My apologies for the very delayed TR since this spanned late May/early June. I wasn't going to post it and then I found myself writing trip notes for my own history.
So what moron came up with this? Oh right me. Driven by a desire to try new products, and swayed by often elusive QF premium space, I came up with this interesting routing to and from my trip to Australia. QF J on the A380 direct to SYD, TG F up to Asia, and then CX/JL J back to the US. I’d be hitting up Oz Fest for the weekend, and then spending a couple days in Brisbane with a couple more days in Sydney, before taking the long way back to the US via Hong Kong and Tokyo.
Monday
I woke early into the sauna that is Houston and took the bus to Hobby Airport to grab my rental car. The car was only $33 for HOU-DFW, so that made up for the hassle of going to the airport, and made canceling my $100 Southwest positioning flight an easy decision. I also somehow managed to get an Altima for the price of a compact. Back at home I threw my crap in the car and made it out of Houston on schedule. After an easy drive to Dallas I swung by one of the local outposts of my favorite beer bar to get some local DFW beers. Another reason I went this way was the relatively easy onward drive to DFW, only about 30 minutes despite heavy rush hour traffic.
Arriving at DFW, there wasn’t anybody in the QF lines. QF doesn’t participate in PreCheck so I had to remember what regular security was like. Thankfully the QF desk and security checkpoint is right under the Centurion Lounge! I was pleased that the shower suite was open so I took a shower and changed prior to dinner and my 17 hr flight.
Dinner at the CL was solid, as always. I opted not to go track down the AA “Premium Lounge” since the QF gate was next to the CL and the AA Lounge was at the far other end of Terminal D.
QF DFW-SYD
A380
Cost: 55k Alaska miles
Traveling solo I opted for one of the middle seats in the 2-2-2 config. My neighbor was a friendly Aussie woman who had been visiting her kids in the US.
PDBs were limited to bubbles or water, maybe OJ. It didn’t take long to realize how dated the hard product is. There is virtually no storage space, table space, or anything. I think they were sending us a message when the crew placed our 2 PDBs down on 1 shared napkin.
Anyway… I haven’t eaten in 90 minutes and the bourbon and bubbles were making their way around me. I couldn’t find many recent reviews of this route, and the ones I did find said this was a small plate “supper” service, which wasn’t the case on my flight.
I had the beef option for dinner:
Having gotten my drink on in the Centurion Lounge, and being awake since too early, I was ready for bed and slept a good 7-8 hrs. After waking I wondered up to the “business lounge”, which is basically a couch and a TV. They also have a self serve beverage station up there with wine, soft drinks, Tim Tams, etc. I watched a James Bond movie and I was impressed with the roving flight attendants. About every half hour somebody would rotate through offering drinks, snacks, etc. Also since the cabin is dark for most of the flight they have these nifty lights pinned to their jackets/shirts.
Soon enough after untold G&Ts that kept getting delivered to my movie, it was breakfast time. This may well have been the best airplane breakfast I’ve ever had! Eggs, perfect. Bacon, perfect. I gobbled up the fungi because even it tasted good! Then I asked for a second serving of eggs because it was so effing good, which they happily provided. Sorry for the blurry picture.
Anyway into SYD. I got randomly selected for the bag search at Customs, because of course I did. Also I felt my hangover starting to set in about now… at 7am. I took the train to Circular Quay and dropped my bags at the IC Sydney. While waiting for my room, I wondered around the city and headed out to Bondi Beach.
IC Sydney
Cost: 1 IHG free night cert
I have IHG Platinum status, so I selected my welcome amenity of a free drink and received the standard room. No view of anything great but again I’m not surprised. I liked the hotel and room. My only complaint is that the pool on the top floor, it would be really nice to have a hot tub up there. Also it’s kind of awkward because the gym, pool, and locker rooms are right across from a banquet room that was rented out for an event. Also the drink selection for the free beer/wine was pretty poor.
View from the top floor:
