Jase’s European Summer

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jase05

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Well after plenty of aborted attempts and alterations the day has finally arrived. Due to work and a couple of other factors my World Cup dreams had to be shelved and we have had to cut back from our initial timeframe away of 8 weeks to now being 6 weeks which unfortunately some sectors of the trip have been trimmed or omitted. I’m a QF WP and my wife SG and we have chosen to fly EK J class entirely self funded. The trip involves flying into Germany and hiring a car for 3 weeks to drive around Germany, Austria and parts of Eastern Europe before spending a week in Switzerland travelling by train. We then head to the UK for 10 days before flying back via Paris and Dubai. Some of these places we have visited before once or twice and I’ve crammed a bit more in than I would usually like to but our schedule is tight. I always take a diary with me and take notes but this is the first time I’ve spent the time doing a TP so fingers crossed
 
Trip started with the Chauffeur pick up at 8:05am. Our driver Peter was about 10 minutes early and it was a really enjoyable and pleasant trip down to ADL of around 55 minutes. Check in was a breeze and found ourselves in the QF lounge by 9:30am with a couple of hours to kill. Lounge was at a low capacity and had a couple of coffees and flicked through the newspapers.
We chose to go via MEL as the lounge situation in Adelaide is poor plus I’m not a huge fan of EK’s 777. Was also $200 each cheaper which I know is nothing in the scheme of things.
QF682 ADL-MEL in J
Flight was fairly uneventful and very smooth. Wife had the mushroom quiche which she loved whilst I went for the fruit bowl which was pretty darn good aswell. Arrived in Melbourne on time and stored our carry on luggage at the airport before catching a cab into town.
 
44964A64-0755-42FA-B686-F7A2BAF3E1C6.jpeg Made use of the brilliant Chauffeur service and booked another to collect us in Melbourne and take us back to the airport.
After spending a couple of hours shopping we arranged to be picked up in Little Bourke street and Hughes Limousines were fantastic and kept us in the loop regularly. Our driver Salem was there 15 minutes earlier than our 1715 arranged time which suited us fine. Was collected in his recently purchased Merc and we had a wonderful chat on the way to the airport. Traffic was not too bad for that time of day and immigration was a breeze. Found ourselves in the EK lounge by 1815 which is where I’m currently awaiting our flight and writing this TR.
 
So do you get CD in Adelaide and in Melbourne? I agree with you about the 777 - won't be doing that again even though they go directly from Adelaide (unless of course I'm in F which is perfectly acceptable)

Looking forward to your adventures
 
So do you get CD in Adelaide and in Melbourne? I agree with you about the 777 - won't be doing that again even though they go directly from Adelaide (unless of course I'm in F which is perfectly acceptable)

Looking forward to your adventures
Yes CD for both.
Also have CD in Paris, both ways in Dubai and home in Adelaide. Could have got one on arrival in FRA but have rental car to collect at airport.
Booked on QF website.
Yes, thought the 777 in J was pretty ordinary so the choice was easy. The free return flights to MEL in J and better lounges were just a bonus
 
Looking forward to this too.

Interesting to get two CDs before the first EK flight. Not a bad little saver.

As a QF WP you could have accessed the QF F lounge which is a step up from the (very good) EK lounge and would have been nice and quiet at that time.
 
How did you get 2 Chauffeur Drives (actually 3 given one was into Melbourne CBD)? Did you pay extra or did they just agree to it??
 
How did you get 2 Chauffeur Drives (actually 3 given one was into Melbourne CBD)? Did you pay extra or did they just agree to it??
Just went on to manage my bookings and it listed the eligible flights for CD. Melbourne CBD to airport was listed and so I entered the details. They needed a hotel or residential address so gave them the Mantra on Little Bourke as we were shopping in the area. We had to pay for a taxi into the CBD from the airport as that wasn’t on our list of eligible flights.
 
Looking forward to this too.

Interesting to get two CDs before the first EK flight. Not a bad little saver.

