gaobest

Gorgeous suite - hard to imagine only one night there!

DLPhoenix

Send my regards to Demelza,
An I hope you enjoy the trip as much as I enjoy reading your reports.

DLP

zip10001

Great review as always
Mon poisson préféré!

daniellam

Sometimes if you stay only one night, you have a higher chance of getting an upgrade when paying rates that include an upgrade upon availability at check-in. These types of upgrades are dependent on availability for the whole stay if staying multiple nights.

CappuccinoAddict

Wow, what a coincidence, I had lunch yesterday at Azurmendi, Eneko Atxa's 3 Michelin Star restaurant just outside of Bilbao, Spain. (Beautiful, beautiful city by the way; despite the dearth of real luxury accommodations, I highly recommend a visit if you haven't been. San Sebastian is nearby and is worth a visit as well.)

The meal at Azurmendi was stupendous, one of the best I've had. The restaurant is located on a winery and greenhouse, and has won numerous sustainability awards. It's really a sight to see. The meal begins with a tour of one of their greenhouses where you eat some creative bites and they explain how the restaurant operates. Every guest has a few bites in the kitchen, as well, before being seated in the gorgeous glass dining room overlooking their vineyard and the rolling greenery that surrounds the site. That suckling pig tempura was part of my tasting menu of classics and I am salivating again thinking about it! Unbelievably good, and such a great pairing with the basil emulsion. Chef Atxa was in and said hello; he is a very kind man and you can see it is his passion to make guests happy and to inspire them.

DanielW

Another amazing and luxurious trip, SFO777.

Especially love the suite at St. Edmund's House, really looks like a great ‘home away from home’.

offerendum

Indeed, chance should be higher.

theshaun

SFO777, thank again for sharing your adventures and providing your commentary!

Would it be safe to say that AA has been making some incrementally positive improvements to their product?

flapland

The One Aldwych suite looks stunning I have to say. I walk past it most nights on my way home and had already been admiring the upside down Christmas Trees at the entrance. Will now add it to the list of possible hotels for a staycation I plan in 2018, others include the SL in the Shard or one of the original rooms at the St Pancras Renaissance.

Looking forward to the next instalment.

SFO777

Flybe from Gatwick to Newquay


After considering the train, we opted for flying as Flybe had a perfect timed nonstop from Gatwick to Newquay-Cornwall. The price was certainly right at Ł45 each plus another Ł12 for an exit row. And it was easy to check-in and get our boarding passes on the Flybe app. Outside the hotel, it's a brilliant sunny morning.





Our Blacklane driver picked us up just after 10am, and we headed out for the slow trek to Gatwick.



OK, that's good.



Nearly 90 minutes later, we finally arrived at the South Terminal. Someone is still tired.





Although we found that we were still a long, long way from the terminal itself.





Despite our Economy tickets, security was efficient and very fast. After security, one has to walk thru a labynth of stores to get to the gates. Lots of airports make you do this but I've never seen anything as ridiculous as here.



And on and on...



... and on...



Mercifully, there are indeed gates here, or at least signs for gates.







OK, gate info at 12:10pm. Mrs. SFO777 decides we need to find a Starbucks.



Finally we find it, virtually hidden away in the back of the 2nd level.





With a Gate 21 posting, we headed out for the long walk.



And finally...



First a doc and ID check...



And we're in the waiting area, where boarding began a couple of minutes later.



London LGW to Newquay NQY
Flybe BE 804
Embraer 195
12:50p-2:05p
November 23, 2017
Seats 15AB

Boarding was by row starting with 26+ and then 15+.



Nice looking cabin with attractive leather seats.



With great legroom in our exit row.







In the air, our cabin crew efficiently worked the cabin selling beverages and snacks.



Nothing is free on Flybe and my water was Ł1.80. Although the extra glass was free. LOL.



Fifty minutes after take-off we're on final approach to NQY, pronounced "New Key".



We arrived 15 minutes early and were at the "terminal" a couple of minutes later.









Except for having to deal with Gatwick, Flybe was a pleasant experience.


For many more pics of Flybe from Gatwick to Newquay and an HD version of this report, please visit SFO777.com and Flybe from Gatwick to Newquay.

Additional HD installments posted on SFO777.com...
• American First Class to London
• London - One Aldwych, Lunch, Theatre and Dinner
• Flybe from Gatwick to Newquay
• Padstow and the guy that turned Padstow into Padstein
• Ross Poldark's Cornwall
• From Padstow to Stonehenge
• Coworth Park Hotel in Ascot

Still to come...
• Lounge hopping at Heathrow's Terminal 3
• American First Class to LAX

Will post to FT as soon as possible

Madone59

This read is better than my turkey! Thanks for sharing SFO777!

