The Woolworths and Amex appreciation trip to Europe!

[Paddy55]

A Preamble # 1

Haven’t done much travel the last few years, but that’s OK (well not really )!


The last big trip Mrs Paddy and I did was Europe in mid 2015, and we finished up in Vienna. Checking in to fly back to SYD (on points in BA F) I managed to slip on the ultra-polished floor in the VIE terminal and break my wrist!

Anyway I can report that the experience in BA in J and then F was good, the Concorde Room is always a great experience, but I wish they knew a bit more about First Aid. But I digress… and don’t need to keep remembering that part of the trip.


So we travel from the South Coast of NSW this Tue 14th May, stay in the HIX Macquarie on (few) points overnight and then off to SYD the following morning, being careful to allow a good 4 hours in the Flounge .

Like all good AFFers I started planning about a year ago so maximum advantage could be taken of the QFF Points that were burning a hole in my account... use them or get them 'enhanced', folks!


Initially I booked J award seats on QR going SYD-DOH-GVA with return on CX in J travelling AMS-HKG-SYD, although I wasn’t excited by the prospect of the 10 hour layover in HKG, especially as I've dropped to QF (Lifetime) Silver and wouldn’t be able to grab a cabana in the Pier First lounge!


I kept on the lookout for Emirates First Award tickets into pretty much anywhere in Europe and bugger me 2 x F Award seats on QF & EK going SYD-DXB-CDG unexpectedly became available in July - awesome. Keep looking folks they do come up!


Mrs Paddy started agitating for some time in never before visited Scandinavia and then in Dec 2 x F on EK going ARN-DXB-BKK-SYD came up, with an 11 hour layover in DXB (time to try the airside Dubai Intl Hotel) before tackling the DXB-BKK-SYD leg! Talk about thinking I’d died and gone to heaven! I’m sure only AFFers go weak at the knees at the thought of 17 hours in EK F instead of the more direct route which is just under 14 hours. :mrgreen:


So, there’s not a lot of flights


SYD-DXB QF1 A380, and
DXB-CDG EK71 A380


CDG-CPH SK566 A320 in wHy


ARN-DXB EK158 773ER and
DXB-SYD EK418 A380


but a couple of Chauffeur Drives, the awesome QF First Lounge in Sydney and the humungous EK First lounge in DXB which will really be the icing on the flying cake.


Some other highlights for us will be

• visiting the Bordeaux and Pyrenees Regions in France for the first time
• 3 nights in the Loire Valley
• a day trip to London on the Eurostar for the Pink Floyd exhibition “Their Mortal Remains” at the Victoria & Albert Museum (yeah I know)
• a TGV trip to Paris - Munich - Paris to visit friends, and
• a train trip from Copenhagen - Stockholm using the Öresund Link, a massive bridge-tunnel-bridge structure between Denmark & Sweden

(love fast rail in Europe and desperately wish we had some here in Oz)

So I do aim to post some photos as we travel and if people would like, some ground shots in particular.

Oh, and the name of the thread?

Well, because of all I've learnt on AFF, I've made sure we shop at Woolies with my Amex and generally use Amex everywhere humanly possible.
With 6 kids between us at home for a fair bit of the past decade it's made paying for food something that put a smile on my face. :mrgreen:

I should give an honourable mention to Qantas epiQure and, bless their hearts, Bonus Points :mrgreen:

 

[Paddy55]

A Preamble # 2 - A rant about Travel Insurance

Now if there's one thing I've come to get ticked off about it is getting adequate Travel Insurance!

I'm 62 with Asthma and Diabetes Type II, and my wife and I carry $10K+ of Camera gear with us (our hobby and passion), plus I carry a $2k CPAP machine... so very unusual I'm sure, but not weird.

.. and I realise Travel Insurance's biggest benefit is overseas hospitalisation cost containment... but...

Some years ago I was robbed in Rome at the main train station, with my wallet plus hand luggage taken and I experienced a very disappointing time with the Insurance Claim who seem to have as its main objective to minimise the payout rather than anything remotely to do with fairness - yeah I know - but if you accept the premium paid I think there's some responsibility to pay out 'properly' or 'fairly'.

