Flo around the world 08

[jhm]

Flo is no choirboy after all! I'm disappointed!

And Nickbot too!

[KeithMEL]

Guess who's on SQtalk now.... Good to see you flo. TaipeiFlyer should be doing you justice as your tour guide in LA....

Ah, welcome!

[nickbot]

Flo is no choirboy after all! I'm disappointed!

And Nickbot too!

I think we all knew, deep down, that that was the case

In my defence, I do know a lot of useless information, including the true meaning of the aforementioned 'stacking' gesture, but have never actually 'stacked' it myself

[flo]

Flight No: QF 402
Departing: Melbourne Tullamarine Domestic
Arriving: Sydney Kingsford-Smith Domestic
Aircraft: Boeing 737-400
Registraty: VH-TJL
Name: Swift
Seat: 13A

It was, again, one of those nights I only slept for an hour tops. singaporu_kooku was the one who woke me up - I guess I would have overslept on my own - so thanks to you buddy! (Gosh, I'm starting the buddy thing like another beloved SQTalker... the over-usage of 'mate' in Australia still shocks me hehe). After a splendid breakfast of egg-tarts, we got ready and left for Melbourne Southern Cross. It actually took us longer there than expected because the train made the whole city loop before reaching the station we needed to get out at. Southern Cross seemed almost deserted apart from early risers catching their flights at Tulla.

It was so nice of singaporu_kooku to take me there and I felt really sad to leave Melbourne so early again. This week in Melbourne felt like it was only a day or two. I suppose it's right what they say: the good times pass too fast. I talked to a guy who was heading to Adelaide on the SkyBus to the airport and he told me he was originally from Brisbane looking to go to the U.S. and Europe asap. He got out at the first stop for the Virgin Blue flights while I stayed in the bus heading for the Qantas Domestic terminal. I got off and made my way to the self-check-in machines because it was way too early for face to face communication. I managed to pass security and make my way to the gate without talking a single word and I was a bit sad that my flight boarded from the worst gate available: A2 does not have a window showing the aircraft we would be taking so I did not manage to get the aircraft registration. Yet.

Boarding Pass ... poor paper quality

I decided to get some souvenirs for my friends back in Austria. I got two lovely plush Wombats that were so big, I decided that once I'd get to Sydney, I'd stuff them into my checked luggage. I could not check my baggage through to Auckland which was expected anyway, so I needed to pick up my baggage at Sydney and recheck at the Air New Zealand counter in the international terminal. I had absolutely no clue about how to proceed there but I honestly did not care because I already thought of the muffins they would serve me aboard again. So I was really looking forward to the Koru Lounge at Sydney, knowing they would probably serve me better food than Qantas. Also keeping my transit time in mind, I did not have my hopes high to see much of the Koru Club, though.

My flight

It seemed like Qantas had some problems with their ground-based computer systems at our gate so we had to wait a while before being allowed aboard. The crew was most welcoming and I did some out-of-the-window planespotting, seeing an SQ Boeing 747-400 (sorry, no registration), an armada of Airbus 330's by Air China, China Eastern, Cathay Pacific, Korean Air and two Emirates birds: A Boeing 777-200 and one of my favorite aircrafts ever, an Airbus A 340-500. The star was the Wunala Dreaming Boeing 747-400 though. Stunning bird! We had to wait for two Virgin Blue 737-NG's to take off but we skyrocketed into the sky and reached our cruising altitude in nearly no time at all. There was a Melbourne based lady who works in the Aussie taxation office (or so); unfortunately her disclosed material was far to unimportant (risk matrices ... ewww) for me to read, so I plugged in my iPhone and got some of my daily Snow Patrol.

Seats on Qantas.

Then, finally, my moment has arrived: breakfast time! Bring on the muffins! I was so hungry I just had to go for it, whether I liked to or not. But lucky that I was, there were no muffins this day. We had cereals and some weird kind of roll stuffed with spinach. It wasn't good but it wasn't bad though! But somehow I came to realize that it cannot be helped: not every airline can serve food like SQ or on short hops like Austrian. I really like Qantas but in terms of breakfast, I would choose some airlines over the Australian flag carrier. Next time I will probably try Virgin Blue and go for their wraps

Brekkie by QF. Finally the good stuff.

We landed safely in Sydney and I made my way to the baggage claim where my bag was already waiting for me. Cheerio! I went down two floors and took the train (which cost me about 5 more dollars!) to the International Terminal.

Finally: A view of my machine!

What have I learned from this flight:
- Not all meals on QF suck. The spinach roll was fine!
- If there is a choice between 737's and 767's, go for the smaller plane.
- The CityFlyer fleet is apparently pretty dated, go for the 737-NG planes!
- Don't grab your boarding pass at the self-ceckins: you will literally get a 'paper ticket' - no pun indeed

[flo]

Sydney Kingsford-Smith Airport
Check-in for Air New Zealand was at the J counters. A pity that the train dropped me off next to the A counters - meaning I had to walk all the way up the terminal. Luckily, there was nobody queuing at the Business Class lane but I still had to wait 15 minutes. On the one counter, an Aussie apparently booked tickets and forgot to renew his passport which expired. On the other one, there was a group of British girls that were rather corpulent in their physique. They had to stuff things from their onboard carriage into their checked baggage so that took some time. Just listening to them made me want to smash my head against the wall: They giggled like schoolgirls and were apparently so obsessed with Aussie sports players, they honestly did not have any other topic to talk about. But wait before I get carried away by other people's behavior - this has a reason.

