Still I seemed to be the only one who had any issue whatsoever and that dissipated as soon as the massage started.

Like all really good massages, this one was over way too quickly. The lady was very good and the music they play in the suite is actually quite soothing. When you lie face down on the massage bed you actually stare into a bowl of scented jasmine (although at this point everything was smelling like scented cold towels to me). As I had the oil massage (of which you can choose from 3 but don't ask me what they were, I went with number 1) I was only too happy to have another shower with l'occitane ammenities.

After the shower you're invited to sit in a waiting room area where they will serve you a myriad of food and drinks but we were keen to head back to the F lounge.

 

[NDiddy]

Back in the F lounge and we chillaxed a bit in the suite but decided to move the one of the seating areas to appreciate the whole lounge a bit more. Before I get into the remainder of the lounge fun here are some photo's of the massive seating area near the bathrooms:





And of course as soon as you move anywhere in the lounge you get.....

more scented towels with accompanying champagne



The lounge menu is so expansive that they give you an ipad with the menu preloaded on there. It would have taken way too long to go through the entire list and I just opted for a (very delicious) club sandwich and the Mrs went the Tom Yum Soup:

 

[NDiddy]

The lounge is massive and I counted may be 10 people in there at any one time with 8 of them being the F pax on the CDG flight. There was plenty of space and even if you did see another soul (which you didn't unless you walked passed their little suite) you really felt like the place was entirely yours.

The staff are wonderfully attentive and just plain brilliant. They really do go out of their way to make this time very special.

If you did prefer the self serve option there are a plethora of choices available:







A dining room but no one was inside:



And the expanse that is the F lounge:



We didn't eat/drink too much in the lounge and soon it was time to try out the suite on the plane

 

[NDiddy]

One of the lounge attendants gracefully approached us to let us know that our flight was ready. No buggy but it was about 150 m walk to the gate. She accompanied us the whole way to the flight so no fighting through the lines. As is normal for this Diddy (and one my wife keeps reminding me off) I always like to review our upcoming flights (even after purchasing or redeeming for points) and I was a little concerned by the reviews on other forums and airlinequality about the state of the F suites on these leased JetAirways craft. If you're like me then read this: Ignore them all! The seat and the cabin were wonderful. Sure there were a few scuff marks here and there but no worse than my recent J flights on SQ on the A380.

It really is a lovely suite and I do hope that Thai don't do another aircraft change on me for our MUC - BKK leg as we are supposedly getting the new F suites on a re-furbed 747. There are a few pics here so I'll have to break them up a bit. First the suite seat:





Ready to "slipper" away for the next 12.5 hours:





And of course the obligatory Dom pre-flight:



As mentioned previously, take off was delayed by about 30 minutes but that just gave us more time to lap up the F oppulence and have a delightful chat to the chief stewardess who went out of her way to show us all the features of the suite. Again truly wonderful service from Thai.

 

[NDiddy]

Once we were in the air it was time for the culinary journey to commence. The wine and beverage menu was identical to the SYD-BKK route so I won't bother reposting. The lunch/dinner menu didn't come out that great but I'll share with you what I had:

First Serving - Rice Cracker Pork Dipping

Tasty little morsels very much like a savoury rice crispy chocolate:



White Sturgeon Caviar



First Course - Two Pepper and Champagne Terrine w a salad of roast beetroot with Onion in a tomato cup




Palate Cleanser - Apricot Sorbet




Main Course - Grilled Pork Loin scented with Thyme and Olive Oil, Reduction of wine and Pork Jus. Potatoes and Boletus Mushrooms. Roast Vegetables with Fresh Rosemary

Utterly delicious!!

 

[NDiddy]

And to finish things off a sensational cheese platter:



And a bittersweet chocolate cake served with mint ice cream and a cappuccino:



Not satisfied with that being the end of the culinary journey I asked for a cognac and some water to which I received the obligatory Evian (but of course what else would it be):





With another fantastic meal service it was time to get into lie flat sleep mode...

 

[NDiddy]

As we all know the suite turns into a full lie flat bed and although I refrained from dozing on this flight I did put on the Thai pyjama's and settled in for watching a few movies:





Could we pretend that aeroplanes in the night sky are shooting stars? (for those who know the song)



The seat controller with a myriad of seating/lighting/massage options:

 

[NDiddy]

Still full from the first meal service and after watching a few movies it was time for the second meal service to commence:

First Course - Marinated Lobster with Thai herbs in Tomato with Stem on a bed of smoked tuna carpaccio

Soooo good!



Soup - Tom Yum Kung



Main Course - Stir Fried Chicken with Garlic, Chilli and Basil Leaves, Thai Fried Egg




It was finished off with some petit fours and coffee but I forgot to take the photo's.

