LM225

Thanks, Genius1! Apologies for the confusion; by "F side," I simply meant the dining room. I can't keep all of these BA lounges straight

LM225

Four Nights in London

While I was pretty terrible about taking photos of our time in London, I did capture a few of the highlights.

For the first day. we hired a guide, Jonnie, who was absolutely terrific (PM if you’d like his info). He took us around many of the “checklist” sights, as well as back streets and more hidden gems that we never would’ve stumbled on ourselves. It was a great intro to London.

The second day, we were on our own. We headed over to the Tower of London:



Touristy, but fun. The yeoman warder tour was great. These guys are former military folks who live in the Tower and are officially charged with protecting the crown jewels (though unofficially, they show off the Tower to tourists like us).



The Tower is also home to some of the biggest crows I’ve ever seen.



After the Tower, we wandered about, occasionally almost getting run over as in our jet-lagged state, we kept forgetting to look right before crossing the street. Apologies to all who nearly killed us.



The next day, we continued to check off the cliche boxes with afternoon tea at The Dorchester:



The elegance of the room was cut nicely by Zivile’s birthday balloon.



Thanks, Zivile

Tea started with sandwiches:



Followed by a small sweet, and then the star of the show: The Dorchester’s famous scones with strawberry and currant jams, clotted cream and pastries.







The scones were delicious.

And there was tea, not that anyone cares about that



That night, we took the tube out to Kew Gardens, which was beautifully lit up for Christmas at Kew:



A wonderful way to end our time in London.

Other (not pictured) food highlights of London that I’d highly recommend:

• Pies at Newman Arms
• Dinner at The Ledbury (one of the best meals I can remember)
• Indian at Tayyab’s in the East End

Next up: The BA F Lounge in T3, LHR-BUD and the stunning Four Seasons Gresham Palace.

BA5E

Am thoroughly enjoying your TR, food looked good in the IAD lounge, and so glad that you got a good nights sleep. The weather here in UK has been good, so it was nice you were able to enjoy some sunny days in the capital. Look forward to the next part of the TR^

LM225

LHR T3 BA Galleries First Lounge

After an easy Tube ride to Heathrow, and a hike to T3, we wandered over to the Lounge area and found BA�s. The lounge has a separate F area, accessible to those traveling in F (not me) and OneWorld Emerald Members (me, until February anyway). We took a left into the F section and entered the lounge.



This lounge is big, and it was nearly deserted when we were there.





We sat down in the dining room. You can order from a menu, but with only 25 minutes left till boarding, we opted to choose from the buffet.





The sandwiches were pretty good...



And the mushroom soup was actually delicious.



We loved this lounge, but I imagine it looks quite different at rush hour.

As soon as we finished lunch, we left and walked over to the gate to board our A320 to Budapest.

BA Club Europe LHR-BUD

Club Europe...luxury at it�s best



While they�re in no way, shape or form a business class product (as with other Euro carriers, they�re simply coach seats with a block off middle seat), the seats are pretty slick looking:



The 14 inches of plastic and pleather that differentiate coach seating from Club Europe:



I wasn�t hungry, but my wife had the shrimp and sailfish salad, which she said was pretty good.



The FA pressed a bit, insisting that I should eat something, so I explained that I ate in the lounge before we boarded. He glanced back at my wife�s salad...

�Wise move, sir.�

I liked him.

After a short and uneventful two-hour flight, we began our descent into Budapest. Immigration was a breeze, and we walked out to the FoTaxi booth and caught a ride into town.

Traffic was pretty heavy, but 40 minutes (and one very carsick wife) later, we pulled up to the beautiful Four Seasons...

Next Up: Four Seasons Gresham Palace and Five Nights In Amazing Budapest

LM225

Many thanks, BA5E! We got very lucky with weather in both London and Budapest.

offerendum

This "new" BA-Club Europe is really a shame! It seems to be even worse than the old product.

LM225

The Four Seasons Gresham Palace, Budapest

My photos won’t do it justice, but man, this is one gorgeous hotel, inside and out.



Built in 1906 and originally an office building for an insurance company, this place has seen a lot of history. It was used as a red army barracks during WWII, and fell into total disrepair in the communist years that followed. After a long restoration, it reopened as the FS in 2004.

So many beautiful touches, large and small:









They had a Christmas market set up in the lobby:



Though unlike the Christmas markets that I’m used to, this one was selling furs, perfumes and high-end wines. No hot mulled wine, no sausage, no thank you

The room, a Danube River View Room, was also fantastic.





Big bathroom:





A delicious welcome gift:



But where the room really shines -- as its name suggests -- is the incredible view of the Danube River, Chain Bridge and Buda Castle.

Day or night, I never got tired of looking out that window:









We were pretty tired at this point, but I’d made reservations at Borkonyha Winekitchen before the trip and we’d been looking forward to it, so we trudged over for dinner. I’m so glad we did, as it turned out to be one of the best meals of our trip.



Everything we had at this place was delicious, and it’s such a cozy setting. In the end (while we had some great meals), it’s still the one restaurant that we visited in Budapest that I’d say is truly a must-try.

The next morning, we ordered breakfast to our room:



Every breakfast dish we tried during our stay was very well done, though the Hungarian scrambled eggs stood out:



After breakfast, we bundled up and set out for our first full day in Budapest...

Up Next: Five Days In Budapest

roadwarrier

That breakfast looks great. Looking at the photos, was this not the old Intercontinental hotel?

LM225

Yep. My US Domestic F on United next week is going to have wider seats and more legroom. Sad.

Thanks roadwarrior! It was indeed excellent. The Intercontinental is actually a block or so away. The Intercontinental, Sofitel and FS are all in the same immediate area.

offerendum

Of course! Even I - who really really hates Economy - only fly Business inside Europe if it is included on a Long haul trip.

I don�t understand that their isn`t a market in Europe. I like to visit Teneriffa for example. My problem is the 4 hour flight in Economy....

HLT1904

Great report London is also fun to go to. I have never been to Budapest, but looks like it is definitely somewhere to go.

Calchas

Great report, very interesting.

Cost cutting. BA's point-to-point J demand in Europe is through the roof, stronger than it has been in nearly 8 years. But instead of taking the opportunity to invest in better products, the new idea is to cut the product and raise the price.

GlobalServiced

Thanks for sharing this! Still haven't had a chance to fly BA F. I am interested to see if the new Club World seats will make their way into the fleets in the next year...

krazykanuck

I'm really interested to see what you did in Budapest. I was there for a couple days in my recent whirlwind tour of Eastern Europe, and it was probably the favorite city I visited. Now the problem is I want to go back when its warm!! I detailed it all here, so I'm curious if we did any of the same things. I was going to have dinner at Borkonyah, but it was quite busy that night and I found a place just 1-2 blocks north of it that was incredibly tasty too. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...d-combo-y.html

LM225

You could always route through Asia on a real airline

Thanks, hickmantitle! It's definitely worth a visit, we loved it.

Thank you Calchas!

Thanks TexasTea! If the CW seats get a solid upgrade, I'm not sure the premium for BA F over CW would be worth it...

I loved your report, krazykanuck. It came at the perfect (worst?) time for me to completely check out of my work and daydream about our upcoming trip

We actually visited Cafe Kor as well! It was very good, and just like you found, incredibly good value. We loved the Terror museum too!

Will try to get the Budapest report up over the weekend.