Late last year I was chatting with my friend Will about his recent move from London to Chicago. He was saying how much he loved the city and how great the view from his apartment was.
Around the same time BA were running a premium class travel sale and with World Traveller Plus tickets available for a pretty reasonable price so I was very tempted to book and upgrade to Club World (25,000 miles for the return).
I had planned to visit in February but Will warned me about the snow that ended up being over 4 feet deep! April seemed like a more sensible plan and so we looked into the dates.
After thinking about the trip for a while I thought how great it would be to travel in First Class on the outbound leg. I priced up a trip in Club World with an outbound upgrade (25,000 miles for the leg) and while it was quite a bit more expensive I figured that the upgrade was worth it. I also considered upgrading the return but I found that this wasn’t possible as the return flight that I wanted was a 3-class with no First section.
With everything booked I once again turned my mind to how to get to Heathrow. After my positive experience with the Terminal 5 business car park (see my Munich Trip Report) I decided to try their short-stay offering. £77 for 4 days parking is quite steep but it is just yards from the terminal and is covered from the weather.
LHR – ORD, British Airways 295, First Class
I left home at around 7am and made it to Heathrow around 8:30am. I was able to park really close to the South Entrance and so it was just a short walk to the First check-in area.
At the entrance desk I was asked at what time my flight departed. I replied that it was 11:45 and to my shock I discovered that all flights past 11:30 were to be cancelled! As we now know the cloud of volcanic dust from Eyjafjallajokull had closed UK airspace. I was directed to the Club World check-in desks and after a quick call to Will (waking him at 3am) I was rebooked for the following day.
The next day all flights were still grounded. At 06:30 I called the BA Gold line and rebooked for two weeks later.
LHR – ORD, British Airways 295, First Class, second attempt
Annoyingly my expensive parking space from my previous attempt to travel cost me £77 for around 15 minutes. Fortunately it looked like my insurance would cover this cost so I re-booked another short-stay parking space.
I also noticed that my new return flight was a 4 class 777 and so knowing that there was at least one 777 flying with the new First cabin I cashed in a further 25,000 miles and upgraded my return flight.
There was a short queue to check in, while I waited I chatted to the receptionist who said that most of the problems caused by the ash had been resolved and that customers had been very understanding.
After check-in in I headed for the security line which, (as always) was no faster than the ordinary line.
Once past security I turned right and into the Concorde room for breakfast. The service was very prompt and attentive and I had a very tasty full English breakfast.
I then booked a massage at the Spa before heading to the shops to buy a gift for my hosts.
By the time I returned to the lounge I noticed that my flight had been assigned a gate – the dreaded A10 bus gate. I can appreciate that bussing will happen until the ‘C’ terminal opens but it always puts a dampener on the First Class experience.
Fortunately the drive was short and I was soon up the steps and into the nose of the 747 that would be my home for the next 8 hours.
The on-board service was fine (if not spectacular) and I enjoyed a 3 course lunch over ‘Up in the Air’. After that I slept for a couple of hours, waking up in time for the afternoon tea service. Apparently this is now in association with The Dorchester but I couldn’t see any tangible difference to the usual service.
One other change to F was the in-flight amenity kit. This new design from Anya Hindmarch comes in a semi-ridged case and I think it’s a big improvement over the old boxes.
On landing at Chicago I was feeling a bit dehydrated and so I took a bottle of water with me. This turned out to be a very wise decision as the immigration line was VERY long and the air-conditioning was not up to the job. After queuing for 90 minutes I was eventually through to baggage claim.
The terminal transit train was easy to find and I made my way to terminal 2 to find the CTA train into the city. I purchased a 3-day pass for a very reasonable $14 and boarded the train.
The train stopped about 10 times before I reached Clark/Lake where I disembarked and headed to ground level to meet Will.
Chicago Highlights
We had a packed few days that I’ll condense into the highlights.
The first night we went for an excellent dinner at Thai/Sushi bar ‘Ma and I’.
We then took a walking tour including the ‘The Bean’, the ‘Jay Pritzker Pavillion’ and the ‘Tribune Tower’ (which includes stone from a huge variety of famous buildings including the Pyramids, Notra Dame and Westminster Abbey).
In the afternoon we enjoyed the very entertaining ‘Untouchables Gangster Tour’ . This was a good fun and educational tour covering the various gangs, Al Capone and the Valentine’s Day Massacre.
For dinner we secured a table at the Purple Pig which serves an excellent selection of “Cheese, Swine and Wine”. The sommelier recommended a Greek Viognier, we were sceptical but it turned out to be pretty decent.
That evening we headed out to a variety of bars including 'The Violet Hour’ which has a very non-descript facia (it looks like a wooden hoarding covering some construction work) and some interesting house-rules including ‘No O-Bombs’ (whatever that is), ‘No Jager-bombs’ (again, not sure on that one), ‘No Budweiser, No Light Beer, No Grey Goose and No Cosmopolitans’ (which all sounds fair enough).
The next day we checked out the ‘Chicago Institute of Art’ which included a Matisse exhibition (I’m not a big fan).
We then took in the very interesting Architectural Boat Tour which I'd class as 'not to be missed' given the huge variety of architecture that Chicago has to offer.
That evening I experienced a real Chicago Pizza at Giordanos, this was quite an experience. Each pizza takes about 45 minutes to cook and is an incredible 3 inches deep! We had a 12 inch pizza between 3 and there was plenty left over. Highly recommended!
On my last day we met one of Will’s friends for a tour of the excellent Shedd Aquarium the exhibits were excellent as was the 4D cinema. The live ‘Fantasea’ [sic] show was a bit disappointing as it erred on the side of fantasy rather than educational value.
It was a beautiful day so we wanted to get up one of the city’s towers. The main options are the Sears/Willis Tower (it was renamed in 2009) where the Skydeck costs $16 or the John Hancock Centre where the 95th floor observation deck which costs $20. However we discovered that there is a bar on the 96th floor of the John Hancock Centre which just asks that you buy a drink! Why you’d pay $20 to get into the observation deck I have no idea. We enjoyed a couple of beers and some snacks while enjoying the amazing views.
ORD-LHR, British Airways 296, First Class
As we headed back to Will’s apartment I found out that the volcanic dust cloud had closed airspace over Ireland and Scotland and so I became worried that my flight would be delayed.
Fortunately all was well and I was able to check in without any problems.
The lounge at O’Hare includes a First Class dining room where I enjoyed some excellent fish-cakes and a slice of cheese cake. Afterwards I headed to the lounge and was disappointed at the lack of a First Class section.
Only once the flight was called did I leave the lounge and discover a separate First lounge across the hall!
Priority boarding worked well and I was soon settling in 1A. Unfortunately the cabin hadn’t been updated to the new First but I was planning to sleep so it wasn’t a problem. I enjoyed a hot-chocolate and some biscuits before sleeping for 6 hours.
We landed perfectly on time and taxied up to…. Another remote gate! After another annoying bus ride I was quickly through immigration. My bag was through within about 10 minutes and I headed out and up the lift to the arrivals lounge.
Here I enjoyed another Concorde room breakfast (again, very tasty) before heading across the bridge to my car and then back home.
