SQTraveller

My prior trip was to British Columbia from Singapore on British Airways. This tells the story of my most recent trip short trip to Nice.

This will likely be my last trip report for a bit, as I don't have any real travel planned until the second half of the year.

• JetQuay CIP Terminal
• BA16 (A380) in Y+ Singapore – London (SIN-LHR)
• Restaurant Review: Zedel
• BA342 (A320) in C London – Nice (LHR-NCE)
• Apartment Massena from Booking.com
• Various Restaurants in Nice
• BA345 (A320) Nice - London (NCE-LHR)
• BA11 (A380) London - Singapore (LHR-SIN) part I
• BA11 (A380) London - Singapore (LHR-SIN) part II

For my most recent FlyerTalk contributions:

• SIN to YVR on BA; multiple hotels; Booking.com almost ruins it
  
• Please sir, can I travel like this some more? [Business class to London]
  
• Singapore to Bangkok on Singapore Airlines
• SQ Y Singapore to Jakarta and the Mulia Hotel ...
• Places to eat in Singapore
• Sightseeing in and around Bangkok
• First ever (thriller in) Manila trip ... 1 trip; 2 classes; 2 hotels
• Long weekend to Bangkok for massage, Jim Thompson and (that elusive) upgrade!!!
  
  

Follow my travel blog here

Swiss Tony

On your blog post, you have your North & South at T5 reversed.

You used the North lounge and North fast track, based on the photos...

offerendum

Will be in Nice in April, so it´s getting interesting for me

SQTraveller

Thanks Swiss Tony. I've made the necessary changes and they will reflect here. She did say South, but pointed North, hence the confusion in my post.

farbster

Looking forward to the report, especially once we can get out of T5

Annalisa12

Thanks for posting.

warakorn

Any photos? Sorry, did I miss sth?

SQTraveller

IMG_9871 by Globe Trekka, on Flickr

Thanks for waiting. You can find the trip report on my travelling blog.

VIEW THE TRIP REPORT HERE AS WELL
And if you enjoy reading it, please subscribe to my blog by selecting the follow button on the top right hand side. Thanks!!

For some unknown reason I agreed to travel to Europe for Christmas. As I write up this report, I still don’t know how I was persuaded to do it. The cold and I just do not seem to get along, and given the reports that it was getting really cold, I was really not looking forward to it.

But before I boarded my plane, first was a stop at JetQuay CIP terminal. I will write a more complete review later as I was a bit too tired to take videos/photos. However, these were some of my initial thoughts.

The JetQuay Terminal is located next to Terminal 2. It is open to any passenger travelling in any class or any carrier (with a few exceptions).

There are three types of services available

GATEWAY – Meet & Greet service in main Airport terminal (Escort only, no electric buggy)

QUAYSIDE – GATEWAY service with the use of electric buggy, in-house immigrations and customs clearance, dedicated check-in counters, baggage assistance and usage of Jet Quay Private Airport facility.

JETSIDE – QUAYSIDE service but with limousine transfer on the tarmac.

The service I opted for this time round was the Quayside. Actually I didn’t opt for it. It was the only option available to Citi Prestige credit card customers. I provided the link here, but bear in mind that I am not suggesting that this card is value for money. Here is my separate post on reward credit cards. This Prestige card is not necessarily the best value for money out there, but I use it for its various perks.

Unfortunately because I had an extremely busy couple of weeks, I wasn’t really minded to take videos or lots of photos of this experience. Also, this was my first time using JetQuay, I didn’t want to get banned for taking too many photos.

This was my experience.

I took a limousine taxi (complimentary when arranged through the Citi Prestige card) to the airport. The CIP terminal is situated to the right hand side (same side as terminal 2). Once at the entrance gate, the security guard has a list of passengers and flights expected. Once he lowers the barrier, the car drives in and winds round to the terminal entrance.

A member of staff opened my car door, and immediately welcomed me. The driver handed my check in luggage to another member of staff, who confirmed whether this was my only check in. He carried it off and that was the last I saw of it until I got to Heathrow baggage claim. This was all done in the first 10 seconds of getting out of the car.

After this, a different member of staff escorted me to a group of chairs. You can wait there, or select wherever you want to sit. Basically the terminal is one big lounge. In fact, I was spoilt for choice. When I arrived there were two men sitting near the entrance, and within 10 minutes they left for their flight. So I selected a seat that gave me a decent view of the lounge. As I sat down, the staff member who escorted me to my seat offered me a drink. Since I wanted to have an excuse to wander around, I declined. When other passengers arrived I heard whiskey and champagne being offered.

IMG_9861 by Globe Trekkaon Flickr

IMG_9860 by Globe Trekkaon Flickr

IMG_9859 by Globe Trekkaon Flickr

After offering me a drink, the staff member ask for my passport, and off she pottered. I didn’t know what exactly to do, so I just sat there for 5 minutes waiting for my passport to be returned. 5 minutes turned into 10 minutes into 15 minutes and still no sign of my passport. I was hungry so damn it, I went to the dining area to grab some food. I’m not sure what to say about the food. The offerings were pretty limited for a private terminal. There is no way it is better than say the SilverKris lounge (you can see the types of food available on my Singapore to London business class flight earlier this year).

IMG_9854 by Globe Trekkaon Flickr

IMG_9864 by Globe Trekkaon Flickr

IMG_9862 by Globe Trekkaon Flickr

IMG_9855 by Globe Trekkaon Flickr

Because I guess the passenger turnover is low, the food does not look fresh. It looks like it's been sitting there a number of hours. Having said that, the beef curry was very good as were the chicken wings.

But that didn't stop me from helping myself to some food as well as some drinks. Thank you very much!

IMG_9858 by Globe Trekkaon Flickr

IMG_9853 by Globe Trekkaon Flickr

IMG_9865 by Globe Trekkaon Flickr

After a couple of hours, it was time to leave. Basically, when the boarding pass says it's time to close for boarding, a JetQuay representative will come and collect you. You walk out into the entrance hallway of the JetQuay terminal and this is when the staff hands back your passport! I'm glad I didn't panic. I guess it's normal for this to happen to superstars. You pass through immigration. The scariest part here, is the immigration officer smiles at you. Shock! Horror! And the words that came out of his mouth after doing the necessary checks ..."have a nice trip sir".... what?! you are wishing me a nice trip? Have you put a comment in my passport that I should be aware of? This traveller is a PITA? What did you say?!

Of course, it then dawned on me that I was travelling through a private terminal and he probably thought I was some big deal. Sorry to burst your bubble ... I'm just a DJ, yeah, that's right. A Desk Jockey. I spend a good 12 hours of my day stuck in front of a computer.

As I was still getting over the shock of being spoken to like a person, the JetQuay employee indicated for me to follow her into a lift which took us up one floor (frankly we could have just taken the stairs), and to what looked like a parking lot for buggies. There were at least 10 buggies and at first, there was no indication which one I should ... mount (?). Until another JetQuay staff appeared and pointed to one. I was to sit in the second row passenger seat until I requested to be at the front. And then we were off.

As mentioned earlier, the JetQuay Terminal is located next to Terminal 2 so the buggy emerges in terminal 2 and if you want to get to the other terminals (1 and 3) you basically have to round the whole U shape of the building. My BA flight was from Terminal 1 which meant that we went through the whole of Terminal 2 and then half of Terminal 1 to get to my gate. On the way there, the buggy gets its beeper activated as the driver gets closer to people wandering around the terminals. I can understand why the driver gets frustrated as some times people clearly ignore the cart and especially given that someone has clearly paid good money for this service. Anyway, after a 5 minute ride or so, we made it to the gate, and they hadn't even started boarding yet.

In conclusion, Jetquay is an interesting service to offer in Singapore. I had read about it in the past but frankly, it seems a bit unnecessary in an airport as efficient as Singapore Changi. The problem I have with this service is that on the Citi Prestige Card which offers both Priority Pass lounge access and JetQuay, is that I would probably prefer the Priority Pass more as the food is better, and I get to choose which terminal the lounge is in.


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SQTraveller

IMG_9871 by Globe Trekka on Flickr

Thanks for waiting. You can find the trip report on my travelling blog.

VIEW THE TRIP REPORT HERE AS WELL
And if you enjoy reading it, please subscribe to my blog by selecting the follow button on the top right hand side. Thanks!!


BA16 SIN-LHR
December 2016
B777
Class: Premium Economy
Estimated duration: 14hr 00mins
Scheduled Departure: 22:55
Actual Departure: 23:34
Scheduled Arrival: 04:55
Actual Arrival: 05:10
Plane registration: G-STBH

IMG_9874 by Globe Trekka on Flickr

This was really annoying. I had enjoyed my buggy ride over to the gate so much that I totally forgot to take a photo of the gate sign. Fortunately security had managed to clear all the passengers early so I was able to pop out, take my photo and then come back through security again. I’m pretty sure the gate security will not be reading this, but if you are, I apologise for making you clear me twice!

As soon as I cleared security, I went to fill up my water bottle. I always bring an empty bottle with me to fill up for the flight. Even if I am travelling in a premium cabin where water is supposed to be handed out frequently.

I don’t want to be the first boarding, especially on a long haul flight. It just isn’t good sitting down for 13 hours. And to sit down earlier than everyone else? Not for me.

This means that I usually one of the last to board, always. In economy it can be difficult to find storage for your cabin luggage but I almost always find space.

Once we got on board, I made my way to seat 24B, which is a premium economy seat. [confession time: this photo is from a previous flight(a380) but its still the same type of seat. My neighbour had already occupied her seat so I didn’t want her to feel awkward with me taking photos of the seat. ]

IMG_9389 by Globe Trekka on Flickr

I quickly put my bags into the overhead compartment – yes, there was plenty of space! And as soon I sat down, the cabin crew started to hand around the drinks. They offer champagne, but frankly I don’t really drink on planes any more, so just stuck with water. They also took the opportunity of a short delay in departure to hand out the dinner menus.

Here is the menu. [For those of you wanting an easy way to scan your photos and not having to use standard scanner, I can recommend Google PhotoScan available on Google Play or iTunes]

BBQC5340 by Globe Trekka on Flickr

There was no explanation for the delay, which was almost half an hour. However, since we are able to use the inflight (ironic given we are on the ground) entertainment before take off, it meant I was able to stuff in 3 movies this flight.

The only interesting part of the take off, was the captain’s pre take off announcement that the plane was close to Maximum Takeoff Weight (MTOW) and would have to speed down the runway which might result in a bit of a bumpy take off.

My seat is over the wing, so we got a good earful from the engine, but really I didn’t notice any more bumps on take off than normal.

For lunch I went for the Bacon and sage-stuff chicken. To be perfectly honest, I couldn’t really detect any stuffing. I could taste the bacon and the sage,I just question whether it was stuffing!

IMG_9876 by Globe Trekka on Flickr

After the meal, the lights were dimmed and most passengers went to sleep. I was not too tired, so decided to watch a couple of movies. So for this flight I managed to watch Ghostbusters (**; tries too hard to be funny), Independence Day: Resurgence (**; tries too hard to be the original), Morgan (****; very interesting movie, with a decent twist).

After going through those three movies, I was tempted to start on Star Trek Beyond, but decided to catch some sheep … so off I wandered to the land of nod.

A couple of hours before landing I woke up. After venturing to the toilet, I got back to my seat as they started to increase the lightening for breakfast service. I was pretty worried about the “light meal” being offered for breakfast. I had visions of a croissant or some such item and then gradually starving on the descent. However, when I was offered the full (unhealthy) English, I jumped at the opportunity. Yum Yum!!!

IMG_9878 by Globe Trekka on Flickr

I really hate that I like this so much. The quality is average but it brings back memories of school days! Love it.



After breakfast was served we enjoyed a gentle descent into London Heathrow. Fortunately there wasn’t too much delay so we were on the stand 10 minutes after landing.

Using the automated gates at immigration is supposed to speed up the clearance process but if half of them aren’t working, it clearly doesn’t improve the experience for anyone.

Though by the time I had made it through immigration my bags were waiting for me and off I sped through customs.

I had pre-booked a taxi, and after making a quick call, it was on its way from the holding area about 10 minutes outside Heathrow….



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Purim

You must really like VIP's Grill.

SQTraveller

I'm not sure why it keeps putting the slide show in. I must be pasting it in wrong.

SQTraveller

I'm still finishing up my report, but if you want to see a video of some of the places I went to on this trip, you can take a look at my amateur YouTube video

SQTraveller

What are the rules about posting something I posted in another FlyerTalk forum?

Do I paste it all in, or just put a link?

SQTraveller

So I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post from another FlyerTalk Forum, so I'm just going to go ahead and do it.

Mods, please don't kill this thread. I'm still going to finish up the rest of the report. Please just delete this contribution if it goes against the rules.

Thanks!

IMG_0158 by Globe Trekka, on Flickr


VIEW THE RESTAURANT REPORT HERE AS WELL

Sometimes you go somewhere that really blows your mind away. And Zedel was one of them.

In fact, originally there wasn’t actually going to be a report on this. And, I don’t even think calling it a restaurant is a fair description.

Most of these pictures were not intended for public consumption, just for my own memories. However, having gone through some of those photos, I decided, that this place has to be reviewed.

It all started off on a mid-week evening. I headed into town using the Tube (the Underground for those of you who aren’t aware of colloquial name for London’s metro network). It was an easy ride on the Central Line (red line) all the way to Oxford Circus. And no, it isn’t in Oxford, and no, there are no animals. I’m not sure where the Oxford comes from, but the Circus, I imagine comes from the fact that it is round; circular.

The nearest Tube station to Zedel’s is Piccadilly Circus, which would probably mean people change at Oxford Circus Tube to the Piccadilly Line and take one stop to Piccadilly Circus. Well, in most cases it probably makes more sense to get out at Oxford Circus station and walk to Piccadilly Circus along Regent’s Street.

In most cases.

Not during Christmas clearly!

I wanted take in some of the street decorations but completely misjudged the number of people who would be out and about. Man, it was jammed solid. What should take a few minutes brisk walk, ended up taking a good 15 minutes slow slow trudge.

Despite the crowds I managed to take a number of photos, but most ended with lots of people.

If you want to avoid most of the revellers, shoppers, commuters, my recommendation is to go late and you will get decent photos. Best time? After 10pm most likely. Below is probably the one with the least number of people interjecting into it. The photo is not bad, but really you need to see it in person to appreciate it fully.

IMG_0148 by Globe Trekka, on Flickr


In fact after only a couple of hundred metres, I bailed and took a side road to Kingly Street and onwards, which more or less follows parallel to Regent Street, just without the crowds.

It actually brings you quite conveniently to Zedel. However, you really need to keep your eyes peeled for this place. I walked past this place, just the week before while doing Christmas shopping, and totally missed it.

It’s actually not on the road. Sherwood Street curves round, and as it curves, there is a pedestrianised area. It’s in this area that you will see the red frontage of Zedel.

Take a quick peak from the photo below and it look pretty small. Yes. that’s a cafe. I have one word for you

TARDIS!!!!!

IMG_0150 by Globe Trekka, on Flickr

It’s nice that there is a little outside section that acts as a porch like area. In the winter, this keep the cold out and the warmth in! And there was nice man who would open the door for you, and make sure it was closed once you were through, thus keeping it nice and comfortable on the inside.

Once you are inside, the cafe is what greets you. There is a small corridor that leads some way into the distance and this is where the TARDIS really starts to come into own.

IMG_0155 by Globe Trekka, on Flickr

After you walk down a flight of steps, this is what you see…..

IMG_0178 by Globe Trekka, on Flickr

It opens up into a large atrium. You would never imagine that you were underground. To the left are the toilets, to the immediate left of the Christmas tree is the brasserie,and to the immediate right is American Bar.

Behind the photo is the Crazy Coqs performance venue, which I was going to see Gary Williams for his Christmas gig.

IMG_0181 by Globe Trekka, on Flickr

After the gig, dinner had already been prebooked at the Brasserie, so I made my way there straight afterwards. And boy was I in for another surprise.

IMG_0159 by Globe Trekka, on Flickr

Can you believe how massive it is on the inside! It’s bigger on the inside……

There are 3 set menus (I apologise the menu is in French, but you can translate using GoogleTranslate)

• 2 course for £9.75
• 3 course for £12.75
• 4 course for £19.75

The four course meal includes house wine and coffee.

Frankly this is some of the most amazing value that I’ve ever had in London. Please enjoy the photos and I’ll talk about the food later.

IMG_0246 by Globe Trekka, on Flickr

IMG_0248 by Globe Trekka, on Flickr

IMG_0255 by Globe Trekka, on Flickr

IMG_0254 by Globe Trekka, on Flickr

IMG_0251 by Globe Trekka, on Flickr

IMG_0258 by Globe Trekka, on Flickr

IMG_0260 by Globe Trekka, on Flickr

Unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to take a photo of the coffee press which was huge. Frankly I don’t know who could drink that much coffee at night? I don’t drink coffee at all so I was able to share it with everyone else in the party.

Of all the food, the only disappointing meal was the burger which seemed pretty dry despite appearing to be medium.

Otherwise the food was pretty exceptional, and for the price no one can complain.

