Houston-NY-HK-Perth

So..... Let me tell you about my loooooooong journey to Perth.

Continental airlines was kind enough to give me an upgrade for my flight from Houston to New York. This was much appreciated considering we have been having a ten day Barmitzvah party. I was pretty exhausted, having to leave home at 6.30am on Sunday. So it was a pleasant relaxing flight.

On arriving in New York, I found my way to the Continental President's Club lounge. It was quite full. As I had just had a decent breakfast of corn flakes, yoghurt, fressh fruit and coffee on the plane, I did not really want more to eat. I got a cup of tea and went to sit in the quiet TV viewing room to watch the football. The TV colors were on the blink, so it was not so good.

The monitors showed that the flight to Hong Kong was on time, so I went to the gate. When I got there, it was obvious that the plane was not there. They announved that there was some issue with getting the aircraft to the gate, so we should return to the lounge and await an announcement. To get back into the lounge it was necessary to "check in" again. No problem.

After another half hour they asked us to return to the gate. We did. The plane was there, but they said it would be a fifteen minutes more before we could board. After thirty minutes they said we should return to the lounge as they expected another hour delay. So... back to the lounge and at least ten minutes to "check in" once again.

As soon as we were allowed back in they announced that we should return IMMEDIATELY to the gate for boarding. Ho Hum!

Luckily for me, they decided to upgrade me into business/first class. It was fantastic! 180 Degree sleeper bed. Good food. Good drink. Lage TV screen. Kudos to Continental. Even the service was excellent.

I arrived in Hong Kong feeling good. Immigration took only a few minutes. luckily. I had no checked-in luggage, so I merely walked out of the customs and went directly to catch the quick, clean and efficient airport express train to Kowloon station. From there, I got onto a small shuttle bus which took me to the Shangri-la hotel in Kowloon, Hong Kong.

Now this is an experience of quality! As I stepped off the shuttle, a uniformed lady met me and insisted on pulling my small roll-a-board case. She escorted me to the registration desk for the hotel in the Horizon Club on the 20th floor. She effectively handed me over to the staff at th desk. I sat down and handed them my passport and credit card. The registration papers had been pre-printed, so check in took only a few minutes. I was in my room shortly: Free internet, comfortable bed, fresh fruit, free bottles of drinking water. I returned to the Horizon lounge for a cup of Earle Grey tea while looking over Hong Kong harbor, before retiring for the night.

I got up early and had a delicious healthy breakfast in the lounge on the 21st floor. After catching up on e-mail, I went to the gym for a "get over jetlag" workout. The gym was remarkably well equipped for a hotel facility.

I attended my noon meeting refreshed. I decided to have the meeting in the Horizon Lounge because it is quiet and peaceful, while the staff there provide adequate refreshments and snacks with unobtrusive efficiency.

After my noon meeting, I checked out, in the lounge (easy), and was picked up for a meeting in an Hong Kong office after which I was dropped at the airport for my onward journey.

The Star Alliance gold counter at Singapore Airlines in Hong was a breeze. The man was friendly and helpful. After a very short time taken to get through emmigration and security, I went to the Kris lounge. It was quite large with good food. I had a cuppacino, and an ice-cream while doing my e-mail.

The economy flight to Singapore was pretty good. The seat was comfortable, the 0n-demand movies were current and the food was excellent. They gave me a glass of wine. Why can't American airlines do this on international flights? Go figger?

I arrived in Singapore and went to sit in the lounge while waiting for my onward flight to Perth. I totally lost track of time. Sudeenly I noticed the clock. Oops! I threw my stuff into my backpack and RAN to the gate. As luck would have it, it was the furthest gate possible. I made it, last one.

I sat in my seat to find that the man next to me was large and flowed over into my section. He slept all the time from before I sat there until after the plane had landed in Perth. I had to keep pushig him back to his side. They woke us at about 3.30am for breakfast. Wonderful! (Sarcasm) Not really Singapore Airlines' fault, but it was not a pleasant flight, at all.

So now I'm in Perth enjoying seeing my family here, while I work on confirming and rescheduling my appointments for next week.

Til next time......

Hilton Anatole Dallas

Last week I stayed in Dallas at the Hilton Anatole. What a beautiful hotel with absolutely magnificent facilities. The accommodation I was given was a King Corner room on the 24th floor with access to the executive lounge. I was really looking forward to it, as were my three colleagues from Mexico who were staying at the same hotel.

As it turns out, it was a bit disappointing. The first disappointment, as is usually the case, is the necessity to pay for an internet connection. This is one of the anomalies of staying at a four or five star hotel. It annoys me intensely. When I pay over $200 per night for a room, I would expect free internet. I can stay at the Hampton Inn or the Homewood Suites, both within the Hilton Group, and get free internet.

The other disappointment was the requirement to pay for drinks in the executive lounge during "Happy Hour." I stay at many hotels in the USA and internationally. This is the first time I have had to pay for drinks in the executive lounge during this evening time. In fact, at many hotels, basic alcoholic drinks are free any time the executive lounge is open.

Another strange aspect of the stay at this hotel was that on arrival in my room I found two bottles of water..... nice! The strange things was that they did not replace them on the next day. Odd!

Having said all this, the room itself was extremely comfortable. The desk, the sitting area, the bed and the flat screen TV were all great. I would have liked to see a DVD player in the room, though. The workout facility was fantastic, although I was far to busy to use it.

Would I stay there again? Not unless I had to. I would rather stay at the Homewood Suites for almost half the price and twice the stuff, including free breakfast, free dinner AND beer or wine.

Westin Nusa Dua

Hi all. The Westin Nusa Dua in Bali definitely deserves a Blog Post all of its own.

We visited this hotel to celebrate my mother's 80th birthday. We were welcomed to the hotel as if we were long lost family, even though we had never been there before. During check-in, we were handed a cool drink while the front desk manager came to welcome us. We were taken to our rooms which were clean, very comfortable and very well appointed.

We had a comfortable king size bed, a large flat screen TV with a DVD player. The room opened up to a porch facing onto the gardens, with the sea and beach about 30 meters (yards) to our left. There was a coffee plunger in the room with an electric kettle. Filter coffee and tea was provided, as were six bottles of water per day; quite sufficient.

The beach chairs were plentiful. There was shade from thatched beach "umbrellas" and from the trees. The sea was warm and flat.

The beach vendors were very friendly, as usual, but were well controlled, so that they did not become a nuisance.

Each morning of our one week stay, we would meet for breakfast. There were six of us. Breakfast was definitely one of our highlights. The food was fantastic! We had a choice of full Western breakfast including fruit, cereals, breads, eggs made to order, juices, coffee and teas and even espresso's and cappuccino. There was also Japanese and Chinese foods for breakfast. We would spend at least two hours eating, chatting and generally enjoying the pleasant open air restaurant, the food and the company. The breakfast staff could not have been more helpful, even giving us titbits of information about the resort, the local surroundings and Bali in general.

We ate dinner in the hotel's restaurant once. The food was tasty and plentiful, but we found it expensive compared to the local places in Nusa Dua, which were only a short ten minute walk.

We thoroughly enjoyed our vacation in Bali using the Westin Nusa Dua as our base. My mother has told me that if she returns to Bali, she will definitely stay there again.

Well done to all the staff and management at the Westin.

Thank you!!

Overnight Train from Kuala Lampur to Singapore

Last night our gracious hosts dropped us at KL Sentral to get the overnight train from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore. Before I detail the interesting experience, I need to tell you that we were not able to make reservations online. Although we could access the KTM (Keretapi Tranh Melayu) web site with schedules and descriptions of the various traveling options, they do not have online reservations. Our friends in KL told us that they had to wait at the train station for over an hour to make the reservations.

We opted for our own compartment with a small private bathroom. Because of this, we were given access to the first class lounge at KL Sentral before the train departed. The lounge was a no frills room with armchairs and some coffee. The good thing about the lounge was that it had internet access. When the train was in the station, about twenty minutes before departure time, we were told to go to the platform. The elevator from the lounge went directly to the train's platform.

Our "Premier Deluxe" compartment was in the very last carriage, but not too far to walk. It was interesting walking along the train seeing the various seating and sleeping options. There were basic seats, similar to airplane seating, there were sleepers with a flat bed curtained off individually, there were sleeper compartments with shared bathrooms and sleeper compartments with private bathrooms.

We found our compartment, made up with two bunk beds, one above the other. There is a very small desk and chair. With two suitcases, we had nowhere to stand. It was quite cramped. The bathroom was small and functional with a toilet, shower and small basin. The water in the faucet only came out in a trickle for some reason. The furnishing, carpet and paintwork were a bit worn and could certainly do with an upgrade.

As soon as the train pulled out of the station, we were given a basic hot meal in a plastic container of rice and some beef in a sauce. There was also a cold jello like dessert and a bottle of water each. We did not try this, as we had just come from an amazing meal with our new friends in KL at the Petroleum Club in the Petronas Towers. We were also given a really nice little kit with toothbrush, razor, ear buds, hand lotion and a shower cap.

The time by now was approaching midnight. We had been awake since very early that morning so we were extremely tired. We got into our bunk beds as soon as we could after the conductor had checked our tickets.

The train shook, rattled and swayed along the track at a good speed. I managed to get a few hours of sleep.

At about 06h45 we stopped at the Malaysian emigration and customs station. The officers boarded the train and efficiently did their duty. No problem.

Ten minutes later we stopped at the Singaporean immigration and customs centre. The process was efficient. We had to X-Ray our luggage.

The problem was that we then waited for at least 45 minutes before being allowed to re-board the train. We were due to arrive at 07h00, but it was already after 07h45!

We eventually arrived at the KTM station in Singapore just before 09h00, almost two hours late. We had a meeting at 09h30. Then we stood in a line waiting for a cab for another 40 minutes, so we arrived at our hotel at 10h00.

Would I recommend this to anyone else? Maybe if you are the adventurous type, or if you want to save money getting to Kuala Lumpur to Singapore overnight, saving the cost of a hotel room. For us it was just something we wanted to experience. I think I would much prefer doing the same journey on the Orient Express if the timing would work out. Alternatively, flying would be much more comfortable and more convenient.

Dinner at the Petroleum Club in Kuala Lumpur

Now here's an enjoyable and interesting experience.

Through a friendly business connection, we were invited to dinner with a new friend, his son and his son's girlfriend, at the Petroleum Club in Kuala Lumpur.

I called Colin on his cell phone. We had never met him before or even spoken to him. We immediately realized that he would be extremely hospitable and fun. He arranged to pick us up at our hotel. Colin arrived early. We were waiting in the lounge for him. We put our luggage in the back of his car as we would go directly to the train station after dinner to travel to Singapore. Colin has a driver who has been with the family for over thirty years; a very pleasant man.

The traffic was heavy, but we managed to get to the Petronas Towers in reasonable time. The Petronas Towers are currently the world's third tallest building after 101 in Taipei and the new building in Dubai. Colin kept up a constant commentary during the drive telling us about his family, his businesses and the city. It was most interesting.

As we alighted from the car, we were led into the lobby of the towers, Colin knew and greeted everybody. It was clear to us that he was very well liked by all. We took the elevator up to the 42nd floor of the towers, at the same level of the bridge made famous by the Sean Connery movie "Entrapment." Colin gave us a tour of the club. It was real old world charm with a Malaysian Chinese feeling. We could smell the delicious aroma's coming from the dining room where we would have dinner. The club has four restaurants. We met the general manager, who could not have been more friendly, like a member of the family. He even introduced us to his son. All the club staff members had worked at the club for a long time. They were all exceptionally helpful and gracious.

We sat in a lounge overlooking the city, having a drink while we discussed many diverse topics of mutual interest. Colin;s son, Barry and his girlfriend arrived to join us. We immediately got on well with them. One big happy family. It was clear that Barry and Colin had a strong bond and get on extremely well together. What I found interesting is that they have a very similar relationship that I had with my father, working closely together

After a lively discussion we went down to the buffet dining room for our feast/dinner. I decided to try all the Malaysian foods. I started with the salads. They were a bit spicy, but thoroughly enjoyable. I tried about six or seven different salads with various dressings. After the salads, I tried some meats, fish and vegetables. The freshly made roti was delicious with both vegetarian and fish stew options. The beef, venison and noodles were also delicious.

Now it was crunch time, I decided to try the durian. We had heard a lot about this famous, supposedly very tasty fruit with a nasty smell. It is banned from taxi cabs and hotel rooms. