FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - A month and a bit on the road – 50K miles on BA, AA, CX and 9W (mostly in J)
Old Mar 4, 2007, 5:32 am
  #3  
Swanhunter
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Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: SE1, London
Posts: 23,360
Tuesday 27th February

The mundane reality of business travel. A Hotel breakfast eaten while browsing the South China Morning Post and chuckling at Jake van der Kamp’s business column. A series of meetings, dim sum lunch at the Tang Court (very tasty, freezing cold ac), more meetings and a trip to the ATL building, which is the world’s largest industrial building! Back to the hotel for emails, a conference call, room service dinner, more calls until 10pm and bed. When non-travelling colleagues go on about how lucky I am, explaining a day like that helps them understand there is a rough with the smooth.

Browsing FT is actually one of the things that helps break things up; otherwise you end up doing a series of 16 hour days on the bounce without let up

Wednesday 28th February

Off to Taipei this evening. As this morning’s meeting is in Tsimshatsui, it is easier to check out of the hotel and then head straight to the airport from the office. Another HKD140 cab ride takes me from the calm of Cyberport on Hong Kong Island to the urban franticness of ‘the darkside’ – people, cars, buses, the fug of pollution and the usual touts offering ‘copy watch, Rolex, you want suit?’!

Still, a stolen glimpse of the HK skyline down out of the meeting room window brightens an otherwise overcast and cloudy day.

Off to CLK at about 3pm, in plenty of time for the 17:35 to Taipei on CX. My one of little treats is sneak the occasional paid upgrade to First when hopping around Asia. HKG-TPE is great value – HKD460 from J to F – and gets you a bit more space on board, plus some decent champagne and a nice meal. Normally this is a straightforward processing of paying the difference at the ticketing counter and having the e-ticket reissued. However for this flight the F cabin was ‘full’ so I had to go standby. Odd, when I looked on Expertflyer the previous evening it looked far from full.

Back at the standby counter 1 hour before departure I had cleared. I paid my money, checked in at the ever civilised F counters (picking up a BP to 1K on the way) and made my way to Gate 60 via a quick pit stop in the Pier

CX470 Hong Kong to Taipei
747-400 First 1K


Boarding had just started when I got to the gate. One of the ever alert CX ground staff spotted my Red F boarding pass and took me past the short queue of J pax. Walking up to door 1 I was greeted in true CX fashion – warm and very happy to see you. I was the first one in the F cabin, and as I soon found out I would be the only one! I assume that the full comment at the standby desk was while they decided whether to cater the flight.

I downed a couple of glasses of the very pleasant Cuvee Deutz 1998 before take off, and then really upset the crew by not wanting any dinner. They seemed really rather upset, even after explaining that I had a getting to know dinner with some people in Taipei. Still, the champagne kept flowing and they did manage to tempt me into a tasty piece of chocolate cake. It seems the ultimate in decadence to fly First and eat nothing, let alone the moral position of the flight being catered, just to be thrown away.

We landed on time, but I then got stuck in an enormous 40 minute queue at immigration which rather delayed my arrival at the Sherwood. We use the Sherwood as our preferred hotel in Taipei, and I rather like. It is much more classical in style than the Le Meridien in HK but the service is excellent and the beds super comfortable. Plus they offer a complimentary overnight pressing service.

Dinner (and drinks after) was very enjoyable. Some excellent Sichuanese specialities and a fabulous piece of lime and garlic steamed fish. I arrived back at the hotel just as Placido Domingo made his VIP arrival. The staff didn’t seem to mind me walking up the red carpet after him. Much nicer than being jostled by Vladimir Putin’s security staff at the Sheraton in Delhi.
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