Trip Schedule:
Original

May 28 - YYZ-MXP
May 30 - MXP-LCA
Jun 03 - LCA-MXP
Jun 04 - MXP-YYZ

Revised
May 28 - YYZ-MXP
May 30 - MXP-LCA
Jun 03 - LCA-MXP
Jun 09 - MXP-YYZ

Made a change on Thursday May 25th with Nico for a stopover in Milan on the way back. He was prompt in returning the call and was relieved that it was just a simple change. He asked me to call Orbitz and remove the extra leg. He also asked me to show up at YYZ airport early to get it stickered. Orbitz after sending me around 3 agents was able to fix it.

May 28th: Showed up 3 hrs before the flight to get the stickers. They were quite polite and verified and issued the sticker. With a warning that this is the last change I can make to the ticket. They were curious to know who made the change - "Alitalia Ticketing" was my answer, since now I have 2 stopovers in MXP - Onward and Return.

May 28th: Checked in with only carry-on luggage. Was quite pleasant and nobody was perturbed by the fare paid. Added my NWA number too. The gate was at 523. Had to take the bus to the other side of the terminal and was given lounge access with AC Maple Leaf Lounge which is right after you get off from the bus. Dont try any of the other Maple Leaf Lounges, they only have agreement with the one at the 500 gates.

Boarded the flight and left on time. The 767 is an old one. There were no individual TV Screens. The layout is 2 1 2. It was 25% full and everyone had a window seat. The food was something that you could miss. Quite bland and tasteless. With 100+Mph tail winds made it 1 hour ahead of schedule.

May 29th: Got through Customs and Immigration. Took the Malpenza Express train to downtown Milan - 11 Euros onway - 40 mins. The return ticket works only if you return back on the same day - 14.50 Euros. I did not have any major hotel points to burn and hence reserved a nice little place from Venere.com (also got 4% off with a coupon on the internet)- Mignon Hotel. It had some great reviews and went with it.

Italian women rock!!! I asked for directions at the train station and the women helped me get around to the hotel. Once you get your bearings, Milan is quite easy to navigate.

May 30th: Got to the airport and went to the Alitalia line to check in. They asked me to head to the Cyprus Air check-in. (The check-in was not open, hence checked with Alitalia, what the heck). When they opened, found it was operated by some agency and not Cyprus Air nor Alitalia. They made me check in my roller bag (Standard US 22" roller board). This was at the B gates. I went to the Alitalia lounge and was allowed inside based on my NWA Plat. I was Y class on the onward flight to LCA. The lounge does not have free internet access - 6Euros for 1 hour. The facilities and couches were a bit old. Could have spent the time outside people watching instead.

Cyprus Air is boarded like Southwest, no row calls. Just everybody troops in and boards. The seats were so closely packed, my knees were on my chin. The first class is nothing to be coveted for. The seats were covered with leather but still a 3-3 seating behind a curtain. So Y class or D class makes no difference in their A320. Make sure you get an exit row seat. It is worth it. I had ordered for Veggie meal and got it on Cyprus Air (quite good, compared to the usual chicken or beef option :-).

Landed in LCA ontime. There are no gates in LCA. Everybody is bused to the terminal. Which is a giant hangar. Two queues - EU and Others. Not many questions asked by the Immigration folks. Once you pass it another Wal-Mart sized warehouse where the baggage carousels are. There are ATM machines and a Tourist Center. I was using both waiting for my bag.

Came out and was told the only option to get to town was by Taxi. Got into one. The guy turned on the meter. When we were 200 mts before the hotel, he turned it off (was 4.35 pounds by now). Then at the hotel he said the bill was for 7 pounds. I said what, he said "for you - 6 pounds". I said - "Who asked you to turn off the meter". He threatened to take me back to the airport. I said - "Sure, lets go". Raised the usual hell about my lineage, questionable parentage etc etc. (FYI: They are all sound. Seen too many cab drivers in my life Finally accepted 5 pounds and drove off in a fury. Maybe cost him more on tire and gas for that takeoff than what he did not get from me. Key: Stick to 5 pounds to downtown LCA and 10 pounds to the resorts. Anything else, note down the cab number and complain.

A last note for now: Plan on bringing your own towel(s). I brought mine. Much better than using their questionable ones. BTW smokers, this is your paradise. There are no restrictions whatsoever in Cyprus.

June 3rd: Took the bus from LCA downtown to the airport for 70c. The ride takes only 15 mins. Beats having to deal with Taxi Drivers ^ ^ ^ . The bus timings are 7:30AM, 8:30AM, 9:30 AM...Mon - Sat.

There are no separate queues for Business class and Coach Class with Cyprus air. I was checked in by 8:10AM. They had mentioned atleast 2 hours before departure. Since the departure was at 9:40AM, I thought anything before 8:10AM should be adequate. Assuming that the "regular tourists" all check-in before 7:40AM There are plenty of flights leaving in the morning hence there were 4-5 agents working.

Got my boarding pass and did not have to check-in any bags. Went to the lounge upstairs. It is just before the smoking area (on second thoughts you can smoke everywhere in this airport . Take the elevator (or lift) to the second level (first floor). The boarding pass is sufficient (D class) to get you through. This lounge is better than the Alitalia lounge in MXP. There is free internet access via their computers but you cannot connect your laptop.

Must add the Immigration and Customs for Non-EU queues were quite "a***". They asked me more questions when I was leaving than when I arrived. The check-in lady took my passport and handed it over to a supervisor to photocopy different pages. The supervisor was taking his own sweet time for it. The check-in person saw me glaring and tried to speed it up. I was irritated that she did not ask my permission for it nor inform me about these requirements. Guess she tried to speed it up since I was flying D class. Just another meaningless excercise in photocopying documents for "your security and your safety".

The flight left on time. We were all bused to the aircraft from the "warehouse terminal". I was pleasantly surprised that it had regular first class seats - had a D class ticket on this leg. It was 3 rows, 2-2 on an Airbus A319. I guess if you have a Y class then it must be on an Airbus A320 with no first class (you cannot consider leather covered coach class seats as first class ) and if you have a D class it must be on an Airbus A320 with first class seating. Food was pretty good. No individual entertainment systems. Arrived on time.

I had a flight from MXP-AMS upon arrival. Tried out the Alitalia lounge and the Air France lounges in the A gates. The Air France lounge was much better than Alitalia. The snacks there were infinitely better. Plus the lady at the desk went out of her way to help me locate hotels near the airport for a night before my return to YYZ. Must say again - Women in Italy rock!

LOUNGES: Thought it would be better to write a seperate section on this.

YYZ: AirCanada Maple Leaf Lounge near the 500 gates (you get bused there). Free WIFI internet access. Decent snacks and free drinks. Business Class Alitalia ticket required.

MXP:
A Gates.
Alitalia lounge. No free internet access. WIFI available at 6euros/hour. So so snacks. Free drinks. Business class ticket or SkyTeam elite plus membership. There are showers in the restrooms. Not sure if they supplied the towels. Timing: 6:00AM - 11:00PM.

AirFrance Lounge. No internet access. Much better snacks (all in french lettering). Free drinks. Business class ticket or SkyTeam elite plus membership. Did not notice showers.

B Gates.
Alitalia Lounge. No free internet access. WIFI available at 6euros/hour or 12.60 euros for 24 hrs. So so snacks. Free drinks. Business class ticket or SkyTeam elite plus membership. There are showers in the restrooms. (not much water pressure though ). Timing: 6:00 AM - 11:00PM

LCA: Free internet access available through their computers. Sandwiches, chips (crisps) etc. Wide variety of drinks. Business class ticket.

SEATING:

YYZ-MXP - B767 with 2 1 2 seating. No personal entertainment system.
MXP-LCA - A320 with 3 3 seating. No first class seats. Leather covered coach class behind a curtain only. Go for exit row seats. Do not remember which row.
LCA-MXP - A319 with 2 2 seating. Regular first class seats (similar to CO domestic first class seats, a bit hard). No personal entertainment system.

FF:

YYZ-MXP - NWA. Was posted within a week. 50% class bonus, 125% Platinum elite bonus and 100K mileage dash bonus - 3K miles.

MXP-LCA and LCA-MXP to be posted on Alitalia after all NWA credits are done.

These are just some of my observations. Not trying to be an expert.

ACCOMODATIONS: There are two types of accomodations available in Cyprus. You can go for the Resort types or the Apartment types. The resort types are usually away from the main town and are all inclusive varieties. You can book with everything included except for drinks. The other option is to book the apartment types which is similar to the long term stay suites in the US. Kitchen - electric stove, some pots and pans along with the cutlery. Living room with separate bedroom. Both come with Air Conditioning. It gets quite sultry in summer.

I went with the apartment type just behind the town hall of LCA. Decent, nothing too shabby, except the towels had a damp smell to them. Mostly tiled floors similar to Milan. Which was good, since you get to know what was on the floor unlike the carpets

I read the reviews on tripadvisor.com and found that pretty much all resorts had a bad story written by past guests from UK. Was not sure I wanted to get stuck away from town and hating every minute of it. Esp after reading the reviews. I made my booking at the Achilleos Hotel Apt via bookings.net. This one had no reviews to be found on the internet - ignorance is bliss.

When I got into the cab from the Airport, the driver offered to get me accomodations at a great deal - 20 pounds. He asked me what I had paid for mine, I fibbed 25 pounds and he said he could have done better like 20 pounds. I had actually paid 15 pounds via bookings.net, hence knew I was in the ballpark. Did not see any roaches or dead stuff like the reviewers found at other places.

TRAVEL: There is not much of a public transportation system to speak about. There were some scheduled intercity buses. But to get around after that one has to rent cabs. The organized tour packages were not appealing to say the least. Same stuff about taking you to Point X and then showing you stores and idyllic villages. So think about renting cars. They range from 15 pounds to 30 pounds per day. Depending on the size of the car and time of the year.

If you are just thinking about staying on the beach most of the time, pick the Island corner you like the most and find a hotel nearby. There is nothing like staying in the water all day long. Yes, there are historical forts and churches, which you can cover within a day or two and get back into the water

PEOPLE: The local folks are mostly of Greek descent. Saw plenty of Greek flags all over the place. Quite helpful and reasonable folks. There are some bad apples, but overall very nice people. Dont feel bad about stopping someone and asking for directions or help.

FOOD: There are restaurants that fill every need. If you are missing McD, KFC, PizzaHut. They are all on the main promenade. Plus every other ethnic type. A suggestion from the locals: Step 2 streets deep (parallel) to the main street on the beach front and the prices drop significantly.

BUSES: Took the LCA-Aiya Napa bus. Quite convenient. Takes 1 hour and is 5pounds round trip or 3.5 pounds oneway. The timings were kept to about 10-15 mins.

LANGUAGE:
English is widely spoken. Some of the store fronts and signage all looked greek to me. (it is Greek).

DRIVING:
Left hand side of the road. If you hear someone honking it could mean either:
- Ask a question to your friend on the other side of the road.
- Bus driver wanting to know if you want a ride.
- Greetings to your friend walking on the street.
- Get the attention of attractive looking women on the road.

There does not seem to be any respect to speed limits. Folks tearing up the roads quite frequently.

POWER ADAPTORS:
UK style power adaptors. Same voltage too - 230V, 60 HZ.

Again my views on having spent some time here.

What to do: The best you can do is with stuff related to the sea. Soaking up, snorkelling, kayaking etc. If you have seen the churches in Italy, the ones here are very spartan. In most cases you would be disappointed if you spent all that money on a cab and drove up there. So my suggestion, is locate a nice city where you can enjoy the sea. Find an apartment there. Go shopping at the supermarkets nearby for breakfast and snacks. Take the lunch and/or dinner at the restaurants nearby. There are plenty of british pubs, danish cafes and swedish restaurants. I guess they are the most frequent visitors.

Money: ATM machines accepted my US issued cards without any problem. The concern was more with the exchange rate of more than $2 per pound. Made you feel like you were in UK, only a worse exchange rate. Credit cards are also accepted widely.

Internet access: Most places provide you with internet access. The cost ranges from 1 -3 pound per hour. I had my Powerbook with me and could connect pretty much everywhere. Most places did give me internet connection for 1 pound per hour since I had my own computer. The better thing would be to bring the device that checks the availability of free wireless signal. Plug in your computer on the spot and check your emails. I did get plenty of @linksys@ SSID all over Milan

Look for a FlyerTalk tag on your fellow passengers' baggage on the MXP-YYZ flight on June 9.

Ah, make sure you take some pics if you can. And let us know where you stay, and any other "must know" tips for Larnaca.

I'm looking forward to any comments about seating on the AZ and CY flights and lounge access.

Enjoy your trip, TravelingMan.

What did you carry on and how much?

Make sure to eat at La Veranda - the food is fantastic! The stuffed mushrooms and the mushrooms al a creme starters are AMAZING! Prices are reasonable.

Right behind the restaurant (hard to describe but ask the waiter to point you in the right direction) is a great very friendly bar called Marco Polo. The owner, whose name I cannot remember, is a very cool young guy and makes everyone feel welcome. They have two or three computers with nearly free internet access and at least one pool table. It's a tiny place so you'll talk to everyone there. Bonus if you bring him a funny tourist bumper sticker or any airline logo stickers - he'll promptly put it up on the wall! Just don't hog the computers and buy some cocktails and you might not get charged for the internet acces but it was really cheap anyway.

Have fun!!!

Which FFP are you crediting these trips to?

I am interested to see what your MXP-LCA segments would count for in the MilleMiglia program as you booked D and sat in Y.

Thanks

Yow - when did 26" become standard? For the longest time, 22" was the largest that was generally airline-acceptable.

Sorry, it was the 22". Confused with all the math between " and cms.

Crediting only the AZ flights to NWA. Cyprus Air would go against Alitalia or Cyprus Air. Wanted to get the AZ flights posted to NWA before sending in the boarding passes for Cyprus Air flights to AZ. Dont want to have 2 FF# and get all confused with nothing being posted right.

Had my laptop backpack and the 22" rollerboard carryon. Sure they broke all the European weight limits on carryon

AZ flight from YYZ-MXP, I was allowed both bags since I was in Business Class. Cyprus Air allowed only my laptop bag. Had to check in the rollerboard.

Which row is the exit row? CY's seatmap for the 320 is rather unhelpful in this regard.

Do not remember off the top of my head. Will remember to note it down when I fly back this weekend.