Here and there but mainly there.

[turtlemichael]

We head off this afternoon on an 84 day trip. I have vacillated on whether to do a trip report. The vacillation comes because I tried one before and didn't complete it and also because of the excellent quality of many reports on here. I cannot hope to compete. But someone pointed out to me that it is a good way to keep a diary and that when I am old I'll be able to reflect on it. No smart comments about age please Bundy Bear!

The itinerary is to head down to Sydney this afternoon to overnight at the Hilton prior to heading to Hong Kong tomorrow. We have a few days there, then to Bangkok for a few more before back to Hong Kong. Then it is on to Paris for 5 weeks in an apartment, a few days in London then to the US with Miami the first port of call. We take a 10 day Caribbean cruise on Regent Navigator prior to a series of several days stays in Key West, Fort Lauderdale, San Antonio, New Orleans, San Juan with the last stop Los Angeles. We get home to Cairns just prior to Christmas.

Hotels are a mixture of IHG and Hilton family. I have largely deserted IHG so will be using up a lot of points. That is balanced against paid stays at Hilton family which should see me maintain the complimentary Virgin Diamond. Flights are mainly JASAs on Qantas, Y-ups on AA and a Virgin Atlantic award. Regular paid flights on Royal Jordanian and Cathay are thrown in. Except for the side trip to Key West we are in Business or AA First all the way.

I'll hit WP again as we descend into Sydney this afternoon and, as my QF year ends in November. I'll have made a big dint into next year's requirement.

The GCC walking challenge is over for 2012 but I have new trainers and my trusty pedometer so I'll be endeavouring to do a good amount of walking and take plenty of pics. Walking is not too difficult in Paris given reasonable weather but no so easy when moving about.

More to come in a few days (I hope).

 

[Bundy Bear]

I look forward to reading more, would you like me to remind you to update it every so often.

Sounds like a great trip.

 

[amaroo]

Just checking in

Looks to be a wonderful trip & will watch with interest.

Happy to report that the weather up here in HKG is very nice

 

[here2go]

We head off this afternoon on an 84 day trip. I have vacillated on whether to do a trip report. The vacillation comes because I tried one before and didn't complete it and also because of the excellent quality of many reports on here. I cannot hope to compete. But someone pointed out to me that it is a good way to keep a diary and that when I am old I'll be able to reflect on it. No smart comments about age please Bundy Bear!

On this point - what do people think is a good tool to capture memories of a trip, along with photos in context, and sharing with a limited group. I am thinking of using Evernote or OneNote to capture details of the trip my family are doing at the end of the year. Plan is that we'll have MS Surfaces (me RT, Mrs Here2go Pro) by then to replace my iPad and her MacBook Air, and at least I'll have a Nokia Lumia 920. I like the idea of aggregating thoughts, comments, photos, etc. in the one place. Obviously leaning to One Note, but as I'm a Mac User who hates firing up Parallels I've not had much experience with One Note.

 

[drron]

Sounds like a great adventure.We might even be in the Carribean together-sail from Barbados on 13/11 but heading for the Amazon.back in Barbados 30/11.
And yes TRs are great for remembering past trips.I often go back to read and jog my memory.

 

[Major]

The Caribbean and West Indies is on my wish list, so I will be interested in your TR

 

[turtlemichael]

Sounds like a great adventure.We might even be in the Carribean together-sail from Barbados on 13/11 but heading for the Amazon.back in Barbados 30/11.
And yes TRs are great for remembering past trips.I often go back to read and jog my memory.

Ours is 10 days from Miami on 15/11. You have a great cruise. I even have my Devil's Island t shirt on this very minute.

 

[ronaldh]

On this point - what do people think is a good tool to capture memories of a trip, along with photos in context, and sharing with a limited group. I am thinking of using Evernote or OneNote to capture details of the trip my family are doing at the end of the year. Plan is that we'll have MS Surfaces (me RT, Mrs Here2go Pro) by then to replace my iPad and her MacBook Air, and at least I'll have a Nokia Lumia 920. I like the idea of aggregating thoughts, comments, photos, etc. in the one place. Obviously leaning to One Note, but as I'm a Mac User who hates firing up Parallels I've not had much experience with One Note.

