by ·Comments Off on Ticking a Bucket.. List… Domestic City Hopping in Aus

Introduction

I had won a few free nights accommodation through work in Melbourne and needed to use them up before the end of the year. So after Qantas announced that you could upgrade their lowest fares now to Domestic Business, a plan was put in motion.

My bucket list has always had the item of “Sit on the Upper Deck of a Boeing 747” on it. That elusive upper deck, the inner sanctum of those privileged few. I had almost ticked this off during my recent round the world trip, however Asiana schedule changed the aircraft (again) so with no 744’s on my trip, this was still sitting there taunting me.

A plan was hatched though. Qantas released a nice cheap sale with fares to the southern states pretty good (about $95 to Sydney). This is where my plan started to take shape. I could pick up a nice cheap fare on QF8. A 747-400ER service from Brisbane to Sydney which was really continuing on from Dallas. With a lovely little 8000 point drop on the fare I could have a nice Skybed on the Upper Deck (and if I was lucky a Skybed MkII if the aircraft was a refit.

Then it was just a matter of how to get to Melbourne. As a newly status matched Virgin Australia Gold I found some nice cheap fares to Melbourne and back directly to Brisbane so I could check out the new lounge in Melbourne and the current Sydney Lounge. This was looking to be a nice long weekend away from the office, especially during the busy busy times.

The end itinerary was going to look like this:

09Dec – Brisbane to Sydney – Qantas – QF8 – Boeing 747-400ER – Business Class
09Dec – Sydney to Melbourne – Virgin Australia – DJ842 – Boeing 737-700 – Economy
12Dec – Melbourne to Brisbane – Virgin Australia – DJ347 – Boeing 737-700 – Economy

09th December 2011

Up at Stupid O’clock as this was going to be a very early morning to get me to the Airport to clear international security etc (even though on a domestic service) before the early flight down to Sydney.

Traffic was light and I was dropped off at the International Terminal for the 4th time this year (seem to be departing more from this terminal than from the domestic this year). The whole departures area was totally familiar to me this year, but for the first time I was heading down towards the Qantas Rows, an unfamiliar experience for me this year.

After wandering my way down to the Qantas row I was the only person in the Business Queue but both agents were already serving someone. Took a little while (a minute or so in reality) for someone to free up and then actually motion me over. I was checked in and given the usual “Domestic Channel” briefing to which I advised the agent “I’ve done this before, I know the drill” to which he liked this and asked me if I knew where the lounge was, to which I confirmed to him I did (have been there in the past when flying JAL).

With this done the total time at check in was less than a minute! I was off to the lounge with my boarding pass, bag tag and an express channel pass (which I wouldn’t need considering the D channel is the Crew Channel and is usually empty). Quickly down through “immigration” and towards the lounge avoiding all temptations of the duty free store.

Up and into the QP and was greeted at the door and advised to “Head on through the Glass Doors and enjoy my morning” I headed on through to the main lounge area. Not much had changed in 2 years on the outside with a very tacky looking painting still evident at the top of the escalators, however inside the lounge a refurb had taken place. It was looking all nice and fresh, shiny looking IMacs were set up in 2 separate sides of the lounge.

The usual morning foods were evident, some cereals, yoghurts, muesli, toasts, even pre made pancakes. The kicker though for me was the barista service. I had seen this at some of the Virgin lounges (Brisbane in the morning usually has a long line) but this just made my morning! A couple of long blacks and a bit of a liquorice treat should get my morning started (if I hide the liquorice it doesn’t count right?)

I wanted to get down to the gate early making sure I could get as much time experiencing the upper deck as possible. I wanted to be first up those steps! I went down to the gate nice and early and managed to snap a number of pictures of the aircraft before boarding was called. Luckily a newly painted Virgin Australia 777 pulled up at the gate next door so managed to tick that one off my spotting list to (only the ATR left in new livery now).

Qantas Airways
QF8
Brisbane to Sydney
0745-1015
Boeing 747-400ER (VH-OEF)
Business Class – Seat 18K

Boarding: 0725 (Gate 19)
Push Back 0757
Take Off Roll: 0810 (Runway 19)
Top of Descent: 0955
Touch Down: 1017 (Runway 16R)
Shut Down: 1026 (Gate 33)

With boarding called I was first down that line, down the air bridge and greated onboard. I was a little bit giddy! I looked around.. Damn Skybed Mk1s… the aircraft was not a refit bird. O well never mind! I turned right after Door 2L and their it was, the steps! Up the steps I went I was like a little boy again, just so happy to get to do something I had always wanted to do. I ascended the steps, snapped a few pictures and settled into my Skybed ready for departure, snapping pictures all the way really.

A Pre Departure beverage of either Strawberry/Apple Juice or Water was offered (took water as usual) and settled into the seat trying to get myself settled. The seat beside me stayed empty as the cabin filled (most of the upper deck was in fact empty by the time we pushed back).

No menu on this flight (although I did manage to see the menu from Dallas to Brisbane as it was left in the seat pocket). The Captain came on for a quick pre departure chat advising us of a short flight to Sydney but unfortunately a long taxi from the terminal up to Runway 19.

We pushed back pretty much right on time and started to turn towards Runway 19. The Qantas 747 from LAX was arriving just as we started to taxi off the ramp and it cleared the way for us. We headed off to Runway 19 ended up holding short behind a new painted Virgin Australia 737. We climbed out damn quickly as this was obviously a lightly loaded bird and the Captain was obviously not sparing the gas this morning as we were airborne barely before the Domestic Terminal.

As we climbed out leaving Brisbane behind the crew jumped up once cleared and started the service. First up was hot towels and then after a little while the meal service started from the front of the aircraft. Sadly by the time it got to me, I was informed bluntly “I hope you don’t want anything hot, because we don’t have anything”

Thinking that meant I had no choice at all, pretty much I was stuck with a bowl of “fruit” and some yoghurt and was offered some “Toast”. What was presented was a few pieces of melon and a couple of strawberries. A small bowl of yoghurt with what I think was honey and 2 slices of white bread (definitely not toasted). I did ask for some coffee to go with it, which thankfully was brought out piping hot and fresh from the plunger and after advising the crew to “keep it coming” they certainly did. Breakfast was a little bit disappointing for a “business class” flight, but to be honest, it was pretty much almost on par if not more than what I normally eat.

After a bit of turbulence during the meal service (and having my coffee pretty much cover the tray and the napkin) I decided to give up after 4 small cups of coffee (really the equivalent of one after spillages are taken into account), and just sit back because by this time we were pretty much about to begin our descent into Sydney. There was a little bit of cloud about around Sydney by this stage but not far out of the city we punched through the clouds. If I had of been on the left side I would have had a beautiful view of the harbour and the city but unfortunately I was not.

We descended into the airport touching down smoothly onto Runway 16R and around us was a bevy of heavies all either just arriving or heading off for the mornings (an EKA380 was off to Auckland and a UA 744 off to Melbourne). We taxied to the gate and there we sat, for quite some time, with the seat belt sign still on. We sat just off the gate, not able to do anything. The Captain came on to advise us that we had a last minute gate change and that they were waiting for the staff to come over to the gate we were sitting at, that as we were not yet safely pulled into the gate the seatbelt sign would remain on but he would keep us updated.

We probably sat about 10 minutes before they could shut down the engines and then let us out of our seats, but again we sat longer after this as we could move around but no gate crew still so that meant no aerobridge to let us off the aircraft. By this stage everyone on the upper deck had moved down to the lower deck and the main J cabin on the lower deck was quite packed with passengers.

Soon enough we were allowed to disembark and I snapped a quick shot of the F cabin still fitted on this aircraft (though soon to go I do believe?), the crew member working this cabin offered to take a photo of me in the seats if I wanted to but politely declined and decided to get my butt off the plane and through to baggage as I knew the lines would be quite big in Sydney to get out of customs due to all the heavies sitting at the gates at that time.

After making my way through what felt like the world’s largest duty free store without wanting to buy things (damn D sticker), I made my way quickly through immigration (about 4 people ahead of me in line) and by the time I got to the carousel my bag was doing laps, it seems priority tags do work for Qantas. After heading through to Customs, showing them my D sticker and then they took my boarding pass off me (noooooooooooooooooooooo a serious #avgeek does not let that usually happen) I was out of the sterile area, into the mass arrivals area, heading for the train to Domestic Terminal.

An expensive $5 train ticket, 10 minutes and a few sets of Escalators and I was heading up to Terminal 2 on the other side of the airport. After passing a picture of a Tri-Star on the wall advertising Sydney and the train connection (not that there are really any Tri-Star’s flying for commercial services these days), I headed for Priority check in.

Check in took all of a few moments by the Virgin Staff but for some reason I should of commented about the lack of Priority sticker not attached to my bag (something that would come to bite me later). After a quick security screening, a swabbing for explosives and a redress, I made my way into the Virgin Australia lounge at Sydney Airport for the 2nd time. I had made a short appearance here back in early October when connecting on the way back from Ayers Rock but that was just for a few moments to grab a drink and a place to have a private conversation with a friend away from the rest of the group.

This time I could have the full lounge experience after time to relax, enjoying some lunch and then lazily making my way towards the aircraft. I had my assigned seating in Row 3 all good to go in the hopes of a refit bird (the best seats now with the new fit out) and life was looking good.

The lounge in Sydney is apparently still in the old colour schemes but still looks quite good to me, is quite large and had quite a good amount of food, drinks and snacks available. I grazed over time for lunch with a sandwich, some soup, some nuts and plenty of salad to keep me going for the afternoon. I watched a bit of TV, read for a bit and explored the lounge.

About 10 mins before boarding time I wandered down towards the gate area and this is where the first part of the dreaded news came to light. “Your flight has been delayed approximately 30 minutes due to a late arriving aircraft, if you intend on leaving the gate area please return by no later than 1pm” Ok I can handle that, back to the lounge we go. After another round of drinks and some more nuts (god damn they were tasty), it was back to the gate but no aircraft still. This was not good. Another announcement was pending…

“Due to the late departure of the aircraft from Melbourne the flight has been till approximately 3:30pm as the flight has only just departed Melbourne” With that the scrum for the service desk began. I was 2nd or 3rd inline before they had even said they were offering rebooking of passengers to the next flight. What they said next did not bode well for me. “Those passengers without checked luggage will be given preference for accommodation on the next available flight” Ah CRAP!

