Trip Reports - Celebrating my 53rd birthday - 1st time in first

Celebrating my 53rd Birthday – RTW4- First time in First

The Preamble

After spending 2 months travelling around the world in the autumn of 2006, I wondered if my appetite for travel would be satisfied, and for about 3 months it was, but by the end of February I’d got it back and booked my summer holidays in Arizona. I didn’t write a trip report for that as there is not much you can say about return flights on AA in economy!!
Once that was booked it was back to reading the trip reports on Flyer talk and reports from people like Seat 2a, Moomba, Carfield,Tex277, PhilH and others convinced me that it was time to get a taste of first class travel for myself.
After weeks playing with the star alliance mileage calculator and taking advice from the excellent guides set up by Kiwi flyer, I was ready to book.

I was pleased to see that Trailfinders had opened a branch in my home town, so I went to visit in person. I had everything printed out ready, and after the consultant initially started questioning the validity of my route, he decided wisely that he’d better just feed it in to the system, and surprise, surprise it was valid. I also presented him with a list of seat requests and he was able to get all the seats I wanted, except for the business class flight on Asiana. The whole process took only 33 minutes, but that was 3 minutes too long as I received a parking ticket from those evil Traffic wardens in Brighton.
The one disappointment was not being able to get booked on a Singapore 77W, so on one flight I had to book the regional first class instead. Some weeks later the agent phoned me to say a seat had opened up on the 77W and he had held it for me, and did I want it. Well naturally I grabbed it with both hands, so by August all the flights were set.

Over the next couple of months I booked the various hotels and I was set to go.

Now I’ve never flown first class before, (I’m not counting internal flying in the U.S as first class, business class at best in my opinion) so all I can compare it to is my previous trips in business class.
You will have to forgive me if my ramblings become excited and irrational, things which might seem second nature to you experienced first class flyers will be a novelty to me. Whilst you experienced fliers might read on in amusement, hopefully I will generate some interest amongst those of you who, like me have never sampled the delights of first class travel before.

This trip will include 3 new cities, 2 new countries, 2 new airlines, an American city i’ve not been to for 15 years and of course my first time in first class.

Now I’ve never flown first class before, (I’m not counting internal flying in the U.S as first class, business class at best in my opinion) so all I can compare it to is my previous trips in business class.
You will have to forgive me if my ramblings become excited and irrational, things which might seem second nature to you experienced first class flyers will be a novelty to me. Whilst you experienced fliers might read on in amusement, hopefully I will generate some interest amongst those of you who, like me have never sampled the delights of first class travel before.



Not in the least. I look forward to reading your report and am glad that you are so excited about it.

I think the only thing better than the anticipation of a new F flight is an unexpected F flight.

My first First was an op-up on CX and I was hooked from then on.

Beware though going back to J might take some counseling :D

Edited to add: HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Day 1_- To Heathrow and onwards to Bangkok

I hate Heathrow, i hate the airport and i hate travelling to it. I have to accept that if i'm flying to Asia i've got little choice, but the open skies agreement now means my summer flights to the States have moved from very convenient Gatwick to Heathrow. Damn.

Anyway, thats enough moaning, on to the trip.

Unlike my last trip to Heathrow, the trains ran like clockwork and the journey was hassle free, so was check in, where my seat request 2A had been honoured and my US frequent flier number entered all without having to ask.

I looked at security and decided the regular queues were shorter than the fast track ones, the boarding card checker admonished me for not taking advantage of the fast track privelege. I told her i was happy where i was and surprisingly was through in 5 minutes. I simply walked around the shoe screening area instead of going through it despite an unimportant person directing you through it. Thats a tip i picked up on flyer talk.

I then decided to use another flyertalk tip and headed for the Singapore lounge even though im flying Thai. The man on the desk asked for my Thai gold card, which i told him i dont have or need. He then tried to direct me to the business side until i reminded him of the Star Alliance lounge access rules.

To be honest i wasnt that impressed so headed over to the london lounge that Thai use, even though it doesnt have a first class section, it seemed to have a better ambience than Singapore’s lounge, although the food offerings were slightly worse.

Annoyingly the wifi in the lounge wasnt working so i wasnt able to post the first part of this report before i left. Not being a computer wizz, i assumed it was my fault until i saw 2 young Japanese guys fail to connect, which made me feel a lot better !!

Time now to head off to the gate to hear those words “we’d like to welcome our first class passengers to board” apply to me for the first time!!

To be continued

Looking forward to reading and sharing your first class extravaganza with you Gatwick Alan!!

Enjoy!! :)

The gate was announced late, and boarding didnt even start until the time we were due to take off.
When they announced preboarding for people with children half the plane got on, then they announced first class boarding another stampede took place. Another flyertalk tip i’d picked up was how to deal with the gate lice (wonderful term, whoever thought that up) I settled behind a man clearly holding an economy boarding pass and asked him if this was the first class queue. With that question the hoard parted and i was through.
I was greeted at the door and shown to seat 2A, and had my jacket taken

At this point a tip that Moomba gave to first time first class fliers came into my head.
That immortal piece of advice was just say yes to what ever you are offered. So i did.

Champagne before take off, oh yes please. Would you like another once we are airborne, oh yes please..... you get the picture!!

I was relieved to see we had the new first class and there were only 4 people out of 10 tonight. The seats were laid out with the ameneties bag, menu and blanket, and i was quickly given a pair of pyjamas. I was going to ask for medium, but was advised i was a large, charming!!!
The guy in1A went and changed before we took off, so following his lead i did the same, but not until the first glass of champers had been downed. I didnt care about looking a burke as everybody else did too. Light purple is not really my colour.

We were an hour and 10 minutes late getting off the ground, but a strong tail wind meant a 10 hour flying time and an on time arrival.

The captain then came on and gave the longest speech about the routing ive ever heard. He named every country we would be flying over and ever body of water too, took him 10 minutes in english.

Now ive read some bad reports about the Thai service and maybe im not yet the best person to judge, but i couldnt fault the service. The glass was kept full, service was at just the right speed for me and when i woke up they were by my side in seconds offering a drink. I’ll compare it against Singapore in a few days.

I found the seat comfortable and was able to sleep in the flat position.

We were given a pack of cards at the end to thank us for flying Thai.

The menu is below

TG917 LHR-BKK March 14th 2007 – First class

First Serving

Hot Savoury
Prawn on toast, Plum Sauce

First Course
Duck Foie Gras
Marinated Prawns
Broiled lobster tail
Creme fraiche with dill

Soup
Curried celery Soup

Main Course
Grilled angler fish,veloute saffron fish sauce,parsley buttered potatoes, vegetables

or
Prawns in green curry, Steamed Thai hom mali rice, mixed vegetables in oyster sauce, salted egg

or
Grilled fillet of beef, morcel cream sauce, duchess potatoes, pumpkin, carrot and zucchini

or
Roasted Duck, Soy Sauce
Steamed Thai Hom Mali Rice
Pak Choy and carrot in Oyster Sauce
Assorted Breads / Butter
Assorted Cheese tray / Fresh Fruits

Dessert
Cassis roulade, raspberry coulis
Tea, Coffee, Espresso, Cappucino

*******

Openfaced Sandwiches (available upon request)
Tea, Coffee

Second Serving

Fresh Fruits
Yoghurt, Cereals

Main Course
Pork Siew Mai, ShrimpHa Gao, Pork Shar Siew Bun

or
Omelet filled with cream asparagus topped with parmesan cheese gratin
Grilled back bacon, potato
Creamed mushrooms, roasted cherry tomato
or
Bolied Egg
Grilled Bacon
Grilled Chicken Sausage
or
Scrambled egg, smoked salmon, grilled back bacon, tomato provencale
or
Yellow noodle soup with roast pork
Or
Soft boiled rice with accompaniments

White Toast, Croissant, Mini Brown Hovis Roll
Butter, Honey, Jam, marmalade
Tea, Coffee, Ovaltine



I had the Angler fish which was really good, nice and moist. Not sure how good this first class fare was yet, i enjoyed it, but i reserve judgement til ive sampled a few more airlines.

Once we got to the gate, E9, about as far away from immigration as you can get, first class passengers are greeted by a man holding up your name and you are whisked into a cart, driven straight to immigration and then processed in the diplomatic channel with no queues. You are then taken to baggage reclaim, where the first class bags came out first. A porter then takes you to your waiting car, loads the luggage into the boot, bows and departs. This really is a great service from Thai, totally stress free after a long flight, they do all the thinking for you.

Next up - a quick shop in Bangkok.

Happy Birthday! I hope you enjoy your trip and I look forward vicariously living through you via your trip report. :)

It's a lot of fun to read the fresh views from someone new to the front. Keep writing and enjoying!

Like yourself until recently, I've only done domestic "first". Hoping to one day cross the pond from the front of the plane. Looking forward to reading the rest.

Thanks for the trip report! I'm looking forward to experience 1st across the pond here sometime this year.

Thanks for the birthday wishes guys, perhaps i should admit my birthday is not until March 25th, when i will be living it up on a Singapore 77w in first.
Now that i am looking forward to !!!

