Feb 28-Mar 1: Tokyo-Singapore-Sydney

The flight from Tokyo left at 7pm, so I spent another day trying to recuperate, and arrived at the airport at 4pm. As I has spent most of my time in Japan in hotel rooms, I spent some time after clearing immigration looking for souvenirs. Once that was done, I headed off to the Red Carpet Club.

The Red Carpet Club, like the other locations around the world, was big, and rather basic. I then moved on to the ANA lounge. The ANA lounge, while slightly smaller, had a better range. (Spot a pattern?) In addition to sandwiches & sushi rolls, there was a noodle bar with udon & soba, and ice cream on request.

For the flight to Singapore, I managed to reserve the exit row on the upper deck, which is one of the best seats on the plane, as the legroom is plentiful, and the upper deck gives a more private feeling.

After takeoff, dinner was served. Being in Business class, the dinner service was less rushed and more elaborate, with a satay starter. This was followed by a choice of 4 mains:

Stewed beef cheek
Thai red curry chicken
Prawns with pasta in a spicy cod roe sauce
Japanese meal

I chose the Japanese meal, which was a seasonal meal with 9 items, cold noodles and miso soup. The meal was authentically Japanese, and was very good. The non Japanese meals had another seafood starter before their main. This was followed with apple crumble, cheese and fruit. When boarding, I noticed that they had loaded the March in-flight entertainment, which looked better than the February selections, so during dinner, I watched the latest James Bond movie (which is always worth watching).

By this time, a couple of hours had passed, so I reclined, and went to sleep. The seat reclined to almost lie flat, so I found getting to sleep to be fairly easy. I managed to wake up just before landing, and landed in Singapore shortly after 1am.

For the overnight transit, the Krisflyer Gold lounge was open, and deserted, with a total of 2 other people sleeping in the lounge. There were vegetarian noodles out at the late hour, so I grabbed a couple of bottles of water, and surfed the net for most of the night. The breakfast selection appeared at 5am, and included breakfast pastries and chicken congee.

After making last minute duty free purchases, it was time to head to the gate for the 6:30 am boarding. By the time I made it through security, it was the tail end of boarding, so I made my way to my seat. When boarding was complete, I found that I had a free middle seat, which was very welcome. The flight, for a 7am flight, was pretty full.

After takeoff, there was breakfast, with a choice of cheese omelette, or glutinous rice chicken. No surprises for my choice. After breakfast, I watched Slumdog Millionaire (which is worth watching & definitely a feel-good movie, even though there are disturbing parts), and bits of Australia (the movie, not staring outside the window. It’s also not worth watching, unless it’s 40c outside, and the air conditioning is on full blast inside the cinema). Towards the end of Australia, lunch was served. Today’s choices were Cajun chicken on spaghetti carbonara, or beef Masaman. One interesting note from the menu was that the dessert was served with English cream, which appears to be a bad transliteration of custard (crème Anglaise)...

We landed around 5:45, and as a treat, had the scenic landing over Sydney Harbour. Now, when arriving back in Sydney, I usually pick a left side window seat in hope for this particular landing and not get it, but this time I had a middle aisle seat. Maybe next time...

Immigration was a bit longer than usual, but the priority tags worked, and customs was quick (even with me declaring canned sausages), so I was out of the terminal by 6:15, which was close to a record.

Overall, despite being sick for the second half of the trip, it was fun, and really good to catch up with friends who were working overseas. As for Business class, it’s nice, but unless someone else is paying for it, you use points, or manage to be upgraded, I don’t think it’s worth paying the (significant) extra between Economy & Business.

Feb 25-28: Tokyo

As I was not feeling well, I did not do much sightseeing, but still managed to fit in a couple of interesting experiences in Tokyo.

The first was the Shin-Yokohama ramen museum, where 8 of the best ramen joints in Japan are represented. The 8 represent different regions, and hence different styles, from Kyushu in the south, to Hokkaido in the north, and major points in between. After visiting the museum on my first night and having a few mini bowls of ramen (to sample the different styles), I was feeling slightly better.

The other major experience I managed to do was having Matsuzaka beef, at a reasonable price. While researching Japanese food, I came across people highly recommending Steakhouse Satou in Kichijoji for Matsuzaka beef, without paying hundreds of thousands of yen for the meal. The steakhouse was on an upper level of a butcher, has a very steep staircase, and seats about 12 people. I ordered the 180g daily premium special (5 250), which came with bean sprouts, beans, carrots and fried garlic chips, as well as rice & a choice of drink (I chose the orange juice). The beef was melt in your mouth tender, bursting with juices, and worth every yen paid.

