To Europe via Manila

[rbjhan]

Ok so it turns out reporting on a trip while being on set trip is harder than I thought!

Ha I tried that last time and quickly gave up
You are doing much better than me!

 

[JoshuaL1997]

You guys are all very kind with your comments, absolutely reaffirms why I decided to post to begin with! So lets go with the third leg to europe!

Abu Dhabi (AUH) - Munich (MUC)
Etihad Airways EY125
Business Class seat 10A
B787-9 (A6-BLF)

Intro
No real intro needed here, this is a direct continuation of the last flight. Middle eastern airports all follow a similar pattern of having most arrivals and departures between midnight and 3am accordingly we arrived just prior to midnight from our last flight and were scheduled to depart at 2:35am to Munich on EY125.

Transfer and Lounge
As mentioned in the last segment we arrived at a gate which is not always a guarantee in the middle east but at Abu Dhabi's new Terminal A which has been open for about a year it seems most flights get to dock at a gate rather than having a remote stand which makes transiting easier but a shame for those plane nerds who like doing a bit of up and close plane spotting.

A quick walk down the well sign posted terminal arm and you were presented with the options to transfer or head for immigration to enter the UAE, I of course transfered. There is a dedicated lane for premium passengers and we were through in about 5 minutes and headed straight for the lounge which is a little challenging to find past all the glitz and glam of this new airport.



Terminal A is kind of like a starfish thats lost an arm, each arm is where gates are located and in the central portion are all the typical airport things like the entrance, security and immigration, shopping, eating and of course the lounges. But saying that its a little overwhelming at midnight so to describe how to find the Etihad lounge, I walked toward the Hermes store on the right after clearing security, went past it and at the end you will find the doors to the first class lounge, turn left past Gate C27 and you find the entrance to the business lounge. Best of luck with those instructions for those consulting the map the lounge is between Gates C27 and D43.



Inside the lounge is also not the most straight forward thing when it comes to directions. Set over three floors you have the first floor which is for dinning (I didnt spend any time there), the second is split in two, on the left side its seating and on the right its seating and the shower and nap rooms. In order to access the right side you have to head upstairs to the third level where there is more dining, a bar and more seating and head to the opposite side and take the elevators down a level. I think this seperation is due to Etihad having two in lounge gates for their A380 services.

To be honest I just wanted a shower at this point, once finding the elusive location an attendant pointed me to a vacant shower room which was nicely appointed with fresh towels and some amenities. No branded shower products seem to be in use here with the exception of a very small armani lipbalm, potentially another cost saving exercise. My shower was great and made me feel more alive and human, after this I honestly just grabbed a seat in the area just outside the showers as it was very quiet.



I had a bag of chips and a water and tried to charge my various tech things. One weird thing for this super new terminal is that they didn't have universal power plugs or USB type C plugs only USB-A and what i assume is the local UAE power plug, not very transit friendly. I sat here until I noticed the screen now listed my gate, odly enough I couldn't figure out what time boarding would start as they didn't make announcements nor was I told when I entered, so I just left about an hour before departure and slowly walked to my gate C31. I'll have more time in the lounge on my return flight so stay tuned for a more in depth review.

Boarding and cabin layout
At AUH you will find similar gate lounges/prisons like at Singapore Changi except we didn't need to go through security just have our passports and tickets checked. They didn't get checked after this until we were onboard. Most people seemed to already be in the prison so I found a spare seat towards the boarding end of the "gate lounge". The lounge/prison also featured two toilets which seemed to be popular.



After about 10-15 minutes boarding was called for Business passengers and the agent made a big song and dance about this not being the economy group and instructed several people to sit back down which was a little awkward considering we were all heading into the same plane.

This flight was on the backbone of the Etihad fleet, the B787-9 featuring 28 Business class seats between doors 1 and 2 in a 1-2-1 layout and a further 262 Economy seats in a 3-3-3 layout behind this. There is a newer layout with newer reverse herringbone seats which frequents Munich but not on this day which is a shame.