I still waited in line but when I informed them that I had checked a bag I was informed I would have to wait for a supervisor, I asked how long and was told not sure, but then she saw my gold and instructed me to go to the lounge. No compensation voucher was given to me but everyone else had been given one to this point. Stupidly I didn’t say anything as I figured I would get one at the lounge (I didn’t).

Back to the lounge again I went and this time there was a nice big wait at the service desk as there was a number of lounge guests also on this flight. I waited my turn, was put on the next flight (aisle seat at the back or middle up the front, which do you think I went with) and was assured my bag was being transferred over (warning bells should of gone off at this point but they did not). Now I was totally over it all and just wanted to get up in the air, so after another few dishes of nuts (stuff it, they were good, and I was peckish) I headed back to the gate ready for boarding of the new flight, via a quick stop at the old gate to pick up my voucher I never received (was reluctantly given it, and when I looked at it was very happy to notice that it was valid on board as well!).

I double checked at the gate of the new flight that my bags were definitely getting transferred over and asked for a non-shopping docket boarding pass. I was assured again that my bag was definitely on this flight and a new boarding pass was handed over reluctantly.

Virgin Australia
DJ846
Sydney to Melbourne
1400-1535
Boeing 737-800 (VH-BZG)
Economy – Seat 28D

Boarding: 1350 (Gate 33)
Push Back 1410
Take Off Roll: 1420 (Runway 16R)
Top of Descent: 1506
Touch Down: 1525 (Runway 34)
Shut Down: 1529 (Gate 5)

Boarding was called and this time there was a nice big queue thanks to the previously delayed flight, didn’t matter really. I knew the flight was going to be max so didn’t really matter when I was on board and since I was in an aisle at the back without too much hassle did not matter.

Today’s flight was the on board “Brett’s Jet” which was named after previous CEO of Virgin Australia Brett Godfrey. Thankfully even though on the outside this aircraft is in the old colours, it’s another sleeper! Yay! Gotta love it when you hop on board and its fitted out with the new seats.

Settled into the seat and as the plane filled up, this was pretty much a standard Virgin Australia flight. Pre-recorded safety announcement, taxi out, take off & wait for the seat belt sign to come off. Since I already had a drink with me (grabbed some on the ground cause its cheaper than on board) and settled in to read my book. Once the seat belt sign was off, out came the headphones and that made things all the more tolerable.

Service was offered first to those with flexi fares so they got their free meals, then they started to offer stuff for purchase. It was a pretty quick flight really, as they barely had time to do all the services before we were on descent into Melbourne.

Bit of a rough time coming in, getting bounced around quite a bit, the 3 guys on the other side of the aisle were holding on for their dear life (wasn’t that bad I’ve been in worse), and soon enough we were on final into Tullamarine.

With a bit of a rough touch down (maybe a bit of last minute cross wind) we started taxiing towards the gates.

Disembarked quickly through the back door and up the steps into the Terminal. Quick, easy, painless. Isn’t that what a flight should be like? This is where stuff just started going wrong. While waiting for my bag, I waited and waited, I waited some more. In the back of my head I was thinking “I bet my bag doesn’t come out at all”

Stupid me just should of carried on board rather than check the bag. Dumb, dumb rookie move. As I thought, the bag did not come out at all. This is the first time I had ever had a lost bag, after all those times of not even thinking about it, I guess it had to happen eventually.

After going up to the baggage service desk they just did not seem to care at all. It was very much a “If we find it.” There was no way they could tell where it was apparently, which was just crap. After being told that they would call me once they found the bag they would let me know.

So I jumped on the bus and headed to the city. After several phone calls during the evening and lots of wrong information provided I finally got my bag delivered to the hotel around 1030pm. Just dandy after being up since before 4am!

12th December 2011

After some meetings in the morning that just did not happen, I returned back to my hotel to grab my bag. This time I had intended on not checking the bag, was not going to lose it. A quick walk from Docklands over to Southern Cross Station to hop on the Skybus. As I walked up to the bus stop there was one just about ready to depart.

Within minutes we were pulling out of the station heading towards Tullamarine. Me I was head down in my book already and barely even noticed. Hell I barely noticed any of the ride out as I had headphones in and totally zoned out. After a bit of a rough weekend it was good to still be able to tune out.

I arrived at the airport way, way, way earlier than I should of. But as a Gold Velocity member, you have the ability to take the next available flight with no cost to change irrespective of the fare you booked on. So with my original flight scheduled for 6pm and me arriving at the airport roughly 1230 it was going to be my first test of this lovely benefit.

I headed up to the Priority Check in. Handed over my card and was greeted and after I was asked which flight I was on, I told her my flight but said that I would prefer to be on the next available flight if possible. After a few minutes and a lovely delayed computer issue (know that feeling thanks to work) I was moved onto the 2pm flight up to Brisbane (there’s a bit of a dead zone between 12 & 2 in Melbourne for flights it seems. This would give me plenty of time for a leisurely lunch in the lounge and some time to read.

As I was about to head off, they asked me the usual questions about sharp objects In my carry on and was asked if the one I had on my back was all I had. Next rookie mistake! I said no and pointed to my suitcase (which is carry on size). They then asked to weigh it and it was about a kg over the carry on limit (7kg). I was instructed I would have to check my bag due to the weight. Damn it! I said that was fine and did say that as long as the bag makes it to Brisbane with me on the flight that is ok. I was told it would not be lost this time and that they would ensure the priority tags went on this time.

I watched as my bag headed off on the conveyor with thoughts if I would ever see it again. I resigned myself to the 2nd rookie mistake of the weekend and headed off to check out the new lounge.

Melbourne & Brisbane are currently the only two lounges that have had the revamp since the rebranding to Virgin Australia has come into effect. I’ve seen the Brisbane lounge but it seemed awfully small, after being told I should enjoy this lounge as its quite a lot bigger and more spacious. They weren’t wrong.

I came through and instantly liked the look of the new lounge. To top it off, an old work colleague of mine was working in the lounge which was a total shock. She had just transferred recently to the lounge after working as Flight Crew for 4 or 5 years. So we had a good quick catch up. Then it was time to find a seat and start to relax.

The usual spread was out for lunch at that time, Salads, Sandwich fixings & Soup along with a tasty looking nut mix and some popcorn. After grabbing a spot by the window, a drink and some nibbles I sat down and read my book for a little bit. Going to avoid using the free Wi-Fi, mainly cause I just wanted to relax and enjoy the view.

As time progressed I had some lunch and they had the most delicious carrot salad out that I just could not get enough of, so much so I tried to get the recipe for it before I left but that failed to eventuate (thankfully my friend who works on the lounge is going to try and track it down for me!).

As I headed out of the lounge a bit early as I knew I would have to clear security since the lounge was landside not airside in Melbourne I was in a pretty good relaxed mood, my attitude had totally improved. After clearing security easily, managing to dodge the explosives swab this time while the guys were not looking, I started to wander down towards the gate after spotting a Shanghai Airlines 767 (don’t see them in Brisbane at all!).

Virgin Australia
DJ331
Melbourne to Brisbane
1400-1510
Boeing 737-800 (VH-VUV)
Economy – Seat 27F

Boarding: 1337 (Gate 9)
Push Back 1358
Take Off Roll: 1411 (Runway 34)
Top of Descent: 1443
Touch Down: 1511 (Runway 19)
Shut Down: 1515 (Gate 41)

Arrived at the gate literally as they called Priority boarding so did not even break stride as I headed to the queue and was first through the gate down the steps. No Air bridge today for this flight and as I snapped a photo of my ride today, one of the staff started to have a go at me saying “Don’t you listen when we tell you no electronic equipment” to which my quick reply was “No one said anything when they announced boarding” which he promptly gave me a dirty look but by that stage my camera was off anyway and I was half way to the rear door.

Again I was seated up the back, but I had a window this time so did not really care. I got settled in however this time, my seat mates arrived shortly after. A mother and her young son. Just dandy! Now I don’t hate children, I don’t normally complain about other people on the flight, I just take my seat and go off in my own little world. This child was just totally on my nerves.

I was glued to the window watching the ground staff load the bags, trying to spot mine and then I saw it. My little suitcase with priority sticker on it, going up the belt into the aircraft. YAY! A repeat performance was not going to happen. Doors were closed pretty much a few moments before schedule and we pushed back on time.

As we started to taxiing out the child next to me was constantly kicking my bag or almost reaching out in front of me to look out the window. At this point I know I should have offered the child the window seat and just moved elsewhere, but I was just not thinking properly. I just sat back and tried to ignore him.

A long taxi all the way to the far side of the airport, which is always good for a bit of avgeek plane spotting. Lots of heavies on the ground with EK, TG, MH & SQ all on the ground. Lots of JQ and QF as well as you would expect. A quick take off with a bit of cloud around as we headed out above the clouds and started to climb towards home.

Once the seat belt sign was off, I was back in my own little world again, no IFE on this sleeper aircraft again (which the guy in the row in front spent most of the time complaining about) but that didn’t worry me. A good book, headphones and iPod does me just fine. Pretty soon once service was out, I decided to use up that refreshment voucher I had gotten on the way down. An $8 voucher got me a cup of coffee and a loaf of banana bread (which I promptly stashed for later as wasn’t at all hungry after gorging on carrot salad in the lounge) as we cruised north.

A very uneventful flight really, as we started to descend we got a good view of the Gold Coast and all the lovely surroundings on the clear day and approach over Moreton Bay towards runway 19. With a VERY hard landing we were shortly on the ground and taxiing towards the terminal.

When released from the confines of the flight, it was up into the terminal and straight to baggage claim where my bag was the 2nd one out. It may have made the flight but it made the belt upside down somehow. Didn’t worry me all that much really, I was just happy to see it. Bag in hand, I headed out to the taxi queue and was soon enough on my way home… a happy relieved traveller.

Conclusion

Would I do it again.. sure. Would probably prefer a longer route for the Upper Deck. Not quite sure if I prefer the Upper Deck over the Main Cabins. I mean sure its quieter but the main deck has more space and feels more open. At times the Upper Deck could feel a little claustrophobic.

The Virgin Australia lounges are fantastic! Especially Melbourne. It is going to suck if I can’t requalify for Gold Again (I might be able to, depends on what happens in the new year). The new Virgin Australia product will definitely be a game changer here in Australia. Can’t wait for it to be fitted fleet wide and all the new bits and pieces to finally come through (IFE being one of them).

