Flying the long way to Europe to take the world's slowest express train (plus a wedding) - HCO

[PrezRegan]

Hello friends,

Another one. This time the anchor is a mate's wedding in Tunbridge Wells on 12 Sep - but the actual reason the trip looks like this is the Glacier Express. Everything elsewas built around getting to a train.

Booked as an Oneworld RTW for 365,800 QFF points plus taxes across 11 sectors. HCO again, obviously - 30 days out of my trusty July carry-on, a garment bag, and a backpack. I have cheated slightly because my mate (whose wedding it is) has agreed to take my uniform across but hey - he's the one who wanted a service wedding.


CBR-SYD-LAX-ORD-JFK-LHR // KRK-HEL-LHR-JFK-DFW-SYD-CBR

10 cities — Chicago, London, Tunbridge Wells, Paris, Zermatt, Chur, Vienna, Budapest, Kraków and Dallas on the way home — and 14 hotels. I don't think I'll be slumming it on this one, but I am swapping between a few hotels just to compare them. Mostly Accor but also GHA, Hilton, and Radisson RED as well as some independents.

Some of the highlights:
- The Glacier Express, the Gornergrat cog railway and the UNESCO-listed Albula line, all inside two days
- Afternoon tea at the Ritz
- A day trip to Reims for the cathedral and a couple of the big Champagne houses
- The usual military history — Les Invalides, the coughnal in Vienna, the House of Terror in Budapest, the Polish Aviation Museum

And of course a few decent restaurants along the way. Keen to continue my comparison of Michelin restaurants around the world.

First flight is on a Dash-8 from Canberra... may not review the flight but we'll see how much time I have to kill in the flounge.

 

[PrezRegan]

So I won't bother reviewing the first flight because it was an uneventful 50min hop from CBR-SYD on a Dash 8 (yawn). Pretty much like taking the bus and marginally more comfortable.

On arrival in Sydney I had a grand plan to go to the newly opened gym in the arrivals area of the international airport. Unfortunately that plan was immediately derailed by the fact that I'd coincided my arrival perfectly with when the single staff member was on lunch... and I didn't really want to hang around for an hour waiting for them to return.

So cutting my losses I made my way to the Flounge. It was/is absolutely packed. There was a line almost to the escalators for the dining area.

Thankfully - and a first for me actually - the service I received as P1 was impeccable. As soon as I had presented my boarding pass I was asked if I wanted to be added to the waitlist for the spa, then escorted to a table in the roped off area reserved for First and P1 pax. On the way the agent did mention she would just put me at whatever table was available - which I was fine with given how busy it was - but it turned out there was a great spot free by the windows. So status definitely saved the day here!

See below the special menu (I forgot to take a picture of the spring menu, but tbh it looked a bit average). I've had the Lark whisky before a couple weeks back when I went to Gary's dinner in Hobart and went to the Whisky Festival to kill some time. A great drop, I will definitely be having that later this afternoon. For a change of pace I went for the martini (it's ok) and I've ordered the trout tartare and the short rib. If I'm still hungry I might grab the minute steak as from what I've read online the LAX Flounge is still closed so won't have a chance to try that there


Update - food service is a bit slow (understandably) but have just been booked a spa appointment for 14:00 which is great! But will be in the middle of food so slightly less great... but still, free spa, food can wait!

 

[VPS]

sounds like fun - following along