OneNote is probably the best and easiest option.

Install SkyDrive on your Surfaces' and also on your computers. Make a notebook in a dedicated folder which is within that SkyDrive..and then you can access that same synced info across all your devices. In SkyDrive, share the folder with a link to family/friends and they should be able to keep up as you add notes. OneNote is a breezy to use on Windows Phone and on the Lumia 920, photos etc. would be awesome! Maybe set up a folder as well for photos and share that too!

Use the Quick Note tile on your new phone to easily create a note, which you can then file in the right place after

 

[jetlagger]

Also look forward to your proposed TR.. Envy your itinerary.. Wish you a most pleasant journey

 

[Princess Fiona]

Checking-in also, looking forward to the TR
Hope your Nespresso isn't lonely whilst your away

 

[jazza1971]

Cant wait to see this one develop, sounds like an awesome trip!

 

[turtlemichael]

So the trip is underway. 17 kilos of luggage each for 85 days (I miscounted - it's 85 not 84) is a good effort.

We travelled on QF925 CNS-SYD in 2E and 2F and it was all very uneventful in a chocka Business class. 1F was in full recline for all the trip bar the meal (roasr beef) and that means my legs were into his back. The leg room in the 767 is not great and the seat should have been pensioned off years ago. The only excitement was on arrival when the aerobridge wouldn't move to meet the plane door. The pilot advised that an engineer had been called and was very careful to point out that thus time it was not a Qantas problem. People texting News Limited must have felt really let down. With the engineer having tinkered for a while, 25 minutes after touchdown we got off the plane. This was just enough time to see the luggage arrive at the carousel. Perhaps this is a plot to ensure on time delivery of your bags so that everyone becomes priority?

We stayed overnight at the Hilton. The upgrade from a King Hilton Room ($208.00) was to a King Relaxation Suite. I understand this is a really excellent upgrade for a Diamond and I thought the room was excellent too. A big bathroom with a bath with a killer city view and plenty of room in the separate lounge to spread out. The amenities (bottle of wine, cheese platter, water, welcome letter, chocolate macadamias) were all attacked.

We had evening drinks in the "lounge". The EL is currently being renovated and the alternate place wasthe corridor outside the conference rooms on the first floor. It was ok and the food/booze were much the same as in the proper lounge. Good effort Hilton. After, we had an excellent steak in Glass with just average service. All up a great stay though, for breakfast, we had just some juice and coffee preferring to enjoy the delights of the First lounge at the airport.

If someone is able to point me at a thread on posting pics here that would be appreciated as I have a few of the suite. More to follow.

 

[zig]

Looked in the mirror and was surprised to see that I am turning an interesting shade of green :mrgreen: I wonder why???

Have a great trip, it sounds wonderful. Please include details of the cruise as well. As a FF who also cruises I'm very interested in this aspect of the trip and have enjoyed Regent in the past.

Well done on starting off with 17kg of luggage - very impressive. Also glad to hear that you have packed the pedometer

 

[RB]

If someone is able to point me at a thread on posting pics here that would be appreciated as I have a few of the suite. More to follow.

I think people use a variety of ways to add photos to their reports. I now use Picasa 3 to downsize the original photos & then email them to myself. I then save the small jpeg (around 25-30kb each). I then go to advanced on post reply & then manage attachments which then gives me the option to select the photos from my computer via the add files that appears up the top of the box. I then to to the online to get the photos into the report. Not sure this is exact wordings but is basically how I do it & as I say I am sure others do it differently

 

[turtlemichael]

King Relaxation Suite Hilton Sydney

 

[turtlemichael]

Friday September 28. Up bright and early to head out to SYD to catch QF127 to HKG. It did seem a shame to miss breakfast at Glass, apart from some liquids, but the QF First Class beckoned. A speedy check-in and the not uncommon short delay at security as someone argued over half a tube of toothpaste (not me J) meant we got to the lounge about two hours before flight time. In view of the excellent thread by fbrimfield on his lounge and QF127 experiences only a few days before us, the best thing I can do is defer to him. http://www.australianfrequentflyer....s/qantas-a380-business-pics-sydney-43511.html

