A (brief) European Odyssey

[OATEK]

2013 marked a 40th wedding anniversary so myself and Mrs OATEK were determined to mark it with a special trip. After gleaning everything I could from AFF on seats, prices and the EK tie-up, we awaited the official announcement and some fare specials. We felt pretty happy that we had snagged a return SYD-DXB-LHR-DXB-SYD for under $7K. We also had flights and train journeys factored in for a circuit from London to Paris, Berlin and Krakow, looping back to London at the end. This reports concentrates on the journeys rather than the destinations.

We started off in style aboard QF1 in J - our first business class trip (19J/K). The service was great, the crew were terrific, and Mrs OATEK really enjoyed have the CSM come up to congratulate her on her birthday (which coincides with the anniversary). Pre-booking the meals meant we could concentrate on the champagne and gadgets when we boarded. We picked seats towards the the middle of the cabin, and found that it worked extremely well. Had a great sleep on the first leg to DBX, and enjoyed everything about it.


The J Lounge at Dubai was fantastic, felt like First Class to us. Had a snack and cup of tea, caught up on emails and posted a few photos on Facebook to make sure our friends were suitably jealous. Boarding from the lounge is a great set-up, and thanks to the reports from the AFFers on previous SYD-DBX flights we knew what to do.


Even the short leg into LHR was comfortable, and we enjoyed our breakfasts that fuelled us for the long day ahead. The priority exit had us on the go, and picking up the chauffer car at the T3 desk went smoothly, again we had been well informed by those AFFers who went before. As others have said, the run in from LHR to the city is slow in morning peak, but we were not in any hurry, and in fact the St Pancras Renaissance had our room ready when we arrived around 9am - perfect!

We had three thoroughly enjoyable nights at the St Pancras hotel, and boarded Eurostar for a Premier Class journey to Paris. Having previously gone economy we found the service on this journey much different and had another great trip. Had a marvellous week in Paris, only accosted by the Gypsies bearing rings once, and enjoyed food, museums and the city itself. Caught the buses a lot, using the underground less. Took a train from Gare de Lyon out to Fontainebleau using our Paris Visite Z1-5 ticket, and it all went very smoothly.

At the end of our week we boarded the Night Train to Berlin - how many movies and books have there been about such a trip! The First Class cabin with ensuite was very comfortable, the champagne on boarding surprisingly good, and the whole experience great fun. Had breakfast in our compartment and arrived refreshed in Berlin at 9am the next day.


Our four days in Berlin had us on and off the S-Bahn, U-Bahn and buses and then it was time for our next flight - TEL-KRK on Air Berlin. I didn't know what to expect but turned up to find an Niki Jet operating the service, and as economy flights go it was smooth, painless and the service was quite good. Landing at John-Paul airport I was dismayed to see so many RyanAir planes - and nothing much else. At the end of three action packed days in Krakow, including a pilgrimage to Aushwitz and Birkenau to pay home age to some distant relatives of Mrs OATEK who ended their days in the horror of that place, it was time to return to London.

The only direct flight I could come up with that went to a major London airport was easyJet KRK-LGW. This was quite an experience. Never before have I been boarded on to the airport bus and positioned at the departure bay before the flight has been parked and everyone has disembarked. With "Speedy Boarding": and a second front row seat selected we were well looked after, and the flight got away pretty much on time and was only briefly delayed at Gatwick owing to air traffic control. The easyJet experience was entertainment enough - never before have I experienced an announcement of a collection for UNICEF, only to find the next announcement is the sale of easyJet scratchies for the chance to win 10K! We always felt that this flight was our biggest risk - its not like easyJet have a plane on standby in the area if things go awry, but I have to say it all went very well. In fact the worst part of the flight was negotiating immigration in LGW as three other flights from holiday resorts landed at much the same time and mayhem ensued!

Back in London we had 12 days to spend time with family, do a little sight-seeing and shopping, before we had to return home. More on all that in a later post.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Please don't stop there OATy - lovin' the pics - can NEVER be too many pics - keep 'em comin' please.

 

[OATEK]

To add to the flavour of the trip, we picked some very nice hotels to go with the Business Class flights and First Class train travel. Here are the 4 hotels, for London, Paris, Berlin and Krakow.

LONDON: St Pancras Renaissance

The Hotel, and the Booking Office where we had breakfast looking out on the Eurostar platforms

We stayed in the new section out the back (Barlow wing) so no view, but very comfortable.


PARIS: Hotel du Pantheon

View by day and night, and the room itself

We have stayed here several times before, but the Hotel has just had completely new interiors done. Perhaps not as comfortable look as the old interiors, but love the views, location and service.

 

[OATEK]

BERLIN: Hotel Adlon Kempinski


The hotel is visible through the Brandenburg Gate (green roof), the view from the red carpet at night and the room itself overlooking Unter den Linden.

 

[OATEK]

KRAKOW: Hotel Wentzl on the main square

The view from our room by night and day, and the restaurant on the 1st floor where we had breakfast

 

[robd]

Good stuff

 

[Paddy55]

Great trip report!

 

[Major]

Good looking hotels...great TR

 

[kelvedon]

As Oliver once said,..more please!

 

[Simo]

Great Trip report,

And also congrats on 40 years marriage.

 

[OATEK]

You can't eat at a fancy joint every night, so we had some interesting and varied meals.

In Paris there are the Bistrots with the Fixe-Prix menu boards out front. These can range from ordinary to very good, and here are two of the better ones.

Staying on the left bank, amongst the students from the Sorbonne, there are lots places that offer meals from 15-20 euros in the area around Rue de la Harpe. At the Bistrot Saint Severin we had excellent Lapin and Canard. The creme brulees were very good as well.


Another surprisingly good meal was had at Le Chalet St Michel, where most of the customers were French. We enjoyed the Russian couple at the next table trying to grapple with the menu, until Viola one was produced in Russian. It shows that there must be quite few visitors from the east.



The final offering was a semi fine dining restaurant up near the Pantheon with a real mix of traditional french and more modern dishes. Au Port du Salut in Rue St Jacques gave us a very fine night out.

 

[OATEK]

Three other dining experiences on our trip are worth a report.

Marjellchen, a traditional East Prussian establishment near Charlottenburg in Berlin was recommended. There were 5 of us here, and the main courses we selected included hare, duck, lamb and pork knuckle. We all agreed that the service and the food was quite wonderful.

 

[OATEK]

The final two restaurants are one in Krakow, and one in London.

In Krakow we descended into the cellars just off the square at Chimera. Wonderful setting, great food and service. Bookings are recommended, and you would be crazy not to try it if you are in town.



And for a trip into Britain's culinary past, you could try Rules near Covent Garden. It has been around since the 1700s and is extremely popular. Having booked we sat and watch as people were turned away. One couple arriving at 7pm were told the earliest they could have a table was 10:15 (they are open until after midnight). Enjoyed the food, the setting and service.

 

[OATEK]

No trip to London would be complete without a trip to Emirates to watch coughnal. I really lucked out this time, as I obtained a ticket for the European Champions League clash with Napoli which the Gunners won 2-0. Many of the pundits said it was the best coughnal had played since the mid-2000s.


The Crowd gathers around 7pm.


Finally time for kick-off

Giroud was a thorn in Napoli's side all night. The coughnal fans sing his praises to the tune of Hey Jude (la-la-la-Olivier Giroud)

 

[OATEK]

The final part of the journey was the return flight on QF2. The Chauffer drive worked perfectly as a nice Silver Merc pulled up at the door, and we had no trouble fitting in all our extra gear accumulated over the last month. the trip to the airport from West London was only 40mins, and so we were off to a very good start. We used the BA Galleries lounge after checkin and found it far less busy than for the old timings via Singapore. The food was good, the drinks plentiful and we while away our time very comfortably.

At the gate it was much like Sydney - one huge space, people jockeying for position, noisy and fairly uncomfortable. We suffered somewhat from going there as soon as the flight was called, as there were delays at the gate of about 30mins before boarding commenced. But once back on board all went very smoothly, and the short flight to DUbai was over in no time. I managed a couple of hours sleep, which was good.

In Dubai it was back to the fabulous J lounge for refreshments, and I can only repeat that this is an excellent facility. The flight to Sydney from Dubai was also very good. We had the best crew of the four QANTAS legs, although all 4 crews were head and shoulders above my experiences on the 747 via Singapore before the introduction of the A380s.

It will be hard to go back to even premium economy in the future, and Mrs OATEK and I are in complete agreement that our days in economy for long flights are behind us.





The Chauffer drive in Sydney demonstrated how much pressure QANTAS and Brunel are under to meet demand, particularly on a busy Saturday morning. Our driver in a black Ford, that had a spare wheel lying in the boot, was not from Brunel but a sub-contractor form our local area. He struggled to fit our luggage in, and had to put some items on the front passenger seat. Overall this final part of the journey was not up to the standard of the rest of the QF J experience, but by the same token wasn't worth complaining about as the service was "satisfactory".

 

[Cruiser Elite]

It will be hard to go back to even premium economy in the future, and Mrs OATEK and I are in complete agreement that our days in economy for long flights are behind us.

Welcome to the 'club' - at our mature age - nothing below J should be tolerated.

OATY your enthusiasm and glee is so transparent throughout this TR - great job - and thanks so much for taking the time to post.

 

[RB]

A very good read. Your wife certainly looks very happy & content in that last photos

 

[craven morehead]

A wonderful TR thanks for making the effort :mrgreen:

 

[Dalescott]

Having relative and a large number of friends in UK and Europe. We never get to see the inside of hotels, and as for Restaurants, nothing so upmarkets as yours OATEK.

 

[Must...Fly!]

Lovely report, great read and especially enjoyed the shots of the UCL game!