Happy birthday in advanced, Alan! First class RTW - what a nice birthday treat! ^

Great report thus far - looking forward to more. :)

Days 2 and 3 Bangkok

I decided to stay at the Holiday Inn, the one adjacent to the Intercontinental. The last few trips here have been spent at the Amari Watergate, but i felt that hotel was looking a bit tired in the rooms, so i decided to collect points instead. I did consider the Intercontinental but as its more expensive and undergoing a refurb, i settled on the Holiday Inn and am very happy with my choice.

I didnt get as far as the check in as i was ushered to a seat and checked in from there. Maybe the priority club tag on the luggage did the trick.

I was upgraded into a junior suite. This is not like a UK or US Holiday Inn, its altogether a higher standard. Access to the Executive club was included, the lounge serves breakfast and is open right up to 11pm. A great place to stop off and get a cool drink after stepping out into the hot and humid streets of Bangkok.

Those of you who have been to Bangkok will know there are bargains galore to be had and in glad i didnt fill the suitcase up, with KL coming up next space will be at a premium after that !! A quick stroll up to Pantip Plaza (computers, cds etc) and Pratunam Market (clothes) did it for me.

If youve never been, once you get out of the hotel your senses are assaulted by the smells of food, cars and other indeterminate things. Its a hectic place and one you either love or hate, me i love it.

Next up a short hop to KL on Luffy.

Happy Birthday in advance, Alan,

I knew I would read something about LHR, from your FT handle. :D
You reports on the success of FT tips is great.

Thank you for sharing these tips and experiences, of your 'Alan's excellent adventure(s)'. ^

Sounds like lots of fun, so far...
Mid-Valley Megamall is good in KL if you can get that far from KL (it's one SLOW train stop from Sentral; taxi might be a better option).

Make sure you go out somewhere special for St Patrick's Day!

Happy Birthday in advance, Alan,

I knew I would read something about LHR, from your FT handle. :D
You reports on the success of FT tips is great.



Make sure you go out somewhere special for St Patrick's Day!

Actually the reason for the handle isnt because i hate LHR, though i do, it was simply because at the time i was spending 3 years working at Gatwick and i thought i might be able to be of some use to people wanting info on LGW.
In fact on one occasion i met a fellow flyertalker and helped them transfer from BA to NW.
Times change and i work there no longer.

Great trip report OP. I am really enjoying it.

I do hope you appreciate the lengths I have gone to, to be able to reply to your posts! Although I have registered with Flyertalk it is doubtful that I will ever post anything myself (unless you include a budget holiday to Ibiza!). Oh well, it's alright for you single, wealthy people! The trip sounds amazing so far, wish I could have gone shopping with you in Bangkok - I would have easily filled your suitcase!

I will save the birthday wishes for the actual date (if I remember to come on line on the day!), after all, I do have inside knowledge!

Hope you have a great trip, lots of love, look forward to the rest of your reports,
Carol
x

Happy birthday Gatwick Alan.

What a nice present to yourself - first class around the world. Enjoy. You've started off well - 33 minutes to ticket (some kind of record?) and already tantalising info of a mixture of airlines in F.

Hooray.

Caz,
Why is that? The more one contributes the more everybody can learn and benefit from. :confused:

It's not Alan's birthday just yet... :)

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/member.php?u=40913

I'm lovin' your report so far. Hope you have a very happy birthday on the 25th.

Bobette

Thanks for all your kind comments everyone, perhaps its time to explain a few things.

Kiwi Flyer i couldnt have made the booking so quickly without your information, to anybody thinking of a trip like this, read the star alliance forum. The trip is not particularly complicated, the idea was to try and fly all the main players and ive managed this with the exception of Swiss, which i couldnt fit in without comprimising the places i wanted to visit or exceeding the 29000 mile limit.
Most importantly i wanted a good dose of Singapore whose service is supposedly legendary.
I'll be flying Thai,Lufthansa,Singapore x4, Asiana (j), ANA and United.

Because of the very early easter this year i managed to combine this and next years holiday to make a 3 week trip.

I've been extolling the virtues of Flyertalk to friends and colleagues alike, some think i'm quite mad, whilst others have brought in to the whole deal, i know one work colleague already has collected enough miles for a return trip to the U.S.

As for this Caz Gordon woman, well shes actually my sister and nobody was more surprised than me to see her post !! I guess she just needs a bit of coaching !! I agree with the comment about her posting, i know shes looking at a holiday to Switzerland later in the year, and whilst that might not seem too exciting to British posters, it would probably interest people from the rest of the world, i'll work on her !!

I'm off to that monstrosity of BKK airport shortly, to sample Thai's First class lounge.

I'm off to that monstrosity of BKK airport shortly, to sample Thai's First class lounge.

I hope you have left enough time for the spa. And don't forget the buggy ride :cool:

Day 4 BKK to KUL on Lufthansa

To the best of my knowledge LH782 is the only *alliance flight that has first class between these 2 cities hence my decision to fly it. I’m not sure it’ll be fair to judge the food on a flight of just over 2 hours, but at least i can try out the hardware.

I left the hotel with plenty of time to spare with the expectation of trying what is supposed to be a great Thai first class lounge. I know i wont be able to sample the massage services, but we’ll see what the rest is like.

My driver picked me up bang on time at the hotel and headed off to the airport. Journey time was a very acceptable 25 minutes

Check in was quick and painless, now is because im in first class that the check in staff go to great lengths to tell me i have my preselected seat and that my frequent flier details have already been entered. Its working anyway because my first flight miles have already posted.

Armed with my invite to the Thai first class lounge, i head in that direction via the duty free shop.
Now it appears 4 is my lucky number for this trip. On the first flight only 4 people in first and as you will see only 4 in first on this trip too.
When i entered the Thai lounge is was quickly attended to by 4 Thai girls. The first rushed over and asked me what i wanted to drink. The second took me to the savoury food section, the third was in charge of deserts and the last one looked after fresh fruit.
At no time was i expected to serve myself, or even carry it to the table. I was surprised they didnt offer to feed it to me.
At 2 in the afternoon the lounge was an oasis of calm and an hour and a quarter just flew by.

The Lufthansa flight was at nearby gate D4 which was a blessing, knowing how long the walks can be. The inbound flight was on time and as the last passenger disembarked, an army of cleaners descended on the plane, i counted them, 24 in total.

Its time to board, i’ll post the flight details tomorrow.

[B]I was surprised they didnt offer to feed it to me.

You can´t have all benefits, when travelling only in F. :D

How sad are you that you can actually be bothered to count the cleaners?!!!
When you get back you can explain all the benefits of belonging to Flyertalk to me - you know me, a bit of a technophobe, unlike your other sister! (or your Mum!)
The holiday in Switzerland looks unlikely now, we've prmosed to take Steve's Mum with us and she doesn't want to fly! With Steve's back op don't think we can afford 2 hols this year. Oh well, you can help us plan for next year!
Looking forward to reading the rest & what about photos?
Carol
x

Great stuff Gatwick Alan ^

Your trip does sound absolutely fantastic and I am glad that your FT training is certainly paying off.

There really is nothing quite like that first time that you settle into your First class seat. However, to be honest I still get that sense of excitement each and every time I am fortunate to hold a F BP. That's why I like to write my TRs - so that in future I can look back and relive each and every experience.

I am looking forward to the rest of your instalments and can assure you that you are not really missing too much in Brighton right now!

The flight was pretty quiet so boarding wasnt much of an issue, but that didnt stop a stupid woman going down the economy airbridge and then try to fight her way back through the business and first passengers to her seat right at the front.

First class is upstairs on Lufthansa and i had booked exit row seat 83A. The other 3 passengers were all sitting in the front row, one a couple and one a man who turned down a chance to have a whole row to himself.
This gave me the chance to get my camera out and take pictures of the food.

The flight left on time and being in the exit row i had the charming German flight attendant to talk to on take off. Her shift pattern was to fly down from Frankfurt, 1 day off, fly down to KL and back, 1 day off then fly back from Bangkok to Frankfurt.
We had a good chat about the best places in the world to visit, i recommended New Zealand from her wish list, and she recommended Rio to me.

Sadly (or not) i was the only person drinking champagne and they had to open a bottle especially for me, which was done in front of me. Time for another Flyertalk tip, if theyve opened the champagne for you, then its your duty to ensure that it doesnt go to waste, happy to report i complied.

I was called by name throughout the flight, something Thai failed to do.
The food was a 3 course meal and the presentation was exquisite. I’d told the flight attendant that i was comparing the first class service on the various airlines and she said, not unreasonably that it wasnt fair to compare on such a short flight and that the food service on the longer flights was much better.
I’d have to say the food presentation was better than Thai, although obviously much less in content. The menu is below.

