morphius909

Worldtraveller73:

I officially hate you. I hate you...I hate you because I just got back from Madrid and was just getting over the fact I had to come back...and then your madrid spain post happened and brought back all the fantastic memories and experiences I had for 6 days.

I hate you

Jofneytoad

Excellent trip report, enjoying reading the TG flight from Bangkok to Madrid as myself and my wife will be flying TG F for the first time this Nov from Sydney to Bangkok then onto London.

Enjoy the rest of your trip.

warreng24

Not a grapefruit. It's a Pomelo. You have to wrap it, otherwise it falls apart and dries out. However, a wrapped Pomelo isn't exactly a First Class presentation.

I'm glad you've had a wonderful trip so far!

AA_EXP09

I did a MR there during the AA promotion but I now know what I missed out on.
Do you know any places to stay there that are really cheap? (around €30 or less / night?)
I slept in the airport Sunday with 2 empty suitcases and one full of Spanish wine. I had also brought in the maximum amount of cigarettes and exchanged them there. (I can't believe how expensive they are over there!)
The next morning I filled out the IVA refund forms and went to the IB lounge there, to fly back to DFW.

morphius909

I am yet to start my TR but yes I know a place, my Itinerary was Canada-MAD-France-MAD-Canada in 11 days.

On my way back, I stayed at the Ibis Madrid Aeropeurtro overnight as my flight to Frankfurt and Canada was at 6am so I needed to be uber close to the airport. I paid like 49 Euros (prepaid on net, no refund). Sorry not any cheaper. It was very good. Very close to the airport (have a shuttle). I caught cabs though because of my arrival time the evening before and departure back to the airport in the wee hours.

http://www.tripadvisor.ca/Hotel_Revi...to-Madrid.html

Check out the Trip Adviser Reviews. I just put mine up.

worldtraveller73

Yes - blackmamba it was a pretty neat experience. I've been asked by MsWT73 several times already since we have been back home to put together another trip like this. My gosh - the pressures!

Thanks camperdown9. Madrid was a lovely city with a wonderful personality compared to some of the other European Cities that seem to be wonderful - but lacking in true spirit. I'd easily return to spend more time here.

Thanks Morphius909 - It a way, flattery is the kindest compliment. Hope you enjoy the rest of the report.

I'm glad you are enjoying Jofneytoad. The BKK F experience was very enjoyable. Perhaps because we weren't expecting much, perhaps because we relaxed and excited and also perhaps because it was better than we expected. Enjoy your upcoming trip.

A pomelo! A new food for me. Thanks for clarifying that warreneng24. It was an interesting unwrapping experience that rivalled any gift I've ever received.

Well, AA_EXP09 I personally don't know of any places to stay that are inexpensive that also MsWT73 would approve of. My backpackers days of Australia have ended but that might not be so bad a thing.

worldtraveller73

Renfe AVE
Madrid – Barcelona (Madrid Puerta de Atocha – Zargoza Deli - Barcelona Sants)
AVE 03283 – Preferente Class (business – 3 class train)
08:20 AM – 11:05 AM
May 23, 2012
Fare: Web
Cost: 70.60€ (per pax- one way)

Soon it came time for us to continue our journey to Barcelona. I had considered flying there on a Low Cost Carrier but city-to-city travel in Europe is never as convenient flying from airport to airport. It was time to test out Spain’s Renfe Train network from Madrid Atocha to Barcelona Sants.

I booked the ticket through the internet www.renfe.es “english”. With a little trial and error, I was able to select the trains that I wanted and it priced. For those considering train travel in Spain, I learned that the trains became available for purchase 60 days in advance of your travel dates (no earlier), and I did not notice deep discounts similar to airlines for earlier bookings. The train prices came to 70.60 € outbound and 88.25 € inbound for a total of 158.85 € per ticket.

On the day of travel, we arrived to the second floor at Madrid’s Atocha train station. The train departures and arrivals are on two separate floors, with departures on the top floor and arrivals on the lower floor. We showed our tickets and our bags were X-rayed as we entered the platform area. Regretfully this was another sad reality of the train bombings that affected Spain and the rest of the world’s transit infrastructure.. We proceeded through the security screening checkpoint (although the screening was without a “persons” search).

