andreiz

Yes, I described it in post #12. I had a separate Private Room invitation that I got at MUC gate.

andreiz

Previous: 6 - Hotel: St. Regis / City: Bangkok

BKK

The cab ride to the airport was quick and painless. On the way I noticed that the taxi didn’t have any seat belts in the back – wonder if it’s all taxis or just some cab companies that do that? I was dropped off in front of the terminal entrance and the fare, just over 400 THB, took care of all my remaining cash precisely, including 1 Baht coins – first time leaving a country without coins or smalls bills taking up space in my wallet.

SQ business lane was empty and I was promptly checked-in and equipped with the BP and a Premium Lane pass that enabled me to jump through security (laptop out, watch and belt off, everything else fine) and passport control. I had time to do some lounge jumping and decided to start with the SilverKris one, located at the end of concourse A. The walk there from immigration was about half a kilometer, passing by various shops and restaurants. Suvarnabhumi is a nice airport, but it’s definitely lacking some essence that makes Changi so great.

At the destination I presented the BP and was welcomed in. It turned out to be a smallish lounge, heavily partitioned, for privacy I guess, but this made it feel like you were confined to finding your way around in a labyrinth.


Self-serve alcohol on offer, with a fridge full of soft drinks, including fresh coconuts. Food consisted of a few breakfast staples (sausages, hash browns, eggs) and some pastries and dim sum items.


I saw only 3 or 4 other people in the lounge, but then again, there might have been a few lost souls lost in the maze somewhere. I grabbed a coffee and a pastry and sat down to read FT over somewhat tolerable wifi.

The appeal of this lounge exhausted, I found my way out and walked to the nearby Royal Silk one instead, admiring the organic-looking architecture of the terminal.


I had to present the Star Alliance Gold card and the BP to gain entrance. I was warned that there were no boarding calls. Decorated in the purple and burgundy colors of Thai Airways, this lounge was larger and more open than the SQ one, but the quality of food seemed to be somewhat lower.


Hidden under plexiglass covers you could find croissants, hot dogs in buns, cream cakes, fruit, and yogurt. Lounge was pretty empty and after wandering back and forth, I had a decent cappuccino from a machine and sat down to watch the tarmac traffic.


I allocated myself 20 minutes to get to D2 gate for boarding, but somehow ended up there a lot faster than when I walked to SilverKris on level 4. What I didn’t realize is that the main Royal Silk Lounge was right across from my departure gate and the lounge I visited was a smaller one. I decided to run in and check it out, given that I had a few extra minutes. It was larger, but appeared to have basically the same amenities.

Boarding was announced a few minutes late with Business class and PPS welcomed first.

Singapore Air 973
Bangkok (BKK) – Singapore (SIN)
September 10, 2012
Depart: 9:40
Arrive: 12:55
Duration: 2 hr 15 min
Boeing 777-200
Seat 15K (Business Class)

It seems I only ever read a newspaper onboard a plane, so I picked up a copy of The Straits on the way in. Business class appeared to be half full. Soon after situating myself, one of the flight attendants took orders for post-departure drinks and I asked for a champagne.

Despite late boarding, we pushed back and took off on time. The weather was more clear than when I flew in and the hazy, sparse clouds combined with the sun made for a lovely tableau.


I enjoyed watching it until my P(ost)DB was delivered along with a snack packet, then opened up the newspaper to get myself acquainted with current events in Singapore, where apparently public housing and immigration issues took the front page.


The gentleman in front of me, however, reveled in testing the limits of TG’s regional business class seat.


I chewed on the “assorted nuts” until the Chinese prawn salad arrived. I am not a huge fan of shrimp/prawns, so this was just okay for me. The pan fried salmon was just slightly overcooked, but tasty.


The rest of the flight passed unnoticeably and we landed at SIN a few minutes early.

andreiz

Before the trip, I struggled with what hotel to book in Singapore, since there didn’t seem to be good Starwood options. St. Regis was running at $400/night and the reviews of Sheraton Towers were alarming enough to make me stay away from it. I considered Marina Bay Sands to be able to swim in the giant infinity pool on the roof, but $389 rate knocked some sense into me. However, Holiday Inn Orchard City Centre was only 25K points, so I went with that.

