m4rcla

Thanks Fredrik74! The MUC-JNB-PLZ leg is posted. Will be working on the rest

Ha! I have no idea

Thanks gpeso8! Let me know if you have any specific questions.

Interesting

Thanks eightblack! Glad you enjoyed the photos. Yeah we found LH C not bad at all. It's probably mainly because we mainly fly in economy, so anything in business is definitely a plus for us

Ah got it! Thanks JohnnyColombia. Glad you enjoyed the report.

Thanks N830MH. Yeah, sorry I didn't take any picture of sunrise & sunset. My usual main focus is around food

m4rcla

When I was looking into safari options, I originally looked into the more well known Kruger National Park and lodges such as Lion Sands, which was featured on The Bachelor. However, after doing more research, I preferred a non-malaria reserves closer to Cape Town. I started looking into Eastern Cape safaris and finally decided on Kwandwe. Kwandwe is a private Big 5 game reserve in the Eastern Cape.

We arrived at Kwandwe around 12 PM and was dropped off at the reception area, which was actually still quite far away from the actual lodge. This was where guests come to check in and then get taken to their respective lodges by jeep. When we arrived at the reception area, one of the lodge staff welcomed us with ice lemonade and homemade cookies.


Ice lemonade and homemade chocolate chip cookies

We were welcomed by Jure, the General Manager at the lodge. He was very friendly and showed us around the main lodge. He explained the daily schedule as well as what's included in our rate (which was pretty much almost everything with the exception of some premium, top-shelf alcohol).

Here's our daily schedule:
6:00 am: Wake up call
6:30 am: Meet at main lodge
6:40 am: Morning game drive
10:30 am: Breakfast, back at the lodge
11:00 am-3:00 pm: Siesta / free time
1:00 pm: Lunch
3:30 pm: Afternoon tea
4:00 pm: Afternoon game drive
7:30 pm: Dinner

The main lodge was where we met up for breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner, and where we would depart for the game drives. It was connected by bridge and walkways to the nine individual guest cottages.



There were several couches and seating areas to look out to a wonderful view of the Great Fish River. In the afternoon and before dinner, guests gathered around this area to have some drinks and chat.


Meeting area


Wonderful view

Our butler, took us to our room. The lodge area was not fenced from the reserve, which meant wild animals may be found walking around, which was quite a scary thought. During the day, we were free to walk from our room directly to the main lodge, but at night, a security person with a flashlight escorted us to our room.



The room was beautiful with a colonial/traditional design. There was a personalized welcome note that was a nice touch.




The bathroom included dual sinks, separate toilet area, a bathtub, and an indoor and outdoor showers. They even provided mineral water for us to use to brush our teeth. The lodge was not brand new but was well maintained.





It was quite a treat to have our own seating area with vast views of the terrain, as well as our own private plunge pool. During our stay , the weather was around 70-80 Fahrenheit so it was nice to take a dip in the pool. The water was not heated and was quite cold but refreshing!



We were very impressed with the lodge and the service at Kwandwe. Actually, this was probably the best service we've had anywhere. Everything we asked for was always answered with "my pleasure"; they truly made us feel like royalty.

We loved our stay at Kwandwe Great Fish River lodge. We absolutely took in the slow pace of life while we were at safari. We were somewhat disconnected from the world (there was no TV in the room, which was actually nice), and it was really a great feeling to be in the middle of nature. It was scary at times to think that a wild animal could show up at our balcony at any time, but I guess that's part of the thrill. We thought that safari would be a once in a lifetime experience. But we are now looking forward to our next safari...someday.

Oh and here are some safari pictures






Next: 6. Westin Cape Town

m4rcla

After the safari, our next destination was Cape Town. We took a low budget airline called 1 Time Airways and found it to be decent. Reminded us of Southwest Airlines in the US. Although, there's no free drink, not even water. While in Cape Town, we stayed at the Westin using Cash & Points.

The Westin Cape Town was located in the Central Business District area, directly across from the Cape Town International Conference Center. The hotel was HUGE, and felt very business-like. They provided free shuttle that ran every 30 minutes to the V&A waterfront area, only about a 5 minutes ride. This was definitely a nice perk since we wouldn't have to take a taxi to the waterfront.


Westin Cape Town

We really liked the location of the hotel as it was a nice base for activities around Cape Town. The red hop on/off tour bus also stopped directly in front of the hotel/conference center so it was easy enough to catch. The lobby area had a nice smell to it every time we enter the building, and they provided free non-alcoholic, refreshing drink by the entrance. I always make a point to get a small glass every time we passed by. It was basically a mixed fruit juice drink.


Hotel lobby

Service generally was pretty good. The concierge was helpful with making restaurant reservations which I always took advantage of since calling the restaurant directly would cost money (because of the phone charges), so I always just had the concierge make reservations for us.

We got a room on the SPG preferred guest floor, which was one of the higher floors. We had to use our room key to enter the hallway from the elevator banks, which was a good security measure.



The room was a decent size, and we had a view of the Central Business District and the waterfront area. Our bed was a regular King bed, and it was good to know it wasn't one of those twin beds pushed together. There were green accent walls which was quite bright.


King Bed




View from our room

The bathroom was good sized as well, and similar to the bedroom, had green accent walls. There were double sinks, as well as a separate shower, toilet, and bath tub. The bathroom was decent but didn't feel luxurious, probably because of the tiles as opposed to marble.


Double sinks & bathtub

There was free wi fi which was great, BUT we had to log on every single time we used it, which was annoying at times. I wished that the Wi Fi would automatically pick up instead of us having to enter the code every single time. Nonetheless, it was free, so I guess that's good. We redeemed points for our stay and for that reason didn't get the benefit of included breakfasts. Otherwise I believe that breakfast is included in the rate. There really isn't any breakfast place around the hotel, so we had to make sure to get some snacks/pastries for breakfast while we were out and about.

We really appreciated the daily turn down service where our rooms were stocked with water and local made nougats. We enjoyed the nougats so much we ended up buying some to bring back home.

Final Thoughts:

Overall we enjoyed our stay at the Westin. The hotel was a bit too big, very business like, and felt somewhat less personal, but I think the good still outweighed the bad. Service in general was pretty good. We loved the location of the hotel as it was centrally located where we could afford to take naps in between our activities.

NYBanker

Great report so far. Thanks for sharing.

EWC-JMU

Huh? You travel to MUC often but had no idea about perhaps the three biggest tourist destinations in the city? Riiiiiiiight.

m4rcla

HOHO Bus (Hop On Hop Off Bus)

For our first full day in Cape Town, we took the Red bus tour, and it turned out to be a great choice. There was a stop in front of our hotel which made it really convenient. Tickets cost 140 rand ($18) per person for a day pass, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that they actually took credit card on board.

We drove around town, and made a stop at Table Mountain, and then continued on the drive to the beach area which was so beautiful! The beach area looked very nice and upscale, and the beaches were white sand...although there can be great white sharks in the area. We enjoyed the HOHO bus, and it was definitely a great way to see the city.

Table Mountain

Table Mountain is probably the most popular landmark in Cape Town. It was quite interesting to see a flat mountain, shaped like a table! I heard that Table Mountain can get quite cloudy, so the first chance you get to go up the mountain (like on a clear morning), you should do it!


The iconic Table Mountain

There were two options on how to get to the top of Table Mountain. We could either take the cable car or hike up. I pretty much knew immediately that we were NOT going to hike up, so of course we took the cable car.

I prebooked tickets online which was good for a period of 2 weeks, and it turned out to be such a time saver. There was a huge long line of people trying to buy tickets, and since we already pre bought the tickets online, we were allowed to go in directly and wait for the cable car.

The cable car ride reminded us of a similar ride we did in Palm Springs. The ride up was much faster though and we arrived in no time! (It was not as far up compared to Palm Springs.)


The view from the top of Table Mountain was amazing! We're so glad we were able to visit on such a clear day! It was pretty chilly and windy though so definitely bring your jacket.


Cape Peninsula

A Cape Peninsula tour is a must if you are in Cape Town. A lot of people self drive but we really didn't want to drive, so we booked a tour with Ulungele Tour. It was supposed to be a small group tour, but it turned out that day it was just the two of us. So it ended up being like a private tour!

We were so glad we didn't have to drive since the roads are windy. Our guide/driver was Terrence, and he was great! He provided commentaries and useful insights to the areas. Our first stop was Hout Bay with an optional tour to go to the Seal island. Since we're from California and have seen seals many times at Pier 39, we decided to pass. Our guide actually said that it was probably good that we skipped the seal tour, since we went ahead of all those big coach tour buses.


Chapman's Peak

The drive was definitely very beautiful, reminded us of California coast or the Amalfi Coast. We stopped by Chapman's Peak to take a quick picture.

Our next stop was a beautiful stretch of white, sandy beach. Unfortunately we didn't have time to actually go to the beach!


Beautiful stretch of white, sandy beach

Our next stop was Cape Point and Cape of Good Hope, which was the southwestern most part of the African continent. We noticed tons of Chinese tourists (like 3-4 coach buses full) and we were glad we were ahead of them since it would have taken forever trying to wait to take a picture if we were behind them.

Next stop was Cape Point, which had a lighthouse on the top. In order to get to the lighthouse, we could either take the funicular ride up or we could hike up. We decided to take the funicular up. It was a quick 2-3 minutes ride and we were at the top. By the lighthouse, there was a sign that marked the distance from Cape Point to various cities in the world.



Next stop was Boulders beach which was a famous penguin colony. I didn't know that penguins could live in a climate such as South Africa. I always thought that they only existed in colder climates. Apparently these penguins were indigenous to the area. They were a lot smaller in size than I expected. Also, we could only see them from a platform and were not allowed to walk on the beach itself.



Kirstenbosch Garden

Our last stop on the Peninsula tour was Kirstenbosch Garden. The views of Table Mountain from the garden were amazing, and the whole garden itself was beautiful. There were quite a few families who were having picnics in the garden area. However, other than garden viewing and picnicing, there really wasn't much to do unless you're big into plants.


V&A Waterfront

The Victoria & Alfred waterfront is probably the most touristy area in Cape Town. A lot of tours originate/pick up from this area. As is almost everywhere in Cape Town, there's a view of Table Mountain.



There were a lot of seafood restaurants along the harbor, and there was actually a mall with several fast food options inside as well.

Robben Island

I pre-booked the 9 AM ferry for the Robben Island tour online. It is advisable to book in advance since they sometimes sell out in high season. We took the ferry from the V&A gateway and the ride took around 40 minutes.

The island used to be a leper colony and over time became a prison. It was the place where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned. Once we got to Robben Island we were put in big buses and then took a tour of the prison. The guide was a former prisoner who was imprisoned charged for sabotage. We walked around the various prison buildings and saw Nelson Mandela's old cell. This visit reminded us of our Dachau visit in Munich which we had done just the week before.


Nelson Mandela's former cell

Afterwards we went back to the bus for a tour around the island. Overall it's a pretty educational tour, although I felt the size of the group was too big (maybe around 60 people per group?). It would have been nice to have a smaller group. During our visit we noticed there were some minivans which were probably for private groups, so it looked like it's possible to book a private group, probably for a higher cost.

Downtown Franschhoek

Franschhoek is one of the beautiful cities in South Africa's Cape Winelands, 5- minutes drive from Cape Town. It is the foodie capital of South Africa. The name Franschhoek means the French Corner in Dutch. There's a LOT of Dutch influence in South Africa since they historically occupied the country for quite some time. The "downtown" area was quite small, we probably drove through it in 3-4 minutes. There's a lot of cute furniture stores, cafes, restaurants, and shops along the street.




Wine Tasting

A lot of the buildings around Franschhoek had the Dutch colonial influence which was just beautiful. The scenery around the winelands was also absolutely gorgeous.


Our tasting was at Haute Cabriere in Franschhoek. The view from the winery was just so beautiful since the winery was located on a hill. It was so pretty!


Le Pique Nique at Boschendal

Some wineries around the Winelands offer picnic lunch baskets for around 130-150 rand per person (USD 20). Advance reservations are typically required at least 24 hours in advance. The picnic at Boschendal was set up in a large grassy area with tables scattered throughout the field.


There was a set menu for the picnic, which included cold deli meats, chicken curry, pâtés, vegetable slices, potato salad, cheese and crackers, one large baguette loaf, and brownies for dessert. The waiter brought our picnic basket to us, and we were excited to finally try it! We really enjoyed our picnic and would recommend this as an activity when in the winelands.

m4rcla

Thanks NYBanker. I enjoyed your trip reports as well.

jv66

Enjoying your trip report, nice photos with good summaries of your travels. Well done!

jv66

My post was duplicated...

m4rcla

Thanks jv66

m4rcla

Afternoon Tea at the Mount Nelson Hotel

I LOVE afternoon tea and enjoy any kind of high tea there is. When I heard about the Mount Nelson, I knew I had to try this place! The Mount Nelson is a luxury hotel that is famous for their afternoon tea. Unlike other afternoon tea places that I've been, this place actually served it buffet style. As soon as we walked in, we saw the famous buffet table filled with sandwiches, cookies, scones, pastries, cakes, and fruit.




The room was decorated very elegantly and it really had that old world charm, but not pretentious. We chose inside seating but the outdoor seating looked very nice as well. I think the terrace seating area was quite lovely since you are still close to the buffet area, but have that outdoor feel.



Here's a picture of my first plate. I think I ended up going 3-4 times since it was so good!!!



The Test Kitchen

The Test Kitchen is a new restaurant by the famed chef Luke Dale Roberts, previously of La Colombe (one of Top 50 restaurants in the world).I made reservations months in advance and was able to secure a table.

The Test Kitchen was located at the old biscuit mill factory, which was around 15-20 minutes drive from our hotel. The restaurant reminded us a lot of modern/innovative restaurants in the US. The restaurant menu had a 3, 5, or 8 course option. We went with the 3 course option (which ended up being 5-6 courses if you count all the amuse bouches and the sorbet cleanser). The price for the 3 course menu was R375 (which is less than USD 50), a very reasonable price if you compare to a comparable restaurant in the US.




Instead of a typical bread basket, we were given 3 different starters which included a blue cheese puff, cheese cracker, and a bite sized chocolate cube that was actually savory.



After that, we got a complimentary amuse bouche that was a salmon sashimi with crispy strings (not quite sure what it was), but was really good! It definitely was a good start to the meal. I ordered the salmon sashimi for first course and my husband ordered the sweet potato dish. The salmon sashimi was served with pickled cabbage and jelly. The cabbage was a bit sour which was a great contrast to the sashimi.



In between the first and second courses, we were given complimentary apple sorbets with diced apples and apple jelly. It was a refreshing pallet cleanser and quite innovative to actually have apples prepared 3 different ways.

For the main course, I had the beef and my husband had the pork dish. The beef and pork were amazing!! I loved the fact that there were 4 different types of beef on my plate: brisket, fillet, crispy sweetbread, and tongue. The risotto was also the perfect accompaniment.


Test Kitchen Bollito Misto

My husband also loved his pork dish. One piece had a crunchy outside skin and super tender inside. Another piece was juicy and soft. The other items on the plate, like the beans, nut-crusted and other pate-like consistency things (I can't remember exactly what they were) were also tasty and added to the overall deliciousness.


Test Kitchen Black Forest Pork

For dessert I ordered the "TK mess" which was a marshmallow with fruit, merengue, and sorbet. My husband's dessert was cashew cake with cashew ice cream which was amazing!


Frozen cashew and cinnamon parfait, pistachio butter, pistachio and olive cake

To top it off, the chef sent a post dessert dish which looked exactly like our pre-appetizer. It was in fact a contrasting dish, with everything being a sweet version. How clever!

We were quite blown away by this meal and the quality of the food was amazing, and on par with some of the best meals we have had. The total bill for us including tip and a glass of wine was around 900 rand ($120) which is a great deal for "fine dining."

Bread & Wine

Bread & Wine was a casual restaurant serving really great food in Franschhoek, located at Moreson's estate. Interestingly enough, the Tasting Room was also somehow related to the Moreson group. The front part of the building was a deli, to buy some cold meat and cheese for picnic outside. The restaurant was located towards the back. There was indoor and outdoor seating, and we were seated inside because it was raining when we came.