Dinner
Hors d,oeuvre
Norwegian smoked salmon and caper potato salad with sour cream, tomato salsa and green asparagus

Entrees
Wild Mushroom risotto with whipped cream and sautéed white button mushroom

Stir fry chicken thigh with Chinese mushroom soy sauce, steamed rice, bok choy and grilled bell pepper

Dessert
Pineapple and apple strudel with vanilla sauce

The crew on the flight were excellent, as they were on my last business class flight and would say they were marginally better than Thai.
However if i was to choose between the airlines for an overnight flight i would choose Thai. The Lufthansa seat is comfortable, but on the 747 all of the first class seats are in pairs with no real divider between you and your seatmate. I dont mean to sound snobby but if you are travelling alone in first class its nice to have your own personal space. On Thai you are in your own world if you take a window seat. Also do Lufthansa really think that entertainment screen is acceptable for first class, ive seen bigger in economy.
On this short flight i didnt watch it, but on a long flight that screen would annoy me.

If Lufthansa upgrade the hardware on the plane, the soft side is all in place.

A 20 minute early arrival was negated by having to divert round a thunderstorm.


Next up, Malaysian immigration and the Crown Plaza Kuala Lumpur

I wanted to highlight here the first bit of travel common sense encountered for a very long time. Malaysia i salute you!!
After getting off the plane i walked to immigration handed over my passport, they swiped it and i was on my way. Done in seconds. Notice what’s missing? Yes no landing or immigration card required. Malaysia did away with them about 2 weeks ago deeming them unnecessary.
Filling in a card with the details from your passport has always been pointless when they swipe them anyway, and what actual use is putting your first night hotel, how does that prove if you are a terrorist or not?, how does that prove if you are going to overstay your welcome? I’m sure the authorities can view your flight bookings if they need to.

Wouldn’t it be lovely if other countries followed suit instead of the ever increasing requirements we are suffering in other countries.

Caught a taxi to the hotel, i know the train is cheaper, but the taxi is only a tenner ($20) and not worth mucking about with the train and a cab, particularly after that champagne.
Stayed at the Crowne Plaza as i did last time i was here, even got the same room again. The lounge on the 21st floor is nice and serves a better breakfast than the holiday inn in Bangkok. Dont rely on it in the evening to fill you up.
One thing i did notice was that last time i stayed i had a fruit bowl and a small box of chocolates in the room, nothing this time though. Whilst not important you wonder if its a cost saving or just forgetfullness, especially after all the waffle about how wonderful it was to see me back.

The weather in KL was mixed to say the least, sunny til lunchtime then heavy rain and thunderstorms in the afternoon.

Next up – a chance to take SQ kul-sin before it turns to business class and then onto Melbourne on a 747 in first and the opportunity to sample Chiangi T3 and the new lounge.

Alan,

A fantastic report so far and one that i've just spent the last 20minutes reading! I look forward to seeing your report to MEL. It's a wonderful city and has so much to offer. I look forward to find out where you are staying!

Chris

Alan, if you areable to, remember you can change your SQ F ticket (and back!) to MH so you can try both the MH KUL F Golden Lounge AND the SQ lounge.

I guess it is academic as your SIN-SYD is SQ!

Flying SQ F to SIN, can you go into the SQ F lounge in T3 with your (just used) boarding pass? I recall arriving MH pax can use the MH lounge but SQ probably does not allow lounge use for arriving pax.

Don't forget the toiletries in the SIN SKL.
The Tiger beer tap there is great.
What champers is in the ice bucket today? :)

Looking forward to MEL, too, and hope we meet there. Enjoy your trip and have a single malt on the way for me!

[Edit to add: If you read this in time AND have time on the way from the SKL to the gate, can you check on the SIN Duty Free price of Johnny Walker Blue? If it's a great price I'll add it to the Duty Free 'best buy' list. Thanks!]
Cheers,
BB

Alan, if you areable to, remember you can change your SQ F ticket (and back!) to MH so you can try both the MH KUL F Golden Lounge AND the SQ lounge.

I guess it is academic as your SIN-SYD is SQ!
If i catch that flight we wont be meeting in MEL will we lol

Flying SQ F to SIN, can you go into the SQ F lounge in T3 with your (just used) boarding pass? I recall arriving MH pax can use the MH lounge but SQ probably does not allow lounge use for arriving pax.

I can use that lounge as my onward flight is in first, indeed im sitting there now typing this

Don't forget the toiletries in the SIN SKL.
Really disappointed to report, no toiletries given out here, gel and shampoo are dispensed from the wall
The Tiger beer tap there is great.
Yup, been there, tried that !!
What champers is in the ice bucket today? :)
Havent found it yet, but i will

Looking forward to MEL, too, and hope we meet there. Enjoy your trip and have a single malt on the way for me!I can do that !!

[Edit to add: If you read this in time AND have time on the way from the SKL to the gate, can you check on the SIN Duty Free price of Johnny Walker Blue? If it's a great price I'll add it to the Duty Free 'best buy' list. Thanks!]
Cheers,
BB

Johnny Walker Blue is 167s$ for 750ml and 222s$ for a litre

Hope to see you Friday
Best
Alan

Well ive just taken part in the Malaysian grand prix. Obviously, i havent but after my taxi journey from the hotel to the airport i feel like i’ve just sat next to Lewis Hamilton
As we set off from the hotel and joined the toll road, the rather elderly chinese gentleman driver set about putting the car through its paces, the 80 kph speed limit was ignored and we were soon doing 140kph. As we approach a sharp bend im thinking you really arent going to take it at this speed are you? Oh yes he was, you could feel the wheels fighting to stay on the tarmac.
In the distance im looking at dark clouds, really dark clouds and im thinking please hold off til we reach the aiport. It didnt and the rain came down in torrents, heaviest rain i’ve seen for some years. We did slow down, a bit. Aquaplaning took place more than once and i just kept looking out of the side window, because looking out the front just made me a tad nervous.
I made it in the end, and just stood outside for 5 minutes to chill out.

Into the terminal and an easy check in with my seat 2A confirmed (i had to keep booking Seat 2A to see if some of that legendary Flyertalkers writing skills would rub off on me if i sat in the same seat!!)

Once again Malaysia impressed with a speedy and efficient security, and no laptops out. So far its only BKK that required them to be taken out of your bag.

The SQ lounge in KL is a smallish facility with good views over the apron. Given the flights they do, i thought it was fine. Wine, beer and spirits were all available, along with noodles, soup, hot pasties and sandwiches and rolls.

The flight down to Singapore is only 40 minutes yet in this time they manage to serve you a drink and a choice of food. Amazing really, i know some airlines where the attendants wouldnt have got off their butts in this time.
In a couple of weeks this is going to be rebranded as a business class service as that is basically what it is, bet that going to upset the people who were able to access the SQ F lounge on the strength of that ticket.

Ive just arrived in Chiangi T3 and i’ll post my thoughts on this, the SQ first lounge and the flight to Melbourne next time.

Hi Alan,

I can actually say that I've been to one of the places that you're going to at last - Melbourne! Albeit only for a day but I loved it, very British compared to Adelaide which I hated, but I am talking about 20 years ago!!

Carol
x

Hi Alan....nice to hear you are on another RTW! Having met you on my own RTW in 2005 in BKK (and at your old haunt you mentioned a few posts ago, the Amari Watergate), it is especially interesting to read about and visualize your first class experience. I love details like how many other pax there are in the F cabin. And four-star hotels??? What a contrast to the dumps I holed up in to stretch the budget, places that wouldn't even garner half a star.

I can say that you are a genuinely nice guy, and no doubt you are very appreciative to the hard-working F flight attendants trying their best. I'm sure they are happy to be serving someone in F who is relishing every minute, hearing an abundance of sincere pleases and thank you's.

Looking forward to hearing about the rest of the journey!

The plane from KL arrived at terminal 2 and as I’m strolling through it to get the transit, I’m thinking what a fine terminal this is, but once we arrived at terminal 3 I was amazed at what a fantastic facility it is. The whole place is so quiet, you wouldn’t know you were at an airport, free internet for all including terminals, free movie theatre, shuttle trains to the far gates to save walking and loads of open space. If there’s a better facility than this in the world, then I haven’t been to it yet.

After investigating the terminal it was time to inspect the new SKF lounge.
It’s a very smart facility. The food and drinks selection is superb and there is free wireless access throughout the lounge. However I felt the place was just too clinical.
Lots of staff walking about cleaning up after you, which felt a little inclusive. As for the showers, what a disappointment. The shampoo and gel now come out of a container on the wall, but worst of all the water was only lukewarm even when put on the hottest setting. A nice facility, the food was exceptional, but I preferred the Thai lounge in Bangkok

We were departing from gate A3 which gave me the chance to see the A380 depart from the adjacent gate.

Now onto the flight to Melbourne, I was looking forward to this, SQ is supposed to provide a legendary service. I was not to be disappointed on this 747 flight.

There were only 5 of us in first tonight.

As soon as I reached the door of the plane I was quickly escorted to my seat and offered my choice of Krug or Dom, the service then continued with various items being brought for my use. I was addressed by name throughout. I even asked if they had a small ladies pair of pyjamas for me to give as a gift and they were instantly found as well.

