San Francisco to Europe and Dubai
Aug 28, 2011, 6:10 pm
#16
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Fremont, CA, USA. UA Premier Platinum 1MM
Posts: 331
Dubai First Day (Cont)
Gold Class Metro
Our next stop is to take a ride on the new Dubai Metro system. There’s a shuttle bus leaving for the Dubai Mall at 1:30pm, and we thought that would be perfect to get to the Dubai Mall/Burj Khalifa station. We looked for the station entrance after we were dropped off at the Mall, we realized it’s the largest shopping mall in the world, but didn’t think it would be impossible to walk to the station. But after walking around and around, there’s no Metro station to be found. So we headed outside the mall, and found our hotel shuttle still here. We asked the driver how to get to get to the Metro station, and he graciously offered to take us there ! Thumbs up to Al Manzil ! And it actually was a 10 minute ride, passing through many construction sites and it’s simply impossible to walk from the Mall to the station, especially under the heat. The station name is really misleading. But finally we were at one of the newest Metro system in the world.
Hotel shuttle bus
Metro station
Our next challenge was to figure out how to buy a ticket. We saw a Red Line and Green Line, and thought the Creek station on the Green Line would be a good place to visit. A friendly station attendant quickly came to rescue as we must have spent too much time playing with the ticket machine. Fortunately with his help, we found out that the Green Line was not open yet ! He then suggested us to go to the Deira City instead, where he said there’s a shopping center right at the Station exit, and we wouldn’t need to walk far in the heat. He then proceeded to show us how to buy the ticket on the machine. And funny he then found out the machine was not working after all ! So we went to the station booth to buy the ticket instead. The system is new and efficient, and there are separate cars for women and children. Of course it’s a lot more crowded in the regular (men’s) cars !
Regular car
We did not have much time before our next scheduled activity, the Desert Safari (yeah), so we only stopped by a café in the Deira City Mall to have a quick juice and cake break. On our return to the hotel, we decided to travel in style and bought the Gold Class tickets. Only in Dubai are there two classes for the Metro system. The fare was 50% more on the Gold class, it’s still a bargain to get First class treatment ! The Gold car seats are a lot more comfortable, and more importantly, there are seats available most of the time ! And since the Gold car is the first car, we also got a much better view.
PAUL in Deira City
Kiwi juice and Pistachio cake
Gold ticket
View from Gold car
Comfortable seats
After we got back to the Burj Khalifa/Dubai Mall station, we saw many people board a connecting bus F13. We checked the map and saw it has a stop near our hotel, so we hopped on to the bus and were delighted that our Metro ticket actually covered the bus transfer.
Connecting bus
Desert Safari
We were told the pick up would be between 4:00pm and 4:30pm when we booked the Safari tour, but when we got back to the hotel at 3:45pm, the tour car, a Toyota Land Cruiser, was already waiting for us. There were already two passengers inside so we hurried up and hopped onto the car, and the driver proceeded to pick up a couple in another hotel before starting the adventure.
Our first stop was the Dune Buggy Safari. There were six of us in our group, a mother and son from Germany, a couple from the Netherlands and two of us. Only the son was adventurous enough to ride on this Dune Buggy, while the rest of us checked out the souvenir store and bought some ice cream. After that we started the actual desert safari adventure. Our driver drove into the desert, the sand dunes made us feel it was impossible to steer and we thought the car would overturn, but of course it never did. We actually quite enjoyed the experience, but the poor German mother almost look fainted when she got off the car.
Dune Buggy
Dune Buggy
Releasing air for desert driving
Landcruiser
Endless desert
We made a brief stop to shoot some desert photos, and continued onto a campsite where a buffet dinner was being set up. There were two camels outside resting, but they seemed to realize they had to get to work soon ! We were the first few cars to get to the site, so we did not have to wait long to get our Camel ride fix ! Being the loving and animal caring tourists we are, the camel was also happy to let us have a peaceful ride for couple minutes. However, it was not so fortunate for the German mother and son, as the mother almost fell off when the camel did a don’t-bother-me dance. The guide was almost knocked off by the camel ! Luckily nobody was hurt in the end.
Resting Camels
Bad tempered camel !
Our guide tried to collect money from everyone prior to dinner, and we told him when we called to reserve the tour we would be using credit card to pay. We did not have enough cash (380 AED), and he seems surprised we were not told to prepare to pay with cash. It turns out the problem was he could not get enough cell phone signal in the desert to charge our card, but eventually this was resolved when he borrowed a phone from a different guide presumably with a different carrier and the call went through. Hopefully in our next visit there would also be wifi available in the desert ! Soon it was dinner time and everyone lined up for the buffet. The food was massive, with many appetizers and various kebabs and vegetables. The quality was so so, just what we would expect for mass production. We sat by the show floor, and had a good time watching the belly dance show after dinner. The show finished around 9pm, and it was completely dark and we were wondering if we would need to drive through the sand dune again to make it home, and that would be too exciting, at least for the German mother. It turns out this was not needed and our guide quickly found his way to a highway heading back to the city. The Desert Safari was no question one of the highlights of our Dubai stay.
Dinner site
Dinner
Belly Dance performance
After we got back to the hotel, we spent some time in the 24 hour lobby café using the wifi, and planned the next day activities while enjoying kiwi juice, coffee and cake
Lobby Café
Our next stop is to take a ride on the new Dubai Metro system. There’s a shuttle bus leaving for the Dubai Mall at 1:30pm, and we thought that would be perfect to get to the Dubai Mall/Burj Khalifa station. We looked for the station entrance after we were dropped off at the Mall, we realized it’s the largest shopping mall in the world, but didn’t think it would be impossible to walk to the station. But after walking around and around, there’s no Metro station to be found. So we headed outside the mall, and found our hotel shuttle still here. We asked the driver how to get to get to the Metro station, and he graciously offered to take us there ! Thumbs up to Al Manzil ! And it actually was a 10 minute ride, passing through many construction sites and it’s simply impossible to walk from the Mall to the station, especially under the heat. The station name is really misleading. But finally we were at one of the newest Metro system in the world.
Hotel shuttle bus
Metro station
Our next challenge was to figure out how to buy a ticket. We saw a Red Line and Green Line, and thought the Creek station on the Green Line would be a good place to visit. A friendly station attendant quickly came to rescue as we must have spent too much time playing with the ticket machine. Fortunately with his help, we found out that the Green Line was not open yet ! He then suggested us to go to the Deira City instead, where he said there’s a shopping center right at the Station exit, and we wouldn’t need to walk far in the heat. He then proceeded to show us how to buy the ticket on the machine. And funny he then found out the machine was not working after all ! So we went to the station booth to buy the ticket instead. The system is new and efficient, and there are separate cars for women and children. Of course it’s a lot more crowded in the regular (men’s) cars !
Regular car
We did not have much time before our next scheduled activity, the Desert Safari (yeah), so we only stopped by a café in the Deira City Mall to have a quick juice and cake break. On our return to the hotel, we decided to travel in style and bought the Gold Class tickets. Only in Dubai are there two classes for the Metro system. The fare was 50% more on the Gold class, it’s still a bargain to get First class treatment ! The Gold car seats are a lot more comfortable, and more importantly, there are seats available most of the time ! And since the Gold car is the first car, we also got a much better view.
PAUL in Deira City
Kiwi juice and Pistachio cake
Gold ticket
View from Gold car
Comfortable seats
After we got back to the Burj Khalifa/Dubai Mall station, we saw many people board a connecting bus F13. We checked the map and saw it has a stop near our hotel, so we hopped on to the bus and were delighted that our Metro ticket actually covered the bus transfer.
Connecting bus
Desert Safari
We were told the pick up would be between 4:00pm and 4:30pm when we booked the Safari tour, but when we got back to the hotel at 3:45pm, the tour car, a Toyota Land Cruiser, was already waiting for us. There were already two passengers inside so we hurried up and hopped onto the car, and the driver proceeded to pick up a couple in another hotel before starting the adventure.
Our first stop was the Dune Buggy Safari. There were six of us in our group, a mother and son from Germany, a couple from the Netherlands and two of us. Only the son was adventurous enough to ride on this Dune Buggy, while the rest of us checked out the souvenir store and bought some ice cream. After that we started the actual desert safari adventure. Our driver drove into the desert, the sand dunes made us feel it was impossible to steer and we thought the car would overturn, but of course it never did. We actually quite enjoyed the experience, but the poor German mother almost look fainted when she got off the car.
Dune Buggy
Dune Buggy
Releasing air for desert driving
Landcruiser
Endless desert
We made a brief stop to shoot some desert photos, and continued onto a campsite where a buffet dinner was being set up. There were two camels outside resting, but they seemed to realize they had to get to work soon ! We were the first few cars to get to the site, so we did not have to wait long to get our Camel ride fix ! Being the loving and animal caring tourists we are, the camel was also happy to let us have a peaceful ride for couple minutes. However, it was not so fortunate for the German mother and son, as the mother almost fell off when the camel did a don’t-bother-me dance. The guide was almost knocked off by the camel ! Luckily nobody was hurt in the end.
Resting Camels
Bad tempered camel !
Our guide tried to collect money from everyone prior to dinner, and we told him when we called to reserve the tour we would be using credit card to pay. We did not have enough cash (380 AED), and he seems surprised we were not told to prepare to pay with cash. It turns out the problem was he could not get enough cell phone signal in the desert to charge our card, but eventually this was resolved when he borrowed a phone from a different guide presumably with a different carrier and the call went through. Hopefully in our next visit there would also be wifi available in the desert ! Soon it was dinner time and everyone lined up for the buffet. The food was massive, with many appetizers and various kebabs and vegetables. The quality was so so, just what we would expect for mass production. We sat by the show floor, and had a good time watching the belly dance show after dinner. The show finished around 9pm, and it was completely dark and we were wondering if we would need to drive through the sand dune again to make it home, and that would be too exciting, at least for the German mother. It turns out this was not needed and our guide quickly found his way to a highway heading back to the city. The Desert Safari was no question one of the highlights of our Dubai stay.
Dinner site
Dinner
Belly Dance performance
After we got back to the hotel, we spent some time in the 24 hour lobby café using the wifi, and planned the next day activities while enjoying kiwi juice, coffee and cake
Lobby Café
Aug 28, 2011, 6:11 pm
#17
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Fremont, CA, USA. UA Premier Platinum 1MM
Posts: 331
Dubai Second Day
Bastakiya
We checked out the hotel in the morning and left our luggage with the bell desk. Our plan was to spend some time in the Bastakiya district to see the traditional buildings. There was one problem, as we planned to have afternoon tea in the Burj Al Arab and there is a dress code – no shorts, T-shirts, sandals which was everything I wore in order to survive the heat. So I overdressed in a shirt, pant and a pair of black shoes, and tried to survive our quick visit to the Bastakiya district. The district houses many local artists galleries and museums. The big attraction was the unique wind tower design so cool air can flow into the building, except there were no cool air ! Luckily we found the Coin museum where there are many small rooms with air conditioning. We spent a long time going from room to room, checking out the ancient coins as well as catching a break from the intense heat. The district was quite empty in the morning, it’s probably too early and too hot for the tourists ! We would have liked to take the water taxi to cross the Dubai Creek, but I am sure I would be kicked out of the Burj Al Arab with the sweaty smell ! So we headed to a local supermarket instead, and bought some ice cream to help us cool down before taking a taxi to the Burj Al Arab.
Arts in Baskatiya district
Baskatiya
Windtower
Coin Museum
Old coins
Dubai Ice Cream Bar
Sky tea at Burj Al Arab
Our taxi driver seemed to be just as excited as we were when we told him we were going inside the building, not just joining the tourists outside the gate to take photos. We had to show our reservation at the gate entry, and then drove past the access bridge to the hotel. We had a 1:30pm booking, and were at the hotel slightly before 1:00pm, so we walked outside to the access bridge and took some photos of the hotel. When we got back to the hotel and took the elevator to the lounge, we found many people were already seated and started the meal. As we later found out, it would be better to get there early instead of right on time in order to get seats with better view. Still, we had a window seat, and could see a hint of the Palm island in the hazy sun.
Access Bridge to Burj Al Arab
Fountain
Sky Lounge
Palm
We were first offered champagne and some fruits, followed by an appetizer of lamb or eggplant. And finally came the sail boat frame of many sandwiches and scones. The service was very nice and we never felt rushed, and were frequently asked if we wanted more refills of the sandwiches and tea. There was also live piano music in the background which makes the environment a lot more relaxing. On top of that, there’s free wifi in the restaurant for us to check-in on Facebook ! We kept on eating till we were too full to have anymore, and some people started to show up early for the second session. Afterwards we walked around the hotel and checked out the shops, and rested a bit in a sofa admiring the decorations. And later we took a taxi back to the Dubai Mall to catch the first Dubai Mall Fountain show at 5:30pm, and also walked around the mall a bit more to marvel the surreal aquarium inside, and got back to our hotel to quickly change into shirts and shorts.
Sky Tea menu
Scones !
All you can eat
Dubai Mall Aquarium
Souvenir
Sunset Fountain Show
Dhow dinner cruise
Since our flight left past mid-night and we already checked out of the hotel, we decided to make the most use of our time in Dubai by joining a dinner cruise in the evening. We waited for our guide to show up in the hotel lobby while using the hotel wifi, and he finally showed up around 7:00pm. We told him we needed to be back at the hotel around 11:00pm to catch our plane, and he said it shouldn’t be a problem. We stopped by another hotel before heading to the Creek. There were quite a number of dinner cruise boats at the creek, and they all had an open air upper deck and air-conditioned lower deck. We picked the upper deck to enjoy the scenery, after all, we had been braving the heat all day and were quite used to it already. It was another buffet dinner, but this time there’s more selection of salads and desserts as compared to the previous evening dessert safari dinner. The food was OK, but the scenery was very nice, with many lit up dinner cruise boats going up and down the creek. There was a magic show after the dinner, which seems to be quite popular among the yonger kids. We finished the cruise around 10:00pm, and our driver were already waiting for us at the pier and took us back to the hotel right at 11:00pm. We quickly picked up our luggage, and took a taxi to the airport.
Dhow dinner cruise
Ready for dinner
Dinner buffet
Magic show
We checked out the hotel in the morning and left our luggage with the bell desk. Our plan was to spend some time in the Bastakiya district to see the traditional buildings. There was one problem, as we planned to have afternoon tea in the Burj Al Arab and there is a dress code – no shorts, T-shirts, sandals which was everything I wore in order to survive the heat. So I overdressed in a shirt, pant and a pair of black shoes, and tried to survive our quick visit to the Bastakiya district. The district houses many local artists galleries and museums. The big attraction was the unique wind tower design so cool air can flow into the building, except there were no cool air ! Luckily we found the Coin museum where there are many small rooms with air conditioning. We spent a long time going from room to room, checking out the ancient coins as well as catching a break from the intense heat. The district was quite empty in the morning, it’s probably too early and too hot for the tourists ! We would have liked to take the water taxi to cross the Dubai Creek, but I am sure I would be kicked out of the Burj Al Arab with the sweaty smell ! So we headed to a local supermarket instead, and bought some ice cream to help us cool down before taking a taxi to the Burj Al Arab.
Arts in Baskatiya district
Baskatiya
Windtower
Coin Museum
Old coins
Dubai Ice Cream Bar
Sky tea at Burj Al Arab
Our taxi driver seemed to be just as excited as we were when we told him we were going inside the building, not just joining the tourists outside the gate to take photos. We had to show our reservation at the gate entry, and then drove past the access bridge to the hotel. We had a 1:30pm booking, and were at the hotel slightly before 1:00pm, so we walked outside to the access bridge and took some photos of the hotel. When we got back to the hotel and took the elevator to the lounge, we found many people were already seated and started the meal. As we later found out, it would be better to get there early instead of right on time in order to get seats with better view. Still, we had a window seat, and could see a hint of the Palm island in the hazy sun.
Access Bridge to Burj Al Arab
Fountain
Sky Lounge
Palm
We were first offered champagne and some fruits, followed by an appetizer of lamb or eggplant. And finally came the sail boat frame of many sandwiches and scones. The service was very nice and we never felt rushed, and were frequently asked if we wanted more refills of the sandwiches and tea. There was also live piano music in the background which makes the environment a lot more relaxing. On top of that, there’s free wifi in the restaurant for us to check-in on Facebook ! We kept on eating till we were too full to have anymore, and some people started to show up early for the second session. Afterwards we walked around the hotel and checked out the shops, and rested a bit in a sofa admiring the decorations. And later we took a taxi back to the Dubai Mall to catch the first Dubai Mall Fountain show at 5:30pm, and also walked around the mall a bit more to marvel the surreal aquarium inside, and got back to our hotel to quickly change into shirts and shorts.
Sky Tea menu
Scones !
All you can eat
Dubai Mall Aquarium
Souvenir
Sunset Fountain Show
Dhow dinner cruise
Since our flight left past mid-night and we already checked out of the hotel, we decided to make the most use of our time in Dubai by joining a dinner cruise in the evening. We waited for our guide to show up in the hotel lobby while using the hotel wifi, and he finally showed up around 7:00pm. We told him we needed to be back at the hotel around 11:00pm to catch our plane, and he said it shouldn’t be a problem. We stopped by another hotel before heading to the Creek. There were quite a number of dinner cruise boats at the creek, and they all had an open air upper deck and air-conditioned lower deck. We picked the upper deck to enjoy the scenery, after all, we had been braving the heat all day and were quite used to it already. It was another buffet dinner, but this time there’s more selection of salads and desserts as compared to the previous evening dessert safari dinner. The food was OK, but the scenery was very nice, with many lit up dinner cruise boats going up and down the creek. There was a magic show after the dinner, which seems to be quite popular among the yonger kids. We finished the cruise around 10:00pm, and our driver were already waiting for us at the pier and took us back to the hotel right at 11:00pm. We quickly picked up our luggage, and took a taxi to the airport.
Dhow dinner cruise
Ready for dinner
Dinner buffet
Magic show
Aug 28, 2011, 6:12 pm
#18
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Fremont, CA, USA. UA Premier Platinum 1MM
Posts: 331
Dubai to Zurich
Dubai Lounge
Our taxi fare to the airport was only 35 AED, as opposed to the 50 AED when we came from the airport. It’s a good farewell Dubai discount ! We were promptly checked in by a friendly agent, who commented we had to make so many stops to get home. We told her that’s exactly our plan because we wanted to visit Zurich, even if that’s only couple hours ! She saw that our seats were in the last row of the business class section, and asked if we would be interested in the front rows in the middle section. We told her we would prefer to keep the window and aisle combination to enjoy the view. And while we were chatting, Mrs UAFlyer somehow cut her finger when moving the luggage ! The agent quickly asked for someone from the nearby First Aid room and patched her up with BandAid. Talk about service !
We were given lounge invitation to the DCA lounge near gate 108. We were not sure if normally they used the Lufthansa lounge or not, but we had heard pretty mediocre review about the Lufthansa lounge, especially the lack of shower, so we were glad to try something else. We couldn’t see the sign DCA lounge near gate 108, but there was a Dubai International Hotel with the Swiss Air sign, so we knew that was the right lounge. We hadn’t expected to spend much time in the lounge since we were still full from dinner, and we didn’t think there would be shower available, so we spent some time buying some last minute souvenirs in the shops and only had less than half an hour for the lounge. To our surprise, showers were available ! After a full day of activities in the heat, this was the most welcome news. We were given two big big towels, and were shown to a shower room. Hmm, that’s probably the ugliest shower room we had ever seen in an airport lounge. But this was the best shower we had in this trip, given how sweaty we had been the whole day. Our seatmates on the flight would be thankful for that also.
The food selection was also amazing in this lounge, but we simply had no room for another dinner buffset. We then walked to our gate, and our friendly check-in agent was already there. She handed us two new boarding passes of window and aisle seat in the front, row 7 as opposed to row 14 that is. We don’t know how she remembered we wanted to enjoy the view and picked the window/aisle seat, and figured that row 14 would be more or less blocked by the wing. On top of that, she handed us the pen that we had forgotten at the check in counter while dealing with Mrs UAFlyer’s cut finger! Amazing service!
Dubai Airport
Dubai International Hotel and lounge for Swiss
Food again
An ugly shower – but much appreciated
Flight
LX 243 Dubai (DXB) 1:35am Zurich (ZRH) 6:20am
Aircraft : Airbus A330-300
Distance : 2966 miles
Duration : 6 hour 45 min
Class : Business
Seat : 7A, 7B
This was a very new aircraft and the seat layout in the business class section was very interesting, 1-2-1 rows alternate by 2-2-1 rows. For traveling alone, you can’t beat the single person seat on either side. But our window and aisle seats are still very comfortable, with reading light and power outlet conveniently located in the panel in between. A small amenity kit with the usual toothbrush, socks, eyeshade and ear plug were included, along with the very comfortable pillow and nice quality blanket. Since this is a red-eye flight, we were actually glad they did not serve another huge dinner, but rather a mid-night snack with carrot soup, cheese and berry mousse as dessert. All these turned out to be very delicious. We filled out a form to select our breakfast option before the cabin light was turned off for everyone to catch couple hours of sleep. And some passengers did snore loudly in the comfortable lie flat seat !
7A & 7B
Business cabin
Cheese and snack
Hot snack and carrot soup
Mixed berry mousse
Bathroom amenity
Amenity
Flight path
Sunrise came fast and soon breakfast was served. We had the croissants, crepes, omelette, and fruits. Somehow we had forgotten we had really been eating non-stop the last 24 hours ! This was another flight that we wish it could have been longer, but there’s still a lot more to look forward to the last couple legs of our trip.
Menu and breakfast form
Crepe
Omelette
Zurich morning
Swiss Arrival Lounge
We went through immigration and customs quickly, and were the first few passengers who got into the Arrival Lounge as we did not have to wait for the luggage since they were checked through to San Francisco. There were nice juices, coffees and bread selection in the lounge, but we simply wanted to get freshen up with another shower before heading to town. There were about a dozen shower rooms available, but they seem to get filled up quite quickly. Oh, we wanted to use the wifi too ! Fortunately, a complimentary one hour code was given so we could again check in on Facebook !
Swiss arrival lounge
Empty lounge
Nice shower
One hour Wifi code
Our taxi fare to the airport was only 35 AED, as opposed to the 50 AED when we came from the airport. It’s a good farewell Dubai discount ! We were promptly checked in by a friendly agent, who commented we had to make so many stops to get home. We told her that’s exactly our plan because we wanted to visit Zurich, even if that’s only couple hours ! She saw that our seats were in the last row of the business class section, and asked if we would be interested in the front rows in the middle section. We told her we would prefer to keep the window and aisle combination to enjoy the view. And while we were chatting, Mrs UAFlyer somehow cut her finger when moving the luggage ! The agent quickly asked for someone from the nearby First Aid room and patched her up with BandAid. Talk about service !
We were given lounge invitation to the DCA lounge near gate 108. We were not sure if normally they used the Lufthansa lounge or not, but we had heard pretty mediocre review about the Lufthansa lounge, especially the lack of shower, so we were glad to try something else. We couldn’t see the sign DCA lounge near gate 108, but there was a Dubai International Hotel with the Swiss Air sign, so we knew that was the right lounge. We hadn’t expected to spend much time in the lounge since we were still full from dinner, and we didn’t think there would be shower available, so we spent some time buying some last minute souvenirs in the shops and only had less than half an hour for the lounge. To our surprise, showers were available ! After a full day of activities in the heat, this was the most welcome news. We were given two big big towels, and were shown to a shower room. Hmm, that’s probably the ugliest shower room we had ever seen in an airport lounge. But this was the best shower we had in this trip, given how sweaty we had been the whole day. Our seatmates on the flight would be thankful for that also.
The food selection was also amazing in this lounge, but we simply had no room for another dinner buffset. We then walked to our gate, and our friendly check-in agent was already there. She handed us two new boarding passes of window and aisle seat in the front, row 7 as opposed to row 14 that is. We don’t know how she remembered we wanted to enjoy the view and picked the window/aisle seat, and figured that row 14 would be more or less blocked by the wing. On top of that, she handed us the pen that we had forgotten at the check in counter while dealing with Mrs UAFlyer’s cut finger! Amazing service!
Dubai Airport
Dubai International Hotel and lounge for Swiss
Food again
An ugly shower – but much appreciated
Flight
LX 243 Dubai (DXB) 1:35am Zurich (ZRH) 6:20am
Aircraft : Airbus A330-300
Distance : 2966 miles
Duration : 6 hour 45 min
Class : Business
Seat : 7A, 7B
This was a very new aircraft and the seat layout in the business class section was very interesting, 1-2-1 rows alternate by 2-2-1 rows. For traveling alone, you can’t beat the single person seat on either side. But our window and aisle seats are still very comfortable, with reading light and power outlet conveniently located in the panel in between. A small amenity kit with the usual toothbrush, socks, eyeshade and ear plug were included, along with the very comfortable pillow and nice quality blanket. Since this is a red-eye flight, we were actually glad they did not serve another huge dinner, but rather a mid-night snack with carrot soup, cheese and berry mousse as dessert. All these turned out to be very delicious. We filled out a form to select our breakfast option before the cabin light was turned off for everyone to catch couple hours of sleep. And some passengers did snore loudly in the comfortable lie flat seat !
7A & 7B
Business cabin
Cheese and snack
Hot snack and carrot soup
Mixed berry mousse
Bathroom amenity
Amenity
Flight path
Sunrise came fast and soon breakfast was served. We had the croissants, crepes, omelette, and fruits. Somehow we had forgotten we had really been eating non-stop the last 24 hours ! This was another flight that we wish it could have been longer, but there’s still a lot more to look forward to the last couple legs of our trip.
Menu and breakfast form
Crepe
Omelette
Zurich morning
Swiss Arrival Lounge
We went through immigration and customs quickly, and were the first few passengers who got into the Arrival Lounge as we did not have to wait for the luggage since they were checked through to San Francisco. There were nice juices, coffees and bread selection in the lounge, but we simply wanted to get freshen up with another shower before heading to town. There were about a dozen shower rooms available, but they seem to get filled up quite quickly. Oh, we wanted to use the wifi too ! Fortunately, a complimentary one hour code was given so we could again check in on Facebook !
Swiss arrival lounge
Empty lounge
Nice shower
One hour Wifi code
Last edited by UAFlyer; Aug 29, 2011 at 8:26 am Reason: Fixed typo
Aug 28, 2011, 6:13 pm
#19
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Fremont, CA, USA. UA Premier Platinum 1MM
Posts: 331
Zurich
Transit Pass
We headed to the airport train station, and were going to buy a day pass on the ticketing machine. Unfortunately it’s again not compatible with our US credit cards. We then headed to the ticket office, and did manage to get our 12.80CHF day pass to the city. We last came to Switzerland during Thanksgiving, and the exchange rate was exactly one US dollar to one Swiss Francs, and we were so happy to not need to calculate how much everything really was in US dollar. But just six months later it’s like we came to a country with different currency, and we had to remind ourselves it’s 20% more now !
Day pass
Train to Zurich
Burkliplatz
It only took 10 minutes to get to the Zurich main station, and we asked for the direction at the tourist office to the flower market. It was an easy tram ride, and soon we were at the flower market. However, we were quickly distracted by the beauty of the Lake Zurich just across the market, well, to be more precise, the swans! After a swan photo session, we headed back to the market to check out the flowers.
Zurich main station
Tram
Lake Zurich
Swans
Lovers?
Zurich
Flowers
More flowers
Sunflower
Not just flowers
Sprüngli Macaroon
We had a breakfast in Sprüngli at the Paradeplatz during our Thanksgiving visit, but did not get to try out the Macaroons, which were so colorful. So we remembered to pick up a box this time, the small Luxemburgerli collection. The store person reminded us they are only good for 3 to 4 days, but we are quite sure they will be consumed in much less time ! From the store we hopped back onto the tram, and got back to main train station, which we promptly found another Sprüngli store. Oh well, we were convinced the Paradeplatz store sold fresher macaroons !
Sprungli at Paradeplatz
Reflection of pedestrians on Luxemburgrli
Peach flavor
Pastries
What we bought
Bahnholfstrasse
Back to train station
Sprungli in train station
We headed to the airport train station, and were going to buy a day pass on the ticketing machine. Unfortunately it’s again not compatible with our US credit cards. We then headed to the ticket office, and did manage to get our 12.80CHF day pass to the city. We last came to Switzerland during Thanksgiving, and the exchange rate was exactly one US dollar to one Swiss Francs, and we were so happy to not need to calculate how much everything really was in US dollar. But just six months later it’s like we came to a country with different currency, and we had to remind ourselves it’s 20% more now !
Day pass
Train to Zurich
Burkliplatz
It only took 10 minutes to get to the Zurich main station, and we asked for the direction at the tourist office to the flower market. It was an easy tram ride, and soon we were at the flower market. However, we were quickly distracted by the beauty of the Lake Zurich just across the market, well, to be more precise, the swans! After a swan photo session, we headed back to the market to check out the flowers.
Zurich main station
Tram
Lake Zurich
Swans
Lovers?
Zurich
Flowers
More flowers
Sunflower
Not just flowers
Sprüngli Macaroon
We had a breakfast in Sprüngli at the Paradeplatz during our Thanksgiving visit, but did not get to try out the Macaroons, which were so colorful. So we remembered to pick up a box this time, the small Luxemburgerli collection. The store person reminded us they are only good for 3 to 4 days, but we are quite sure they will be consumed in much less time ! From the store we hopped back onto the tram, and got back to main train station, which we promptly found another Sprüngli store. Oh well, we were convinced the Paradeplatz store sold fresher macaroons !
Sprungli at Paradeplatz
Reflection of pedestrians on Luxemburgrli
Peach flavor
Pastries
What we bought
Bahnholfstrasse
Back to train station
Sprungli in train station
Aug 28, 2011, 6:14 pm
#20
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Fremont, CA, USA. UA Premier Platinum 1MM
Posts: 331
Zurich to San Francisco via Munich
Swiss Lounge
We headed to the Swiss lounge after we arrived at the airport, and picked up couple vouchers for the wifi code. They were just beginning to swap out the breakfast food with the lunch selection. But we were still quite full, and opted for the mini Toblerones instead. As we left the lounge, we discovered there were some Movenpick ice cream as well ! Oh well, we have to remember that next time !
Swiss Lounge
Lounge
Lounge snack – Movenpick !
Flight to Munich
LX 1104 Zurich (ZRH) 12:15pm Munich (MUC) 1:10pm
Aircraft : AR1
Distance : 154 miles
Duration : 55 min
Class : Business
Seat : 4D, 4F
We arrived at the gate, and found that we had to take a connecting bus to the plane. The AR1 aircraft had a 3-3 seat configuration, and the middle seat was blocked off in the business class section. It’s only a 30 minute ride in the air, and it’s amazing to see how they managed to serve drinks and a meal with cold cut, cheese and fruits. The flight attendants barely had time to collect the trays and cups before we descended into Munich. After landing, we also had to take a connecting bus to the terminal.
Business class – middle seat blocked
Served on a 30 minute flight
Munich Senator Lounge
We headed to the H gates but noticed the sign that the non Schengen Senator Lounge was closed, so we went to the one on the Schegen side instead. The lounge was quite crowded at this hour, but we did not have much problem finding a table for a delicious lunch. The food selection was excellent, and nothing beats the Leberkäse and potato salad, with beer of course !
Non-Schengen Senator lounge closed
Leberkäse and fish filet
Leberkäse, potato salad, salad, soup, vitamin juice and dessert
Dining area
There was no free wifi in the lounge, so we skipped our check-in to Facebook this time. Our Facebook friends must be thankful for that ! We did manage to find an empty terminal to catch up on emails, and decided to skip the shower this time since it seems that’s all we have been doing the last 24 hours, along with the eating.
Flight to San Francisco
LH 458 Munich (MUC) 4:15pm San Francisco (SFO) 7:10pm
Aircraft : Airbus A340-600
Distance : 5889 miles
Duration : 11 hour 55 min
Class : Business
Seat : 6A, 6C
We went through the passport control as we headed to the Schengen gates, and then went through another passport check. Well at least we did not have to go through another security check which we remembered was required in our previous transit in Munich.
We were in the front mini cabin of the Business Class section, and noticed it was only half full. We were quite surprised by this, as the last couple times we were on this flight, it was always packed. We found the amenity kit, pillow and blue blanket in our seats, but something seems to be missing. Oh, no bottled water. We thought it’s a standard in business class on all airlines these days, so we were not sure if it’s a one off catering problem or not. The amenity kit bag spotted a kid’s drawing design, with English caption on one side and German on the other side. Lufthansa really has nice amenity kit design !
6A & 6C
Menu
Amenity Kit
The dinner on this flight seems to be better than normal Lufthansa flights we have been on, the Salmon appetizer and Prawns on rice entrees were very tasty. But the highlights were the desserts, which were served in a rectangular box with four small partitions. And that’s actually what’s shown on the menu front cover. Inside were a piece of date cake, fruits, mousse and strawberries. We hope Lufthansa will continue the dessert box in the future.
Appetizer and main course – Salmon, Beef strips, King Prawns, Cheese noodles
Dessert box (Like)
The attendants came around with water from time to time, but I still could not understand the lack of bottled water in our seats. We were quite exhausted in our last two days of the trip, and to my surprise, I actually managed to have some good sleep in the flight, though not in the slanted flat position. Prior to landing we were served another snack, with either a hot pasta with olives or cold plate with prawn, chicken breast and veggies. And finally the coconut cake and coffee and we realized we would soon be arriving home.
Damage of no bottled water
Midflight snacks and pre-arrival meal
Bay Area Bridges
Flying into San Francisco from the north provides wonderful views of the bay area bridges on the left side of the plane, and it’s no exception this time. First we saw the Golden Gate Bridge and the Bay Bridge, and normally the plane would turn around after passing the San Mateo Bridge. But this time we flew further south and got a good view of the Dumbarton Bridge, and we could almost see our home from the sky !
Golden Gate Bridge
Bay Bridge and San Francisco
San Mateo Bridge
Dumbarton Bridge
We landed smoothly and the immigration officer seemed to be jealous of our travel, and we told him we were only able to do this because of the wonderful mileage program !
It has been two months since the trip, and everything changes so quickly in these days of world travel. United had since reverted back to the zone boarding process, which I had no idea why they experimented with something clearly more confusing in the first place. And there are also now more sightings of pillows. But gone are the RCC carrots and Pepperidge Farm cookies, and there’s also much uncertainty with the new mileage program next year. Lufthansa now has free wifi in the Senator and Business lounges in Germany, which is the most welcoming news for us. Sadly the peaceful reputation of Oslo has also taken a step back with the bombing and shooting incident. Let’s hope something like this would never ever happen again.
Thanks for reading this report, hopefully we would not have so much trouble redeeming a San Francisco to Asia via the Atlantic award next time, and will get to post another report again soon.
We headed to the Swiss lounge after we arrived at the airport, and picked up couple vouchers for the wifi code. They were just beginning to swap out the breakfast food with the lunch selection. But we were still quite full, and opted for the mini Toblerones instead. As we left the lounge, we discovered there were some Movenpick ice cream as well ! Oh well, we have to remember that next time !
Swiss Lounge
Lounge
Lounge snack – Movenpick !
Flight to Munich
LX 1104 Zurich (ZRH) 12:15pm Munich (MUC) 1:10pm
Aircraft : AR1
Distance : 154 miles
Duration : 55 min
Class : Business
Seat : 4D, 4F
We arrived at the gate, and found that we had to take a connecting bus to the plane. The AR1 aircraft had a 3-3 seat configuration, and the middle seat was blocked off in the business class section. It’s only a 30 minute ride in the air, and it’s amazing to see how they managed to serve drinks and a meal with cold cut, cheese and fruits. The flight attendants barely had time to collect the trays and cups before we descended into Munich. After landing, we also had to take a connecting bus to the terminal.
Business class – middle seat blocked
Served on a 30 minute flight
Munich Senator Lounge
We headed to the H gates but noticed the sign that the non Schengen Senator Lounge was closed, so we went to the one on the Schegen side instead. The lounge was quite crowded at this hour, but we did not have much problem finding a table for a delicious lunch. The food selection was excellent, and nothing beats the Leberkäse and potato salad, with beer of course !
Non-Schengen Senator lounge closed
Leberkäse and fish filet
Leberkäse, potato salad, salad, soup, vitamin juice and dessert
Dining area
There was no free wifi in the lounge, so we skipped our check-in to Facebook this time. Our Facebook friends must be thankful for that ! We did manage to find an empty terminal to catch up on emails, and decided to skip the shower this time since it seems that’s all we have been doing the last 24 hours, along with the eating.
Flight to San Francisco
LH 458 Munich (MUC) 4:15pm San Francisco (SFO) 7:10pm
Aircraft : Airbus A340-600
Distance : 5889 miles
Duration : 11 hour 55 min
Class : Business
Seat : 6A, 6C
We went through the passport control as we headed to the Schengen gates, and then went through another passport check. Well at least we did not have to go through another security check which we remembered was required in our previous transit in Munich.
We were in the front mini cabin of the Business Class section, and noticed it was only half full. We were quite surprised by this, as the last couple times we were on this flight, it was always packed. We found the amenity kit, pillow and blue blanket in our seats, but something seems to be missing. Oh, no bottled water. We thought it’s a standard in business class on all airlines these days, so we were not sure if it’s a one off catering problem or not. The amenity kit bag spotted a kid’s drawing design, with English caption on one side and German on the other side. Lufthansa really has nice amenity kit design !
6A & 6C
Menu
Amenity Kit
The dinner on this flight seems to be better than normal Lufthansa flights we have been on, the Salmon appetizer and Prawns on rice entrees were very tasty. But the highlights were the desserts, which were served in a rectangular box with four small partitions. And that’s actually what’s shown on the menu front cover. Inside were a piece of date cake, fruits, mousse and strawberries. We hope Lufthansa will continue the dessert box in the future.
Appetizer and main course – Salmon, Beef strips, King Prawns, Cheese noodles
Dessert box (Like)
The attendants came around with water from time to time, but I still could not understand the lack of bottled water in our seats. We were quite exhausted in our last two days of the trip, and to my surprise, I actually managed to have some good sleep in the flight, though not in the slanted flat position. Prior to landing we were served another snack, with either a hot pasta with olives or cold plate with prawn, chicken breast and veggies. And finally the coconut cake and coffee and we realized we would soon be arriving home.
Damage of no bottled water
Midflight snacks and pre-arrival meal
Bay Area Bridges
Flying into San Francisco from the north provides wonderful views of the bay area bridges on the left side of the plane, and it’s no exception this time. First we saw the Golden Gate Bridge and the Bay Bridge, and normally the plane would turn around after passing the San Mateo Bridge. But this time we flew further south and got a good view of the Dumbarton Bridge, and we could almost see our home from the sky !
Golden Gate Bridge
Bay Bridge and San Francisco
San Mateo Bridge
Dumbarton Bridge
We landed smoothly and the immigration officer seemed to be jealous of our travel, and we told him we were only able to do this because of the wonderful mileage program !
It has been two months since the trip, and everything changes so quickly in these days of world travel. United had since reverted back to the zone boarding process, which I had no idea why they experimented with something clearly more confusing in the first place. And there are also now more sightings of pillows. But gone are the RCC carrots and Pepperidge Farm cookies, and there’s also much uncertainty with the new mileage program next year. Lufthansa now has free wifi in the Senator and Business lounges in Germany, which is the most welcoming news for us. Sadly the peaceful reputation of Oslo has also taken a step back with the bombing and shooting incident. Let’s hope something like this would never ever happen again.
Thanks for reading this report, hopefully we would not have so much trouble redeeming a San Francisco to Asia via the Atlantic award next time, and will get to post another report again soon.
Aug 29, 2011, 1:53 am
#26
Join Date: Jul 2009
Programs: BAEC Silver, IHG Diamond
Posts: 7,725
Great trips with some fab pics 
Must pop into that cafe for some apple pie next time I'm in Amsterdam.
Great views from the (top of the?) Burj Khalifa. Defintely needs some more greenery as the area looks rather "concrete-y".
Must pop into that cafe for some apple pie next time I'm in Amsterdam.
Great views from the (top of the?) Burj Khalifa. Defintely needs some more greenery as the area looks rather "concrete-y".