Seats alternate as you can see above with seats either facing forward or backwards. Backwards facing isle and centre seats are a little less private and exposed to the isle where forward facing seats are a bit better protected but you do get coffined in.



Our flight was full so i quickly took my seat at 10A a forward facing window seat and grabbed my Qantas PJ's (as Etihad doesn't supply them on short european flights) and headed to the toilet to get changed so I could head to sleep after take off.



Arrival drinks were offered, I picked lemon mint which is now my favourite drink ever! Hot towels were handed out along with slippers and amenity kits.

Service
The flight attendant serving my isle introduced her self while we were on the ground she advised me I could eat when ever I wanted, I chose to eat later in the flight after I've slept but she was happy to take my order now to ensure my preference was set aside for later.

At this point there was no menu at my seat so we did this awkward 3 second thing of just staring at one another, her anticipating I'd tell her what I wanted, me anticipating she would tell what was on offer. Once I mentioned I didn't have a menu she apologised and found me one, gave me a minute to look through it and came back to take my order before returning the menu to where ever it came from. In the haste of things I didn't grab a photo of the menu, did I mention it was 2am at this point...

Anyway, they served another round of drinks after take off with warm nuts but I had drifted half a sleep so didn't notice a crew member leaving this on the little surface next to my seat for me to enjoy later.

Once I woke up I headed to the loo where a crew member noticed I was awake and 5 minutes later came by my seat to ask if they could prepare my breakfast tray for me which I gladly accepted. At this point I also checked out the entertainment and watched a few episodes of Season 2 of Julia, a comedy based on Julia Childs first TV cooking show which was very entertaining.



So my tray included an espresso which I had ordered (theres an insane amount of coffee options), water, fruit, a croissant with butter and jam on the side as well as my main meal which I had ordered, the Scrambled Eggs Shakshouka with fetta and caramelised onions which honestly really hit the spot. It had a little spice and good amount of salt from the fetta and just lots of flavour which I devoured. 10/10 airplane breakfast.

I followed this up by a cup of peppermint tea about an hour prior to landing which was served promptly with a little Godiva chocolate.



Bed and Amenities

Ok there is a theme developing of me not taking photos of the seat in bed mode and that theme is continuing here but I have borrowed a photo from the Prince of Travel for reference.



As you can see the bed lies flat with most of the lower half of your body sliding under the tv section. I don't have an issue with this but it can feel a bit coffin like as both sides of the seat are restricted by walls meaning its very difficult for you to sleep on your side. I don't really see why Etihad had the seat designed with that ledge by the window as this steals about two inches of space and really traps you in the seat. For this reason I didn't sleep very well so I think this is a better day time relaxing type seat than for these european redeye flights.



In terms of amenities, we had the same pillow, blanket and mattress protector as on our flight from Manila. I was offered slippers but declined and we received the cube amenity kit which I think is less useful and attractive than the pouch version you get on flights to AUH. Our version was in a gold-ish finish which may be a limited edition version as it doesnt look like any of the photos Etihad released when announcing these new kits at the beginning of 2024, its contents however are the same as the last flight.

Arrival and overall thoughts

Arriving in rainy Munich before 6am meant we were the first international arrival flight of the day, I know that because there were no Immigration officers at their post when we got there. A short 10 minute wait while someone from the airport franticly went to find them followed by a lengthy 40 minute wait for our luggage meant it was 7am by the time I left the terminal in search for the train station. This is a daily flight so I'm not sure if this was some sort of fluke or a regular issue at Munich.

Over all this flight again was very positive on the soft product side and Terminal A in AUH is a big step forward for Etihad making it very competitive for transferring customers. Hard product however I have to say this isn't my favourite seat to sleep in, for those who, like Dracula sleep on their back while counting sheep, it may not be an issue. I have a daytime flight on the return so my thoughts may differ on that occasion.

Now onto Christmas Markets in cold rainy Europe....

 

[OZDUCK]

Ha I tried that last time and quickly gave up
You are doing much better than me!

Same for me. Tried it several times but it just didn't work.