Mind the queue. Having gold status helps. A LOT.

Anyway, when it was finally my turn, I got my exit row, checked my bag thru Auckland and got a nice card to clear the upcoming queues faster. Pretty neat. I did some plane-spotting and saw a MH 747-400 'Johor Baru', SQ 747-400 '9V-SPH' and big daddy A380, a Virgin Atlantic A340-600, some various other Airbus tails of Emirates, Etihad and others. I instantly went for the Koru Club and entered without anybody checking up on me. Not a bad thing haha.

The spirit of the zephyr hines at Sydney. How majestic it looks .....


Welcome to the Club!

The lounge is great: a good view of the apron, a descent selection of food, sparkling wine available, free wi-fi and best of all: showers. Feeling a bit fevery, I only opted for a cheese platter and some soft drinks. I just cannot drink alcohol in the morning so I passed on the bubbly and the Kiwi wines.

Lounge overview


... well it looks good.


Chair-io!

After some bird-watching, I saw today's baby arriving from Auckland and I was quite excited: another Star Alliance livery plane I took! Boarding was not called out although the lady at the entrance said it would be, so I was a little late. Anyway, I boarded the plane first because priority was given to Business Class passengers and Star Golds.

Another Star Alliance livery. Sweet!

What have I learned at SYD:
- Transferring between domestic QF/DJ and intl. flights costs time and money.
- Be very early at the check-in! Preferably: have status!
- The Koru Club is easily the best lounge so far.

[flo]

Flight: NZ 704
Departing: Sydney Kingsford-Smith Terminal 1
Arriving: Auckland International
Aircraft: Airbus A320
Registration: ZK-OJH
Seat: 12A

The seat next to me stayed empty but on the C seat, there was one of the British girls from the check-in sitting, chatting with her companion who was located in the D seat. Great stuff - earplugs! ... Anyway, the flight attendants on this flight were so gorgeous. Especially Belma, a dark-haired girl, made the short hop really pleasant for me. Not only did she appoint me to my seat, she also was great to look at: she smiled all the time and was very welcoming. Totally fitted her pretty appearance. I really like it when people love what they are doing. You instantly know you are in good hands when these people take care of you and Belma was not only the best looking FA I had on my RTW trip, she also did everything she had to do with a smile and passion for her job. Unfortunately I was too shy, but also too sleepy to snatch a photo of her

The cabin ... well at least a shy shot of it

Right after take-off I fell asleep and woke up when meal service commenced. There was some kind of salad or a ham and cheese sandwich up for choice and I opted for the sandwich which was really tasty. It was toasted and hot (!) ... the melted cheese inside was delicious. I didn't even have any drinks because I usually go for coke on planes but I wanted to sleep another round, which I thankfully did after my empty meal-tray was taken care of. Right before touch-down, I woke up and filled out my immigration card.

The sandwich and egg-salat.

There were no surprises at my landing: the A320 had a rough one as expected and used the whole runway to brake. I saw, again, two Emirates birds at the gates. One was an Airbus A340-500 and the other one was too far out of my sight, I could only see her tail.

Final view of my ride to AKL.

I made my way for the immigration and biosecurity authorities. They were most welcoming and friendly - I had absolutely no problems at all there. Outside, I bought an AirBus return ticket and waited for my bus to arrive. When the bus came, I took my seat and instantly fell asleep. It must have been at least one hour later when I woke up. I looked around me: still the same people and still not near the city. The bus driver dropped me off directly at the Mercure Auckland and I thankfully dropped off, checked in at the hotel, went to my room and fell asleep.

What have I learned from this flight:
- NZ flight attendants are stunning!
- They serve good food, even in Y.
- The A320 leather chairs lacked PTVs but they were really comfy
- The exit rows on the A320 are great!
- Star Gold status really pays off at NZ!

[flo]

Auckland
Just to check, I did a little thing I always do when I travel: inventory checks. lol. Till now, I managed to lose following items:

- My Nike cap (forgot it on the KUL-SIN flight)
- My green iPod sock (must have fallen out of my jacket in SYD)

After some refreshing 18 hours (!) of sleep (Dane Cook would call this a brief coma), I woke up at 3 pm - still sleepy. I had a slight fever so I took my meds and went for a quick stroll to buy the basics that would get me through the day: mints for my bad breath, instant ramen for my stomach that was already complaining, a 2.25 liter (heck, why no round numbers? slight autism here lol!) fanta bottle and oven-frehs cookies (if you happen to be in Auckland, at Queen's Street, there is a shop that makes great cookies! You can smell them when you are nearby: get the double chocolate chip cookies! they are a blast!). I took some pictures and went to my room again. After some episodes of "How I met your mother" I decided to go to Subway, grab a sandwich and watch a movie. Knowing me and my stories, you probably know that I instantly fell asleep during the movie.