The food was excellent, they had wagyu beef on the menu which I’ve never tried so I had to give that a try and it was melt in the mouth tender.

To finish I had to have a Johnny Walker Blue in deference to biziBB

SQ 228 Sin - Mel F/C
Dinner from Singapore to Melbourne

Appetizers
Chilled Malossal Caviar with melba toast and condiments
Triology of salmon with mesclun salad
Chilled lobster with fine mixed salad and mango chilli salsa

Soups
Oriental seafood soup with asparagus and beancurd
Cream of cauliflower with cherry tomato confit

Salad
Fine Mesclun leaves with shaved lotus root and oxheart tomato
Extra virgin olive oil dressing, chardonnay vinegar dressing, honey sesame dressing

Main Courses
*Grilled salmon, farro, beech mushroom, spinach salad, hazelnut
Singapore style chilli crab, a whole crab stir fried in a chilli sauce served with mantou and steamed rice
Grilled Wagyu beef steak with green peppercorn sauce roasted vegetables and sauteed potato with onion
Grilled teriyaki style chicken served with selected vegetables and steamed rice and sesame seeds
Roasted vegetables and ricotta cheese lasagne with tomato coulis and arugula

Desserts
Warm chocolate tart with Haagen Dazs rum raisin ice cream and passion fruit

Cheeses
Selection of cheeses with garnishes

Fruits
Fresh Fruits in Season

*Exclusively created by Nancy Oakes of Boulevard, San Francisco
As soon as i’d finished dinner they quickly made the bed up for me, the mattress makes all the difference.
All in all, a great flight, and to think i’ve got 2 more SQ flights to come, and daylight too

Next up Melbourne

Great report so far. Looking forward to the next segment.

A great time last night, catching up with Alan after he walked to my hotel!

I'm off to St Kilda for dinner but hope to catch up on your latest adventures, soon. What a lovely day. Wine tastingat Yarra Valley was great. :)

Melbourne
What a great city this is, if you cant find things to do here for a few days then you’re not really a traveller.
This is the perfect city to explore on foot, the buildings are a real mixture of old and new and statues/sculptures abound, a mix of the traditional and the bizarre. The strangest I saw was probably a square shaped cow stuck up a tree.
There’s plenty of museums to see and a long walk down the riverbank is a pleasant distraction too.
On good Friday a lot of things were closed, however it was good Friday appeal day, which to the Brits reading this, is Melbourne’s version of Children in Need.
As part of the festivities the Telstra dome was opened to the public. I took the opportunity to have a look around and its an impressive stadium. This is where they play Aussie rules football.
There were lots of things going on around the stadium, to me the best was watching the Victoria State police playing as a rock band. They were genuine policemen and women and they were really good and well worth a donation.

On Friday evening I had the pleasure of meeting another Flyertalker, this time BiziBB, who is enjoying a long weekend in Melbourne. We had a few beers and talked everything travel. He probably thinks I’m a sad old rocker too!!!
There was one question puzzling us both, how does Kiwiflyer do so much travelling, and what sort of job is he in. If he reads this report I very much doubt he’ll answer that !!

I stayed at the Grand Mercure apartments in Flinders Lane, I had a 1 bedroom suite and was very happy with it. Its an easy walk from anywhere you might want to go, with many cafes, shops and bars nearby. The bed was the most comfortable I have slept in to date, which may explain why I managed to sleep for 12 hours on the first night.

On the Saturday I ventured out of the city centre and first stop was Brighton Beach for no better reason than it’s the name of my home town. Its actually a much better beach than Brighton, England, this ones got sand instead of pebbles.
I also headed to Williamstown and then got the Ferry back to the city centre, which is a great ride.

I could easily spend longer here, shame its so far from the UK

Next up - Another flight on Singapore to Singapore

So once again our paths almost cross - this time Singapore.

Looking forward to your report on SQ 77W.

I caught the Skybus back to the airport, they operate a hotel drop off and pick up from the terminal in Southern Cross. The journey down in the rush hour was extremely busy but the journey back on Easter Sunday was really quiet.

When I reached check in, the man said ah, our first, first passenger. He said are you happy with your seat 2A, I said I was and he said well as things stand you can have the pick of the cabin, as you are currently the only first passenger scheduled to fly, hope you like a personal service !!

Well I’m thinking this has got to be too good to be true, so I headed for the lounge to make a valiant effort to eat the food they had put out for me, without daring to do the same with the drinks. As time passes still nobody joins me in the lounge.
But then 30 minutes before boarding, 4 people enter. Hmmm, well just because they are in here it doesn’t mean they are flying first, does it, I hope. Looking across I see 2 of them carrying business class passes, so that leaves 2.
Are my dreams about to be shattered, only boarding is going to find that out.

And my next posting, tomorrow, will reveal the answer.

What a wonderful journey to fly as well as to read about. And what a great way to spend your 53rd birthday, comfortably ensconced in a Singapore Suite aboard their magnificent new 77Ws. Oh the lives we FTers lead...

Happy Birthday Gatwick Alan and thanks for this excellent accounting of your travels.

By the way, you and I may well have been in the Melbourne airport at the same time yesterday. I had flown in around noon, met up with fellow FTer rot8 and then had a late lunch and hung out in the Virgin lounge until my Tiger Airways departure at 7:00pm.

Nice to read that you enjoyed Melbourne. :)
Apologies for not being able to come out to catch up with you and BiziBB as I had family stuff to do.

And well done on the very contemporaneous updates! Something I tried to achieve with the last TR but failed miserably. :o

Enjoy the rest of your trip. :)

Nice to read that you enjoyed Melbourne. :)
Apologies for not being able to come out to catch up with you and BiziBB as I had family stuff to do.

And well done on the very contemporaneous updates! Something I tried to achieve with the last TR but failed miserably. :o

Enjoy the rest of your trip. :)

I think you had an excellent (and very unfortunate) excuse for not updating as regularly as you would have wished.
Your report was excellent and if i had any computer skills, i'd post photo's too

Ive posted some pictures of the food in the flyertalk gallery.

http://gallery.flyertalk.com/gallery/Alliance-food-pics-March-08

Well my dreams weren’t to come true, when I walked into the cabin, or should I say escorted, there were 2 people sitting in row 3. As I was in row 2 I still couldn’t see anybody !!
Interestingly they weren’t the guys from the lounge, and since I was first to board, I’m not quite sure how they got there.
I was further confused when the flight attendant came to take the meal order. She was carrying the catering card and with the exception of the caviar, they had catered just one meal of each type. I was given first choice of everything, so I’m wondering if they were late comers who had been warned of the catering or just off duty crew using the seats.
In any event they ate what I didn’t and promptly went to sleep.
As it was a 5pm flight I’d already told the crew I wouldn’t be sleeping and wouldn’t want the bed made up. Hint - that means I’ll want service.
Well as we all know SQ provides exceptional service and its hard to find fault, but wait I’ve found something !!, unlike the 2 guys in row 3 my flight slippers weren’t delivered and I had to ask for them. Oh dear, whatever happened !!
The rest of the service was impeccable as usual.

The menu is below and I had my first caviar. To me its ok but overrated, I did remember Moomba’s advice and when asked if I wanted a shot of vodka with it naturally said yes.

Appetizers
Chilled Malossal Caviar with melba toast and condiments
Seared spiced Tuna served with Avocado tartare and lemon


Soups
Hot and sour soup
Cream of leak and potato soup garnished with candied chestnut

Salad
Fine Mesclun leaves with shaved fennel assorted cherry tomatoes and dried cranberry
Extra virgin olive oil dressing, chardonnay vinegar dressing, honey sesame dressing

Main Courses
Seared Lamb loin, salsa verde, Lyonnais onion, aioli, bacon

Stir fried prawns in preserved black bean sauce served with seasonal vegetables and fried noodles

Stewed chicken in red wine sauce served with papardella pasta, baby carrot and broccolini

Geang masaman neau, Thai malay style beef and potato curry with papaya salad and steamed rice

Saffron fettuccine pasta with sautéed ceps mushrooms, arugula lettuce, shaved parmesan cheese, creamy basil pesto



Desserts
Warm apple date beignet served with crème fraiche ice cream and passion fruit coullis

Cheeses
Selection of cheeses with grapes, nuts and crackers

Fruits
Fresh Fruits in Season



I was so stuffed after that meal that I declined the second meal before landing, settling for some fresh fruit, the choice was

Warm Steak sandwich with Chilli tomato relish, arugula and asparagus soup

Kao Tom - Thai style rice porridge with poached chicken and chicken meatball, fried garlic and pickled vegetable.

We arrived 10 minutes late, in fact each flight so far has arrived between 0 and 15 minutes late.

Whilst we are on the subject of pointless statistics, here’s another My first class tagged baggage has reached the belt in the following positions. BKK 4th, KUL 1st, MEL 3rd, SIN 10th. Bet you all wanted to know that.

