Oneworldplus2

Fantastic TR.
Layout is spot on. Enjoying the read, Oneworldplus2!

Genius1

Looks like a pretty standard flight in Euro Traveller to Paris. The seats you got are the new space saver seats (they don't convert to CE at the front, but do have a 34" pitch).

UA_Flyer

Full English Breakfast is my all time favorite!!^^

I can eat it for all three meals of the day....I know it is not healthy and some may find it distasteful to eat so much of it.

I went to a boarding school in Devon and had full English breakfast every day for 4 years, and I cannot get enough of English sausages!! Now living and traveling around the world, I don't seem to get any real English sausages outside of UK and Ireland. I was in London last week for a couple of days and was happy to see a full English breakfast buffet at the hotel I stayed.

Sorry to learn the one served on this particular BA flight did not come with baked beans, and was not good based on your experience.

anm1

this is what a TR should ideally be like! crisp writing that transports one and makes one "share" the experience, high-quality pictures interspersed with the text to make the TR come alive. thanks for taking the time to put it together..looking forward to reading more (and planning my next trip to BKK)!

TheFlyingFoodie

Fantastic TR. Inspiring me to complete my long overdue TR of BNA-ORD-YYZ-(New First)LHR-BUD-LGW-GLA, LHR-(Old First)YYZ-ORD-BNA from last August. Both F crews outstanding. Awaiting the rest of the story!^

mjgodden

Great report matthandy. I really like your writing style and the pics are great. Can I ask is it a "point & click" type or something more sophisticated?

I agree about the Mercedes & First class to the airport. I had to make do with the train unfortunately - your way was much better!

Did you like 1A? Did it feel private? I felt that all "eyes were on me" a little in that seat and wouldn't chose it again. Also, that cabin looks pretty crowded - 14 seats. I checked and TG put 10 similar seats in the same space. Does it feel "cozy" there?

Thanks again for taking the time to post such a comprehensive report.

Mark

matthandy

Thanks ^ You might be right about the food. On NF flight the food stepped up another level. No question about it being F food on that one.

Thanks quirrow. In my experience, the crews are very friendly in economy, but obviously don't have the same amount of contact with passengers during the service as they do in F and J. I did have a great conversation in the galley on the A380 with a couple of crew, including the CSS. Really lovely people.

Aww shucks... It will happen, just save up those BA miles!

Interesting, so, what happens in the forward rows, they just leave the middle seat empty?

Glad that I could be of service

Haha UA_Flyer! Yes, it definitely helps wake you up in the morning. No beans, exactly, BA should be ashamed of themselves. My NF breakfast was much better. Now, if only they served bangers and mash and treacle tart for dinner.....

Thanks for the fantastic comments anm1, really pleased that you are enjoying it.

Please do, and I'm very glad to hear that you had outstanding service, unfortunately, it seems to be a bit hit and miss these days.

Thanks Mark. I have a Nikon D300, with the 18-200mm lens. This is a great combination for travelling, but it can be a bit conspicuous at times, so I'd like to get a good quality P&S at some point as well.

I did like 1A, it felt very private. You are right about feeling that everyone is looking at you. 1A has some prestige, so I suppose that people want to see who is sitting there. It wouldn't put me off choose it again.

The TG F configuration seems much better. I really didn't like the fact that the seats were so close together on the 747 on BA. Compare that to the QF A380, where they also have 14 seats in F.....

potakas

Yes, they just keep it free.

This is the CE cabin on my only one flight with space-savers seats.

matthandy

After a rather long and very expensive taxi ride, it was all smiles as we pulled up outside the Eiffel Tower. The weather was holding off at least, despite a few clouds in the sky.


Eiffel Tower

I hadn’t really done any research (I should have done) so I wasn’t sure about which pillar to head for. There were quite a few school kids around which meant that the queues were quite long. We ended up going for the shortest queue, the stairs, thinking that it didn’t really look that high. Boy we were wrong! It is about 320 steps to the top and we required several stops along the way.


Climbing to the Top!

The view from the top was great however, with 360 degrees all across Paris. It was pretty blustery, but luckily it wasn’t very busy. We made our way around the first level, taking in the view, and after a few photos, and a bit of sit down, we discussed whether or not we would ascend to the 2nd level. I wanted to, but my sister was less keen, so we decided not to.