Mrs. Higgins Cookies at Queens Street. Delicious!


My Nikon makes Subway sandwiches look delicious!

The second day in Auckland was rather unexciting as well. Auckland, somehow, apparently is not my place at all, in terms of going out and partying like a madman but a very comfortable place to freshen up. Given the action I already enjoyed in Melbourne and Singapore, Auckland seemed like a sleepy nest to me. This could be due to the facts that a) I did not have a clue where to go and what to do and b) I did not knew anybody in Auckland besides Kiwi who unavailable for the first three days of my stay.

The Auckland SkyTower. When you're lost in AKL, just look for it!

I woke up at 12, headed out to the SkyTower and had a meal at McDonald's (first time!) because SQFlyergirl recommended me to get a special burger there. As far as I can remember, she was referring to the Boss Burger, they did not have anymore. They only got the Kiwi Burger and some other burger called Chief Burger or so. Cannot recall its name, sorry. Anyway .... one thing that really rocks is how gorgeous the pictures of my dSLR camera are! I only have the Nikon D60 and a starter lens, plus I am a novice on photography, but fast food never looked this good as on my photos. Have a look yourself - this is the Kiwi Burger!

The Kiwi burger.

I went to the internet cafe and had some refresher course on Austrian local politics ... what a waste of time and went to the supermarket later on. As you can guess, the 2.25 liter bottle of Fanta was the obvious choices besides cup ramen and potato chips (yes, chips - not fries!) to endure the night. I went opposite the hotel to a local cafe that had free Wi-Fi. Cheerio - if I only knew this earlier ... but there is always a next time, I suppose.

The view from my room. 5 stars deluxe for 150€ for 3 nights!

Thinking about my trip on Sunday, the evil genius inside of me forged a plan. I would tell the check-in agent my story how badly I wanted to try out the Premium Economy product of Air New Zealand and how United would deny me paying up for it in hope she would give me an upgrade or so. The thought of 12hrs in Y scares me a bit - not because I have become picky over the days - but rather because I really wanted to try the Premium Economy and would have paid the 300 US$ gladly, knowing I could ride the upper deck once more. Anyway, given the misfortunes I've already encountered (SQ seat on DME-SIN, OLCI not working at all,...) and lucky things that happened (upper deck on the A380, premium treatment in Y because of *G on NZ) I really wanted to stress my luck one more time before my upcoming first business class trip on United 22 from LAX to JFK.

Apart from that, Auckland has not been too exciting but very relaxing for me. I needed that break. All in all, I came here, slept here, broke a chair at the hotel here (hey, I think it was already broken when I came here), had a beer and left. Although, when I went out for a cup of tea in the coffeeshop nearby, I came to see Aucklands wicked nightlife. U-turning cars in the middle of the street, drunk teenagers laying in the gutter and people heading to the next bar. Unfortunately I had to be awake the next day at 9 because my checkout was at 11, so I went to bed after a cup of tea and after I did my laundry. Yes, folks, I am a guy who can iron his shirts

But before departing for LA, I still managed to meet up with another SQTalker. Kiwi took me to a great beer-brewery called Galebraith's Alehouse. I had a small appetizer, a beer and a cup of coffee which was great but apparently nobody ever orders it; the waiter even had to laugh when I wanted it. I got on the Airbus once again and off I was for the next leg of my grand escapade. My ride on the bus took about 50 minutes - acceptable in very bad traffic conditions (on a Sunday).

Premium check-in ahead!

As Kiwi suggested, I headed to the premium check-in lounge which was very efficient. The lady at the check-in counter wasn't able to upgrade my ticked but made sure I had a whole row for myself blocked out. I guess three Y seats are better than one Y+ seat! Great stuff. I showed my passport to the immigration agent at the premium check-in lounge and made my way to the lounge. I had some food, drinks, Skype calls with home and a refreshing shower there and I was pleased that my seat neighbour on the couches was a girl bound for Vancouver on her MacBook, and not the grumpy couple who sat beside me before.

Showers. Good amenities, no picture, though


Little lounge view

I ran for my flight and the boarding agent said "you made it right on time!" ... phew. So premium boarding was already over but at least I made it on time.

Still... boarding

[flo]

Flight: NZ 2
Departing: Auckland International
Arriving: Los Angeles - Terminal 2
Aircraft: Boeing 747-400
Registration: ZK-NBS
Name: Bay of Islands
Seat: 37K

Upon entering the aircraft, a male flight attendant greeted me and I honestly had to hold my breath because he basically smelled like he bathed in red wine. I made my way to 37K and passed the premium economy class which did not look too impressive to me. Luckily, I did not upgrade on cash because I probably would have been disappointed. I got comfy and instantly started to watch the new Narnia movie again. After an SQ bird landed in front of my eyes (what a sight!), we departed into a rainy and stormy night.

My row of seats. Unfortunately the armrests do not go up all the way.


