sergeyvzn
Established Member
- Joined
- Dec 9, 2010
- Posts
- 1,019
Trip Report
SYD-NRT-SVO-MMK-SVO-PAR-multiplesurface sectors – BCN-SVO-HKG-SYD
It all started on Friday, the 17[SUP]th[/SUP]of June...
I had been planning this trip for quitea long while. The thing is my mum (she is 73, a doctor and stillworking full time) had finally decided this January she was going topartially retire – stop seeing patients, only do a bit of teachinglike 3-4 hours a week (she also teaches first aid at a college inMurmansk, this is where I was born and she still lives along with mybrother's family) and I thought I should take her to Paris as aretirement present.
I speak French and used to be activelyinvolved with everything French when I still lived in St.Petersburg,I still got a couple of friends in France I would like to see so itall was coming together quite nicely. The plan was to fly intoRussia, take mum and fly to Paris together, then take a train ontoSt.Cyr-sur-Mer (its a nice seaside town near Marseille), spend sometime on the beach there, then on to Barcelona for a few days, then weare flying to Moscow together, overnight, I put her on a place backto Murmansk at 9 am and fly back home to Sydney at 9 pm the same daystopping over in Hong Kong for a few days to do a bit of sightseeingand shopping.
I had booked my tickets as well asmum's as well as our accommodation well in advance. There were somelast minute unexpected changes caused by the Murmansk airportrenovating the runway. The main carrier on the Moscow-Murmansk route,Nordavia (a former Aeroflot subsidiary), cancelled our flights and ittook me a white to have them changed to fit the rest of ourtravelling plans.
Anyway, I was at SYD airport at 7.45 pmon Friday the 17[SUP]th[/SUP] to check in for my 9.55 pm flight toNarita. The check in area was swamped with the crowd of Japaneseschoolgirls and a nice Qantas lady monitoring the checkin queue toldme to check in at the business class counter. The whole thing tookabout 3 mins, my bag was checked through all the way to SVO but I hadto get my NRT-SVO boarding pass at Narita at a transfer desk. 30minutes of queueing for a tax refund on the iPhone I was carrying formy brother as a present, some last minute duty free shopping (opalsfor my mum, sister-in-law and niece) and here I go to the gate toboard. The Japanese schoolgirl crowd was already there, the check inwas on time and A330 was full of them, in fact I was sitting next toone of them who slept all the way to Tokyo not even moving to each,drink or go to a restroom.
We had to wait for about 30 mins forsome transit passengers from Melbourne to get on the plane so thepush back was at about 10.30 pm instead of 9.55. I don't like A330seats, I find the far less comfortable than B747 ones...I had anaisle seat (55B) that I had selected online paying Qantas $20 for theprivilege and at least I did not have the bloody box under my seatbut still I found my seat lacking padding and was not impressed withthe lack of socks in the comfort kit. I know I had disappeared awhile ago but still find it petty...
The food service took forever, I thinkI got both supper and drinks just after midnight, no pre-supperdrinks, everything together. The food was decent and I helped myselfto some nice Cab Sauv, watched a movie and slept at bit and then itwas time for breakfast, fairly decent again and here we were –welcome to Narita airport. We were only 5 mins late after ourscheduled arrive time, 7 am instead of 6.55 (B747 used to bring youto Narita just after 6 and you'd have to wait for 30 mins beforesomeone get to a transfer desk). Now that Aeroflot flies in and outof Terminal 1 (used to be both Qantas and Aeroflot in Terminal 2,very convenient) as all other Sky Team carries, I had to take a freeshuttle bus to Terminal one, it took us all around the world and Ihad a good look at the wide range of carriers and types in bothTerminal 2 and 1, no pictures though as I was a bit tired and forgotabout taking them.
Arrived in Terminal 1, was told thecheckin for Moscow is actually at the gate one hour prior to theflight departure time. So I went to day rooms and had a shower and adecent 3 hour nap.
Back at Gate 22 at 11, checked in, seat33A, boarding at 11.30.