The view, looking East (I think)


Looking over the Seine


The first level


Looking over the Jardins du Trocadero

It was time to tackle the stairs again, but we took it steady and at least it was downhill. The views of the tower on the way down were great. It is quite an amazing structure, to think about how it was built and the intricacies of the design, very interesting.


The Lift


Looking Down

As we got down we were approached by the hoard of people selling junk. I didn’t really understand what this was all about. There were literally hoards of them, all selling the same crap, mini Eiffel Towers of all sort of sizes. I can assume that it was some kind of scam run by organised crime, because they were literally everywhere. It was relentless. It spoiled the experience and I don’t really know why they aren’t moved on by the authorities.

Anyway, it had started to rain so huddled under my sister’s umbrella as we made our way to the Champ de Mars to get the classic, ‘Look it’s me and the Eiffel Tower’ photo, before making our way across the river to the Jardins du Trocadero, dodging more tat sellers along the way.

For some reason, they had turned off the fountains, which was a bit of a shame as I wanted to get a few more photos. Anyway, on from that and towards the Arc de Triomphe, looking at the restaurants along the way as we were starting to thinking about a late lunch, early dinner.

We sat down near the Avenue Kleber and spent about 45 minutes simply just watching the traffic negotiate this amazing roundabout. It was fascinating, I’d like to think there are some rules, but I don’t really understand it. There were several near collisions, but no actual clashes, which was a shame .

Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hYZASIO9v0

As we sat and watched, a scruffy looking man tried the ‘ring trick’ on us. This involves him pretending to find a gold ring right in front of us and asking if it is ours or not. The plan is to get us to buy it from him, or offer him a reward for finding it. It took me a few seconds but as soon as he motioned towards us with the ring I shouted angrily at him, motioned with my hands and told him to go away. He didn’t really like that, so I just kept at it, shouting ‘go away’, ‘go away’, he muttered something back and then went. What is up with this place?! Why don’t the authorities do anything about these people that pester tourists relentlessly. Yes it happens in London, but not to this extent in my experience and you certainly don’t get hoards of people openly hassling tourists selling things, they tend to have stalls instead.

Anyway, we found the subway that takes you through to the centre of the roundabout and spent a little while walking around taking in this monument.


Busy, busy!


War memorial


The Arc de Triomphe

At this point, I was really flagging and the jet lag was getting to me. We’d done so much walking and hadn’t had anything for lunch so we decided to find somewhere to eat and then talk about what we wanted to do next.

We tried to find somewhere that wasn’t too touristy, and managed to find a lovely French restaurant with friendly staff that didn’t mind going halfway between English and French for us.

I thought that I was a fussy eater, but no, my sister comes to France and has the opportunity to sample some delicious French food, and what does she go for? Pasta. There’s no pleasing some people

I chose a salmon dish, as it sounded great.


Salmon escalope

The presentation was excellent and it was a fantastic way to serve salmon. It was delicious!

My sister won’t eat fish so I couldn’t get her to even try it……

After our meal, I was starting to get a second wind. I think that it is very true that food helps one overcome jetlag. Despite that, there wasn’t really a lot of time left to see anything else, as it was 7pm at this point. There was no way that I was going to pay for another taxi ride to the airport so we decided to take a taxi to Gare du Nord and then the RER to CDG. We had plenty of time, as our flight didn’t leave until 10.

We had a lot of trouble trying to get a taxi to take us, I honestly don’t know why, but after four taxis, four miserable taxi drivers and four ‘non’ I gave up, a bit hacked off, so went to a hotel to ask for help. The lovely concierge, even though we weren’t staying at the hotel, went all out for us. He ran halfway down the street to hail a cab and then walked with it to where we were standing, opened the door, told the driver where we wanted to go and then waved us on our way. I was so grateful, what a charming gentleman.

The taxi driver actually turned out to be a very nice chap indeed. He asked if we speak French to which I said, a little, and he said that he spoke a little English too. We tried to have a bit of polite conversation and it was obvious that he was really genuine and friendly. My mood certainly lifted.