My seat width on one seat.


Kia Ora!

Although the plane featured the new Air New Zealand seats, it still looked pretty worn. You could easily tell that this plane was pretty old and checking on the internet, NZ got this baby in 1991. Well, at least some nostalgia here! The FA's came around with the first couple of drinks and as I wanted to sleep right through the flight, I did not go for my usual can of coke but for plain water instead. Meal service commenced and I chose the lamb they had over the fish. The meal did not really strike my taste nerves but it was quite ok. I ordered a glass of Sauvignon Blanc which was still excellent before I finished my dinner and as if it was planned, the movie ended, my meal tray was removed and I got tired. So I had some 5 hours of sleep before I woke up somewhere past the international date line.

Food!


Dawn!


Crossing the border for the first time!


A view from the wings (dedicated to jjpb3).

I could not believe how bad the air condition was because I was so short of breath, I could not believe it. As I saw that another passenger in the other row got a bottle (!) of water, I asked the FA if I also could have one - I was really thisty and I knew that one cup would not be enough for me. The FA replied with a very loud voice and a ridiculing tone, that they don't hand these out aboard and all the passengers near me looked at me. This was really embarassing and because I am not a PITA pax I did not want to cause more commotion and asked if he could bring me some cups because I was feeling like I kissed the desert. He came around, brought me two cups and disappeared. i was still thirsty and short of breath

So I had another round of sleep, breakfast commenced and the plane was pretty much prepared for the landing. As usual on Boeing 747s, the landing was soft as a baby's bottom. I hardly felt anything at all - splendid. So we taxied about 30 minutes to get to our gate and I spotted an SQ bird there was well.

Brekkie was okay-ish.


Seeing another SQ bird!


NZ2 on her further way to London-Heathrow! My plane!

We parked at terminal 2, together with two Air France, one KLM and one Virgin Atlantic flight. I tried to get to the immigration counters ASAP but the room was full (!) ... I made taipeiflyer wait for about two hours because I got stuck here at immigration. The system there is really weird: as a US citizen, you get though pretty quickly and when all the US guys are through, they would add some counters for the visitors. They divided us up into arriving planes for the lanes which caused a major chaos. Welcome to the US!

[flo]

Los Angeles

Beverley Hills, that's where I want to be! Living in Beverley...
- Weezer

taipeiflyer was already waiting for me with his girlfriend and I instantly felt welcome and at home here in the US. It's always nice to see familiar faces and I was really happy to see his after we did not really get to hang out at Melbourne. We had a drive to my hotel which was the Radisson at Culver City. I got the hotel off Priceline for a very good fare and the location was just splendid. Everybody kept telling me to stay away from Downtown and many people were really worried about me because LA is apparently a very dangerous place.

I made it to my room and I was nearly in shock when I saw how big it was. It had two beds in it - which pretty much sucks when you're traveling alone - but at this price, everything was okay. I wouldn't stay in much anyway. So I also found out that the internet service was complimentary and I hooked myself up to the net to check SQTalk, various social networks I am on and skyped with good ol' Austria again.

In the evening, I met up with taipeiflyer who showed me Venice and Venice beach after we had "dinner" and watched the sun go down. Well, we basically had desert as we basically celebrated his birthday and I had this amazing cheesecake (again) while he had a little chocolate cake. Afterwards we went for a few beers at the Otheroom where he introduced me to two beers I do not recall the names of and the famous Belgian Hoegaarden. We went down to the beach where we had the best hot dogs I've ever had before he took me home and I went to sleep.

The. Best. Hotdog. Ever.

Having spent about 12 hours in the air the previous day ... well it was the same day, making this the longest sunday of my life (basically 48 hours) ... I woke up at 6 AM again and chatted with home again. taipeiflyer picked me up and we had burgers at the Counter. The burger I had there was the BEST burger I have ever had. So LA really kept surprising me as people over in Austria told me that there is nothing to do in LA and I already had such a great time here without even going to the touristy places like Santa Monica, Beverley Hills and Hollywood. I know now that if you have a great person showing you around, LA is a great city and not dangerous at all. Venice at night is even safer than Singapore, I suppose: I could see nobody on the street and I really did not feel anxious at all.

The burger order list.


The. Best. Burger. Ever.
Horseradish cheese, egg, onions, lettuce, tomato and classic bun.

Afterwards we dropped by taipeiflyer's place, picked up his buddy K. (not Mr. K. alias KenLeeHo - welcome aboard mate!) and went surfing. Knowing me, this is something I normally would not do but this trip I promised myself to try out new things whenever there is the possibility to do so. Surfing was like one of the greatest experiences in the world: we went to Manhattan beach where the sea was not very nice to us - but still great for me as a first-timer. I usually hate water, the sea etc. because it is simply my anti-element being a double air zodiac sign. This was really something that made me open up to a whole new element - for any of you out there who has not tried it: please try it, surfing is so great!

