Living in the middle of nowhere has advantages… yeah, not really, but in the context of our hobby there is a silver lining. Lots of points when you want to go visit new places, unfortunately it also means burning a little extra holiday time.
Today the objective is pretty much travelling to the other side of the world, hence today is a travel day and starts at 5am for an early morning Uber to Terminal 1 at Perth Airport.
Qantas Business Lounge
The Qantas lounge in over in T1 is pretty good, a comfortable spot to wait for your flight, reasonable food choices, okay WIFI and nice staff. Doesn’t make you go wow, but I guess you couldn’t really expect any more from a lounge that only sees one or two international Qantas flights each day.
Coffee was offered at the front desk as I handed over my boarding pass, and it was almost ready for me by the time I got to the coffee machine, now that’s service I appreciate, especially at 6am!
Today’s crowd for the most part, it seems, is awaiting the imminent departure of CX136 or the slightly later timed Jetstar flight to Bali. In some places you might be able to spot who was travelling where with such different destinations, but in Perth it’s a little more difficult… I picked the guy with no shoes as a sure bet for the Bail flight – but it turns out he was joining us on the trip to Hong Kong!
Cathay Pacific CX136
Airbus A330-300 (B-LAD)
Perth (PER) -> Hong Kong (HKG)
Depart 7:18, Arrive 15:00, Flight Time: 7:42
Got to the gate to find boarding underway and as usual for CX in Perth a gatekeeper at the start of the (empty) premium queue who checked my boarding pass and pointed me in the direction of the gate, after a quick a scan of the boarding pass there, the computer confirmed it was all good and the adventure begins!
Cathay is one of my regular airlines and based on experience to date the best of the long haul airlines that I frequent (QF, QR, SA, LA), as we board the crew points me to my seat, and in less than the time it takes for a cheeky Facebook post, I have a pre-departure drink.
A little bit after our departure time we were pushing back, a short taxi followed, and we are underway!
On today's flight we will be having breakfast after take-off and then lunch prior to arrival.
For breakfast I went with the Stir-fired Shanghainese noodles.
One of the things I do like about Cathay is that they bring the food to you, I guess it is so you can see what you are getting? To me it generally means that should it be disappointing, I can take comfort in the knowledge that surely the uglier looking one would have tasted even worse! Fortunately, on this occasion, I was very happy with the selection, tasted pretty good and it was time to watch some movies!
Fast forward several hours and it’s Lunch, the crew have been pretty scarce over the past few hours, although when people pushed the call button they were there promptly, so certainly nothing to complain about.
The service began with drinks and nuts, I had my usual G&T.
For lunch I went with the Kung Po prawns.
The starter was great, the duck was excellent and it all came together really well.
The Kung Po prawns on the other hand were uninspiring, had a little bit and left the rest, but this wasn't an issue given I would soon be exploring the Hong Kong Lounges… best I leave some room!
Despite my best intentions, I was convinced that I really did need to have desert by the friendly flight attendant.
An hour or so later we were going around in circles, and then next thing you know we popped out of the clouds and were pretty close to the ground, in fact a couple of seconds later we were on it. One flight down twenty two to go!
Cathay Pacific Pier First Class Lounge
This being my 7th transit of Hong Kong in the last 12 months with oneworld I have become rather familiar with the lounge options... The Pier is certainly the favourite. We arrived at the western end of the terminal so I headed straight for transit security, and found myself in the lounge about 10 mins after getting off the plane.
It’s stated design objective is, apparently, to make you feel at home, and although I don’t really take much notice those arty descriptions, I think they got pretty close for a series of large rooms that you share with a hundred or so strangers.
They call the buffet the Kitchen, or the Pantry or some such thing, I call it Dangerous... after spending a couple of long layovers here I can attest to a wide range of delicious options, none of which are complementary to the waistline, oh and the bar is really good too - I mean so good that you ought to be careful that you won’t be needing a wheelchair to make your connection.
Knowing the dangers of the northern end of the lounge, I headed for the showers, which are excellent – not as cool as the big ones you can get in The Wing but I haven't encountered many others in an airport that are better.
After which the restaurant was next, the waitress promptly found me a nice corner table, and offered today's menu and a drink. Things are looking pretty good!
I noticed the Dan Dan Mian on another table and though it looked good, so I ordered that, and have to say it was excellent, in fact I almost asked for a second one!
The Wing First Class Lounge
With CX890 departing from gate 4 at the other end of the terminal, after an hour or so it was time to head for The Wing.
Although The Wing can get pretty crowded with the early evening departures, there are some upsides for avgeeks as they have long bar with seats overlooking the apron and runway, giving a great view of the controlled chaos that is a busy international airport. Fortunately, by the time I got there the weather had cleared up and there was a lot to see. Which was good, as the flight to Newark, along with it would seem half of Cathay's schedule was delayed, we were only pushed an hour, and a couple of drinks later it was time to board.
Oh, and the buffet is far less dangerous.
Cathay Pacific CX890
Boeing 777-300ER (B-KQL)
Hong Kong (HKG) -> Newark (EWR)
Depart 18:48, Arrive 21:50, Flight Time: 15:02
Boarding was from one of the sectioned off gate areas, which you access via a perfunctory security check point, but was fairly efficient despite what seemed like half of the plane having access to the priority queue.
The service on this flight was like the previous flight, with a meal - this time dinner - served after take-off and then a second one just before landing. The timing meant that they would be serving breakfast in the evening local time, but I guess that's the way it goes. In addition to the two meals there were snacks on demand.
The meal service started with drinks, the crew that I interacted with were nice enough – service was done with a smile but not much engagement, due I think, to their limited English, anything beyond what was printed on the menu was difficult. This seemed to reinforce what I have noticed over the past few years, which is a drop in the English of the Cathay flight attendants, making conversations a little more difficult.
This is more of an observation than a complaint, I mean my attempts at new languages generally start with passion and vigour and couple of weeks later once I can order a beer and maybe some food if I’m lucky, well that’s where they end… so yeah – maybe I should look into Cantonese or more likely Mandarin for my next language to fail at learning…
A little while later the starter came out - Cathay's finest scallops so fresh they are moving! actually it could be the turbulence, or maybe the multiple drinks... either way they tasted okay once they were on the fork.
The mains were brought around, but after having a late lunch and none of them looking particularly appetising I passed and decided it was best to get some sleep.
With an evening landing a few hours would be good, enough not to be exhausted but not so much I wouldn't sleep until the next morning! So when I woke up five or so hours later it was time to get up, and stay awake - so of course an espresso was required.
And a burger too!
Not really that much else to say - watched some movies, but was selective on the ones I would watch - given I have several Qatar flights coming up and the fact they fairly seriously censor the films they show - I wanted to watch the gritty ones on Cathay who don't really to that - or at least not that I've noticed.
Fast forward several more hours, and it’s breakfast.
Went with the scrambled eggs, was about as good as you would expect on a plane, but no better.
After another hour or so we were on the ground in New Jersey. Overall a great couple of flights - arrived alive and in good spirits, reminds me why I travel with Cathay as much as I do.
Rocked up at immigration to find the chattiest CBP agent I have ever encountered, we had a long chat about my travel habits, where I go, when, with who, normal stuff, but for 5 mins… It was friendly, and as a one time consultant who spent a fair amount of time extracting information from people, I could appreciate the way she keep the conversation going with a friendly banter, but still hit all the key points. Either way it ended with another stamp in the passport and I was on my way into the city.
W New York – Downtown
So, sometimes things change, when I initially set up this trip I was going to catch up with a good friend in Frankfurt, that is until she got relocated to New York for work, but with the Panama trip there wasn't a lot of flexibility – she was staying at the Marriott downtown until her stuff is shipped over, so plans we made for a Friday night catch up followed by a morning charity run in Central Park and then a day of eating and drinking.
The W ticked many boxes, a SPG property, good rate and right next to the Marriott. Booking online was a breeze but then the stay went downhill from there…
After a couple of drinks with my friend at a nearby bar, I dropped her off at the Marriott and the wondered over to the hotel where I got to watch the associate check his Facebook feed as he motioned he was busy. Note to those playing at home windows turn into mirrors in dark spaces... After what seems like 5 mins which was probably only 2 the associate then noted that the computers were down… No checkin for you, but no apology either!
Spent the next 20 mins making small talk with the couple who arrived one or two mins after me, which wasn't bad given they had been to NZ, I'd visited their hometown in Texas and we were both planning trips to Africa for New Years, so we actually were able to pass the time, it's just you know I generally don't expect it have to do that at premium hotel. At midnight.
Fortunately, once the computers were working the associate noted I'd already been upgraded… I like honesty but he really could have twisted the truth there to use it as an apology… Anyways I now had a corner room, a keycard and a hollow apology. Yay.
I wasn't particularly happy at this point and felt like giving some instant customer feedback followed by maybe a little coaching… however, given I'd been traveling for more 30 hours I figured that maybe I should hold my tongue, as it was unlikely to come across in a constructive format, and I am trying to be a nicer person.
Although clearly I have a lot work to do because I found it oddly satisfying when the couple I'd been talking to gave him both barrels so as I was walking to the lift...
The room was nice - a good amount of space for New York and the bed was comfortable, unfortunately the blinds didn't really do anything about keeping out the sunlight which is a pet peeve of mine.
Also, the bar in the lobby was loud enough you could hear in it the room, but I sleep thorough pretty much anything, so it didn't worry me too much.
Overall a disappointing stay, which as many options as there are in New York - I don't think I'll be back anytime soon.