Waiting at the gate, nothing at 11.30,nothing at 11.40 and then I sort of realised there was some strangeactivity by the front landing gear of Aeroflot B767 – first of all,it should've really been an A330 as per the schedule, B767 inAeroflot fleet are older and don;t have IFE systems so I was upsetalready. Then saw some looking like mechanics doing stuff toseemingly hydraulic equipment and started to worry....and I wasright. At 12.00 an announcement comes through – due to technicalissues, the flight is now cancelled, everyone please go to gate 28...
the next 2.5 hours everything was justplain bloody chaos. The Aeroflot rep speaks Russian and Japanese butdoes not speak English. His Japanese staff speak Japanese, a bit ofEnglish and no Russian. The Russian passengers speak Russian, somespeak Japanese and some speak English. The Japanese passengers – anorchestra and some other large group – only speak Japanese and 1 or2 people a bit of English. Some very unfortunate Europeans –Hungarians, Spanish, Finns, Italians – who were travelling toEurope via Moscow speak English, no Japanese and no Russian. Allthese various groups of people trying to get information about whatwas going to happen to us at the same time from the Russian rep andJapanese staff...people screaming at each other, we were told we'dhave to go to a hotel and wait till tomorrow as there was noreplacement plane and Aeroflot could not send us to our destinationsas they could only use other SkyTeam carries and there was only oneAirFrance flight later today that was full....I thought it was a verydodgy explanation as there were lots of Korean Air flights as well asa couple of Alitalia ones to Milano and Rome and Aeroflot could putus on these flights (at least) but obviously was not prepared to dothis...anyway, after a long 2.5 hours of no information and lots ofscreams a few people were rebooked on alternative carriers to go toBaku (I think they were some Japanese government official travellingon official business) and the rest were given food vouchers for lunchand told to take a free shuttle bus to Marroad International hotel.Got there, got a dinner voucher but was told the plane would be fixedfor a 10 pm departure and we should be in the lobby by 7.15 to goback to the airport. What a relief...as it meant I would not bemissing my 9 am SVO-MMK flight on Sunday which was a separate bookingmeaning I'd have to buy another ticket (I do have a platinum AMEXcard with Wespac that comes with a travel insurance but it requiresyou to minimise your financial losses in case of cancellations and itmeans I'd have to try to call Nordavia and cancel my flight to MMKbut they actually do not allow any phone changes or cancellations soI would have been in trouble)...
Boarding the same B767 at 9.30 pm, gotmy 33A with no one in 33B so it was good I guess. Push back at 10 pmsharp, a bit of a bumpy climb over the main island and then acrossthe sea on to Russia's Far East. Pre-dinner drinks served first (plusa refreshment towel of a cheap out-of-a pack kind but still betterthan Qantas that did not do it at all) but no alcohol (if you feellike a drink, be ready to pay 5 euro a pop). Then dinner – verynice, some sushi plus a very nice steam fish for me with rice andsauteed vegies and a raspberry gateau dessert. The older B767 withsome very tired looking blue leather seats did not have an IFE so itwas all sleep for me for the next 10.5 hours. A nice hot breakfast at1.30 am
I had a Japanese option but there was also a normalEuropean omelette+bacon+tomato stuff. Arrived in Moscow's SVOairport, terminal D at 3.40 am ….almost empty but that was great asthere were no queue at all at passport control booths so in 30seconds I was through. Had to wait for the luggage a bit longer –welcome to Russia – but was out into the arrival hall at at 4.20 amanyway.
So I had plenty of time for my 9 ammorning flight to MMK and I decided to go the airport day rooms for ashower and bit of rest. To get to the “capsule hotel Air Express”as they call themselves you need to actually get out of the terminalsof the South terminal complex (the old Soviet monstrosity of TerminalF that is now connected to the brand new shiny Terminals E and D)through the connecting pedestrian gallery that takes to the AirportRail Express terminal where the hotel is on the 5[SUP]th[/SUP] floor.Got a room for 3 hours – a minimum is 4 hours, had to pay for that.It cost twice as much as Narita day rooms ($30 in Narita for 3 hoursvs $60 in SVO for 4 hours), was twice as dirty even if it was onlyopen last year, the price in SVO did not include free stuff like inNarita (comb, toothpaste/toothbrush, slippers, a bottle of water,lotion etc) and I had to buy a bottle of water for 40 roubles (about1.30 AUD) as was told I'd better no drink tap water – again,welcome to Mother Russia!
