French Alps NOWAK (NO Wives And Kids)

[Danger UXB]

ITINERARY




Star Alliance J redemption Thru Kris Flyer 190000KF points

First excuse the whole report is being written on my iPod touch 8gb with a bluetooth keyboard. The "h" does not work so well but thankfully the spell check on ipod notes picks up most of the problems! Also all of the photos are from the ipod so apologies if the quality leaves alittle to be desired.

THE REASON

Ok last Sept I sent Mrs UXB to the Golden Door In Qld

The Golden Door Australia

She came back refreshed etc and said I needed to go on a boys trip so a quick email to the London friends and the date was set, the week begining 26-1-13. Destination Plan Peisey, France

Peisey-Vallandry : la station de ski conviviale en Savoie

I am fortunate to know 2 friends who purchased 2 apartments in Peisey a few years back on a lease back scheme. The emails were brief and frequent and once confirmed on dates contact with SQ kris flyer was establishied. The help desk were great and immediately confirmed the MEL-SIN-MUC and LHR-SIN-MEL leg leaving only the MUC-GVA and GVA-LHR legs to confirm.Because of the work I do I do not answer any calls before 5.30pm so I was told the help desk would call back Tues 5.30pm to confirm the final bookings once contact had been made with Lufthansa and Swiss. Tues 5.35 pm the home phone rings and kris flyer come up with the goods. All is set.
Much research on AFF and SQ Talk followed to make this trip what it is.


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[Princess Fiona]

Great title, looking forward to it

 

[Danger UXB]

MEL-SIN SQ 228 A380 ver1

Checked in at suites checkin as business was busy. 1 person in the queue!!! Had a quick machiato with Mrs UXB before going thru baggage check. The express queue seemed to vanish and join the "others" queue so a bit slow really.Ended up behind a an oriental couple with a baby who are putting everything and the kitchen sink on the scanning belt! Had my first ever full body scan, it didn't like my Sorrell snow boots much so got patted down aswell! Progressed thru to the the passport queue. Once again the express queue is not express at all and the big snake queue goes much faster GRRRR!!!!! This seems to happen alot especially on the way back in at Melbourne. Thru the duty free with the usual amazement at the prices they charge and on to the Koru club(NZ lounge) for a beer.The Silver Kris lounge is closed for refurb at the moment so we are being directed to the United lounge (are you kidding!) The NZ lounge is on the ground floor and out the window is a great view on our plane (388 9VSKD for those that like to know)



so I guess I must be near gate 9.

The beer by the way is Classe Royale which is ok but I have just poured a Steinlager Pure which is far better. Nice lounge hopefully the Silver Kris refurb ends up with as much daylight. WIFI speed is fair



but there is a low loading in the lounge, however it seems everyone is holding some sort of device.Ok I will retest in a moment as the NZ flight has just been called and the lounge is now emptying.(Speed is now better once most are gone).

I decided to board early to get a few glasses of bubbles down to help settle the beer but alas Henriot being served. Recently went to LHR at Christmas with the UXB clan and was served Charles Heidsieck exclusively, a much nicer drop.

I have chosen 15k for this sector SQ talk seems the rate 15A/K and 16 A/K on the 380's as well as 96A/K I will be trying them all and my personal favourite 11A/K on the 77W to MUC.

15 K is at the rear of the forward cabin but seperated from the toilet by a small cupboard so no noise and bumping. I change into my flight pjs straight away. I am a big fan of pjs when flying ever since my first and only BA first trip 4 years ago. I would love SQ to provide them but they don't . Other minor SQ grip is no amenity kit. Neither of these two are deal breakers as the pros for me are overwellming .

The Pros
-I earn all my points on a credit card and transfer to kris is at a good rate
-availability to europe where all my long haul goes is amazing. I usually require 3 seats in J to accomodate the UXB clan
-the seats (more shortly)
-silver kris lounges and SIN as a stopover with a 6year old are fantastic

Much has been written about the SQ J Seat. IMHO as a seat it could be better and lets hope this new design process they are going thru at present ends with a more comfortable bum. As a bed if you are not more than about 6'2" it is amazing. For a side sleeper like myself the tilt lie flats, like SQ regional J and the MK1 QF J, are not great. But these super wide things are as close to F as you are likely to get.

I settle into 15K and we depart on time. Around Melbourne the haze from the bush fires is obvious but not as bad as after Black Saturday a few years ago when we had haze all the way to Adelaide.
I do love the window storage bins on these 380's



I am travelling cabin baggage only .Ok it's nothing major for most of you guys but try 2 ski boots,a ski helmet and ski gear and keeping the weight to close to 7gk as possible! 1 stored overhead and 1 in the foot well storage under the seat infront (I like this feature)

A quick look at the menu


suggests my BTC choice of Indian Lamb Shanks was an excellent choice



After dinner I settled down to watch Taken2. What a great place Istanbul is. And lots of movies there aswell, have you seen Skyfall?
Just ordered a chicken curry roti( ok I'm English and I like curry) as a snack. 2Hours til SIN time for some Resident Evil Retribution with my roti!


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[Danger UXB]

Roti curry snack from last flight ( I can only post 5 photos in one post!)



CHANGI TRANSIT

I had read on SQtalk and AFF (thanks Dajop) about the changi transit scheme. Basically SIN$40 on presenting a SQ boarding pass and eticket to show ongoing travel. One crucial aspect in the T and C's was it had to be booked after 1-10-2012. So at the info counter I was economical with the truth and said I booked the ticket about 3 weeks ago. $40 vouchers in hand I proceeded to the duty free and acquired some Highland Park 1998 for Sin$27.50 plus vouchers. I am sure we can refill the hip flasks enough times in a week the put a serious dent the bottle
Up to the Silver kris lounge to find Charles Heidsieck in the ice bucket. The lounge was packed and as a result the wifi speed was v slow but still managed to upload a photo to AFF (note to self uploading a trip report from an iPod touch is going to take a long time so it is going to wait til I get home and I will use a proper camera for photos on the return trip)




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[Danger UXB]

SQ328 SIN to MUC 77W

Boarded early as is my liking and donned the pjs.
11K was my seat in the forward cabin of 8 seats. Sometimes this seat is nicknamed 3A/K due to it's similarity to those infront of the curtain.These seats are slightly narrower by about 10cm (don't know what seatguru says about it) compared to the A380 (there are a few seats that are narrow on the 380 more of them on the return leg) but still very wide. I had BTC again the Char grilled soya beef and a quick glance at the menu



confirmed I would stick with it.



Alas it was very poor. Whoever the chef is on their panel that put his name to it needs to go into hiding. Beef chewy and overcooked, rice solid not fluffy like the lamb sank curry, and the veg watery and way over. Overall very disappointing. I hope for better on the return trip.

I did notice the wine list was very different .Charles H the bubbles and no Wither Hills and Devil's Lair but a Very nice Chablis and White Burgundy (from memory) I do like the white wine slightly lower in alcohol.

My jet lag plan was to sleep the last 6-7 hours of the flight so I settled down to more mindless bloke movies "Judge Dredd". Loved the comic, the movie hmmmm!

I didn't last very long and crashed early with some "chemical assistance" to sleep.

Woke 6 hours later and then dosed a bit til breakfast. I never bother with the big egg sausage etc breakfast I find it makes me air sick so stuck with the tried and tested cereal and fruit.


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[jetlagger]

Great plan.. Look forward to remainder report of the Euro trip.

 

[Danger UXB]

MUC TRANSIT

Made my way thru the maze that is MUC and found a check in to get my ticket to GVA.
Navigated to the Lufthansa lounge as I really wanted a shower. Unfortunately only 2 showers and a LH flight from Shanghi was first in this morning so I was no 6 in the list. I set up on a bench within eyesight of the frauline running the showers, did a quick speedtest



and a quick facetime to Mrs UXB.

Obviously the frauline was aware of me as she came and said the shower was ready in less than 10 mins. As I had my roller trolley in the door way to the shower cubicle an angry german appeared to obviously protest about my queue jumping to the shower frauline. There was obviously no shifting me as my flight was departing in 30 mins so I closed the door and showered whilst humming the theme to the Great Escape !


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[Danger UXB]

MUC to GVA LH 2380 Embraer 195


Run by Ausberg Airways
Standard Euro business (read economy) seat. A 2:2 seat set up with the seat next to me left empty in business class. Nothing remarkable other than the quality of the bubbles!





and the musli was probably the best I ave ever had, (sorry so hungry forgot the photo.)

It's very encouraging when your off on a ski trip to see the alps looking resplendant out the window as the sun rises



Landed at GVA, non existent passport control and waited for 30 mins for my friends to arrive on slEazy Jet from Luton


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[Danger UXB]

The Skiing

I wont bore you with too many details but here are a few stats. Plan Peisey is the link village in Paradiski the ski area encompassing Les Arcs and La Plagne. In total 425km of piste skiing, 2 glaciers ,15 villages and an awful lot of ski lifts. We were lucky with 15cm+ of fresh snow every 2nd night and glorious sun thru the day. "Ski tracker "app on my friends iphone said our biggest day was in excess of 45km.Paradiski it certainly was!




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[Danger UXB]

Ok a few days to complete the return trip report. Hope you are enjoying my first TR. The photos from now on should be alittle better in quality and more on those famous SQ J seasts.

GVA to LHR LX 352

Airbus A320 100/200

Arrived at GVA the night before and was able to check in then for the following early morning depature. The Swiss checkin madamoselle couldn't believe I had been skiing for a week from Aus with carryon only!
Went to the Swiss lounge for breakfast




And checked the speed again. This was actually the free wifi open to the general public in the whole airport. Pretty good I thought




Airbus was very noisy compared to the Lufthansa Embraer

Swiss euro business, 3:3 set up with the middle seat vacant (or in my case the whole front row).



Chose 1A because it's probably the only time I will get that seat on my boarding pass! Once again no bubbles and a fry up for brekky!



T1 to T3 transfer was smooth but no fast track at the baggage check (come on LHR). Good speed in the Silver Kris lounge for a facetime call.





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[Danger UXB]

LHR to SIN SQ 317 A380 vers 2

Chose seat 96A

Outbound sat on the right side of the plane (I am right handed) inbound I have chosen the left side of the plane. I know alot has been discussed about this with regard to suites seats and which side is easier to grasp the bubbles in one hand and the remote in the other. But for me in J I don't mind my bubbles left or right so long as it's not Henriot!

96A is the back seat just behind the emergency escape. There is a high bulkhead infront and the screen is definitely higher, and further away by about 30 cm. Without the screen tilted it is too high, unlike 11A/K on 777ER



There is also no glass holder and vanity mirror to the side of the screen




and the seat is narrower like the 777ER seats and 11A/K on the 380, which I kind of like as it feels more like an armchair where you can use the armrest easily without too much lean.

Narrow seat as seen on 77W and A380 11A/K and 96A/K





Standard A380 seat( bolster cusions used to demonstrate the width as my tape measure was in the tool box!!)



But it does have the bench seat foot well which,for me, being a wide legged sleeper is ideal.



However, the loading on the rear cabin does not seem popular on any of the flights I have been on so service is fast and efficient.

 

[Danger UXB]

LHR to SIN continued

Once again despite the menu






I have BTC and I am not disappointed with the roast duck with rice washed down with more Medoc




and the very yum Movenpick ice cream!



My choice of bench footwells for the flights I have planned to sleep on goes down well and I manage 6 hours + with some chemical assistance.


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[Danger UXB]

Changi transit 2

The queue for the Changi Dollar Vouchers is massive as only one info desk are handing them out so I purchase more Highland Park, this time 1990, and some Amarula (for Mrs UXB) before heading to the silverkris for a shower.





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[Danger UXB]

SIN to MEL SQ317 A380 vers2

Chose 16A

Back in the tried and tested forward cabin but I did enjoy my time down back and would do it again happily.

Menu







but BTC beef redang on recommendation, comes with ikan bilis on the side.






Very good but lamb shank curry still the best IMHO. The SQ blossom in blue said of course it's good it's a local dish then also recommended the Nasi Lemak.



Topped the 1000 kmh with a bit of a tail wind on the way home.



Thought I was home free on the food front but just had a snack, squid ink focaccia with smoked salmon. Another chef needs shooting I'm afraid!



Now just to negociate the mess that is MEL arrivals and hope that the express queue actually does it's job!


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[Danger UXB]

Conclusions


-France is still IMHO the finest place to ski on the planet
-Henriot is average.
-My AFF name should be "champagne Charlie" not Danger UXB
-The ipad is a better device to travel with compared to an ipod touch
-I should finally make the switch to and iphone then I can use the "ski tracker" app.
-SQ have a very good product no matter where you sit in J, let's hope the redesign process ends up with all the good bits of this seat and a more comfy bum!
-The NoWAK Mk2 was discussed over a Pierrade in a restaurant in the Alps ,and I will do it in Suites (saver of course). Now where is that credit card and the BAS


If anyone has specific questions about the seats and various differences thoughout the plane just ask and if I can come up with the answers I will.

Thanks for reading

Danger UXB

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[jetlagger]

Conclusions


-France is still IMHO the finest place to ski on the planet
-Henriot is average.
-My AFF name should be "champagne Charlie" not Danger UXB
-The ipad is a better device to travel with compared to an ipod touch
-I should finally make the switch to and iphone then I can use the "ski tracker" app.
-SQ have a very good product no matter where you sit in J, let's hope the redesign process ends up with all the good bits of this seat and a more comfy bum!
-The NoWAK Mk2 was discussed over a Pierrade in a restaurant in the Alps ,and I will do it in Suites (saver of course). Now where is that credit card and the BAS


If anyone has specific questions about the seats and various differences thoughout the plane just ask and if I can come up with the answers I will.

Thanks for reading

Danger UXB

Sent from my iPod

Thanks Danger UXB..
Really appreciated the time & efforts that you have put into your posts, especially the photos.
I agree with most of your conclusions, except that I still believe that IMO Switzerland (open to contention) still offers the best skiing.. On & off (at own peril) piste.
Happy future travels & look forward to your next contributions on AFF.
Cheers,
jl