Reality check

I've just been for a walk to the back of the plane to stretch my legs. The economy class is packed to the rafters – it's grim. It really is a completely different travel experience, one that I'll be reacquanted with later this year. Great.

I need to work out how I can at least travel in business class without bankrupting myself. Maybe the secret will be to just travel less frequently, but to spend more on it when I do. The whole 'Elite' status is a bit irrelevant when you're not traveling in economy.

A marathon, not a sprint!

The main 'event' meal of this particular flight is lunch. So normally this would be the opportunity to go for broke with the fine wines etc. The problem I have is that when I get to LHR I need to be in a fit state to drive back home and there isn't really enough time to 'sleep it off'!

I need to tread a fine line – do I have any champagne? I'm thinking maybe not, after all you can have too much of a good thing. Maybe I'll have a shot of vodka with the caviar this time and a couple of glasses of the the Aussie shiraz.


UPDATE: I had a glass of champagne and no vodka.

Pre-departure Ritual

This is what it's all about......

Flight Attendant: Sir can I get you a pre-departure drink?
Me: (It's before 9am local time – what do I have?)
FA: Some water, juice or champagne?
Me: O.K. I'll have a glass of champagne! (I don't fly First Class every week or ever in fact!)
FA: Would that be the Krug or the Dom Perignon?
Me: I'll have some Dom Perignon.

The flight attendant disappears to the galley and the next thing I hear is the 'pop' of a champagne bottle being opened! A few seconds later she has returned to my seat displaying the bottle of Dom Perignon about to pour it in to a champagne flute. Oh this is the life!

Too much too young?

I knew that F was going to be almost full once I'd checked in on line – the seat map showed only two unoccupied seats. In the end F was full (again). Of the 8 seats two were occupied by children (10 years old)! I was a bit concerned that they would be horrible spoiled brats, but to be fair they were fairly well behaved.

The thing is that the F experience is completely wasted on them. They are hardly going to appreciate the food or wine, and they don't really make the most of the extra space! But their ticket costs the same as an adult. I'd have put them in Business Class and spent the money saved on another trip in F for myself!

World Weary

I've made it to Singapore on my rather indirect way back home. My second 'F' experience was very good, but very different to my flight from LHR to SIN.

For a start I was on a 747 rather than a 777, so I was sat right 'in the nose'. The seats were the 'old' First Class suite which have been around for about 20 years I think (obviously they've been 'refreshed' along the way). I found the seat really comfortable and actually better for sitting/lounging than the 'new' First Class seat in the 777.

The second difference was that 'F' was totally packed -- not a spare seat in the house. It was interesting to contrast the service with my virtually empty 'F' experience from London. I was still called by name, but sometimes I actually had to wait for my glass to be refilled (heaven forbid!). Also the Melba toast was initially missing from my caviar!

The final big difference is that I paced myself. Sure I had my fair share of champagne and wine, but I declined the offer of a shot of vodka to accompany my caviar and I didn't have dessert or the cheese course.

We arrived in Singapore at about 1.30am -- a bit behind schedule. I went to the lounge in Terminal 3 to get some water to drink and then walked to the lounge in Terminal 2 to make use of the 'slumberettes' to catch a couple of hours sleep.

This morning I made my way back to the First Class lounge in Terminal 3 where I had a much needed, refreshing, shower and some fruit to eat. It was very tempting to have some tasty looking noodles, but this would put a dent in to what I can eat on the plane.

My flight is due to depart Singapore at 9.05am local time. The big question is will I be tempted by a pre-departure glass of Krug or Dom Perignon?

Lost in Translation

Last night was my last in Tokyo (for the time being). I thought I'd bow out in style by going to the New York Bar on the 52nd floor of the Park Hyatt. This is the bar that Bill Murray drinks countless glasses of Suntory whisky in 'Lost in Translation'.

All I can say is "wow!" Very stylish bar and a stunning view of Tokyo. I got to the bar at about 6.30pm so I was able to see the transition from early dusk to nighttime. It really was 'uber-cool'.

I was drinking Martinis at JPY1,500 a pop. I polished off five and had a plate of mixed olives, marinated feta cheese and Turkish bread. All up the bill came to over JPY11,000 (about £70) -- it was definitely worth it. I left the bar before 8pm so as to avoid the JPY2,000 cover charge you have to pay after 8pm (I think you get the privilege of listening to a jazz band for this).

This morning I was up before 5am to go to Tsukiji Market (the busiest fish market in the world). I watched the frenetic tuna auctions and then had a delicious breakfast of sashimi (raw fish) at 7am!

Food Courts

To continue the food related theme from some of my recent posts, I have been amazed by the food courts (depachika) in the basements of the major department stores. An interesting fact is that Paris is the number one overseas tourist destination for Japanese. This may well explain the proliferation of French patisserie type outlets -- all of which serve up some amazing looking cakes etc.