This trip gave me the inspiration for some future craziness, it is still in the planning stages, but it could be a “Whale” of a time 😉

by ·Comments Off on Trip Report – Around the World on a Star – Conclusion

Back to reality means that I have time to reflect.  After spending 9 weeks travelling almost non stop, barely gives you time to breathe but with all the flights I still had time to chill out and had time to breathe and relax.

The trip was probably the best trip of my life so far.  I did over plan a little bit I think in some areas, yet underplanned in others.  With only one real dissapointment flight wise (damn you United for the aircraft change) everything else went off without a hitch with minimal issues (only really short delays so nothing dramatic). 

As an aviation geek this trip provided a plethora of new airlines & new airports but only 2 new aircraft (777-300ER & 737-500).  One thing I get asked a lot is who was the best.  I can’t answer that though.  There was no one standout best on this trip.  Many different things were holding each one back, what was great on one airline was crap on the other.  But I can break it down for you all as follows:

Best Seat: Three way tie – Swiss New Business, ANA Staggered Business (new business) and the New Air New Zealand Business Premier.

Best Food: ANA

Best Service: Singapore Airlines (but only the 2nd crew I had)

Best Looking Crew: Singapore Airlines tied with Swiss (although SQ crew were just sheer perfection).

This whole trip had me fly a total of 30385 Butt in Seat Miles and earned me 54970 Miles with Aegean.  In saying that I love the fact that thanks to Aegean I am now a Star Gold and hopefully I can get another program to status match me with their current promotion.

All in All I think this trip was $$ well spent and that I am now looking forward to my next trip which thanks to this trip will be using up some of the points most likely… Let the planning begin!

by ·Comments Off on Trip Report – Around the World on a Star – Singapore to Brisbane

The usual start to my flight day. An OMG oclock wake up, a gym work out followed by a taxi to the airport but with a few differences. Today was the final leg of my journey so I was a little bit sad. At check out it meant a bit extra time required due to needing to get some contact information of the GM and then it was in the taxi to go and pick up my friend from her hotel.

Once all together a taxi full of bags we were airport bound and shortly arriving at Changi T3 and dropped in front of the business check in. As we walked in we were waived over to an open desk (first class not business) and check in was swiftly progressed. Again no points were showing in my file (seriously don’t they recognise A3?) but this was swiftly added but meant my gold recognition was not there which was quite dissapointing as I was given a 2nd rate seat (middle aisle).

After check in we cleared immigration with ease and I cleared out my account of SGD ready for a final conversion to AUD. We headed towards the SilverKris lounge and I guested my friend into the lounge and I got a request made for a new seat and I headed towards the foreign currency exchange, some last minute burning of $$ and scoped out the Gold lounge (which was just a small version of the silverkris).

Once I was back in the lounge I was grabbing some breakfast and then I spotted someone I did not think I would see. The owner of the company I work for! Total craziness. We had a good chat in the lounge and discussed the travel we had been doing over the last few months. It was just a mind blow to run into him and as we both headed towards the gates I bid farewell and cleared security at the lead in to the first set of B gates.

Once through I rejoined my friend who had gone off to shop and after getting my seat request checked (window seat confirmed but no new boarding pass print booo) and then shortly after that boarding was called.

Singapore Airlines
SQ245
Singapore to Brisbane
0950-1930
Airbus – A330-300 (9V-STS)
Business Class – Seat 14K
Boarding: 0915 (Gate B1)
Push Back: 0959
Take Off Roll: 1039 (Runway 20C)
Top of Descent: 1845
Touch Down: 1919 (Runway 19)
Shut Down: 1925 (Gate 80)

I bid my friend safe journeys as we headed towards the gate. I head down the airbridge for the final time on this journey and was chastised by someone for taking a photo and instructed to delete the photo (which I promptly faked the process of doing) and stepped onboard. My seatmate was already at the seat and quite difficult to deal with. But I was not going to let that change anything.

I settled into my seat and got myself sorted. Boarding continued and pre departure beverages were offered. I had just a water as usual and before departing drink offers were taken for after take off. Push back was delayed as we waited for our slot and when we finally pushed, I had a feeling it was going to be a slow slow journey to the active as we were a number of planes behind (soon confirmed by the captain).

We taxiied towards the active 20C and were informed of a flight time of 6 hours 40 minutes so we must be getting some great tailwinds. The captain came back shortly thereafter and informed us that we were #8 in line for takeoff. O great.

After waiting in line and getting some good photos of some rare stuff (Evergreen 747, Xiamen Airlines, Cebu Pacific, some private birds) we were lining up, captain delivered his takeoff positions instruction to the crew and we were heading to the skies with grace. The climb out was long out over the golf clubs around Changi and it was a little time before the seat belt sign came off.

After being released from our seats I climbed out and over my seat mate, who had promptly decided to try and go to sleep blocking the aisle, and did the same thing as dozens of others, queued for the bathroom. Drink service began shortly soon after and the lovely nut mix was served (I am now a fan of a good salty roasted nut after this trip where as I loathed them before).

I set the seat for a good lounge style and sat back to enjoy watching an old movie (Robocop) while chowing down on the nut mix. In comparison the seat on the A330 with SQ is pretty good for a daytime regional flight. Plenty of storage spaces, goes flat and nice and comfy to lounge on. A downside though, when reclined the seat is lowered below window height so difficult to see out the window with really. No big issues though.

Lunch orders were taken and I took the Duck option which was the chefs special option. After my drink was constantly topped up and a request for some more crunchy snacks provided without an issue the full service began. I was constantly addressed by name by the crew and my table set for lunch.

Lunch today was a fusion mix it seemed with a thai style starter, a french/asian style main and the usual traditional dessert. I chose the Creme Brulee and followed it up with some lovely fruit and cheese. All up lunch took about an hour by the time i finished my coffee and chocolates but by this stage there was only about 4 hours left of the flight.

After trying to visit my friend down the back and not being able to see her, I gave up and headed back to my seat where I settled in to watch some movies. About 3 hours out, we started to hit Australian soil. Looking down onto my home below had me in mixed feelings. Happy to see the country I had missed so much while I was away, sad to be heading to the finish of this amazing journey.

The whole thing hit home and just made it all the more difficult to focus. I tried to distract myself with the TV but it didn’t work. I was to busy thinking about all the amazing and crazy experiences I have had on this trip.

About 2 hours out a round of dink orders was taken which pretty much meant the 2nd service was going to begin shortly there after. About 90 mins out the 2nd service began. Choices were again a western or Asian option and decided to take the asian option as I would be returning to normal western food for a while anyway, may as well enjoy it while I can. The lotus leaf encased parcel of rice, mushrooms, pork and chinese sausage was tasty and fantastic with some iced tea.

With service completed I got myself slowly ready for landing as I knew it would get a bit busy when the pre descent notice was given and the panic would set in with everyone. After thanking the crew and grabbing a last minute souveneir of the flight (postcard) I agreed to fill in a feedback form for the crew as they were faultless and probably the best I have had so far out of 14 flights and 9 different *A carriers.

With descent underway the leading steward Peter came by to thank me for the kind words and I thanked him for his crews fantastic service (credit where credit is due). A great way to end this journey with the famed SQ service. As we descended into Brisbane it was most definately dark outside and we came around for what I was predicting as an 01 arrival as the airshow was showing a roundabout descent profile.

Temperatures in Brisbane were predicted at 15 so the warm climate experience I had been enjoying the last few weeks was well and truly over, back to the cold cold reality… nooooo. Turns out we were not heading for 01 but towards 19. As we came in for a Bay approach we landed pretty close to the keys at BNE and I knew from that instant, it was all over and that this was truly an amazing trip.

We taxied fairly quickly towards the gate and was soon pulling up at gate 80, pretty much from the same gate I had taken off from only a few months ago. Immigration was a breeze once I had picked up my Duty Free that I had left behind in storage and I was into the waiting arms of my loving family.

by ·Comments Off on Trip Report – Around the World on a Star – Hong Kong to Singapore

A lazy morning for once considering I am normally up at OMG o clock (and will be for my final flight). I copped out on the gym as I just couldn’t deal with it and decided not to rush my morning and just potter around the hotel getting myself good to go.

After having issues at Breakfast in regards to how to cook a poached egg, I checked out around 10am (as planned) and dragged myself, my new suitcase, my old suitcase, my backpack and camera bag to a cab to the station. After again having the driver try to take me somewhere I did not want to go, I had to keep telling him “JUST TAKE ME TO KOWLOON STATION.” I didn’t have to lug my bags far as when we pulled up it was right infront of the In Town Check In for the Airport Express.

The check in was painless and after negotiating for a half decent seat (ended up in the Forward mini Cabin) I was out of the check in area and headed downstairs for a train. Now you might be thinking why is he going to the airport so so early for an afternoon flight. Well I was intending (note the word intending for later) on doing some spotting, some last minute shopping and also lounge hopping my way around Hong Kong Airport.

Once at the airport it was out into Terminal 2 rather than Terminal 1 to do a bit of spotting. However the skydeck was not quite open when I arrived so instead hit up a few shops and then went up to the Skydeck and thankfully used up some of my last HKD on my octopus card. The Skydeck is the “official” spotting location at HKIA and overlooks both the approaches for runways 25L&R. Awesome shots were obtained but the light was crazy++ No retro jet though (but not without trying) so I guess that part of the trip list is going not done.

After loosing track of time and then hiking my way back to the terminal later than I thought and having to get my boarding pass reissued with my Aegean number on the pass as for some reason it is just not crediting properly, it was through security, immigration and out into the massive terminal. I tried to find my way through to some of the shops and then realising what the time was, was going to skip the lounge hopping (i did it in Narita anyway) and just head to the SQ lounge. But a few of the shops were all the way down near the TG and UA lounge. But it didn’t last either because I never ended up buying anything at those shops.

I got told that I can’t come back on the train from the middle gate area, I had to walk which took me a solid 15 minutes at my pace so that was a bit annoying but you deal with what you can do. This ate into my time and I managed to get what I could shopping wise with about 30 minutes of lounge time. I rushed into the SQ lounge, took a few photos, grabbed a quick nut snack, posted on the web and pretty soon the 30 minutes was almost up.