Took a shower, got a little nap and wasback at Terminal D (it's a 5 min walk through the pedestrian galleryfrom the hotel/rail terminal) at 7.30. The check in in Terminal D isdone differently, you can check in for your flight at any of thenumber of desks unless you use a self-service kiosk, there is nodedicated group of desk for a particular flight, you can do itanyway. There is a positive and negative side to it but I would say Ipersonally found it a bit confusing...went to Gate 2 to wait for thedeparture and had a 200 rouble cappuccino (about 7 AUD – OMG) –welcome to Russia again.
We were bussed to the B737-500 ofNordavia as it was parked a distance from the busy terminal. SinceAeroflot built it in 2010 it has gone through a very rapiddevelopment from just a few flights a day to almost ALL Aeroflotflights (fair enough, it was the reason to build it to have adedicated facility for the carrier managed by the carrier) and to meit looked like it had already reached it planned capacity (7 millionpax a year) and some flights were overflowing to Terminal E (alsobrand new but smaller that D) and the old F. Took a picture of thetarmac – all Aeroflot with a sprinkling of Nordavia, Donavia(former subsidiaries now sold but obviously using the same facilitiesas the former mother company) and an occasional Air France's A320.
Push back on time, quick taxi and takeoff, a sandwich, a little chocolate and soft drinks/tea/coffee as inflight service. The plane was old, you could tell it by thecondition inside – blue leather seats as well but all scratched andbits torn, can't take pictures – tried that but was reprimanded andtold “no photos of videos taken on board unless you've got apermission from the airline in writing”...Welcome to Russia again
anyway, arrived on time at 11.30 –the only plane in MMK as the runway is being resurfaced and closedfrom 12.30 (when the same plane leaves for Moscow) till 6 pm. Was metby my brother and driven home to see my mum and have a nice littlefamily reunion.
To be continued....
SYD-NRT-SVO-MMK-SVO-PAR-multiplesurface sectors – BCN-SVO-HKG-SYD
It all started on Friday, the 17[SUP]th[/SUP]of June...
I had been planning this trip for quitea long while. The thing is my mum (she is 73, a doctor and stillworking full time) had finally decided this January she was going topartially retire – stop seeing patients, only do a bit of teachinglike 3-4 hours a week (she also teaches first aid at a college inMurmansk, this is where I was born and she still lives along with mybrother's family) and I thought I should take her to Paris as aretirement present.
I speak French and used to be activelyinvolved with everything French when I still lived in St.Petersburg,I still got a couple of friends in France I would like to see so itall was coming together quite nicely. The plan was to fly intoRussia, take mum and fly to Paris together, then take a train ontoSt.Cyr-sur-Mer (its a nice seaside town near Marseille), spend sometime on the beach there, then on to Barcelona for a few days, then weare flying to Moscow together, overnight, I put her on a place backto Murmansk at 9 am and fly back home to Sydney at 9 pm the same daystopping over in Hong Kong for a few days to do a bit of sightseeingand shopping.
I had booked my tickets as well asmum's as well as our accommodation well in advance. There were somelast minute unexpected changes caused by the Murmansk airportrenovating the runway. The main carrier on the Moscow-Murmansk route,Nordavia (a former Aeroflot subsidiary), cancelled our flights and ittook me a white to have them changed to fit the rest of ourtravelling plans.
Anyway, I was at SYD airport at 7.45 pmon Friday the 17[SUP]th[/SUP] to check in for my 9.55 pm flight toNarita. The check in area was swamped with the crowd of Japaneseschoolgirls and a nice Qantas lady monitoring the checkin queue toldme to check in at the business class counter. The whole thing tookabout 3 mins, my bag was checked through all the way to SVO but I hadto get my NRT-SVO boarding pass at Narita at a transfer desk. 30minutes of queueing for a tax refund on the iPhone I was carrying formy brother as a present, some last minute duty free shopping (opalsfor my mum, sister-in-law and niece) and here I go to the gate toboard. The Japanese schoolgirl crowd was already there, the check inwas on time and A330 was full of them, in fact I was sitting next toone of them who slept all the way to Tokyo not even moving to each,drink or go to a restroom.