Next up Singapore and the Intercontinental Hotel

Stepped off the plane at 9.43pm at one of the far gates, a brisk walk to immigration, cleared that at 9.52pm, walked to baggage and collected my suitcase at 9.55pm and was in a cab at 9.58pm.
Stepped up to the front desk at the hotel at 10.18pm. This is Singapore. Efficient in every way.
As soon as I handed my booking over at the front desk, a Guest Services Manager or some such title rush over to attend to me, escort me to and check me into my Club room.

The next morning I went for breakfast in the club and I don’t remember it being that good last time.

There’s not much to say about Singapore that I haven’t said in previous reports. By god its hot and sticky today though and the predicted thunderstorms arrived by lunchtime, which was a bit of a relief.

The food in the club in the evening is more style over substance, but they do have a good array of drinks, which I managed to assist in consuming.

Next up - Its my birthday and I’m on a SQ 77W to Seoul

Still throughly enjoying this report Alan, have a great birthday aboard the 77W! I have flown this bird before and it's a great experience! Make sure you fully take advantage of both the Krug and the Dom! ;)

Look forward to hearing all about it.

Chris

:-: Happy Birthday, Alan! :-:

Thanks to your timezone-tripping, I think it might still be your birthday. Not a bad way to prolong the day, in a range of First Class establishments and suites.

I do not think you are a sad old rocker... you are our young, ace reporter!
You either have balanced your note taking and Dom/Krug intake rather well or have an incredibly good mind which can withstand a few drinks.

Like you say, these reports preserve the fresh experience and memories.

:p

Not sure if it's still your Birthday where you are, but it definately is here! So...Happy Birthday Alan! Glad you enjoyed Melbourne and Singapore... probably my favourite place in the world out of the comparatively few that I have visited.
I would say have a drink on me but I think it's probably a bit late for that!
Hopefully, I'll get to look at your photos soon, but as only Kana has an MSN account and keeps her computer account password protected, I can only view them when she's here (and in a good mood!) - teenagers eh?!
Lots of love,
Carol
x

So I set my alarms for 5am, but true to form I’m awake at 4.30, so get up and down some coffee. By 5.30 I’m thinking I might as well head for the airport. I head to the front desk at the hotel and that is the last time I touched my luggage til the baggage belt at Seoul.

They call a cab round for me and I’m off to the T3 first class terminal.
As I exit the cab I’m surrounded by personnel, 2 men attend to my 1 suitcase, whilst 2 women fight for my attention (yeah ok maybe that’s wishful thinking) and I’m escorted into an armchair and a check in lady, who quickly issues the boarding pass and sends me through the private passport control. The lady there wishes me a happy birthday, very attentive !!

Off again to the SKF lounge in T3 which manages to annoy me once again. Please, please, please find something useful for all those people to do instead of hovering to remove things from my table the moment I’ve finished them. Or in the case of one woman to watch me drink coffee and check how much was left, before deciding to remove it.
The array of breakfast food was outstanding and the showers were running hot today too.

After a quick trip to the shops to buy my mother a gift, never forget your mother!!, it was off to A14 and my first sighting of the 77W first class cabin.

I was in seat 1A and only one other seat was occupied, 2K on the far side of the cabin.

When you first look at the seat you just think wow, you could sit 2 of me on that seat.
I found it comfortable as a seat and though I didn’t use it as a bed on this 6 hour daytime flight, that didn’t stop me checking out the size of the bed, to the amusement of the flight attendants. The bed is so wide that if you are one of those people who likes to curl up, you’ll have no problem doing so.
The 23 inch widescreen tv is just amazing and with such a huge collection of films, tv, music and games I was at a loss what to tackle first.
Playing games such as Bejewelled 2 on that screen is better than playing on the computer at home.
To reinforce my reputation as a sad old rocker, I found Neil Young live at the Massey Hall 1971, so that got a play too.
I was also able to put my photos on the screen for viewing, as well as write up the menu ready for the report - Amazing

I was extremely upset when the captain announced a short flight time of 5 hours and 45 minutes and when the inflight manager asked if there was anything he could do for me, I said yes, slow the plane down !!

If possible the crew were even better than the last 2 flights with a totally outstanding service, drinks kept full, meals spread out through the flight and even wine recommendations. Have to say I thought the Cloudy Bay was excellent.

The crew shook my hand and wished me happy birthday, and as I left the plane one of them handed me a bottle of water and said you’ll need that on the bus journey into town.

The menu is below. How do SQ manage to serve Steak which is so tender and moist, and for those that know me, that chocolate dessert was to die for.

Canapes
Satay with onion, cucumber and spicy peanut sauce

Appetizers
Oven baked warm Oyster with tomato Salsa and corriander cheese sauce in half shell
Terrine of crabmeat and avocado with tomato confit

Soups
Clear Oriental broth with bamboo piths and Yunnan ham
Cream of chantelle mushroom and ceps with chicken

Salad
Butter lettuce heart with baby cress and cherry tomato
sesame soya dressing or Singapore dressing infused with shallot oil

Main Courses
Pan seared beef fillet with green peppercorn sauce sautéed wild mushroom and baby spinach
Korean style chicken with spicy sauce, jap chae and steamed rice
Seafood and rice vermicelli soup

Rack of lamb in Red jus with roasted vegetables and garlic mash potatoes

Salad of oven dried roma tomatoes with mozzerella cheese, couscous and rocket

Desserts
Black and white chocolate cake with passion fruit coullis

Cheeses
Selection of cheeses with garnishes

Fruits
Fresh Fruits in Season


Yes I’d have to say that was the best flight I’ve ever taken.

Happy birthday Gatwich Alan... and congrats on a great Trip report so far ^^^

Thanks for the birthday wishes guys (and gals), lets hope now that i'm a year older i dont get more grumpy.
Ive really enjoyed writing this and it'll bring back memories for me.
BiziBB, its all about restraint, when your head starts to spin, youve had enough alcohol and its time to turn to coffee. Funny really i dont drink much back at home.

Thanks again
Alan

A fairly short walk to immigration was met by a fairly short queue, unfortunately I picked the one with problem people, so immigration took 15 minutes, even though processing me only took 30 seconds. The baggage was already on the belt, so I was still outside in under 30 minutes.

This is a new city and new country for me, I’d done some homework though and opted for the KAL Limo bus. It costs 14000 won, about $14 or 7 pounds. The coach itself is pretty comfortable, being fitted out with old business style seats, only 3 across. As well as a service to the City Air Terminal it also runs 3 routes which call at the major hotels.
I was on the coach that served the Gangnam area.
If you come to Seoul, get a coach, do not get a cab, they are expensive because the airport is a long way out of town and then there’s the traffic.
Ah, yes, the traffic, we covered about 35 of the 40 miles in 35 minutes, the last 5 miles took over an hour. The roads are very wide, 4 or 5 lanes each way in places, but they are still jammed with traffic.

When we eventually got to the Co-ex Intercontinental, I was quickly attended to at the desk, had my priority club membership recognised and escorted to my room on the 27th floor. The upper floors are designated business rooms and come with free internet and free breakfast in the brasserie. That breakfast had the biggest spread of food ive ever seen, the fruit juice was made in front of you with fresh fruit and there was hot and cold dishes of all descriptions. This normally costs 33000 won, about 17 pounds. Eat well and you are set until dinner !!

I chose to stay in the Gangnam area, partly because the better hotels seemed to be there and partly because I like to set off and explore and a city centre hotel would have meant just walking out of the front door.

Opposite the Intercontinental is a very nice temple complex that is worth a look and beneath the hotel is a massive shopping mall, with eateries galore, both western and Korean and sadly there was a Mcdonalds, though I managed to avoid it.
I did find a great CD shop though and managed to part with 15000 won for an Asia live double album.

Now it was time to head up to city hall and explore up there. There is a subway station about 400 yards from the hotel.

The subway in Seoul is easy to use, the lines are colour coded and numbered and the stations are numbered. So for example my journey was from Samsoeng (station 219) on the green line 2 to city hall (station 201). Fares are calculated by distance and a map at the station shows all the fares. You can put coins into the machines or buy from the ticket office. Signs were in English as well as Korean. The train I caught was very modern with video screens advising the next station. Very easy to use, very cheap and recommended if you come to Seoul.

City hall is the stop for Deoksugung Palace and the National Art Gallery.

One thing which did puzzle me was the seating etiquette on the subway, the trains were busy and I remained standing, offering my seat to a lady, but she insisted I should have the seat. Not wishing to offend, I took the seat. I can only imagine that people who had been on the train longest were expected to have the next available seat.

Seoul is architecturally quite an ugly city with lots and lots of high rise blocks of flats built very close together, in amongst all this though are hidden gems, often very historical. I’m one of those people who find looking at anywhere new a worthwhile experience. The city appears to have built to be practical rather than aesthetically pleasing.

The Korean people were unfailingly polite and friendly.

I would say this was a 3 day stopover city, I’m glad I came but wouldn’t put it high on my list of places to return to.

Hope I haven’t gone on too much, but you don’t see too many reports about Seoul.

