Then she came with a bread basket and selections of jams, olive oil, and butter. The ‘Red berries and mango, cinnamon splash, and almond sable’ fruit platter arrived not long after.
The fruit platter was amazingly fresh and sweet.
My poached eggs and all the side dishes soon were served. Beef bacon could not make it as a bacon replacement as it doesn’t have the fat and the taste. The cured salmon strips were very savory and tasty instead.
The poached eggs were fine but slightly overcooked and as usual quite tasteless as poached eggs should be. The reason I ordered poached eggs because they are usually the hardest one to get right. I later learned from one frequent flyer who flew out on the same flight the night before that the omelet he ordered was very good and slightly better than the one he was usually served by the World’s 5* airline from a neighboring country. The French toast was apparently also very good according to the same source.
The dessert followed to conclude the full European Breakfast service.
Hot towel was then handed out and placed on the on the side of the seat. Throughout the flight, hot towels were provided after every meal service.
We were only about less than 30 minutes before arrival by the time breakfast service was over. So, I decided to change back into my shirt. Upon arriving back to my seat, my seat was already tidied up for landing by the crew. On the floor in front of my seat were my shoes placed on the red cloth. Santri must have placed them there for me already so I could change back into my shoes. As soon as I put my shoes back on, Santri came over and collected the red cloth as well as the slippers. I then asked Santri for the menus because I collected them. She happily gave them to me after she had removed them from the leather folder.
The cabin was then secured for landing. Santri thanked me for flying with Garuda. Lia, the Maitre D’Cabin then came to thank me for flying First Class and hoped that I had enjoyed the Garuda Indonesia First Class Experience with them. She asked if I had any disappointment with the product and the way the service had been carried out. I assured her that everything was fine and that I had received a true 5* service from her and the team.
We soon landed about 5 minutes earlier than our scheduled arrival time and our gate was on the North Wing of Terminal 1. Terminal 1 serves all the SkyTeam airlines with the exception of China Airlines. We parked right next to PK-GIA which was the first GA 77W that joined the Garuda’s fleet in June. PK-GIA had arrived about 15 minutes earlier from DPS.
The wonderful First Class crew of Garuda Indonesia: Lia in her lavender Kebaya, Dani the chef back in his suit, and Santri in her orange Kebaya.
The Arrival:
As soon as the door was opened, I was greeted by a First Class assistant at the aerobridge. Although Hasumi-san works for a meet and greet company that has been contracted by Garuda Indonesia, her service was of a really high standard. She insisted on pulling my carrying on luggage for me and assisted me through the whole arrival process. Just before we cleared customs, however, I realized that I had left my First Class amenity kit and the menus for the flights either on my seats or on the sink in the toilet as that was where I had been before deplaning. I blurted out my frustration to Hasumi-san. She told me to wait for her. She actually ran back to the plane to try to retrieve them for me. However, as the plane had been cleaned for the next departure, she was not allowed to get back to the plane. She felt so apologetic when she was back to arrival hall to meet me. Although I told her not to worry, I couldn’t help but to feel quite upset for being so careless. Hasumi-san continued to accompany me all the way to the train station to buy Narita Express train to Shinjuku and then waved and bowed good bye to me at the train automatic gates area.
