Posted by Seth on May 2, 2012 under Trip Reports | 
It is quite easy to see why sitting on the beach in Rio is a compelling way to pass the day. Both the Ipanema and Copacabana beaches were bustling on the Saturday I visited, filled with locals and tourists alike. My day started, as I like to do in any destination, with a local malted beverage and pastry. In my case a reasonably light beer and cheesy-bread (pao do quiejo) fortified me for the bus ride in to town and my morning of beach time.
The bus from the airport into town takes 30-40 minutes and pulls up right on the beaches, providing easy access to living the local dream. Before long I was wandering on the sand, occasionally dipping my toes in the Atlantic Ocean and watching families and friends enjoy the sun.
I’ve spent a decent amount of time on beaches filled with hawkers. I cannot ever remember enjoying the experience. Both Ipanema and Copacabana had hawkers everywhere. Everything from snacks to drinks to a new bikini (and, yes, even those guys were actually selling their wares) was on offer and there was a decent amount of action for the vendors. Maybe because they were generally doing OK without harassing people things seemed easier. Or maybe because I didn’t speak a word of Portuguese I just didn’t notice the annoyances. Either way, watching the waves roll in and out as hawkers and pretty people strolled by was a great way to spend a few hours.
Ask anyone who has spent time in Rio which beach they prefer and you’ll most certainly get an answer. It is not a question about which many folks are indifferent. I spent about 2 hours on each beach. For my time and money, Copacabana is the place to be. I’m not entirely sure why I feel that way – both were fine – but Ipanema felt a bit more hectic and active to me, I think, and I generally want my beach time to be down time. Even within Copacabana the eastern end (closer to Ipanema) is more active, but by the middle of the beach things thin out pretty quickly, making it really easy to relax.
When the time comes to sit down and relax on the beach there are plenty of vendors with chairs and umbrellas available. Just a couple bucks for the day and way better than dealing with schlepping your own gear out to the beach. Most also offer bar and snack service, though that is also quite easily secured from the hawkers.
Of course, it is also important to partake of the local goods while enjoying the beach time. In addition to the hawkers selling bikinis on the beach there are plenty of options for buying gear, including a nearly endless variety of flip flops, surf boards and other goodies.
Oh, and local beverages, too. Walking the promenade, coconut in hand, is a an awesome way to cool off in the sun. Reasonably priced, too, around $1.50 each. The view alone is probably worth that, not to mention the cool sweet nectar.
And, as the afternoon rolls on and the happy hour spirit kicks in to gear there is arguably nothing better than an ice-cold caipirinha served up on the beach. I certainly had my share.
I also had lunch just off the beach at Devassa. It is both a brewery and a restaurant, with the different beers named for the women the represent – blondes, brunettes & redheads – and they were quite delicious. The food was decent, too. It is definitely a touristy place to eat, but the beers made it worth a visit for me.
Not a bad way to pass a few hours, soaking up rays. And this was only part of the day. With about 3 hours left before I had to head to the airport I shifted elevations, up into the sky to see more of the city.
Posted by Seth on May 1, 2012 under Flying, Review, Trip Reports |
My trip to Rio was pretty ridiculous. I was scheduled to be on the ground only about 12 hours in total, with a travel time of about 16 hours each way. Probably not the most rational trip, but that just means it makes more sense to me. Flying via Houston in both directions I was fortunate to be on one of the United Airlines 767-400s that has been retro-fit with the new lie-flat seats up front and AVOD and E+ in the back. I was seated in coach for the long-haul segments (the short-haul upgrades did clear, but nothing particularly remarkable there) and I was very much looking forward to giving the new seats a try.
For the southbound segment I was seated in the bulkhead window seat and I had an empty seat next to me. The bulkhead offers up plenty of legroom and I generally prefer the fixed arm-rest in between the seats. The main drawback of this seat, as seen in the photo, is that the window is missing. It is possible to lean forward an look out, but that isn’t particularly comfortable for very long.
The food was rather awful – long-haul coach meals have suffered greatly in my recent trips – but it was enough to hold me over until the movie was over and I was ready to sleep, something that I did reasonably well with the space I had available, along with the pillows and blankets from both my seat and my unoccupied neighbor.