CosmosHuman

I took a look on your site for the Cornwall photos. Magnificent!

SFO777

LOL. Thanks very much HawaiiTvlr.

Agree with daniellam and offerendum. The odds of an upgrade are much better staying only one night.

LOL. Thanks so much DLPhoenix.

Merci zip10001.

Thanks very much CappuccinoAddict for the rave reviews of Azurmendi, Now you definitely have me wanting to add Bilboa to our to do list. Interesting that the suckling pig tempura was part of your tasting menu at Azurmendi. The food at Eneko London was superb.

Thank you DanielW. St. Edmund's had a real homey feel to it.

Thanks very much theshaun. I appreciate it. I have to agree about AA's international service improvements. Indeed, our flight home this afternoon was superb. The problem with AA is only certain route get good catering and wines. And then there is the hit or miss service and the general cluelessness by many cabin crew about the art of fine service. As much as they have improved, there are still way behind top tier Asian, ME3 and great European airlines like AF, LH and LX.

Thank you flapland. We enjoyed our one night at One Aldwych. It's a super location if your are going to the theatre.

LOL. Thanks very much Madone59.

Thank you so much CosmosHuman. I was really excited about the gorgeous scenery we were able to see first hand.

SFO777

Padstow


Our guide Tim met us at the airport and dropped us off at our hotel in nearby Padstow, a quaint seaside town. Padstow's most famous resident is chef/entrepreneur Rick Stein who's been a food and travel star on British TV for years. Rick owns numerous restaurants, hotels and shops in Padstow as well as a cooking school. We're staying at his 6 room St. Edmund's House which is located just up the street from the restaurant. which also has rooms. Indeed, we checked in for our room at the front desk of the restaurant.



Rick Stein's St. Edmund's House.



And our attractive suite.

















While Mrs. SFO777 relaxed in the room, I headed out to explore Padstow which is pretty much empty in the off-season.









Past Rick Stein's Café where we will be eating later.





















Back up the hill to St. Edmund's House.



To bring Mrs. SFO777 a snack of Cornwall Pasties. Meh. I think there's a reason that these things haven't taken the world by storm. LOL.



Our room package included breakfast and dinner at Rick's restaurants. Tonight was Rick Stein's Café, a nice resto with great atmosphere, food and service.









Padron Peppers to start.



Mrs. SFO777's Salt and Pepper Prawns.



And my Deep Fried Squid aka calamari.



And our mains.



My rib eye and little gem salad with an amazing dressing.



And Mrs. SFO777's Chicken Paillard.



Dessert? LOL.



My Sticky Toffee Pudding was to die for and one of the best desserts of the year.



We loved Rick's Café. Great food, wine (including Rick's own private label French wines) and service in a terrific atmosphere and at a reasonable price. On the way back to the hotel, we stopped in at Ruby's Bar, another Rick Stein establishment.



Where we had a few drinks with some friendly locals.





Ah, that sounds good as well.



And naturally I had to try Rick's Cocktail of the Month.



What an enjoyable evening.

For many more pics of Padstow and the guy that turned Padstow into Padstein and an HD version of this report, please visit SFO777.com and Padstow and the guy that turned Padstow into Padstein.

Additional HD installments posted on SFO777.com...
• American First Class to London
• London - One Aldwych, Lunch, Theatre and Dinner
• Flybe from Gatwick to Newquay
• Padstow and the guy that turned Padstow into Padstein
• Ross Poldark's Cornwall
• From Padstow to Stonehenge
• Coworth Park Hotel in Ascot

Still to come...
• Lounge hopping at Heathrow's Terminal 3
• American First Class to LAX

Will post to FT as soon as possible

757

Thanks SFO777 for another awesome report so far! Looks like you had a great trip. My wife and I just got back two months ago from London and had a great time. Your photos brought back memories of some of the places we went. We stayed over in South Kensington, but did make it over by Trafalgar Square at one point to visit the National Portrait Gallery which we very much enjoyed. AA F looks good, but too bad about the salad being a bit lacking. We flew Delta One from JFK and enjoyed it very much, but had a bit of a long delay at the beginning of the trip which led to a much later arrival into LHR.

Looking forward to the rest of your report!

All the best,

Matthew