Conclusions
This was an excellent trip, I loved Chicago and would love to return. The city seems very clean and tidy, has some great architecture and being next to the lake it’s very picturesque.
I’d love to go back and spend some time on the lake. I’d also like to see it in the winter.
So if you’re planning a trip to the US and you’re not sure where to go I highly recommend considering a trip to the Windy City!
"Fancy a trip to Munich?" The question from my colleague had me interested, I was pretty sure that this wasn't to be a work trip.
His plan was that we visit the BMW World factory and museum over a long weekend. As a car fan, and relatively recent BMW convert I was keen to join him. Unfortunately a lack of annual holiday meant that I'd have to skip the factory tour on the Friday and join him for BMW World and the museum on the Saturday.
Booking
Ideally I wanted to get an early flight on the Saturday morning and a late flight in the evening to avoid a hotel night. However the earliest BA flight didn't get into Munich until 10:40am, meaning that I wouldn't get to BMW World before lunch.
Plan B was to go the night before, stay in a hotel and then head home on the Saturday evening. The tickets came to about £110 in EuroTraveller or a whopping £360 in Club Europe. With lounge access guaranteed either way with my BAEC Gold card I went for the cheaper option and secured 9A exit row seats for both legs. With tickets booked I was looking forward to flying again, my last flight being over 3 months ago!
Outbound, BA 958 LHR -> MUC, British Airways, Economy Class
Getting to Heathrow can be a challenge at times and a Friday evening was never going to be great. My options were, a) go straight from work, across London and up to T5 on the Heathrow express. This was a good option for getting there but would leave me with a nightmare train journey home on the Saturday night. Option b) was to drive to Heathrow, this would cost me for parking and rule out any drinks on the return but at least getting home would be straightforward. I went for option b.
Parking was the next thing to organise. I don’t trust valet parking services and so I wanted something reasonably priced and close to the airport. In the end I settled for BAA's business parking option. I pre-paid for a space and on arrival the barrier read my number plate and issued me with an exit ticket. I found a space just in time to catch the bus for the 3 minute trip into T5.
I'd already printed a boarding pass which was adorned with "Fast Track" text based on my BAEC status. The security staff were excellent, although the queues were long they were good at keeping people moving. One woman in front of me started complaining about the delays and was very politely dealt with and directed to a supervisor.
Once in the terminal I headed straight for the F lounge to get some food and champagne in. I went for a dish of pasta and a mixture of sandwiches. The champagne was Lanson and went down very nicely.
The flight left the stand 10 minutes early and arrived in Munich right on time. I must say that seat 9A was very comfortable with more leg room than my usual 1C in Club Europe. I even quite enjoyed the nibbles that arrived with my G&T.
Once at Munich I had two options for getting to my hotel. Train or a taxi, given that it was late I decided on the taxi. It wasn't cheap but it was certainly quick! I'm sure we averaged 160kph all of the way, at one point we hit 190kph!
We pulled into the hotel just before 11pm, the taxi cost a hefty 55 Euros but I was glad to be so close to getting some rest. The hotel in question was the Four Points Sheraton Olympicpark. Having enjoyed the Four Points in Zurich many times I was pleased to find one so close to BMW world. After checking in I headed to bed, the room was small and not a designated SPG room (despite my Gold SPG status). However I was tired and not bothered about the size of the room so I didn't question it.
BMW World and Museum
The next morning I woke to snow, lots of snow!
I headed to the lobby checked out and drank an espresso while I waited for my colleague. We then ventured to a local café for breakfast before making the short walk to BMW World.
We spent a good hour or so exploring the range of models, all of which had power so that we could try out the latest gadgets such as night-vision and side-view cameras. The new 5-series was particularly interesting and looks really good, much better than the 5-series GT which isn't to my taste.
After chatting with the staff, taking pictures and enjoying the displays we made our way over to the museum. Entry is not free here but it's well worth it. The museum is very large and covers the complete history of the company, for aero engines, to motorbikes and cars. All of the vehicles are very well presented and in stunning condition.
The museum also includes the famous balls from the 5-series advertisement:
As the snow was still coming down we enjoyed an excellent lunch at the museum restaurant before finishing our tour.At 4pm I decided to head for the airport…
Return, BA 296 MUC -> LHR, British Airways, Economy Class
After spending 55 Euros on the way out I decided to take the train for the return. This turned out to be very easy with a tube station right next to the museum and a single change at Marienplatz and regular trains from there. The airport is quite far out so I'd leave at least an hour for this trip.
Once at the airport I found the lounge, this was no mean feat as it's up what seems to be a service stairway. Once in the lounge I discovered that my flight was delayed by the snow. Unable to enjoy the excellent selection of drinks I turned to the disappointing selection of food which consisted of, cheese, biscuits, egg things on toast and apples.
I was soon bored and so turned to the internet PCs to check on Flyertalk.
Eventually the flight was called for boarding and I was second onto the plane. It was a light load and we soon pulled back from the gate. We were then informed that there would be an additional delay as the plane needed to be de-iced. I'd never experienced this before, basically at the top of the runway the plane stopped while two fire trucks with robotic arms sprayed a brown sludge over the wings.
With this done we were away!At Heathrow I was quickly through the Iris immigration channel and out to the T5 business car park bus stop (number 22). There was a 10 minute wait in the cold wintery air until the bus arrived but a few minutes later I was back at my car. I'll certainly consider using this parking again as it was relatively cheap (£20 ish for the stay) and very convenient. Plus, you don't have to give your keys to anyone which is a plus.
Conclusion
If you like cars then I certainly recommend a trip to Munich. BMW World is basically a huge dealership but with no sales pressure. Their customer collection facilities look great, I'd love to pick up a car from there one day.
The museum is a particular highlight, it's an amazing building with a great range of cars and concepts. It really can fill a day.If I was going again I'd like to take more time, go on a weekday to do the (apparently) excellent factory tour and to spend some time in the city itself.
You may have noticed a distinct lack of trip reports lately... that's because I've been busy doing things even more geeky than you may have thought possible... I've been writing an App for the iPhone.
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I’ve had more requests to get this report written up than any other! Possibly because nobody thought I’d actually go through with it... or possibly because people like to read about me being in pain... either way, here it is :)
It was any other day at work, and I was in a meeting discussing how the hell to get a project kicked off... and 10 minutes later I’d agreed to go to our office in Cincinnati for a week.
Great – I haven’t travelled on business for a while, so it’ll be good get back in the seat again. Unfortunately it wasn’t quite the seat I was used to... I would be flying Delta. In economy. Yes, it turns out that there is something behind that curtain in Business Class (which is sometimes quite hard to see when you’re sat in First Class!)
I had a week to plan for it... which wasn’t much. Ordinarily I would book my own ticket on miles to fly in Business/First Class, but I would be flying out with two other people on my project, so I did the sociable thing stuck with it.
I’d never flown with Delta or any of the Sky Team airlines, so I had a bit of research to do. The first thing to note was that Delta aren’t your typical American airline that will upgrade you the moment you flash a 20 dollar bill in their general direction when flying long haul.
