Duke787

Well, let's just say I don't share your fondness for Vegemite but it certainly tasted as bad as I remember Vegemite to be Thankfully the guy giving samples also quickly gave us samples of another flavor ^

Thank you for the kind words, especially coming from one of the TR legends!!! Hopefully this will be the first of many TRs (I know for sure there will be another one from a trip this summer)!

Also, my apologies for the piecemeal approach - the trip is complete but it has just taken time to format the TR (I was able to write most of it during the trip though the last 2 sections I'm just finishing now), not to mention for some reason when you get back from a 3 week vacation everyone piles work onto you

Thank you!! I loved Sydney, after my trip I'd say it's even with London and Tokyo on my list of favorite world cities. Hopefully I will be back sooner rather than later!

Thunderroad

Very nice TR! Thanks for sharing it.

I especially appreciated the TG 380 F section, as my wife and I will be flying that BKK-CDG later this year. Agree that it's more open than is preferable, but I'm sure we'll manage.

How was the service on that leg?

mjr1975

Great TR, I'm particularly interested in your in time in Sydney. I am visiting this year and was trying to decide between a wine tour or Blue Mountains. I think I'm going for the wine.

Look forward to the rest of your report.

Duke787

CA 174 and the start to a Long Trek Home

Hey you. I know, I know I’m sorry but it’s time for us to head to the Sydney airport. Believe me, I’m as depressed about leaving as you are but we’ve got at least two more exciting things to look forward to before getting back to the US, Sushi Yoshitake and NH 2. In the meantime, let me give you a quick overview of our itinerary tonight.

We’ll be flying from Sydney to Beijing on Air China Flight 174, an Airbus 330, in Business Class (no first class exists on the plane). The flight departs at 8pm local time in Sydney and lands tomorrow morning at 530am local time in Beijing. At 11.5 hours long this is going to be one of our longest flights but I specifically chose this over other options because of the all-important lie-flat beds we’ll have on this flight. Similar to the Turkish Airways lie-flat beds we’ll be on later this summer, these lie-flats have an open ottoman for feet so we should be in good shape to sleep for most of the flight.

Mr. Taxi Driver, right here will do. Thank you very much – here are the very last Australian Dollars I have. Okay let’s go back to that Koru Lounge we stopped in briefly 2.5 weeks ago on our way to New Zealand. Oh look – I think that’s the plane taking us tonight, I’m not sure if you can see it through this rain but it’s that plane in Star Alliance livery back there:



Okay, let’s continue on to the lounge. Now I would’ve preferred to show you the Singapore Airlines Silverkris lounge next door, but alas it closes at 6pm so we’ll have to go next door to the Koru Lounge:



We’ll eat on the flight but if you don’t mind since it’s 6:30pm, I’m going to grab a couple pieces of bread, a pie, and a beer to tide me over until we eat on the plane:







Apart from being a bit emptier, this place looks exactly like it did when we were here a couple weeks ago, in fact I’m pretty sure we’re sitting in the exact same seats:





Ahh they’ve just announced boarding is set to commence let’s go ahead and head down there. Wait, don’t forget your ticket!!



A quick check of our passports and we’re good to board the plane, I’m in 12D (middle section left side when facing forward) and you’re in 12A (left side window – it’s a 2x2x2 layout)! Hmm let’s take a look at what we’ve got for a cabin and seat here:







“Excuse me sir, our daughter has seat 12C (left side aisle) and the other three of us in her family are sitting in the middle block in 12H, 13D, and 13H, do you mind switching seats with her so she can sit next to her brother?”

“Of course not, I’d be happy to switch with her”

Especially since 12C is still an aisle I have really don’ no objections, most importantly as you there are no footwells just open ottomans, so it’s really easy for window passengers to get out without disturbing the person in the aisle seat. Plus now I can sit next to you since you’re in 12A.

