The trip of trips!! FRWSTAR2 around the world! 57 days, 34 flights, and a few trains…
Nov 24, 2006, 4:41 pm
#61
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: In the skies of the world
Programs: SAS Gold, FB Gold, BA Gold, EY Silver
Posts: 3,167
A stay in a traditional Japanese guesthouse, a "ryokan"!
Time for another hotel report, well not really…
In Kyoto I decided to skip the western hotels and stay in a traditional Japanese guesthouse instead, called a “ryokan”.
Ryokans are usually family-owned places, so you almost get to stay with a Japanese family.
Just like with western hotels the standard of ryokans varies considerably. There are very basic ones with nice but basic facilities, and there are luxurious ones with a spotless decoration, all meals included, nice surroundings, and sometimes even an outdoor bath called an onsen.
Since I probably wouldn’t be able to appreciate a luxurious ryokan I booked a cheap one which still was very nice with an excellent location close to Kyoto railway station.
The manager of a ryokan is called an okamisan, she is the one who usually takes care of check-in and check-out.
As I arrived at Ryokan Heianbo I opened the door a little bit and called “gomen kudasai” (I was so happy I had managed to learn that from my guide book
), the okamisan should then invite you to enter, which she also did.
The okamisan of my ryokan was very friendly (again, as most Japanese) but spoke very little English. I knew a few basic words and phrases in Japanese, and somehow with her little English and my little Japanese we managed to sort everything out quite well.
Before entering the ryokan I obviously had to take off my shoes, and usually you put on house slippers, but my feet (size XL) were too large for the ones they had so I was allowed to enter wearing only socks.
She showed me to my room on the upper floor. Normally you are supposed to take off your slippers before entering the room not to damage the woven tatami mat, but that was obviously not a problem for me.
The room was quite nice, but lots of things were very strange, like the very low table and the legless chair, it took a little while before I got used to that so-called “chair”.
Also, there was no bed in the room, instead you sleep on a Japanese mattress, but I have to admit I slept surprisingly well.
Other than that the room had all amenities you may need like a TV, fridge and air conditioning, not bad at all!!
Traditional ryokans don’t have any showers, instead you take a public bath in the evening, however this was a ryokan “suitable for foreigners” so there was actually a tiny tiny little shower in my room, and I have to stress tiny.
The public bath was still there though, single sex, so one for men and one for women.
You undress in a locker room and put your clothes in a basket, then you enter a shower room where you are expected to clean yourself properly (the Japanese do it for 15 mins, at least, there should be no dirt in the water), and finally when you are completely clean you enter the hot water, which is really hot (it can be as much as 45 degrees Celsius).
Sharing a bath with others was a bit strange, especially since you are fully naked in the water (no swimwear allowed), but for the Japanese that was of course completely normal and after a while I felt fairly comfortable with it as well.
The only thing you are allowed to bring in the water is a small towel which you can rinse in cold water and put on your head, it should prevent dizziness.
The Japanese were very surprised I managed to stay so long in the hot water, but well, as a Scandinavian I do have a some experience of saunas, kind of the same concept!
Using the public bath actually turned out to be very nice after a long day, to stress down in the hot water, so I ended up going there every evening.
The nice thing with the bath was also that you got the chance to chat with the others in the bath, excellent way of getting local information.
In the morning I also tried a traditional Japanese breakfast, which was very extensive and also changed day by day.
The breakfast could easily have been served as lunch or dinner instead, that’s how much food it was.
They eat rice for breakfast for example, and salmon and miso soup, among other things.
You can have a look yourself on the photo below.
Staying in a ryokan was great, I thoroughly enjoyed my stay and it was very nice to get to know the family running the ryokan a bit and to learn about the Japanese culture.
Highly recommended!!
Pics
Welcome to Ryokan Heianbo in central Kyoto!
My room in the ryokan
The “sitting area” in my room
My bed, a mattress on the floor
The public bath in the ryokan, very hot!
The “lobby” in the ryokan
A traditional Japanese breakfast
In Kyoto I decided to skip the western hotels and stay in a traditional Japanese guesthouse instead, called a “ryokan”.
Ryokans are usually family-owned places, so you almost get to stay with a Japanese family.
Just like with western hotels the standard of ryokans varies considerably. There are very basic ones with nice but basic facilities, and there are luxurious ones with a spotless decoration, all meals included, nice surroundings, and sometimes even an outdoor bath called an onsen.
Since I probably wouldn’t be able to appreciate a luxurious ryokan I booked a cheap one which still was very nice with an excellent location close to Kyoto railway station.
The manager of a ryokan is called an okamisan, she is the one who usually takes care of check-in and check-out.
As I arrived at Ryokan Heianbo I opened the door a little bit and called “gomen kudasai” (I was so happy I had managed to learn that from my guide book
), the okamisan should then invite you to enter, which she also did.The okamisan of my ryokan was very friendly (again, as most Japanese) but spoke very little English. I knew a few basic words and phrases in Japanese, and somehow with her little English and my little Japanese we managed to sort everything out quite well.
Before entering the ryokan I obviously had to take off my shoes, and usually you put on house slippers, but my feet (size XL) were too large for the ones they had so I was allowed to enter wearing only socks.
She showed me to my room on the upper floor. Normally you are supposed to take off your slippers before entering the room not to damage the woven tatami mat, but that was obviously not a problem for me.
The room was quite nice, but lots of things were very strange, like the very low table and the legless chair, it took a little while before I got used to that so-called “chair”.
Also, there was no bed in the room, instead you sleep on a Japanese mattress, but I have to admit I slept surprisingly well.
Other than that the room had all amenities you may need like a TV, fridge and air conditioning, not bad at all!!
Traditional ryokans don’t have any showers, instead you take a public bath in the evening, however this was a ryokan “suitable for foreigners” so there was actually a tiny tiny little shower in my room, and I have to stress tiny.
The public bath was still there though, single sex, so one for men and one for women.
You undress in a locker room and put your clothes in a basket, then you enter a shower room where you are expected to clean yourself properly (the Japanese do it for 15 mins, at least, there should be no dirt in the water), and finally when you are completely clean you enter the hot water, which is really hot (it can be as much as 45 degrees Celsius).
Sharing a bath with others was a bit strange, especially since you are fully naked in the water (no swimwear allowed), but for the Japanese that was of course completely normal and after a while I felt fairly comfortable with it as well.
The only thing you are allowed to bring in the water is a small towel which you can rinse in cold water and put on your head, it should prevent dizziness.
The Japanese were very surprised I managed to stay so long in the hot water, but well, as a Scandinavian I do have a some experience of saunas, kind of the same concept!
Using the public bath actually turned out to be very nice after a long day, to stress down in the hot water, so I ended up going there every evening.
The nice thing with the bath was also that you got the chance to chat with the others in the bath, excellent way of getting local information.
In the morning I also tried a traditional Japanese breakfast, which was very extensive and also changed day by day.
The breakfast could easily have been served as lunch or dinner instead, that’s how much food it was.
They eat rice for breakfast for example, and salmon and miso soup, among other things.
You can have a look yourself on the photo below.
Staying in a ryokan was great, I thoroughly enjoyed my stay and it was very nice to get to know the family running the ryokan a bit and to learn about the Japanese culture.
Highly recommended!!
Pics
Welcome to Ryokan Heianbo in central Kyoto!
My room in the ryokan
The “sitting area” in my room
My bed, a mattress on the floor
The public bath in the ryokan, very hot!
The “lobby” in the ryokan
A traditional Japanese breakfast
Last edited by jacob_m; Nov 24, 2006 at 6:03 pm
Nov 24, 2006, 11:26 pm
#62
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 2,894
Great Trip Report so far! I also really enjoyed Ryokan experience while visiting Fukuoka with my family earlier this year... and Ryokan will always be my choice of accomodation while visiting Japan. 
You should try Ryokans in Onsen areas (hotspring).
You should try Ryokans in Onsen areas (hotspring).
Nov 25, 2006, 7:22 am
#65
Join Date: Jul 1999
Programs: AA 1MM/Gold, Marriott Gold
Posts: 1,215
Great report. Flying intra-Asia this year on JL and CX, was also struck by how fast a 777 or A330-300 could be boarded. Helps w/ less carry-ons, helpful FAs and pax who just get on board and sit down...
Nov 25, 2006, 10:47 am
#66
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: In the skies of the world
Programs: SAS Gold, FB Gold, BA Gold, EY Silver
Posts: 3,167
Originally Posted by brahms77
I also really enjoyed Ryokan experience while visiting Fukuoka with my family earlier this year... and Ryokan will always be my choice of accomodation while visiting Japan. You should try Ryokans in Onsen areas (hotspring).
You should try Ryokans in Onsen areas (hotspring).Next time I will definitely try one of those nice ryokans in the countryside with beautiful outdoor baths (onsen).
But since I was a complete newbie this time I felt it was best to start with a cheap ryokan rather than going for a fancy one where I would perhaps not know how to behave and with meals included in the rate I may not even like.
But now when I know what it's about I will definitely consider a better one on my next visit.
Nov 25, 2006, 10:48 am
#67
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: In the skies of the world
Programs: SAS Gold, FB Gold, BA Gold, EY Silver
Posts: 3,167
Osaka-Auckland with Air New Zealand in Business Premier
After a few days in the Kansai region with visits to Hiroshima, Osaka and Nara it was time to leave Japan.
I took the Haruka train from Kyoto railway station which goes all the way to Kansai airport. It usually takes a little over an hour, but due to various problems along the way we arrived over 15 minutes late, and with not all too much marginal at the airport I started feeling a bit worried.
Kansai airport is built on an artificial island in the Kansai bay, so there is a long bridge leading to the airport, quite a sight!
In Japan Air New Zealand is handled by Japan Airlines (JAL) rather than by ANA.
A bit strange since both Air NZ and ANA are part of Star Alliance, but Air NZ and JAL have some kind of agreement on the Japan-NZ routes and all these flights are also code-shared.
So at Kansai airport Japan Airlines handles the check-in for Air NZ.
Pics
Approaching Kansai airport by train
Check-in
I found a dedicated Air NZ check-in area right in the middle of the terminal, but just like at LAX the luggage had to be screened before I was allowed to check-in, fortunately there was not a person in line.
I went straight to the business class check-in desk which was empty, a nice woman was working behind the counter.
Everything was fine until she asked me how I would like to pay the departure tax, by cash or by credit card. What? I was very surprised to hear that and told her I was pretty sure it had already been paid.
She seemed quite sure though, but my thick RTW ticket with its long ticket receipt (two pages) could well have confused her her.
Finally she suggested we should go to the ticket desk just around the corner to let somebody else look at the ticket and maybe have a look in the reservation system as well. I thought that sounded like a much better idea than standing arguing at the check-in counter.
After a supervisor had looked at my ticket they concluded I was indeed right, the airport tax had already been paid, so we went back to the counter and finished the check-in process.
They handled this little mistake professionally and nobody was ever rude to me (neither was I), it was mostly annoying that it took so much time of my already very limited time at the airport. Anyway, quickly forgotten!
My luggage was tagged with both the Star Alliance priority tag and the Air NZ business class tag (a black tag where it says business class on one side and where you can write your name and address on the other side).
I also received an invitation to the Japan Airlines first class lounge, nice to get a chance to visit a JAL lounge after three ANA lounges and to be able to compare.
There was a long line at security (no fast track unfortunately), only three checkpoints were open and while I was waiting one of them closed, so security took absolutely forever and for some reason they wanted to re-screen half of the bags this evening.
As I was getting close to the x-ray I could see a crew arriving, and as you probably know crews have priority at security, it actually turned out to be the Air NZ crew to Auckland, my crew!
However getting through security took just as much time for them as for us, and they ended up standing in a long line just beside the regular line.
Without thinking about it I had my Air NZ boarding pass in my hand, fully visible, and one of the flight attendants noticed this and started talking to me.
The very nice girl turned out to be the inflight director of the flight, so she introduced herself to me and wished me a very warm welcome onboard, already at security!
We talked a little bit about Japan and the upcoming flight before it was her turn to go through the metal detector and rush to the plane.
What a great initiative, and what a fabulous start of the flight!! A very big hands up for that!! ^ ^
The tax-free shops seemed expensive, so I took the skytrain straight away to the south part of the terminal where both the lounge and the departure gate were located.
Pics
JAL check-in at Osaka Kansai airport
Taking the skytrain to the south wing
Japan Airlines First class lounge, Osaka Kansai
I was a bit surprised I was entitled to use the first class lounge when travelling in business class, and I actually asked at the reception when I arrived if I was really in the right lounge, but apparently I was.
I’m not familiar with the lounge hierarchy of JAL, do they have business class lounges as well?
The lounge was very nice though, the interior certainly felt more first class than business class. Wide comfortable leather armchairs, nice lighting and a good view of the apron from the lounge (although it was dark outside at this point).
Not much to eat though, just cocktail snacks, but this seems to be standard in all Japanese airport lounges.
The drinks selection was quite allright though, lots of soft drinks, wine, beer and spirits, and coffee of course. They had the nice Chivas Regal on offer for example.
I had something to drink and browsed through some newspapers, but after just 15 minutes in the lounge boarding was announced for the flight to Auckland and it was time to leave.
The late arrival of the train, the problems at check-in, and the slow security had greatly reduced my time in the lounge. Well, not the end of the world!
Pics
The entrance to the JAL First class lounge
Inside the JAL First class lounge
The self-service buffet area
Comfortable armchairs in the lounge and nice views of the apron
Osaka/Kansai-Auckland, flight NZ 98 operated by Air New Zealand
Departure: 18:30
Arrival: 09:15
Aircraft: Boeing 777
Class: Business Premier
Seat: 03K
The departure gate was right outside the lounge. Boarding had started, but I did not really know what announcements they had made, so I walked to one of the gate agents and asked if I was allowed to board as a business class passenger.
The young woman just stared at me like I had just asked the stupidest question ever, and answered “of course, of course” like it was the most obvious thing in the world and quickly processed my boarding pass and wished me a nice flight.
Two passenger bridges were in use, so I turned left and entered the business class cabin through door 1L.
And who do I meet at the entrance? The nice inflight director of course! She instantly recognised me from security and welcomed me onboard (a second time!) before showing me to my seat.
The aircraft had the new Business Premier seats onboard and the cabin looked fantastic with the nice blue neon lighting in the ceiling. Wow!! I was very impressed! ^
A male FA came to greet me and instantly tried to learn my name as he was the one who would mainly be serving me during the flight.
I told him I really liked the cabin and he just answered “it’s wicked, isn’t it?!”.
The crew onboard this flight was absolutely fantastic, very friendly and chatty (and a bit crazy!) and they all seemed to love what they were doing and also working with each other.
Overall I think this was the best crew on the entire trip, one of the best crews I have ever had!
Pre-departure drinks were offered, water, orange juice or bubbles. No need to think twice about that! I was later offered top-ups as well.
Newspapers and amenity kits were also handed out. The Air NZ amenity kit was a transparent bag with the company logo on it, it had all the things you may need onboard (toothpaste, toothbrush, eyeshades, earplugs etc), but certainly nothing fancy.
The flight to Auckland was not full, at least definitely not in Business Premier where half the cabin was empty, basically I had no neighbours on this flight.
But few passengers onboard usually means more attentive service, and that was also the case on this flight.
The majority of the passengers onboard were Japanese (there were also two Japanese-speaking FAs) and the rest were New Zealanders, and then me. They were actually a bit surprised having me onboard (a European) flying between Japan and New Zealand, apparently quite unusual.
We pushed back right on time and took off 15 mins later with nice views of Osaka during the climb.
Pics
Welcome onboard the new Business Premier to Auckland!
The Business Premier seat
Cabin ambience, I just love the cool lighting!!
A glass of champagne before departure
Amenity kit
Meal service
After the seat belt sign had been switched off more drinks were offered and some veggie crisps.
I was quite happy with my two glasses of champagne before departure, so I just had some orange juice this time, they happily tried to offer me more bubbles though.
The menus were then handed out (there were actually two, one for the dinner and one for breakfast) written in both English and Japanese.
This is what was on offer this evening and the following morning:
Pics
The menus in Business Premier to Auckland
Starter
Appetiser selection of smoked duck and smoked cod with marinated mushroom salad
Main course
Grilled aged beef tenderloin with red wine glaze, saute potatoes, pumpkin, asparagus and shimeji mushrooms
Japanese dish of glazed rockfish with ginger, black sesame rice and Japanese vegetables
Pan seared chicken thigh with a rich rosemary jus, creamy gratin potatoes, butted spinach and carrots.
Dessert
Gourmet ice cream dessert of orange sorbet and vanilla bean ice cream with a chocolate wafer
Fruit
A selection of fresh seasonal fruit
Cheese
A fine selection of cheese
Freshly brewed of decaffeinated Gravity coffee, tea, Japanese green tea or hot chocolate
Breakfast: Beverages
Start your day with a fruit smoothie, your choice of juice, freshly brewed or decaffeinated Gravity coffee, tea, Japanese green tea or hot chocolate
Breakfast: Continental selection
Fruit selection with assorted cereals and yoghurts
Croissants, breakfast rolls, white and wholemeal toast with fruit conserve
Breakfast: Hot options
Three egg cheese omelette with rock sausage and Mediterranean vegetable ratatouille
Creamy scrambled eggs with potatoes, grilled mushrooms, streaky bacon and cherry tomatoes
Japanese breakfast of grilled salmon, egg roll and fish cake with hijiki seaweed and steamed yukari rice
Beverages
Champagne
Veuve Clicquot N.V. Champagne, France
Wine
Two reds and two whites were on offer if I remember correctly.
The reds were a Merlot and a Pinot Noir
Spirits
Glenfiddich malt whisky, Chivas Regal blended whisky, Jack Daniel’s Black label, Gordons gin, 42 Below vodka, Courvoisier VSOP, Captain Morgan rum, Ron Bacardi superior
Port and Liqueurs
Portuguese port, Grand marnier, Baileys Irish cream
Beer
A selection of beer featuring Steinlager, Export Gold, Heineken and low alcohol lager
Soft drinks
Mineral water, Orange juice, Apple juice, Tomato juice, Cola, Lemonade, Tonic water, Ginger ale, and a choice of diabetic drinks are available
Cocktails
Refer to the cocktail section at the back of your Air New Zealand Wine Guide for the 42 Below cocktails currently being showcased onboard
After the post-departure drink the tables were prepared for the meal service with white tablecloths. The table in Business Premier is actually hidden in the “wall” of the seat, so you don’t even notice where it is.
More drinks were offered and I went for a glass of red wine this time, but only one glass as I wanted to get some sleep onboard and really didn’t want to get any problems with my stomach because of too much alcohol. They also served Japanese green tea.
Then the appetiser was handed out, on a tray, and later the appetizer plate was replaced with the main course (I had the beef tenderloin). Standard business class service, I’m just spoiled with too much first class I guess.
The food onboard was quite good, some people complain about the portions being a bit small onboard Air NZ, but I was certainly not hungry when the meal service was over.
Ice cream was offered as dessert followed by cheese (which I declined as I was actually very full). No coffee for me either as it was soon time to try to get some sleep.
Pics
The Business Premier cabin again
Appetizer
Main course, and The Simpsons
Inflight entertainment system, and time for some sleep!
After the meal service I checked out the inflight entertainment system, they have AVOD onboard all planes with the new Business Premier.
They had some movies, documentaries and TV-series available, a nice flight map, and a lot of information about the Air NZ products, quite a bit about the new Business Premier for example.
I watched an episode of The Simpsons, and before landing I watched some travel documentaries about New Zealand, but they were really too commercial.
Soon I felt it was time to get some sleep, so I asked the male flight attendant to prepare my bed.
The seat onboard is the same as the Virgin Atlantic seat in Upper Class, and what is remarkable about the seat is that the bed is actually at the back of the seat, so instead of reclining the seat to make it into a bed they fold the seat, if you understand what I mean.
This means they can use one material for the seat, and another material for the bed.
The bed was actually quite comfortable, although possibly a bit too hard, I did get a few hours of sleep onboard though. They also placed a mattress, a pillow and a duvet on my bed so I could get some proper sleep onboard.
While my seat was prepared I went into the lavatory and changed into the grey sleeper suit I got onboard ANA, certainly a lot better than sleeping in my regular clothes.
Pics
The inflight entertainment system
An attempt to take a photo of the seat made into a bed
The seat really has space for everything!
Breakfast
I woke up a few times during the flight due to turbulence, but otherwise I got at least a few hours of sleep onboard, the seat was pretty comfortable.
It's a bit strange sleeping with the seat belt fastened though...
Around two hours before landing the cabin lights were turned on and the crew started preparing for the breakfast service.
I went into the lavatory to change back to my regular clothes while the crew took care of my bedding and turned the bed back to a seat.
Smoothies were offered and I had a very nice peach smoothie to drink, I really like the smoothies they offer onboard on Air NZ.
The table was again prepared for the breakfast service, and first on offer were fresh fruit, yoghurt and bread rolls.
Afterwards they served a hot dish. I asked for the omelette but was told it was “all over the place”. Not quite sure what they did, but something apparently got wrong with the oven.
Well scrambled eggs was still OK I guess.
As I said earlier I had a fantastic but rather crazy crew onboard.
After the breakfast service I decided to take a few last photos of the cabin in daylight.
The male flight attendant noticed I was taking photos and asked me if I wanted him to take a photo of me in my seat, I told him he didn’t have to.
“But what about one with a flight attendant sitting on your lap?”, he continued. Huh? What? I really didn’t know what to answer!
“Eh, um, well”, was all I could say. But then I thought why not, it’s certainly not the kind of offer you get every day (and certainly not a thing you ask about), and everything else was so crazy about this flight anyway, so why not indeed. Eventually I said “well OK, if any of the flight attendants agree to do it”.
The guy just smiled and disappeared, and seconds later he was back with one of the nice-looking flight attendants who sat down on my lap, and the result…well one hell of a crazy photo!!!
But sorry guys, I understand your curiosity, but no I’m not going to publicly embarrass myself on the internet, I’ll keep that photo to myself (although it’s definitely part of my permanent collection now
).
Shortly before landing the lovely inflight director was back and thanked me for flying Air New Zealand and wished me a nice stay in New Zealand.
She also asked me what I was going to do in New Zealand and if it was my first visit, and finally she gave me a few last minute tips on what to do.
Pics
Peach smoothie
Breakfast
More breakfast
Nearly there
The Business Premier cabin in daylight
A description of the Business Premier seat
Arrival in Auckland
All too soon we started our final descent and landed right on time in Auckland from the east.
The aircraft was quickly parked at the gate and I was one of the first passengers to get off the plane and the very first one to reach immigration which was completely empty.
The immigration officer seemed very suspicious of me, especially with all the countries I had visited during the past 30 days (one of the questions on the landing card).
He looked through my ticket thoroughly and asked me quite a few questions about my travels before stamping my passport.
Later when passing customs I was stopped by another officer who asked another bunch of questions about my trip and all my luggage.
They were really suspicious! Everybody was friendly though, but they probably had to realise I was just a normal RTW traveller with a somewhat crazy itinerary.
At least the baggage delivery started quickly and the priority tag worked like a dream. ^
At all airports in New Zealand they also have an agriculture check after customs to make sure people don’t bring prohibited items (plants, food etc) into New Zealand, in particular things that could harm the nature, so all luggage has to be x-rayed before you are allowed to enter the arrivals hall.
Not a lot of people there though and the whole process was over in 20 seconds.
Despite all the extra questions at both immigration and customs I was standing at the bus stop just 25 minutes after getting off the plane.
Not too bad after having arrived on a longhaul flight with checked baggage, that priority tag certainly helped!
Pics
Minutes before landing, New Zealand looks nice!
Safely landed at Auckland airport
The Air New Zealand business class priority tag
Verdict
Needless to say this was one of the best flights on the trip (I really can't pick one best flight), even though the flight was in business class.
Fantastic crew (what else is there to say?) and a great seat and cabin as well.
Thanks a lot Air New Zealand! ^
I took the Haruka train from Kyoto railway station which goes all the way to Kansai airport. It usually takes a little over an hour, but due to various problems along the way we arrived over 15 minutes late, and with not all too much marginal at the airport I started feeling a bit worried.
Kansai airport is built on an artificial island in the Kansai bay, so there is a long bridge leading to the airport, quite a sight!
In Japan Air New Zealand is handled by Japan Airlines (JAL) rather than by ANA.
A bit strange since both Air NZ and ANA are part of Star Alliance, but Air NZ and JAL have some kind of agreement on the Japan-NZ routes and all these flights are also code-shared.
So at Kansai airport Japan Airlines handles the check-in for Air NZ.
Pics
Approaching Kansai airport by train
Check-in
I found a dedicated Air NZ check-in area right in the middle of the terminal, but just like at LAX the luggage had to be screened before I was allowed to check-in, fortunately there was not a person in line.
I went straight to the business class check-in desk which was empty, a nice woman was working behind the counter.
Everything was fine until she asked me how I would like to pay the departure tax, by cash or by credit card. What? I was very surprised to hear that and told her I was pretty sure it had already been paid.
She seemed quite sure though, but my thick RTW ticket with its long ticket receipt (two pages) could well have confused her her.
Finally she suggested we should go to the ticket desk just around the corner to let somebody else look at the ticket and maybe have a look in the reservation system as well. I thought that sounded like a much better idea than standing arguing at the check-in counter.
After a supervisor had looked at my ticket they concluded I was indeed right, the airport tax had already been paid, so we went back to the counter and finished the check-in process.
They handled this little mistake professionally and nobody was ever rude to me (neither was I), it was mostly annoying that it took so much time of my already very limited time at the airport. Anyway, quickly forgotten!
My luggage was tagged with both the Star Alliance priority tag and the Air NZ business class tag (a black tag where it says business class on one side and where you can write your name and address on the other side).
I also received an invitation to the Japan Airlines first class lounge, nice to get a chance to visit a JAL lounge after three ANA lounges and to be able to compare.
There was a long line at security (no fast track unfortunately), only three checkpoints were open and while I was waiting one of them closed, so security took absolutely forever and for some reason they wanted to re-screen half of the bags this evening.
As I was getting close to the x-ray I could see a crew arriving, and as you probably know crews have priority at security, it actually turned out to be the Air NZ crew to Auckland, my crew!
However getting through security took just as much time for them as for us, and they ended up standing in a long line just beside the regular line.
Without thinking about it I had my Air NZ boarding pass in my hand, fully visible, and one of the flight attendants noticed this and started talking to me.
The very nice girl turned out to be the inflight director of the flight, so she introduced herself to me and wished me a very warm welcome onboard, already at security!
We talked a little bit about Japan and the upcoming flight before it was her turn to go through the metal detector and rush to the plane.
What a great initiative, and what a fabulous start of the flight!! A very big hands up for that!! ^ ^
The tax-free shops seemed expensive, so I took the skytrain straight away to the south part of the terminal where both the lounge and the departure gate were located.
Pics
JAL check-in at Osaka Kansai airport
Taking the skytrain to the south wing
Japan Airlines First class lounge, Osaka Kansai
I was a bit surprised I was entitled to use the first class lounge when travelling in business class, and I actually asked at the reception when I arrived if I was really in the right lounge, but apparently I was.
I’m not familiar with the lounge hierarchy of JAL, do they have business class lounges as well?
The lounge was very nice though, the interior certainly felt more first class than business class. Wide comfortable leather armchairs, nice lighting and a good view of the apron from the lounge (although it was dark outside at this point).
Not much to eat though, just cocktail snacks, but this seems to be standard in all Japanese airport lounges.
The drinks selection was quite allright though, lots of soft drinks, wine, beer and spirits, and coffee of course. They had the nice Chivas Regal on offer for example.
I had something to drink and browsed through some newspapers, but after just 15 minutes in the lounge boarding was announced for the flight to Auckland and it was time to leave.
The late arrival of the train, the problems at check-in, and the slow security had greatly reduced my time in the lounge. Well, not the end of the world!
Pics
The entrance to the JAL First class lounge
Inside the JAL First class lounge
The self-service buffet area
Comfortable armchairs in the lounge and nice views of the apron
Osaka/Kansai-Auckland, flight NZ 98 operated by Air New Zealand
Departure: 18:30
Arrival: 09:15
Aircraft: Boeing 777
Class: Business Premier
Seat: 03K
The departure gate was right outside the lounge. Boarding had started, but I did not really know what announcements they had made, so I walked to one of the gate agents and asked if I was allowed to board as a business class passenger.
The young woman just stared at me like I had just asked the stupidest question ever, and answered “of course, of course” like it was the most obvious thing in the world and quickly processed my boarding pass and wished me a nice flight.
Two passenger bridges were in use, so I turned left and entered the business class cabin through door 1L.
And who do I meet at the entrance? The nice inflight director of course! She instantly recognised me from security and welcomed me onboard (a second time!) before showing me to my seat.
The aircraft had the new Business Premier seats onboard and the cabin looked fantastic with the nice blue neon lighting in the ceiling. Wow!! I was very impressed! ^
A male FA came to greet me and instantly tried to learn my name as he was the one who would mainly be serving me during the flight.
I told him I really liked the cabin and he just answered “it’s wicked, isn’t it?!”.
The crew onboard this flight was absolutely fantastic, very friendly and chatty (and a bit crazy!) and they all seemed to love what they were doing and also working with each other.
Overall I think this was the best crew on the entire trip, one of the best crews I have ever had!
Pre-departure drinks were offered, water, orange juice or bubbles. No need to think twice about that! I was later offered top-ups as well.
Newspapers and amenity kits were also handed out. The Air NZ amenity kit was a transparent bag with the company logo on it, it had all the things you may need onboard (toothpaste, toothbrush, eyeshades, earplugs etc), but certainly nothing fancy.
The flight to Auckland was not full, at least definitely not in Business Premier where half the cabin was empty, basically I had no neighbours on this flight.
But few passengers onboard usually means more attentive service, and that was also the case on this flight.
The majority of the passengers onboard were Japanese (there were also two Japanese-speaking FAs) and the rest were New Zealanders, and then me. They were actually a bit surprised having me onboard (a European) flying between Japan and New Zealand, apparently quite unusual.
We pushed back right on time and took off 15 mins later with nice views of Osaka during the climb.
Pics
Welcome onboard the new Business Premier to Auckland!
The Business Premier seat
Cabin ambience, I just love the cool lighting!!
A glass of champagne before departure
Amenity kit
Meal service
After the seat belt sign had been switched off more drinks were offered and some veggie crisps.
I was quite happy with my two glasses of champagne before departure, so I just had some orange juice this time, they happily tried to offer me more bubbles though.
The menus were then handed out (there were actually two, one for the dinner and one for breakfast) written in both English and Japanese.
This is what was on offer this evening and the following morning:
Pics
The menus in Business Premier to Auckland
Originally Posted by Menu Osaka-Auckland
Starter
Appetiser selection of smoked duck and smoked cod with marinated mushroom salad
Main course
Grilled aged beef tenderloin with red wine glaze, saute potatoes, pumpkin, asparagus and shimeji mushrooms
Japanese dish of glazed rockfish with ginger, black sesame rice and Japanese vegetables
Pan seared chicken thigh with a rich rosemary jus, creamy gratin potatoes, butted spinach and carrots.
Dessert
Gourmet ice cream dessert of orange sorbet and vanilla bean ice cream with a chocolate wafer
Fruit
A selection of fresh seasonal fruit
Cheese
A fine selection of cheese
Freshly brewed of decaffeinated Gravity coffee, tea, Japanese green tea or hot chocolate
Breakfast: Beverages
Start your day with a fruit smoothie, your choice of juice, freshly brewed or decaffeinated Gravity coffee, tea, Japanese green tea or hot chocolate
Breakfast: Continental selection
Fruit selection with assorted cereals and yoghurts
Croissants, breakfast rolls, white and wholemeal toast with fruit conserve
Breakfast: Hot options
Three egg cheese omelette with rock sausage and Mediterranean vegetable ratatouille
Creamy scrambled eggs with potatoes, grilled mushrooms, streaky bacon and cherry tomatoes
Japanese breakfast of grilled salmon, egg roll and fish cake with hijiki seaweed and steamed yukari rice
Beverages
Champagne
Veuve Clicquot N.V. Champagne, France
Wine
Two reds and two whites were on offer if I remember correctly.
The reds were a Merlot and a Pinot Noir
Spirits
Glenfiddich malt whisky, Chivas Regal blended whisky, Jack Daniel’s Black label, Gordons gin, 42 Below vodka, Courvoisier VSOP, Captain Morgan rum, Ron Bacardi superior
Port and Liqueurs
Portuguese port, Grand marnier, Baileys Irish cream
Beer
A selection of beer featuring Steinlager, Export Gold, Heineken and low alcohol lager
Soft drinks
Mineral water, Orange juice, Apple juice, Tomato juice, Cola, Lemonade, Tonic water, Ginger ale, and a choice of diabetic drinks are available
Cocktails
Refer to the cocktail section at the back of your Air New Zealand Wine Guide for the 42 Below cocktails currently being showcased onboard
More drinks were offered and I went for a glass of red wine this time, but only one glass as I wanted to get some sleep onboard and really didn’t want to get any problems with my stomach because of too much alcohol. They also served Japanese green tea.
Then the appetiser was handed out, on a tray, and later the appetizer plate was replaced with the main course (I had the beef tenderloin). Standard business class service, I’m just spoiled with too much first class I guess.
The food onboard was quite good, some people complain about the portions being a bit small onboard Air NZ, but I was certainly not hungry when the meal service was over.
Ice cream was offered as dessert followed by cheese (which I declined as I was actually very full). No coffee for me either as it was soon time to try to get some sleep.
Pics
The Business Premier cabin again
Appetizer
Main course, and The Simpsons
Inflight entertainment system, and time for some sleep!
After the meal service I checked out the inflight entertainment system, they have AVOD onboard all planes with the new Business Premier.
They had some movies, documentaries and TV-series available, a nice flight map, and a lot of information about the Air NZ products, quite a bit about the new Business Premier for example.
I watched an episode of The Simpsons, and before landing I watched some travel documentaries about New Zealand, but they were really too commercial.
Soon I felt it was time to get some sleep, so I asked the male flight attendant to prepare my bed.
The seat onboard is the same as the Virgin Atlantic seat in Upper Class, and what is remarkable about the seat is that the bed is actually at the back of the seat, so instead of reclining the seat to make it into a bed they fold the seat, if you understand what I mean.
This means they can use one material for the seat, and another material for the bed.
The bed was actually quite comfortable, although possibly a bit too hard, I did get a few hours of sleep onboard though. They also placed a mattress, a pillow and a duvet on my bed so I could get some proper sleep onboard.
While my seat was prepared I went into the lavatory and changed into the grey sleeper suit I got onboard ANA, certainly a lot better than sleeping in my regular clothes.
Pics
The inflight entertainment system
An attempt to take a photo of the seat made into a bed
The seat really has space for everything!
Breakfast
I woke up a few times during the flight due to turbulence, but otherwise I got at least a few hours of sleep onboard, the seat was pretty comfortable.
It's a bit strange sleeping with the seat belt fastened though...
Around two hours before landing the cabin lights were turned on and the crew started preparing for the breakfast service.
I went into the lavatory to change back to my regular clothes while the crew took care of my bedding and turned the bed back to a seat.
Smoothies were offered and I had a very nice peach smoothie to drink, I really like the smoothies they offer onboard on Air NZ.
The table was again prepared for the breakfast service, and first on offer were fresh fruit, yoghurt and bread rolls.
Afterwards they served a hot dish. I asked for the omelette but was told it was “all over the place”. Not quite sure what they did, but something apparently got wrong with the oven.
Well scrambled eggs was still OK I guess.
As I said earlier I had a fantastic but rather crazy crew onboard.
After the breakfast service I decided to take a few last photos of the cabin in daylight.
The male flight attendant noticed I was taking photos and asked me if I wanted him to take a photo of me in my seat, I told him he didn’t have to.
“But what about one with a flight attendant sitting on your lap?”, he continued. Huh? What? I really didn’t know what to answer!
“Eh, um, well”, was all I could say. But then I thought why not, it’s certainly not the kind of offer you get every day (and certainly not a thing you ask about), and everything else was so crazy about this flight anyway, so why not indeed. Eventually I said “well OK, if any of the flight attendants agree to do it”.
The guy just smiled and disappeared, and seconds later he was back with one of the nice-looking flight attendants who sat down on my lap, and the result…well one hell of a crazy photo!!!
But sorry guys, I understand your curiosity, but no I’m not going to publicly embarrass myself on the internet, I’ll keep that photo to myself (although it’s definitely part of my permanent collection now
).Shortly before landing the lovely inflight director was back and thanked me for flying Air New Zealand and wished me a nice stay in New Zealand.
She also asked me what I was going to do in New Zealand and if it was my first visit, and finally she gave me a few last minute tips on what to do.
Pics
Peach smoothie
Breakfast
More breakfast
Nearly there
The Business Premier cabin in daylight
A description of the Business Premier seat
Arrival in Auckland
All too soon we started our final descent and landed right on time in Auckland from the east.
The aircraft was quickly parked at the gate and I was one of the first passengers to get off the plane and the very first one to reach immigration which was completely empty.
The immigration officer seemed very suspicious of me, especially with all the countries I had visited during the past 30 days (one of the questions on the landing card).
He looked through my ticket thoroughly and asked me quite a few questions about my travels before stamping my passport.
Later when passing customs I was stopped by another officer who asked another bunch of questions about my trip and all my luggage.
They were really suspicious! Everybody was friendly though, but they probably had to realise I was just a normal RTW traveller with a somewhat crazy itinerary.
At least the baggage delivery started quickly and the priority tag worked like a dream. ^
At all airports in New Zealand they also have an agriculture check after customs to make sure people don’t bring prohibited items (plants, food etc) into New Zealand, in particular things that could harm the nature, so all luggage has to be x-rayed before you are allowed to enter the arrivals hall.
Not a lot of people there though and the whole process was over in 20 seconds.
Despite all the extra questions at both immigration and customs I was standing at the bus stop just 25 minutes after getting off the plane.
Not too bad after having arrived on a longhaul flight with checked baggage, that priority tag certainly helped!
Pics
Minutes before landing, New Zealand looks nice!
Safely landed at Auckland airport
The Air New Zealand business class priority tag
Verdict
Needless to say this was one of the best flights on the trip (I really can't pick one best flight), even though the flight was in business class.
Fantastic crew (what else is there to say?) and a great seat and cabin as well.
Thanks a lot Air New Zealand! ^
Last edited by jacob_m; Dec 3, 2007 at 10:31 am
Nov 25, 2006, 11:59 pm
#74
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Posts: 350
Originally Posted by upgrade lover
I guess that I will be the fourth!
We should sign a petition or something. If only some SQ Singapore Girl would do that too, when I go SIN-MEL at the end of the year
Last edited by sporadic; Nov 26, 2006 at 12:05 am