The Big Personal Trip

Status
Not open for further replies.
Another interesting trip report. Glad to hear that you were able to cram in so much into your trip and you both enjoyed yourselves ....
 
Final updates still being drafted - a few things happening here at the moment. Plan is to post the final installments in about three weeks when some new might be out.
 
Its amazing how much you can cram into a space of a few days/weeks! Great read, keep up the good work. The food is making me very hungry but for some reason what i make is just not up to scratch!



QF009, I don't know what Simongr will say but we enjoyed Cyprus whilst we were there, although having said that we only stayed for the day. I'm sure that Simongr will provide you with some more indications...
 
Well there was a grand plan to finish this in style with some other stuff that was going on which is now not going on.

So back on with the show!

Conrad Redux

This time our bags are not checked through so we will have some challenges in HKG. The HKIAFV card continued its sterling run and we are hanging around in the baggage hall long before the bags are out. There are quite a few bags on the carousel which is a little annoying given we have priority bags coming from LHR (mind you we didn’t see our bags in LHR and they did have to hang around for us) until I realise the bags are from the previous flight to use the carousel.

When bags start to come out ours are pretty quick. This time I didn’t mess around and had booked the car from the Conrad already. A couple of minutes wait and soon we are off (although decidedly disappointed that they didn’t lay on a Bentley for us like the Shangri La seemed to have done for someone else).

Mrssimongr is fast asleep/drugged in the car and sleeps all the way to the hotel. We are whisked upstairs to check in at the Exec Lounge. Luckily it is still canapés time and a little perked up mrssimongr has a few bites whilst our bags are taken to the room.

As she starts to crash again we head up to the room and she is off to bed. I am pretty tired also and manage some room service whilst she sleeps. We have another restless night but wake at about 10AM and immediately I realise that breakfast finishes at 10:30. A quick shower and we make it to breakfast just in time.

Back from that and another sleep for mrssimongr whilst I watch more laptop TV. Late afternoon we head back to the lounge for high tea and quickly duck out to the bookshop again to get that El Bulli book I saw on our way out. Damn it is heavy but it will be worth it when I find out how to make my own foams :)

Back to the lounge and a couple of canapés before heading back to the room. A quick snooze for mrssimongr and room service – she manages some room service tonight. Some final repacking by me and we are ready to being the final journey home which again starts with the hotel car from the Conrad to the airport!
 
EXCLUSIVE OFFER - Offer expires: 20 Jan 2025

- Earn up to 200,000 bonus Velocity Points*
- Enjoy unlimited complimentary access to Priority Pass lounges worldwide
- Earn up to 3 Citi reward Points per dollar uncapped

*Terms And Conditions Apply

AFF Supporters can remove this and all advertisements

Journey – HKG-SIN
Flight no. – CX739
Class – Business
Seat – Yes there was one

It is a reasonably early start for the flight, although as I had packed and repacked we had time for one last breakfast in the lounge and checked out whilst our bags were collected and taken down to the waiting car.

The drugs were still keeping mrssimongr in and out of wakefulness and the journey to the airport was most certainly out. This is another super quick journey to the airport (surely as fast at the Airport Express) so we get to HKG with plenty of time to spare.

Mrssimongr is certainly getting used to the F class check in at HKG but the in-progress refurbishment of the airport is a little disappointing – the least they could have done knowing this was the The Big Personal Trip would be to have finished these works a little sooner.

Mrssimongr is pretty wiped out so it is straight into the Wing for a spot of breakfast (no BBQ pork buns again :( - at the Wing or at the Conrad). We duck out for a little shopping (we don’t buy anything though) and then head to gate 4 – realising a little late that we still have at least 25 mins to boarding and Gate 4 is next to the Wing. So it is back to the Wing and the J lounge so I can look out over the gate lice and keep track of impending boardage. Mrssimongr is out of it so she snoozes whilst I grab a quick Asahi.

Just time to finish that and it is time to board. This is a regional config 2-3-2. We have the middle seats and the one between us is blocked out. In retrospect I should have sat in the middle seat next to mrssimongr but I did not think about that at the time. There is in fact plenty of room in these regional seats even if it is not AVOD and lie flat. Not bad for a relatively short flight.

The cabin crew are their normal excellent standard – wine flows, ice cream sort of lurks solidly in the pot and Jack Black kicks butt as Kung Fu Panda. The main meal itself was a little uninspiring – and the garlic bread does seem to be getting thinner. Mrssimongr sleeps the entire journey pretty much from embarkation to disembarkation. I am nervous that I might have to carry her off for the transit through SIN. Thankfully she wakes just as we start do final landing preparations.

So awake and alert we begin the SIN transit. I have been through SIN a few times, but not like this (i.e. direct exit from SIN or transit on same aircraft) so I am a little disoriented. I think we could have made it to the Cinema but not knowing the rules of engagement there, I did not want to risk trying it, having a long walk to get to it and then not being allowed in – or the movies being cr4p.

Again we have another unsuccessful shopping effort (hurrah) so we are forced to go directly to the lounge – which is completely empty – we are literally the only people in there. I guess we must be between flights. Mrssimongr is straight back to sleep on a large sofa whilst I play “hunt the bubbles”. Unlike the lions of the Serengeti my search does not involve hours of patient waiting for a young gazelle to stagger past – so not long after having struggled with the byzantine wireless connections I watching TV and sipping champagne.

