SQ F for some Euro skiing- aka NOWAK 3

[Danger UXB]

subscribing! i'm currently writing on my trip from last month on SQ F - nice to see some comparisons.

what camera/lens did you use for the fisheye of the seat?

My wife bought me one of these

HDR-AS100VR : Action Cam : Video Camera & Camcorder : Sony Australia

for our wedding anniversary and I found out it take pretty good F class pictures on the plane. It's Sony's version of a Go Pro, it just has better helmet attachments for skiing and pretty good sound.

 

[Danger UXB]

The Skiing

My destination in France was a little known ski resort of Plan Peisey. It’s part of the Les Arcs ski area, probably the most accessible ski terrain if you are training it to the alps. There is a funicular from next to the TGV station in Bourg-St-Maurice straight to Arc 1600. Up until a few years ago Plan Peisey was just the little village on the left hand edge of the piste map. Then they built a giant 450 person Vanoise Express



a double story cable car connecting the Les Arcs area to the La Plagne area across the valley creating Paradiski. This vast area has some 250 ski lifts and rivals the adjacent ski areas of Espace Killy (Tignes /Val D’Isere) and Les Trois Vallees (Meribel/Courcheval/Val Thorens).

The skiing was magnificent as always and according to “skitrax” app we were averaging 45 plus Km a day. My friends had purchased a couple of apartments off the plan in the La Grange Prestige operated Residance L’Arrollaie about 10 years ago. This is situated about 50 meters from the Vanoise Express cable car and gives us ideal access to the entire Paradiski area. It’s a typical French alpine apartment , 3 bedrooms plus a sleeper couch sleeping 8 in total. The residence also has a pool, sauna and Turkish steam room to resolve those après ski sore spots.

When you ski in France not only do you get access to some vast ski areas but you also get to experience the whole gastronomic event that is the high alpine country.
Fondu both cheese and meat




Pierrrade- raw beef and duck self cooked on a hot granite slab


Racclette
Local cheese- beaufort, tomme de savoie and reblechon




Local cured meat,saucisson





and my personal favourite Foie Gras du Savoie (pate of force fed duck liver with vanilla bean and alpine herbs)

Local high country wine- pinot noir ,monduese and gamay.

 

[Danger UXB]

Opps missed the pic of the Pierrade



We were blessed with some magnificent snow falls , blue sky days for day trips to Tignes in the Espace Killy 45 minutes down the road by car, and a couple of true alpine inversion days where below the cloud level in the village it is snowing but above the cloud level paradise!




Alpine inversion above Les Arcs



Next up the trip home- The Queens Terminal ,almost dinner at Heston's café and SQ R

 

[Craigie]

Alpine inversion

Absolutely loved that shot. Phenomenal!

 

[Danger UXB]

The return to MEL- The Queen’s Terminal and a near miss with Heston.


GVA on a Friday night in winter can be a mixed affair. The previous weeks snow did not affect our car trip but there were heavy delays at GVA and despite Swiss’ best efforts we landed at LHR 2 hours late. Once again euro J was nothing to shout about.

Baggage reclaim in T2





I exited T2 to get these shots of the entrance.




SQ’s checkin for some reason is located in the back left hand corner of the departure hall, not very fitting for the premier partner in *A.




I was informed that my prerequested seat 3F had a faulty IFE screen so I had been moved to 3A, this just meant Krug consumption would have to be left handed to SIN. I missed the sign to fast track but security was pretty quick anyway ( apparently it's easy to miss). Departures are split into 2 satellite terminals A and B. Sq use B which is a good 10 to 15 min walk depending on your pace from A. If you are shopping or eating I would recommend staying in A.

The Black Cab art work in Satellite A.

 

[Danger UXB]

My original stopover was 3 hours and I was planning a visit to the Perfectionist Cafe but due to the delays in GVA I had less the 45 mins so only these pictures were taken as I needed a shower before boarding after the mornings ski.




The Perfectionist Café is one of only 2 Heston establishments, the other being the Fat Duck, and my chances of going there whilst it visits Melbourne are less than zero.



A quick scan of the menu revealed some offerings but I caught sight of the fish and chips which looked super crunchy and seemed to be served with the vinegar in an atomizer to preserve the batter crunch. Looks like the christmas trip back to mum’s this year will have to include a visit here.

The long walk to satellite B along the longest airport tunnel I've ever been in



SQ’s lack of a lounge in LHR seems to drag on and on. It’s now late Jan and the move to T2 happened in Sept 14 ,go figure! I had read about the Air Canada lounge and as I definitely needed a shower I headed straight there avoiding the Lufthansa and United offerings.



Once again toilet in shower cubicle great idea. Too many knobs in the shower, the middle 3 all seem to turn on the rain shower, but at least I am free of “eau de ski”.



Next up SQ R and the TPR feast

 

[Danger UXB]

SQ R

3A and 3F in suites are the 2 suites that have 3 windows.



Now I know they are no bigger than all the others but they just feel bigger because of the extra window. Once again the extra carryon came in handy and I managed to grab 2A which was set up as my sleeper on request.




I ate fairly quickly ,as I wanted to get a few hours sleep on this flight,opting for the




Caviar
Double boiled duck soup
Roasted pork rib
Accompanied by the red burgundy




I was alittle surprised to see Dog Point on the wine list,



now don’t get me wrong it’s a very nice drop and I have a case at home but an SQ F sav blanc hmmm! They usually have a European offering-Sancerre, Vouvray , so obviously someone on their wine panel likes it a lot to stick it on their euro bound planes.
My intention was for a short sleep but when the bed is as comfortable as this 6 hours slip by in unaided sleep. Before I knew it we were in SIN.

 

[Danger UXB]

Just a few nice things about SQ F and R before we go any further.