On the way out, I stopped by a restroom at Changi where I saw this sign. Having never had to rate a toilet before, I had to think about it, but since they still haven't installed Japanese-style toilets and had room to improve, I rated them "Good" and left to grab a cab to the hotel.


At the check-in I was told that as a PC Platinum I'd been upgraded to a Junior Suite, but that the breakfast and Internet access weren't included. I must have looked surprised enough that the front desk agent said she'd give me Internet access for free because I was there only for 1 night. Oh well, I wasn’t going to question it.

The room was spacious, with a huge king bed at one end and the working desk and couch at the other.


The big flat screen TV was on a swivel mount so you could turn it to either side. No real view from the room, and once again, had to draw the curtains to avoid being seen by people from the building across.

I got in touch with my friends who said they'd be over in about an hour, so I decided to take a shower and catch up on email. Strangely, the bathroom did not have any drawers – I dug around for a hair dryer and finally located one in the small cubbyhole across from the bathroom, near the closet. I guess it made sense since there was not outlet for it in the bathroom anyway and I had to use the one by the closet.


Another curious thing was the pillow menu lying on the bed. I briefly vacillated between Body and Melody ones, but thought normal ones should be sufficient.


The rest of the day was spent with my friends Peter and Patricia who I hadn’t seen for several years.

We took MRT to downtown and wandered around Raffles Place and the Boat Quay. I was treated to some Chinese sweets made with tapioca, sweet sticky rice, which were interesting.


The river/bay cruise followed, passing by the usual landmarks like Fullerton Hotel, Merlion, and of course various skyscrapers around the bay. My friends played guides, telling me about Singapore history and modern developments.


An hour later we had enough of the sun and alighted at the Clark Quay to have some cold beer at the local microbrewery Beerwerkz. I got a sampler to try a few, and most were quite good. Clarke Quay and Riverpointe seemed like a cool area to hang out – lots of restaurants, bars, etc.


By that time we had developed our appetites and took a 15 minute cab ride to East Coast Hawker Centre, which I was very much looking forward to. I had a bit of an idea about hawker centres, but was still surprised. It was very large, clean and busy (but not crowded) with dozens of stalls surrounding the central area with tables. We walked around and Patricia explained what most of the dishes were. Salivating profusely at this point, I just told her “anything goes” and she went off to order.


Peter and I got a bucket of Tiger beer to pass the time.


Apparently Patricia ordered a feast as the black carrot cake, sambal stingray, 30 sticks of satay and chili crab started to arrive. All were very good and we ate heartily, washing it down with copious amounts of Tiger beer. I even surprised Patricia with my tolerance for sambal.


Afterwards, we cabbed it to Emerald Hill Road and had some wine at a bar, but I started to get tired by that point, so after finishing the wine they walked me over to Holiday Inn, where I bid them goodbye and went to sleep in the comfortable bed.


Previous: 6 - Hotel: St. Regis / City: Bangkok
Next: 8 - Flight: SIN-SYD SQ F

andreiz

I am not quite sure myself, but I was still within the MPM limits and United didn't pick up on anything.

flybranchen

more.more.MORE :-)

yerffej201

So awesome!

Melody pillow??!!
Rating toilets??!!

Jealous.

flatlander

This sounds uncannily like the somewhat wizened-looking old man in almost the same place who was very talkative and insistent that I should go see several other temples and visit a place to buy souvenirs, circling them and writing on my map, and saying it was easy to take a tuk-tuk, while I was walking around Bangkok yesterday! He didn't get as far as offering me a very low tuk-tuk price but that's probably because I asserted I really did want to walk to where I was going and left him still talking. I also felt like it was this famous scam, though it felt scammy anyway, a lot of insistent pressure to go do it now, completely unlike most people in Bangkok who are pretty laid-back about selling you things.

GlobalServiced

Awesome trip report! Really makes me feel like I need to get booked in SQ F and check it out.

andreiz

Previous: 7 - Flight: BKK-SIN SQ J / City: Singapore

SIN

Sound of alarm. Open eyes. Figure out where I am. Get up. Shower. Dress. Re-pack the bag. Check out. I already had the routine down cold now.

