lukecdw

Welcome everyone to my first extensive trip report and I really do hope you enjoy it. Please feel free to feedback on improvements to my writing style/photography for future reference. I’ll do my best to try a live trip report and update as much as possible.

Background:
For the last year and a half, due to my university course, Mandarin Chinese has become an important aspect of my life and to celebrate I decided to embark on a solo 8-day trip to Beijing during my Easter holiday! I have had the privilege of flying business class due to a family members career, however this time I wanted to pay for it all myself. Working hard at my studies and part-time job I thought what better way to treat myself than to buy my own business class ticket and book some nice hotels in a new country. As I currently reside in Newcastle, my grandparents in Manchester/London and my parents in Amsterdam, I had a few options of departure airports. With help from the ITA matrix/google flights I found a great MAN-CPH-PEK-CPH-MAN SAS Business fare for 1422 pounds departing on the 8th April. A quick five-minute job on AMEX travel (pushed me over the preferred rewards gold welcome offer of 20000 points and got me 3x standard points), I was ticketed. I’ve never flown on an A340 so it’s a great opportunity to fly on the ‘hair-dryer’ powered aircraft.



Step two was choosing hotels. I enjoy a change of scenery so decided to split my hotels. With the help of Flyertalk, TripAdvisor and booking.com I decided to book my first 6 nights at the New World Beijing hotel in Wangfujing: the location seems ideal and with a reasonable room rate with club lounge access (breakfast included), it was a steal. A few clicks on booking.com later it was booked and I contacted the hotel directly to organise an airport pick-up in the hotel’s Audi A6 (I am aware this is very expensive but as it’s my first time in the country by myself I thought I would play it safe). The NUO Beijing hotel, albeit a lesser location, was a hotel I fancied the look of and wanted to try, so once again I got that booked for the last 2 nights of my stay on booking.com. The rate was very reasonable and included (an excellent) breakfast. So far, I’ve been impressed with the value of 5 star hotels in Beijing, however the super high-end hotels like the Peninsula are slightly out of reach (for now) .

Once again with the help of the forum I had pre-selected seats:
MAN-CPH CRJ900: 3F
CPH-PEK A340: 4A
PEK-CPH A340: 4A
CPH-MAN CRJ900: 3F

I was able to check-in online this morning and noted I had been assigned boarding group B for the CPH-PEK sector, due to not having status. Not a problem as A and B are called for boarding at the same time.



Up next: Aspire MAN T1 and MAN-CPH in SAS Plus

lukecdw

My alarm sounded at 6:30 and after a quick shower and cup of tea my grandad took me to Manchester T1 for 8AM. Check in was easy enough to find - SAS was located on the smaller check-in side of the terminal in a small area next to Lufthansa. There was a dedicated Plus lane and it was enforced. Check in was quick but I don’t think it would have hurt for the agent to have cracked a smile or made some small talk!

Thank goodness for priority lane at security because the normal queue was outrageous – possibly due to the EK A380 leaving around the same time(?). I must say I’m not a fan of having to walk through duty free to get to the main concourse as you’re bombarded by sales assistants and promotors as well as a huge volume of travellers (a very un-premium experience), however 5 minutes later I was at the lounge entrance.

Unfortunately, SAS made the decision to revoke lounge access to third party lounges, even for Plus so it was down to my Lounge Club pass to get me into the Aspire lounge. I must say overall, it’s a decent lounge with great views, but the food offerings left a lot to be desired. I grabbed an orange juice and a water as I plan to eat in the lounge at Copenhagen.







Not many photos as the lounge was absolutely packed but I grabbed a nice spot with views of the tarmac and got a few shots with my trusty Lumix G3.



Boarding was called at about 9:30AM with no priority lane. This wasn’t a problem as they were tagging all small hand luggage suitcases to be put in the hold and picked up on arrival, mine included. First impressions are that the cabin is old and in need of some TLC. My seat 3F had ample knee room but choose any row but 1 and 3 if you value leg room to stretch out. 3D remained empty, adding to the sense of space.



Load in Plus was 8/12 with 2 off-duty Lufthansa pilots also in the cabin. Boarding completed and after a short taxi we jetted off down the runway I must say that sat up in 3F was one of the quietest take-off’s I have ever experienced, very pleasant. A beautiful day for flying today as we rotated and got a good glimpse of Manchester airport on the way out.