I loved how this place was decorated! It had a French/country chic vibe, and the music that they played really added to the ambiance.



Bread & Wine made their own bread and cold meats. They even have classes on how to make bread & charcuteries. I love it when restaurants serve their bread warm, and this place did! We got the Charcuterie plate. We didn't know what to expect, but we were blown away! This was probably our best lunch in South Africa! The combination between the toast, cold meat, cheese, olives, and the rocket salad was just perfect! It's such a simple meal but done so beautifully. We couldn't find any fault with this dish! If you go to Bread & Wine, definitely order this plate!

I would recommend this place if you are looking for a lunch place in Franschhoek.

The Tasting Room

The Tasting Room at Le Quartier Francais had been consistently ranked as one of the top 50 restaurants in the world 4 years in the row. The restaurant was located inside the Le Quartier Francais hotel, a small upscale boutique hotel in downtown Franschhoek. I booked a table months in advance and was able to secure a reservation. We came in a bit early and got seated first in the bar/lounge area, the Common Room. We ordered a glass of rose wine which was excellent. At 7 PM, we were notified when the table was ready.



The menu at The Tasting Room was a "Surprise African Menu", which was either a 8 course or a 5 course. We went all the way and both got the 8 course. The concept of the surprise menu is that the chef would surprise us with each dish and no menu is distributed beforehand. All ingredients were local and the food was African inspired. The 8 course cost 770 Rand each, which was definitely our most expensive meal in South Africa. My husband also got the wine pairing which was an extra 320 Rand.

We were welcomed with complimentary sparkling wines which was excellent, very light and refreshing. The waitress asked if we had any food alergies or preferences and noted our requests. We also got 3 amuse bouches, and they were all quite unique. Immediately we knew we were going to have an interesting dinner experience.


"Chakalaka"

The amuse bouches were biltong sandwich, chicken pate, cigar rolls, and a chakalaka. The biltong sandwich tasted like a savory crisp cookie with creamy filling which was our favorite. The cigar rolls were also quite good and it was actually crunchy, with the inside tasting similar to guacamole. The chicken pate was a bit rich but the crisp outside was an interesting touch. The chakalaka was our least favorite. It looked cute like a lollipop but the taste was a bit weird, it was basically a tomato foam.

Our waiter brought us our bread dish which was cornbread with brown butter. It was served warm and we're glad that it wasn't too big since we knew we were about to have a big meal.

Here are some pictures from our meal:


First course: Beetroot, spinach and onion puree, buttermilk labne, dill and cucumber granita


Lightly smoked mushroom flan, parsnip, spekbom



Curry dusted kingklip, yellow dahl, mustard leaf, braised spices, confit tomato


Milk cookie, avocado, verjuice granita, black sesame brittle, apple, malt ice cream

Thoughts:
We really liked the food in Cape Town. It's definitely a great town for self-proclaimed foodies such as ourselves. There were tons of great options for quite reasonable prices. The proximity to the winelands also meant that a lot of great food options were within reasonable distance from the city.
Cape Town food had a lot of European, Indian, and Malay influences.

For most of the popular places, reservations are recommended. For places like the Test Kitchen, it is advisable to book months in advance.
We always had to order water at restaurants, and they always bring out bottled water (still or sparkling). Unlike in the US, water was not included, and we always had to pay for it.

We had the best meal of our trip in Cape Town at the Test Kitchen. If you are in Cape Town, definitely make reservations a few months out and check out this place!

m4rcla

We dropped of our rental car and had about 2 hours to kill at the lounge. The lounge at Cape Town airport was located on the 4th floor, after security check. The lounge looked newer compared to the one in Johannesburg. We presented our boarding passes and then found ourselves a seat.



We liked how the lounge opened up to the airport. It made the room very bright and airy, and we could also do some people watching. Complimentary wifi was given for 3 hours.




The food selection was similar to the Johannesburg airport lounge, very limited: pre-packed sandwiches, cheese, crackers, veggies, muffins. There's also a coffee machine that could make various coffee and hot chocolate.



There was a shower area which looked newer and nicer too. It would be nice after a long flight.