Personally I like the look of all the Japanese goodies!

Fish & Chips?

So is Tempura the Japanese version of fish and chips? Admittedly it's a bit more sophisticated and there is no sign of any chips?

I had this the other night and it was superb. The batter was so amazingly light and didn't act like a sponge for the oil that it had been cooked in.

Big in Japan

So today I saw two Rolls Royce Phantoms (one of them in an automatic carwash) and two Maybachs -- truly super expensive cars. I also saw plenty of Ferraris, Maseratis etc. One curious thing is that the Japanese like having left hand drive vehicles as this signifies straight away that it's an import (and usually a premium import). I've lost count of the number of LHD Mercedes CLS cars I've seen.

Most Japanese make do with quirky cars from their domestic producers.

Breakfast

This little parcel of joy is called an Onigiri. It's a triangle of sushi rice, filled with something tasty (e.g. salmon, tuna salad, vegetables etc.) and then wrapped in dried seaweed.

You can get them at all the konbini (convenience stores) which are all over town. I had two of them for breakfast today and they more than adequately did the job!

Oodles of noodles!

Now don't get me wrong I do like noodles. However, I think I'm starting to overdose on them. I've had ramen, udon and soba noodles -- all good. I think the only meal that hasn't featured noodles was sushi on my first night.

I'm predicting more noodles today (and probably tomorrow)!

Yakitori

Last night I went to a yakitori restaurant for dinner. I ordered the chicken yakitori set meal which meant I didn't have to do too much faffing around when I ordered.

Yakitori is basically the Japanese equivalent of satay -- bits of meat (and other stuff) on wooden sticks which are grilled over charcoal. Unlike satay you don't get any peanut sauce, but I did have a miso sauce for dipping.

I have no idea whether the yakitori I had was good by Japanese standards, but I thought it was o.k. I think I had pretty much every single part of a chicken and certainly some of the things were good which I'd never have ordered individually myself (i.e chicken liver).

Africans in Japan

The last couple of evenings I've gone to Roppongi to find something to eat. Whilst walking around in Roppongi you get asked whether you want all kinds of things (bar, ladies etc.) by African touts. The touts are pretty harmless, but the thing that I want to know is do they speak Japanese?

Sunscreen

So after my first full day in Tokyo, I've managed to do a hell of a lot of walking and catch the sun! Thankfully it's not full on sunburn -- just a bit of a glow.

It's supposed to rain today so I don't think I'll have to search for any sunblock from a Japanese store.

Wasabi?

I've survived my first day in Tokyo. Talk about a culture shock, it's a different world.

I spent the afternoon in Harajuku -- a crazy combination of upscale boutiques and freaks (and shops for the freaks). I know Harajuku on a Sunday is a bit extreme and not an 'average' reflection of Tokyo, but it really was an eye opener.

I've so far played it safe with my lack of Japanese language skills. The sushi restaurant I went to this evening was the sort you pick the food up off a conveyor (it also had an English menu and the staff spoke some English). I still managed to make a bit of a faux pas by mistaking the green tea powder for wasabi powder!

Thoughts on F

So I've had some time to reflect on my 'First Class' experience. Here are a few of my thoughts etc.
- The food and drink are great, but a little OTT (I guess when you're used to Economy Class...)
- The service was fantastic. Really attentive without going too far.
- The seat is ok as a seat, and really good as a bed.
- You have so much space. I misplaced my glasses and spent ages trying to find them (it didn't help that I used two seats).
- Normally I read a lot on a flight. This time I barely touched my book as I was too busy eating, drink and sleeping.
- The LCD screen is huge – almost as big as my tv at home.
- A hangover in First Class is just as bad as a hangover in Economy Class.
- The only people I saw all flight were the one other passenger in First and the two or three flight attendants. Very different to my 'normal' flight experience.
- I didn't have enough room in my hand luggage to swipe the pajamas as well as the Ferregamo amenity kit.

Stupid banks (or me)?

I called my bank before setting off for Japan to let them now that I'd be away and that there will be some foreign transactions on my card over the next week or so. Anyway after tracking down a friendly looking ATM imagine my surprise when it didn't spit out any cash. I tried several other cashpoints all with the same result – no cash. What was going on?

I phoned HSBC only to be told that the call centre was closed and that I should try again in (UK) business hours. Great. I then tried the 24 hour lost card line and was eventually told that the reason my card had been declined was that I had 'exceeded my daily cash withdrawal limit' (they couldn't actually tell me what the limit was). By this time it was about 11.45pm BST, so I waited until midnight, tried the ATM again and this time I walked away with a wedge of Yen.

At NRT

So I'm now in Tokyo. In fact as I write this I'm still at the airport waiting for my bus to take me to my hotel. I've got about an hour and a half to wait, but it gives me a bit of an opportunity to people watch! I could've got an earlier bus, however this would've meant arriving at my hotel crazily early and having read a few things about Japanese hotels they seem quite strict on the no check-in before 12.00pm rule.

My flight from Singapore to Tokyo (via Bangkok) was really good. I dozed for a few hours – it would've been even more if the flight time hadn't been an hour shorter than scheduled!

I managed to keep up my trend of eating too much. On the short hop from Singapore to Bangkok I had a 'light meal' of a really tasty Thai green curry. On the Bangkok to Tokyo leg I tucked away prawn and mango salad, cold soba noodles, chicken teriyaki with noodles and a 'pumpkin surprise' dessert! I figured I load up on food as I have no idea when I'll next eat! On this leg of my journey I was really disciplined on the booze front – mainly because I didn't want a repeat of how I felt after my LHR to SIN flight!

Chlorine

There's nothing like a few lengths in a 50m pool to shake off the affects of a hangover. After the first few where I struggled a bit, I then got in to a rythmn and felt pretty good. Unfortunately my swim time was curtailed by an almighty thunderstorm. I managed 1000m before the torrential rain, thunder and lightening.

After my brief swim I was trapped at the swimming complex until the rain subsided. Even with an umbrella I wouldn't have made it back to the MRT station without getting drenched. Also because of the rain all the taxis disappeared, so my trip to Holland Village to get some stuff for my sister was abandoned.

Grotty

That's how I felt when I woke up!

I slept pretty well, but woke up with a terrible Dom Perignon induced hangover. Really rough.

I ordered Nasi Lemak for breakfast, and even though it was really tasty a struggled to eat half of it (the melon and yoghurt before hand also took up valuable stomach space). In fact despite feeling like crap I think the Nasi Lemak was a better meal than my Lobster Thermidor dinner.

A couple of refreshing glasses of O.J. and a cup of tea failed to get me feeling ok. There were definitely a few instances where I thought I would have a 'First Class' chunder experience.

We landed about 20 minutes ahead of schedule and I stumbled off the plane. I've read trip reports where people have seriously gone to town on the booze and food consumption -- I really don't know how they do it!

Excess

About half an hour ago I couldn't stop smiling!

I'm still pretty happy, but I'm at that stage where anymore booze would be a mistake. I've had a mighty fine meal, without it ever being spectacular. I liked all of the courses, but nothing really grabbed me and begged for more attention.

There are only two of us in First Class, so my bed has been made up in the row in front of where I am sitting. I'm mentally tired so I'm looking forward to a few hours of snoozing until I get served some kind of of amazing breakfast.

In fact after all the champagne I've drunk I don't really feel 100%! Hopefully I'll have sobered up in the next 9 or so hours. I wonder if anyone has ever been sick in First Class before? It wouldn't take much for me to be scrabbling for the sick bag!

Time for bed.

All Steamed Up

And so my first experience of First begins....

I've just had a really rubbish week at work. The first half was spent with the spectre of redundancy looming over me. Once I survived that it was a question of keeping my excitement in check as I counted down to my trip. I've been busy, but I'd rather have not been!

I checked in at the First Class counters, but unfortunately there wasn't a big crowd to witness it!

I picked up some Japanese Yen and then headed for 'Fast Track' immigration/security. It was a bit underwhelming and not particularly fast. The main reason was an Arab man and his family flying on Emirates. He is no doubt drowning on petro-dollars (he certainly looked like it), but there was no need to take so long in getting himself organised for the security check -- he needs to appreciate his impact on people's champagne consumption time!

Once through security it was straight to the Virgin Clubhouse. I had a shower and 'steam' and then ordered my first glass of champagne of the trip. I'm now on my second and it's going down rather well!

I may well swing by the Silver Kris Lounge later to see what the First Class section is like there.

It's a close call as to whether I'm more excited about the 'travelling' or the 'arriving'. Truth be told I'm looking forward to Tokyo (that's where I'll be 'arriving') with a degree of apprehension.

Fiona Bruce (the newsreader) is in the lounge. She is really quite attractive 'in the flesh', but much smaller than I than she appears on the television.

Countdown

I'm on the 'one week' countdown to my next trip. And this really is an awesome 'trip'. I'm flying to Tokyo where I'll spend a week -- all the flights are on Singapore Airlines (three flights in First Class and one in Business Class).

It'll be my first trip to Japan and I'm starting to get really excited. Is this normal for someone in their mid-thirties?

On Monday I find out whether I still have a job after the end of April. So my trip to Japan will either be one of celebration or commiseration. To be honest if I get the bullet I won't be too sad. It'll be a dent to my self confidence, but I'll walk away with a nice big cheque!

Recently there's been some 'bring your son/daughter to work' days. My theory on this is that it's a massive sympathy play if the 'the boss' is thinking of giving 'the parent' the boot.

All will be revealed next week......