Okay now where were we, oh right we were looking at the seat, oh and yes Ms. Flight Attendant, I’ll take a glass of champagne:



Ah and thank you for the menu, why don’t we take a look at our options as we get ready to take-off and get up in the air:

Chinese Lunch / Dinner

Amouse Bouche (sic)
Smoked Eel with Pickled Ginger
Date filled with Cream Cheese
Shitake Mushroom with Leek
Prawn with Tomato Salsa
Beef Skewer
Crab in Pastry

Appetizer
Salted Chicken Thigh served with Cherry Tomato and Coriander

Chinese Salad
Peanut and Cucumber Salad

Main Courses
Braised Pork with Pikled (sic) Cabbage served with Steamed Rice and Green Bean Sauté with Onion

OR

Steamed Barrumundi with Ginger and Mushroom served with Steamed Rice, Bok Choy, and Braised Mushroom

OR

Grilled Vegetarian Soy Protein served with Choy Sum and Brocooli (sic) & Babycorn Stir Fry

Dessert
Blueberry Oval Cake

OR

Triple Chocolate Mousse Cake

Seasonal Fresh Fruit

Western Lunch / Dinner

Amouse Bouche
Smoked Eel with Pickled Ginger
Date filled with Cream Cheese
Shitake Mushroom with Leek
Prawn with Tomato Salsa
Beef Skewer
Crab in Pastry

Western Style Appetizer
Grilled Prawn and Smoked Chicken with Asparagus and Daikon Salad

Salad
Baby Cos Lettuce with Cherry Tomato, Capsicum, and Grated Parmesan Cheese served with French Dressing or Caesar Dressing

Assorted Bread Roll Served with Butter

Main Courses
Herb Marinated Lamb Rack with Honey and Garlice (sic) Sauce served with Smashed Potato and Sautéed Spinach

Dessert
Blueberry Oval Cake

OR

Triple Chocolate Mousse Cake

OR

Selection of Cheese with Crackers

Seasonal Fresh Fruit







Hmmm, I know you’ll be disappointed in my selection but I’m going to stick with the western dish. Oh and for wines we’re pretty limited in our options, we have two reds and two whites to choose from, with one red and one white from France and the other red and white from China.

Okay I’ll start with the French White, a Vin De Pays De L’Herault – Spirit of Nature – Domaine de Petit Roubié Viognier.

Oh – I just select one of the appetizers listed on the menu from your cart? Can I have two? You know what nevermind, we’ll keep this simple and I’ll take a Beef Skewer – feel free to take whichever appetizer you want:



Actually not too bad – it’s not caviar but it’s on par with appetizers we had in F on Thai (and it’s sooooooooooooo much better than the pate / foie gras)

Okay next up we’ve got the salad and the prawn appetizer:



Good, but nothing special. Definitely better than what we’d get if we were on a United flight right now, though not sure how much that’s saying.

Oh and while you were in the bathroom they came around to refill our wine glasses. They’re out of the French white (shocking that the French wine went first) so I’ve gotten us glasses of the Chinese Riesling and it’s well, it’s not terrible, but it’s by far the worst wine we’ve been served on the trip:



Okay, bring on the lamb!



Mmmmm – pretty tasty! A bit well done for my taste but we are on a plane so I’ll let that slide. I’m impressed that they actually put some seasoning on it and those tomatoes and mashed potatoes are a nice accompaniment.

I’m really tempted to get us the blueberry cake now for dessert (because I love blueberries) but I just saw the person up in 11H get the Chocolate Mousse and it looks quite good:



Delicious!

Well I hate to do this to you but I’m exhausted. I know we’ve still got about somewhere between 9 and 10 hours left to go on the flight so I’m going to try and catch a few hours, I’ll catch up with you a bit later

8.75 hours later

Holy crap, you’re waking us up for breakfast? Where are we? Just 75 minutes outside of Beijing? Oh. My. I just slept for nearly 9 hours on a plane! I can’t believe it. Though did you wake up when we hit that turbulence in the middle of the night? No? Well I don’t know what time it was but we hit some extreme turbulence. I managed to go back to sleep within about two minutes before being woken up again about an hour later (I think) for another round. I’m not going to lie, given that we’re just four weeks out from MH370 and flying a fairly similar route up to PEK, that turbulence was a bit more nerve wracking than normal.

Anyway, whew, I am well rested now for our afternoon and evening coming up in Tokyo.