Next - A drop in class, Asiana C class to Tokyo

Alan, I bet you are a happy old rocker this week. ^
Yes, keep the Korea reports coming as you will see and experience a lot of colourful culture.

:)

Another belated birthday wish from me.

I am glad you are enjoying your trip and that my advice is working for you. ;)

I am also very pleased you like my home town. Although I live in London I still call Australia Home.

I look forward to the reading about the rest of your journey.

I caught the bus back to the airport and this time the traffic at 6.50 in the morning was fairly light. I couldn’t help but notice that almost all the cars are black, white or silver.
It gave me the chance to play I Spy on the way to the airport and of the thousands of cars I saw only 1 was red and 2 were blue, no other colours whatsoever. I wonder why that is.

At 8 in the morning Incheon Airport was absolutely heaving. I walked to the Asiana check in area and saw this long snake and thought that must be the economy check in, wrong, that was round the corner and 5 times as long. So I joined the business class snake and took 30 minutes to reach a check in desk. Just as well I was early. As you approach the check in desk the lady gets up and bows before she serves you. I then headed to the only place without queues - KISS - Korea Immigration Smart Service. Security and passport control were done in moments.

Time to bore you with another statistic. Of the 6 airports so far 3 have not required you to take your laptop out of the bag, LHR, KUL and ICN whilst 3 have, BKK, SIN, and MEL.
Now why is this, either 3 airports are being sloppy or 3 are being excessive. I’ll leave you to guess what I think.

There were even long queues at duty free so I headed for the sanctuary of the Asiana business class lounge, which was busy, but seats were available. Food and drink offerings were reasonable and plenty of computers were available.

Eventually I headed for the gate, which had great views of the start of the runway. When Asiana say boarding will begin at 11am, that is exactly what they mean. At precisely 11am the 3 gate agents bowed in unison and pulled back the barriers.

This flight was less than 2 hours, but we had a 777 2 class with the new business class seating. After playing with everything I’d be happy to take this on a long flight, especially with the high level of service from the flight attendants.

There were 2 choices on the menu a 3 course western and a Korean. Despite being the only westerner if the cabin I thought I would try the Korean. They served the other aisle first, so I was able to watch how to eat it, but in any event the dinner came with an instruction card. I’m sure the Koreans watched with amusement as I tried to wrap my beef, rice and paste up in a lettuce leaf.
Wine, tasting first, flowed freely. So did the champagne before take off.
I thought the service was excellent and would be interested to try a long haul in first.

All to soon we are touching down at Narita and after a long taxi, 25 mins, we are at the gate and a long walk to immigration.

Oh dear, have the Japanese been taking lessons from the Americans. This was the worst immigration I’ve had for some years, slower than DFW and on a par with LAX.
When I reached the crocodile there were only 2 desks open for foreigners and the queue kept growing, later they opened 2 more but the queue continued to grow, finally 2 more opened but by this time I’d been queuing for 35 minutes.
Japan have introduced the click, click, smile as in the States. Didn’t seem to work that well as a lot of people were having difficulty pressing hard enough for the prints to register. Down to baggage and of course the belt was already loaded, then customs who wanted to know why one side of my hand luggage looked stiff, that’ll be the laptop then.

Over an hour from stepping off the plane to getting landside, not good, and I had expected efficiency from the Japanese.

Next up - Tokyo

What an outstanding report ^

I decided to get the airport limo bus and rather like Simongr mentioned in his report, found I had a 25 minute wait, unlike him though I spurned the Shinjuku direct bus and waited for the one that would drop me at the Hyatt Regency Hotel. Traffic wasn’t too bad at a journey time of 1 hour and 20 minutes.

This is my first stay at a Hyatt hotel and I joined the membership scheme because they had a special offer on at the time about status, I cant even remember what it was.

My initial impressions weren’t good, the bus let me and several other people off, there was nobody to help with the luggage, so we all traipsed to the front desk. I had a regency club room booked, which seemed to get their attention and I was quickly escorted to my room. I had no idea what to expect from a Hyatt, I am well aware that this is not the best Hyatt in Tokyo, but as I intend to be out and about, I didn’t see the sense in paying out very large sums of money for the other Hyatts.

Ive got no complaints about this one, the room is not stunning, but it does the job, has free internet and most importantly a comfortable bed.

The Regency club is very nice indeed, very large too, but broken up into nice areas, a perfect place to down a Japanese beer or 2 at the end of a hectic day.

There have been some wonderful trip reports written on Tokyo and Japan and I’m not going to attempt to match them, however I will give you my impressions on what I’ve found is a wonderful city and one I should have visited earlier. One thing is for sure I will definitely be back.

At 8.00 am, I’ve visited the club for breakfast, so I’m thinking, right time to get out there and explore.

I walked via the underground passage to the West entrance of Shinjuku station. I think I was the only person walking in that direction, with literally thousands walking against me. It reminded me of when I worked in London and had to walk across London Bridge.

I reached the station, yikes, how many people, for 5 minutes I stood out of the way and just watched thinking how the hell am I going to get on a train. Once I’d built up my resolve, I headed to the ticket office for a 1 day JR local train pass. At about 4 pounds this seemed like a great way to be able to jump on and off trains and get myself a bit orientated. The Yamanote line runs in a circle and connects everything together, but as I discovered as the day went on, jumping on some of the other lines is even quicker and I ended up using 4 different lines. When I first reached the Yamanote line platform, I just stood and watched the heaving masses getting on and off the train. They say if you miss one another will be along in a minute and that is absolutely true on this line, about every 2 minutes in the rush hour.

Once over the initial shock I found the train a very easy and effective way to get around, I jumped on and off at the usual tourist haunts, but must give special mention to Ueno park area which looked stunning with all the cherry blossom out.

At the end of that day I needed a long soak in the bath to rejuvenate my feet !!

Well, I’ve mastered the trains, yeah right!, so its time to have a go at the subway. When the ticket man saw me struggling with the machine, he rushed from his office and showed me how to do it. It’s easy when you know how. The subway works as well as the trains.
I must give the Japanese huge credit for making travel around the city easy for foreigners, something we British could learn, all the announcements and signs on the trains and subway are in English as well as Japanese and around town are plenty of maps with English translation as well. It all makes what could be a daunting city to get around, a pleasure and inspires you to be more adventurous than you otherwise might.
Just be aware its full of people and it sure is busy at the weekend, the queue for boat trips at Asakusa went right across the bridge. I didn’t bother !!

Tokyo should be on everybody’s list of must see cities.

For BiziBB’s amusement I should note, the Japanese are rockers and have great CD shops and 3 more have found their way into my luggage.


Next up - to Washington DC on ANA

Great report Gatwick Alan! It's nice to see it from the view point of someone who doesn't always travel in international F.

Great report Alan, I really enjoy reading it, one of the reasons I would love to fly SQ first is because of the satay service they have. You had it as a canape on the Singapore to Seoul leg, but I did't see it on your return trip to Melbourne. Didn't they offer it on those legs or didn't you feel like it?

Great report Alan, I really enjoy reading it, one of the reasons I would love to fly SQ first is because of the satay service they have. You had it as a canape on the Singapore to Seoul leg, but I did't see it on your return trip to Melbourne. Didn't they offer it on those legs or didn't you feel like it?


No, it wasnt offered in either leg. I agree with you, i love it too. I have had it served in SQ C too

Before I move on a couple of closing thoughts on Tokyo, firstly the service provided by the Regency Club desk was outstanding, any questions at all and they had the answers, normally printed out in detail but in easy to understand form. Any travel advice, in town or out and they provided it. On the last night I made a point to go and thank the girl on the desk who promptly got up, bowed, thanked me and said it was their pleasure.

Finally in all my interactions with the Japanese people, despite the fact I don’t speak a word of their language I was treated with dignity, courtesy and respect. Japan, it has been a privilege to be in your country.

So I’m up and about early and it’s a very wet and miserable day. Looking out of the window I see the Airport bus parked round the corner, so I get a move on, check out and catch an earlier bus than I intended.
A trouble free 80 minute journey follows and I’m at the airport way too early again.
Unlike Incheon, Narita is an oasis of calm at 8am.
I head over to the first class desk, where for the first time they ask to see my itinery.
Of course this doesn’t help them, because what they want is my address in the States, I tell them I’m familiar with the rigmarole that is going to America and give them a copy of my hotel reservation to type in the information. This makes the check in girl visibly relieved.

Thereafter I’m quickly given a priority pass to security, my boarding card and an invite to the lounge. The security pass wasn’t needed as security is deathly quiet. The departures side of Narita is infinitely better than arrivals.
I could have put money on the fact that security would follow the U.S model and it did, with laptops out and shoes off, which I initially failed to do and set the buzzer off.
I’ve been travelling in these shoes for nearly 10 years now, I only use them for travelling as they are so comfortable for flying. I’m aware that they set some airport screeners off, but funnily enough not others, but I put up with it for the comfort factor.

Head into the peaceful terminal, do duty free and then look for the not very well signposted lounge which I find down near the 50’s gates where I depart.