There was one possible in-road though – Delta will match your status on another airline to their middle tier which might help. I gave them a call, but the agent had never heard of BA. So I followed standard protocol and hung up, waited 3 minutes, and rang back. This time the agent was much more helpful and said that I just needed to fax across a copy of my BA Gold card and all would be sorted in 48 hours! Result.
48 hours later... nothing. I emailed them and was told they’d process my fax in 5 working days. That would be the day before I flew... too close. I emailed back to ask if they could speed things up a little... and got a reply saying they had passed it on to their “elite” team, and I should have an answer within 10-14 days! Just to be sure I wrote back to see how the use of the elite team benefitted me, and was told 4-6 weeks. There was no way I would be moving my business to Delta! Fail.
Next up... the hotel. I would be staying in a hotel I had no status with; the Hyatt Regency. Again a little research showed that if I faxed proof of regular stays with another hotel, they would give me their top tier status; Diamond. So... I sent off the fax... and the next day I was Diamond! Result. I then read up on their website about the benefits of my new found status... and one of which was an upgrade to a suite for stays of up to 7 nights. A quick call to Hyatt and I’d been upgraded to their VIP suite! Oh yes...
London Gatwick – Cincinnati in Delta Economy
I tried checking in online before the flight, but no such luck – maybe because I was on a British passport or maybe because it was an international flight... either way, it wasn’t having any of it. Not that I cared too much as I’d already selected my seat.
I live around 10 minutes from Gatwick, so a taxi was the obvious option. I pulled up 2 hours before the flight and checked in. There was no queue at the business desks, and although I technically wasn’t entitled to use them, I thought I’d ask if they would be “looking for people to upgrade”. Nope. But I did get a fast track sticker out of it! A Winnie the Pooh plaster would have been more use...
As I went through security it seemed I had a sticker on my forehead reading “Pick Me” because I got stopped and searched at every possible opportunity. Eventually I made it through and met my colleagues at the Sea Food Bar just inside the departure lounge.
After breakfast we went to the BA Terraces lounge (thanks to my BA Gold card) for a few glasses of champagne in a vain attempt to numb the forthcoming pain. It didn’t work, and so when the board showed “Final Call” we decided to make our way to the gate.
As I boarded the 767 from the front and walked back through the business class cabin... I was almost pleasantly surprised how poor the business cabin was – it was almost a relief. I know I was sat in economy, but I felt more sorry for the people who’d paid to sit in business class. Their cabin offered extra leg room... and that’s about it. The seats were tatty, and only reclined – they did not convert into beds like almost every other airline in the skies!
I found my seat on row 23, near the front of the economy cabin. My “amenity kit” was waiting for me on my seat... it consisted of ear plugs, a mask, and earphones just sat in a pile (not even in a cheap Virgin-style envelope).
For the first time in as long as I can remember I sat and worried about who might be sitting next to me! Fortunately as they announced over the PA that they were closing the doors, the seat next to me was still empty... result :)
I took off my jacket and looked for the seat-back hook on which to hang it... no hook. Not so much as a bit of plastic to prevent me having to fold up my jacket and stick it in the overhead locker.
Leg room was... limited – my knees literally touched the seat in front! Thank God nobody was sat next to me, and that the seat rest could be raised making it one very wide seat with no leg room (sort of like the new Singapore business class :)
As the purser read out what we could expect from our flight, I was impressed by the wines on offer; there was “Red, White and Regular”. The mind boggles.
As I settled back in my seat (like I had a choice to sit any other way), the safety video displayed on the overhead screens... and I really, really, really cannot even begin to fathom what the hell was going through Delta’s heads when they thought it would be a good idea to target the safety video at the under 5-year-olds. The insane blonde crew member on the video wags her fingers to say smoking is not allowed, as the staff do over-cheesy smiles they add twinkle effects to their teeth, and I nearly choked on my regular wine when I was warned to stay seated if I experience “rough air”.
The video has to be seen... so here it is:
Speaking of videos... the 767 had no seat-back screens, so there was no choice in what we could watch. First up was Quantum Of Solace, which I decided to watch while I chewed my way through lunch. The option had been vast and wide ranging... Chicken or Beef.
I chose the Chicken, which I believe was the bit in the middle of the dish. Unfortunately there was no way of telling what the green or orange stuff was, even after tasting.
Later on in the flight we were given “Pizza in a box”. Having opened the box to reveal the pizza, I decided to eat the box instead.
I’d been to see Stephen Fry talk a few days before, and bought his book on America. I flicked through to the opening paragraph on my destination; Ohio. It read: “I wish I could tell you of great adventures enjoyed in Ohio. I am photographed at the state line and... well, that is it”.
Oh dear.
Somehow I managed to ride out the remainder of the 9 hour flight. I was lucky to have 2 seats to myself; I can’t begin to imagine what 9 bold upright hours in a single seat would have been light... I daren’t think about it too much!
As they announced our arrival in Cincinnati, the relief tingled throughout my body. We disembarked and walked through to the baggage claim area for my colleagues to collect their luggage. Once collected they had to walk a few hundred metres with it, and then put it on another conveyor belt to be scanned. Again. I was glad I was only taking hand luggage.
When they eventually collected their luggage again, we made our way to the taxi rank and we were on our way to our hotel. Oddly enough the Cincinnati airport isn’t even in the same state as Cincinnati (it’s actually in Kentucky), but there wasn’t really anything to mark the change of state as we crossed the border.
The Hyatt Regency, Cincinnati, Ohio
The taxi pulled up to the front of the hotel (well, near the front – he missed the entrance!) and we headed to check in. First thing to note was that there was no priority check in desks for Diamond (or any other level) status. Fortunately I was next in line, because when we’d finished checking in the queue was at least 10 people deep.
The check in agent confirmed my upgrade and provided me with key cards and breakfast vouchers.
I was on the 21st floor (one from the top) so I was grateful that the key cards worked! The suite was the size of three standard rooms, and as such I had the choice of three doors to enter by.
The sitting room was impressively large, with a 3 piece sofa suite and television at one end, and a dining table with 6 chairs (and overhead lights that didn’t work!) and a kitchen/bar area at the other. The bar area was by far the biggest waste of time... as there was no mini bar. There was however a big fridge/freezer. Which was empty.
The bedroom was reasonably comfortable, with a king sized bed, television and view over of the river. There were two bathrooms – 1 in the bedroom and one in the sitting room. They were both identical, which was definitely a waste as they both crap. They both had combined bath & showers, where the bath was too shallow to be a proper bath, and the shower was too weak to be a decent shower.
The room was also quite dated and could definitely have done with a refurb – I’m not sure it justifies the name “VIP suite” – the reality is it’s a decent size but lacking everything a VIP might want.
On check in I’d been given the option of a few gifts because of the Diamond status, and I’d chosen local beers and home baked cookies. These came promptly and the beers went straight in the fridge. Well, what I thought was the fridge... in actual fact the fridge was set to below zero... so it was less a fridge/freezer, more a freezer/freezer.
The hotel has wireless access provided by T-mobile – my rate had wireless internet included, so I charged it to my room and by the time I checked out it had been removed from the bill.
