Pre-wedding Honeymoon in Europe

[elanshin]

Well wrench thrown. AMS-HEL cancelled.. being offered Doha .. hmmm lemme check if this is q suites

 

[jase05]

Well wrench thrown. AMS-HEL cancelled.. being offered Doha .. hmmm lemme check if this is q suites

QR don’t fly to HEL so DOH-HEL will be on AY but good chance of QSuites from AMS.
Seems a very bizarre routing though and thought they would put you on BA

 

[elanshin]

QR don’t fly to HEL so DOH-HEL will be on AY but good chance of QSuites from AMS.
Seems a very bizarre routing though and thought they would put you on BA

Its AMS-DOH they're trying to schedule us on. AY cancelled AMS-HEL.

Now they've changed our route to

AMS-DOH (QR - seems starlink enabled)
DOH- KUL (MH)
I want to see if they can put us on
AMS-DOH-HKG (QR) and keep original CX flight.

But doesn't seem like they're budging.

 

[elanshin]

Its AMS-DOH they're trying to schedule us on. AY cancelled AMS-HEL.

Now they've changed our route to

AMS-DOH (QR - seems starlink enabled)
DOH- KUL (MH)
I want to see if they can put us on
AMS-DOH-HKG (QR) and keep original CX flight.

But doesn't seem like they're budging.

Well looks like no budging, can't move us to HKG flights from doha. Oh well travel insurance the HK hotel+ new KUL hotel.

At least this is a starlink / Q suite flight.

 

[jase05]

Well looks like no budging, can't move us to HKG flights from doha. Oh well travel insurance the HK hotel+ new KUL hotel.

At least this is a starlink / Q suite flight.

Would’ve been nice if they also put you on QR back to KUL instead of MH

 

[elanshin]

Would’ve been nice if they also put you on QR back to KUL instead of MH

Yeh, So my original routing was AMS - HEL (go out and check out some of Matt's suggestions), come back take a very late flight to HKG, overnight there and then get to KUL on the 27th.

I wanted Finnair to rebook me so I connect at DOH to QR818 and get to HKG and EF was showing J4 on that flight. Barring that, I wanted to see if they could put me on the QR flight to KUL as well but I think because they moved me and a bunch of other PAX all the AMS departures were showing J0 and they couldn't get their system to recognise I'm already on that flight.

Funnily I'm now tracking MH160 and it's late departing KUL. Good chance MH161 will depart aroudn the same time if not later than QR's flight to KUL themselves.

Fun fact: looks like MH usually runs a359 on this route but as my luck would have it, they have a a333 today.

 

[jase05]

Yeh, So my original routing was AMS - HEL (go out and check out some of Matt's suggestions), come back take a very late flight to HKG, overnight there and then get to KUL on the 27th.

I wanted Finnair to rebook me so I connect at DOH to QR818 and get to HKG and EF was showing J4 on that flight. Barring that, I wanted to see if they could put me on the QR flight to KUL as well but I think because they moved me and a bunch of other PAX all the AMS departures were showing J0 and they couldn't get their system to recognise I'm already on that flight.

Funnily I'm now tracking MH160 and it's late departing KUL. Good chance MH161 will depart aroudn the same time if not later than QR's flight to KUL themselves.

Fun fact: looks like MH usually runs a359 on this route but as my luck would have it, they have a a333 today.

Disappointing they couldn’t accommodate you back to HGK even though the HKG flights are on the ex CX birds with no QSuites.
Sounds a like you have been put the wringer but at least you are getting back to KUL I guess and I hope TI comes to the party. Hope it hasn’t spoiled your trip

 

[elanshin]

Ok, I'm back home now and can catch up with this.

 

[elanshin]

Sorry organising photo's have been taking a while.

 

[elanshin]

Day 2: London Day 1

As we were making our way into LHR and on the Picadilly line, we realised that we had blue skies and good weather - a shocker I know. So we quickly adjusted our plans and instead of hitting up the museums we went for our walking plans.

