JVPhoto

A bit of a different trip report start for me.

I've been living (don't count those month long trips that I'm gone) in New York for a full 9 years and would just be starting my 10th year. Going to spend a bit more time in California and Thailand.
However, the time had come to give up my apartment on Bowery that I had for the past 6 years which I needed to do a few days before my flight so I've been in hotels.

As some may have read before I usually always spend the month of July in Berlin to celebrate my birthday, see friends, do a weekend somewhere in EU, a bit of work.
But, given that I no longer have an apartment in NY I'm starting the TR a few days "early" while I am still in the city.

1) The Bowery Hotel
2) The Carlton
3) United Club & BusinessFirst EWR-LHR
4) GermanWings BEST (J) LHR-TXL
5) The Westin Grand Berlin
6) Berlin Part 1
7) KLM Economy TXL-AMS
8) Amsterdam
9) SWISS Y AMS-ZRH-VIE + 2 Lounges
10) The Renaissance Imperial Riding School Hotel Vienna
11) Vienna
12) Austrian/Swiss Economy VIE-ZRH-TXL + VIE/ZRH Lounge
13) Casa Camper Hotel Berlin
14) Berlin Part 2
15) Lufthansa SEN Lounge + Business TXL-FRA
16) Porsche Experience + Lufthansa First Class Terminal + First FRA-JFK 748i

JVPhoto

The Bowery Hotel

The Bowery is probably the closest thing like Chateau Marmont or Hotel Costes that you'll find in NY. I've walked by it nearly every day for over half a decade and you get anything now and then from the paparazzi (across the street) waiting for Gaga or a few years ago when on any given weekend a small Asian girl in fairy wings would come out put headphones on and dance/rave to herself on top of mail boxes and fire hydrants.
During my stay bumped into/elevatored with Blake Griffin, Flea & Sam Smith.



No points or status scheme here, but it is 2 short blocks away from my old apartment and also my storage unit which were things I would both be doing a few last minute things in so I needed to be close. I went for the King which either has 2 corner windows and a more square lay out or (my Mom has stayed here a few times) the single window ones but which are more rectangular and thus feel a little bigger in my eyes. I was happy for the double windows because it was cozy to watch the wind and rain and cuddle up on the colder NY days this week...and I also was doing a small shoot here so the light is great.



On weekends they reserve the lounge seating in the lobby bar and atrium for guests of the hotel. From what I heard I think they may allow non-guests to go in and around the corner to the more standing/bar stool area. I think that is a nice touch because on a Saturday night sitting there for 1 hour having drinks at least 5 parties came trying to be seated. Most cocktails are about $16, but it's all for the scene. I prefer the Asian Garden (sake, vodka, cucumber, lime, ginger).



In addition to a teddy bear you can cuddle up with the amenities are pretty well stocked...like a whole thing of salami or a Kiki de Montparnasse lingere intimacy kit.



One touch I like is that instead of cards they use digital keys. However, they have a big tassle knocker with the room # on them in the old Euro style leave at the front desk when you leave set up. I hate that especially how much in and out I was doing this time so I took it off the key ring until I checked out.



Things I don't like are that there is now bathtub and also no electric kettle (although that is a larger problem for most hotels in America).

It's pricey, but it has a good vibe and it's close enough to action but still in an area of its own that you can relax.

LH4116

Love the head start JV! So you didn't chose to hop around any other hotels in NYC? We don't really get to see many boutique hotels on FlyerTalk… I guess mainly since they don't accept points for payment, haha.

JVPhoto

The Carlton



Originally I thought I was going to be out of my apt on Sunday but because of when I was getting rid of my bed/mattress ended up being earlier than I planned it's why I did two hotels. This was the original plan, The Bowery was the week before add on. I was going to do an SPG hotel but my plans for the rest of the year will already get me to Gold there and I have Gold with Marriott/RC because of my UA status. The past few trips where I have stayed at a Marriott Group property I was traveling with someone where we for sure needed 2 beds so I was interested in booking this and seeing what the upgrade would be like. Also the rate was pretty good compared to the W.

I was able to check in 1.5h early and while I booked a queen I was given a king which has a noticeable and welcomed difference the floor & bathroom space than the queens.




After my Mom's birthday trip to Tokyo & London she stayed here for a few nights so I was able to check it out then which added to me deciding to book it as well. The place was clean, comfortable and has a pretty decent level of design...sort of a diet lite version of Kelley Wearstler x Tom Ford.
The location on Madison btw. 28th/29th isn't bad either. Not all the way up in Midtown, still have some decent things near by and if needed to would be easy for me to hop downtown.



As a Gold/Plat you get breakfast in Milseime the mezzanine balcony restaurant.




You are given a coupon for each guest for each day you are there that you give to the hostess. You can use it for $10 off a menu purchase or take the free cont buffet. It's not the $13 one listed on the menu, it has a few more things but looked pretty ordinary and I heard her tell someone else it is $25.