I rushed out to the bathroom (bathrooms at this lounge are on the outside none inside) for a quick pit stop pre flight and missed the boarding call which was early! As everyone was boarding as I headed to the gate.

Singapore Airlines
SQ861
Hong Kong to Singapore
1520-1905
Airbus – A380-800 (9V-SKA)
Business Class – Seat 14A

Boarding: 1445 (Gate 15)
Push Back: 1531
Take Off Roll: 1556 (Runway 07R)
Top of Descent: 1834
Touch Down: 1901 (Runway 02R)
Shut Down: 1906 (Gate B7)

For the first time I was heading upstairs on an A380 and ticking it off my list of things to do in life. The little upward incline meant time for a few photos unfortunately couldn’t get a clear shot of the bird flying me to Singapore. When I stepped into the upper deck I was shocked at how low the roof felt and then I saw the size of the seats. The SQ business seats are MASSIVE. Wider than I thought they would be. Way wider.

The seat was just huge and they had heaps of cushions to try and keep you in the seat and they just did not help at all! Another thing I noticed is even though the windows are at a good level, because your on the upper deck, you are set further back from the windows making it difficult to get many photos of the ground or down below you.

We waited for a while to push back due to the brakes not being cool enough according to the Captain after his pre flight briefing and the Singapore Girls just could not do more to keep you happy. The service was great. We taxiied out eventually towards 07R (runway switch must of happened as when I was spotting it was the 25s) and it was a long long taxi. Eventually we took off, and headed for the sky.

Service began extremely quickly after take off as orders had been taken on the ground for both drinks and “dinner.” The menu had plenty of choices and I was looking forward to some good cuisine (although I am tempted to “book the cook” on my next flight. As I settled in for a movie and dinner progressed through the courses I was totally lost in the moment and not realising how time was going or what was going on.

The lunch service was a little slow and was suspended for a few minutes due to some turbulence which wasn’t all that bad imo but eventually we were heading towards Top of Descent. I had to get my AVOD system to be rebooted after it crashed and then pretty much 5 minutes after it came back up, it was shut off for landing and approach. O well.

As we approached into Singapore I was again snap happy as much as I could but it was not possible to get as many photos as I normally do. O well. Gotta deal with it. We landed on 02R and taxiied quickly to B7 one of the A380 gates. This is where things got wierd for me as when we deboarded it was out into the normal terminal area. No sectioned off area for arriving guests. Crazy. Immigration was a breeze (was one of the first people there) waited about 10 mins for my bag to pop out and then I was in a Limosuine Taxi (wanted the pre set price option) on my way to my hotel. A Quick flight that just made my day.

by ·Comments Off on Trip Report – Around the World on a Star – Seoul to Hong Kong

After spending a good amount of time relaxing in the Asiana lounge and inhaling a good amount of lovely broccoli that was on offer (and some nuts to, o how my tastes have changed, I headed out to explore Incheon airport. I wasn’t really wanting to do or see anything, just wander and see what was out there. The light was fading fast so photos were still not really possible but I took what I could. After making it down to gates in the low 20s I decided it was about time I turned around and headed back towards my gate which was in the 40s. This may not sound like much, but at Incheon, that’s a fair hike.

I still kept browsing through random shops on the way and I swear the lady in the Tumi shop thought I was wasting her time but to be honest, I was genuinely interested in the price, but if I was going to buy anything it would have been in Hong Kong or Singapore. I wandered by the gate, saw that my aircraft was there and before the light disappeared entirely, grabbed a picture (along with the Star Alliance painted aircraft next door).

Pretty soon the boarding area did its usual thing of becoming a scrum with about 10 minutes to go till boarding. I was standing around waiting for a little bit when the business line filled considerably. So knowing that if I didn’t get in it shortly, I would be stuck. So I jumped in. Shortly thereafter (about a minute) they made announcements that the line was for Business and Star Gold only. Low and behold the entire line was for economy! Hah typical.

Asiana Airlines
OZ723
Seoul Incheon to Hong Kong
1950-2240
Boeing 777-200ER (HL7700)
Business Class – Seat 2K

Boarding: 1925 (Gate 43)
Push Back 1953
Take Off Roll: 2009 (Runway 33L)
Top of Descent: 2136
Touch Down: 2209 (Runway 22R)
Shut Down: 2221 (Gate 31)

Boarding was soon announced with the traditional bow greeting to begin the process and I was the first person through the gate, down the escalators and down the airbridge to the aircraft. I snapped a few photos while I could and then realized the person behind me in the queue, was my seat mate, but she did not look happy that she had someone next to her. Not my problem! I got myself settled then realized that this was a non AVOD fitted aircraft. O well. It’s only a 3 hour flight and they still show movies on a loop so I can still watch something!

Menus and pre departure drinks were handed out and unfortunately no Bibimbap on this flight either! But there was a Korean specialty and I was determined to try that. My seat mate as the doors closed tried to take up the spare seat that was on the other side of the aisle however once she moved over, she was sent back by a flight attendant as someone from down the back was apparently getting a battlefield upgrade. Lucky bugger.

We pushed back pretty much on time (and I got a little bit of a smirk for taking a photo of the crew as they prepared for their bow) and we taxied for a while out towards the parallel runways. It was a long taxi but gave me a good look at all the Korean Airlines aircraft that seemingly dominate the terminal (Asiana plays a close second really). The takeoff roll was definitely high power and so was the pull up at the rotate point as the pilots pulled as skywards towards Hong Kong.

Orders were taken and this time my seat mate was allowed to take the spare seat as the other person had not shown so I was 2 for 2 with empty seats next to me. Win! I was happy as larry as we reached 10000ft and the entertainment was switched on, headphones out and time to watch whatever was on the loop (Xmen First Class it is). I watched the movie as orders were taken and I asked if I could have a mixture of the Western and Korean menus as I really didn’t like the sound of the Korean dessert (fruit punch wtf?) . I was told they would see if they could if there was any left so I was hopeful.

As we cruised along dinner service started fairly slowly and the Korean meal seemed extremely healthy and light which was good. I ended up spilling diet coke all over my tray table (good work idiot) and managed to hide it well under the can for photos. When the main came out there was instructions in the menu on how to eat it and for a while I was ok with this, but the weird metal chopsticks which is apparently a Korean thing and just my inability to use them, I got fed up and just made up my own way. I ended up finishing the vegetables and one of the cabin crew tried to bring me more which I declined (I was struggling to eat what I had in front of me). The meal was good and spicy just the way I like it!

The Korean Dessert was handed out and I was told that if they had leftover Ice Cream they would bring it to me as well (score) and after a while they did, along with Coffee and then chocolates. I felt like I had made an absolute pig of myself. Overall the dinner service took up a good portion of the flight and really this was good as there was only roughly an hour and a quarter left of the flight by the time this happened and the seat belt sign came on for a little bit of turbulence.

Pretty soon we were heading for our descent point into Hong Kong. Where had this flight gone? It was a smooth descent followed by a lovely smooth touch down. Unfortunately due to cloud it was hard to see anything out the window and I had no view of Hong Kong at all. We taxied again what felt like an age all the way around to the far side of the terminal from our runway and pulled up at a gate in the low 30s. What I did not realize again was just how big Hong Kong Airport is.

When finally released out into the terminal, I turned toward immigration and saw the walk in front of me. It looked to be a solid kilometre or more to immigration. Which is good because I needed to walk off dessert. Which I did, no moving walkways for me tonight!. Immigration queues were long (no fast track offered) but they moved fairly rapidly and not even a word from the immigration officer, just a stamp and done.

After having walked all the way to one end of the terminal for immigration, I then had to walk all the way back it seemed for my bag as our carousel was all the way back the other direction. Typical. My bag was rolling around on the far side by the time I got through and then grabbed my bag went through customs which wasn’t even a hassle. I bought the tourist pass with the Hong Kong express and was on a train within 10 minutes speeding towards Kowloon and my home for the next 5 nights the Novotel Nathan Road Hong Kong.

by ·Comments Off on Trip Report – Around the World on a Star – Tokyo to Seoul

A relaxing morning work out in the Hotel gym, distracted by spotting before breakfast and after breakfast from the gorgeous views from my hotel room at the Hilton Narita. After getting distracted and almost missing the shuttle to the airport, I got my butt in gear, checked out and was on the shuttle to the airport a little early to get some spotting in with the morning traffic.

However plans as usual for me failed. I was unable to drop off my bag immediately upon arrival, even though being a newly appointed *G, I was unable to check in as they did not open for another 45 minutes. O well, time to drag my suitcase up to the observation deck and not spoil my morning of spotting I had been looking forward to since the observation deck is so easy to spot from.

With the observation deck at Terminal 1 overlooking the active departure runway, I was hoping to get some good shots and boy did I. Unfortunately out of the time I was up there, I could not get what I was chasing though (JAL new colours and a Retro Jet of course). As it got closer to 10am, I packed up my gear and lugged it all back down to the check in area, which as I approached it, was fully open and I walked straight up to the counter.

With check in slow and not really all that difficult except my boarding passes would not print to business so took a good 6 or 7 attempts to get them on the right boarding card stock before they were happy. With two freshly minted boarding passes in hand, 2 lounge invites for both Tokyo and Incheon (not that I needed them) it was time to do a bit more shopping around the upstairs area hunting for wierd flavoured Kit Kats and some airline goodies for friends back home. I did this and then headed down to security.

Security took a little time for me as usual as I have so much stuff to strip down and pull out and then reassemble on the other side, however I am getting better at the routine, people were starting to queue up behind me and i just told them to go past me it was easier this way. Once through, immigration was a breeze and I was the only person there. Once through, I decided to do a bit of lounge hopping (although I could only visit 3 lounges total). First up, ANA in Satelite 5, the furtherest away.

Off I trudged to Satelitte 5 where the ANA lounge was located for this area, a nice small lounge with some good views, but sadly, it was blocked of the active and only a barely used Taxiway connecting the two runways. So I just grabbed a quick drink and headed off to the other ANA lounge which I hoped would have better views. It didn’t This lounge in a different satelite (closer to the action though) was on the Ground floor and did not even have a single window. But I was in dire need of a snack, so sat down for a little bit, grabbed a drink and some rice crackers and did a touch of blogging. After this was done, I decided it was time to head off to the Red Carpet Club. The last lounge I could access, the closest to my gate and hopefully with the best views.