We entered into a holding area above the train platforms. With one of us waiting with the bags, and the other one searching, we eventually found the Renfe Sala Club Lounge behind a dingy fire door alcove by Gate #14. The lounge itself was not signposted at all in the terminal – you’d pretty much have to wander around the whole place to look for it if you didn’t know where it was.



We walked into our first train lounge experience and waved the bar code on our tickets at the reception desk. The scanner positively beeped and we were allowed access by the lounge matron. The lounge itself was tastefully decorated, but not very well equipped. There were some drink machines, and a grapefruit juice dispenser. There were also some snacks similar to what was offered at a United Club, some mini muffins and individually wrapped cookies. There was beer and tonic water mix available but no spirits. The coffee machine dispensed its espressos into plastic cups, which was a little different. There were also a limited amount of free Spanish newspapers were on offer.



As with other train stations, the platform number is not announced until about 30 minutes before departure. An announcement was made in the lounge and we headed over for another ticket check at the platform gate. There was a business line although it was not posted or marked. With another scan of the barcode, we entered in to the platform area.









The Club (First Class) and Preferente (business class) were the closest cars to the train station itself (or the back of the train). I peered into Club cars as we walked by and there only appeared to be two passengers out of twelve seats occupied. There was a representative assisting Preferente passengers at our car door.



We presented our tickets to the host at preferente who confirmed we were in the right place. The weight restrictions on the train ticket were 20kg a bag. I’m proud to say (or horrified to admit) that we were way over that; carrying snorkel gear, Thailand Tattler magazines and amenity kits from around the world. Thankfully there were no scales or checking of bag weights.

I pulled our first bag on board and our host assisted with the second. There was luggage storage immediately by the door and there was plenty of room since most passengers appeared to be traveling lightly as business travelers.

We found our way to our seats. Preferente class was set up in a 1-2 layout. The passengers were mostly business travelers working constantly on their laptops and iPad’s – very similar to North America’s travel circuit. There were a few older tourist travelers. We were among the youngest in the cabin.





We received a newspaper service, which was mostly Spanish newspapers. The only English newspaper was the International Herald Tribute. The newspaper service was followed by a warmed towel service of the similar style to the Kentucky Fried Kitchen Serviette variety.

On time, the train departed. Within ten minutes were we at 295 km/h, steaming toward Barcelona Sants.



There was a movie on board shown with overhead monitors. The headsets offered free of charge. The movie of the day was Footloose.

Menus arrived to our seat with a full bar service available. Of interest is that the menu is actually one choice in three different languages.



As we were chugging along toward Sants, zipping on a Spanish white wine, Ms Worldtraveller73 commented, “Honey you did a good job”… Success.

Our breakfast omelet was handed out. A decent meal, but not unlike any other egg dishes you’ve had on airplanes over the years. The meal was followed by a chocolate service and a second towelette / wet nap service.



Our service today had us stop briefly at Zaragoza Delicias where the majority of business travelers got off. Within 4 minutes, we were again on our way.

There was some lovely scenery on the way up to Barcelona, with some interesting mountain landscapes combined with arid vegetation.







We arrived into Barcelona Sants to a dark and underground rail terminal. We disembarked and made our way up into the station proper, which is in the middle of Barcelona and surrounded by an urban environment – meaning that once on the street, it was difficult to tell that you were near a train station.



Our arrival experience was entertaining. I was on high alert arriving at Barcelona Sants. My sister, who works as a flight attendant for an “unnamed” Star Alliance carrier has had the experience to travel the world- professionally and personally Over all the miles that she has covered, it has been mostly safe passage for her. Safe except for this train station, where she was “relieved” of her wallet and passport by gypsy kids that surrounded her, while others pulled her travel pouch of her shoulder. I wasn’t about to have the same thing happen again to me, and knowing that you are most at risk when transiting to and from the hotel with all of your baggage, we circled the wagons as we headed with purpose for the nearby AC Sants Hotel.

worldtraveller73

AC Barcelona SANTS Hotel (Marriott Branded Hotel)
Sants, Barcelona, Spain.
Regular Rate 110€ per night.

I booked this hotel again because of its proximity to the train station and for the room rate. When we exited the doors, it was literally right across the street from the Sants train station. Barcelona must have improved since the gypsy kids were there, I didn’t see any of them the entire time during our stay.



We checked in using our Marriott Silver Card and were given a room with a view facing the square. Ms Worldtraveller 73 was getting into the photos by now as you can tell.





Like the Madrid location, there was free wifi in the lobby and a complimentary non alcoholic mini bar in the room. The hotel was new construction, and although functional, it didn’t have too much personality to it.

The Hotel looked onto the Barcelona Sants Train Station. The low rise skyscraper (marked Barcelo Sants) is the train station itself and the entrance is behind all of the taxi cabs. This was the view from our room.




Advantages:

Convenient to Barcelona Sants Train Station.
Movie theatre multiplex across the street.
Free wifi in the lobby.
Free non-alcoholic minibar.

Disadvantages:

Not many attractions in the immediate area.
Requires a subway ride to everything.

Overall:

Would stay here again if transiting through Sants.
Hotel was in better condition than the AC Carelton Madrid.

LAXJetter

The Barcelona train station sounds a bit like Penn Station -- very underwhelming. Not in proper European form

Moomba

Wonderful report worldtraveller73

The Comtes de Champagne is my favourite as well and IMHO surpasses the Dom and the Krug NV. Here in the UK they are all in a similar price bracket so the Comtes is no slouch when it comes to hitting wallet.

Carfield

Thanks for the trip report so far and I look forward reading the rest of it!

Asiana First Class - I am surprised that there is no escort from the lounge to the gate. You should have asked for it. That is a traditional service offered by OZ in LAX.

Thai First Class - your verdict is correct as most of us share the same impressions. The ground service is excellent in every aspects even surpassing SQ by miles. (SQ, please send your staff to see what first class ground service should be!) However, they fail miserably on the most important part of the flight - the actual flight itself. It is so difficult to gauge whether you will get a good crew or not. Some of the staffs are excellent and will do anything to make sure you have a good flight, but some of the staffs just rush through the meals, give you the bottled waters, turn off the light, and hide in the galley till the last meal. Yes appetizer should be served and the F/A possibly lost track of the meal service. Not a surprise because it is Thai.

Thanks for sharing again! Look forward to the rest!

Carfield

worldtraveller73

Gohima it was underwhelming. I won't make it up to be something that it wasn't. Nothing like the train stations of France or the Hautbahnhof of Germany. But that's okay. We didn't go on the trip to spend all our time in the train station.

Yes - Moomba, it's equally priced here in Canada with lots of tax unfortunately. The sad part is that it does not appear to be as available in duty free as some of the more popular brands like Dom or Krug.

Yes Carfield. SQ First is on the bucket list, however aside from the Hardware, it doesn't seem all that it is cracked up to be.

I'm fortunate enough that I don't pay for First Class flights all that often. If I did, it would be quite a dilemna on whether to choose Thai or not.

Fortunately, they seem play well in Star Alliance by having a lot of reward seats available, which makes them valuable for the Reward ticket traveller.

worldtraveller73

Barcelona, Spain.

We enjoyed several days in sunny Barcelona and saw some great sights.

Barcelona to me represented what Spain meant to tourists. Large amounts of female, younger Western students sitting on the patios while being served paella’s by slick tanned Spanish waiters. The Centro of Barcelona was beautiful, as was wondering the streets and sitting amongst the wine bars of the city.







Needless to say, the tapas throughout Spain were fabulous. Although the cosy-ing up to the bar to order took a little getting used to. We were professionals before we knew it.





Gaudi’s architectural works included la Sagrada Familia , a church that has been under construction for 100 years with an anticipated completion date into 2020 and beyond. It was fabulous piece of work and the photos here can not do it justice.











The Casa Batillo House was a private apartment house that Gaudi designed. It was quite over the top without many straight lines. Well ahead of its time when it was built. A must see for anyone interested in architecture.







Toward the end of our stay, Ms WT73 begged me to go to the beach in Barcelona. Not having had great experiences at beaches in the middle of urban cities, I was slightly hesitant. We ended up at the beach over by the old Olympic grounds. It was a warm, sunny day and somehow, the beach was filled with topless 20 year old students. I don't mean men either!!

worldtraveller73

Renfe AVE
Barcelona – Madrid (Barcelona Sants – Zargoza Deli - Madrid Puerta de Atocha)
AVE 3152 – Preferente Class (business – 3 class train)
0:300 PM – 5:45 PM
May 26, 2012
Fare: Web
Cost: 88.25€ (per pax)



For our return train trip, we had the same routing, Barcelona Sants to Madrid Atocha. After checking out of the AC Sants Hotel and our high risk roll of luggage across the Sants Train Station square, we sought seclusion and security in the much more impressive looking Renfe Sala Club in Barcelona Sants.

The entry was significantly better marked. It was also interesting to see that this particular lounge was before the security screening checkpoint, or on the public side, compared to the Madrid Atocha lounge which was on the secure side.

Once inside, we were treated to a quiet room that was decorated in a manner similar to the BMI Lounge in London. A wild print was across the beverage wall, and a delicate curtain separated the seating and dining areas.











The usual snacks were on offer, in addition to canned olives. As in Madrid, other than beer, there was no alcohol on offer.





When it was time to depart, we descended into the dark basement of Sants and boarded our train. I was curious to see what turista (economy) class was like so once I was on board, I took a little walk around. It was pretty packed to say the least.



Bags all over the floor with no storage left at T – 10.



Slightly tighter seats in a 2-2 configuration, instead of a 1-2 configuration. There were also lots of children being settled down before the big train ride. This was on a Saturday mid day which was likely a good time for families to travel.

Cafeteria car.



I returned to preferente where the menus were being handed out for the day. Today’s lunch was a smoked salmon appetizer, gazpachio cold soup, and chicken breast with olive oil.







The ride back was pretty uneventful with similar scenery.

Overall:

Renfe AVE was a pleasant way to travel between the two cities. Unfortunately, this convenience does not come cheap! Our tickets Round Trip were 151€ each ($190 USD). We likely saved on taxi transfers by not having to travel out to the airport which offset the more expensive fare.

worldtraveller73

Madrid Barajas Terminal 2
Puerta de Alicala VIP Lounge
Near Gate D60

After one final night in Madrid, it was time for the next leg of our journey. We took a taxi to Terminal two of Barajas, which we discovered was mostly a Shengen terminal for intra European flights. The terminal reminded me of the smaller Canadian Airports of the seventies. It was a small curved building with only 3 entry / exit doors from the outside.

We headed over to the Lufthansa check in area, and there were three desks open today for their flights to Munich and Frankfurt. We checked our bags to Frankfurt as we were planning on staying the night in Mainz on a 20 hour connection.







We were welcomed to the lounge opposite gate D60, although our host didn’t provide a name of it. We decided to head straight in, since there wasn’t much outside on the public side worth looking at.

After some exploring, we located gate D60 and the nearest lounge.



We headed through the stairs to a very spacious VIP Alcala lounge. There were contract signs most Star Allance partners on the door but no star gold logo.



There were also no signs of Span Air logos anymore. We presented our business boarding passes and the lounge dragon passed our boarding cards off to another lounge dragon who started to complete an internal voucher with our names on it – likely to chargeback our visit to LH. After that was completed, we were granted entry.





The lounge was spacious. There was lots of free, self service alcohol with a few sandwiches and olives on offer. Wines were one chardonnay “Torres”, one Jerez Sherry, and one red Roija Temperillo. I was surpised that there was no Cava on offer, considering Cava is so well known. I helped myself to Gin and Tonic which I had been missing out on with ICE and lemon – total bliss since none of the hotels that we had stayed at offered ice machines.







There was also a large working area for laptops and desktop computers available. The best part about the lounge were the large windows, which offered great views over the apron.



Before long, our ride to Frankfurt arrived. Heading down to the gate, which was a bit messywith people, we waited to board. They announced business boarding and as with everywhere else in the world, the gate was swarmed with people. To LH’s credit, they sorted it out and the tidal wave was slowed.



Regretfully, we didn't get to see the interesting Barajas Terminal 4 since it's a One World strong hold. Despite that, the Terminal 2 was completely functional, if not missing a few places to eat to pass the time.