I went for the egg white omelette and while it was good...it took 29 minutes to come out. The place was by no means busy. Tomorrow I have two Soul Cycle classes and don't plan on wasting my time there or with the buffet and will just go across the street to Ekki ("health cafe" juice bar) or Fresh & Co. and pick a few things up.



They cannot let you know in advance at check in or even the day before check out about a late check out. Have to ask the day off...it's a pretty big hotel on a Tuesday so hopefully there shouldn't be an issue to give me an extra hour or two to wait for my car so I don't have to be a NY raggamuffin and wander the streets with no home and friends who are all at jobs.

At the the end I would recommend it also for people who may not want to be as downtown as The Bowery or Standard EV or Thompson LES but not in Times Sq...a good mix. You can do a straight shot up Madison to Bergdorf/Barneys/The Park and you can walk to Eately or even Union Square. With the $250/night + upgrade to king I have to put it at a really solid value for New York...I think at the beginning of May when my Mom stayed it was like $375 but that would include a Fri/Sat.

MatthewLAX

Rimowa ^

Madone59

Great start - looking forward to the rest as always ^

avneeshj

I love your TRs. Waiting for the rest.

jacobac00

I always enjoy your reports. Subscribed for this one!

Thanks for posting.

JVPhoto

United Club Newark & BusinessFirst EWR-LH sCO 777

As I got up to get some breakfast I made sure to visit the lobby to try and get a late check out...1pm was all they could do since they are "full". Sure buddy...on a Tuesday.
But that was better than nothing as I had two Soul Cycle classes back to back which would finish at 11:25 giving me 30 min to get from Union Sq up there to shower, throw my last stuff together and check out.



I had the car set to pick me up at 3:50 so I would do a few errands. First was to get to Sunrise so I could pick up a something for one of my friends in Berlin.



Killing a bit of time I had a craving for this salad at Elmo in Chelsea so I CitiBiked down. On the UA board people bemoan that they got a fruit salad in the new catering with feta cheese in it. I love fruit and salty/savory...in this case a watermelon balsamic with mozzarella salad. The soyaki salmon wasn't bad either.




Back up to the hotel and 30 min killing time in the lobby. Carmel as usual was a little early. I think I just hired a regular sedan but a brand new Cadillac XTS picked me up which was nice. City streets and some tunnel traffic we were at EWR C in about 55 minutes.



No it was not closed like I thought...this was the actual PreCheck line.



I had time to kill so once through I hit the club to watch a few episodes of Inside Amy Schumer and have some tea. I also spotted the elusive UC salami which looks putrid.



I knew since yesterday the flight was going to be delayed. Our inbound kept showing coming from PVG landing at EWR at 6:30pm. Our boarding time was 6:45pm. No way, no how. The plane was also landing at B where it would have to offload and then be towed to C.



Finally at about our boarding time they announce the delay to 8:15. At 7:30 is when the plane finally showed up but we didn't board until closer to 7:50.

I took the time to get rid of all the loose random currency change I had accumulated.

And also go to the sushi place and have the octopus salad which is great and 2 pieces of eel.


At this point I was hoping we would make up some time in the air. It was either going to be down to the wire for my (what was 90 minutes) connection in LHR...or we would just blow it all together.
Board seemed to go smoothly and our flight time once up would be 6:20. Doing some math in my head I figured even if we got in the air by 9 I could probably do it. We pushed back a little before 9 and were in the air by then.

I was a little indulgent on this trip enjoying a little champagne before take off.


A typical uninspired menu.




The salmon wasn't anything special but at least the wasabi mayo does a little flavor.

I scooped most of that blue cheese off but it was pretty decent.

This let me down, I had a SIMILAR described dish before which was good. The sauce was more tangy and acidic where this was a bit sweeter. The chicken was juicy and cooked well, vegetables were good but didn't eat the rice.

As others have seen before I'll ask for a teeeeeeeny tiny piece of cheese well the Purser challenged my will power with a slice of goat cheese.

Ice cream sundaes were the "yellow" vanilla variety (and don't tell me it's "French Vanilla").
I didn't ask to be woken for breakfast and when I got up on my own I just had some almonds and chia snacks I brought with me.


My best friend got me a new travel accessory to match my newest tattoo.

We touched down at 8:23 and were at the gate at about 8:28/29. I got on my phone and checked that my 4U flight was still showing on time for 9:10 and the inbound was arriving at 8:35...

JVPhoto

GermanWings BEST LHR-TXL A319

I had all my info ready for a miss connect. I had the flight numbers for LH to MUC or FRA which would still get me to TXL 2-3 hours earlier than waiting for the post 2pm direct 4U flight.

I was the first person off the plane we arrived at B48 and I had to get to A17. I "Home Alone'd It" all the way down the hall, down the escalators, on the walking pathway under the tarmac, up the stairs and to transit security where I was able to use the Fast Track ticket given by UA.

