1st Gold flyer trip to Osaka in Y

[Tassieoptom]

So I achieved gold level May last year, and have flown mainly Hob-Mel-Hob on repeat since. Hence a status run to make up the 180 points i needed to keep Gold. Long and short Hob-Mel-Sin-Kix return in Y on a virgin Singapore combo. With my wife and I that is 570points, now need 180 to get to WP. In the research phase I found lots of trip reports in J and F and not many in Y as a gold or WP. Here is mine.

We were able to use the priority checkin lane at Hobart Airport as soon as it opened. There was a long line of people already waiting at bag drop by then, as well as at check in. So 1st advantage of Gold demonstrated. We were told bags were checked through to Osaka so no need to collect in MEL or SIN. Also were issued BPs for all three legs, Hob-Mel-Sin-Kix. There was no note of Gold status on BPs, more on that later. There is no priority security screening at Hobart, but numbers are low so no problem. Flight in Y to Mel easy, you have all done it, if not get down here MONA and a whiskey tour await you! There was a little turbulence that halted service for a short time, but is normal with a cold front closing in.
Mel airport arrivals is very short walk to international departures, we spoke with a Singapore customer service rep, showed him our BPs and the Gold velocity card in my wallet. He reprinted BPs with PTNR Partner Gold on mine, and explained that the status showed when he looked at our booking.

We went ahead to passport control, I stuffed up. Pretty sure my brain stops when I take my glasses off, but I left my passport behind. Auto system shut down all the lines, my wife was not impressed, but it all worked out. Slightly feeling foolish we had a look at duty free and went on to find the Singapore sliverkris lounge. As you reach the central area of departures there are clear signs for the lounges, which are downstairs, showed our BPs and gold velocity card, no problems. It was quiet, and had a small but nice selection of food and drinks. I was happy with my selection of sushi and a walnut and orange salad. I followed with the Aussie sparkling on offer as well as a very nice Earl Grey tea with a Maggie Beer ice cream. My wife took a short nap, and then it was time to wander out to the plane. No line, just walked to the boarding gate and boarded, nice.

 

[Tassieoptom]

First Flight over was on a 777-300ER, seats were 53a &b, so window view of such things as the Nullarbor plain lots of beaches and Singapore at night. Will post pics whenever I can figure this out.
Seats are looking a bit old but lots of room. I am 5-10 and had heaps of room from knees to the next seat, even when it was reclined. Service was typical Sinapore, hot towel, Singapore sling etc. meals were ok but not as nice as I have had in prior years. And there were very few cabin runs with water or juice, only happened once. I was again quite pleased with the entertainment on offer. Gives me a chance to catch up on all the movies I fail to see. Am so pleased I bought a Bose 25 headphone, really much more private. We made it to Singapore at around 8.45pm did a wander round and wandered up to the Gold sliverkris lounge. Free wifi, basic drinks, basic food, and a quiet space. Perfect for my wife to catch another nap, but nothing amazing. Our next flight is at 1.25am, may try to sleep on this one.

 

[Tassieoptom]

Sushi and Sparkling in the Silverkris lounge Melbourne. On the flight to Singapore the Meal was beef, ok but the best part was the Salad, already eaten. The second meal refreshment was a chicken noodle dish that was great. Amazing sunset heading to Singapore.

 

[Tassieoptom]

Still many cherry blossoms, we hiked over a mountain today, walked a forest pilgrimage trail to the rear entrances of some temples and found zen. All in all 20000 steps today, majority up and down steps.

 

[Milefest]

Looks beautiful!

 

[Tassieoptom]

Green tea ice cream with Sakura Blancmange tuna served three ways with a fresh wasabi stem and grater. My iPhone is s bit difficult to post this from. Hopefully another three pics post. Should be chilled sake, breakfast treats incl Sakura and green tea cakes, and one more.

 

[Tassieoptom]

The last pick was Shinkansen Ice cream that was hard as a rock.

 

[Tassieoptom]

Entrance of Hotel Nikko Osakateppanyaki Icho

 

[Tassieoptom]

Yesterday we travelled to Tokyo for the day, we had limited plans but the weather forecast looked great for a view of Mt Fuji from the Shinkansen. So like excited an excited schoolboy I happy snapped away for most of the journey. First glimpse. Great view. Final view.
So then we found ourselves in Tokyo station, grabbed a city map, and headed over to the imperial castle gardens. And then caught a subway train to Tokyo tower. Clouds we rolling in, and we had no view of Mt Fuji from the tower, but the city skyline was pretty impressive.

 

[Tassieoptom]

There was late rain forecast, which started as we decided to head back to Osaka. There are some amazing food/sweet shops in Tokyo station, and we bought some amazing French patisserie items with green tea flavours from an Italian shop. They asked how far we had to travel, after saying Osaka the girl put two cold packs in with the items. Made for a wonderful end to a big day.

 

[Tassieoptom]

We explored Donbotori to sample Tako Yaki Osaka style. They are so quick turning these. Great street food, the bonito shavings moved in the wind, looking a little like live shrimp.earlier entering the 'zone'. We rested our tired legs and sat down outside to some simple food and a beer or two and watched the sun go down, and the neon light up. At about 7.30 the Glico man started his run, and the people went crazy. One last minute stroll before heading back to the Nikko.

 

[Tassieoptom]

Unexpected things in Japan. Beer served in shot glasses. Iced coffee with coffee jelly cubes, ordered just because there were coffee jelly cubes.Mickey Mouse plates.Australian wattle. And French masters at the gallery.

 

[Tassieoptom]

Now that we are back in Australia I will try to complete the flight report.

The flight from Singapore to Osaka was in an A333 and left at 1.25am. Boarding was certainly priority again, allowing us to board, find seats, stow bags and take our seats before the main economy boarding occurred. Both my wife and I were fairly tired by now so settled in for a nap, as best you can have in Y. The leg room in the A330 was less than the 777-300ER, but thankfully the passengers in front of us did not recline their seats back. Meals were a disappointment, and I did not bother with photos or eating all of them. The flight was smooth however and we were happy just to make it to Japan where the real food was waiting. Our bags came out early, so the priority bag tags seemed to work, then there were the big lines waiting for fingerprinting and photos at passport control. Seemed to take a long time but did run smoothly. My wife had real problems with the fingerprint scan, her print ridges are quite shallow and the oils left in the scanner had to be cleaned off before a set of prints were taken. In retrospect we used hand cream while in the line, this was perhaps not the best thing to do.

 

[Tassieoptom]

Leaving Japan also showed great benefits of Gold level. Priority checkin allowed us to checkin after maybe a 5 minute wait, boarding passes for all three flights were issued, priority bag tags attached and then a very polite apology. "I am sorry to advise that Singapore airlines does not have a lounge at this airport" I asked if it was possible to access the Sakura lounge, this was met with, " I am sorry but no, that is not possible." This was to be expected, we had just had dinner in a sushi train restaurant and had leftover ¥ to spend so bring on the shopping.
Some Japanese souvenirs/presents were on the list, Sakura Matcha Kit Kats, Wasabi Kit Kats, magnets and some t-shirts ticked that box. I bought my wife a stunning Snow leopard Hermes scarf, and a bottle of Terre d'hermes EDT for me. Then wandered down to chill before boarding the 11.30pm flight. Priority boarding again was lovely, getting first access to the overhead luggage bins is invaluable. It was an old looking fit out on another A333, the inflight control buttons had worn out and barely worked. We were seated in 61H and K, back of the bus, close to the toilet but not too close. I was wide wake and took a travacalm tab on my wife's advice, which did not help me get to sleep, at least not quickly. I thought a glass or three of Riesling may help, and as I was one of the only passengers awake in our section, the make flight attendant helped out. Economy Riesling ran dry, but he ventured forward to grab a better bottle from business class. Very pleased with this I may have had more than 3 glasses, finally got to sleep for a short time before breakfast was served. I went with the omelet dish, photo to come, it was reasonable, I asked for coffee and got tea. So some top marks for the crew and some fails. Overall I think Singapore in Y has lost a little of its gloss in recent years, not sure how other feel.

 

[Tassieoptom]

Pretty standard fair, but I felt this was best for me considering the options.

 

[Tassieoptom]

We landed in Singapore ahead of schedule, were due at 5.10am on the 21st April, but arrived and were in the terminal by then. We landed in terminal 2 and had to transfer to terminal 3, a bit of walking, and two trains got us to our gate with about 25-30 mins to spare. Then there were a number of gate changes causing confusion and a delay boarding. The security screening was slightly intense, with countless people opening bags and having the wand waved over them.

When boarding was announced it seemed like half the plane were families with children. An announcement, as expected, came over for families with young children to board. I always thought this was exactly that "young", not 8,9, 10 or even early teens! I mean how much extra help does a 10 year old that can carry their own bags need. There was one business traveller waiting at the PPS/business line that looked more than a little disgruntled. When Business/PPS was called he could not get past the children, in fact when Gold etc was called we boarded at about the same time. Ok mini rant over.

Priority boarding was great once again, in seats, luggage stowed, Bose 25 headphones on, all before the rest of economy boarded. I settled in for a movie marathon only to find the entertainment system offline except for music. They rebooted the system when we were in the air and all was right with the world. Breakfast meal was a snack and consisted of a muffin, bread roll, some god awful fruit and a coffee this time. Was not photo worthy. Lunch was actually pretty good, chicken with tarragon jus and veges, a shrimp salad etc. afterwards there was an ice cream offered which was a nice touch.
We again ran ahead of schedule and landed in Melbourne almost 30mins early. The new semi auto passport control system is great, no mistakes by me this time. We waited for our bags and out then came in the first dozen bags to appear, another win for priority bags. We headed off to checkin for the last flight to Hobart, again priority checkin meant no queue, no wait, has to be one of the biggest advantages of gold. Had a lovely chat with the Virgin checkin lady about Japan, she informed us there had been a gate change and advised of the new gate. Off to the Virgin Lounge for a light meal and drink. You know you are back in Australia when you get a meat pie and a beer. Priority security screening as you leave the Melbourne longer is another great perk. We boarded late as it the rain was bucketing down, but again got on first, settled in for a short hop home. When collecting our bags, the priority tags came through again, delivering pretty wet bags from the Melbourne rain. Luckily there was minimal water penetration to he insides of our bags.

In conclusion I hope this will be of interest to those approaching Gold status. I am aware it is not as interesting as a business or first review. As it was my first trip report feedback would be greatly appreciated. Cheers.

 

[SuzieQ68]

Enjoyed the read Tassieoptom. Have never been to Osaka, but the photos have me adding it to the travel list - even if just to try those Wasabi Kit Kats!

 

[Tassieoptom]

Enjoyed the read Tassieoptom. Have never been to Osaka, but the photos have me adding it to the travel list - even if just to try those Wasabi Kit Kats!

Thanks so much SuzieQ68, I must admit that I was starting to become disappointed at such little feedback. We stayed at Kyoto for the first 6days/5nights, Osaka for the last 5 days/4nights. We would love to visit again, but in Autumn. If we did I think we would base ourselves in Kyoto and do day trips to Osaka. Logic being, cheaper accom and food, cheaper sake and Moët, and Osaka is only 15mins on the Shinkansen.
The Hotel Nikko Osaka was amazing, on a street like a pretty Champs Elisee, all the Parisian and American fashion houses, Hermes ties cheaper than Australia or Paris, LV scarves cheaper than Paris. Etc. but I feel we might save some money in Kyoto, and spend up in Osaka, .
Would you like an outline of the days spent in Japan? Pretty happy to do so, maybe I missed the point of the trip report?

And definitely yes yes to the wasabi Kit Kats, also try Sakura Matcha Kit Kats. have included a pic of the NIR rosé, I hope, such a cool bottle all lit up!

 

[SuzieQ68]

I don't think you missed the point of a TR at all. A TR is someone's perspective of their travels and I enjoyed it. Can't explain why you haven't received much feedback to date, but I definitely wouldn't let that put you off of writing again. Many people read and enjoy the TR's but don't always comment.

I'm interested to know what drew you to staying in the area where you did (Parisian style / American fashion houses)? For me personally, I like to stay in areas and accommodation that are authentic to the country I'm in (not always an option, but nonetheless I try). Does Osaka have more 'traditional' areas that focus on more local experiences or is it becoming more and more like the big cities (ie lots of neon signs, labels and bling)? Won't stop me going there, but just interested to find out.

For someone who has never been there and perhaps only had 48 hours available - what would you recommend?

Thanks again for taking the time to write a TR - I'm still yet to put something down on the AFF, so you're one ahead of me!

 

[Tassieoptom]

I can only comment from the areas of Osaka we did visit, but yes, Osaka is a big city with lots of neon and atmosphere. It is what I expected Japan to be like, being the modern country it is. And we sort out modern/traditional Osaka food, half the reason we went there. From what I know Osaka was heavily bombed in ww2, so has been mostly rebuilt since. It feels a bit prettier than Tokyo, the people were very friendly and many attractions we visited had no western tourists.

We we stayed at Kyoto to experience an age now past, with all the amazing things I admire from Japanese history. The buildings are mostly shorter, the streets a bit more narrow. There are many locals in kimonos walking the streets, as well as geishas and the tourists in dress up. Hence why we would base ourselves there if we went back. If You have 48hrs I would fly into Osaka, stay Kyoto and consider a royokan stay for the full experience. Is only 15mins on Shinkansen from Osaka to Kyoto. The airport is the other side of Osaka so is about 1 1/4 hours via train direct from airport to Kyoto. I will chat with my wife and offer a hit list for you to consider. Thanks once again.