As we approached Gare du Nord, the traffic got pretty bad so he suggested that he drop us off close to the station and we could walk the rest of the way. I paid him, including a reasonable tip and said thanks.

We made our way into GdN and found the RER ticket machines. It was pretty easy, as they are available in five different languages, including English. Tickets printed and we went through the barriers and down to the platform. Signs to the airport were clearly posted throughout the station.

Hmmm, London Underground this is not, more like New York Subway. It was dark, and dirty and felt very unloved and foreboding. I didn’t like it.

One of the extremely long trains pulled up and we got in, finding no seats available, we just stood. We pulled out of the station ever so slowly and for the next 30 minutes we just crawled along. I’ve no idea why. My sister started to ask me why it was going so slowly, but I hate having conversations on trains when it is reasonably quiet, especially as everyone could tell that we were tourists. Anyway, from what I understood, some of the other passengers didn’t know what was going on either. My French does stretch far enough to understand ‘I don’t know’.

I think it took us about an hour to get to CDG. Not really comparable with the Heathrow Express

As we made our way into the station, we had to go through the ticket barriers. I put my ticket in and the next thing I know my ankles are being attacked by a suitcase and a rather gormless acting woman attached to it. I almost fell over as she pushed her way through the gate with me. Clearly she didn’t have a ticket. I shouted at her, but she just looked at me in a dumb way and then went over to her friend. Perhaps this is a normal occurrence.

Verdict

Erm. Well, it was a mixture of many different experiences, good and bad, all in a short time frame. The Eiffel Tower was great, despite the long trek up the stairs. The 360 views over the city were simply fascinating. However, I’d have liked to have gone all the way up, as I did last time. The relentless souvenir sellers really tarnished the experience though.

The Arc de Triomphe was also fascinating. Not so much the structure itself, which is of course impressive, but more the traffic, as drivers try to negotiate their way around the structure. It was pure entertainment. Again, the gypsy ring trick man tried to spoil things there too.

The restaurant that we eat in was perfect. As a purely random find, I was impressed with the quality of the food and the friendliness of the staff. My previous experience of dining in Paris was unfortunately filled with great food and totally stuck up and downright rude waiting staff. This experience was so much better. However, the difficult taxi drivers made for a stressful time as we left the restaurant.

Our journey to CDG wasn’t great, the train we were on badly needed some refurbishment, although the trip was straight forward for someone who had not been on the RER before.

My overall impression of Paris is one where the tourist spots really are worth visiting and stand up well against other world cities, however, the peripheral areas and the transport system, were just tired, decrepit and dirty. CDG Terminal 2 is just awful, truly awful. It needs tearing down and starting from scratch.

I can’t say that I would rush back to Paris, but it was fun for a quick visit.

matthandy

So we were into the maze that is CDG. Getting to Terminal 2A involved a very long trek, I’d say that it was a good kilometre, if not more, and of course there were no moving walkways. I really hate this airport, what a dump.

We managed to find the BA check in desks, which confirmed that we were in the correct part of the terminal. As we already had our boarding passes, and no checked luggage, we went straight through security. My sister didn’t get a second glance, so we were through quickly.

Next mission, where is the lounge?? There were plenty signs for all sorts of lounges, including some Oneworld airlines, Cathay and American, but no mention of BA. After scouring the entire departure area, including going up the Cathay lounge and finding out that it closes at 2pm, we eventually schleped over to the odd looking satellite building and to the American Airlines lounge. I later found out that this is the designated lounge for BA passengers. With the number of flights to CDG, why does BA not have their own lounge?

This was my first time in an AA lounge and I knew that this would mean no Champagne. Oh well, they still had alcohol available, but to be honest, neither of us could be bothered anyway, so just stuck with the soft drinks.

The receptionist was very friendly. She was American and it was quite something to hear her speak perfect French and then immediately switch to a strong American accent for the next passenger. Quite a skill.

I got the impression that the BA flight was probably the last of the day so the lounge was reasonably quiet. It was split into two sections, the main section with the self service bar and other facilities, and a smaller (empty) section to the right of reception which is where we sat.