‘Sit down IMMEDIATELY’ sounded as we were ascending, prompting the whole cabin to turn around to see someone stood up whilst the seatbelt light was still on, quite embarrassing and I’m sure he learnt his lesson. A couple of minutes later the seatbelt light dinged off and the friendly Plus attendant sprang into action, starting with some very good quality hot towels. I find Plus a funny product but perfectly adequate for the short journey. Having heard about the umm…interesting food combinations that SAS conjure up I wasn’t expecting anything amazing to eat, however I was very pleasantly surprised with what they served.





The chicken was tender and tasty, the bulgur wheat and tomato hummus were lovely and generally it was perfect for this length of flight. I enjoyed a Ringi apple juice with it.

On the whole, I found SAS Plus adequate for this length of journey, and look forward to the remainder of the trip.

Up next: SAS Business Lounge CPH

lukecdw

I arrived at the C pier so had to clear passport control to get to the lounge, which was very quick with a friendly customs officer. As you enter the lounge you turn right for Star Alliance Gold and left for Business/Plus. On arrival, the lounge was absolutely heaving so I only got a few shots later in the evening when it quietened down. I was quite underwhelmed with what was on offer and didn’t partake in any food whilst I was there as I was looking forward to the meal on the plane. It happened to be that a friend was at Copenhagen at the same time so I left the lounge for an hour or two to see her. To pass the time, I decided to have a shower, which was quite pleasant and very clean.





As the evening set in I grabbed myself a glass of wine and relaxed as the flight was delayed 30 minutes due to the late arrival of the inbound aircraft.



About 45 minutes before departure, I made my way to gate C36 (I think) and boarding was called just as I arrived, perfect timing. Priority boarding was very strictly enforced and I was the first onto the plane. First impressions were very positive: very friendly purser/crew, excellently designed cabin and an overall sense of class.



I took my seat in 4A and before I sat down a flight attendant took my jacket to be hung up. The forward Business cabin had 1 seat free and I must say I was surprised by the average age in the cabin. There were a few children and quite a few teenagers about the same age as myself.







Pre-departure beverages were served and I chose a glass of the excellent Charles Heidsieck Reserve NV. Whilst everyone settled in Menu’s were handed out and the atmosphere was very relaxed.





Eventually boarding was completely and we taxied to the runway - take off did not feel powerful at all but was very smooth and relatively quiet.

The only gripe I have with SAS so far is just how long the dinner service took (and the limted amenity kit)! With a 9PM departure, which in my case was circa. 40 minutes late I think 3 hours for dinner service on an 8.5 hour overnight flight is a bit ridiculous. Nevertheless, the meal was excellent and wine’s very tasty. Service started with hot towels followed by drinks and nuts. I particularly enjoyed the Danish ‘Caviar’ starter as it was something very different.







Wine refills were offered throughout the attendants did a good job at keeping an eye on everyone. The purser who was serving my aisle was a very friendly chap who couldn’t do enough for you.



Dessert of pistachio ice cream and a dessert wine were offered, and after all the wine I started to get sleepy.



Just over Russia I changed into pyjamas and turned the seat into a bed using the very good Hastens bedding. I found it to be just firm enough and the duvet and pillow were of a very high quality.



I chose not to be awoken for breakfast and woke up by my own accord half way through service. The offerings looked okay but not very extensive.



Before I knew it, descent started into Beijing followed by a 30-minute taxi to the gate. The front door was used for disembarking so I was one of the first off the plane, meaning one of the first at immigration which was a bonus as the queue was already quite long. A friendly customs officer stamped my passport and it was off to the self-driving train to take me to the concourse for baggage collection. As I arrived my bag came off the belt and all in all it was a very dignified way to travel.

Up next: New World Beijing Hotel

roadwarrier

What a great start to your trip! looking forward to the rest.

rosensfole

Nice report... looks like a great trip.

I see SAS C class is much better than my experience in 2002. Might even be tempted to try it again.

Justin Case

Nice report! And fun to do this at a young age :-)

757

Nice report. SAS C looks quite nice. I flew SAS in C from IAD-CPH back in 2011 and my wife and I had an enjoyable flight with them. Food was nice, and the service was very good. Glad you had two good flights!

Thank you for sharing.

Matthew

lukecdw

thanks all very much for your kind words and I hope you enjoy the rest as it comes!

lukecdw

Upon entering the arrivals hall I was greeted by a friendly assistant with my name board who took my bags and escorted me to the car – a tidy BMW 520Li with an eager driver waiting with a newspaper and some bottled water. As we drove to the hotel it was very interesting to see that all executive cars I saw (Audi A6, BMW 5 series and E-Class Merc) were long wheelbase versions not offered back at home.

I apologise for the next photo being this way round, I have no idea why!