On my way to the Red Carpet club I ran a few errands, changing currency, doing a little shopping and just generally wandering my way down to the lounge. Once inside, this lounge was huge, but OLD. The seats had some wear and tear but meh, I didn’t mind, they had fantastic views of the runway and some edamame 😀 I grabbed a big heaping bowl of the beans and settled in by the window for some spotting.

As I was setting up though I noticed something out the window, a nice big giant Korean Airlines Tail. Could it be… yes it was! My last A380! The fresh and new Korean A380 was sitting just blocked from view, so it mean that once this plane moved, I could get a fantastic shot. So i checked to see what time Korean had departures and made sure to see what I could do about it getting that final shot.

With luck there was a departure around 1300 which was sure to be the A380 and that meant I just had to leave the lounge a little early for that perfect shot but I was not fussed, so after wandering around the lounge a little, I saw the A380 push back, quickly packed up and jumped outside the lounge to a good vantage point where i scored a perfect shot! I was happy as larry!

After the A380 departed I wandered around a little more before heading towards the gate area and waiting for boarding which was a little late.

Asiana Airlines
OZ103
Tokyo Narita to Seoul Incheon
1410-1630
Boeing 767-300 (HL7514)
Business Class – Seat 2A

Boarding: 1350 (Gate 35)
Push Back 1412
Take Off Roll: 1424 (Runway 16R)
Top of Descent: 1553
Touch Down: 1614 (Runway 34)
Shut Down: 1623 (Gate 47)

With boarding called a little bit late and a throng of *G travelling in Economy pushing their way to the front of the priority boarding queue, I was about the 10th person onboard. The flight was fairly empty really with only 5 people (plus an infant) in a 15 seat business class cabin and the back of the plane I did not see. The seats for Business were not lie flat or flat at all, but they were comfortable enough for what was to be a 2 hour flight. I can cope.

One passenger in 2K seemed to be getting pretty much all the attention from the Cabin Crew, at one point he had about 6 or 7 crew around him, pointing, chatting talking about something. I have no idea who he was. The couple with the infant got the rest of the attention with myself and the other passenger in business pretty much left alone it felt. A predeparture beverage was not offered till the doors were closed and then it was only water or juice (I was happy with water anyway). No entertainment system on the ground but I just read through the Wired magazine i appropriated from the RCC.

By the time we started to push back and taxi, I was off in La La land, enjoying myself and not worrying at all about anything, just the way I should be right? We taxiied pretty quickly and did not even stop at the end of the runway or taxiway, just turned onto the active and blasted down it, the same way a 767 does anywhere. We rotated pretty quickly (must be a light load for this short hop) and were heading skyward through the cloud.

Menus were distributed shortly after the seat belt sign came off, and the options were either Western or Japanese. I was hoping for Bibambap but that must have to wait for the next flight I guess, so chose the Japanese for one last hurrah. Shortly after ordering the meal was brought out and it looked beautiful. I did not want to destroy what was such a beautiful presentation. But I was hungry and this was lunch… o well!

After enjoying my Japense lunch while watching NCIS, and then promptly losing the menu that I was going to keep, I asked for another one and was gladly given one so that was ok. After enjoying one last final Red Bean sweet with some coffee, I was content to sit back, read my magazine and listen to some music and pretty soon (10 minutes or so) we were given a pre descent warning by the flight deck. The flight just sped through and did not feel like 2 hours at all.

Soon enough we started descent into a very hazy and glare filled Incheon where photo taking was just difficult, so I tried not to unless it was something good (which most of the planes on the ground were). We taxiied to the gate and was soon parked. However as the seat belt sign came off, the business class section filled with economy passengers pushing their way to the front, even pushing the Cabin Crew out of the way as they tried to block them from coming forward.

Once the doors were open and disembarking began, I noticed one thing, Incheon is HUGE! However the transfer security was only a minute or so stroll from the gate and I was shortly through, up into Incheon’s cavenous airport, where I had to walk what felt like almost a kilometre to get to the lounge.

Once inside the Asiana lounge I scoped it out for a while, was warned that no departure announcements were made, so decided I would leave early again to go scope out the airport really and tried to find a powerpoint to plug in the laptop which was MUCH harder than it seemed really. Not much in the way of food was on offer mainly some salads, noodles and a few soft drinks and beers. I wasn’t worried as I had a pretty good lunch so found a good spot and just camped out to blog on the free wifi.

by ·Comments Off on Trip Report – Around the World on a Star – Around Japan on a Train!

Tokyo to Yokohama – Thursday 25th August

Today was the first day of my journeys around Japan. Pretty much over the coming week I would be heading around Japan by Shinkansen, something I have always really wanted to do. The “bullet trains” as I called them as a child had always interested me and getting a chance to use them was going to be a childhood dream.

Todays journey would give me 2 Shinkansen rides as rather than do just a day trip to Yokohama from Tokyo like most people do, I had decided on stopping off on the way to Kyoto thus giving me the opportunity to kill 2 birds with 1 stone. Although this would only give me a full day in Kyoto I was willing to make that sacrifice (stupidly).

Up bright and early as had been usual most of these days I have been travelling there was one real reason to be up and going early. As I was staying in Shinjuku, I had to catch the JR lines into Tokyo station first before I could board my Tokkaido Shinkansen to Shin Yokohama. I had decided to go this way so that I could store my bags at Shin Yokohama for the day (my suitcase was travelling ahead of me and is actually pretty well priced, about $15AUD to send a suitcase from Tokyo to Kyoto). However Shinjuku as I found out is the busiest train station in Tokyo with around 4.5 million riders per day, and rush hour is just not fun.

So my 8:33 train to Shin Yokohama (Hikari 505) would mean the earlier I get out of Shinjuku the less hassle it is going to be. So I aimed to be on a train to Tokyo station no later than 730 to try and avoid some of the crush getting to the station, but really I just got moving as soon as I could get ready. After a quick free breakfast of the usual for me in the morning, I was off to Shinjuku Station via the tunnel that runs along the street from the Hyatt. It was an easy but slow walk with my bags and had me boarding a train to Tokyo around 7am. Awesome work, but still, the train was packed for about 2 stations so I still had to try and push my way on with bags and that was not easy.

Reaching Tokyo station was easy and as I had already scoped out where to go, I took my time in getting up towards the waiting room for the Shinkansen as the platform usually didn’t get released till about 20 mins prior to departure. I waited around without any music as it turns out my ipod is broken so some of my time today would be dedicated to obtaining a replacement to last me till I get home (thank god I can download music on the fly these days).

The wait was fine, and as soon as the platform went up, I made my way up to Platform 17 so that I could grab a spot on the platform and watch the trains come and go and hopefully get a half decent shot of our train arriving. This journey this morning would only be short but it was still the anticipation of it that was making me feel like a little kid.

The train that would be ours pulled in from its journey and was soon cleaned and replenished ready to go. The Japanese sure do know how to turn a train around. What took the crews here a good 15 mins would take over an hour back home for a train 1/10th the size. Once the train was cleared they announced boarding (I think) and as soon as other people got on, I did the same (monkey see monkey do).

Hikari 505 – Tokaido Shinkansen
Tokyo Station to Shin-Yokohama
0833-0852
Ordinary Car – Car 7 – 700 Series

The train pulled out late due to the weather (it was a touch rainy) and we were soon cruising along at high speed making a quick stop at Shinagawa before getting back up to speed for the trip down to Shin Yokohama. This journey was only going to be 19 mins but it was fantastic and I loved every little second. I scoped out some of the carriage to find out how I need to store bags for future journeys as for all but this one I was going to be getting on at an Intermediate stop so would need to act fast once getting onboard.

The legroom is good but the seats a little small, part of me wishes I had paid for a Green Car pass but the difference was just not justifiable for the journeys I would be making and considering there are no Green Cars in Tokyo, it would go to waste pretty much.

Soon enough the journey was over and I was alighting onto the platform at Shin Yokohama and needed to find my way around to store my bag for the day and then hop another train down to Yokohama Station itself to explore the city some more.

Yokohama to Kyoto – Thursday 25th August

After a morning of exploring Yokohama I returned to Shin Yokohama for some lunch at the Ramen Musuem and a little bit of silliness all mixed into one. With food in my belly (and plenty of it) and some souveneirs in hand I headed back to the station to get my new mp3 player up and working and synced with whatever music had lying around (one half decent song and some random French music my friend Yena had given me).

Once all done and my Train was up on the board, I made my way up to the platform to again enjoy the sights and sounds that is a Shinkansen station.

Hikari 519 – Tokaido Shinkansen
Shin-Yokohama to Kyoto
1552-1815
Ordinary Car – Car 14 – 300 Series

The train arrived a few minutes early (thankfully any delays from earlier in the day have disappeared) and as soon as the doors opened I hopped on board and found that the car was half empty. So after originally stashing my bag back at the end of the carriage, I moved it up to above my seat after a few minutes since it was obvious no one was going to be sitting next to me.

This time the journey was going to be longer, so I settled in for the ride, Tablet out to read and put a good dent in War & Peace, snack, Tea and Camera in hand I was all set. This time you could feel the speed in the older 300 series trains but in saying that, the seats were pretty similar if not a little bit more basic. One thing I did notice though was the buffeting you get when you pass another train or in most cases a Nozomi train passes you, god damn that is a jolt that wakes you up. More than a few times it jolted me out of a doze I had.

We passed Mt Fuji, covered in cloud as expected, and cruised at high speed all the way through the Japanese country side. It was an awesome journey and now I know why this was a child hood dream.

Pretty soon we were coming into Kyoto and it was time for me to get off sadly. O well, I will survive. Upon arrival at Kyoto I disembarked, snapped a last couple of photos then trekked my way to the Subway for my journey to my hotel.

Kyoto to Osaka – Saturday 27th August

Today was to be my shortest ride overall on the Shinkansen. A total journey of about 14 minutes, but in reality I could of just done day trips to Kyoto from Osaka but it would of meant I would miss out on somethings really. So this journey was pretty much necessary in my head, but probably not to others.

The morning overall went ok and I arrived at the station with plenty of time after negotiating the subway with a suitcase. There is only 4 platforms at Kyoto station for the Shinkansen and 2 go to Osaka, 2 to Tokyo so it wasn’t half obvious where I needed to go, so off I went and camped out close to where my carriage would come in, to watch the trains and smash through some more of War & Peace (almost half way through and I started back in Canada).