We had to wait for about 30 mins forsome transit passengers from Melbourne to get on the plane so thepush back was at about 10.30 pm instead of 9.55. I don't like A330seats, I find the far less comfortable than B747 ones...I had anaisle seat (55B) that I had selected online paying Qantas $20 for theprivilege and at least I did not have the bloody box under my seatbut still I found my seat lacking padding and was not impressed withthe lack of socks in the comfort kit. I know I had disappeared awhile ago but still find it petty...
The food service took forever, I thinkI got both supper and drinks just after midnight, no pre-supperdrinks, everything together. The food was decent and I helped myselfto some nice Cab Sauv, watched a movie and slept at bit and then itwas time for breakfast, fairly decent again and here we were –welcome to Narita airport. We were only 5 mins late after ourscheduled arrive time, 7 am instead of 6.55 (B747 used to bring youto Narita just after 6 and you'd have to wait for 30 mins beforesomeone get to a transfer desk). Now that Aeroflot flies in and outof Terminal 1 (used to be both Qantas and Aeroflot in Terminal 2,very convenient) as all other Sky Team carries, I had to take a freeshuttle bus to Terminal one, it took us all around the world and Ihad a good look at the wide range of carriers and types in bothTerminal 2 and 1, no pictures though as I was a bit tired and forgotabout taking them.
Arrived in Terminal 1, was told thecheckin for Moscow is actually at the gate one hour prior to theflight departure time. So I went to day rooms and had a shower and adecent 3 hour nap.
Back at Gate 22 at 11, checked in, seat33A, boarding at 11.30.
Waiting at the gate, nothing at 11.30,nothing at 11.40 and then I sort of realised there was some strangeactivity by the front landing gear of Aeroflot B767 – first of all,it should've really been an A330 as per the schedule, B767 inAeroflot fleet are older and don;t have IFE systems so I was upsetalready. Then saw some looking like mechanics doing stuff toseemingly hydraulic equipment and started to worry....and I wasright. At 12.00 an announcement comes through – due to technicalissues, the flight is now cancelled, everyone please go to gate 28...
the next 2.5 hours everything was justplain bloody chaos. The Aeroflot rep speaks Russian and Japanese butdoes not speak English. His Japanese staff speak Japanese, a bit ofEnglish and no Russian. The Russian passengers speak Russian, somespeak Japanese and some speak English. The Japanese passengers – anorchestra and some other large group – only speak Japanese and 1 or2 people a bit of English. Some very unfortunate Europeans –Hungarians, Spanish, Finns, Italians – who were travelling toEurope via Moscow speak English, no Japanese and no Russian. Allthese various groups of people trying to get information about whatwas going to happen to us at the same time from the Russian rep andJapanese staff...people screaming at each other, we were told we'dhave to go to a hotel and wait till tomorrow as there was noreplacement plane and Aeroflot could not send us to our destinationsas they could only use other SkyTeam carries and there was only oneAirFrance flight later today that was full....I thought it was a verydodgy explanation as there were lots of Korean Air flights as well asa couple of Alitalia ones to Milano and Rome and Aeroflot could putus on these flights (at least) but obviously was not prepared to dothis...anyway, after a long 2.5 hours of no information and lots ofscreams a few people were rebooked on alternative carriers to go toBaku (I think they were some Japanese government official travellingon official business) and the rest were given food vouchers for lunchand told to take a free shuttle bus to Marroad International hotel.Got there, got a dinner voucher but was told the plane would be fixedfor a 10 pm departure and we should be in the lobby by 7.15 to goback to the airport. What a relief...as it meant I would not bemissing my 9 am SVO-MMK flight on Sunday which was a separate bookingmeaning I'd have to buy another ticket (I do have a platinum AMEXcard with Wespac that comes with a travel insurance but it requiresyou to minimise your financial losses in case of cancellations and itmeans I'd have to try to call Nordavia and cancel my flight to MMKbut they actually do not allow any phone changes or cancellations soI would have been in trouble)...
Boarding the same B767 at 9.30 pm, gotmy 33A with no one in 33B so it was good I guess. Push back at 10 pmsharp, a bit of a bumpy climb over the main island and then acrossthe sea on to Russia's Far East. Pre-dinner drinks served first (plusa refreshment towel of a cheap out-of-a pack kind but still betterthan Qantas that did not do it at all) but no alcohol (if you feellike a drink, be ready to pay 5 euro a pop). Then dinner – verynice, some sushi plus a very nice steam fish for me with rice andsauteed vegies and a raspberry gateau dessert. The older B767 withsome very tired looking blue leather seats did not have an IFE so itwas all sleep for me for the next 10.5 hours. A nice hot breakfast at1.30 am
I had a Japanese option but there was also a normalEuropean omelette+bacon+tomato stuff. Arrived in Moscow's SVOairport, terminal D at 3.40 am ….almost empty but that was great asthere were no queue at all at passport control booths so in 30seconds I was through. Had to wait for the luggage a bit longer –welcome to Russia – but was out into the arrival hall at at 4.20 amanyway. So I had plenty of time for my 9 ammorning flight to MMK and I decided to go the airport day rooms for ashower and bit of rest. To get to the “capsule hotel Air Express”as they call themselves you need to actually get out of the terminalsof the South terminal complex (the old Soviet monstrosity of TerminalF that is now connected to the brand new shiny Terminals E and D)through the connecting pedestrian gallery that takes to the AirportRail Express terminal where the hotel is on the 5[SUP]th[/SUP] floor.Got a room for 3 hours – a minimum is 4 hours, had to pay for that.It cost twice as much as Narita day rooms ($30 in Narita for 3 hoursvs $60 in SVO for 4 hours), was twice as dirty even if it was onlyopen last year, the price in SVO did not include free stuff like inNarita (comb, toothpaste/toothbrush, slippers, a bottle of water,lotion etc) and I had to buy a bottle of water for 40 roubles (about1.30 AUD) as was told I'd better no drink tap water – again,welcome to Mother Russia!
Took a shower, got a little nap and wasback at Terminal D (it's a 5 min walk through the pedestrian galleryfrom the hotel/rail terminal) at 7.30. The check in in Terminal D isdone differently, you can check in for your flight at any of thenumber of desks unless you use a self-service kiosk, there is nodedicated group of desk for a particular flight, you can do itanyway. There is a positive and negative side to it but I would say Ipersonally found it a bit confusing...went to Gate 2 to wait for thedeparture and had a 200 rouble cappuccino (about 7 AUD – OMG) –welcome to Russia again.
We were bussed to the B737-500 ofNordavia as it was parked a distance from the busy terminal. SinceAeroflot built it in 2010 it has gone through a very rapiddevelopment from just a few flights a day to almost ALL Aeroflotflights (fair enough, it was the reason to build it to have adedicated facility for the carrier managed by the carrier) and to meit looked like it had already reached it planned capacity (7 millionpax a year) and some flights were overflowing to Terminal E (alsobrand new but smaller that D) and the old F. Took a picture of thetarmac – all Aeroflot with a sprinkling of Nordavia, Donavia(former subsidiaries now sold but obviously using the same facilitiesas the former mother company) and an occasional Air France's A320.
Push back on time, quick taxi and takeoff, a sandwich, a little chocolate and soft drinks/tea/coffee as inflight service. The plane was old, you could tell it by thecondition inside – blue leather seats as well but all scratched andbits torn, can't take pictures – tried that but was reprimanded andtold “no photos of videos taken on board unless you've got apermission from the airline in writing”...Welcome to Russia again
anyway, arrived on time at 11.30 –the only plane in MMK as the runway is being resurfaced and closedfrom 12.30 (when the same plane leaves for Moscow) till 6 pm. Was metby my brother and driven home to see my mum and have a nice littlefamily reunion.
To be continued....