I opted to skip the breakfast at the hotel, since it wasn’t free and I was hoping to eat at the Private Room this time. The doorman hailed a cab for me and we were off. It was a quick and a pretty ride along the ECP highway. Amazing how a 6-lane highway can have trees on both sides and planted flowers in the median for almost its entire length.

The cab pulled into the airport and we accidentally drove past the SQ First Class check-in lounge, which has a separate driveway. I paid the S$25 fare and walked over to the entrance where an attendant took my suitcase and guided me in.


The lounge was much larger than I expected, decorated in the same color scheme as the First Class cabin. There were at least 8 check-in desks (only a couple were staffed though) and a variety of couches and chairs to relax in. I couldn’t help thinking that the lounge exhibited a certain robust measure of optimism from SQ regarding the number of their First Class passengers.


One of the agents finished processing another customer and welcomed me to the desk. The check-in was very quick and I was given the BP, the invitation to the Private Room and the Premium Lane security pass.

The exit was at the back of the lounge and it was a short walk to the separate security and passport control area for F pax. On the way I passed the baggage claim area with the living green wall.


The immigration officer surprised me by speaking a couple of phrases in Russian. Apparently he studied it a bit and was delighted to use it after noticing my name. At the SilverKris entrance I had a sense of déjà vu as the scene from 2 days ago repeated almost precisely. The Private Room was a bit busier this time, but as I sat down near the TV, the waiter came over and welcomed me by name (he must have a good memory, what with all those F pax coming and going). He said I could order food here and then eat in the dining area when the food was ready. I decided on Singapore French toast and ordered a cappuccino to start with while I read a bit of email.


Fairly shortly, I was invited to the dining room and chose to sit at one of the tables along the wall. It was almost a booth though; the seat was enormously wide –.probably wider than the First Class one on the plane. You could definitely sit two hipsters side-to-side here, maybe not even of the skinny variety. The French toast, made with white raisin bread, was just okay, but mango coulis made for a very nice accent.


I ate most of the meal and then went in search of a business centre to print out the transfer ticket for the shuttle I booked in Sydney on the advice of my AirBNB host. This would also give me a chance to check out the First Class lounge. On the way out, I stopped by the bathrooms, which were pristine and spacious, with nice walk-in showers and various amenities ready for your use.


The business center in F lounge had a couple of iMacs, but, strangely, there were no printers available when I went to print the ticket. I caught a passing staff member and he said there was no access to printers from these iMacs, but he could give me a USB key to put the file on and they could print it out on one of their computers. I wish FT had a :stare: emoticon. I realize that printers were sent from hell to make us miserable, but come on, SilverKris, are you going to let Admiral’s Club or RCC beat you in this? The fact that they had a workaround for this means I wasn’t the first one to ask.

Got the print-out a few minutes later and had a bit of Charles Heidsieck Millésimé 2000 Brut champagne while checking out the buffet.


The spread there had fruit, yogurt, cereal, a few hot dishes and, curiously some pastries right next to self-serve Tiger beer on tap. Breakfast of champions? While decent for an airport lounge, it was nowhere near close to what I had at St. Regis.


It was time to say good-bye and head out to the terminal, as I wanted to try find a kopitiam and try some kopi (coffee with condensed milk). I located one downstairs and was presented with a charmingly plain styrofoam cup full of very sweet and very good beverage. It reminded me of my childhood when I loved to put condensed milk on a piece of buttered toast.


A2 gate was nearby and I got there just as the boarding started. In the Premiere lane the security agents was inspecting bags and one of them decided to ruffle through mine for a bit. Not sure what they were looking for, but my collection of knives and aerosols escaped their detection.

Before going in, I stopped by the window to admire a couple of SQ planes, an A330 and A380. Someday, someday.

andreiz

Singapore Air 211
Singapore (SIN) - Sydney (SYD)
September 11, 2012
Depart: 9:25
Arrive: 18:55 (19:11 actual)
Duration: 7hr 26min
Boeing 777-300
Seat 1A (First)

Boarded through 1L and was welcomed to my 1A seat.