We went out for dinner again with another SQTalker: zander just flew in from Singapore and got opped-up to Business Class. Sweet. We had dinner at this japanese place and while taipeiflyer opted for the Sashimi Platter and zander had the Salmon Dinner, I decided to go with the Teriyaki chicken. Afterwards we called it a day and after the surfing, I had a pretty good sleep in my comfy bed at the hotel.

My teriyaki

My final day at LA began with walking around Culver City, having a sorbetto at Starbucks. taipeiflyer picked me up and to my surprise he brought along HUGE AL who just flew in from Seattle to meet me and zander. What a great gesture! You've got to pay respect to people who do that! taipeiflyer, HUGE AL and me picked up zander at his hotel and we had dinner at this Korean place which was outstanding: Chosun. We had grilled beef and the meat was so soft, it nearly melt in my mouth. Afterwards we hung out but I won't go into the details here ... all I can say is that it was a great evening with much talking, drinking and airline-stuff as we went for an encore at HUGE AL's LA residency and checked out airfares and my bmi ticket for next easter. So far I got my way out of Europe booked up all the way to Taipei - the other sectors had to wait. So ... what I wanted to say was that it was one of those evenings you probably never forget in your life: good conversation, good laughs and awesome people. I do not need touristy stuff as long as I can have that so having missed out on the famous places and the shopping pretty much does not matter to me because I know I did the best with my time!

The Hummer! The first I ever stepped into. Simply a monster!


Does anybody know what this means? (Chosun)


me, HUGE AL, taipeiflyer, zander


sounds dodgy but tastes delish:
potatoes with cheese, ham and foie gras

I did not want to call it a day because it was such a great evening but I had a flight the next morning so I had to head home. taipeiflyer and I shared a cab and I had to pack in like 20 minutes ... which I did and I was pretty relieved that everything fitted my suitcase. Well, I did not have any time to work on my shopping-list yet so I basically left it for NY.

After checking out, the shuttle bus was already waiting and I was chatted up by the crew of United Airways who were on their way to Charlotte and Boston. They were super friendly and this one FA even gave me one of his plenty apple strudels. He was actually from Singapore, worked with SQ for over ten years in their San Francisco branch on SQ 1/2 and switched airlines afterwards. US is his tenth airlines after SQ. They got off at terminal 2, while I take a ride around the LAX signature building before I was dropped of between terminal 6 and 7, right where the United premium check-in is. I made my way to the check-in agent who greeted me in an extremely friendly way. Through security and into the Red Carpet Club I went...

The LAX Terminal 7 RCC is nothing special. Basically no food selection at all, alcoholic drinks for a fee and only coffee, tea, oj and water to take free of charge. I had a coffee while eating the strudel and tried to hook myself up onto the internet which unfortunately was not complementary as well. So I did some offline TR writing while the time passed and I had to rush to my gate. I boarded my plane which was departing from gate 74.

Sorry this section does not have more pictures - I spent most of my time out and did not bring along my cam

[flo]

Flight: UA 22
Departing: Los Angeles - Terminal 7
Arriving: New York John F. Kennedy - Terminal 2
Aircraft: Boeing 757-200
Registration: N510UA
Seat: 6D

Premium boarding was strictly enforced and I instantly saw my seat. Besides the exit row seats located some more rows behind this one, these are the best Business Class seats in the house. The seat was really comfy and I instantly felt happy riding in the front. This was basically my first Business Class flight in "proper" Business Class, only having flown some intra european routes before and an op-upped flight on China Airlines from Taipei to Hong Kong on a Boeing 747-400's upper deck.

Today's ride. Premium Service UA to JFK!


My seat: 6D!

My neighbour finally arrived and instantly fell asleep. Welcome drinks were served and I had the champaign - KeithMEL style ... take off was great because I was sitting in front of the plane and I had three windows all to myself. Cheerio! I instantly reclined and put my footrest up, having a very angled bed to finally get some sleep. Initially I did not want to sleep and have this Business Class experience without any break but my body would not allow me to pull off an all-nighter and no sleep afterwards. The pillow and blanket were Heavenly Bed products by the Westin - absolutely great stuff!

Bubbly here we go!


The legroom.

Breakfast was served and I had the omelet over the other two choices. I probably should have gone for the pancakes but the omelet was pretty good as well. I dozed off after watching an episode of The Office. The Archos media player they had was pretty bad because the navigation was some kinda dodgy and they only had stuff I have already seen (30 Rock, How I met your mother, Simpsons, My Name is Earl... various movies there like Atonement) or stuff I did not want to watch (Desperate Housewives). The sleep in the angled seat was quality sleep; I slept like a baby ... even through some pretty nasty turbulences that lay on my way this day. I woke up when the snack was served and I had the chicken dish which was pretty descent.

Warm bagel. Wow. So good.


Brekkie.


Watching the Simpsons, tucked in my blanket!

The flight attendants were lovely. Especially the lady who took care of me. While I was waiting for the toilet to free up, we chatted in the galley and she asked me where I came from because she could not figure out my accent. I asked her and she said I had Californian, New York and some British influences. We had a nice chat in the galley and she took a photo of me in my seat. Later on she even came to me and told me that if I told her earlier that I wanted pictures, we could have "gone crazy with the camera in the F cabin" SkySuites olé!