Thanks for the information about the terminal Joshual. We will be arriving there at roughly the same time in 5 months on the way to Frankfurt

 

[JoshuaL1997]

Two and a half days in Munich

Boutique Hotel Germania
Standard Single Room

After arriving in Munich at 7am I headed to the train station inside the airport which can be easily found following the signs with a a white S inside a green circle. Munich airport is in Zone 5 of the Munich metro area for ticketing purposes so I purchased a 5 zone day pass for 15 euros which gave me access across the city on munich's public transport system for a full 24 hour period.

I was headed to Munichs Main Train Station or Hauptbahnhof (HB) so both the S1 and S8 where open to me which take between 35-45 minutes to reach the city centre where my hotel was located.

During my travels there was much construction in and around Munich HB making navigating the neighbouring streets and crossings with two suitcases a bit of a challenge, add rain to that and your in for a treat. As you can see from below picture the hotel is just a block away but in reality its a fair walk thanks to crossing being closed etc.



When I arrived my room wasn't ready yet as it was just after 8:30am but my luggage was put into storage and I headed out to start exploring the city. When I returned at 1pm my room was available and I checked in, grabbed my keys and had a lie down to deal with the jetlag.

The room and what I paid

I booked a single room for 237 Euro for two nights or about $400 AUD, breakfast was an additional 18 euros per person per day.



The room on the top floor was compact but surprisingly spacious. Both my suitcases fit in the room with wiggle room to spare. The bed was the size of a double bed but felt longer with bedding for a single person, I note the doona was literally a meter wide not actually wide enough to cover the bed. There was also a nespresso machine and a glass bottle of sparkling water which gets refilled each day as well as a safe and an tablet were you could find hotel info and local attractions/restaurants.



The Bathroom, also compact had a full sized shower, toilet and large basin with soap and shower gel and shampoo in the shower. All very clean and fresh and in my humble opinion good value for money for a single traveler.

In my two days in Munich I explored Marien Platz which is home to the neo gothic town hall and a large christmas market, I also went to the Residenz Museum which is near the Marien Platz and is the former home of Bavarian Kings and Queens which now also hosts royal jewellery and a mostly restored part of the original building, entry was affordable at 15 euro for the combination ticket which included a multilingual audio guide, this took me about two hours to complete and was quit interesting but crowded in some places with school groups.



Separately the following day I purchased a 10 euro single zone transport ticket for the day and headed a little further out of the city on the tram to Schloss Nymphenburg, the former summer residence of Bavarian royals which is 10 kilometers away from their other home, the Residenz museum.



The property is on a very large park which is accessible for free and in summer would be a great place for a picnic. The palace entry ticket costs 12 euro plus a further 4 for the audio guide, this ticket got you access to the palace and the Marsthalle museum next to the palace where royal coaches, sleds and porcelain among other things are displayed. Accessible aspects of the palace are smaller than the residenz museum, if you only have time for one I'd do the residenz museum.



The palace is also the birthplace of King Ludwig II who was a very fascinating character, he had the iconic Neuschwanstein Castle built and racked up a huge amount of debt due to this. His's death remains mysterious after he was proclaimed as insane in part due to his debts. The museum also suggested there were rumours of his homosexuality as he never married, who doesn't love a scandal prone royal, especially one with such a fetching moustache.
You can watch a cool video about him and his death here:

For those that like history and markets theres plenty to do in Munich at this time of year, my favourite christmas markets were the markets in Marien Platz and the Medieval markets located at Wittlesbacher Platz where you can also find some of the best muled wine cups in the city and the below pizza with cheese and ham to keep you warm.




As you can see Munich has a lot to offer outside of October Fest and I highly recommend you spend a few days here or even see if you can tag on a day trip to somewhere like Neuschwanstein which I didn't have time for this time.

 

[SYD]

We stayed at the Mercure next door a few days later (stayed there previously about 10yrs ago).

The rate over 4 nights varied from €99 to €213 pn (€641 for 4x nights). But the room was big, with free mini bar and most importantly - they had a room available for our early checkin!

We caught the U Bahn in from the airport also but didn’t know about the local 24 hr add-on! I realised later….