Around 1 hour before our flight, the announcement came that boarding started for our flight from Cape Town to Johannesburg, so we headed to the gate.

After having a mediocre experience on the SAA domestic flight from Johannesburg to Port Elizabeth, we thought that we would have a similar type of aircraft and a similar mediocre seat. We were pleasantly surprised when we found out that they had the bigger seats, although slightly older. We were originally seated next to each other, but my husband got reassigned to another seat because there was something wrong with his original seat. The seat was very similar to our long haul flight from Munich to Johannesburg. The seats did look a bit worn, but the space and extra legroom was excellent. I think I overheard the captain mentioned that this is a similar type of aircraft that they used for South America and Australia?


Pretty good seat for a domestic flight


Plenty of legroom

There was also full dinner service which was a choice of chicken or lamb curry. It was actually pretty good and we were quite hungry since we hadn't had dinner, so it probably tasted better than it actually was. Service on this flight was excellent. Unlike our previous flights with SAA, our flight attendant was actually male, and he was very courteous and appeared to enjoy his job.


My drink of choice, grapetiser


Chicken curry

The flight was quite short so I didn't take a nap. Plus, I think my seat was somewhat broken and it wouldn't lay flat, so I just watched some shows. When we arrived our luggage was one of the first ones on the carousel, so we were on our way out very quickly.

m4rcla

We arrived at the Johannesburg OR Tambo Airport 2 hours before departure. We looked for the premier check in lane and noticed there was quite a line already. And the line was not moving! We were probably the 5th person in line, and we basically stood in the same spot for 30 minutes, and the check in line was getting longer and longer behind us. Some people started getting antsy but the staff was not helpful at all. I looked over at the Economy check in line, and that was even more outrageous. I overheard that the system was down so they were not able to check in any passengers for a while.

We saw some IT people walking over to the counters and had everyone reboot their system. Finally after around 40-50 minutes waiting the line started moving again! The person at the check in counter was not apologetic at all and didn't even acknowledge that we had waited for a long time. Oh well... The security line was also really, really long. There wasn't a separate security line for premium class passengers. We originally thought we would have time to go to the lounge, but apparently not. My husband was really hungry so we grabbed a quick sandwich after security and then boarding our plane.



The seats/cabins looked very similar to our Munich-Johannesburg leg. The configuration was 2-2-2. I still can't get over the fact that we got 3 windows to ourselves and how much legroom there was.

The stewardess came around to offer orange juice/champagne. My husband & I started a routine where I get the orange juice and he would get the champagne. And then I would pour a little bit of his champagne into my juice to make a mimosa.



Our stewardess was very friendly. She addressed us by our last name which was a nice touch. I heard her address the people seating behind us also by name, so she must have really made an effort to memorize passengers' names. The menu was then distributed. Interesting to note that there were a couple menu items by Reuben, who is a famous South African chef. We didn't get to try his restaurant in Cape Town and Franschhoek, but heard great things about them.



The one thing that they always did in business class was place a white table cloth before every meal, to make it a bit more "formal". And of course, all the glassware and plates were real (not plastic disposables). They started serving appetizers with drink orders. I of course got the grapetiser, which was my last for the trip.



I ordered the pickled kingklip (fish), and my husband ordered the vegetable soup. When he asked the stewardess what kind of soup it was, she said it's a mushroom soup, which is my most favorite kind of soup! So I ended up eating most of his mushroom soup, and I gave him my pickled kingklip.



The mushroom soup was of course, creamy and delicious. I finished the whole bowl.



For the main, I got the steamed line fish, and husband got Reuben's Lamb dish.




For dessert, I got the lemon spicy pineapple mousse. I was a bit afraid by the "spicy" description for this dessert dish, but I barely tasted any spice. It was actually pretty good and refreshing--very light and not overly sweet. He got the black forest cake.




After dinner, pralines were distributed, and they were quite good. We ate them after we woke up in the morning after our nap.



We put our seat into bed mode, put the mattress pad and blanket, and off we went. It's such a luxury to be able to have that much space on a long haul flight!



We got around 6-7 hours of sleep, watched some movies, and then had breakfast. We first got yogurt with muesli/cereal. After that we got a choice of hot or cold breakfast. My husband got the cold selection (fruit) and I got the hot breakfast.