Free wifi was available, as well as plenty of power outlets, although I did not have the right adapter for a UK plug so I asked the receptionist. She pulled out all sorts of adapters for me and asked me to try one and come back if it didn’t work. Friendly service again.

We both settled into the comfy leather chairs and then I went off to see what drinks were on offer.


Rightmost seating area, very comfortable


Business centre/center


Drinks selection in this section of the lounge (not the main bar)

In our area there was a good selection of beers and soft drinks in the fridge and well as coffee and tea. There were a few snacks out, but very slim pickings such as nuts and nachos.

In the main bar, a reasonably full bar was available, including spirits and wines, but there wasn’t anything additional to eat.

For the next hour or so, I amused myself with the free Wifi and my sister browsed a couple of magazines. All of that walking was definitely catching up with me, and the lounge was a nice place to chill out and recover (slightly) from the hustle and bustle of the city. I was very much looking forward to getting back to the UK and down to Sussex to stay with my Dad.

At about 9.20, (45 minutes prior to pushback) I asked my sister to pack up her stuff so that we could get ready to leave and head down to the gate. As this was a bit of a walk, I didn’t want to be late. At about 9.30, the receptionist announced that the flight was ready for boarding, so I handed back the adapter, she wished us a good flight and then we made our way to the gate.

London Heathrow to Paris CDG with British Airways

Flight: BA329
Carrier: British Airways
Aircraft: Airbus A319 - G-EUOI
Scheduled Departure time: 22.05
Duration: 1h
Scheduled Arrival time: 22.05
Class: Euro Traveller
Seat: 8A and 8B (seat plan)

This flight was scheduled to be operated by an A320 aircraft, but as we got to the gate I was able to see that it was in fact an A319, suggesting a lighter load on this flight tonight.

We had to hang around at the gate for a little while, as there was a small queue in front of us, including a large family, with kids. We had our boarding passes checked and then we made our way down to the aircraft.


BA A319 – G-UOI

We were onboard at about 9.45pm and were happy to discover that again we had landed Club Europe seats, although they were in the Euro Traveller configuration, with the middle seat occupied.

At 9.55pm the Captain welcomed us onboard. He sounded like a bit of a character. I think that his name was Steve. The way that he talked was quite amusing, it sounded like he was keen to get going and mentioned that we might be able to get away early. Perhaps he wanted to get home to bed, as did I. The flying time was very short, just 40 minutes.

We pushed back 5 minutes early, on the dot at 10pm and seemed to rush to the runway and were soon up in the air.

I think that I must have drifted off at this point, because I cannot remember anything about the service. I assume that drinks were offered, as on the outbound, but I don’t remember having anything. Sorry about that.

I came around just as the Captain announced that unfortunately, we’d have to hold for a short while over Heathrow. He said that he would let us know when we were cleared to land. About 5 minutes later, he announced that “ATC have told us that we are now free to leave the sin bin” and that we’d be landing in 10 minutes. He had a funny manner about him, very charismatic and charming.

We landed only 5 minutes late, at 10.10pm and again, we sprinted down the taxiways to Terminal 5. I don’t remember taxiing at such a speed before!

Soon we were on stand and an airbridge was attached. It didn’t take long to disembark, and the Captain was standing by the cockpit door saying goodbye to everyone.

I was concerned about picking up my bag, since they closed at 11pm, and it was 10.25 at this point and I still had to go through immigration, customs and then trek to the other end of the terminal to the left luggage counter.

As it happens, and surprisingly, there was actually quite a long queue at immigration. It took a short while to be processed. I mused that this was probably the only time that I have entered the UK twice in the space of 18 hours or so.

Dad was waiting for us in the arrivals area, so I went and said hello then collected my bag. It was all pretty painless and soon we were in the car and making our way out of the car park. Dad got a bit confused with the signage so I directed him.

I tried to sleep on the way home but Dad and my sister insisted on talking, so they were met with mostly one word answers from me, I was so tired at this point.

Home sweet home and I practically lept into bed, it was so nice to be home!

Verdict

Not much to say really! I was surprised that BA did not have their own lounge at CDG, however the AA lounge more than met my expectations. It was comfortable, with good facilities and friendly staff.