Progressively the lounge fills up with transit and direct exit pax whilst I fill up on champers and cheese and mrssimongr fills up on the lovely chicken curry that is being brought around.

Finally this is it, the final flight of The Big Personal Trip. In order to beat the rush we try and leave before boarding is called – and it is called just as we leave the lounge. We are finally heading home – and there is just one more seat in First for us to look forward to…
 
Journey – SIN-SYD
Flight no. – BA15
Class – First
Seat – 1DE

Every step towards this final flight seems to be either the end of something and thus sad, or the beginning of getting home which is not so sad. What I do recall is that there were a lot of those every steps to get to the gate – not quite what we needed. Conversely boarding is a fine and dandy process and we are presented with yet another highly camp CSD on BA.

I am quite “tired” so I am straight into my PJ’s ready for dinner and a big sleep. I would that my F experience is perhaps somewhat coloured by the time in the lounge in HKG, flight HKG-SIN and the time in the lounge in SIN so I do not so much want to soak up the experience as sink into slumber.

And sink I do – until about 40 mins outside of SYD and a bacon roll is handed to me (note the bacon roll was not on the breakfast menu). For those parts of the flight that I am awake the crew are fantastic and mrssimongr reports the same. This really is reinforcing my preference for BA over QF.

We land on time at SYD – which is in fact before the curfew so I am not sure how that process works. We are quickly through duty free and immigration and as my father in law requested some special stock cubes we have food to declare – but are still allowed through the express channel.

Quarantine is pretty speedy despite the number of bags that we are now up to. My driver is waiting for us and it is off home finally. We grab a quick snooze and then it is off to collect the dogs – who proceed to completely mental status quite quickly.

As mrssimongr is still not 100% we duck to the doc and that is where the fun really starts… we find out that our first child is due around 5 April next year – time to start planning the little ones first trip already…
 
Observations and reflections

The Big Personal Trip really marked a turning point in my journey of being a journeyer. For a variety of reasons my forecast business travel was expected to reduce quite dramatically so this epilogue was meant to mark the end of my jet set lifestyle and a move to frequent domestic hops in whY.

Again due to a number of circumstances beyond my control I approach the end of 2008 with no clear idea of what my future travel profile will be. When I first started writing this epilogue in late August I was looking at a trip to India in September which was cancelled and then rescheduled for November – in fact, I am writing this from the Wing at HKG right now.

I travelled up overnight last night and face an 8 hour layover in the lounge having not slept well on the flight and finally will get to Mumbai late tonight my time.

So now I have “been there” and “done that”. I have successfully converted my business travel into an awesome personal trip. So what have I learned?

Well for a start, getting the holiday you want, when you want it and how you want using points is a trick of luck more than skill, determination and complete focus than detailed planning. I will admit that flying for 3 hours and being in a lounge for 3 hours is a maybe not required just to miss one flight in economy.

No matter how much you plan – there will always be an adjustment to your plan through your choice or someone else’s.

And finally and this is the most important lesson – it is possible to go to Tiffany’s too many times in one week!

So that’s it, it’s chocka bloke checking out for almost the last time – I may have one more journey in me worth telling a tale of – we will have to wait and see. Keep watching the skies!
 
Congratulations on your TR (and the impending natal issue), you have an individual writing style that's quite enjoyable.
thumbsup.gif
 
Great TR simongr!

And what a great day for the welcoming to the world of your newborn.... well, almost. 1 day earlier and it would have been the best choice of days ;)
 
As mrssimongr is still not 100% we duck to the doc and that is where the fun really starts… we find out that our first child is due around 5 April next year – time to start planning the little ones first trip already…
Ahh, so that explains it! Congratulations Simon and Mrs Gr. Great trip report too!
 
Thanks yet again for entertaining us with another well-written TR! And congrats on babysimpending. :D
 
Well done on the TR and the bigger,better production.
You obviously enjoy your travel but come April an even better stage of life begins-it will only be bettered a long time into the future and they start calling you granddad.
Hopefully though the family will be able to fit in some very enjoyable holidays until the time and place is again right to resume your rightful place as a traveller.
Congratulations to both of you.
 
Thanks all for the kind words on the TR and babysimpending. Just scaring up the points for the UK trip late next year so hoping first flight in J for the little one might actually happen.

Coming soon "Hooray for Bollywood - simongr goes to Inja"
 
Have to agree with everyone else on all those points.. Great TR, as always, and a great time is to be had come the 6th of April!

Only advice i will give, is dont listen to advice!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Become an AFF member!

Join Australian Frequent Flyer (AFF) for free and unlock insider tips, exclusive deals, and global meetups with 65,000+ frequent flyers.

AFF members can also access our Frequent Flyer Training courses, and upgrade to Fast-track your way to expert traveller status and unlock even more exclusive discounts!

AFF forum abbreviations

Wondering about Y, J or any of the other abbreviations used on our forum?

Check out our guide to common AFF acronyms & abbreviations.
Back
Top