Oh yes Ms. Flight Attendant, sorry let me look at the breakfast menu quickly.

Western Breakfast

Hot Entrée
Chive Omelette Roll with Roasted Herb Tomato, Potato Wedge, and Chicken Chipolata

Breakfast Pastry
Snail Danish
Blueberry Danish
Chocolate Danish
Croissant
Ciabatta and Fruit Brioche

Seasonal Fresh Fruit

Cereal



Okay, I’m going to stop right there. I’ll take the Omelette, fruit, and cereal, no pastry, thanks!



Mmm, tasty, it looks like you enjoyed yours too; I don’t see anything left on your plate!

Time to land – I’ll meet you at the Air China Business Class lounge!

Duke787

Air China Business Class Lounge

Whew – you made it through the transit immigration. That actually wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, the line was pretty long for 6am and of course this was the first place where an actual immigration-style passport check occurred for transiting but that’s okay. Did you see the cool restaurant right by the lounge:



What do you think of the lounge? I actually quite like it – I like that it’s open air and the seating is pretty good for a J lounge.







View down to the terminal below:



Oh hey there AA 772:



I’m still full from that breakfast we had on CA 174 but I could use a Coke Zero. Here I got a Diet Coke for you too:



Oh and if you want the internet you’ll have to go up to the front counter. I just stopped by to see if I could get the internet password and well, you know that whole China internet censorship thing? Turns out if you want an internet password you have to bring your passport up to that machine by the front desk. It’ll scan your passport (like the Global Entry machines), record all the relevant information (name, passport number, flights) and only then will it give you an internet password and don’t forget we can’t use Facebook or Twitter here.

Well we better head over to our gate, we don’t want to miss our flight to Haneda!

ok2uselane

Great TR! I'm surprised you didn't want the "snail" danish! LOL!

deovrat

CA's J product looks a real dark horse. Granted the seat layout isn't one which is considered current, but I like the overwhelming feeling of openness of footwell. Nice TR as usual !

patnlcc

Loving this TR. Great memories of staying in the Sheraton on the Park in 2000.

Duke787

Thanks! Yeah it's definitely a first world problem and compared to J it's still quite private. If you haven't chosen seats yet, I'd recommend row 3. The big bathroom is upfront so you'll get less traffic passing by your seats being further back.

The service was good (especially compared to what some on FT say about TG F service) - they were quick to offer the Dom upon sitting down and quite friendly overall. I slept for most of the flight but I'd say within 3 - 5 minutes of waking up the FA noticed and stopped by to ask if I wanted dessert / another drink

Thanks! Sydney was great - I thought long and hard about doing a tour of the Blue Mountains and concluded in my limited time I didn't want to. One of the big factors was frankly the inability to predict the weather. It actually rained a bit on the wine tour but that didn't impact the day or the experience. OTOH if I'd been on the Blue Mountain tour the rain may have ruined the views and experience.

I think if you do a Blue Mountain tour you should make it a flexible day trip so you can see how the weather is. I actually was planning to go on Tuesday (taking the train) and decided I was tired of all the touristing I'd been doing for 3 weeks and just wanted to lay on a beach. Since I hadn't booked a tour I could do so and not worry about sunk costs.

Feel free to PM me re: the Wine Tour though I wholeheartedly recommend Boutique Tours if you're doing a "public" shared tour as I did.

Haha, I know it was tempting

Thanks! I wasn't sure what to expect of CA but they exceeded my expectations. I know I've been all about privacy in this TR but I agree with you on the openness of the footwell. If I'm going to be on a plane with a 2x2x2 J layout (1x2x1 would be preferred for me because of the inherent privacy advantage), I'd prefer the open footwell vs. the cramped footwell on UA's 2x2x2.

I'm flying TK 8 in J (also an A333 - at least slated to be one as of now) in June so it'll be interesting to compare to CA since the seats and layout are virtually identical (don't worry I'll write a TR for that one as well)

This plane from SYD - PEK was also a slightly older one as you'll see in the pictures of my PEK - HND flight (which was also on an A330 with lie-flat J)

Thanks! I thought it was a great hotel. Obviously compared to the PH it wasn't quite in the same league but I would happily stay at the SOP again and recommend it to others. I loved the location and depending on how much luggage you have, it's easier to get to from the Airport since the St. James train stop is right there (compared to the PH where Circular Quay is a bit of a walk if you have a lot of luggage)

csidler

Was Air China comfortable?

dat4life

Great updates, flyerdude88! If you don't mind sharing, how did you get around Sydney? Public transportation?