The flight itself was pretty standard, it’s fair to say that I was fairly tired and therefore missed most of it. The Captain seemed like a fun guy though, someone that would probably be able to tell you that the flight had been cancelled in such an amusing way that you wouldn’t mind!

matthandy

It was so good to be home.

After a rather long and restful night’s sleep I woke up to the scratching sound of my Dad’s dog trying to get into my room. I let her in, but she didn’t do much more than just take a nosey around and then head back down stairs. Nice to see you too!

I’d planned to meet a friend for lunch, so got dressed, and had a bit of breakfast with Dad before hopping on the train to into the town where he worked.

My Dad lives in the same village where I grew up, although not in the same house. However, nothing changes, everything looked exactly the same since the last time I was there.


Waiting at the station

Despite it being June, and therefore summer, it wasn’t very warm, and the overcast skies didn’t help. Looking at the temperatures, it was warmer during the day in Sydney, in winter, than it was in the UK at that time.

As I got off the train, I came into contact with something which reminded me of why I left the UK. Two young mothers, with buggies and two small toddlers in tow, smoking, and telling the kids to “get a f***ing move on”. Seriously, these kids were no more than 2 years old. I don’t understand why people behave in such a way. It seems much more prevalent in the UK from my experience. Yuck.

I’d agreed to meet my friend at an age old local landmark. Points if you know where this is!


Meeting point

Meeting up with my friend was great, it was just like old times, although a lot had changed in his life from a personal point of view. We headed to the local pub where I was able to have a pretty cheap lunch and a pint of famously warm beer.

After that, I met up with my Aunt and went off to see some of my older relatives. I love my great Aunt and Uncle, such characters. They really are the exact opposite of each other, you’d think it was a comedy act. She is kind, caring, and welcoming, he is grumpy, opinionated and wise cracking. We had a very English ‘sit down’ with tea and chocolate digestives, my great Aunt insisting that I take more than one, my great Uncle surprised us by producing a thick folder which contained the family history (on my mother’s side). It was fascinating. It had many photographs of his sister, my late Grandmother and included his time in Australia back in the 50’s. As it turns out, I have Australia heritage, with connections in Adelaide before the turn of the century. Perhaps I was destined to come and live over in Australia?

We spent a great deal of time chatting and then it was time to leave as I had a family meal to get to.

We had chosen to eat at a local pub that I hadn’t been in for many years. It was a family tradition that we would go for a drink and a meal there on Christmas eve, so it held a lot of memories for me. It was very nice to go back.

My Dad, his partner, Aunt, Uncle, sister and brother in law were waiting for me as we arrived, as I’d spent longer at my great Aunt’s than I had planned.

The meal was great, although the service was a bit slow. I was in a bit of a rush as I had asked some of my school mates to meet me at the pub for a few drinks after the meal. As soon as we had finished I met up with them and spent the next few hours until closing reminiscing about old times. I really miss my friends, I wish that I could take them to Australia with me!


The dining room at the pub

After another good night’s sleep I packed up all of my stuff and had a bit of toast for breakfast before saying my goodbye’s to Dad, the dog and the cat.

I had arranged to meet a friend in London and do a few touristy things as well as have a catch up and then a few beers with another load of mates in the evening. This trip took a lot of planning!

I soon arrived into Victoria and then had to negotiate the tube (forgot my Oyster card, bugger) with my heavy suitcase and my backpack. Not fun, although I had done it before so knew all of the tricks, like pulling the suitcase down the stairs rather than trying to carry it. It’s a Samsonite, so it can take a bit of a beating.

I used to work my with friend and the office is just off of Haymarket, so after a bit of negotiation with security, I was able to leave my suitcase there to collect later. We met with another ex-colleague and went for lunch. Nothing fancy, just to EAT. I miss places like EAT and Pret in Sydney!

After this, my friend wanted to buy a camera, so we went to Jessops and walked out with a shiny new Nikon for him to play with. We then made our way down to the Eye, and I noticed that this is no longer sponsored by British Airways, but EDF instead. This was a good chance for him to try out his camera, his first SLR.


