The Asian Detour

Yes, yes, we went to Asia on the way to Europe. Why? Justin explains the reason in his last post. Anyway, we did it. Once again, we flew in style.

Cathay Pacific First Class Take 2:

Once again, Cathay Pacific doesn’t disappoint.  Even though I knew exactly what to expect, I am always amazed by the level of service and attention to detail provided by this great airline.  If you want a more detailed review, see our previous post (about a year ago).  My flight experience basically went like this:

1. Get on the plane

2. Eat a 4 course meal

3. Ask the flight attendant to make my bed while I change into my pajamas

4. Sleep for 8 solid hours

5. Drink some hot tea while watching TV

6. Eat again

7. Get off the plane

 

 

Not a bad way to spend 16 hours.

When we got to Hong Kong, we took a cab to the Hyatt Regency (a different one than we stayed in last year).  This hotel is in Kowloon. Last year we were on Hong Kong Island. Once at the hotel, I went to sleep, and Justin walked around a little bit to take some pictures.

Our flight to Malaysia left at 2 pm the next day.  Aside from a major meltdown about plug converters, blow dryers, and straightening irons (I won’t say who)……….. Hong Kong came and went in the blink of an eye.  One exciting thing that did happen is that Justin felt the baby kick for the first time. Yea!

We took a cab to the airport and hit up the Cathay Pacific lounge.  Again, very nice and super comfortable.

We flew Malaysian Air to Malaysia.  Again, this was first class.  However, it was only a 4 hour flight so it wasn’t quite the production that a 12-16 hour flight may be.  I ate my meal, slept, and watched TV.

I didn’t know anything about Malaysia before this trip.  Through my ignorance, I thought it was a more impoverished country and jokingly asked Justin if we were staying in a hut. I couldn’t have been more wrong! Malaysia is incredible with tons of beautiful buildings and a very impressive interstate system.  It almost reminded me of Singapore.

We stayed at the Grand Hyatt, and it was beautiful! The suite was one of the nicest that we have stayed in. Unfortunately, we were only there about 12 hours, but I would like to visit again in the future. Our flight left Malaysia at 9 am.  Finally, we were on our way to Europe!  We just had a layover in Singapore and a 13 hour flight until London.

In Singapore, we had access to the “private room” first class lounge.  Justin told me that this was a super coveted lounge that is very hard to gain access to. Since we were flying first class to London via Singapore Airlines we were able to experience the super fancy lounge…….and it was super fancy. We sat down at a table and a waitor took our order.  Justin started with a bowl of sushi, and I had satay. Then Justin had lobster, and I got sea bass. Everything was delicious.

The only mark against this lounge is that a family (of a certain culture, which will not be named) came in with their kids.  Fine.  But the kids were running around, yelling, and WAY too close to us.  You may be thinking……y’all are going to have to get used to kids being kids.  Maybe.  But that was not the main problem.  The problem was with the parents who seemed oblivious to the whole situation.  One of the kids jumped on my carry on bag and then hid behind Justin’s chair and yelled in his ear. This can’t be blamed on the kids, but should have been acknowledged and rectified by the parents.  It wasn’t.  This is not the first time we have seen this culture show a lack of respect for others.  Unfortunately, it marred a very very nice lounge experience.

Once we got on the flight, Justin had a flew glasses of Dom Perignon to forget about any annoyances causes by the lounge.  I had…….water.  The flight was fantastic and this may have been my favorite first class flight experience.  Like Cathay Pacific, the service is above and beyond.  However, rather than waiting for you to call them, the flight attendants are constantly walking around looking for ways that they can serve you.  Justin pre-ordered his meals through the “Book the Cook” service.  Through my typical state of pre-trip panic, I was too stressed and overwhelmed to decide on my meals.  Oh well.  I had to order from the menu.

This is what I ate:

-Caviar

-Cream of fennel soup

-Salad

-Chicken breast with vegetables, pesto, and saffron (I rarely get chicken but I got the beef on the other flight so I wanted to try something different)

-fresh fruit

Justin got:

-Caviar

-some weird Cantonese soup with lotus root (what is lotus root?)

-Salad

-Sea Bass

-Cheese plate

After that, I was ready to sleep.  The cool thing about this flight is that since Justin and I were sitting in the middle seats next to each other, they could combine our beds and make a double bed.  It was awesome.  I slept like a rock for about 7 hours.  Justin wasn’t quite ready for bed, so he went and sat in another suite until he was ready to lay down.  After we woke up, it was time for ANOTHER meal.  I just couldn’t do it.  I had some cheese, fruit, and nuts.  Justin ordered beef rendang, but he was already so stuffed that he couldn’t finish his meal……something very odd for Justin.

We circled the Heathrow airport a few times before landing in London.  We quickly got through customs, grabbed our bags, and got on the Heathrow Express.  I looked for platform 9 and 3/4, but I couldn’t find it 🙂

The Heathrow Express was about 15 minutes then we took a taxi to the hotel.

In London, we are staying at the Hyatt Regency-Churchill, near Hyde Park.  It is a very nice hotel and a good, central location. Our Suite is very nice, though not anywhere near the size of the suite in Malaysia.

That night, we settled in and went to bed…..ready for our first full day exploring London!