Snackie.

Soon afterwards we made our descent into sunny New York JFK airport which looked not like a busy airport at all. We instantly landed, made out way for T2 and docked on and I basically only saw two or three BA birds, one Iberia and that's about it. Was this really JFK or was this a mid-sized British airport?

Me in the J class cabin.

Anyway, whatever I have heard about United did not come true on this flight. The crew was simply great, the food was okay and I got a fair portion of sleep. What more could I ask for? So far, I have never had a bad experience with United and I have to say that service-wise, United Business Class was still better than many flights I have had. So United Business on the p.s. works pretty well for me. Thanks again Steven for making it all possible

[flo]

New York
Priority baggage handling did its job and I was out of the airport in no time. I went to the train that links JFK to Jamaica station where I would connect to the local subway network. When the train stopped at terminal 4 (? Where American Airlines is located), a beautiful blonde girl entered the train. She took the seat right next to me and I was happy. Finally some descent women ... I am just kidding but there is more to this and this is why I tell this story. I went off at Jamaica station and located the E line which would take me to 51st and Lexington. I managed to figure out the NY subway system with a little help and arrived at my hotel, the Roosevelt. The hotel upgraded me to a room with a king-size bed and I cannot really complain at all because I got the hotel off a good Priceline deal. I went for the Times Square at night which was simply unbearable for me at that time - too flashy, too loud, too hot and too cramped. After some initial checkup of NY, I really did not like it. I went to bed and checked out 5th Avenue for some price checking before the serious shopping spree that would follow and I still couldn't really find my NY vibe.

New York, New York! The flag just has to be in here somewhere!


My "vibe" of NYC.

The next day, phaleesy arrived from Milano-Malpensa on Delta and NY finally became better because I did not have to go to places all by myself. Of course we did not share the king-sized bed - as I had not slept very well in those beds, I went for the couch-chairs but calling up bmi in the night, I went for an all-nighter again.

Some shopping and sights followed the next day when jhm and taipeiflyer would arrive later on. Because of the all-nighter, me and phaleesy went for good ol' NY breakfast at some dodgy diner near the southern end of central park and near a jewish church. They gave us the notorious NY attitude of being super-rude although we tipped them generously. They did not even say good-bye or any thanks or so. Rude place and the pancakes were not even that good. Central park was nice to chill-out because I already felt the all-nighter wearing down on me. I went to do some shopping and got to the W Union Square where jhm just checked in. Went for drinks with jhm but because my passport was still in the hotel room, I had to go for the only non-alcoholic drink they had there which wasn't too good. After phaleesy arrived there, I had a wonderful nap in the comfy W bed.

Room at the W Union Sq.

At this point, I want to say something about the W Union Square again. This hotel is definitely a great hotel. I am glad I had the chance to stay there for a night but all the flashy glamour going on there wasn't really my cuppa kopi. The rooms were nice but tbh just hotel rooms. I do not need a W-branded item (yes, everything in there is W-branded: chocolate, bed, CD, intimacy pack, etc. etc.) in every corner of the room to feel well but I certainly did here. The beds are superb and honestly the one thing that makes this hotel stand out for me. I cannot recall sleeping better - I remember, when I was woken up - I did not want to leave this bed at all. The location at Union Square was nice but I prefer the location of the Roosevelt, being closer to the 5th Avenue's grand shops and the Central Park. The amenities provided by bliss are outstanding and smell really good. One thing that annoys me is that the provide some strange designer water for 8$ - why can't they just leave a complementary water of a no-name brand there that I can actually drink when I am thirsty? (Well, there is always the tap...!)

I woke up just before our date with the rest of the party at Peter Luger's steakhouse and we took a yellow cab to go there. Yes, Broadway Brooklyn, not Manhattan! We found the place, waited for the crew to be complete and ordered big-time: two 3-persons platters of steak (medium-rare and rare), fries, cream spinach, onion rings. After the steaks I wanted to have a beer - but we had desert instead: gorgeous sundays with whipped cream (jhm would call it by it's German name "Schlag") and I was so full, I struggled with not throwing up. So no beer for me tonight but one of the best times sleeping. Stuffed and tired combined with the wonderful mattress at the W equals to at least another 12hrs of sleep for me.

Starters: Bacon!


Mains: Bring on the meat!


My plate.

I overslept the brunch at the Blue Water Grill and jhm had to come up to the hotel room to check on me. I made my way to the place, ordered my first egg Benedict's and went back to the W, waving jhm goodbye as he went back to London. Me and phaleesy went back to the Roosevelt and went up the Empire State building afterwards. We were lucky we saw the sun go down which provided the optimal scenery for our pack of cameras. My pictures are not too good but I figure phaleesy has a few ones in awesome quality herself. Both of us were so tired afterwards, we wanted to go to this great burger place in Madison Square Park but it was closed already so we went to a place on Union Square - I bet phaleesy has the name of it and I had a good burger and a NY style cheesecake to get to some strength again. But yeah... I went to bed afterwards

The typical rooftop pic ... luvin it!