As a QF WP you could have accessed the QF F lounge which is a step up from the (very good) EK lounge and would have been nice and quiet at that time.
The plan was to visit the EK lounge and then head to the QF F lounge but had a shower, then a bite to eat and being a mad Essendon supporter our game was being shown in the lounge so I pulled up a seat and started watching and that’s as far as we got. EK lounge was pretty quiet and had everything we wanted so not too fussed
 
The plan was to visit the EK lounge and then head to the QF F lounge but had a shower, then a bite to eat and being a mad Essendon supporter our game was being shown in the lounge so I pulled up a seat and started watching and that’s as far as we got. EK lounge was pretty quiet and had everything we wanted so not too fussed
Fair enough. I never lounge hop either if I’m comfortable and have everything I need.
 
Looking forward to your travels
 
Will the new Internet enabled aircraft allow streaming of radio / pandora / stitcher / itunes etc?

Perhaps that's where it's headed.
 
Good to see that Veuve Clicquot has returned to the EK lounge, it was sadly MIA on my last pre WP transit through SYD last year. The difference in quality between the EK lounges and the QF int J lounges (particularly in MEL) can be measured in light years. Its a shame though that the opening hours of the EK lounges are so limited.

Looking forward to hearing about your travels, hopefully getting back to VIE ( and southern Germany from there) next year.
 
Sounds like a great trip - look forward to reading more.
 
Good to see that Veuve Clicquot has returned to the EK lounge, it was sadly MIA on my last pre WP transit through SYD last year. The difference in quality between the EK lounges and the QF int J lounges (particularly in MEL) can be measured in light years. Its a shame though that the opening hours of the EK lounges are so limited.

Looking forward to hearing about your travels, hopefully getting back to VIE ( and southern Germany from there) next year.
Yeah, the Veuve caught my eye too ... yum!
 
Well sorry for the belated TR but have been fairly time poor since returning as had a couple of holidays in quick succession and then back to work with our busiest period stretching from October through to the end of January.
Anyway I’ll resume where I left off.
EK407 MEL-DXB in J. Flight was about 15 minutes late in departing but was a really good flight with very attentive and friendly crew. Drinks were topped up as soon as they got below half full, its as if they wanted me drunk!
Service was prompt and meals were nice.
91BCAAC6-2059-4525-A448-D8961263AD03.jpeg 4F6C2DDF-565F-4826-A80A-2DE14178E747.jpeg 9DED7475-F1D1-4F35-A0F5-7D8744895FC6.jpeg
 
After dinner we went to the bar and had a couple of drinks whilst my bed was made up and shortly after I went to bed I drifted off to sleep and had a solid 5 hours of shut eye. Breakfast was delicious even though it was a weird time of morning and I had to resist any further food offers as I knew the EK First lounge was not too far away9E5697A6-3AC5-4027-8E72-7177E436404C.jpeg
 
Despite departing late we arrived into DXB about half an hour early and in what seemed like the blink of an eye we in the lounge. A quick shower and then a couple of hours to relax and check emails etc as I was just starting to feel a little jaded.
I only took a couple of snaps of the lounge but my wife got a few decent ones I’ll post later.
Boarding to FRA was on time but sat on the tarmac for ages and was about 40 minutes late departing but at least they kept the drinks flowing.
EK45 DXB-FRA A380
Another good flight where once again service was prompt and friendly and I alternated my time between the excellent ICE system and drinking at the bar. My wife camped at the bar lounge with a book and enjoyed a relaxing read. Was interesting chatting to staff and other passengers and getting tips on some German highlights.
54641FC9-B330-4A4F-880E-6F7C1B511C0C.jpeg
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Very decent brunch/lunch
83C37778-BB90-421E-B7F5-D4E79C523CF9.jpeg
 
Despite the tardy departure we arrived into FRA earlier than scheduled and unlike our last visit immigration was quick and we were through in no time.
We found the Europcar desk and was told we were a little early and our car wasn’t ready yet. The agent then proceeded to offer me an upgrade to a Merc for only €200 which sounded like a decent deal but we had already booked through Autoeurope and didn’t want to alter the contract. He also apparently wasn’t aware that I couldn’t take the Merc into Eastern Europe and luckily his supervisor overheard the conversation and backed me up. All of a sudden our booked car became available!
Our brand new Renault Capture was easy to find in the parking lot and after playing around with the Satnav and getting it to speak English we were off
 
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