I used the very unimaginative title as a follow on from the previous "2 studs" TR which I wrote earlier in the year -
2 studs do Granada with Iberia: 6 flights and 4 cities. Maybe this will form part of a whole series..... who knows?! My (fave?) travel buddy and I have another two trips planned in the first quarter of 2018.
So we both had some holiday days to use and had originally thought of heading to New Zealand on a great fare on QR (ex GOT I think?) but we missed that ship by about one day. Hawaii was next on the list and C had found a (ridiculously crazy) routing...... DUB - LHR - MAD - JFK - LAX - HNL - LAX - JFK - CDG - LHR - DUB. Hey, it sounded like fun and given that I really like the IB J product on their flights from MAD to LHR, I actually thought it would be cool to try it out on long haul. So we went for it and booked. However, a while after that, I think AA moved the time of the JFK - LAX flight to half an hour earlier than the IB flight got in from MAD. There weren't really any other options for rebooking apart from dropping the LHR - MAD - JFK flights and go direct from LHR - JFK on a BA 747 (which I didn't mind either to be honest!). I looked at positioning flights - there was either an EI (Aer Lingus for those not familiar) flight directly from ABZ - DUB for £170 or KL flights ABZ - AMS - DUB for £130. Being Aberdonian, even a small saving is a saving so I opted for the KL flights. Being Gold with Flying Blue also meant that I would get lounge access.
I was told that we were just taking hand luggage (cue the

emoji from me) to Hawaii so after a few months of getting my head round this (thinking that t-shirts and vests wouldn't take up much space), I had successfully manoeuvred everything into my case when C decided that he wanted to check a bag in.....AGH. I just stuck with my hand luggage sized bag (although checked it on on the AA legs). On the way back, I was certainly not checking my bag through as I only had two hours between landing in DUB and connecting to AMS.
Fast forward to holiday time. I finished up at work just after 5.30pm and headed home to put the last few things into my case. I had booked myself into the new Hampton hotel out at ABZ so that I could have a chilled evening and slightly more sleep in the morning before heading down to the airport. Also, I had been status matched to Hilton Diamond status and, so long as I stayed 8 separate times before mid January, I would keep the status until 2019. So a few more trips will start off at the Hampton hotel!
Check-in was painless. The bar area was busy with offshore workers who were staying there before taking a chopper out to the various rigs the next morning. I made my way up to my room and was impressed with the size and the cleanliness.
I headed down to the bar and had a few pints before heading to bed where I had a brilliant sleep. I was up around 8am and had the complimentary breakfast in the hotel bar. The spread is much better than a Holiday Inn Express (with which I would put the Hampton on the same sort of level) - cereals, yoghurts, fruits, waffle making station and full cooked breakfast along with bread and pastries.
View from my room on a chilly morning - we had the first snow of the year overnight (although most of it had gone by this time). I do love standing outside at this time of year on a cold, crisp morning though and seeing your breath in the air.
The hotel puts on a complimentary shuttle bus down to the airport. The walk would take around ten mins so it's handy having the bus to take you down there. You should pre-book the night before to make sure you get a seat (given all the offshore workers) but thankfully, by the time I was ready to leave, they had all more or less gone so I got a private transfer to the airport! I got to ABZ and grabbed my currency before heading through security and up to the Northern Lights lounge. The lounge was very quiet at this time of morning so I managed to grab a seat by the window and see the previous KL flight being pushed back on its way to AMS.
I drank some coffee and listened to some music while our 737 pulled up by the lounge. It's a nice lounge here although I do miss the complimentary spirits which BA had in their lounge before it shut for refurbishment. You can get free gin and vodka but they are unbranded...... no thanks, not today Satan!
KL1444, ABZ - AMS, B737, PH-BGR
I headed down to the gate in enough time to catch the first call for boarding and was one of the first on the plane which was good as I could throw my carry on in the overhead locker. The crew were very cheery this morning. The flight appeared to be relatively busy but the middle seat between me and Ms 5C was free which was good.