Champs Bar
Champs is a classic American sports bar with a restaurant attached. It has everything you need after a long flight – a decent range of beers, sports on the telly, friendly staff, pool tables, and most importantly – burgers.
As we entered the bar there was a big welcome sign for our company as we were the hotel’s Company Of The Month!
We spent quite a bit of time in the bar – mainly because it was always on the way to and from our rooms!
Out and about in Cincinnati
The first morning I was up early, so decided to go for a walk to get my bearings. I found my office 5 minutes from the hotel, and then walked down to the river that marks the state border between Ohio and Kentucky. I walked across the Roebling Bridge to Kentucky where you get a great view of the Cincinnati skyline... it’s not New York, but it’s not bad either. Not the best weather for it though unfortunately.
The Reds Game
On our first day in the US office, we paid a visit to the lovely ladies on reception who very kindly sorted us out with 4 tickets to a Baseball game, seeing the Cincinnati Reds taking on the Milwaujee Brewers. As there were 3 of us, that left 1 ticket for a lucky employee of my choice... so in the interests of networking I invited the boss’s boss :)
It was raining, so while we waited for the weather to clear we went for a quick beer in the bar outside of the stadium. A few rounds later the sun was shining, so we made our way over to the stadium.
We settled into our seats, which were remarkably close to seats occupied by Brewers fans. To prevent any misunderstanding, I purchased a few discrete items of kit worn only by the true fans:
We made the most of the food and beverage offerings, sampling the wieners (which never fails to get a snigger), pizza, weird skyline chili things, peanuts and most types of beers.
As the game started... the first Reds pitcher threw the first ball and... bosh – went for miles. In fact by the end of the first innings the Reds were 9-0 down. I have no idea what that means, but I know it’s not great because my boss was getting me to yell things at our pitcher like “Bronson you SUCK!” and “My mooom could pitch better than you, and she doesn’t even play baseball”
Bottom line was, we lost, but we didn’t hang around to watch the end – by about half time (which I don’t think they even have) we left to head back to hotel for a few beers before bed.
Mitchell’s Fish Restaurant
Over in New Port (Kentucky) is a great fish restaurant... we ate here on our first night, and missing home I ordered Fish and Chips... but before the waitress left I asked her to describe the chips to me – I’ve been caught out before when I’ve ordered chips and been given crisps – I can think of few things more gutting. Anyway – the fish and chips were excellent, and I’d definitely return...
...not that the guy behind us would want us to. I don’t know why he didn’t take a shine to us, but the ice cube down his back can’t have helped... oops!
Bootsy’s
Bootsy’s is a new restaurant in downtown Cincinnati with a great balcony bar area, which was our first port of call. Every new place I visit, I like to try the mojitos. Bootsy’s was something of a treat as it offered a variety of different flavoured mojitos, ranging from the normal mint mojito, to cranberry and mango ones (the latter looked like the barman had cut his finger while making it).
Either way, they all tasted fab, and it was a great way to chill before dinner. I asked a US colleague what food they served, and he replied “Toppers”. I had no idea what a Topper was, but after a few drinks it sounded interesting, so we went inside and took our seats.
It turns out, that Toppers is actually the American pronunciation of Tapas, and having lived in Spain for a year, I was well aware of what Tapas was :)
It was actually a Tapas and Sushi fusion... something that should never work... but was actually fantastic. The quality of the food was very good, and the staff were great too.
Leaving The ‘Nati
On the last night, I asked the front desk if I could extend my checkout the following day to around 5pm – this was no problem, and as a Diamond card holder they were happy to waive any fees. The others checked out that morning and left their bags in my room, and as it had 2 bathrooms it gave us a chance to finish work at 3:30ish and grab showers before the flight.
At about 4pm I was just finishing the packing when I heard the door at the far end of the suite being unlocked by a key card and opening, followed by “Come on in guys”... and an all-American family began to pile into my room! The staff at the front desk hadn’t bothered to check if I was checked out yet, and had given the next guests their room keys and sent them up!
Fortunately it wasn’t a Fish Called Wanda moment, but 15 minutes before I was in the shower and wouldn’t have heard them!
I rang guest services, and they said they’d “let the front desk know”... I was actually expecting some sort of apology! When I went down to check out, they did apologise, but I just didn’t get the feeling that this was unusual, and that worries me somewhat...
Cincinnati – London Gatwick on Delta Economy
There was no putting it off any more, and the taxi ride to the airport confirmed it – I was flying back on Delta Economy that evening.
The day before the flight, my Delta Gold status match had come through, but when I spoke to an agent about upgrades or the benefits, they said my status wouldn’t actually take effect on this flight as I was already half way through an itinerary! Pathetic.
Regardless, I used the elite queue when checking in at the airport – I wasn’t going to let their rubbish IT systems force me to use the economy check queues. I think the member of staff at the business/first check-in desk had just been informed that Santa wasn’t real, because he couldn’t have been more unappreciative of people being around him at this difficult time.
There were no queues at passport control or security, and following the looooong walk to Concourse B, it was time for a beer and a burger… there was no way I’d be eating the plane food again.
I did pop into the business/first class lounge to have a quick look (courtesy of my Priority Pass card) – it was as large as it was grey, and is great if you’re looking for somewhere devoid of personality or warmth.
I went to a customer services desk to see if they could remove and re-add my delta number so that my status would show, but computer-says-no was the order of the day, so they manually wrote my status and boarding priority on my boarding pass.
The flight started boarding around 40 minutes before departure, and as I joined the queue with the other elites and business class passengers I wondered if there was any hope of sleep on the flight home.
I was in row 18, which was the 4th row of economy. Yet again I found myself sat in my seat wondering whether my companion for the flight would be a Kylie Minogue or a Michelle McManus. Actually it turned out to be more of an Eminem, so unless he started spitting out rhymes in my ears throughout the flight, he wasn’t going to be too intrusive.
That said... as doors closed I spotted the front row of economy was empty, so I grabbed my “amenity kit” and moved up a few rows. I “enjoyed” the extra 3 inches of leg room and was quite settled... until I realised the centre arm rests didn’t fold up. So that was it... my whole night time flight would be spent upright. Balls.
I declined all food and drink, I didn’t watch any films, I just put my eye mask on, shoved as many ear plugs as I could find in my ears, and tried to go to sleep.
In total, I reckon I managed about 30 minutes of sleep. 30 minutes on a 9 hour flight. I have never had so little sleep on a flight, with or without the aid of alcohol. I honestly don’t know how people fly regularly overnight in economy – it just doesn’t seem worth it.
When the captain announced we were landing in 20 minutes, I hadn’t felt relief like it since Atomic Kitten announced they were splitting. While I love flying out of Heathrow because it’s a nice airport with fab lounges, I love flying into Gatwick for the green countryside that surrounds it – it makes me realise how much I’ve missed it.
From then on, things looked up. When we left the plane it took 3 minutes to reach the taxi door (thanks to IRIS working perfectly and no hand luggage). 15 minutes later I was climbing into bed to try and get some sleep before facing the day ahead.
The Aftermath
Did it kill me? No. Would I do it again? No. Flying long haul economy, especially on a plane which doesn’t even have seat-back IFE screens, just doesn’t make sense when a few easily earned frequent flyer miles will get you there and back in business for less cost.