Hikari 503 – Tokaido Shinkansen
Kyoto to Shin-Osaka
1016-1030
Ordinary Car – Car 7 – 700 Series

The train arrived as expected 2-3 minutes early and after letting the mass crowds disperse, I jumped on board and stashed my suitcase at the back of the carriage and dragged myself towards my row. Unfortunately I had to get my seatmate to remove her bags from my seat however she then removed herself entirely from the row to someone elses seat, so me thinks that someone who shouldn’t be in the carriage was camping out there.

The train journey flew by, watching as we rolled out of Kyoto and within 5 or 6 minutes started hitting open country side and then literally within another 5 minutes we were coming into the outskirts of Osaka. It was a flash in the pants journey really.

As we pulled into Shin-Osaka we passed the yards of I’m assuming the Local Shinkansen base and there was 700 series and Railstars lined up for as far as the eye could see (ok maybe 40 or 50 of them but it was still an awesome sight.

The train arrived into the station and after letting everyone else out of the carriage so that I could get my suitcase without having to fight through people, I was off into the Bedlam that is Osaka and to find my way to the main Osaka station in Umeda.

Osaka to Hiroshima – Monday 29th August

Today was another journey further south with the usual process. Up early, gym, check out, walk to station. Rinse repeat etc. I hated leaving my hotel and its luxurious surrounds but unfortunately it had to be done. After doing the traditional Osaka past time and eating myself to ruin (the japanse word is kuidaore) the night before, I figured that I should really walk to Osaka station and get the train to Shin Osaka, rather than getting a cab. It was a quick walk without bags and only a bit longer with them. I knew where to go this time so it was fairly easy.

After arriving at the station, I made my way round to the Central Gate, up the escalators to the platform and low and behold the train I needed was but a few minutes away. Simple as! From there it was a quick easy 5-6 minute ride out to Shin Osaka where it was back through the confusing labirynth that is Shin Osaka JR gates towards the Shinkansen gates. Now since I had not eaten yet and intended on eating on the train, I needed to find somewhere that sold bread or something more westerny for breakfast cause I really didn’t feel like a bento or a bowl of ramen at 7am in the morning.

After no help from the train barrier guard for directions (for some reason they don’t understand the word “Bakery” or “bread” I managed to get the information desk person to understand my actions for “Food Court” (imaging me shoving hand in mouth mimicking eating and then drawing a big square like area) and he pointed me in the direction of the lower floors with a warning that it is closed. Well stuff him I thought, I’m going to check it out. He was wrong, the grocery store (which was awesome btw) was open so picked up some lovely bread to go with a banana and some coffee and a bottle of tea for the train journey. My morning was set.

With now an abundance of time before the trip to go, I did the usual thing, wait it out on the platform watching the trains come and go while reading. It’s a good way to people watch to if your into that sort of thing. What I did enjoy watching though was the actions of the JR Train staff. Their hand movements, gestures etc when the trains are approaching and departing was totally foreign and interesting to me. It was great to watch.

Eventually my train showed up as next on the platform and so I moved up to where my car should pull in so that I could grab a spot for my suitcase first up without having to fight for one. As I was lining up a lovely tour group of Asian persuasion (not sure if they were japense or chinese) turned up and tried to push their way infront of me on the platform. With a quick “I do believe I was here first you can wait behind me” they moved out of the way. I know it probably wasn’t the nicest thing to do, but to be honest, don’t cut in line! Eventually the train arrived!

Hikari 495 – Sanyo Shinkansen
Shin-Osaka to Hiroshima
0835-1019
Ordinary Car – Car 12 – N700 Series

This was my first ride aboard the lovely shiny new N700 series. Boy are they pretty much the same inside but with a bit more flashier toilet area. Nothing much different with a 2-3 seating set up and the same style seats as the other train sets. What was different was the seat cushioning (much softer than the 300 or 700 series) along with the fact that power ports were highly evident. Either way it was good no matter what.

My seatmate was only joining me as far as an intermediate stop and once he departed I had the entire row (both sides of the aisle) to myself. Good way to travel. Unfortunately after not much sleep, It was difficult keeping my eyes open and I was nodding off here and there for most of the journey so not much reading got done. A shame really as there wasn’t much to see out the window with the majority of my time awake spent in tunnels.

A few little things spotted on my journey south was a 500 series shinkansen at one of the stations along with the old school 100 series as well . Both a sight to see (unfortunately no ride on a 500 for me and I didn’t even know a 100 series still existed in operation, in fact I saw 2 just outside of Hiroshima).

It was a pretty easy journey and once arrived at Hiroshima, I was downstairs, collecting a map and making my way to the Tram Stop… I mean Streetcar Stop for the journey to my hotel.

Hiroshima to Narita – Wednesday 31st August

This is the longest day of train travel I would have on this trip which meant if I wanted to be at Narita at a half decent hour to relax etc it meant being up at OMG o clock for an early train out of Hiroshima. Things were not looking up the day before when I had totally misunderstood my train time, thinking it left 5 minutes later than it would. Woops! But I was up, ready and good to go and in a taxi on the way to the station with plenty of time. Even the cab driver wanted to make sure I had plenty of time and made sure that the 5 minute cab ride would be ok.

I had found online a good timetable with the station platform arrival and departures for all the trains that go in and out of the stations, so I was fully prepared this time. As it was going to be a morning of tight connections, I was fully prepared. Today’s journey would have me in 3 sections. Hiroshima to Osaka, Osaka to Tokyo and Tokyo to Narita. All in all around 7 hours of Travel time but about 6 inside the trains themselves . When I arrived at Hiroshima station there was pretty much nothing open, not even Macdonalds so I just did my usual. Read and people watch (not that there was many people around). I did score photo wise with a 500 series Shinkansen pulled into the platform behind me running as a Kodama to Shin Osaka and a 100 series Shinkansen arriving into Hiroshima terminating its journey. What luck!! Soon enough my train arrived, a 700 series (boo) Rail Star (yay!)

Hikari 542 – Sanyo Shinkansen
Hiroshima to Shin-Osaka
0715-0854
Ordinary Car – Car 8 – 700 Series Rail Star

This was my first journey on the Rail Star which isn’t to much different on the outside than a standard 700 series but where it differs is inside. Inside they are only Ordinary seats, no green car and its only 2-2 seating. No piggy in the middle on this train, which means the seats are bigger, more comfortable as well. More like a Green Car for the entire train. It looked good. Pretty soon we were under way. I read for a little while before trying to call home to wish my mum a belated happy birthday and then broke out my prepacked breakfast I had cobbled together from the Grocery stores in Hiroshima.

As the train cruised north, I half looked out the window, half read and half consumed my breakfast. I was going to miss the small cans of coffee you can get and after trying a very wide range it was hard to pick a favourite, but either way, coiffee in a can rocks. Where else can you get your coffee hit from a vending machine in small enough doses you don’t feel guilty having several!

It was a pretty unremarkable train journey as the same with the way down, it is mostly tunnels between Hiroshima and Osaka so the book was a fantastic distraction. I managed to smash through a good 15 chapters on this journey and soon enough we were coming into the outskirts of Osaka. I positioned myself bag in hand, ready to go at the doors so that once we arrived I could jump in a lift/escalator and get myself across the terminal as I only had about 10-15 minutes till my next train so getting stuck/lost was not an option. Thankfully there was a train timetable in the train vestibule and after checking it over, I noticed that the train started in Osaka so it would be easier because as soon as I got to the platform it should be there.

When we pulled up, the lift was directly outside the door I was standing at and managed to make my way to the next train in less than 3-4 minutes and that included trying to find the lift for the new platform after it was not where I thought it would be. The next train was waiting for me on the platform so I jumped onboard and stashed my bag then found out the first bad thing for this journey. I had been seated on the right side of the train… nooooooooooooooo. I needed the left if I was going to get a view of Mt Fuji. Well that is just not good! Without time to go down and get a new seat assignment, I figured I would just move to an unreserved car around the time we should pass Mt Fuji (cars 1-5 would be unreserved and being in Car 7 would mean I wouldn’t have to go to far from my bag).

Hikari 510 – Tokaido Shinkansen
Shin-Osaka to Tokyo
0913-1210
Ordinary Car – Car 7 – 700 Series

The train was extremely empty in my car and would hopefully stay this way if I was lucky. I could hope right? I found my seat, dropped my stuff and quickly jumped back onto the platform for a few photos before getting myself better settled. Within a few minutes the train was rolling out of the station heading for the north and Kyoto. Kyoto was our first stop and it would not be long to get there. Unfortunately my new friend Clare was on the train after mine, so no chance of seeing her today ?

The train pulled out dead on time so we were very quickly speeding north and after getting an estimated time we would be around Mt Fuji from the conductor I proceeded to get stuck into some blog writing and then at Kyoto watched almost the entire car empty out and only be replaced by 3 or 4 people (about 10 or so got off). The cart attendant started walking around tempting me with her fine smelling coffee but I was determined to try and wean myself back off coffee before the end of this trip and getting back home to reality in a short 11 days! I could not believe this trip was coming to an end.

My chance of a window seat in the same car around Mt Fuji dropped dramatically at Maibara when it felt like the entire car filled up, damn! I had a seat mate for only a little while as he departed at Nagoya. The train continued on north, loading and unloading passengers. I tried to focus on my book but just at times could feel myself starting to close my eyes. I set an alarm to wake me up in case I did nod off for approximately 10 minutes or so before we got to Mt Fuji. Luckily I had no threat of falling asleep at this time really as by now I was wide awake.

Since the car had filled up again after Nagoya there was no chance of me getting the correct side to see Mt Fuji from the same car and I couldn’t be bothered trapsing back to the unreserved seats, so I just hung out in the vending machine area near a window till I could see what I thought was Mt Fuji. Again, cloud. A lot of cloud. We passed Fuji station dead on time as pointed out by the conductor and then I wasn’t to disappointed.

I returned to the seat and continued to read, there was less than an hour left of this journey as we started to come into the more outerlying areas of Tokyo. Once we hit Shin-Yokohama I knew we did not have much time left to go and as Shinagawa approached, I packed up my stuff and made a break for the end of the carriage to extract my suitcase so I could get out of the car quickly. I had decided after getting stuck in the most uncomfortable seats from Osaka I was going to use up some of the last of my Cash and upgrade to Green Car for the Narita Express. I just needed something comfortable and some support for my back really.