This had to be the best flight I have ever been on. From the cabin and creature comforts to the incredible food and service, I was hard pressed to find fault. I'm so glad I got to try out the 777 and Mrs Diddy is now addicted to pyjama's on flights

Landed at CDG airport and we were the first off the plane. Is it just me or is CDG not a great airport (more on this when I share our CDG - ZAG leg whooch). Immi was extremely quick and the only wait was at the baggage carousel which we shared with the tailed end of a SAS Oslo flight. Bags were out very quickly and we took the CDGVAL to terminal 3 for our one night stay at the Ibis.

The Ibis was surprisingly quite good with the room a good size but the bathroom quite small (for those who have experienced a formula 1 stay - it's a bit like that but with a much better room). Very quiet hotel for how close it is to the airport and they put on a very hearty breakfast (no eggs, bacon or hash though). A good night's sleep and a 6:00am wake up and we begin our trip to Croatia.

 

[NDiddy]

Flight Details

AF2160 CDG - ZAG
Aircraft: CRJ 700

Scheduled departure: 09:50
Actual departure: 10:30

Scheduled arrival: 11:50
Actual arrival: 12:05

Seats 10C & 17D - Yes same PNR but lord knows how they managed to stuff this one up.

Never flown on a CRJ 700 so was looking forward to this small hop to croatia with an onward connection onto Split. Having a cheeky wine with the Mrs last night we were debating about what time we should check in. I stuck by my 2 hour check in rule even without lounge access and boy we were glad we did.

Took the CDGVAL to Terminal 2 and made our way to the self check-in kiosk to print out our BP's and baggage tags. Tick on the BP's but no go on the baggage tags. Cue get in the really really long line for all the people who could get print their baggage tags.

At the start of the line:


And looking back when we got to the front (still a truck load of people):



The whole process took just under an hour which gave us just enough time to clear immi and customs. Boarding was via the bus which took another 10 minutes to get to the plane. Not the drivers fault though as he seemed to be stuck behind a Servair truck which was in absolutely no hurry to get anywhere.

Boarding was delayed due to 4 passengers still waiting to come on board and I was getting slightly nervous about our next connection but left plenty of time and had no issues. The plane was completely full and an all Y class config. Seat was leather and pretty comfy I must say. Space was a little tight but not really an issue as long as the person in front of me didn't recline:





They said a meal would be served on board but really that "meal" was a coffee and a biscuit. Still I was pretty full from the Ibis breakfast so no real need to eat anything more:



It was an OK flight and we didn't have a lot of options (apart from Croatia Airlines which were about 50% more expensive for the same route) and we have this same flight back from Zagreb to Paris on the 29th and now know what to expect.

 

[NDiddy]

Flight Details

OU 380 ZAG - SPU
Aircraft: Bombardier Q400 Dash8

Scheduled departure: 14:25
Actual departure: 14:25

Scheduled arrival: 15:25
Actual arrival: 15:10

Seats 1A/C

One of those times where a J ticket was actually cheaper than the Y ticket so picked the J of course. Not that it gave you much apart from seating in the front cabin and priority baggage but it was worth it. Arriving in Zagreb we made our way to the check-in counter and used the completely empty J class line. Check-in was extremely efficient and the lady even advised us not to clear security until the last minute as there was absolutely nothing past security apart from the gates themselves:



This flight's final destination was actually to Rome via Split so we had quite a lot of Italian holidaymakers onboard. After a nice toasted ham/cheese sandwich and one of the better coffees I've had on the trip we made our way through security just as the boarding announcement was made. Onto the bus which drove us all 80 metres to the parked bird.

Seat 1A had the bulkhead but 1C had an open space right through to the jump seat:





Meal

Thumbs up to Croatia Airlines for providing a better meal service on a 45 minute flight than AF did on a 2 hour flight. Although calling it a meal would still be a bit of a stretch



As yes that is a lamington!

Quick view of the Croatian landscape:



Landed ahead of schedule and we were out of the airport and onto our first airbnb apartment (which is fantastic). And you're all now caught up. I normally like to do these posts just after the experience so that the detail is a bit fresh but internet connection woes and me down with a cold have not helped matters.

This is our last night in Split and we head down to Dubrovnik tomorrow by bus where we'll be spending Christmas (just the Diddy's) at the Hilton Imperial Judging from some of the Tripadvisor posts recently we might be the only one's at the hotel (all the better). Hope you've enjoyed it so far and I might even do a TR for the bus journey to DUB. Next flight is on the 29th of December so if I'm not online before then I wish all of you reading this and all AFFer's a very merry and safe Christmas holidays Till next time!

 

[amaroo]

Brilliant TR. Very comprehensive & a joy to read........cheers.