View from the top.

[flo]

Well-deserved burger.


O M G! Somebody murdered the cheesecake!

When I woke up the next day, phaleesy was already off to having her shopping fix whilst I queued up for the Abercrombie & Fitch store again, did some final shopping and made my way for JFK.

Getting there was fairly easy and I found myself in the check-in row sooner than expected. As both Business Class counters were occupied, I was waived over to the First Class check-in. The agent there was so great: he asked me about my crazy routing...

CA: "Mister? Seriously, you want me to send your bag from JFK right through Frankfurt?"
FW: "... and Amsterdam."
CA: "Frankfurt and Amsterdam."
FW: "... and Copenhagen."
CA: "Frankfurt, Amsterdam AND Copenhagen."
FW: "... to Vienna, that's in Austria."
CA: "Gosh this routing is frickin crazy, see, I need to print out two bag stubs just because of this crazy routing, don't say you're again one of those FlyerTalkers!"
FW: *innocent smile* "No, no, not directly but something similar!"
CA: "I knew it! You guys are crazy! Here you are..."

as he handed me my boarding pass on which he blocked out the entire row for me. The row was 51 which is directly next to the galley but having earplugs and in-ear headphones with me, this wasn't a problem for me. I was even given a First Class luggage tag because the guy didn't want to reach over to the Business Class tags... sweet.

JFK T4 SWISS Lounge. Outstanding.


Cold platter for me. But I also had a platter of potatoes and chicken-breast.

Off I was for the SWISS lounge which were super. They had hot and cold meals available and all sorts of drinks. A good view of the apron and free Wi-Fi made this lounge stand out for me. I had a shower and a quick meal before I noticed that I was late for boarding, as I forgot this lounge was land-side. So I had to go thru all the security measures and walk to the far end of the gates to reach mine. Reached the gate and came ready for priority check-in! Went through and saw today's baby: 9V-SPQ, one of the few 747-400's in new livery!

What did I learn:
- New York is great but one needs time to accustom to the NY vibe.
- Shopping there is splendid. Very much looking forward to Dec/Jan
- The Roosevelt is a really nice hotel. Would love to stay there again!
- Peter Luger is A W E S O M E! I still crave their steaks!

Acutally Madison Square... but MAD SQ is great too

Flight: SQ 25
Departing: New York John F. Kennedy - Terminal 4
Arriving: Frankfurt Rhein-Main International
Aircraft: Boeing 747-400
Registration: 9V-SPQ
Seat: 51K

9V-SPQ. The legendary SQ 747-400. I just love that baby.

So there she was, the spirit of the zephyr hine, the queen of the skies, the mother of planes, the Megatop that would take me back to Europe. My last flight on Singapore Airlines for this trip and probably for some months. Boarding was proceeded quickly and I was eager to find out if the check-in agent managed to give me the entire row. As I sat down, I came to realize why I would prefer going through Zurich instead of Frankfurt back when the Vienna-bound flights were cancelled: In front of me there were two German men who behaved like total barbarians, ridiculing the FA's, not speaking any English at all and being just PITA's in general. This is not meant as a generalization but I have experienced this on FRA-bound flights on SQ before!

Suite 51 ready for the Flo

I stowed my luggage in the overhead compartments when one male (Shahrin) and one female FA (Hanin) came storming to me ... was this the special treatment entitled to Star Golds (or did a little bird tell the crew that I was a big fan of SQ?) =) ... asking me about my tshirt you guys obviously already know from my other routes. I wore my blue Paul van Dyk VONYC Ibiza Sessions shirt and the FA's really liked it and told me about PvD's concert in Singapore she attended at the Zouk club. I missed the concert by a few days but I came to find out that the male FA was a big DJ Tiesto fan and the girl loved Paul van Dyk. Great stuff. The barbarians in the row in front of me imitated the FA's voices when they laughed and I told the two guys to behave in rude German and they were quiet for the whole flight ... Anyway, the doors of the plane were shut and I had the whole row all to myself! I put on my SQ first class pyjamas and felt totally comfy in my own "space-bed". I got envious looks by the guys in the row in front of me because of my PJ ... they asked me if one could get those on the plane ... well ... yes, but no

It took us a while to take off because there were many Europe-bound flights at that time ... but once airborne, I tried out my new in-ear headphones. They did their job great, playing my typical after-take-off playlist:

Mando Diao - God knows
Snow Patrol - Chasing cars
The Killers - Smile like you mean it
Linkin Park - Leave out all the rest
Gareth Emery - Formentera what?
Motorcycle - As the rush comes

and a minimal-techno encore because the basses of the ultimate ear headphones are simply stunning:

Efdemin - Acid Bells
Dubfire - RibCage

... I just wanted to share this with you because music is an important part of my travels. I love listening to music, especially on my travels. A blue kebaya came around with the first round of drings: I had a coke and a can of Tiger before meal service commenced. But as I already ate so much at the Swiss Lounge, I wasn't really hungry ... gosh I craved for my working-out at home - I did not do anything on this trip besides some situps and pushups lol.