And when during the meal, a small jazz quartet was playing. With the size of the place, you could just about hear them, but the buzz was pretty amazing. I can’t recommend this place highly enough – ambiance, food, entertainment, price!!!

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SQTraveller

IMG_0491 by Globe Trekka, on Flickr

Thanks for waiting. You can find the trip report on my travelling blog.

VIEW THE TRIP REPORT HERE AS WELL
And if you enjoy reading it, please subscribe to my blog by selecting the follow button on the top right hand side. Thanks!!


Previous components to this trip:
Singapore – London on British Airways BA16, A380 (December 2016)

This was a particularly early flight, leaving at 8.20am, so had to get up to reach the airport about 2 hours before the flight. I don’t like the idea of rushing through security and immigration, especially at London Heathrow where the queues at security are a bit unpredictable. What do you guys prefer? Do you prefer to arrive early or just in time?

In the end, the car dropped me off at around 6.15, so there was plenty of time to finish the check in, go to the lounge, have some breakfast and head to the gate.

IMG_0483 by Globe Trekka, on Flickr

In fact we needn’t have worried at all. There was no queue at check in, and almost as soon as I had wound my way around the empty line, there was an open desk for me to bag drop.

The lady at the desk pointed me to South security as she said that the lounge was on that side would be closer to the gate that we would ultimately be served by. [edit: though now I realise she actually said South, when she was directing us the North Security and lounge). I thought that was a good touch, as the desk was close to South security, and I would have naturally gone that way.

IMG_0485 by Globe Trekka, on Flickr

The Galleries (North) lounge. It was the closer of the two lounges to Gate A8 which was supposed to be our gate; although it wasn’t confirmed at time of check in.

IMG_0487 by Globe Trekka, on Flickr

A reasonable selection of hot sandwiches and the life at the hot food bar

IMG_0490 by Globe Trekka, on Flickr

There were a reasonable number of people in the lounge so I was a bit self conscious of taking photos. This was the area that they had porridge.

IMG_0489 by Globe Trekka, on Flickr

I had porridge and some hot rolls (with bacon and sausage) and also some toast. No fruit juice for me. Just water.

About 30 minutes before official departure I made my way to Gate A8, which as promised, was just downstairs and around the corner. Very convenient indeed.

BA342 LHR
December 2016
A320
Class: Club Europe (Business)
Scheduled Departure: 08:20
Actual Departure: 08:37
Scheduled Arrival: 11:20
Actual Arrival: 11:14
Estimated duration:
Actual duration: 1:27
Plane registration: G-EGLL

IMG_0492 by Globe Trekka, on Flickr

Priority boarding was strictly adhered to.

Gold and Club Europe were lined up in front of the priority line. Everyone else was lined up at right angles. And as people were queuing a member of the ground staff was checking tickets, sending people to the correct queue or to sit back down.
I was surprised that they did this. Not many airlines do this so aggressively. BA certainly didn’t do this on the previous leg of this trip.

IMG_0494 by Globe Trekka, on Flickr

On the plane I took the opportunity to catch up on the sleep that was interrupted to get up in time for this early flight.
Unfortunately the chap next to me decided that he needed the toilet so I was woken up after only about 15mins shut eye.

After settling back down it was breakfast time. On offer was a full English, a vegetarian omelette and a cold plate option. As I had already eaten at the lounge, I opted for an empty tray which included some fruit. And I also took a croissant.

IMG_0500 by Globe Trekka, on Flickr

About 20 minutes before landing, the co-pilot came on the horn to let us know that we were about to land. The crew came around to clear up and landing was a doddle.

One thing that annoys me nowadays is the way the luggage is not put out on the conveyor on the basis of priority. We had paid for club Europe and our luggage came out as one of the last. Not really a premium experience.

Once we had picked up our luggage, we headed through customs. While nearly everyone was being waved through, one couple had been stopped and were there for quite some time. I’m not sure what they had done that had caused them to be stopped, but it did seem like a very long conversation was going on.

The taxis were all waiting in a line outside and for some reason they were all new Mercedes. Anyone shed any light on that? Maybe that’s why they charge €35 for a 10 minute cab ride.

I tried to Uber but it was still €30 and I’d have to wait for the car.



Next up, the apartment in Nice



You can find me also on (not so much presence)
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And if you enjoyed this report I'd appreciate support if you'd follow my blog and me on youtube and instagram.
Thanks!!