Feb 23-25: London-Singapore-Tokyo

As mentioned before, I wasn’t feeling well, so I spent most of the day resting, and made my way to the airport in the evening.

There was a choice of 2 lounges in Heathrow Terminal 3: the London Lounge, and the Silver Kris Lounge.

The London Lounge is a joint venture between SAS & Air Canada, and it shows, with the lounge very large, and the décor & furniture looking like it was straight from Ikea. For after dinner, there were cheese & crackers, vegetables/corn chips + dip, and biscuits etc.

The Silver Kris Lounge was smaller, but had hot food (curry + rice, dim sum), as well as noodles (on request).

The flight departed on time, supper (a choice of beef, chicken green curry or an Indian style lamb curry) was served promptly, then everyone went to sleep – this helped the flight pass by quickly.

Breakfast was served before arrival into Singapore. However, this was one of the few occasions I declined the breakfast (which was a choice of Eggs Benedict without the muffins, or braised noodles). This was because the flight landed at 7pm, and my connecting flight would be departing at 11:25, with another lounge visit in between.

The Singapore-Tokyo-Singapore flights were on a separate reward ticket (the one for 30k points in business class), and would be the first time in Business Class on a decent (ie non American) carrier.

ANA uses the Terminal 2 Silver Kris Lounge in Singapore (which Star golds are not allowed to use), and while the lounge is of a decent size, is rather dark. There was curry (again), with rice, roast chicken with potatoes, and chicken drumettes, as well as an Asian soup and a Western soup, as well as the normal bar items.

In typical Japanese fashion, the flight to Tokyo started boarding at 11pm, and was finished within 15 minutes. The flight in Business was about 50% full.

There was a very cool feature on ANA on takeoff & landing, where they show footage from a camera mounted on the nose, so we got a pilot’s eye view of takeoff and landing.

After takeoff, service was prompt, with a choice of sushi or sandwiches, after which many people went to sleep, as the flight was a 6 hour flight. Breakfast was served a couple of hours before landing, and I chose a Japanese breakfast, which was the typical rice/miso/fish/pickles etc.

We touched down at 6:40, but took ages to taxi to the gate, which meant that we arrived at the gate at 7. Customs & immigration was quick, and I was in the arrival lobby by 7:10.

Business class passengers flying on ANA flights were allowed in the Domestic ANA lounge as an arrival lounge, so I had a look, as the train to the hotel didn’t leave until 8:15. The lounge was rather Spartan, with a choice of 3 breads, and the usual bar items. Needless to say, I checked emails, then left.

Feb 19-23: London

The few days in London were mainly spent on various tours, and other sightseeing.

The time in London started with a Wembley tour, which was very informative and entertaining, in contrast with the Lords tour. I had previously done the Lords tour, and was really looking forward to going on the tour again. However, we were not allowed to take photos of the Ashes, and inside the dressing rooms, which was disappointing, as this was allowed in the past. I also went on the Wimbledon tour, which was also very good, although Centre Court was closed for redevelopment (they were putting a retractable roof in – how quaint).

In addition to the tours of sporting venues, I managed to get to a Premier League match, which I found was much better being there live, then watching on TV.

I also managed to get to the Royal Observatory in Greenwich (to do the standing on both sides of the prime meridian), but found that they closed really early, and I had to make do with a photo of the sign saying that the line passed through here. I also went on the London Eye, which I felt was a bit of a disappointment.

With such a sporting focus, I did manage to go to the London Transport Museum, which chronicled the development of public transport in London, which was interesting. One amusing thing was that in the tube carriages in the museum, advertising from the period was displayed. One interesting ad was for Halifax Building Society in the 70s, which promoted Halifax as the safest place your money can go etc. How things change…

There would have been more museums, except I managed to catch a cold and twist my ankle the day before I left London, so the rest of the holiday had to be less busy.

Feb 19: Munich-London

A quiet day, with a late morning transfer to the airport. Check in was really quick, and I was surprised that I was able to check-in in the First Class area (as I was usually allowed to check-in in the Business class area). I shouldn’t have been surprised, but as I as approaching immigration, I noticed that the same ad that I saw at Heathrow was plastered along the top wall of the terminal. The main item of interest for me was the lounge at the airport. The lounge, considering the location, was pretty small, but was decently stocked, with the usual drinks & nibbles, as well as local specialities such as Leberkase with brezel & potato salad, and other hot food/soup.

The flight to London was delayed for a bit due to an engine problem, but that was fixed, and we were given a priority routing to get into London as soon as possible. It seemed that when approaching London, we were told to descend rapidly while in the typical holding pattern, and when we broke below the clouds, found ourselves over the O2 arena (in Greenwich), and the approach took us over London (again).