Why did I do it? Well... friends from work were also travelling, so it was the sociable thing to do. Oh, and so that I could give a well rounded and balanced view for reporting on schofs.com. And now that I’ve got the economy report out of the way, all the rest can be in Business and First. Thank God for that!
Good news! In around a week I'll be travelling to Cincinnati with work... having not been on business travel in a while, it'll be nice to get back on the road.
Only, with my new company... I'll be travelling... in Economy.
I have flown 282 times since my last long haul Economy flight five years ago!
But I'm doing it for the benefit of my loyal readers. For those of you who think "some people will never go back to economy"... it turns out I'm not one of those people.
There's another thing though. I'm flying on Delta. A carrier that doesn't have those little TVs in the back of the seats. A carrier that I don't even think gives you free booze. A carrier who, when I phoned up today to see if I could get them to match my BA Gold status over to them, asked me "BA? Are they just a domestic US airline, or do they fly overseas too?".
If you want to see if I survive... you can follow me from the comfort of your desk chair, which will no doubt have infinitely more legroom than my Delta seat, on Twitter...
After my second honeymoon last September I didn't expect that I'd be travelling for a while. My mileage balance was low and my remaining 2for1 voucher was likely to expire unused. But one day on the train to work I got a text from Schofs to say that BA were offering a massive 50% of mileage redemptions and 2for1 vouchers would still be valid!
For the rest of the journey I was trying to remember how many miles I had and to work out where I could go and who I could go with.
When I got to work I found that I had about 90,000 miles and a 2for1 that would expire in April. By this time I'd decided that it'd be good to do a trip with my father so I mailed him with a number of options with North America looking like the best value (usually 300,000 miles for two people in F brought down to just 75,000 with the 2for1 and this special offer). He selected Vancouver as the preferred destination and so I went to book...
Before sending him the options I'd carefully checked the availability of flights and Vancouver looked good. However by the time I went to book it appeared that I wasn't the only one to have this idea and availability in both Club and First was pretty restricted. However vague memories of Frasier and a quick look at Google Earth gave me the idea of booking a return to Seattle instead. Availability was wide open so we have no problem securing two First class returns.
London Heathrow - Seattle in BA First Class
The 14:20 departure meant that there was no rush in the morning. In fact my father and I even had time to make a trip to the local tip before getting changed to await our car to the airport.
Andrew (of Platinum Cars) was once again right on time and keen to demonstrate the features of his latest car. With the seat position and temperature set to our liking we were on our way to Heathrow.
Once at Heathrow we were dropped at the South end of terminal 5 and made our way inside to the First class check in area. Now I've written before about the lacklustre 'welcome' that I've received in the past but on this occasion it was very pleasant. After entering War and Peace into the computer the check in guy handed over our boarding passes.
As usual the 'fast' track security wasn't anything of the sort but once clear we presented ourselves at the 'secret' door to the Concorde room and made our way inside.
The room was fairly quiet, I noticed David Walliams sat in the corner before we headed to the dining area. The service here was very prompt and we were soon enjoying a glass of champagne and a very strong G&T. I had the sausage & mash which was perfectly acceptable and my dad enjoyed a Caesar salad.
Boarding was from a B gate so we left plenty of time for the short transit over to the B terminal.
We were the first F passengers on board and were quickly seated in row 4. The flight was very good, service was attentive and we each got a personal welcome for the purser. Amusingly they assumed that my dad was the gold card holder so he got the full 'welcome to gold' speech before directing the purser over to me! :-) On board we met up with another FTer who was on an epic mileage burning effort including a flight on the new A380.
We landed perfectly on time in Seattle, immigration took a fair time so I'm glad we were first in the queue. Our bags took a while to arrive and after clearing customs and a transit to the main terminal building we were in a taxi into Seattle.
Seattle
We checked in at the Seattle Sheraton at around 5pm. I'd booked a room on points and a lack of status with Starwood meant no upgrades but the room was nicely finished and a good size. After so many meals in the last 12 hours we weren't particularly hungry so we went for a short walk to get our bearings.
We then retired to the hotel bar for some local beer and snacks. We noticed in the lobby that Microsoft had some demonstration models of their 'surface' technology and they seemed very popular.
The next morning we decided to head to the bay and try to find some breakfast. Unfortunately at 7am on a Sunday we struggled. Having walked down to Pike Place Market and then down to the water and finding everything closed we decided to keep walking. At this point it started to rain and so we considered making a retreat back to the hotel but decided that we were sure to find something if we kept going and so made our way to the Olympic Sculpture park.
As we walked along we couldn’t help but wonder who decided that what the city's waterfront needed was a concrete, double-elevated freeway (highway 99). This freeway seems to run the length of the bay and is a considerable eye-sore. We later read in the local paper that this was a topic of much discussion with various options for its replacement being considered.
The sculpture park was nice but not hugely impressive as it's quite small. At this point we could see the Space needle and so headed Northeast to the Seattle Centre.
This too was deserted and not well served by cafes and so we waited for the monorail to open before taking it back to our hotel.
We spent the rest of the day taking in the very impressive Seattle Art Museum and the Aquarium before heading back to the hotel to ask for a dinner recommendation.
With a booking made and directions in hand we headed to the Buenos Aires Grill. Here we had two problems. Firstly the directions were about 50 yards out and so we couldn't find the place. The other problem was vagrants. Now obviously there are complex social issues behind this but ultimately it isn't good for visitors to a city to be hassled for money at every corner. This was compounded by us having to walk back to the hotel, collect more accurate directions and then return back to the restaurant. In approximately 30 mins of walking we were probably approached about 10 times. How the locals put up with it I have no idea.
Once we found the restaurant we had a really nice meal, the meats and wines were excellent and I'd certainly go back (in a taxi).
Seattle to Vancouver (AmTrak Cascades)
The next morning was an early start, we had a reservation on the 07:40 AmTrak Cascades train from Seattle to Vancouver. This infrequent service takes around 4 hours mostly follows the coast up into Canada. I'd booked us business class seats but an equipment change meant that all seats would be coach. The very friendly check-in clerk organised me a refund and selected us two seats on the left hand side of the train to ensure the best view.
I needn't have worried about the seats because there was plenty of room. After a coffee and freshly microwaved muffin we relaxed and watched the world go by. Upon our arrival at Vancouver we had to pass immigration. Usually this is a mere formality, especially when entering a member of the commonwealth. However we were selected for extra screening for some reason which took about 30 mins. We had repeated questions about what we were planning to do and why. They were partially puzzled that we were staying in North America for such a short time and trying to explain the BA Airmiles redemption system only confused matters.
Fortunately we avoided having to call the Queen to ask for her assistance and we were allowed into Canada.
A short taxi ride saw us in the North Tower of the Vancouver Sheraton (Wall Centre). This very modern development was very impressive and our room on the 32nd floor commanded an impressive city view.
Our plan for the afternoon was to explore Stanley Park. We ended up doing the complete 5.5 mile circuit before returning to the hotel for a beer or two.