Taxi to the runway was short and we took off, turning left on the way south. It's interesting that KL only do their safety demonstrations in English. I thought that they would have it in Dutch with a translation to follow but it doesn't appear that that happens on any KL flights.
Before long, the crew served a wee snack - a tasty pear cake and a drink from the bar. I watched Blue Planet on iPlayer (probably the best thing on the BBC at the moment and narrated by the wonderful British institution, David Attenborough) and then enjoyed the views as we crossed the North Sea and approached AMS.
We landed on the Polderbaan and had just over 15 mins to taxi to the gate. I was off the plane quickly and made my way to the KL Crown Lounge where I found a seat up at the back on a comfy seat. It was about lunchtime so I grabbed some very nice Minestrone soup and a tomato and mozzarella panini type thing.
Oh, and some fizz. Obv! The lounge was nice - I like the way that it is spaced out and that it is much quieter to the back. There's not much by the way of views as outside is a building site at the moment - not quite sure what is getting built there.
The DUB flight left from the D gates which was a wee bit of a walk from the lounge. It was a bus gate as we were heading off to the Cityhopper farm so I just took a seat until the last bus was nearly full and jumped on. Meant that I was first off of the last bus and onto the plane quickly. The lady checking passports was brilliant - obviously loved her job and managed to give every single person a compliment as she checked their documents.
KL937, AMS - DUB, E90, PH-EZS
I was offered an upgrade for £50 to J on this flight to decided to take it. There was just me and another guy in J this afternoon on the way to DUB. There was a bit of a hold up because they were waiting for the J meals..... which the Captain told the rest of the plane. Cue some tutting coming from behind and cue me sliding down into my seat wishing the ground would swallow me up.
A great purser taking care of us today on the way across to Dublin and a lovely sunset on the way out.
A small salad was handed out which was very tasty. Now I'm not quite sure what it was because it wasn't either of the options listed on the menu. It certainly wasn't tortellini and it wasn't chilli chicken with rice. It was more like a cajun chicken salad with roasted squash but was decent nonetheless.
I loved the clog shaped salt and pepper shakers!
After the purser cleared the trays, she offered top ups of drinks with nuts. Gladly accepted.
All in all, a great flight with KL - an attentive purser and a tasty meal suitable for the time of the day.
I into a taxi to the Crowne Plaza which I had booked for the night. The taxi driver loved a chat and, of course, wanted to talk Brexit. "What the f*ck is happening in the UK at the moment? Does that Theresa know what she's doing? Jayyyyysus!" Check-in at the hotelwas a bit of a nightmare. The supposed priority queue for elite members wasn't being enforced. The two in front of me we were trying to check in with their Club Carlson cards and weren't members of IHG. I mentioned this when I got to the front of the other "usual" queue and the guy said "Sorry, the priority queue isn't working today" which I thought was strange but he then became slightly more amenable after he saw that I was Spire Ambassador with IHG. No upgrade - I had booked a suite already which included lounge access. I made my way upstairs and was greeted with a beautiful looking room with large bed and separate lounge area and dining table. There was a small toilet just off the lounge area and target bathroom just off the bedroom.
The Club lounge was just around the corner from my room. When I arrived, it was relatively quiet. There was a member of staff there who served drinks. Unlike most lounges where it is free pour drinks, you either had to wait for her to come around the tables to offer a refill or hover around the door of the cupboard where she served the drinks. Yeah, real premium! There were minimal snacks but I didn't pay much attention as to what they were as they didn't look all that appetising.
I grabbed a last glass of wine and headed back to the room where I had a bath before dinner. The bath had jacuzzi like nozzles in it and once I switched them on, it was great! There was also a TV on the wall with minimal channels - I ended up listening to the Top 20 Backstreet Boys hits as that was the only thing available! I'll spare you any bath pics

After a nice dinner in the Thai restaurant, I headed to bed at a relatively early hour given the early start I was going to have tomorrow morning.
Take a sneak peek at my Instagram (below) if you want some taster Hawaii pics!