Upon arrival, I met up with Dave, the friend I was staying with for the next few days, and headed to their place.

Feb 18: Munich

Today was a quieter day. There were 2 major sites to visit today: Allianz Arena & the Olympic precinct.

The first stop was Allianz Arena, where the local football teams play their home matches. The stadium tour that was offered was similar to the Old Trafford tour, except this tour also took us to the corporate hospitality areas as well.

After the tour, I was off to the Olympic District. This area was the focal point of the 1972 Olympics, and most of the venues were still being used. However, the first stop was the BMW experience. This was the main pick up point for new BMWs, and also contains a museum, and the main manufacturing plant. I was after a guided tour, but they were all booked out for the day. There wasn’t enough time to do the BMW museum justice, so I had a quick look around the lobby area, which had a few interactive exhibits, then continued walking around the Olympic precinct.

The venues in the precinct, while still being used by the public, were closed for repairs, so there wasn’t anything to see. However, the tower was open, so I went up and took a few photos, and called it a day.

Off to London tomorrow.

Feb 17: London-Munich

Another day, another early start. Today’s journey is from terminal 5 in Heathrow to Munich. When booking the trip, I had 16000 Qantas frequent flyer points which were never going to be used, so this seemed a perfect opportunity to redeem a ticket, clear out the account and use the facilities in terminal 5.

After checking in and spending longer than expected at security, it was time to explore yet another lounge, the Galleries lounge. Out of all the lounges, this would be the biggest yet, being spread over 2 levels. The spread here was also the most impressive yet as well, with a European style breakfast bar and porridge, as well as the items found in the Star Alliance lounge (see yesterday).

At the time of checking in, the flight was scheduled to leave from the southern end, but with Heathrow working the way it does (where gates change every 10 minutes), the flight ended up leaving from the other side of the terminal, so it was a mad dash to board. Once aboard, we were told that we would be leaving on time, but not scheduled to take off for an hour. Fortunately, this was moved forward by 30 minutes, so the delay wasn’t too bad.

Once the flight took off, the in flight entertainment (flight map) started, and breakfast was served (again), which was a full English breakfast (bacon, eggs, sausage, tomato & mushrooms). Apart from the delay in taking off, this was another uneventful flight, until landing – in snow flurries.

The shuttle to the hotel (like Germany in general), was prompt and efficient, but there was a surprise. Apparently the Munich radio playlist includes You’re the Voice by John Farnham.

The hotel, the Munich Marriott, is your typical business hotel, so there’s nothing special here. After checking in, I headed to the Marianplatz area and did some exploring around there, then decided to have an early night in.

Tomorrow, more sporting tours.

Feb 16: London-Manchester-London

Another early start, waking up before the 6:30 am alarm. Arrived at the airport early enough to go lounge hopping again. However, I got the shock of my life after passing security – there was a 15m long ad for the company I work for.

The first destination was the Star Alliance Lounge, which is used by most of the Star Alliance airlines at Heathrow Terminal 1, mainly serves international flights. As a result, there tends to be a decent buffet spread, and thus a good candidate for breakfast.

The lounge did not disappoint – there were the usual juice/fruit/yoghurt/toast/pastries/croissants, as well as bacon rolls, sausage rolls, and vegetarian rolls.

Once breakfast was finished, it was time to explore the other lounge available – the domestic BMI lounge. Compared to the Star Alliance lounge, it was a disappointment – there were only snacks out. However, the lounge was bigger, and spread out over 2 levels.

The flight up to Manchester was short and uneventful, apart from the reading material – The Mail was the complementary newspaper, which included such stories as “Wikipedia can contain incorrect information” and “Teens/preteens should be taught the benefits of teenage parenting” I found the stories amusing, but wondered about the state of the UK when the most popular newspaper runs stories such as the above.

As an aside, what is it with the UK and teenage pregnancies, especially when the kids are under 16? What do/don’t they teach to kids?

Once in Manchester, there were 2 main objectives for the day – visit Old Trafford, and explore the Imperial War Museum North.

The first stop was Old Trafford, for a ground.tour. There was a long line, with many excited children in line. The tour was popular, with tours operating every 10 minutes. Despite the frequency of the tours, there was a 30 minute wait for the next available tour. The tour itself was worth it, with access to places like the player’s dressing room, the player’s tunnel, and standing close to the pitch (but not allowed to walk on it, but that seems to be standard for stadium tours).