The A380 sat outside the lounge window as we waited. But the 10.40am departure time came and went without an announcement. We were able to watch the pilot continuously flexing the vertical flap on the tail, side to side, for the best part of a half an hour so were coming to the conclusion that this plane was not going to make it off the ground today. The delay gave me time to check it’s rego number and I was relieved to find that it had not had any major “problems”. Boarding was called however just after scheduled departure time and was speedy. We had 12E and 12F in the forward J cabin and only 10 of the 18 seats were taken. Overall, it looked like about 30 empty J seats and, by the small numbers at the gate, the rest of the flight was far from full too. The captain apologised for the delay, “due to catering issues”, and off we went about 30 minutes late. Either flexing the flap like that is normal procedure or he was telling a porky. Anyway, we got to HKG.

All up, a good flight. We made up the 30 minutes and were into HKG on time. The meal was very good. I had zucchini soup, blue eye and vanilla profiteroles. The seat is of course very comfortable, service was consistently good except for one grump, and IFE was ok. Nothing to complain about here – well done Qantas.

The transit of Immigration was very quick but we were fortunate to just beat a huge group of excited Chinese visitors, all name tagged, who were here for the mid-Autumn festival and National Day on the following Monday. Behind us Immigration looked like a zoo.
A quick trip into Central on a near empty Air Express and the quick bus transfer to the Conrad meant we were in our room not much more than an hour after getting to the Gate.

The Conrad had upgraded us from a King Superior to an Executive King with Harbour view on the 60[SUP]th[/SUP] floor. Having not been in the hotel before I can’t compare the room to anything else but suspect they are much the same size maybe with better toiletries etc The view was to the side but really good particularly on the clear days we had there.
The executive lounge was very impressive. Not large but well set out. Food, for breakfast and drinks was very good as was the service.

All up a very pleasant few days there. After a visit to Bangkok later in the week we are back for two more days before heading off to Paris. I rate this hotel very highly.

 

[turtlemichael]

Some shots aroung Hong Kong.

 

[jetlagger]

Nice! Thanks for the pics & continued narrative..

 

[Major]

Great pics....considering the usual HK haze

 

[turtlemichael]

October 1 to 4. A mini-side trip to Bangkok. We had originally planned 8 nights in Hong Kong. This was somewhat forced upon us because of circumstances including of availability of JASAs, our desire to come up from Sydney on an A380 and the availability of the apartment we were renting in Paris.

Mindful of what someone recently wrote about Hong Kong (if you are thinking of going to the tea museum you are in Hong Kong for too long) we thought it would be a good idea to have a break mid stay and Bangkok won the prize. A trip in J from HKG to BKK could hardly be considered a mileage run at the rates charged by Cathay, although 120SCs would come in handy, but there you go.


So off we headed mid-morning for the airport to catch CX 751, an A330 service, to BKK. We had plenty of time for an early lunch in the Pier First Class lounge. It remains very good but is starting to look like it needs a makeover as is happening at the Wing. Qantas Sydney and Melbourne lounges easily surpass it IMHO.


The flight to BKK was just okay. Despite the lunch in the Wing we were still a little peckish and had the meal. I made the mistake of ordering chicken biryani which was probably the worst business class meal I’ve ever had on any airline. The CX regional product is quite poor in most aspects The only compensating factor is the good friendly service.

The return flight on CX754 three days later was very average. The small lounge was taken over by a Thai government minister and his entourage. Literally there were 30+ armed military, many bristling with rows of ribbons, in the lounge and outside together with numerous plain clothed hangers-on. Fortunately, all the military was left behind when we boarded but still the entourage filled the entire first class and a portion of the business class cabins. The metal was changed at the last minute from a B777 to a B747. We were even issued A777 boarding passes which were changed in the lounge. The 747 was the very shabby Cathay coffin arrangement with scuffed and grubby seats and dated tired cabin. Again the friendly service compensated but not enough for the food which was a little better than the trip down but not by much. I had a steak of sorts. Still, both flights were on time and smooth.

Back shortly with some details on our stay in BKK.

Pictures following are the CX Pier buffet, and the two CX meals which I would rather forget.