[flo]

My gear: iPhone + Ultimate Ear headphones. Splendid phones!

The meals were distributed shortly afterwards. I had the chicken which was good but I was so stuffed already, I did not finish it. I did not even touch the roll or the cheese and I had my problems eating the ice cream bar they gave us later. The second round of drinks came along and I had a Singapore Sling. Again strong and absolutely brilliant up in the air if you want to get a slight level of alcohol to doze away easier.

Chicken, please.


Swing the sling! One more time!

The crew of this flight was so amazing. Again, not robotic at all but very human indeed. This one blue kebaya took a green kebaya by her hands in the cabin and jumped around because she felt happy - I saw it and she blushed this was so funny. The male FA on my side, Shahrin, was simply great... he called me "Mr. Wagner" when I told him to please call me "Florian" which he did ... he was really friendly indeed always sayig "man" to me, like in "Don't worry about it, man!", "Take care, man" ... I felt really good on this flight and this is a smack in the face of Air New Zealand: the cabin on SQ did not look worn, I had no problems with breathing and the drinks came around regularly so I did not feel thirsty at all. I guess this is what sets apart a 5 star carrier like Singapore Airlines from the rest: SQ never failed to impress me, even in Economy Class. I have never really had a negative experience with them and the more I fly and the more I doubt, the more I always see how much SQ still feels like home!

SQ25. En route.

I instantly fell asleep and when I woke up, it was just before the crew served breakfast. I had the turkey sandwich which was great. A sandwich has to be like this - not like the stuff Lufthansa hands out (but you will see LH's sandwich later!).

Brekkie: turkey sandwich! Now THAT is a sandwich!

I finished my meal and I had some fun with the cabin crew when suddenly godlike treatment kicked in. At this point, I am still too grateful and happy that I lack the words to describe all the great stuff that happened on the flight. All I can say is that the crew was simply splendid and flying SQ has never been greater for me.

Shahrin, me, Hanin. Lovely crew.

We landed in Frankfurt and had a remote gate. I watched the landing in a completely new scenery and I was still so impressed by the way SQ took care of me that I forgot to take along the flight menu! Darn... we had a remote gate and the bus took us to the US-bound terminal in FRA.

The coming home
This was not spectacular at all. I slept right through all the flights I had, especially the last one. LH has been efficient as always, SK was great and OS ... well ... let me tell you a story: I was in CPH waiting for the OS flight and when I finally boarded the plane, I felt like in a charter machine. Holiday tourists from Austria who would chat about the most tiring and obvious things and of course, because that's the true Austrian soul (at least I experienced it a lot) - complaining about stuff. Whether it's politics, the danish people, the food, the weather, ... just everything. So I plugged in my headphones and did not even pay attention to the FA's who were absolutely slimy and not my kind of persons. Note: this was an OS advertised flight but it was actually done by Lauda Air. I will NEVER EVER EVER EVER step on a Lauda plane again if I can predict it's one. I just disliked the ambience in it and I am not being a snob or a guy who usually complains a lot ...

So me, being tired is the reason for no pics of the return journey. It wasn't all too spectacular and I slept right through the whole journey ... but being me, I have a few info for you:

- CPH is a STUNNING airport. Lots of boutiques and awesome architecture. I love it.
- The CPH SAS lounge is probably the best lounge together with the SYD NZ lounge on this trip. DO NOT MISS IT!
- Ew, Lauda.
- SAS was very great, yet very minimalistic.
- FRA seems to have settled down. Nothing changed from when I was there the last time in June.
- The AMS Servisair 1 lounge in the Schengen area is a disgrace to lounges.

Plus: as promised - the LH sandwich...

Pretty poor.

Resumé
This trip has been a real break from home after all. I needed this trip to think straight (well... don't read any funny stuff into this one lol) again. I learned so much about how I love to spend my holidays: I do not need sightseeing and stuff like this; I do not need shopping; but I really need to have a good time with everything I do, like meeting friends, eating out, sleeping in comfy beds and of course flying like a madman. All in all this trip was just too great to be true and the only thing that annoyed me upon arrival in VIE was that my bag wanted to take a day of extra vacations in Copenhagen

Thanks guys for following this report. For some of you it might be too personal, for some it might be too SQ-orientated, for some it might be too nice to everybody ... but to be honest, this is MY way to do it and MY way to express my feelings for this trip. I am not a blind SQ fanboy - as I've already said - I constantly doubt them but they always seem to prove me wrong in my doubts and that's a damn good thing.

So guys, nice meeting you all, finally! There are many people around here I still haven't met ... or did not have the chance to meet (SQFlyergirl, we will meet sooner or later ) and for now ... all I can say is that I am speechless by the sheer generosity, friendliness and welcoming way all people I've met treated me with!

Cheerio, now it's back to Viennese coffeplaces and beerhouses! I am very much looking forward to the Vienna DO in a month! See ya round folks!

xoxo
Florian

[UMD]

Please write more again. Can't wait for the Air NZ Business Class report.

[jhm]

For breakfast:

some weird kind of roll stuffed with spinach.

Exactly what I've said in the past!