Before I even had a chance to sit down, the stewardess, Bibi, came by and asked, "Would you like to have morning coffee or morning champagne?" I liked her immediately. You all know what I went with and this time it was Krug.

There was only one other person in F on the flight. I pegged him for just a single bottle of champagne while mentally signing myself up for the burden of all the rest.


I hadn’t seen the business cabin yet, so I walked back there past one of the stewards who looked slightly alarmed and almost made a move to stop me from lowering myself to J standards, but I continued on. The cabin looked about half-full and the seats seemed to be nice and big. I made a note to try SQ J at some future point.


The captain came on the horn and announced flight time of 7:10 hours (I regretted the lack of headwinds to slow us down) and informed us of our flight plan. Bibi showed up to top off my glass of Krug and take the order from the menu.


I decided to try Silver Kris Sling (gin, Cointreau, orange juice and pineapple juice, topped with champagne) for post-departure drink and stay with my Book The Cook selection of Nasi Lemak, which I made a couple of months before the flight based on recommendations I read on FT.

Push back was at 9:35 and we taxied for 20 minutes, giving me a chance to admire a few more of the SQ planes. They sure have a lot of 77Ws.

After the seat belt sign went off, the crew went into action. My Silver Kris Sling was delivered shortly along with a hot towel.


The Sling was decent, but the gin was woefully underrepresented. Still, it was a good accompaniment to these views outside.


The breakfast meal started with a fruit plate, containing just the things that begin with “grape”, followed by granola with yogurt. I also selected a cinnamon roll from the basket.


So far the food was pretty basic and underwhelming, especially for an F meal. I was hoping Nasi lemak would be better, but I can't say I was a big fan of the dish either.


Switched to Dom at the end of the meal and ordered some Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee too, while watching an episode of Bones.


The service was somewhat less polished than the MUC-SIN flight. For example, the inflight supervisor never came by and was nowhere to be seen during the flight. The pajamas and the amenity kit got dropped off way after the take-off. The fruit plate was delivered with a plastic cover that was removed at the table. Hard to put a finger on it, so I’ll just stick with "less polished". Also, the second meal, "pre-arrival light bites" was never delivered. Not that I was very hungry, but still an indication of inconsistent quality of service.

With over 4 hours still to go, I decided that it was whisky-o'clock somewhere and ordered Johnnie Walker Blue, sticking with the blue theme. I am not a fan of JW normally, but this one was quite nice, soft, yet possessing the definite peaty Scotch character.


I watched The Girl With A Dragon Tattoo (US version) while drinking a couple more pours of JW Blue. At end of the movie I looked outside and saw that we just crossed the northern coast of Australia.


I switched back to Dom and asked for half a glass of Krug to try them side by side. Both were good, but as I suspected, I liked Dom better. Feeling decidedly not in control of my good judgement facilities, I decided to watch Priest, which was spectacularly crappy.


During one of the trips to the loo, I finally saw the ISM in the forward cabin. His only words to me were whether I wanted something to drink.

It was dark by the time we approached the airport. Landing was on time and we taxied for a bit before pulling up next to an Etihad A340 carrying the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix livery.


This was it, the end of my crazy 70K UA miles award that took me from US to Europe to Asia and now Australia. I'd flown 18290 miles at this point and had just a bit over that to go, but not before spending a couple of days in Sydney.

It had been at least 10 years since the last time I stepped on a new continent (which was South America then) and I couldn’t wait to get out of the plane.


Previous: 7 - Flight: BKK-SIN SQ J / City: Singapore
Next: [post=21012991]9 - City: Sydney / Hotel: AirBNB

stargold

Enjoying the report so far, and some great photography there. Thank you - makes me miss SQ and hopefully can change that in the near future.

PS. You flew on SQ's 777-300 Non-ER for the SIN-SYD. The -ER has the long-haul business class whereas the Non-ER has the regional business class.

andreiz

You're right –.I knew I missed something. Fixed now.

amolkold

In fact, the -ER business class seats are almost exactly similar to the F seats, to the point where many people thought SQ shot themselves in the foot by offering almost the same hard product (but you go F for the soft product).