The Givenchy everything-pjs, blankets, plates, its all good



The wardrobe between suites is a really nice touch, it's the thin bit to the right of the womans face



The storage and charging points for the little stuff are really handy, 2 x USB plus power in each seat



Nothing like a big screen TV for IFE enjoyment along with the bose of course

 

[boomy]

Awesome TR Danger UXB!
I noticed a few airlines serve Dom 2004 if F (SQ, EK, TG). I wonder what is so special about that vintage that they all choose it.

 

[Tooner]

Great stuff Danger. Loving it. Don't knock the Dog Point, it comes from a nice part of Marlborough.

Interesting to see Savoie under snow. We stayed at Peissey Nancroix in summer a few years ago. Spectacular views and food. That wonderful mix of French, Italian and Swiss!

 

[Danger UXB]

Awesome TR Danger UXB!
I noticed a few airlines serve Dom 2004 if F (SQ, EK, TG). I wonder what is so special about that vintage that they all choose it.

I think it's just the current vintage, but don't quote me on that as already stated I am a krug man at heart!!

Great stuff Danger. Loving it. Don't knock the Dog Point, it comes from a nice part of Marlborough.

Interesting to see Savoie under snow. We stayed at Peissey Nancroix in summer a few years ago. Spectacular views and food. That wonderful mix of French, Italian and Swiss!

Not knocking the Dog Point, I have been buying it since it's inception, but I'm just not sure it stacks up against some of the other offerings on the euro SQ F routes. You are right Peisey is a little gem in the Alps.

Glad you are all enjoying the read, I know I'm a bit of an Sq fan and I am well aware that there are far better wordsmiths on this forum than my good self, but I have enjoyed reviewing my trip and it makes me remember just how lucky I am to travel at the pointy end of the plane. With out the help and inspiration of this forum I would still be down the back or not even doing the trip at all.
I still get a buzz from making that first left turn on the aerobridge

 

[Danger UXB]

The final instalment

Once again I headed for the Changi vouchers booth only to be told by the blossom behind the counter that even though I had booked the outbound and inbound as two different trips with two different booking numbers they are considered one return trip so no extra vouchers. I probably could have argued/gone back later to a different blossom but instead headed to the pool in T1 to catch the last rays of the evening sun.



I have frequented the pool a number of times with mini UXB in tow so I knew to take the monorail to T2 first then swap to the T1 line . This brings you out at the correct end of T1 and saves walking the length of the terminal. Au$13.30 buys you entry, a soft drink and a shower if you don’t have lounge access. Great way to spend an hour and get the blood circulating after 12 hours in suites.


After the swim back to T3, picked up some Talisker ,for the drinks cabinet at home, on the way to TPR. VLGD and a shower got me ready for dinner in the restaurant. Once again the jet lag plan was to sleep all the way back to MEL which meant no food. The TPR menu looked good so I plumped for the
French onion soup


Waldof salad




Lobster stir fry




Sorry I forgot to take a picture of the mains menu. It was different from the menu on the way over in my earlier post. I don't know how many different menus they have on rotation?

 

[Danger UXB]

And had a little space left for some Phish food!




SQ237 777F was the perfect flight home, the overhead storage bins in the 777 made the storage of the extra carryon easy. As soon as the seat belt sign went off the bed was made and the next thing I knew about was a gentle shake on the shoulder with 15 mins to go before landing. Perfect.


MEL customs as always managed to put a dampener on what was otherwise a great trip, seriously why should you need to queue up for 40 minutes after having your customs declaration checked only to have the second person check the declaration and then send you out the exit without any bag checking. A complete disgrace……but apparently better than Brisbane!
Hope you enjoyed the read.
If you ever get the chance SQ F is a great way to Europe.





Many thanks to all at AFF who have educated me and transformed the amount and the class I fly. I could have done this without your help.
Vive Le AFF!!

Cheers Danger UXB

 

[boomy]

Best way to return home, well done Danger UXB!

 

[Danger UXB]

Best way to return home, well done Danger UXB!

Thanks for your encouragement, glad you enjoyed the read.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Danger it was a fabulous read - I must try SQ R or F someday

FWIW and only 3 weeks to go so guess it aint worth much but if you book 2 x OW Savers with transit through SIN then 100% you are entitled to 2 x $S40 Changi Voucers - one for each booking. The pool - YES the pool - just never seem to get time to enjoy it as often as I would like.

 

[Danger UXB]

Danger it was a fabulous read - I must try SQ R or F someday

FWIW and only 3 weeks to go so guess it aint worth much but if you book 2 x OW Savers with transit through SIN then 100% you are entitled to 2 x $S40 Changi Voucers - one for each booking. The pool - YES the pool - just never seem to get time to enjoy it as often as I would like.

Yep booked as 2x one way *A F redemptions, with 2 separate PRN's , but the voucher blossom was insistent that as of Jan 1 , new rules ,and only vouchers for 1 leg allowed. I was going to try my luck with a different blossom but I was too busy stuffing my fat face in the TPR to care!!!

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Yep $S40 not worth too much hassle - I did MEL-SIN-PEK on Feb 3/4 and PVG-SIN-MEL on Feb 10 as 2 x ow F Savers and can 3 x double confirm $S40 Changi Vouchers each transit - am booked same dates / same flts again Mar 24 / 30 - will be the last hurrah for the Changi Dollar promo as new promo begins Apr 1 - I have loved this promo as have many others.

 

[Tooner]

We love that pool! We spent a great couple of hours there once on the way to Europe. The kids keep asking to go back there, though last time we went through SIN on the way to JNB and back we had less than 60 mins transit, so no chance to go back there.

 

[Kangol]

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Great report! How did you take those photos - do you have a fisheye lens for an SLR?