Thanks Princess Fiona, much appreciated.
So our trip started today, a few photos will follow from the phone but I thought it would be easier to start the TR writing on the PC (in the Sofitel Club Lounge, spoilers !).
Beautiful morning in Canberra as we pulled up at CBR to begin our journey. Amazingly we only had a single bag to check (I say amazing because I would have travelled with HLO but OzEire+1 does not HLO abroad !). Taking our seats 2A and 2C on QF811 I noticed the old livery (the gold strip running down the leading edge of the tail, and the less stylised roo). An un-refurbed 737 with the maroon seats and overhead IFE (ye gads! first world problems), but J is always enjoyable for the legroom and service.
Once OzEiress had her Grant Burge bubbles in hand we enjoyed a very smooth trip to MEL, departing and arriving on time, with a bit of an odd breakfast offering in-between. Photo to follow, but in short, it was a toasted sandwich with minced beef inside… not quite what I had hoped for. OzEiress passed, I sampled, noting to write home about, I might find this appetising after a big night out (on the night or morning after) but not something I would seek out for a nice breakfast.
Arrived at MEL and the bags were very slow to appear (another plug for HLO) and several QF811 pax approached the baggage services it took so long, but eventually our luggage appeared and we were off to the ParkRoyal to meet our UberX that had been illegally booked from a starting point about 2km outside the airport precinct, but I contacted and asked the driver to come and pick us up - he was happy to oblige. The driver made a detour into the airport BP (not happy at his lack of planning, but glad we didn't run empty on the Tulla). I have mixed feelings about Uber these days… some here may know I have been a big supporter in the past, an early adopter and big fan early on, but the cowboys getting decent ratings these days baffle me… this guy was just under 4.9 rating but the car was pretty poor and he seemed put out that we had disturbed his plans to hit the gym, and then there was the petrol stop. I guess the UberBlack would have been the option but twice the price. Lesson learned.
Arrived at the Sofitel at the "paris" end of Collins Street (marketing at its finest). Our Uber genius insisted he knew best, against my instructions, so we missed the driveway and had to jump out quickly in traffic (yeah, he got a 2 star rating). Luckily OzEiress is not easily phased so we laughed it off. The early check-in (11:30am), upgrade to a 50th floor suite, fruit platter and ganache chocolate treats in our room were all a nice touch and good recognition of our Accor Platinum status. So a quick tour of the Club Lounge then off to George Kolumbaris' restaurant Chiara for lunch with about 20 big tables of office workers having their staff christmas lunches, it was a good (if hectic) atmosphere.
Now I am back at the Club Lounge to charge the batteries for our next sojourn into the dry Melbourne heat this evening, then prepare for our next flight to SIN tomorrow … via the FLounge
Photos shortly. OzE.