On the Run (video)

The woman ahead of me dumped her bottle of water in the garbage bin by the conveyer belts and the girl instructing people with the xray bins said "Does this look like a sink to you?" Priceless.

Antsy antsy hurry up with the pat down and let the other people through. Now what I realized worried me was if they had to open up my carry on and swab everything like they did last time...please don't shoot it over to the side please don't. NOPE! Success! Grabbed it and up the stairs and maneuvered my way around a clueless mob of Indian tourists to get ahead of them for the immigration control, just a quick BP scan and I was in the terminal. A17 wasn't far away and I walked right up they had just started boarding and actually had a priority line. I made it...there at about 8:52.

Did get to see the Ethiad A380 in person which I think is the most beautiful livery and color scheme out there.








BEST is just like any other intra-EU J with the first few rows having the middle seat blocked. Extra baggage and what not but didn't matter since I was connecting from UA J. Instead of like on LH where you would get a plated tray with a snack this is more like SK where you can pick some things from the "bistro" menu. I had a pretty decent pretzel roll (it's the 2nd time I've had bread in 2 months) with sundried tomatoe, carrots, cabbage and herb cheese.







Landed a few minutes early and by 12:15 the baggage belt had stopped so it was a trip to the LH Globe office where as I imagined it was still in LHR but being put on the next flight and then delivered to my hotel after about 5 min worth of paperwork, etc.

LH4116

Nice follow up JV! It's a bummer that you couldn't route it via ARN, instead of LHR when the direct flight to TXL wasn't available Though I'm a bit curious why you chose to eat before the flight when flying Business Class, or is the food onboard simply not good enough?

Germanwings BEST looks quite bleak to me, essentially like Lufthansa Economy Class except that they charge silly amounts for it. SAS PLUS is a bit better since they serve a proper meal on the flights, though the middle seat isn't blocked. But they do offer upgrades for €37 which is pretty good value for longer EU flights. If you ever decide on going to Iceland, you should definitely fly it.

JVPhoto

I snack a little so I'm not hungry and prone to eating more fatty, salty or processed food on the plane.

I felt this was just like LH J aside from the food being different. I've flown SK ARN-LHR and I disliked the lack of blocking I would rather have that and a bagged lunch than the chicken Caesar salad and some finance guy's elbows in my side.

I also took this routing since it was about $1700 cheaper than flying EWR-TXL and I'm pretty sure forcing a connection in Europe that wasn't LHR/FRA/BRU would have had a similar price.

akelkar

Keeping off grains while traveling is probably a good idea. I've been trying to keep mostly paleo when I travel but it's hard when you get served it so much in lounges/on flights (1st world problems, I know)

How do you manage it?

JVPhoto

The Westin Grand Berlin



This is the first time I have ever stayed in a hotel in Berlin that was not Casa Camper. After over a dozen stays there in the past 6 years it is inconceivable for me to think of anything but. However, needed a few SPG nights and the price was decent so why not give it a go.

I had set my arrival at 1pm hoping I could check in right away which I was able to. Breakfast was included in the rate and in no time I was upstairs. They also wouldn't bring my bag up when it was delivered by the airport and they would call me when it arrived.

The entrance makes me think of a stateroom on a boat with all the wood paneling. The bathrooms and rest of the room are comfortable, nice soothing decor and designed. There is a Tassimo pod coffee maker but no electric kettle and I can't for the life of me figure out how to make it just spout out hot water to make tea.





The gym was somewhat small but it looked out onto the big pool "grotto" (jacuzzi is behind me)


Breakfast is good. LOTS of stuff. Fruit/yogurt/muesli station. Hot eggs station. Typical hot breakfast stations. Pickled fish and other meats station. Bakery station. Sparkling wine station. Cheese station. It was pretty full and I didn't want to be that guy taking 9 photos.






(yes I ate bread, I was meeting my trainer after)




The location is great if tourism is your primary goal in Berlin. You're a few minutes from Brandenberg Tor, Museum Island, Checkpoint Charlie, Alexanderplatz and the Friedrichstraße station can get you to most places in the city with one connection.







Personally it is not my scene or any reason in my day to day for me to stay here. However, while I always recommend Casa Camper if someone is looking for value, comfort and location I think this is great.
I went down to ask for a late check out and they already had my 2pm request honored which is great as now I don't have any downtime between checking out here and when I can get into the apartment.

Across the street in Galleries Lafayette Gourmet I did end up making a few visits each day to get some snacks and food and thing since my usual places I like to go to would take 20-30 min.





Galleria Kauhof also has a decent food section and the regular grocery store Kaiser's has some prepared foods that are tasty and good to pick up on the go which is nice in the times that I am at a hotel and I can pop in and get something decent otherwise when I am in an AirBnB apartment I make my own stuff.

offerendum

Never stayed at the Westin, but location is indeed great