Whether it was Tax Invoices they had trouble reading, or paying out based on heavily reduced values, or, in the case of the CPAP machine a refusal to pay anything at all I learnt a valuable lesson - read the PDS line by line and ask lots of questions before you go!

So I am using free Comm Back Diamond Card Travel Insurance on this despite their refusal to cover Asthma and Diabetes II without a stupidly high copayment... and I'm gritting my teeth.

I think the Insurance Industry has a lot to answer for in producing PDSs so long few customers read them thoroughly, and I think they're written in a way so that it is not easy to compare across coverage across companies... I think they're an outrageous incident away from some sort of legislative control to stop this nonsense.

But that's just my view :evil:

 

[ellen10]

Sounds like a great trip.

We did our first trip in J 18 months ago, using points saved with lots of tips from AFF.

Looking forward to following along with your updates of your trip.

 

[I love to travel]

How much were the taxes and 'fuel fines'

 

[Daver6]

I'm checking in for this. Have fun!

 

[VPS]

I'm planning on going to the Pink Floyd exhibition as well - looking forward to the report

 

[Paddy55]

How much were the taxes and 'fuel fines'

About $1200 there and back for each of us.

I will positively look at it by saying that for a fair bit less than a Y ticket, plus a truck load of points, we fly First Class.
Would have spent much of the $$$ to get the points anyhow, although the knowledge on AFF showed me how to spend it for maximum effect!

Of course, we could then compare QF and AA fuel fines... nooo... let's not go there

 

[GarrettM]

Sounds superb Paddy. And yes to some ground pics please. In-flight snaps are great, but I'm an old fashioned guy as well. I want to SEE the places people go.

 

[Paddy55]

Day 1 - Sydney

A pleasant surprise last night was the Holiday Inn Express, Macquarie Park.

Stayed here on points, a modest 20,000 and found this a just 1 year old HIX with free breakfast thrown in.
Miles ahead of other HIX's I've stayed in, especially in the LOTFAP

It's a 'Business Hotel', located near Macquarie Shopping Centre in North Ryde, but the location suited us nicely so we could easily catch up with family.

Big thumbs up!

 

[Paddy55]

Day 2 - North Ryde to QF Flounge at SYD

Even though we're using points we're still entitled to the Chauffeur Drive
Chap arrived on time, very chatty, and a very quick run into SYD... of well, more time than planned in the Lounge :mrgreen:

First up were the Spa treatments, alone worth the price of admission although at only 20 mins these days they seem a bit parsimonious compared to the 50 min treatments in days gone by...

Current Spa Menu:




Of course, a look around...




The Autumn Menu:




The always awesome deconstructed Pavlova served with traditional accompaniments




... and finally our transportation awaits...

 

[Major]

I totally agree with you regarding travel insurance. It's a real PITA as you get older

Enjoy the trip

 

[carls888]

Following along...great TR so far!

 

[Paddy55]

Day 2 & 3 - SYD - DXB - CDG

(Apologies, but notes only at the moment)

Day 2 SYD - DXB - QF1 D1600ish A 1230+1ish

Well, for me the biggest plus about Qantas is the staff .. doesn't matter if on the ground, in the lounges or in the air they are just great! Always smiling, always helpful without being over the top, they are what makes QF about my favourite airline no matter which class of travel or whether domestic or intl!

Second favourite thing was the food. Tried the degustation menu and loved the appetisers, soup, salad, fish... whoa, sorry not the fish. Was blue eye and desperately needed more & better sauce as both Mrs Paddy & I found it a very 'solid' fish in need of some softening up. Skipped to the cheeses with some nice desert wine and so finished on a very good note.

Then settled down to watch some entertainment and found a pretty good selection of movies and TV, although those screens are getting pretty dull. And this Flounge suite chairs aren't quite as comfortable as they used to be, either.

Which brings me to the problem...

As great as QF's soft product is, with superb crew, the F section (and J) in the A380s is showing quite a bit of age and also looking pretty out of date. Alright, Alan, you have to be profitable! However the state of affairs in the premium end of the A380 is looking and feeling somewhat drab. It honestly felt as though the new J, which I've tried in an A330, is more comfortable, with a better entertainment system, than in the 'flagship' A380s, where QF competes on the world stage. The headphones they're using in F now I find pretty cheap in appearance and performance, and not at all comfortable on a long trip. All a bit sad, really.