The concierge recommended an Asian restaurant called Azia for dinner and it was just yards from the hotel. We had a great pan-Asian meal before retiring.
The next day we had a hire car booked and we planned to go up to Whistler. However looking at various reports on the internet suggested that it might be tricky without snow tyres or chains but the Avis lady seemed pretty confident and so we planned to keep going until the snow got too deep. I tried to order a 'full sized' car but because we were dropping the car back in the USA we were limited to a 'standard' car which turned out to be this embarrassing thing:
I'm not 100% sure what it was but it was basically a PT Cruiser. That said with the rented TomTom secured to the screen and wonderful scenery outside we were more than happy.
The drive up to Whistler was about 80 miles through very scenic roads with many road works along the way. It was a very clear day with no hint of snow so we kept going. The town itself was very scenic with lots of skiers still enjoying the slopes. We soon found a café and spent a few hours people watching.
The drive home was equally pleasant and uneventful and by the time we got back to the hotel it was time for another couple of beers.
We wanted an Italian for dinner and the concierge recommended CinCin which turned out to be rather excellent. The food was fantastic and the service impeccable. So good in fact my dad vowed that when he returned to Vancouver he'd definitely eat there again.
Vancouver to Seattle by Car
Our penultimate day saw us loading up the Cruiser for the drive South. I decided to drive this section for two reasons, firstly the Amtrak service was a bus and secondly because we wanted to see the Boeing factory at Everett. We'd pre-booked a tour and when we were arrived we were two of a group of about ten.
Much was made of the need for security and that cameras and phones were not to be taken on the tour. A security guy mentioned some kind of scanner but that never materialised.
After a short video we were got on a bus towards the main building which is the largest enclosed space on Earth. We first visited the 747 production line and then the 777 and 757 lines. It was amazing to watch such huge machines slowly making their way down a production line.
After the tour we visited the future of flight exhibition which was pretty interesting although I found the references to Concorde strange and the plaques didn't mention that Concorde was nothing to do with Boeing.
The drive back into Seattle was pleasant enough - we took some time to take a look at some of the lakes on the way and even went to look at a lakeside property development. Once in the city trying to find somewhere to park near our hotel (Westin Seattle) was a nightmare. Partly due to confusing one-way roads and partly because the satnav struggled to get a clear view of the sky and so was constantly 50 yards behind.
Eventually we managed to park about 100 yards from the hotel and I went to buy a ticket. I inserted $20 for an "all day ticket" only to get a ticket valid until 5am the following day (which would have only cost $6). My dad attempted to explain our situation to an attendant but the best he could get was "they like to tow cars here". The result was that one of us (my dad in the end) would have to get up at 4:30 the next day to feed the meter.
As a finale to our trip I'd made reservations for dinner at the space needle restaurant at 7pm. However I was also keen to grab seats 1A and 1K for the return and so at T-24 hours (18:45) I was on the internet and into the check in system exactly on time and successfully reserved these seats.
We then got a taxi to the space needle and we were quickly into the lift for the 600 ish feet ride to the top.
The restaurant actually rotates and so it felt quite strange to stand in reception and see tables slowly pass by. There are two rings of seats, one by the window and one slightly raised on the inside. I was glad that we were able to get a window seat that allowed us to fully appreciate the views.
Given the venue I didn't expect too much from the food and service but I was pleasantly surprised on both counts. A particular highlight for me was The Lunar Orbiter dessert which arrives in a fog of dry ice, great fun!
Eventually we made our way back down the glass elevator and into a waiting taxi back to the Westin.
Then next morning we were determined to find somewhere interesting for breakfast, a quick search on google revealed Lowell's which looked perfect as was just yards from where we'd been walking only a few days before.
The place didn't disappoint with a great breakfast selection and views across the bay. With an evening flight and only one remaining activity we took our time and enjoyed the bottomless coffee.
Eventually we loaded up the car and headed to our final tourist stop The Seattle Museum of Flight. All I can say is that if you make a visit make sure that you leave plenty of time as the place is huge! We must have spent an hour in the space section alone.
One of the main highlights of the tour was the outside section which included an old Air Force One jet, the first Boeing 747 and a Concorde.
Seattle - London Heathrow in BA First Class
We enjoyed the tour so much that we were stayed longer than expected and so had to get to the airport fairly quickly. Dropping the car back next to the main terminal was painless and we were soon at the dedicated First Class check in desk.
Once again we had to take a transit to the remote terminal and the First lounge. The lounge itself is quite small and the staff were very attentive and keen to help us get through the champagne. Business and First class passengers were invited to board last and so we made our way quickly through the air bridge and settled into our carefully pre-selected row 1 seats.
After dinner I watched Slumdog Millionaire before making up my bed and settling down to sleep.
I woke up about an hour outside London and just had time for a yogurt and a coffee before we landed. As we pulled up to the gate the captain announced "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to London. I must apologise for our arrival time of 10 seconds ahead of schedule" which made me smile.
We got to immigration and I was surprised to learn that my dad had registered for Iris and so we were quickly through to baggage claim and the real world.
I met up with Andrew for the ride home and my dad went to kill some time in the arrivals lounge (something I have yet to try) before his train back up to Scotland.
Overall it was another very successful trip. Seattle has a lot to offer but really need to sort some details out before it can be a true holiday destination. Vancouver was wonderful as ever despite the grilling on arrival! My dad really enjoyed the break and has vowed to collect enough BA miles to return for a longer trip in the future. Praise indeed!
In less than a week, I'm off with Mrs. Schofs to Tanzania... and you can come too!
As well as my normal report (which you will have to wait patiently for), I'll be posting live updates and photos at each stage of my travels, whether I'm in the Concorde Room... or face to face with a lion.
You can send comments and questions which I'll receive while I'm out there on my iPhone.
Now... assuming Mrs Schofs doesn't use those magic words "Put that bloody phone away" you'll be able to find me by signing up to Twitter, then going to my page at twitter.com/schofs_travels and clicking the Follow button under my picture at the top.
Around 15 years ago, my sister spent a year on the Greek island of Zakynthos (Zante) as part of her Zoology “degree” studying sea turtles. Now I know what you’re thinking… it’s another story of Shirley Valentine going off to a Greek island, meeting some Greek guy and falling in love and never coming back, but you’d be completely wrong. No, hang on, I don’t mean wrong do I? I mean right.
The news of her engagement was, of course, wonderful, and the idea of going out to see a proper Greek wedding (without all of the spandex that comes with the Mamma Mia panto) was very exciting. The only scary bit would be getting there. You see, the thing is, Zakynthos is served only by charter airlines. If I wanted to fly BA, I’d have to go to Athens and stay overnight before catching a 6am connecting flight to the island.
Still, for the purposes of providing an all inclusive set of reports on schofs.com, taking the rough with the smooth, I took the challenge and booked some tickets on First Choice Airways [shudder].
I would also be going with the full compliment of in-laws (Mother-, Father- and Sister-in-law), and while Emma was due to come as well, she couldn’t make it in the end. This was particularly unfortunate as she had spent months making Gail’s wedding dress.
Anyway, enough chatter from me – it wasn’t long before it was time for me to take my seat on Last Choice Airways… here is my story.
