One TR as promised:
I was looking for somewhere a little international to celebrate a milestone - Prague was my first choice, but my impressions of what it would cost were apparently seriously out of whack with reality. Sweet Jebus that place is expensive! Fearing for my bank balance, I settled on Hong Kong - Asia's World City and my first ever international destination at somewhere around 16 months old, so it was somehow appropriate that I go back to from whence the travel addiction came…
Planning began in earnest somewhere around December last year. I made the decision to buy the plane tickets on points - I'd been saving them for a RTW in J, but that can wait for another time. Travelling in style was definitely in order, so I started looking for F redemptions to HKG. At that stage, QF29 MEL/HKG still had reasonable availability in F .. figuring I had a reasonable chance of getting the flights I wanted, I started researching hotels. Sadly the W Hotel wanted way too much of the folding stuff, so that will have to be an experience for another time - however their being too expensive may have been somewhat of a silver lining, as it put me on to the Mira Hotel. All the reviews I was able to find rated the property as being pretty decent, and my travel agent noted that there was a decent special through Qantas Holidays.... sold!
By the time I got back around to booking flights, of course, F availability was gone. There was J, and 16A was most definitely available on my chosen flight - one online booking and 60000 points later, I get to finally travel upper deck on a 744!
Or so I thought. You see, QF decided that they weren't going to sell F on my flight after all, and seat 1A for J points sounded like a v good idea to me..
while I was organising to swap seats, a v friendly QF premium desk staffer found me a J redemption on CX coming back through ADL on the day I wanted - I was originally going to fly QF back until I found out what the departure time was scheduled to be; going to the airport at my least favourite time of day (and almost certainly accessorised with a monster hangover) sounded like a Bad Idea Indeed.
So. Fast forward a few months, past all the boring bits (mostly related to co-ordinating a bunch of family and friends to come along for the ride - I pity travel agents, I really do), and we're ready to go .. flatmate + me + sister + sisters boyfriend all booked on party flight QF29 up to HKG!
We decided that booking a car out to the airport would be in-keeping with the theme of the evening; a Mercedes Benz with an only slightly obnoxious driver turned up to ferry us out .. however in no time at all, we were all at the F check-in area and ready to go. The check in agent was able to find a couple spa treatments for us, with the gotcha that one of them was starting in 5 minutes..! After bags were dumped, flatmate bolted for C&I to make it in time. Those of us left behind took a more leisurely stroll up to the always wonderful concierge staff at the FLounge; we "were expected", and congratulations were offered for the upcoming celebrations as well!
I was looking for somewhere a little international to celebrate a milestone - Prague was my first choice, but my impressions of what it would cost were apparently seriously out of whack with reality. Sweet Jebus that place is expensive! Fearing for my bank balance, I settled on Hong Kong - Asia's World City and my first ever international destination at somewhere around 16 months old, so it was somehow appropriate that I go back to from whence the travel addiction came…
Planning began in earnest somewhere around December last year. I made the decision to buy the plane tickets on points - I'd been saving them for a RTW in J, but that can wait for another time. Travelling in style was definitely in order, so I started looking for F redemptions to HKG. At that stage, QF29 MEL/HKG still had reasonable availability in F .. figuring I had a reasonable chance of getting the flights I wanted, I started researching hotels. Sadly the W Hotel wanted way too much of the folding stuff, so that will have to be an experience for another time - however their being too expensive may have been somewhat of a silver lining, as it put me on to the Mira Hotel. All the reviews I was able to find rated the property as being pretty decent, and my travel agent noted that there was a decent special through Qantas Holidays.... sold!
By the time I got back around to booking flights, of course, F availability was gone. There was J, and 16A was most definitely available on my chosen flight - one online booking and 60000 points later, I get to finally travel upper deck on a 744!
Or so I thought. You see, QF decided that they weren't going to sell F on my flight after all, and seat 1A for J points sounded like a v good idea to me..
while I was organising to swap seats, a v friendly QF premium desk staffer found me a J redemption on CX coming back through ADL on the day I wanted - I was originally going to fly QF back until I found out what the departure time was scheduled to be; going to the airport at my least favourite time of day (and almost certainly accessorised with a monster hangover) sounded like a Bad Idea Indeed.So. Fast forward a few months, past all the boring bits (mostly related to co-ordinating a bunch of family and friends to come along for the ride - I pity travel agents, I really do), and we're ready to go .. flatmate + me + sister + sisters boyfriend all booked on party flight QF29 up to HKG!
We decided that booking a car out to the airport would be in-keeping with the theme of the evening; a Mercedes Benz with an only slightly obnoxious driver turned up to ferry us out .. however in no time at all, we were all at the F check-in area and ready to go. The check in agent was able to find a couple spa treatments for us, with the gotcha that one of them was starting in 5 minutes..! After bags were dumped, flatmate bolted for C&I to make it in time. Those of us left behind took a more leisurely stroll up to the always wonderful concierge staff at the FLounge; we "were expected", and congratulations were offered for the upcoming celebrations as well!
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I will let either of them to say who it is. 
)! Descending in to HKG took us through a massive storm front - you know you're in for a rough ride when the PIC gets on the tannoy and instructs everyone in no uncertain terms to take their seats immediately! It wasn't the worst turbulence I've been in, but it was certainly up there .. the weirdest part of it all was hearing the heavy rain against the nose of the plane; it sounded similar to being under a tin roof in a big storm.