Duke787

CA 181 (PEK – HND)

Well that was a nice lounge visit but it’s time to get over to Tokyo. Look, there’s the plane taking us to Haneda this morning. Since this is yet another A330, the seating layout and seat itself should be exactly the same as our SYD – PEK flight. However, you can see that it’s not the same physical plane, unlike our previous plane this one is in the normal Air China livery and not in the Star Alliance livery:



Anyway, it looks like boarding has already started and the line is quite long. Oh, that’s just the economy class line, looks like no one is in the business class line. Here you are Ms. Gate Agent, two business class tickets!

Okay, so for this flight I’m in the aisle seat of the middle section, 12D, (hopefully no need to move this time), and you’re next to me in 12H.

I’m not sure if you noticed but it seems like this plane is newer than the one we flew on from SYD – PEK. The seats seem a little cleaner, the IFE screens seem a bit crisper, and they have USB inputs in the seat consoles (something that was absent on our last flight):







I know it’s only 8:45am local time but what the heck why don’t go with champagne for our pre-departure drink?



Since we didn’t really eat in the business class lounge and we don’t land until 12:50pm local time I think eating is a top priority. Why don’t we take a look at the breakfast options since they appear to be slightly different than what was offered on the SYD – PEK flight:

Chinese Breakfast
Pickles
Marinated Asparagus Lettuce
Selected Chinese Pickles
Salted Duck Egg

Hot Entrée
Plain Rice Congee
Doumiao and Shrimp Dumpling
Shrimp, Chicken, and Preserved Vegetable Bun
Pan-fried Chicken Bun

Fresh Fruit

Western Breakfast
Hot Entrée
Plain Omelette served with Hash Browns
Beef Sausage and Vegetable

Breakfast Rolls with Butter

Jam
Honey
Corn Flakes
Milk

Fresh Fruit



I know I had an omelette on the last flight but I’m a big omelette fan so I’m going with that again. We’re having Sushi Yoshitake tonight at 6pm local time so this should be enough to tide me over until then:



Since I didn’t really check out the IFE on our first flight why don’t we take a look now. Hmm, from reading FT, I was under the impression this would be among the worst IFEs that exists. In reality it actually isn’t that bad in terms of selection. There appears to be a number of fairly popular movies (nothing quite as new as on our other flights but some big name recognizable ones) and there are also a few episodes of a random smattering of US shows (among them Man vs. Wild, Friends, Modern Family, etc.).

I will say that the actual IFE interface is pretty atrocious – unless you’ve found a shortcut, there doesn’t appear to be an easy way to get to a movie / TV show without scrolling through all the “pages” of the IFE “catalogue” that proceed it – an issue that is only made worse by the fact that the movies and TV shows aren’t in alphabetical order.

I’m not really in the mood for a movie / TV show as is so I’m going to get to work on some more of the Trip Report for FlyerTalk.

1.5 Hours Later

That was quick and the service was pretty good – at least on par with a good FC domestic crew on American. Well, let’s go get our bags from baggage claim and head to the Sheraton Miyako Tokyo!

Duke787

Tokyo Part 2

After a quick run through Customs and Immigration at Haneda, it was time to head into Tokyo for the second time. Unfortunately the airport limo did not run to the Sheraton Miyako in the afternoon so instead I went with the more inconvenient train approach. Thankfully the signage in Tokyo is really well designed for us non-Japanese speakers and I was able to figure out how to get to the Meguro station where I would be picked up by the Sheraton’s complimentary shuttle bus:



A short time later I was at the Sheraton Miyako where I was quickly checked in and handed an envelope that included directions and maps from the hotel to Sushi Yoshitake.