The EDF London Eye

For me, this was a very rare opportunity to become and completely and utterly unashamed tourist for the day. I’d worked in London for the best part of 5 years, but hadn’t really visited many of the tourist attractions (not the ones that you have to pay for anyway!). We decided to head over to Westminster Abbey, but the queues were pretty big, as was the price. Why is everywhere Ł16 to get into in London?


Westminster Abbey

As this was a no go, I thought about going to visit something that I had walked past almost every other day when working in London, the Cabinet War Rooms. I have a bit of an interest with all things subterranean and it was a good opportunity for my Indian friend to learn a bit about this country’s history.

Again, this was also Ł16 to get in, although this did include an audio guide. I’m not sure that my friend understood much of it, but I tried to explain. My history isn’t great though. I found the War Rooms fascinating, and could have easily spent the best part of 3 hours there. One exhibit that I found particularly moving was the Churchill Room, dedicated to the life of Winston Churchill. The video of his funeral was amazing. It actually bought a tear to my eye and made me feel very proud. I cannot imagine what life was like for everyone, on both sides, during that time.

After emerging back into the sunshine, I got a call from my friend, who was in Convent Garden. So we met up and then made our way around the area to find somewhere to rest up for a much needed pint.


After work drinks

The photo above perfectly sums up what I love and miss about London in the summer. We picked a random pub, down a random side street and found that it was bustling with people enjoying a summer evening drink after work. I really miss this. More of my friends joined and we spent a good few hours there, before heading off to find somewhere to eat.

I’d arranged with a mate to stay at his flat, near Greenwich, that night, so after we had eaten, we made our way to Westminster pier to catch the last ferry of the night. It’s quite a fun experience to be blasting down the Thames on one of the fast clipper ferries at night.

Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDavrFxuqFA

We had a few drinks at his place before settling in for the night.

Good morning, and it was pretty sunny outside, typical, just as I was leaving.
My friend’s flat has 180 degree views over Canary Wharf and Greater London as well as close proximity to the river and Greenwich. It’s a pretty good location actually.


View over Canary Wharf

We decided to head to Greenwich for breakfast as my friend knew of a trendy café that served excellent breakfasts. He wasn’t wrong. I went for the full English, but with haloumi, as I can’t get enough of the stuff.


Breakfast


Greenwich Market


Naval College

After this, we took a wander through Greenwich market and then to the Naval College. We spent a little while walking along the ‘beach’ by the side of the Thames as it was low tide before it was time for me to head off to catch my flight to Cork from Gatwick.

Verdict

Not long enough! I’d carefully planned every aspect of the few days that I had in Sussex and London but it really wasn’t enough time. I should have spent more time in London, a couple of full days at least. Next time.

matthandy

To accompany this trip report, I used my iPhone 4 to capture a number of videos. If you have been reading my report and got this far, here is a little treat for you. All of the videos are available in HD, 720p.

I will add the links in to each section shortly, but for completeness, here is the full list:

Qantas First Class Lounge - Pan from Seating Area
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7-Vs9HdChU

Qantas First Class Lounge - View from the Spa
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwAqM4RQ1FM

Pushback from Sydney
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69c75c1Tg2Y

Take off
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYMsdlz-LCE

Landing into LHR
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiiUSSD3FUc

An Overview of the First Class Cabin on the 747 (Old First)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WAKjDvWzAk

View from the Concorde Room Terrace
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dr-KRV7l28Y

Take off to Paris
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjlY7cTDsxY

Arc de Triomphe - Traffic Madness!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hYZASIO9v0

Thames Clipper
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDavrFxuqFA

ant_west

The Market Cross in Chichester!

Grew up on Hayling so familiar site (and meeting point as you say)!

Great TR so far - has me eager for my trip to Oz in October - out in QF F on the 380, back in BA F!

potakas

Matt you are doing excellent job, ^

Really enjoyed your videos, also the AA lounge was excellent for an outstation's one.

ellielovesem

Excellent TR as always and the videos are pretty cool too.

I always enjoy your reports seeing as you're often doing 'my route' of backwards and forwards between Sydney and the UK. Impressed you got to try out first, looks really nice, I'd die for the pj's and the amenity kit! After my last trip being in WT+ I've gone back to Business for my next trip courtesy of a reward flight but looks like I shoud be aspiring to first!

Looking forward to the next part.