Speaking of the movies, I was very impressed with the selections available on the system. There were roughly 150 titles listed. Filtering out the multiple language listings of the same films there were still around 100 to watch and the collection spanned a broad range, from true classics (e.g. Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Casablanca) to more recent classics (e.g. The Princess Bride & Ferris) to a decent smattering of recent releases. It isn’t the absolute broadest collection I’ve seen on a plane, but it was more than enough to keep me entertained. I was also quite happy to see that there is a USB plug attached to the video screen. Charging my phone from there while I slept meant waking up with a full battery, ready to attack the day.
The return flight was roughly the same. I was still in a window seat in the E+ section but not the bulkhead. To me it felt like about the same amount of space overall, with the obvious difference of having a seat reclining into me. The food was similarly awful and the sleep similarly coach-induced.
I had a bunch more photos to share of the in-flight experience. Alas, I left my laptop on the plane at the end of the trip and when I returned 3 hours later it was gone. If anyone sees a used red Asus eee 10" with a gouge in the top cover on sale somewhere please let me know. I’m in the market for one.
Also, keep an eye out for a couple more posts from this trip covering the time I spent on the ground in Brazil. I may have only been there for 12 hours but I packed a whole lot of fun into the trip.
Posted by Seth on April 30, 2012 under frequent flyer, Mileage Run, points, Trip Reports |
Lots of folks have dinner in Portland, Oregon on any given night. Or course, most of them actually live in Portland and aren’t visiting from New York City for 3 hours, but that’s just part of the entertainment value to me. A couple weeks ago I found myself flying out for dinner, thanks to the $120ish fares United Airlines offered back in January.
I took a whole bunch of photos and videos over the 20 or so hours I was on the road, from snacks to planes to trains, and then edited them together into a roughly two minute time-lapse of the trip. I think it came out pretty well; I hope you agree.
The trip was, by nearly every standard, textbook. Upgrades cleared, flights were on time and I even managed to get home an hour early, albeit in the very last row of coach rather than my original upgraded seat. I slept a little bit, ate a little bit and drank a little bit (probably more of this last category than the other two).
I’m looking forward to the two more of this fare I’ve got booked, as well as a few other similar trips over the coming weeks. Really a pleasant way to spend a day.
Posted by Seth on April 22, 2012 under Dining, Flying, Review, Trip Reports |
Many warned me about the PrivatAir 737 operating as Swiss for the flight between Zurich and Newark. Beyond the geek factor of an all-business class config (my second such flight of this quick RTW trip) the product is actually not all that amazing. The seats are old and the IFE limited. Still, I wanted to have the experience for myself so I could report first-hand on what it was like. They were all pretty much dead on.
After spending my short layover in downtown Zurich on the lake, joining with seemingly everyone else in town heralding the arrival of spring, I made my way back out to the airport for a quick lounge visit and then on to the plane. The lounge in the main terminal area was pretty nice, but the flight departed from a separate section of the airport, a tram ride away. The lounge there is a contract lounge that isn’t particularly bad, but it also isn’t as nice as the Senator lounge in the main area.
Boarding 50ish folks on to a 737 is incredibly quick and easy and we were underway right on time, with a quick climb out and fly-by of downtown as we left the area.
The flight departed around 5pm, meaning it was time for dinner shortly after departure. Perhaps the best part of the flight is that the food appears to be catered up to the Swiss standards. It was quite good and comparable to the meals I’ve had on their regular flights. Except that they didn’t have ginger ale catered on the plane. That was rather annoying, though I also probably didn’t need any more rum so perhaps a blessing in disguise. Having indulged on meats for my previous flights and also downtown I switched to the fish options on the flight. Quite tasty.
After dinner it was time for a nap. My body was starting to fight back against the crazy time zone shifts and it was time to succumb for a few hours. The seat reclined to its angle-flat position and I grabbed the digEplayer to zone out for a bit. I was rather disappointed with the very limited selection of titles – only 10 – on the player. Fortunately I was asleep pretty quickly so that was less of an issue.
A few hours later it was time for second dinner. Really just a small snack served from casserole dishes rather than individually prepared, at least they were willing to offer up seconds (though I found this out after calling it a day on the meal). Tasty enough, but not particularly substantive as a meal.
Not much later we were making the left turn down the Hudson and beginning our approach into Newark, with the sun setting off to the west.
I expected the seat and the IFE to be iffy. That expectation was met quite easily. I also expected the food and crew to be on top of things. Alas, only the food was. The crew was somewhere between standoffish and outright ignoring me for long periods of time during the trip. Part of that might be just in comparison to the effusive and somewhat over-the-top service levels of the Asian carriers, but I really did feel like a second-class customer sitting on the plane for most of the trip.
Overall, the trip probably rates a C+ to B-. The crew was the biggest surprise, while the seat and IFE weren’t a surprise but still dragged down the score. Given another option, I’d avoid the PrivatAir option unless you really want the all business-class option or that’s what works with your schedule/budget. Also of note, the Zurich-Newark route is no longer served by PrivatAir, so it isn’t as much of an option anyways.
Posted by Seth on April 21, 2012 under Trip Reports |
Got a five hour layover in Zurich?? That’s plenty of time to get out of the airport and in to downtown. When I made that trek a couple weeks ago it was a stunningly beautiful day, with blue skies and warm enough temperatures that seemingly the entire city was out celebrating the arrival of Spring. I left the airport, hopped on the train and alighted at the central station. With a couple hours to play around and no particular itinerary in mind the afternoon became an opportunity to wander, something I like to think I’m pretty good at.
As is often the case when I find myself in such situations, I tend to focus on food and outdoor spaces, parks and such. Zurich offered no shortage of opportunities on this front. Within minutes of leaving the train station I was in the heart of the old city, walking the narrow pedestrian paths towards the lakefront.
Along the way I picked up the first of a couple meals, a pretzel to snack on. Part of me wonders if the Swiss and Germans dream of NYC pretzels from street vendors the same way I do of their pretzels. I hope not, because theirs are WAY better. With pretzel in hand I made my way with the rest of the crowds to the edge of the lake. It was packed, everyone out to celebrate the arrival of Spring.
The swans were out celebrating as well, enjoying the warmer weather and all the folks out at the lake offering them snacks.
With my pretzel consumed it was time to find a more nourishing snack. Again to the mobile merchants, this time for a brat and a tall boy. Back to the lake again with my purchases in hand and I enjoyed lunch with a phenomenal view.
All too quickly my time in Zurich was running out. I had to head back to the train station and then to the airport to catch my flight. I was in the city for about 3 hours, barely enough to scratch the surface. Still, it was a great little side-trip for the layover I had and definitely worth the few dollars spent on the train ticket.
Posted by Seth on April 20, 2012 under Flying, Review, Trip Reports |
Continuing the long trek home from Singapore, I transferred in Rome from Thai Airways to Swiss for the last bit of the trip. First up was a couple hours with the short-haul product, flying from Rome to Zurich. Like pretty much all short-haul flights in Europe this one was just coach seating with the middle seat blocked and upgraded catering. And like most such flights it was completely uneventful, probably a good thing.
Shortly after takeoff breakfast was served. Fruit, yogurt and a croissant were all tasty enough, though nothing special.
And, because they are Swiss, there is the chocolate bar distributed towards the end of the flight.
In the middle, aside from the food, was the opportunity to look out the window as we flew over the Alps. One of my favorite aerial views, to be sure. It doesn’t get much better than this all that often.
Easy flying with beautiful views along the way. Not much to complain about at all.
Posted by Seth on April 19, 2012 under Dining, Flying, Review, Trip Reports |
Booking my award flight on the non-stop Newark to Singapore flight was a huge win and opened up a ton of opportunities for me. Among them, I had to figure out how to get back home from Singapore within a relatively tight timeframe, and I was searching not too far out from my planned dates of travel, which created some interesting challenges of its own. Fortunately I managed to find several options available, one of which was a routing with Thai Airways via Bangkok and Rome, continuing on Swiss Air from there. My last experience with Thai wasn’t the greatest but I decided to give them another chance. Among other things, the BKK-FCO line was just too fun to pass up.
Getting to the airport in Singapore was reasonably easy thanks to the trains and about 40 minutes after leaving my hotel I was in the check-in lobby of the airport. I also was about 4 hours in advance of my flight – I wanted to check out the lounges – which meant that they were not actually accepting passengers for check-in. Whoopsie. The good news is that there is actually a premium check-in lounge at Singapore’s airport where business class passengers are able to have a seat and go through the process in a much more civil manner than the long queues of the economy cabin passengers. The premium check-in feeds directly into a bypass of another queue for security/immigration, making the entire process rather simple.