After pulling in my first stop was to hunt for a bento box for lunch which after the first stand I found was charging exhorbitant rates so found the Newdays (convience store) which was full of people getting bentos and rice balls so figured they must be good and they were cheap as well. With lunch in hand I headed over to change my ticket over to Green Car and after spending some of my last cash on the ticket, I walked across Tokyo station all the way to the NEX platforms which were on what felt like the extreme other end of the airport.

Unfortunately there are no seats on this platform around near where I wanted to be and since I knew the Green car ends of the platform would be less crowded I just stood around and waited.

NEX 27 – Narita Express
Tokyo to Narita Airport Terminal 2
1303-1355
Green Car – Car 12 – E259 NEX

Soon enough the first half of the NEX arrived and then shortly after I boarded we were headed off. I got my blogging out of the way then sat back to enjoy my lunch as we cruised out of Tokyo in the peace and quiet of the Green Car.

With the update in my blogging done, I dropped the laptop back into my bag and secured it in the luggage area and returned to my seat for what was my first ever onboard Bento box in Japan. After almost 10 days of rail travel I was finally getting my bento box. It had taken this long as most of the trains I had booked onto were either early morning or late afternoon.

I had picked the healthiest looking bento (nothing in Japan is perfect) and also since I had not had a rice ball/triangle (onigiri) either I grabbed one of them as well, but I wasn’t sure what flavor or filling was in it, so it was a bit of a random luck going on. O well! The food was good and pretty soon we were passing through Chiba and then Narita itself. This is the way to travel I was thinking to myself. A comfy seat, plenty of space, peace, comfort and quiet. What more can you want (well a hot coffee in hand would be nice but an Iced Tea will have to do).

Pretty soon we got the arrival warning into Narita Terminal 2 and I was up and getting my bags ready. I knew that the train would not spend long at Terminal 2 so didn’t want to spend much time screwing around and I had Wasabi Kit Kats to find in Terminal 2 while waiting for the hotel shuttle. Once off the train, up into the terminal and explaining to the Security that I was just changing to a hotel shuttle, I was up into the Terminal hunting for weird flavoured chocolate.

by ·Comments Off on Trip Report – Around the World on a Star – London to Tokyo

After what was a good day spent exploring more of London, I ended up heading back to the hotel on foot from Waterloo station in the rain. Not a good start unfortunately. The day was meant to go better as I was going to go by Tube from Waterloo to Paddington and then pick up the Heathrow Express from there. Yeah that is not going to work in the rain. So after running from the station to the hotel (a good half a kilometre) I grabbed my bag and jumped in a cab for Paddington Station.

The almost 20 Quid cab ride was pretty much as expected, was over half what I paid for my HEX ticket but to be honest, a 500m walk in the rain with a suitcase was not ideal. But I was at Paddington Station, dry and relaxed. First hurdle over. I walked towards the HEX platforms (6&7 according to the signs) and it turns out I had literally just missed the last train by like a minute or two. Damn. But that meant I had a good amount of time to sit, relax and enjoy the free wifi in my first class seat while I wait. Yeah not gonna happen.

Pretty much I was the only person in the carriage for quite some time, but the wifi just would not connect. Bummer. Even after speaking with the conductor he just didn’t seem to care, so by the time I gave up on trying to get it to connect we were on our way to Heathrow. A family of 4 had joined us by this stage and the train journey just does not feel like 15 minutes. This train is amazingly good. Gotta love it!

Soon enough I was being dumped out at the station between terminals 1 & 3. I made my way up out of the rabbit warren that is the Train Station up to street level and to the Departures area of Terminal 3. But here is where plans go awry again. I had planned to be at the terminal nice and early, to hopefully check in and get lots of plane spotting done, as I was still hunting the Retro jet and I was sure I was going to get some weird, wonderful and random aircraft. Hopefully. But check in was closed and wouldn’t open for another 30 mins. So off I trapsed to get some cash converted, but I couldn’t even do that as he did not have enough Japanese Yen.

So after waiting it out in the line for check in (no seats around so may as well act like a gate lice) check in opened and I was checked in first for the business section (another man was checked in first for first class.. lucky bugger). But with that done, I walked around and checked out departures, got my cash exchanged as suggested at the main point (then found out that there was a 2nd brand of Currency Exchange so might of gotten a better rate… damn) and went in search of some “Tablet” a kind of Scottish Chocolate Fudge, but I could not find any.

Cleared through security using Fast Track which was actually very Fast but I was very slow, making sure I had everything out and did not get frustrated as I stripped off for the dignity dance. No shoes off though so that was a change. Through security, through “Passport Control” where it was a “Did you enter on this passport” “Yes” “Thank you”, all of a few seconds, wow… thorough. Then you are dumped out at what seems the worlds largest duty free store. I browsed through the watches as they had the brand I like, but did not buy as I was keeping all my shopping now really for Hong Kong. But I did end up picking up some Shortbread as a gift using the last of my coinage and some mens cologne as I was running out.

With that I wandered the halls a little, managed to score a photo of a Turkmenistan 757 at one of the gates, gave up and headed for the Singapore Lounge to see what it was like and I was told it had good views. They let me in surprisingly as I was instructed to go to the London Lounge. The Singapore Silver Kris Lounge was ok, nothing spectacular but it would do the job. Unfortunately it did not have the best views and it seemed what I thought was the London Lounge did, so I was going to change over (but what I saw was the Cathay Lounge instead).

I trapsed the short distance to the London Lounge and this is more my style, love the Scandanavians really as this is the SAS lounge, so fully of Ikea and Sven from Sweeden. Hah. But really the views were awesome, so out came the SLR, the food was good, lots of vegies for me to graze on with a good variery of snacks etc. Lots of them. But all in all, it was a good choice. I grabbed some drinks, some nibbles and camped out by the windows where I had good views of the active runway and was pretty much in the right spot for some shots of the landings as they pulled onto the Taxi Ways.

Lots of good things went past, Korean Cargo, Singapore Cargo, Emirates, Etihad, Royal Air Maroc from all the ones I remember but I am pretty sure I took several hundred photos again. Soon enough it was time to head to the lounge after picking up a few magazines to get me through the flight just in case. I headed towards the boarding gate a little early to make sure I got onboard with plenty of time to take some photos of their new product.

All Nippon Airways (ANA)
NH202
London Heathrow to Tokyo Narita
1935-1520
Boeing 777-300ER (JA785A)
Business Staggered – Seat 7A

Boarding: 1855 (Gate 307)
Push Back 1929
Take Off Roll: 1949 (Runway 27R)
Top of Descent: 1440
Touch Down: 1513 (Runway 34L)
Shut Down: 1518 (Gate 57)

Boarding was called about 5-6 minutes after I got to the gate so that was good timing! Gotta love it. I was the first person down the Airbridge for Business Class, again beaten by a man in First and some Unaccompanied Minors for Economy. But this meant I had heaps of time to explore the seat in all its goodness.

The first thing that strikes you about the new Business Staggered seat with ANA is the privacy. I could not even see anyone else in the Aircraft without really pushing to try. But to be honest that is probably what they were after. The seats were good and comfortable, plenty of nooks and crannys for storage and a decent overhead bin just for my bag as their seemed to be more than enough space.

The view out my window though, if I turn and look back, a Giant GE90 engine. God DAMN those things are huge (and loud when powering up as well). But that is a good thing, cause I love those buggers. I asked for some water, as the Pre Departure beverages offered were only Orange Juice & Champagne, so I could take some medication. The Flight Attendant actually was very kind and brought me some warm water to help with the medication, love the Japanese service!

After all the playing around getting myself sorted the boarding just flew by and before I knew it, the doors were shut and the air bridge was towed back. But that’s a good thing to as it meant I was now able to sit back and relax. Lots of photos taken as we taxied out and we passed the A380 ramp which was pretty much full (one each for QF, EK & SQ) and headed for 27R the active departure runway. We were about 3 or 4 in the line as we waited and I got to enjoy the Nose Camera View.

As we took off and roared down the runway (and I mean roared as the GE90s have that sound level)we were up in the sky, turning right towards Asia and my next part of this journey. The seatbelt sign stayed on for what felt like an eternity and it turns out it was kept on just in case of Turbulence. But then as they announced this, it came off. Funny that.

I browsed the menu which was at the seat and the Japanese menu sounded amazingly good so thought I would give it a try, gotta get used to Japanese cuisine I guess. But it was going to be a good service as the flight attendant serving my section just could not do enough. So with drink ordered and then shortly drink provided with a few little bites the service began.

The few little bites were like a small medly of yumminess with what I think was some duck, some weird jelly like thing, a little tartlet and also a medly of vegetables and lobster. It was yum++ I asked for some nuts and they didn’t have any but some rice crackers (close enough). Love it with a good drink as I settled in to watch a movie.

As the main meal service started it was looking to be good. The service was just excellent and the meal looked fantastic, full of vegies and some lovely looking smoked salmon. But there was also a few random things for me to try. Looked good. Tasted even better (especially the salmon which was not as smoked as I thought it would be).

The main meal was brought out pretty much as I finished the entrée and then that was just gorgeously prepared, the Sabelfish was tender and the rice and pickles made for a good filler with some warm miso soup. The Dessert though. AWESOME!!! This Ice Cream Parfait beat the pants off the Ice Cream Sundae on Air New Zealand but not as good as the ice cream I had in London at Ice Creaminista (which is a whole other story). After the meal and a quick cup of coffee, I put the seat fully flat and tried to get some shut eye.

The seat, well lets make some reviews shall we. The seat is great in the flat mode, but one little problem. It’s a little narrow around the shoulder area for me, but in saying that, I got about 3 or 4 hours sleep before waking up to try and reset my body clock to Tokyo time. So after a little snack of fruit, some tea I started working on this review and started a new movie (Adjustment Bureau).

As we cruised over Russia the scenery below was great, but after the movie finished I had the window open while I was working (its daylight I wanna be able to see things) I was asked to close the shades to help the baby in the cabin sleep. Damn babies ? O well. I grabbed a snack of some fruit & some cheese and settled in for another movie and did a bit of duty free gift shopping (they have something that would make the perfect gift for someone back home and since I was WAY under budget in Europe and Britain I just had to!) The service on my side was great but at times I wondered if they had forgotten me but to be honest they were just making sure everything was perfect.