After a smooth 40-minute drive to the hotel there were three members of staff awaiting my arrival, eager to assist. One opened the door for me, another got my luggage and another was the line manager welcoming me to the hotel. First impressions were very positive, the hotel’s entrance, or lobby, is a vast space with three desks off to the right. Unfortunately, lighting is very dark so if I get a chance to use flash with no-one around I’ll post a photo later. I was checked in by a nice-enough agent, however there wasn’t much conversation and I noted that people at desks next to me were getting a far superior welcoming service. She informed me of some renovation work being carried out on the upper floors, so she moved me to a 7th floor room with a view onto the street. Not a problem as I respected that it would be quieter and it had no effect on my residence club benefits.

A couple swipes of the credit card later and one of the porters took me to my room. Upon entering it appeared I had been upgraded from a superior to a deluxe room, and it was huge! The photos don’t quite do justice on just how spacious the room is. The bed could easily fit 3 across, comfortably, and there is a nice lounge/desk area towards the window.

As you enter the room, to the right is a luggage/cloakroom area as well as the toilet.







Walking further into the room you pass a Nespresso machine with 6 capsules for you to use daily, and then you enter the main part of the room with the bed, lounge and desk area. Furnishings are of high quality and the bed is very comfortable.







Next to the bed is the marble bathroom, which is accessible via a sliding door next to the bed or a separate door opposite the toilet. It is a lovely space with high quality fittings and Elemis toiletries. So far so good! Bottled water is also supplied free of charge.



I settled in a little then went up to browse the residence club lounge on the 10th floor.

The Residence Club:

As a residence club guest, you get the following benefits:

Breakfast from 7:30-10:30

Refreshments throughout the day

Cocktail hour with hors d’oeuvres between 17:30 and 19:30

Conference room

High speed WiFi and a couple other business-type benefits I won’t be using.

The lounge is a nice space with large outdoor terrace. I didn’t explore it much today but from what I could see it was going to be a good benefit of the hotel. Also, the staff in the lounge are fabulous. In particular, Hannah. She remembered my coffee and snack preferences, as well as breakfast and a few other times, which I’ll cover in a later post.

Overall my impression of the hotel is great so far, the facilities are great, the rooms spacious and the staff professional. I popped out for a little wander later in the day and as I arrived back all the staff had remembered my name and welcomed me back.

Up next: Day 1 – Tiananmen Square, a failed attempt at the Forbidden City and a wander through Wangfujing

lukecdw

Apologies for the delayed posts, internet here is temperamental.

So, jetlag caught up with me and my sleep suffered, but I was up at 7:30 and in the residence club lounge for breakfast. The staff are so welcoming and invited me to try something from the breakfast menu. I chose an egg and vegetable pancake which was delicious. They had a little buffet spread with pork rolls and continental items like smoked salmon, cereals, fruit etc. Overall, a very pleasant breakfast experience and mainly, excellent juice (cucumber and apple) and coffee.

I used Google maps to map a walking route to Tiananmen Square. It only took 25 minutes and it was a nice way to spend the morning and soak in some of the sights along the way.











You have to wait in quite a long queue for a security check, but it was a fun experience and I was into the security zone in no time. They check your passport and just make sure you aren’t playing up . As you can see from the photos, the weather was decent and I was able to walk around without a jacket! Anyways, I had planned to visit the Forbidden City, or nowadays the Palace Museum. Well, it’ll teach me to do some research beforehand as it’s closed on Mondays LOL. Nevertheless, I rescheduled for Friday and decided to embrace and take advantage of the weather, walking around the square and neighbouring Zhongshan Park.







Following this, I took a walk around Wangfujing shopping area noting the sheer volume of high-end shops. As a Rolex lover, I was impressed and really enjoyed the walk around. I’ll let the photos do the talking here.







I went back to the hotel for an afternoon nap and at 17:30 went to the residence club lounge for some dumplings and glasses of prosecco/wine. Boy, do they like you to be drunk as my glass was never empty for the 1.5 hours I was there. That plus the fact us English can drink fast resulted in a drunk night walk to Wangfujing and the food market. Although my memory is slightly jaded I remember it being an enjoyable evening. Once again, I won’t bore you with too much writing and let the photos do the talking.









No thanks!!

offerendum

Beside the Food it seems they don´t take much are into cleaning

Nevertheless an exciting trip^

lukecdw

ladies and gents I must apologise for those who were are following this! uploading photos on a very slow VPN to Flickr has proven unsuccessful so the rest will be posted when I return.

lukecdw

Next (delayed) instalment is here! I've made it back safe and sound to internet that agrees with my photo uploading ^

Day 2 - Temple of Heaven:

As my hotel was just down the road from the temple of heaven, and it was a beautiful day I walked down in the morning just as the sun was really warming up. After months of absolutely freezing weather in Newcastle it was quite blissful to get some sun on my skin and build a little tan. I think it’ll take a while to get used to crossing the street here: I’ve never been somewhere where they seem to prioritise traffic over pedestrians. It all adds to the experience, though!