London Gatwick – Zakynthos in First Choice Star Class (economy)
The evening before our flight, we went to Gatwick with our bags to check in. Fortunately we live around 10 minutes away, so this was easy and meant we wouldn’t have to arrive early to queue the next day.
Our flight was at 7am, so I booked the taxi for 6am to take us to Gatwick, and having checked in already, we headed straight through security and into the departures lounge. I say straight through; in reality I mean 5 minutes to queue for security, and 15 minutes to have my bag searched by the slowest security staff known to man.
A quick visit to Travelex revealed they no longer offered BA miles on currency ordered from their Travelex.co.uk/.com websites. Pretty pathetic, although the rates for normal currency amounts were always next to worthless anyway.
I’d had a tip-off from a friend that I’d been quoted again in Business Traveller, and as my subscription copy had not been delivered yet, I popped into the British Airways Terraces (business class lounge) to pick up a copy, along with a couple of pain au chocolats and a few glasses of orange juice.
Our flight showed as boarding, so we started to make our way to the gate. Now, had I known that the walk to the gate would take the best part of 20 minutes (!) I’d have got an earlier taxi! I was beginning to realise why the flights were cheap – you have to travel most of the distance yourself on foot!
When I purchased the tickets, I paid an extra £12/person to ensure we sat together. We’d been allocated seats 6E and 6F, although the good news is nobody sat in 6D, so we had the row to ourselves.
Being 6' tall, I find the economy seats on flights quite cramped. Sitting here on this First Choice flight, wearing my ankles for earrings, I began to remember why I put so much effort into trying not to fly economy, even on short haul hops. There was only one way to numb the pain. Champagne.
There is one thing First Choice does get right – their choice of bubbly. When our bottle of Nicolas Feuillatte arrived, it was beautifully chilled. I would have been annoyed if it hadn’t been, as it had taken more than 40 minutes to arrive! I can’t remember how much it was, but I remember being quite impressed.
Breakfast was served, though even the champagne couldn’t put a rose tint on the pathetic offering. The “croissant” was like a tasteless sponge cake, and the tea/coffee? Seriously, it’s one thing to offer a choice of tea or coffee, but I swear I had no idea which I was given.
The service, while slow, was at least friendly, though I’m sure all of the flight attendants were away on the day they were taught how to push a trolley without hitting every passenger on either side of the aisle.
We landed on time, and were the first through to the immigration hall, which was empty. Having collected our bags, we went out to meet the Avis car rental rep at her “office”.
The “office” apparently shuts at 1pm, which was cutting it fine as our flight was scheduled to land at 12:35, and could easily have been delayed.
We’d booked 2 cars for the four of us – I’d booked a Suzuki Jimney convertible 4x4 for myself and sis-in-law, and her parents had booked a Citroen C1 in a tasteful shade of bright red. For the duration of the holiday, the Citroen was always referred to as The Flying Tomato.
Athenea Villas, Zakynthos
The directions were in almost-English, but in 20 minutes we’d worked them out and were heading up the long driveway to the Athenea Villas. The villas are on the south coast of the island near Keri Lake, and each had their own private pool.
We’d booked 2 villas, with Hannah and I in a two-bedroom villa, and Hannah’s parents in a 1 bedroom villa. Unfortunately when we arrived they’d made a mistake and prepared 2 single room villas, which I think it’s fair to say neither Hannah nor I were ready to agree to! It took them 3 or 4 hours to get the correct villa ready, but this wasn’t a problem as we could use the in-laws’ villa until then.
The villas were typically basic, but still pretty good for Greece. They weren’t without their problems though… The hob in our kitchen acted as an automatic cut-off for the electricity in the villa, and the provided hair dryer had all the power of an asthmatic ant. I was particularly impressed with the plaster-effect surround to the bathroom mirror, which was actually made of polystyrene.
We had no hot water, and the electrician said he’d come out later that day to fix it (and to my surprise they actually turned up!).
The pool was pretty small, although we did have 5 lilos which covered it entirely! The pool looked out over a lovely view of the sea, and there were also sun loungers and chairs provided.
Plugging my sister’s book
My sister (the one who lives out here and is getting married) has written a complete guide book to Zakynthos which has been a brilliant way to discover the island. I thoroughly recommend it (and would even if I wasn’t biased!) and anyone going to Zakynthos should definitely buy it!
Dinner at Kormis
My sister recommended a fish restaurant in Zakynthos Town, just on the port front. While they have a written menu, the way you order is by going into the kitchen and choosing the fish yourself. The owner talks you through what each fish is like, and takes your order as you choose. Hannah, our resident wine boffin, went off to talk through the different wines and I selected a few essential extras (like sides of chips :)
The food was stunning – cooked perfectly, tasted fab, and served in a way that meant we could each try each other’s selection. We also spotted a few of Gail’s books on display, and I mentioned that she was my sister and that she’d recommended the restaurant. This turned out to be a good move as they gave us a discount, which made the food taste even better!
It was probably our most expensive meal on the island (at about £40 each), but it was also our best meal, and when I think what we’d pay for it in England, it was an absolute bargain!
Dinner at Ladofanaro
The following night we met up with my family and some of my sister’s friends for a proper cheapy-Greeky meal out. As there were quite a few of us, and only one person had a clue where we were going, we went off in a convoy of 5 cars playing follow the leader.
This worked quite well, and we had full confidence in the leader… we turned down a side road which was fine for a good few miles, until we noticed it was starting to get narrower… and narrower… until we suddenly realised we were actually driving in a vineyard!
Now, when was the last time you tried to execute a 5 car reverse-J-turn in a vineyard? It wasn’t easy!
Eventually we found the restaurant Ladofanaro, and to be fair, it was in the middle of absolutely nowhere! There were at least 3 other groups of people there – and how they found it we’ll never know.
The food however was excellent – not posh-excellent, but Greek-excellent. I felt like I was in a Greek Taverna, eating Greek food, and drinking horrible Greek red wine… and I was!
The best bit? The whole meal came to £13 a head. I’d definitely go back, if it wasn’t about as easy to find as the island in Lost that is…
Taverna Dennis
You could be forgiven for thinking a restaurant with such a name was an authentic Greek taverna that had been on the island since the beginning of time… but you’d be wrong. The only thing worth mentioning about Taverna Dennis is that it’s at the crossroads of a few significant roads in the South of the island, so it’s a good navigation and point when giving directions.
We ate there one night, but certainly wouldn’t again. Tasteless microwaved food. If they have microwaves over there that is…
Try The Wine!
If someone said “give me one word to sum up your favourite wines” I’d say “Bordeaux”. You could ask me that question so many times, and I’m pretty sure it would almost never be “Greek”, but despite that, the sight of a roadside sign offering “Oil, Wine, Raisins 1km” got the better of us and we thought we’d investigate.
With hindsight, perhaps the fact that the sign was hand painted on a piece of wood that was probably once part of someone’s barn should have given us some idea of the what lay 1km down the indicated dirt track…
I don’t know who was more shocked at our arrival at the “wine tasting venue”, but we’d come all this way, so we thought we’d give it a go…
I won’t even begin to describe the complexities and fruity overtones that were going on in each of the red, white and erm, green wines on offer. I can however say that this particular vineyard is definitely a schofs.com exclusive, and is unlikely ever to be covered by any other globally-trusted breaking news site!
Panicked by the realisation that we really should buy something, our eyes fell upon some bottles of oil they’d also produced. We felt confident that these didn’t need to be tasted, so we parted with a couple of Euros and were soon on our way.
Laganas
Laganas (or Slaganas as we fondly referred to it) is the “Brits Abroad” part of the island... you’re generally only allowed in this part of town if you or your children have achieved at least 2 ASBOs in the last 3 months.
We ventured into Laganas once, but only because it had a cash machine. We did however notice a sign for one slightly disturbing night club... just what audience does “The Babies Bar” cater for?!
The Island Drive
We were out on Zakynthos during October, when the weather was bound to be pretty unpredictable. Unfortunately for the first few days of our stay it mostly rained.
With grotty weather, there isn’t really much you can do other than explore the island, so we climbed into the Suzuki Jimney, grabbed a copy of Gail’s excellent book, and followed one of the island tours she’d mapped out.
The route (Tour 4 in the book) took us all around the island, through small villages, past a few typical roadside shops, and also to stunning sights which make Zakynthos such a picturesque island.
We decided to stop for a coffee en route at the Sunset Taverna. It offered a great view point, and the coffee was to die for. Literally. I tried a sip and have to say that any more could easily have cost me my life.
Though for much of the tour it was misty, the sun really came out when it mattered most – at the shipwreck.
We grabbed lunch at a roadside taverna called Taverna Anastasia. We hadn’t planned to stop there, but as we’d been driving through the village, Anastasia waved frantically from the taverna to encourage us in!
After the joke that was the coffee stop, we were very pleased to find that Anastasia did us proud. The meal came with proper chips (something the Greeks seem to find very hard!), she treated us to a dessert of raisins in honey, and to top it off she gave me a flower as we left… it was very sweet!
While driving around the island, I really felt I got a feel for the capabilities of the 4-wheel drive we’d hired. In a nutshell, it was crap; officially the worst 4x4 I’ve ever driven. You can choose whether you want to drive in 2 or 4 wheel drive. Nothing strange there. This effectively gives you two options – slide around the road with no control (2 wheel drive) or drive without the ability to turn any corners or cover any distance without the gearbox smelling (4 wheel drive). I feel my road test was thorough enough to know not hire one again… its only benefit was that it was a convertible… but that just wasn’t enough to make up for its inability to function as a car.
Wedding Day!
The big day had finally arrived. Hannah needed to get her hair done, and she’d arranged an appointment with an English speaking hair dresser. What she hadn’t banked on was that on the day itself, the English speaker wasn’t actually there, and the girl doing her hair only spoke Greek...
The plan, as it turned out, was for Hannah to tell the English speaking lady over the phone what she wanted... and then pass the phone over to the Greek lady who would then be told what to do in a sort of Chinese Whispers fashion. What could possibly go wrong?!
Meanwhile, I decided to go to a small cafe I’d found just up the road which did a lovely latte and pain-au-chocolat.
It was stunning weather outside, but I still decided to check the weather forecast for the rest of the day in the Internet Cafe... Hmmm... heavy thunder storms...
Once Hannah’s hair had been permed to within an inch of her life, we went on to the church to take a few photos before the Wedding. Hannah was the official wedding photographer, and with the service being in the evening it was handy to get a few shots while it was light. I also experimented with my own unique photography approach...
A few hours before the big moment, we headed over to take some photos of Gail getting ready. It was a big moment as my wife, Emma, had made the wedding dress, and with Gail living in another country it wasn’t easy and easy job! Fortunately, she looked stunning.
I’m not sure what I was expecting from a Greek wedding... but then I don’t think that Gail or Kostas knew either! It was certainly a little different from the traditional English wedding.
The Bride and Groom walked into the church, followed by the congregation. As there were no reserved seats, you could see everyone trying to leg it to the best seats – it’s the closest thing in adult life to playground British Bull Dog!
There were two priests, one sang in Greek (yes – sang), and the other sang in English. The Bride, Groom and bridesmaids stand in the centre of the church on a raised platform while the priests sing at them. This goes on for about half an hour... and then someone comes round and gives us all bags of rice...
Then everyone on the platform walked round in a circle while the whole congregation pelted them with the rice! All credit to the priests who continued to sing whilst shielding themselves with their holy books!
After the singing and rice throwing came to an end, all of the Greeks went outside for a smoke while Gail and Kostas posed for a few photos. After that it was off to the restaurant to stuff ourselves silly with food and booze!
The day after the wedding Gail and Kostas hosted a BBQ for all friends and family at the house that they’re having built... which they were assured would be finished in time.
If I’m honest, and I know I might be being a bit of a perfectionist, but I wouldn’t necessarily call it finished...
A Day With The Nieces
On our last day on Zakynthos, Hannah and I took my nieces, Elly and Cori, out for the day. It was good weather so we headed straight for the beach, which never fails to bring out the kid in me. Within minutes I was begging the girls if we could all go out on jet skis!
After lunch at the beach taverna, we pulled the roof back on the car and headed for a drive around the island. It was fab weather, and the island seemed so different to earlier in the week when the weather wasn’t nearly so nice.
Before heading home, we decided to stop in at an ice cream bar Zakynthos Town... which, I was, erm, of course forced to do against my will.
Zakynthos – London Gatwick in First Choice Star Class (economy)
The day to return home arrived, and so we drove back to the airport and dropped off the hire car. The return procedures were quite... simple. Park up leave the keys in the car. I’ve heard of more secure methods!
We arrived at the check in desk one and a half hours before the flight, so I was a little surprised to hear the words “Sorry sir, check in has now closed. You should have been here 3 hours before the flight to check in, we cannot accept arrivals this late”.
Considering I could see the rest of the check in crew sitting just behind the desks in their coffee room, I wasn’t exactly impressed. I took out the tickets for our flights and had a look at the useful information section. “Check in is available from 2 hours before your flight and closes 1 hour before your flight’s departure”. I handed the tickets to the check in lady, entered smug mode, and said “I think you’ll find this contains some useful information”.
Minutes later we were checked in, and as good as it felt, I couldn’t help wondering if we’d ever see our luggage again.
Once through security, we had a quick look around the duty free shop, which consisted largely of fags and vodka, and then sat and waited for our flight.
The flight back was... unremarkable. We boarded more or less on time, and we had seats 5A and 5B. Unfortunately this time somebody had 5C, so we were stuck in our seats which felt more cramped than ever.
As I glanced around from my seat, I couldn’t help noticing just how dirty the plane really was... I’m no clean freak, but when was this plane last cleaned?
Fortunately the view outside was much nicer, and as we flew out of Zakynthos we had a fabulous view of the islands.
Service on the flight home was quiet. Being the end of a holiday for both the crew and passengers, I don’t think any of us were feeling particularly jolly.
On landing IRIS was open, and Hannah and I were the only ones to use it. It’s a strange feeling when the doors of the IRIS gate close behind you... the trip is officially over... and it’s back to work the next day.