The lounge is quite smart and has a noodle bar sit down area and a smoking room. The service seems to be a mixture of waitress service and self service. When I walked in I was attended to and brought coffee and cakes, thereafter I just went and helped myself.
The lounge has wired and wireless internet, and tables set up with sockets. It was fairly quiet all the time I was there and has great views over the apron.

In fact I’m posting this mini update from there before I get on the plane.

Next up - It really will be ANA to Washington DC

Walking down to the gate, I see everything is properly organised, a separate queue for premium passengers, and a separate air bridge for first too.
There are 9 gate agents making sure everything flows smoothly.

There are only 3 of us in first class today, I’m in 2A and the other 2 are on the opposite side of the cabin. I’m irritated to hear the announcement about not congregating near the toilets, but the captain makes it quite clear he is forced to say this by American Homeland Security, and this whilst we are still on the ground at Narita. At exactly what point do the U.S have control over the planes? Even those that are not U.S carriers?

Anyway, on walking onto the plane, I’m impressed by the look of the seat pods.
On sitting down I play with the seat and find it comfortable in many positions, I’m getting impressed with ANA. The tv is a good 15 inch size, although there could be more programmes, that’s what comes of flying on the SQ77w.

The cabin crew are excellent and the chief purser is serving first. If you look carefully you can see her scanning the cabin whenever she’s serving someone so I never wanted, or waited for anything.

The food was beautifully presented, although some of the portions could have been bigger, still not to worry, that’ll give me a chance to choose from the delights menu mid flight. There’s a new item on the delights menu which has been recommended on the ANA forum, its wagyu beef and egg over rice, and it was lovely.

The seat was turned into a bed when you wanted and it was a good size too, when I got up and went to the bathroom, the bed had been remade for me on my return.

The bathrooms were cleaned after every use, amenities were handed out via a basket, which was then left out for further perusal and theft !! A nice looking bag was given out to put your chosen items in.

I got into the spirit of things by getting into the kimono type pyjamas, shame they take em back at the end.

ANA have a really good product here, on par with SQ in many ways, maybe not quite up to the 77W, but I found the seat better than the 747. I would recommend it.

The Menu can be found by clicking this link
http://www.ana.co.jp/int/service/0803/meal/f/NRT_IAD/index_e.html

Sorry its just too long to type !!

After a lengthy stack round Dulles we still land 35 minutes early.

Next up - Immigration at Dulles, a nice surprise !!

Next up - Immigration at Dulles, a nice surprise !!

Only a two hour wait? ;)

Excellent reporting, Alan.
Did you window-shop any interesting products at Narita Duty Free?
I a thinking Scotch and Japanese Whisk(e)ys. ;)

Finally in all my interactions with the Japanese people, despite the fact I don’t speak a word of their language I was treated with dignity, courtesy and respect. Japan, it has been a privilege to be in your country.
DC

Alan, having just been to Japan I certainly agree with your opinion above.

I felt like an honoured visitor everywhere I went.

Its been 15 years since I’ve visited Washington and then I came via JFK, so Dulles was a new experience for me. Aren’t those moon buggy mobile lounges weird. They take away the advantage of being off the plane first. They look like they are at least 30 years old.
I got on one and it took us over to a virtually empty immigration hall. I joined the short queue of people and as soon as the Americans had cleared, they started sending us to those counters too. A polite video was playing, saying “ we understand you are tired after your flight…….”
I was at a counter in less than 5 minutes and faced the new fingerprinting machine for the first time. As I was about to be processed an airport official had a group of 20 people with her studying airport operations and she brought 4 to each desk to watch what went on.
Now I don’t know if I had a polite officer, or if these people watching helped his approach, but after having trouble getting my left hand to register, he stamped me in and wished me a pleasant stay. Not only that when I got to the baggage belt , the first class had already been delivered and were stacked neatly along side the belt. A polite customs official and I’m out of the airport in less than 25 minutes.
I’m stunned, I was expecting the worst, but got a very good service. Now if only this was the benchmark, more frightened tourists would come flocking over to spend the very cheap dollar.

Next up- Washington

Hi Alan,
Have had a look at the photos, they look great - especially the ones of the food! Kana looked with me and when she saw a photo of you she said "My God, doesn't he look like Granddad!!" Just thought you'd like to know!!
Enjoy the rest of your trip.
Carol
x

I spent nearly 3 weeks travelling around Japan on holiday in October 2006. They are without doubt the friendliest people I have met, particularly given 99% don't speak a word of English. I also found the country to be safe, clean and above all home to the most amazing trains in the world!

I caught the Supershuttle down to the Holiday Inn downtown. The guy on the desk either needs typing skills or to get his ears syringed as he managed to get the names of all 4 of us on the shuttle completely wrong, and that after spelling Alan out for him. Er A-L-A-N.
Still we had a good bunch on the van including a local lady picking out the sights for the guy from Laos, who was still stunned to be treated so nicely at Immigration.

As an aside, I’m amazed to realise this is my 22nd holiday in the States and 24th time I’ve cleared immigration, as I went over to Canada and Mexico on 2 of the trips. My quarter century will come up in September with my annual trip to Arizona already booked.
If you had told me 30 years ago that would be the case, I would have said you were quite mad.

Its raining and was expected to stay that way for another 36 hours, luckily though after a walk around the air and space museum the rain stopped and its stayed dry since.

I wont bore you with great details of Washington as most of you probably know it, but I did all the usual things, museums, capitol building, white house etc.
One of the nice thing about the historic downtown area is that they haven’t allowed it to be ruined by lots of neon signs and places like Macdonalds. Makes the area really attractive and great to walk around. In fact I walked around so much I had to jump on the Metro to get back to the hotel.

I’m staying at the Holiday Inn Capitol. What can I tell you about that hotel, well it’s a Holiday Inn, has a shop, restaurant, take out deli and a bar. It’s fine, its biggest appeal is it’s location as a walking base.
As its so expensive, I’m paying for this one on points.

Last up - back home on United, saving the best to last?

I caught the Supershuttle down to the Holiday Inn downtown. The guy on the desk either needs typing skills or to get his ears syringed as he managed to get the names of all 4 of us on the shuttle completely wrong, and that after spelling Alan out for him. Er A-L-A-N.


Welcome to the NCR. :rolleyes:

Alan, I will have to watch the news coverage of our PM 'Kevin07''s trip to Washington this week, just in case you can be spotted walking across the background of one of the wide location shots. From the news stories, it looks pretty cold!

Did you get out on foot, in that weather?

Alan, I will have to watch the news coverage of our PM 'Kevin07''s trip to Washington this week, just in case you can be spotted walking across the background of one of the wide location shots. From the news stories, it looks pretty cold!

Did you get out on foot, in that weather?

Once it stopped raining it just turned cold and a brisk walk warms you up, i fly home tomorrow, that is if United have any 777's to fly. Todays was cancelled.

Here’s a quick update whilst im in the lounge.

So this is it, time to go home, back to work on Monday.
The United 777 controversy crops up the day before I’m going to leave, which keeps me busy checking the flight status before I leave the hotel, it shows as operating so I catch an early super shuttle back to the airport, in case I need to get a different flight.
The super shuttle arrives on time but the family on board are complaining they’ve been on nearly half hour all ready and I am only the second pick up. We then proceed to take 25 minutes to make the next pick up. The driver has the satnav on but keeps ignoring it and going the wrong way. He seems more interested in texting than driving and we have a couple of close shaves. The family decide they need to wear seatbelts. We spend another 20 minutes driving round the corner for another pick up and then the driver radios in to see if there are any more pick ups. The family scream no, we have a flight to catch. We eventually arrive more than 2 hours after they were picked up, leaving them 45 minutes to catch their flight. Not a hope.

I’m fairly early so I wander over to the United premium check in area. The lady at the podium says “business”, I say no, first. She says check in at that machine over there. So I do. The machine spits out my boarding pass and an arrival lounge invite. Right, done that then, now what to do with the luggage. I told the machine I had 1 bag, but it didn’t tell me what to do with it, so I go back to the lady on the podium.
“Where is the bag drop”, “What”, “ The place to put my luggage”, “You should have given it to an agent”, “There isn’t an agent, you sent me to that machine”, “What class are you flying”, “First”, “Oh, ok, I will print a tag for you”

What a nice welcome to the world of flying international first class on United. I didn’t receive an invite to the lounge, but worked that out for myself and did receive a warm welcome when I got there.
Oh but getting there!! I had praised Dulles on arrival, but I’ll slate it on departure. I joined the premium passengers queue for security, but even that took 30 minutes at 2pm. The regular queue looked absolutely horrendous, I’d guess at least an hour. One guy bravely asked for a supervisor to complain about the queues and people cutting in. It didn’t get him anywhere. Some people wanted to go to the puffer machine as that queue was shorter.
Of course once you get through security you have a 5 minute wait for a mobile lounge to get you across to the C gates.
So 45 minutes after checking in I am in the lounge, which I have to say has a reasonably good selection of food, including a very indulgent chocolate cake, so I indulged.
Good ladies on the lounge front desk have upped my expectations of United somewhat, so here’s hoping for a good flight.