The egg was wrapped in a phyllo dough which was interesting.



Thoughts:

Overall service on this flight was MUCH better than our flight from Munich to Johannesburg. The flat beds on South African Airways were just amazing and continued to amaze us. We liked South African Airways and would fly them again.

m4rcla

We arrived in Munich on time, and after passing security & passport control, we headed to our gate. We were actually looking forward to taking a shower to refresh after the flight from South Africa. We noticed that there's actually a separate business and first class lounge for EVERY gate. So it was not a centralized lounge like we were used too. At first I thought it was a bit of a waste to put so much resource and space for each gate, however it was probably necessary for our A380 plane since the business class took up the whole second floor of the aircraft.



We had about 3 hours to kill, and we were disappointed to find out that there was no showers available at the gate lounge. There's only toilets. But oh well. There were choices of soft drinks, tea, water, wine, beer (of course), fruits, sandwiches, yogurt, and fruit.




After some snacks and just hanging around, boarding started, and it was nice to be able to board directly to our A380. We saw how big the plane was; it was quite impressive. It looked like the whole upper section was dedicated for business class passengers. And even though we were on the upper floor, since we boarded directly from the gate, we didn't take the stairs on the airplane, so in a way it didn't quite feel like we were on the second floor. We were seated in 11 A & C which was the second row. The seat configuration was 2-2-2.



The seats were very similar to our first leg from San Francisco to Munich. It did feel even newer. The only negative was that the monitor was fixed, and we could only move it slightly up/down but not around.




One of the unique things we noticed was an extra storage space below the window which was the smartest thing! Usually I had to stow my handbag in the overhead bin, and it could be quite a hassle. Now, I could just put my handbag inside the storage space right next to me. Loved it!




As usual, I got the orange juice and husband got the champagne.



Here's a shot of the menu. Since this was a morning flight, the food service was lunch and then a light snack.



Food on this flight was a bit disappointing. Let's start off with the appetizer: I got the salmon confit with cucumber apple salad, and everything was still semi-frozen. I could actually still see the ice on everything. Maybe because everything was still frozen, it was a bit tasteless.



Husband got the Roulade of Guinea fowl, and similar as mine, it was still semi frozen. We also got a pretzel bread each.



For the entree I got the orzo vegetable risotto, and it was actually quite tasty. I liked how it was cooked, and the sauce was just enough tomato sauce and slight saltiness from the olives. It was nicely done.



My husband got the cod with potato. It was ok, but it really reminded me of a microwave dinner.



For dessert we got the rhubarb/yogurt cake which was not bad. The mousse was light and not overly sweet.



Since it was Easter weekend, we got a chocolate Easter bunny!



We watched a couple movies, took a nap, and then woke up for our snack before landing. I got the celery ravioli and another pretzel bread. The tray also came with the riesling tart. The celery ravioli was not bad, but the tart was a bit disappointing.



Husband got the 3 small snacks which were:
Venison ham/fig walnut chutney
Smoked trout/cucumber cream/keta caviar
Mousse of chicken liver/apricot compote/cream cheese/pumpernickle
Hmm, originally we thought that it would be a choice of one of the 3 snacks, but it actually came as a set of 3. When we saw how small it was, it made sense why it was served that way. We were not a fan of these 3 dishes. Everything felt a bit confused, and the taste was just too different for us.



Thoughts:

It was nice to be able to try Lufthansa's business class product on the new Airbus A380. The seat was quite spacious, and the cabin was pretty quiet the whole time. It helped that the headphones provided were noise cancelling (or at least semi noise cancelling). Service was good and not abrasive. Even though the seat was not fully flat, we didn't mind it. The only minor complaint was that the monitor was not very adjustable so sometimes it's a bit hard to watch shows or movies. Other than that, we really enjoyed our long haul trip in Lufthansa's business class.

worldtraveller73

Very interesting report.

It's nice to see that Boschendal has stepped it up a bit and now offers a lovely picnic lunch. I'll be ordering that on the next visit!!

I was also impresse with the state of the domestic lounges on SAA. Who knew??

Thank you for posting.