From there it was off to the Thai lounge. To say I was disappointed would mean that I actually had high expectations. The lounge was dark and brooding, with a few small snacks. It was quite a step down from the Singapore Air lounges in the terminal or even the British Airways and contract lounges in the same area. I’m working up a full post on the lounges but I would recommend against planning on too much time in the Thai lounge.
Boarding came about soon enough and the 777 was awaiting us for the quick flight up to Bangkok. Getting a long-haul configuration on relatively short flights is much more common in Asia than in the United States. This one had the great seats and IFE systems which make flying up front truly pleasant, though neither system is best-in-class.
The flight was only about 2 hours long but it also included a full multi-course meal service with a choice of entrees. After the snack mix and appetizer I had the prawns with rice; not bad at all.
I also love the way many foreign carriers pay attention to the small touches that make a trip more pleasant. Certainly the orchids in the lav don’t have any concrete impact on the in-flight passenger experience, but they sure go a ways towards trying to make it feel a bit more human at 35,000 feet.
A couple hours later I was on the ground in Bangkok for just long enough to grab a shower, snack and massage and then it was back in the air for the flight to Rome. I had forgotten that the flight was on a 747. I had also forgotten that I booked a seat upstairs. Remembering that as I boarded the plane was quite nice. Walking up a set of stairs upon boarding is always a fun experience.
The seats on the 747 are more or less the same as the business class seats on the rest of the Thai fleet – flat-ish at an angle. Not the best ride out there, but it beats the heck out of coach and these got me home when I needed. Plus, the hot pink and purple is a fun color scheme.
With the longer flight time to Rome there was also the opportunity for a more involved meal service, not that the short hop was particularly skimpy. I started with the foie gras and moved on to the steak. Both were quite tasty.
The cheese plate was not particularly impressive but the chocolates for dessert were. A great finish to the meal.
With that it was off to bed for several hours, waking up just as breakfast was being served.
The fruit was rather disappointing but the noodles were delicious and made for a great base to start the day with the early arrival in Rome.
I mentioned above that the IFE was not the best-in-class. It is an AVOD system with a selection of about 25 movies available. Nothing to sneer at necessarily. At the same time, however, the selection was rather poor and the classifications of the movies were questionable in many cases. "Classics" for movies should not include many works made after 1990. Shutter Island; Monsters, Inc.; Ocean’s Thirteen; Sherlock Holmes; 300; Casino Royale or the new Planet of the Apes are not classics. Gone with the Wind, Lawrence of Arabia, Grease and Goldfinger are. Die Hard is in a gray area, but I’d probably let it slide. Yippie kaiay.
Overall, I think the service was a solid B to B+ effort. The food was on the higher end of the spectrum while the seat and IFE were a bit lower. Ground service was great in Bangkok – I love the pre-flight massage – but not as great in Singapore. Still not the best offering in and out of SE Asia, but they’ve got a lot more award inventory on long-haul flights so there’s something to be said for that.
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Tags: award, Bangkok, Dining, Flying, IFE, Lounge, Photos, review, Singapore, Singapore Air, SINtacular, Thai Air, Trip Report
Posted by Seth on April 15, 2012 under Trip Reports |
Most days spending 30 minutes on the runway at JFK is just another typical taxi time situation, waiting for your turn to take off. Not particularly fun at all. This weekend, however, I was actually ON the runway, not in an airplane, thanks to the JFK Rotary Club and their annual Runway Run. It was AWESOME!
For a few hours today runway 22L/4R was closed to aircraft and more than 750 participants headed out for a 5k fun run. Some folks took it more seriously than others – the winners were in the 15 minute range, while I was in the middle of the pack at 32 minutes – but even for the folks not looking for a competitive race, the fun factor of being on the runway with the planes passing overhead was tremendous.
The course took us from the fire department training facility out on to taxiway echo and then on to 22L, about 1.5 miles out and then 1.5 miles back to the finish. And all along the way there were great views of the field and the planes coming and going. As is typical for JFK there were plenty of JetBlue and Delta flights, as well as a bunch of American Airlines departures. We also saw Korean Air, Lufthansa, Emirates, Taca and Avianca, among others (some cargo, some passenger). The Lufthansa cargo departure actually exacted a huge cheer from the 20+ strong team of employees the carrier had at the event; that was fun.