What can I say about the temple of heaven, well it’s an amazing structure and a very pleasant walk around, but what I’ve found from this trip is maybe I’m just not that much of a culture-guy! I found myself getting a bit bored after an hour or so of wandering but I think how hot it was may have added to this. Nevertheless, it was a sight to behold and I really enjoyed pondering about taking in the sights.











The rest of the day was spent on the roof terrace at the New World soaking up the sun enjoying a few ginger ales. At 17:30, happy hour begun and once again they were on a mission to get me legless – my glass of prosecco/G&T was never empty for the full two hours. By the end of this I ended up going back to my room, having a shower and passing out for the night. A result of the heat of the day + the evening booze.

lukecdw

Waking up feeling positively hungover I ventured up to get some much-needed breakfast and coffee. As usual the smiling faces of the fabulous residence club lounge staff were eager to help and brought me everything I desired. At this point I decided it would be a slow day as tomorrow would be my trip to the Great Wall at Mutianyu. Having found out that one of my old friends was on an exchange at Beijing University, she offered to take me for a walk around Beihai park, which sounded like a great idea under the circumstances, and a good opportunity to catch up.

After a quick work-out and swim in the hotel, I ended up walking to Beihai, which took me about an hour give or take. Half way through the walk I did feel some regret as my feet took a turn for the worse (more on that later).

I met up with my friend and we walked to Beihai and had a good look round. I can’t quite get over how these places/sights are right in the middle of a city, no matter the size. This was probably a highlight of the trip so far and the sheer scale of the place was quite breath taking.









I really enjoyed watching this man write the interesting characters on the ground, and it was very therapeutic!



My friend told me that the pedalo’s are great to go on in the summer, but apparently quite expensive.





Pose for the photo!



I love all these traditional gates scattered about the city.





After a lovely day at Beihai, I managed to flag down a taxi and went back to the hotel where I relaxed in the residence club for the evening. Another lone traveller, a friendly businessman, made some good conversation with me and we exchanged details (you can never have too many LinkedIn connections!). Funnily enough, I ran into him at the Air China Business Class lounge on the way home.

Right before an early bedtime, I realised that I was going to have to get some plasters for my feet for the Great Wall, as they had started to blister quite badly (combination of new and unsuitable shoes). I hadn’t brought any with me so I went down to ask the hotel if they could tell me where to buy some. In a matter of 20 minutes a member of staff went to buy some for me without a service charge - how brilliant!

lukecdw

With a 7:30 pick up by my driver for the great wall my alarm went off at 6:30 and I had a quick shower/coffee and went downstairs to the lobby. My driver for the day was Henry, a friendly chap recommended by someone in another trip report here. The price was 600CNY for a return journey to Mutianyu, which is quite a drive. I deliberated between Mutianyu and Badaling and ultimately decided on Mutianyu hearing that it was less busy and I really wanted to try the toboggan ride down.

A beautiful day it was for a visit and it took us about two hours with some Beijing morning traffic until we reached the visitors centre. Henry accompanied me in purchasing all the tickets before leaving me on my way up to where the coach departs. I decided to take the cable car to the watchtower which would’ve been hilarious had I been with someone else. I tell you what you don’t realise how steep it really is until you get in it!! I’m fine with heights but the swinging about alone in this cable car was less than comforting.















Before I knew it, we reached where the walk would start and wow, what a sight. It was a stunning scene that made you forget the city you had just come from. I made the slow and gentle/very steep at times walk to the toboggan. It took me about an hour and a half with a stop or two on the way to simply take in where I was. As much as I enjoyed it, it would have been nice to have shared this memory with someone other than myself. I hope to in the future be able to take my family/friends and go and see it again.















The toboggan down was just fantastic. At times it could get really quite fast but the experience was great and I highly recommend doing it as something a little different. On the way back I was craving something western so stopped by the (quite amusingly placed) Burger King and had a chicken burger/chips.





Henry was waiting for me in the car park and it took about 100 minutes to get back to the hotel. To be honest by this point I was absolutely knackered and fell asleep for the whole car journey. I decided to make it a leisurely afternoon at the hotel and sat outside in the sun and enjoyed a few drinks on the lounge terrace, where I stayed until after happy hour and went to bed.

So far this has easily been the highlight of the trip and something I would repeat.