Finally - My flight on United

The super shuttle arrives on time but the family on board are complaining they’ve been on nearly half hour all ready and I am only the second pick up. We then proceed to take 25 minutes to make the next pick up. The driver has the satnav on but keeps ignoring it and going the wrong way. He seems more interested in texting than driving and we have a couple of close shaves. The family decide they need to wear seatbelts. We spend another 20 minutes driving round the corner for another pick up and then the driver radios in to see if there are any more pick ups. The family scream no, we have a flight to catch. We eventually arrive more than 2 hours after they were picked up, leaving them 45 minutes to catch their flight. Not a hope.

Sounds pretty similar to my 2 super shuttle experiences.... NEVER again! Did it in LA and realsied it was only $15 more to get a normal cab

A belated Happy Birthday!! Read your whole thread, great job on the report and routing.

Hi Alan....all caught up now after not checking in for five days. Sorry to hear you just took the melancholy flight home. Thanks for sharing the adventure!

The flight home wasnt a bad flight, if it had been my first i probaby wouldnt have found much fault with it, but as its my last, i find myself comparing it with SQ and NH.
Boarding was on time and orderly. Premium passengers were boarded first, away from the masses.
At the door i was welcomed on board, and this is where the differences start to notice, was pointed to my seat.
The purser offered to hang my jacket and quickly brought me champagne, which was refilled before take off by my designated flight attendant. I was also offered a newspaper. I foolishly asked for an english one, to be told,"they are all in english" before the penny dropped, "oh you mean a British one"
The rather ordinary amenities kit was at my seat along with the quilted blanket and headphones. There were no slippers or pyjamas.
The seat was ok in the upright position, but in bed mode the junctions between the cushions were rather wide and a matress would have been appreciated.
I will give credit to my flight attendant, a lady of my age, she seemed genuinely concerned to make sure i had what i needed through the flight.
She got me my choice of film for the tape system before take off, after i'd initially chosen from the March selection as nobody had changed these over to the April list. Once they realised, the April books were handed out.
Like Lufthansa, the tv screens are ridiculously small for first class, my flight attendant tells me they are much better on the new first class seats.
The one thing i do like on United is channel 9, this was switched on and left on all the way to Heathrow.
No water bottle was supplied for sleeping, nor was my glass kept topped up. At one point i went to the galley and filled my own before the purser noticed.
The food was ok and being an american airline was more substance then some of the other flights i had taken.

Appetisers
Seared Crab cake and shredded chicken and toasted cashew salad with organic yuzu-miso vinagrette and sweet and sour cucumber relish

Soup
Roasted Yukon gold potato, cheddar and bacon chowder

Salad
Fresh seasonal greens with julienne of red and yellow bell peppers, plum tomatoes and season crutons.

Main Course
Orange and ginger duck confit, Roasted shallot vinagrette, braised fennel and hazelnut jasmine rice.

Braised vegetable cannelloni, organic tomato herb finishing sauce

Pan seared filet mignon with horseradish sauce, red and gold yukon potatoes, sauteed spinach, shallots and mushrooms.

Rosemary lemon mediterranean sea bass with tomato and olive ragout, vegetable risotto and green and yellow haricots verts

Desert
Ice cream and sundae toppings

Cheese selection served with red grapes and crackers

Fresh Strawberries with brown sugar sour cream dip.

I had the strawberries but there was no dip available

We were asked if we wanted to be woken for breakfast.

Arrival was 10 minutes early and i walked and walked (this is heathrow) and eventually arrived at an empty immigration hall, i was through in moments after a quick chat with the rather attractive immigration lady and was staggered that the baggage appeared a few minutes later. Sadly my record of priority tags working was broken as my bag was the 49th to appear.
Straight through customs and i'm sitting on the Heathrow express 40 minutes after getting off the plane.
The weather forecast says snow. Welcome home.

Final Thoughts.

This was a great trip and i dont know how i'm going to put up with AA in economy in September.
All of my points have posted promptly, the e ticket worked flawlessly, and all of my hotel reservations, made via the internet were correct, and even upgraded.
25 years ago booking a holiday like this would have been close to impossible and the only option would have been to put yourself at the mercy of a travel agent.
Is first class travel worth paying for?, well it depends on what you want from a holiday, it certainly makes a schedule like mine a pleasure, rather than an exhausting chore which it would have been in economy.
And it is nice to be pampered, i've worked hard in my life to be able to afford it and if you cant have some pleasures as you get older then whats life all about.

The highlight of the places visited was Tokyo, and i will be going back to Japan.

I hope youve enjoyed reading the report !!!

Welcome home Alan.

It has been a pleasure reading your report.

I think I subconsciously book my RTWs to go the other way around the world so that I get to fly the US portions at the start rather than the end ;)

Fantastic conclusion to your report Alan. It sounds as though you've had a great introduction to intl F travel!

I have throughly enjoyed reading it all and it is a shame that your final flight wasn't quite up to the standard you are used to. I agree with Moomba, when i do my next RTW i will go to the USA first.

However on my last RTW i came home NRT-IAD-ORD-MAN, a similar routing to yours and had NH J to IAD with UA F to ORD and then BMI J back to MAN. I found that the BMI J product was a lot better than both AA and UA Intl F products! Something to think about next time. I also believe that their J seat has been upgraded since i last flew it to a Fully Flat Bed now.

Chris

Alan, thank you for taking the time to meet me in Melbourne and for sharing this very informative report of your travels.

I will come back to read parts of it again as you've done an excellent job.

Rock on!

Great report Alan, thank you very much!

I haven't done a RTW yet myself, but a few longhauls in F - so it was really interesting to read your comparisons of so many different carriers.

What a great report Alan, I've been reading it since lunch today, thank you!

It was a real joy reading this Alan, it's like being there yourself, hope you do this more often, would love to see a Qantas and a JAL first class review. Thank you very much for writing this report. Pitty you missed out on the satay though!

Alan
Great trip report. What a joy to read.

Japan is indeed an amazing city. Interesting to read your experience on Asiana and ANA - both airlines I have had recommended to me.

Looking forward to your next report.

Adam

A belated Happy Birthday!

Our first time in First was a surprise from a young lady at the TWA ticket counter in MIA. I handed her our tickets and passports and she confirmed that FCO was our final destination to which I replied "yes, we are going on our honeymoon." She continued keyboarding then while handed our boarding passes and passports back she said "we couldn't do anything to JFK but you are confirmed to FCO." I didn't think much about what she said until we were heading towards the MIA departure gate and looked at our boarding passes. We still had our coach seats to JFK, however, our JFK - FCO seats had been upgraded to First. What an unexpected surprise!

Great report.

I'm super envious and thankful for you putting this up on FT.

Cheers!

Happy belated birthday Alan. You certainly have a very humorous and excellent writing style and i enjoyed reading your trip report.

great report - thanks for taking the time

I was extremely upset when the captain announced a short flight time of 5 hours and 45 minutes and when the inflight manager asked if there was anything he could do for me, I said yes, slow the plane down !!

If possible the crew were even better than the last 2 flights with a totally outstanding service, drinks kept full, meals spread out through the flight and even wine recommendations. Have to say I thought the Cloudy Bay was excellent.

The crew shook my hand and wished me happy birthday, and as I left the plane one of them handed me a bottle of water and said you’ll need that on the bus journey into town.

The menu is below. How do SQ manage to serve Steak which is so tender and moist, and for those that know me, that chocolate dessert was to die for.

Canapes
Satay with onion, cucumber and spicy peanut sauce

Appetizers
Oven baked warm Oyster with tomato Salsa and corriander cheese sauce in half shell
Terrine of crabmeat and avocado with tomato confit

Soups
Clear Oriental broth with bamboo piths and Yunnan ham
Cream of chantelle mushroom and ceps with chicken

Salad
Butter lettuce heart with baby cress and cherry tomato
sesame soya dressing or Singapore dressing infused with shallot oil

Main Courses
Pan seared beef fillet with green peppercorn sauce sautéed wild mushroom and baby spinach
Korean style chicken with spicy sauce, jap chae and steamed rice
Seafood and rice vermicelli soup

Rack of lamb in Red jus with roasted vegetables and garlic mash potatoes

Salad of oven dried roma tomatoes with mozzerella cheese, couscous and rocket

Desserts
Black and white chocolate cake with passion fruit coullis

Cheeses
Selection of cheeses with garnishes

Fruits
Fresh Fruits in Season


Yes I’d have to say that was the best flight I’ve ever taken.I was on the same flight, SQ016 SIN-ICN in F in early April and had the exact same menu. I chose the Lamb, however, and it was really, really good as well.

And yes I agree with you - best flight ever! Everything about it was simply staggeringly good - including the crew, and the seat. As I'm only 24, it's certainly an inspiration to earn the money to do it again :D

PS. Thanks for a great trip report - really interesting read :)

After reading this TR from Alan, I will want to plan for a similar trip in the near future. Thanks for the TR.