The pictures have convinced me to get an RX100 as well. I think the new version is due out any day now.

worldtraveller73

Great report, thanks for taking us along.

andreiz

Previous: 8 - Flight: SIN-SYD SQ F

Choosing a hotel in Sydney when planning the trip was a pickle. All 3 Starwood hotels were running about $300 AUD with lousy point redemption opportunities. I wasn’t too enamored with other hotel options either and decided to see what AirBNB had to offer. I stayed at an AirBNB apartment with friends once, but had never booked one on my own.

The AirBNB website is pretty easy to use. You input your destination, the dates, and how many people are in your party and the result screen pops up with a list of matching properties. You can narrow the results by choosing whether you need the entire home/apartment or just a room, what neighborhoods you’re interested in, the amenities the property has, the price and a few more options, like the interactive map to restrict the search geographically. Each result also shows the number of reviews that particular property and host have and the ones with the most reviews float up to the top. Clicking on a result takes you to the detailed listing page.


This shows you the photos and the description of the property, the list of amenities, and the reviews that the property has received in the past. You can see the street name and the general map area where the property is located, but not the exact house, for security reasons. This page also shows a photo of the host and how responsive they are to inquiries, which you can make from the same page.


The payment is handled through the website and the whole amount is charged upfront. A couple things worth noting is that AirBNB charges guests a 6-12% service fee in addition to the nightly rate and the cancelation policy, which varies with each property from Flexible (full refund 1 day prior to arrival, except fees) to Super Strict (50% refund up until 30 days prior to arrival, except fees). Once you book a property, you are able to view more detailed contact information for the host.

After a bit of poking around I found a listing that fit my parameters of costing less than $120/night and close to the Sydney center. It was a room in a three story terrace house located in Darlinghurst neighborhood near Victoria Street and a few minutes walk from King’s Cross station. The price was $110/night and included my own bathroom with underfloor heating and a separate work area with desk and printer. Wifi was free and the listing mentioned that the hosts make coffee for the guests in the morning and supply muesli, fruit, bread, yogurt and milk for breakfast. The laundry was available for use as well.

I booked it for 2 days and then emailed the host to ask about the best way of getting to the place from the airport. He suggested taking a shuttle bus which would drop me off at Holiday Inn near the house and he would meet me there. I followed his advice and paid $15 AUD for one-way transfer via http://airportconnect.com.au.

[back to the trip]

After leaving the plane, I went through Express Arrival lane for premium passengers. I already had the electronic visa (ETA) I obtained prior to the trip and was quickly processed through. I called the shuttle company that I booked a transfer with, but was told the shuttle was due to leave in 40 mins. The prospect of twiddling my thumbs at the airport for that long did not appeal to me in the least, so I went downstairs and got on the Airport Link train instead.

Before leaving I phoned Jan, my AirBNB host, and he said he’d meet me at the exit from the King’s Cross station. The train turned out to be a quick and easy way to get downtown, so I’m not sure why Jan advised taking the shuttle. Once I got to King’s Cross, I dragged my suitcase up the stairs and found Jan, who had his dog with him. We walked 5 minutes to the house, chatting along the way, and I settled in.

The room turned out to be pretty much like in the photos. It was on the middle level and I had exclusive access to the bathroom and the work area with desk in another room on the same level. The bed was queen-sized and had a nice comforter and comfortable pillows.


Just down the hall was the bathroom, clean and bright with a walk-in shower and heated floors.


Jan and his wife have a steady stream of customers from AirBNB and are well set up to provide the B&B services. I was feeling hungry and they recommended a few local places and suggested some things to visit for the next day. Anxious to explore a bit, I headed out to find some food on Victoria Street. I quickly zeroed in on a place called Monkey Mya Tequila & Steakhouse, which was moderately busy. I had a nice rare steak with smashed grilled potatoes, both of which were delicious.


After getting a beer at Local Taphouse, a nice black IPA from Mountain Goat, I started feeling shattered and went back to the house hoping to get a good night of sleep.