After my “breakfast” of cheese & fruit I had asked to have my “lunch” served to me in about an hours time to try and sync up my body clock. I had thought they had forgotten as it came about 20 mins later than what I had wanted but I did not really mind. When I asked for some coffee to go with it, the first cup came cold, so when they refilled it, I mentioned this and the flight attendant brewed a fresh pot for me! Awesome++

Pretty soon after another movie and some more coffee they started warning us about the descent. Now what I did not like was that they took away your headphones a good 30 mins prior to arrival and because the plugs wont accept even normal airline double sockets I could not even use mine. O well. The descent was pretty much cloud and even with the nose camera all I could see was the front nose gear down and nothing but cloud till pretty much the runway but unlike the last landing I had in Narita, this one was smooooth.

After deboarding fairly quickly after a smooth taxi to our gate, it felt like I had to walk the entire terminal to get to the Immigration area where I was through with barely a question. It was baggage that was the issue. Bags took forever. I had to wait a good almost 45 minutes for my bags before they arrived and this was WITH a priority tag. The economy bags had not even started to come out at this point.

With baggage in hand, I went through customs and headed for the JR office to exchange my JR pass. Then it was time to pick up all my rail tickets for the next 2 weeks and then onto the next Narita Express into town. I had expected to get to the hotel around 630pm a good 3 hours after arrival (when my bags started taking their time) and I wasn’t far off it. I was on the 1645 train from Narita to Shinjiku and you are looking at a solid 80 minutes of journey time to Shinjiku (which is the end of the line pretty much). The Narita Express (NEX) was effortless and I paid for an upgrade to the Green car for today as to be honest, I just wanted some space. All my other journeys on JR will be Ordinary Car to keep the $$$ down.

By the time I got to Shinjiku and weaved my way out of the Station (muttering to myself West Exit, West Exit) it was just after 1830 by the time I got to the Shuttle stop and watched the Hyatt Shuttle pull around the corner having just left. O well, a quick 2 min taxi ride to the hotel and I was there and in my room before the next shuttle would of even picked me up!

by ·Comments Off on Trip Report – Around the World on a Star – Berlin to London

Not to early a wake up this morning but still fairly early but unfortunately things didn’t start going my way pretty much first thing, not a good sign. I was intending on eating Breakfast in the lounge and with some financial issues that needed to be worked out, well that meant getting out of the hotel a bit earlier to a place with a more reliable wifi connection (wifi at the Pullman was pathetic!).

I was intending on getting the buses out to the Airport after one from the hotel to the Ubahn Station, then another bus from there to Tegel. But that first bus was running late (as usual it seems in Berlin) and just as I was walking to get a cab from the hotel, bus shows up. Typical. As I roll up to the station, my bus rolls out of the station. Dammit! At least time to grab coffee #1 for the morning. Next bus rolls up late as well but soon enough I am heading towards the airport only about 10 minutes later than I had hoped. The bus ride to the airport was painless.

Upon arrival at Tegel this is where the fun starts. I had read before that at Tegel all the security is done at individual gates so the lounge is landside (awesome), what I did not find out is that check in doesn’t open till just before your flight and that the only way to check in earlier than this is to use the Self Serve Kiosks. So here I am trudging almost the entire length of Tegel to find the right gate, only to be told check in at the gate doesn’t open for 2 more hours. Not even an explanation of what to do. Thankfully a sign close by explained where to check in and drop bags. So with this done, rather than get stuck into some work first I was a bit all over the place so took some time out to eat breakfast and do a bit of errands in the terminal (shop, convert currency that sort of things).

With that all sorted, then it was time to use the internet for a while in the lounge and do all the other things I wanted. I had pretty much decided to head to the gate about an hour before departure to give enough time to go through security and immigration and do a touch of duty free shopping. Glad I had left extra time as once I got through security screening I was pulled aside for secondary, except at Tegel, this means they take you back landside, rescan you, then you have to go back through security, AGAIN! Retarded++

So once finally out into the terminal area and into the tiny little airside area, I had about 10 minutes or so to do some duty free shopping before boarding, perfect timing. Pretty much as I finished shopping, boarding was called.

British Midland(BMi)
BD842
Berlin Tegel to London Heathrow
1100-1200
Airbus A319 (G-DBCK)
Business Class – Seat 1F

Boarding: 1030 (Gate 5)
Push Back 1056
Take Off Roll: 1107 (Runway 26L)
Top of Descent: 1108
Touch Down: 1151 (Runway 27R)
Shut Down: 1155 (Gate 106)

Was one of the first few dozen people onboard which did not worry me as this was my third Euro flight so I knew the service was going to be Spartan. To be honest, I can see why people mainly fly economy in Europe as its pretty much economy in business as well, just with food and extra luggage.

Boarding was uneventful, the whole flight was really uneventful, nothing special to talk about spotting wise, the service onboard was pretty average really. I got fed some fairly good food, some coffee, some diet pepsi, a nice lunch, a good book (well over a quarter into war and peace so far). The eventful part was not really until landing.

We got to burn donuts in the sky over heathrow (expected) but then as we landed it seemed awfully fast but from watching a few landings while we taxied that seemed normal. However what I had also expected was an infamous Heathrow Bus gate. Figures. They had put us into the Domestic Terminal, so we had to be bussed to immigration. Unfortunately the staff onboard this flight, didn’t want to do anything good for the business class guests. As someone came to door 1L they advised we had to disembark by the rear doors but she asked how many business class guests, as she would get them off separately. This is the reply that came “don’t bother there is only 6). So unfortunately I was the very LAST person off the plane onto the bus, so didn’t get to take any shots on the tarmac ride (there was a Star Alliance painted A330 from US Airways I think).

Immigration seemed to me that I was the only person from our flight not from the UK or an EU country so I had to wait behind a flight full of American’s recently arrived onboard United. O well. Immigration took a little while in the queue and then only a light grilling before picking up my bag which was sitting on the baggage belt when I got there, but then only about 3 other bags were left.

I made a mad dash for the Heathrow Express and got onboard just as the doors closed and before I knew it, I was already at London Paddington Station, where a quick stop to get an oyster card and a tube map and I was on my way to Waterloo Station and my next hotel down near Westminster Bridge.

by ·Comments Off on Trip Report – Around the World on a Star – Paris to Berlin

After a late final night in Paris and a wake up at OMG Oclock for a work out to work off that fine french food, I was in a Cab on my way to Charles De Gualle Airport. I made sure I got their early as I knew it could be one of the most confusing airports in the world. Thankfully the taxi drive out (still not a mercedes taxi 🙁 ) was pleasant and over quick and easy. 45 Euros later (pretty good price for it from what i can tell) I was dropped outside Terminal 1 at CDG ready to brave check in.

I found a sign which told me where to go in the airport but it was over quick and easy and quite painless as check in for all Lufthansa flights for Business/First was pretty much empty and soon enough I was boarding pass in hand and with a map from the info booth I was heading towards the gates I needed. I just kept following the signs to the right pier and then I was spat out right at Security.

The Pier Lufthansa use at CDG is quite small (the 60 gates) and once through security I headed straight for the lounge as it was dark out so no good for photos and I had plenty of stuff to do on the laptop as I have been without net for much of the last week, so plenty to plan for the coming week ahead.

The lounge was downstairs in what seems the basement of the Pier and with no windows was quite, how can i put this, clostrophobic. However in saying this it was well lit, nicely appointed and had just about everything you could need/want. I was not going to complain. The lounge had free wifi, free booze (albeit limited) and some free breakfast food if needed (i didnt ablige but it was pretty limited to a french style breakfast really). A few coffees and some wifi was all I needed.

After about an hour or more of work I headed out of the lounge to the gate area to explore the shops a little, work out where I was going along with doing a touch of spotting. Got a good range of Lufthansa aircraft (obviously) and a few other bits and pieces but nothing that exciting (still no retro jet). As the time approached and the gate found, I headed towards the desk as it seemed my seat was not really going to have good views for spotting on the taxi out. So I approached the desk and they moved my seat. Literally as they did this, boarding was called.

Lufthansa
LH3241
Paris Charles De Gualle to Berlin Tegel
0855-1030
Boeing – 737-500 (D-ABIX)
Business Class – Seat 3F
Boarding: 0831 (Gate 62)
Push Back: 0850
Take Off Roll: 0858 (Runway 27L)
Top of Descent: 0956
Touch Down: 1017 (Runway 26R)
Shut Down: 1020 (Gate: 10)

Once down the Air Bridge I was the 2nd person onboard the aircraft and noticed that this 735 was fitted with the new Slimline seats. Although typical Euro Business (ie economy seat just with middle blocked off) the seats were super thin, super hard and quite uncomfortable. Meh not worried, flights in Europe really aren’t that long. I settled into the seat and pretty soon at 0845 more than 10 minutes before scheduled departure the “Boarding Complete” announcement was made, doors shut quickly and off we were going! Gotta love German Efficiency. Obviously not a full flight and Business wasn’t very full at all, but it was ok.

A quick taxi out and no wait for the active departure Runway. We turned quickly, takeoff power set and we were heading for the sky. As we turned back around over Charles De Gualle Airport you can see just how big this airport actually is, but why they make it so hard and complicated I have no idea. Once Seatbelt sign was off, i headed for a quick pit stop (all the coffee and water does that to you) and once I was back at my seat, the breakfast try was already there.

With breakfast all laid out, it was a light, cold breakfast, pretty similar to the swiss flight on the way down but a touch more german (ie cold meats and cheese) and a little bit snacky kind of with cheesecake thingy. But really with coffee I wouldn’t care.

Tablet out to read, music on (since these aircraft don’t seem to be fitted with any form of IFE), coffee in hand and breakfast in front of me, I enjoyed the flight as it seemed to just waste away. What more can you ask for! I will tell you that the flight was super easy although I felt bad having to keep asking for more coffee. The service was decidedly cold and for some reason they just never seemed to be around. No pre departure beverage, no service really all to speak of unless I asked for it. meh!

Pretty soon we were at top of descent and a quick descent down to Berlin Tegel and a quick taxi to the gate. As we disembarked you don’t have to go far for the bags as they come out at the gate! 4th bag off the line (priority tags work yeah!) and i was off to pick up a Berlin Welcome Ticket and jump the bus to my hotel. The Pullman Berlin.