DXB FLounge

After arriving about on time Mrs Paddy and I had 3 hours to kill before the EK flight left about 4am to take us to Paris.

Mrs Paddy's first time in this humongous bit of opulence and she was pretty open mouthed during our time there.

Yes, shower amenities very good as should be.

The restaurant, and the food they will happily prepare at 1:30am is simply amazing. Food excellent... fresh orange juice, pate, several other dishes... all excellent - it's the sort of thing everyone should experience at least once! Special thumbs up for the quality of wifi (yes, I know 2am what do you expect?) but I was able to download various iOS and MacOs updates very, very easily and boy does it put the icing on the Flounge Xmas cake for me! :mrgreen:

Day 3 DXB - CDG EK71 D 0405 A 0935

Well, everything that QF lacks in the hard product, EK makes up for it in spades! (Does Alan ever fly EK F I wonder).
We were in the referb'ed F with super comfortable seats, quality headphones and a crisp, bright screen of Lord knows what size. All just superb which I think it should be in long haul F!
Given the time of flight, breakfast was really the only thing on offer, and I had the Eggs Benedict with a Cappuccino which were just superb! Matter of fact I was a real pig and had it at the start and the end of the flight :shock:

Crew were really good - a bit 'looser' than last time I flew EK F 4 years ago, and the shower towards the end of the flight is just a fantastic and practical luxury, really freshening you up!

Mrs Paddy's first time in EK and she was most impressed also!


Day 3 - Special dishonourable mention to Alamo / National Rental Cars

After 24 or so hours travelling the last thing I wanted was the encounter I had picking up our long ago booked rental car for our 3.5 weeks in France.
Just booked a compact auto and of course they had none when I walked in the door.
90 minutes later and 4 more people behind me were waiting on automatics as well!

Icing on the cake was trying to get the Oz credit cards approved :evil:
After trying 2 different cards (Amex and Visa) from 2 different providers (Comm Bank & Woolies), with a fair measure of Gallic attitude thrown in it was discovered the problem wasn't with the Credit Cards, it was their Contract System.

I actually asked them to contact their Help Desk (takes too long apparently) before they manually wrote the contract!

Lots of other minor bs to go along with it, but I cannot recommend using these bozos at all - seems running out of cars is not unknown at that location :shock:

More in the coming days... even some photos!

 

[I love to travel]

thanks for the update, looking forward to reading more

 

[ellen10]

Thanks for the update, sounds like flying F would be a great experience.
We have rented cars in Europe quite a few times and the pick up experience has never been a smooth one.
In June we are renting from Sixt in Zagreb and in July renting from Avis in Geneva. I am keeping my expectations low, so might be pleasantly surprised!

Looking forward to the next instalment form your trip.

 

[Paddy55]

Day 4 - Giverny

With a couple of 'spare' days at the start of our trip we decided to revisit one of our favourites: Claude Monet's Garden at Giverny.

I'm not a gardener at all (ask Mrs Paddy ) however I love Impressionist Art and Monet's more than most so his garden and home are a treat to behold.
We first went there 8 years ago and have noticed the crowds have grown considerably in the meantime.

Some photos to give a little flavour of the place:











... ctd

 

[Paddy55]

...more from Giverny

 

[TheRealTMA]

Good photos. We loved Monet's garden when we were there in the late 90's. Good to see it still holds up. There used to be a great pub just down the road with outdoor seating and they served the best omelettes!

Intrigued how you got that last selfie?

 

[ellen10]

Great photos Paddy.
Did you take a tour from Paris or did you go by yourselves.
We will be in Paris in July and Monet's Garden is on my list.

 

[Paddy55]

Good photos. We loved Monet's garden when we were there in the late 90's. Good to see it still holds up. There used to be a great pub just down the road with outdoor seating and they served the best omelettes!

Intrigued how you got that last selfie?

A photo of Mrs Paddy accidentally posted :shock: