Germany and Barcelona - EY J, SQ Suites and LCCs (Ryanair/ Easyjet)

[Peter78]

On Tuesday, we have returned from a trip to Europe, where we spent close to three weeks. Whilst the destinations (Germany and Barcelona) may not be as interesting as other trip reports, I still hope that this write-up – my first – will be of interest to some. I might actually go into more detail on the flights, with more general comments and pictures on the destinations. Thank you for reading.

Our routing, with what I found to be an interesting mix of airlines and classes, was as follows:

SYD – AUH – DUS, EY J booked using VA points
CGN – BCN, Ryanair
BCN – SXF, Easyjet
FRA – SIN – SYD, SQ Suites/ First, booked using SQ points.

 

[Peter78]

So it all started on March 26, when we were picked up by Etihad’s chauffeur service at Sydney Airport’s Blu Emu (long-term) car park around 2pm, slightly less than two hours before departure. Living outside the 50 km radius allowed, it was more convenient to park our car there rather than take public transport. Originally, we were supposed to be on VA but one of their 777s was out for major maintenance, hence we were rebooked on the afternoon Etihad flight to Abu Dhabi.

Flight: EY451
Route: SYD - AUH
Date: March 26, 2015
Seat: 5E/ 5F
Flight time: 14 hrs 40 mins
Aircraft: A340 (A6-EHI)
Load: 100% full
Arrival: on time

Check-in at Sydney airport was a very slow affair and although there was only one couple ahead of us when we arrived at the counter, we still spent close to thirty minutes there. Staff mentioned system issues and processing took a long time, including not finding our reservation at first. When we finally had our boarding passes in our hands, we were given an express pass, which we didn’t use as there was hardly any queue. Renovations closed down most of the duty free area but we wanted to get to the lounge anyway, where we arrived about an hour before departure.

I like Etihad’s lounge at Sydney airport and it is much better than the Air NZ that was used previously. We had a bite to eat and off we went for boarding.

Upon boarding, we were offered a pre-flight drink and I had a champagne, which was nice. Orders for after take-off drinks were taken, as well as for dinner. I chose the tuna for starters, barramundi for mains as well as cheese and apple crumble. Andrea had the duck breast and I have attached photos of most meals and the menu.

In general, I wasn’t expecting much from a service perspective, following some average reviews on EY J here. However, we found the service to be warm and personal and we were very happy. There were some minor issues, such as handing out a water bottle on one aisle but not the other but nothing dramatic at all. Even better when one of the flight attendants found out that Andrea is pregnant, she assembled a card from scratch, as per the photo below.

This being the afternoon flight, we decided to eat first and minimise sleep to adjust to Germany’s time zone quicker. The mattress and doona plus the pyjamas were very comfortable so we ended up sleeping for about four hours. Overall, a very enjoyable and satisfying flight.

Upon arrival at Abu Dhabi, we made our way to the EY lounge. Our flight had docked on the apron so busses were required, followed by a fairly long walk. I don’t rate AUH highly as a transit airport but the lounge is nice: very full and a fifteen minute wait for a shower, yet with a good selection of food & beverages. Not that you need to eat more.

 

[RB]

Looking forward to reading this. We are doing a few parts of Germany & Spain in May/June.

 

[Peter78]

menus SYD - AUH

 

[Peter78]

menus continued

 

[Peter78]

Dinner SYD - AUH

sesame crusted tuna


duck breast


barramundi


cheese


warm apple crumble

 

[Peter78]

Flight: EY23
Route: AUH – DUS
Date: March 267 2015
Seat: 9E/ 9F
Flight time: 6 hrs 9 mins
Aircraft: A330 (A6-EFF)
Load: ~75% full
Arrival: 30 minutes early

Our flight to Dusseldorf left from terminal 1 so it was another lengthy walk to get to the gate. Whilst J on the A330 is effectively the same as on the A340, the latter feels more roomy, probably due to the actual aircraft frame being wider. There were no pyjamas handed out on this shorter flight and no mattress/ turn-down service was offered, although every passenger on board tried to maximise their sleep, with a departure of 3am and an arrival of 6.10am local time.

We declined the offer for food and went straight to sleep, asking to be woken as late as possible for breakfast. This wish was granted and we enjoyed about four and a half hours of sleep, with breakfast served approx. 75 minutes prior to arrival. I have chosen the Arabic option, as can be seen in the photo below. Very tasty but relatively small in size.

4 degrees C awaited us once we landed and clearing immigration, using our German passport, was a very quick affair. In terms of priority baggage, one of our cases came out first whilst the other came out ten minutes later. Outside, we were greeted by a chauffeur, who took us to our destination.

I have absolutely no hesitation to fly Etihad Business again and getting to Europe was very comfortable. We spent three days in Germany visiting family and friends before heading to Barcelona, flying one of the most hated airlines in the world: Ryanair.

 

[Peter78]

Arabic breakfast including "real" coffee



night "sky" on board

 

[Peter78]

The card one of the flight attendants made for us after following out that we are expecting, complete with drinks (one coughtail, one mocktail) and dessert. This was on the SYD - AUH sector and quite a personal touch to what I felt was warm service

 

[LadyC]

Sounds interesting - look forward to reading more.

 

[Peter78]

Our driver dropped us off at a Europcar station, where we picked up our rental car. This was booked using a free weekend following a tier level upgrade in Europcar’s Privilige program.

The next few days were relatively uneventful. We spent time with family and in order to provide some background, we have left Germany about eight years ago to move to Australia, with all other family members still in Germany.

We grew up pretty much as far West as possible, only 25 kilometres away from the Dutch and Belgian borders, with the nearest major cities being Cologne (Koeln) and Aachen. There are no highlights, from a tourist point of view, there so no photos worth uploading. The main point was revealing our pregnancy to our families.

The only other thing I find worthwhile noting was going to a game of the soccer team I have been supporting ever since studying in Aachen. Unfortunately, the team has been relegated a few times and is now playing in the fourth division, however seeing 11,000 people turn up for a game on a Monday night was quite impressive.



Oh, I nearly forgot, it was very cold and temperatures of consistently less than five degrees are not common in this part of the world for late March. This was another reason why we were looking forward to Barcelona, which is coming up next.

 

[snabbu]

The card one of the flight attendants made for us after following out that we are expecting. This was on the SYD - AUH sector and quite a personal touch to what I felt was warm service

Brilliant. That's how to look after your customers.

 

[Peter78]

Flight: FR2508 (Ryanair)
Route: CGN - BCN
Date: March 31, 2015
Seat: 18A/ 18B
Flight time: 1 hr 54 mins
Aircraft: B737 (EI-EVI)
Load: ~99% full
Arrival: 50 minutes late
Cost: 51 Euro ea. including one bag

We were meant to use the train to Cologne airport, which would have cost us 6 Euro per person for the hour-long trip (!), however due to electrical storms, all trains were suspended that day, something I have never experienced before so my father drove us to the airport instead.

Ryanair make you check in online and print out your boarding pass, which we did. Apparently they charge heaps (I believe 70 Euro each) for boarding passes that need to be printed at the airport so we made sure not to forget our print-outs. At check-in, we were told that the flight was extremely full and I only counted one spare seat on the plane when I did a walk through the cabin. That seat turned out to be in our row so we had three seats to ourselves.

We later found out that one of the reason why the flight was so full was that a flight to Palma de Mallorca had been cancelled. Ryanair being a low-cost carrier rebooked everyone to the Barcelona flight, with an ETA of 11.20pm: the group we talked to told us that Ryanair then booked them on a flight to Palma leaving at 6.00am the next morning, with no accommodation offered. True LCC spirit. Thinking about this again, maybe this was a case for compensation under EU regulations but I doubt that Ryanair would have been forthcoming in sharing this idea.

Another consequence of the full flight was that we were basically ordered to check in our carry on, however we refused to do this as we didn’t want to see our laptops in the hold. The check-in lady was quite grumpy when we told her but she accepted it, and it later turned out that there was plenty of space in the overhead lockers.

Priority boarding can be added to bookings on Ryanair for 3 or 4 Euro (I’m not sure exactly but it is not much) and the people who did had their boarding passes scanned earlier than other passengers, only to be standing inside the “finger” and waiting there. Yes, they boarded the flight slightly earlier and I guess they had more time and space to store their hand luggage, however this seemed like a waste of money to me.

The flight itself was uneventful. The pilot was very chatty with constant updates and apologies about the delay, whereas the flight attendants were busily spruiking their wares, which also included scratch cards. Interestingly, not a single word of German was spoken and all announcements were in English and Spanish only.

Some photos of the flight below. A short summary: if everything goes well and one knows and obeys the rules, I think Ryanair is a suitable carrier for short, intra-Europe flights, particularly if main airports are used, as in our case.

 

[Peter78]

In typical fashion, "the Germans" started queueing an hour before scheduled departure. Maybe we are the only ones but this behaviour constantly leads to ridicule on our part and no matter where you are, it always seems easy to identify the gates flights to Germany leave from.



the cabin




queue on the tarmac to board


leg room. Note I am six foot (1.80m) tall and my knees did not touch the seat in front. Reclining is not an option as Ryanair has installed non-moveable seats...

 

[mimishat]

The card one of the flight attendants made for us after following out that we are expecting, complete with drinks (one coughtail, one mocktail) and dessert. This was on the SYD - AUH sector and quite a personal touch to what I felt was warm service

What a nice gesture! And congratulations

 

[robd]

Good TR so far. Subscribing.

 

[Peter78]

So we landed at Barcelona airport shortly after midnight and T2 did not leave a very welcoming impression. After picking up our bag, we grabbed a taxi to El Born, the suburb where we had rented an AirBNB apartment, the first experience we had with this service. When checking for accommodation several months prior to our trip, reasonable hotels were not available for less than 200 Euro per night so we were glad to have picked up a 70 sqm apartment at about $100 per night.

Our host had mentioned that we should expect to pay around 25 Euro for the taxi, however the driver tried to rip us off, again not a very pleasant introduction to Barcelona. According to the price list in the taxi, each suitcase costs 3 Euro, however there was a decriptions that carry-on sized bags are exempt. Still, he tried to charge us 12 Euro for four pieces, including Andrea’s small handbag, on top of the fare, which already included the usual airport fee and a late night surcharge of 20%. Only after much discussion did he agree to stick to the rules and we paid 27 Euro. We were later that such attempts on tourists are all too frequent in Barcelona.

We then went out to look for the apartment, for which we didn’t have a proper address, only a street name. Pablo, our host, had told us to call/ text/ email/ WhatsApp him when we were close and he was waiting in front of the house. By now, it was 1am and we identified him easily, and we went inside. Pablo explained that AirBNB was prohibited in Barcelona and that he couldn't reveal the exact address, also saying that if someone knocks on our door, we should tell them that we are Pablo’s friends and that he is out working, returning later.

The apartment itself was great, a queen-sized bed plus kitchen, bath-room and a living area in an older – but very clean – environment. The location was awesome, as El Born is in-between El Barri Gotic and La Barceloneta including the port area, so very central. Our apartment was one block from Basilica de Santa Maria del Mar and two minutes’ walk from Museu Picasso. If there was one drawback, and we didn’t see it as such, the area is buzzing with bars and restaurants and as eating and drinking is a late night affair, even during the week, it was quite busy and loud until late. This didn’t bother as much though. We benefitted from Pablo’s inside knowledge and he recommended a few places to eat, drink and party and the ones we went to were all great. I would definitely recommend this apartment and AirBNB, although this was only one positive experience so far and not dozens. Anyone who wants more details, please feel free to PM me.

 

[Peter78]

The pace at which we were exploring Barcelona was much slower than we are used to and this was owing to Andrea’s energy levels, which at this stage of pregnancy were very low and constant breaks were required.

On the first day, we did what was described as La Ribera Walk, which included some highlights in the local area adjacent to our apartment. In the evening, we had a walk along the beach, also taking in the port area before enjoying a lovely dinner. Unfortunately, I didn’t take many photos and I used my mobile for the ones I took so the quality might not be great. However, I can dig out details on the restaurants we chose for dinner if anyone is interested.

 

[Peter78]

On day 2, we took the fast, efficient and cheap metro to Park Güell, located in Carmel Hill, a public park system composed of gardens and architectonic elements, designed by renowned architect Antoni Gaudi between 1900 and 1914. The view of Barcelona, strecthng all the way to the Mediterranean, was also worth the trip although I will say that it was very busy, despite restrictions on the number of tickets sold per 30 minute block. I have taken several photos of the park and the ones below are five examples of what can be seen at the Park.

travelators to help get up hill

 

[Peter78]

I didn't take any photos of Sagrada Familia, the famous church also designed by Gaudi, which we visited next. It is still unfinished and no one knows when – or whether – construction work will be completed. Large parts of the church were covered when we visited. Anyway, we visited Sagrada Familia next and found the buildings very impressive, despite or possible because of their unusual design. However, there was plenty of activity, including police and apparently pick pocketing occurs there frequently, hence this sign was everywhere:



We finished the day with dinner in a lovely, tiny wine bar around the corner from our apartment. Deciding not to participate in the customs of the locals, we had dinner relatively early (around 8pm) and it didn't come as a surprise that we could tell that the vast majority of people eating with us were tourists. Their Rioja and jamon iberico is to die for, luckily/ unfortunately this was only suitable for me.