I was assigned a room on the 7th floor and much to my surprise the room was significantly bigger than the room I stayed in at the Courtyard Marriott three weeks earlier:











Overall I would highly recommend this hotel to those traveling to Japan. It was only 10k Starpoint and the room was huge by Tokyo standards. In addition the concierge was enormously helpful in getting me a reservation at Sushi Yoshitake and making sure I knew how to get there and back using public transportation. The neighborhood itself is quiet but thanks to the shuttle one can easily get to Meguro (or Shinagawa) which provides easy access to all of Tokyo for a relatively low cost.

Anyway, since I still had some time to kill before heading over to Sushi Yoshitake I decided to take a little stroll and explore the area around the Sheraton; but first I had to take an obligatory picture of the single cherry blossom in front of the Sheraton:



The neighborhood around the Sheraton was very quiet and appeared to be highly residential. Despite that I still found some interesting things including a 100 Yen shop:





A few other pictures from my walk:









With my stroll complete it was time to head over to Ginza and Sushi Yoshitake. Before I go any further I want to touch on my decision to go to Sushi Yoshitake in the first place. Those of you that have read this entire trip report know that on my first visit to Tokyo I visited Sushi Dai, which was excellent.

As a huge sushi lover I wanted to finish my trip with a bang and try one of the best sushi restaurants in Tokyo. After emailing the hotel for a few recommendations as to what would fall in that category they provided me with three recommendations: Saito, Mizutani, and Yoshitake. After looking at the websites and reading a few reviews on line I asked them to look into reservations at each with my preference being Saito, Mizutani, and Yoshitake in that order. Unfortunately the first two were fully booked for the night in question but Yoshitake had an opening and even better they took credit cards which was a huge plus since I was trying to avoid taking out more Yen the night before departing for the US.

Thanks to the clear directions provided by the concierge I was able to easily find Sushi Yoshitake despite its location on the third floor of a non-descript gray building:







After entering I was directed to the last chair on the right (against the wall) where I was seated next to an American couple. Together the three of us were the only non-Japanese in the restaurant and the only three that spoke English (the Sushi Chef and woman serving drinks both spoke enough to interact with us but not much more). I did not have a chance to write down the names of each course so I’ll simply post the pictures of each course in the order it was served. Note the brown dipping sauce that shows up is Albacore Liver and accompanied a piece of Albacore:













































Overall it was one of the best meals I’ve ever had in my life and by far the best sushi I’ve ever eaten. The fish melted on the tongue and the flavor enhancements he gave to various pieces were spot on. The albacore liver paste was shockingly good and went well with the albacore piece. The atmosphere in the place was excellent and all three of us who were American were welcomed with open arms and treated as well as anyone else in the place. The chef had a great sense of humor and personality highlighted by his joking at the end and his willingness to pose for pictures with us:



Stuffed from the meal I wandered down Ginza Street for a bit and picked up a few gifts for friends and family (namely reusable chopsticks):











After wandering back to my hotel it was time to crash for a few hours before my 630am Airport Limousine Bus to Narita for my final flight of the trip, NH 2 from NRT – IAD in F!!!

Skyborne Flyer

Very well written and interesting TR. Will be travelling to Japan this summer, have to try the fish market/sushi place. Also flying TG A380 and OZ's new 380 too!

CDKing

Such a great report and lots of good advice i'm going to take. You just saved me from having to do a trip report as well. I was already dreading the flack i was going to take by writing another one before i finished my last two (one is going on nearly a year past due).

I'm doing a similar run in the next few days. JFK-ICN-BKK (OZ F & J) Stop-over BKK-SYD (TG F). Looks like your plans in SYD mirror mine so I think i'm going to go to Manly beach instead. Although it would be nice if I didn't have to fit it all in 1.25 days. Its so expensive to see a show in the Opera House. I ended up booking a whole show. I only did a quick river cruise in BKK and am looking forward to seeing the temples. I wonder if i should give those taxi guys some crap about the scam or not? Either way I wont be taken for a ride thanks to you.

I was initially booked on the CA SYD-PEK flight but did not want the angle flat J so i switched back to another TG 747 F SYD-BKK flight. I'm hoping i can get on NH from NRT-JFK instead of the ICN-JFK OZ F repeat I have booked.