Firstly, we checked into our hotel at Pullman St Pancras. There were lots of Christmas themes that were already put up in the lobby. I found it a little annoying that the check in staff's first response when I enquired about checking in was "We don't check in until 3pm" a bit haughtily. This was before he even checked any of our details. Lo and behold, 2 minutes later, he mumbled "Oh we arranged a room for you already early as you requested" sort of dancing around the fact that I was using our Accor Platinum benefit. The interaction could just be a lot smoother if he just asked for our details to check before saying anything but I digress.

We had booked a Junior Suite for 3 out of the 3 nights using Suite Night Upgrade vouchers and they assigned us a room on the second floor. The room itself was decently sized with a view of The British Library on one side and Euston Rd on the other. A small christmas tree in our room. We quickly adjusted all our clothing and luggage and repacked our bags for wandering before heading out.


The little present boxes down the bottom were on a separate power and turned into a nice night light.


View from our window. St Pancras International in the background - maybe we'll stay there one day. Oh did I mention blue skies?

First things first - Coffee. There was a nice little boutique just outside our hotel on the edge of The British Library called Origin Coffee. An interesting blend and reasonably solid flat white. Next up we were commissioned by my friend to try Greggs for them and compare them to our sausage rolls back home. We weren't starving so it seemed like a reasonable snack to keep us going. Verdict: I'd say that they're ok? For its price, they're solid and Greggs are everywhere. Personally I still like our sausage rolls, but I would accept these.


Also got a couple of the steak bakes.

We then took a bus over to the south side of the Thames as this gave us some nice view along the way - why get a hop on hop off tour bus when you can get a regular bus! Starting at Blackfriar station on the southern end, we wandered along the south side of the river all the way past Big Ben before crossing back and ending up outside of Westminster Abbey and Big Ben itself. Because of the timing and sun setting so early, we had to go past to get nicely lit up shots.



Markets setup along the walk.



After getting our photos, we walked all the way up to Trafalgar Square and wandered around there before deciding that we had time to kill, so we visit the National Gallery. Lots of interesting paintings and works that they have inside and would definitely recommend if you're into art.

Trafalgar Square in front of the National Gallery. There was another bunch of market stands here but nothing stood out.

We came out looking for dinner and we were genuinely getting tired despite it being 5pm. Our brains also weren't processing that the darkness just meant 5pm instead of 8pm. We briefly entertained the idea of pub food, but somehow wandered into Ramsey's Burger instrsd. Honestly it's a decent burger and very nicely seasoned friess, but for 18 quid, its a bit pricey. I'd be on the fence about revisiting.


Dinner day 1.

Ok now we're pretty exhausted, but I was still ok to continue myself. One thing I learnt on this trip was that I shouldn't ask about any decisions from my partner when she's exhausted - she can makes some weird and irrational decisions. This time, she said it was fine to walk back to the hotel - that was about a 35 minute walk and it was starting to drizzle.

In hindsight we should've just taken a black cab back but instead we somehow tried to break our daily steps record. Lets just say, my partner ended up as the grumpy child that asks "Are we there yet?" 10 mins into the walk.

Stumbled back into the hotel, just had a quick shower and immediately collapsed into a real bed for the first time in about 50 odd hours.

Overall steps: ~35000. Did not beat our record which is still at 36000.

 

[elanshin]

More Photos.


Rest of our room and bathroom.
Welcome chocolates after we got back at the end of the day.


We both like Harry Potter, enough to take a look since we're here already but neither of us are big enough Potterheads to wait an hour in line for the photos.


A market we walked by, nice little old book reseller parked towards the back.




With where the sun was, I realised there wouldn't be any good shots from these vantage points. I would've needed a solid dslr/mirrorless with a proper filter set on me to get even half decent shots from here, but I've only just got my phone with me these days. Maybe next trip I'll take a mirrorless with me.
Mid-morning however, I can see these having the perfect lighting.



I wonder how many people have been bitten

Menu at Street Burgers by Gordan Ramsey.

 

[elanshin]

Few more photos


Entertained the idea of Sherlock Holmes bar for fish and chips but maybe another day. I believe it's right around the corner from where Great Scotland Yard was.
Walked by this on our way back to the hotel.


Stopped at a Korean supermarket to pick up some drinks and dessert. Surprisingly cheap for London prices melona was 1 quid I believe.