With just a tenth of a mile left in the race I stopped to celebrate at the edge of the taxiway:
And then another photo at the finish line, after cooling off and walking out the fact that this was the first time I’d done anything remotely resembling running in a couple years.
Looking forward to getting a bigger group together and doing it again next year. Definitely worth the early morning wake-up for the aviation geek fun.
Posted by Seth on April 5, 2012 under Hotel, Review, Trip Reports |
Back in January during my Euro-hopping week of basically a different city in Europe every night I fell for the EuroStars Berlin. It was a last minute booking – literally booked 30 minutes before walking in the front door – and the property was fantastic. I was smitten and how. So when I needed a stay in Brussels on a similar last-minute basis I was quite happy to see that the chain had two properties in town. One was sold out but the EuroStars Grand Place was available and in my price range. Just a 5-7 minute walk from the train station and Le Grande Place, the location is pretty good, though it is a bit past everything else in the area. I like walking and that didn’t bother me, plus I had a great experience last time, so I booked.
On arrival I was a bit skeptical; the public areas weren’t nearly as nice as in Berlin. But I was on the hook and I hoped for the best as I checked in and headed up to my room. I suppose it was something of a good thing I was distracted by how small the room was. I didn’t expect much, nor did I need much, but it was quite small. Enough room for the bed, desk and loo, but only barely.
It was late and I was jetlagged, plus I had to be out in 7 hours to head back to the airport so I pretty much just passed out. In that regard the room was perfectly functional, though the bed was very, very firm. It was when I woke up the next morning that I noticed some of the greater shortcomings of the room. Like the chunk of wallpaper missing in the corner.
Or, somewhat more disturbing, the part of the floor by the door to the bathroom that was falling apart.
I missed the breakfast, which is fine because the charged far more than I’d consider paying for it. And then I was off to the airport.
It wasn’t a particularly nice property at all. That said, it did serve its primary purpose of being clean and cheap and having a bed available. I cannot complain too much, but I’ll definitely be more cautious when looking at this brand in the future.
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Posted by Seth on April 2, 2012 under Flying, Review, Trip Reports |
In my efforts to explore the LCCs of SE Asia I did what I could to mix up my flights a bit. This meant picking a different carrier for my return from Kuala Lampur to Singapore and the fares and times suggested that my trip would be on Tiger Airways. Tiger is one third owned by Singapore Air and operates a decent collection of routes in the region on their fleet of Airbus A320s configured with 180 seats in an all-coach configuration. My trip, KUL-SIN, was relatively short but also rather typical of their operations from what I could tell.
For the most part the flight was just another quick hop in a metal tube hurtling 500+ miles/hour through the skies 6 miles above the ground. Really nothing particularly spectacular, either good or bad, about the experience. The plane was clean inside and, while a bit tight, the seat pitch wasn’t completely horrid.
That said, there were a few things that I found interesting or surprising about the experience.
First up, the flight departed from the LCC terminal in Kuala Lampur. Similar to Singapore, the LCC terminal at KUL is actually a separate building on the other side of the airport. Unlike SIN, however, the process of getting there was way more difficult. I took the bus from KL Sentral and it was fine in both transit time and cost, but it was still a bit of a pain relative to the main terminal. Also interesting about the LCC terminal in KUL is what a dump it was relative to SIN. It did have a lounge (two, technically, split across the immigration/security barrier) which I got in to with my Priority Pass card. Nothing particularly amazing in the lounge and I wouldn’t pay out of pocket to get in, but I took advantage of the free to me access to grab a couple beers before the flight.
Next, given that they were selling seats on the flight that morning for only ~$25, I expected that it meant loads were low. Nope. The plane was packed. I had my window seat thanks to checking in relatively early so I wasn’t particularly affected by the loads, but it was crowded. Fortunately the crowds didn’t translate to lines at immigration at either end.
On arrival, once again, it was a bus ride back over to the main terminal in Singapore to catch the MTR into town. Much easier here than in KUL.
Overall, I enjoyed the flight that morning on FireFly more than the evening flight on Tiger. The airport facility at Subang was nicer than the LCC terminal and the flight was a bit more pleasant. Plus, there was no silly "convenience fee" for booking that I still don’t know how to avoid through any channels. Still, the Tiger flight met my expectations in terms of being clean, cheap and easy.
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