After the tour, it was off to the Imperial War Museum North. This branch of the Imperial War Museum concentrated on various aspects common to major conflicts, with a UK focus. Again, this was worth going to, and a good reminder of why war is generally not a Good Thing.

Following the museum, it was time to head back to the airport. The BMI lounge at Manchester airport is similar to the one at Heathrow, only smaller. The flight back was also uneventful.

Tomorrow, Munich, and a visit to corporate HQ.

Feb 15: Singapore – London

Fortunately, the soundproofing in the hotel rooms were adequate, and day 2 started off a bit earlier than I had hoped, waking up at 4:45am (which funnily enough equates to 7:45am at home, which is normal). Fortunately, I managed another few hours of sleep before packing for my lunchtime flight to London, which would be on the A380.

There was an opportunity before boarding to explore Terminal 3, and to visit the Star Gold lounge. The lounge is pretty spacious, with lots of seating, and a decent food & beverage spread. The lounge was quiet when I visited, with no more than about a dozen people in it, but I can imagine it being very busy in the evening, when all the flights to Europe & Australia/New Zealand depart within a 2-3 hour span. There was chicken korma, fried rice, vegetarian braised noodles, as well as scones/puddings out when I arrived, but did notice a cream of corn soup and salad leaves out later.

After going through security, I made it in time to hear my section being asked to board. While walking along the aerobridge to board, I noticed that the A380 still held a lot of aura and mystique through the number of people taking photos of the plane.

My seat was on the upper deck, and I must say that being on the upper deck feels less crowded, but not more exclusive, but that might be due to the fact that the upper deck on the A380 is pretty big, as opposed to (say) a 747. Being in a window seat on the upper deck means that carry on storage is limited, but there are side compartments for storage, that is, except for my row. Fortunately, I was able to find space in another compartment, so all worked out well. The in flight entertainment is improved from other planes, with an even wider range of audio/video options available, as well as laptop power. In addition, the seat has built in network, USB and video in ports, and the screen has LED lights on the bottom to assist laptop users. If only Connexion by Boeing was still around…

Departure and take off was a bit late, but for a 13 hour flight, we should be able to make up any delays. After takeoff, my seat mate found another seat further back for her to spread out over, so it meant I had a seat block to myself, which is a good thing.

Shortly after takeoff, there was a drinks service, followed by lunch. Unlike the previous flight, there were significantly less special meals ordered, so service was quicker. Today’s lunch menu choices were of baked fish, beef fillet or chicken korma. Since I had chicken korma earlier, and not a fan of fish in the air, it was the beef. While the fillet was well done (but understandable, given how airline catering works), and the metal knife was useless when it came to cutting up the steak, it was seasoned well with salt & pepper, and despite being well done, was still tender. This was followed by what seemed to be Valentines Day themed (& branded) Drumstick, which was basically a chocolate flavoured Drumstick with raspberry sauce down the middle of it.

After lunch, I attempted to watch a few movies, but alas, there were no new movies that kept my attention for more than 30 minutes (no, not even High School Musical 3), so I gave up and explored the other selection of movies available, and settled on Blades of Glory, which I ended up fast forwarding through sections, but managed to watch the whole movie. After trying unsuccessfully to watch a few more movies, I found the Opera & musicals section, from which I selected Pavarotti’s 30th anniversary concert at Hyde Park and the Andrew Lloyd Webber tribute, both of which were enjoyable. It was amusing to note that Oliver Stone’s movie on George W Bush, W, was listed in the comedy section of the guide.

For some reason, the second meal, a light meal, was served around halfway through the flight, and snacks were served closer to touchdown. Maybe they were trying to assist the adjustment to London time by serving the meal at lunch time GMT, and snacks around afternoon tea time.

The final couple of hours were tedious, but I suspect that was due to the fact that I had been up for 18+ hours by that point. It didn’t help that we had to do a lap in a holding pattern before we could land. However, the landing took us over Central London, so it was cool to see London lit up (at 6pm!) However, being on the top deck meant that windows were curved upwards, so photo taking was difficult.

Immigration & Customs were a breeze, and I was out in 20 minutes. However, it took another 30 minutes to find the correct place to catch the bus to the hotel.

The hotel, the Travelodge Heathrow Central, was opened just before Christmas, so it was new (or at least newly renovated). The room is of a decent size, and the amenities are few, but for rates of ₤9 & ₤19, it’s very good value.

Overall, the A380 was a quieter ride, and the in-flight entertainment was more comprehensive, but due to the curvature of the plane, and the side bins, leaning against the window for sleeping is impossible, so it might be back to the main deck for sleeping.

Day trip to Manchester tomorrow.