ZQN - AKL on ANZ Airbus A320 100
A very short flight at just over 90 minutes with a fair but of turbulence. The inflight snack was absurd. Have a look at the cheese to cracker ratio!
[Photo of cheese and crackers]
We arrived at AKL and jumped in a taxi heading to the Sofitel. Pretty standard Sofitel design, clean, modern and slightly cold. We had a marina view room, which predominantly looked in to someone else’s apartment. No upgrade, but we did get the Accor welcome drink voucher.
[photos of sofitel]
It was late but we didn’t have much time in Auckland so headed to the Sky Tower. Luckily it was almost completely empty and we had at least ten minutes on the top floor without anyone else there. It has spectacular views of Auckland at night.
[photos from sky tower]
A decent breakfast in the morning before heading back to AKL for our CX flight to HKG.
AKL to HKG on CX in W
This was my first flight on CX having heard a lot of good things about them. I hate to say it, but I was disappointed. The W cabin was tiny, with only four rows. On both meal services they ran out of one of the choices after only two rows and didn’t really have any alternatives. Despite this they continued to serve from the front of the cabin meaning that some people lost out twice. I also found the seats to be fairly uncomfortable with a bizarrely placed foot rest that made it uncomfortable to fit my feet under the seat in front. I think BA’s W has the edge, although I’ve only flown in W on an A380 with BA, which may account for the majority of the difference.
This was my second choice CX meal. It really wasn’t very nice at all, and I’m usually a lover of asian food.
[photos of the CX meal]
We were once again in an Intercontinental in Hong Kong and had pre-booked the Hotel’s car. We located the hotel representative in the arrivals area who took us to the limousine lounge whilst the car was brought around. This was more like it. A brand new Mercedes S Class, with drinks and wifi.
This was actually a pretty memorable check in experience. The car arrived at the front of the hotel and there was some sort of event going on. There were people everywhere and a bunch of very expensive cars parked outside (I spotted a 458 Italia, a Hurucan, a handful go 911s and a Rolls Royce Ghost). The car doors were opened and we were escorted by a member of staff straight through the crowds down the red carpet (literally) and straight in to the elevators to the room.
We’d been upgraded to a larger room with a harbour view, which was spectacular.
[photo of hotel view]
The room was fairly large and well equipped. Pretty standard for an Intercontinental though.
[photos of hotel room]
And the slightly bizarre Ambassador gift of tea.
[photo of gift]
The hotel also provided a free phone to use, with internet access, which is a fantastic idea and incredibly useful.
[photo of IC phone]
The Intercontinental isn't actually on Hong Kong island, so it's a short walk to either the Star Ferry terminal or the underground station to get across the water. Public transport in Hong Kong is crazy cheap, and most places are walkable. This is the Salisbury Rd Intercontinental not the Grand Stanford.
Most of the time we spent in Hong Kong was shopping! We also did a reasonable amount of walking. Hong Kong is a fascinating place, it’s almost as if you can see it changing before your very eyes. Walking around the city is great fun, even if it is raining heavily. Something that’s particularly stark in Hong Kong is the contrast between the rich and poor, some of which you can hopefully see in these photos.
[photos from Hong Kong]
We had booked a dinner at Nobu for one night, which is conveniently located right in the hotel. I went for the taster menu which I really enjoyed. It was too challenging for the Mrs so she ordered a la carte. I’m visiting New York in August and we’re considering going to the Nobu there where I’ll go a la carte as well, now that I have an idea of what I like.
We’d ordered a car from the hotel to take us to the airport on the last night which turned out to be a little more troublesome that we would have liked. A combination of heavy rain and an event in the hotel meant that it was incredibly busy and the car turned up late. We just made it to the airport on time but cut it so fine that there was no time to make use of the lounge.
Or at least that’s what we thought. The flight was delayed by almost an hour. Frustratingly, the gate staff knew about this well in advance but hadn’t updated the departures board, leading to gate chaos.
[photo of HKG gate]
Unfortunately I don’t have any photos from the BA W flight back to LHR. It was on an A380 and as I alluded to earlier, was a better experience than CX. Having said that, I slept most of the way!
Then it was simply picking up the Avis car (Ford Focus, no upgrade despite it being an airport location and the guy at the preferred desk giving me a dirty look and asking in a really condescending voice whether I was a preferred customer) and driving back to Bristol.
Thanks for reading. If you’ve got any feedback or questions, or anything at all really, let me know! I’ll try and be a bit more complete for my upcoming trip to New York in F on BA in August!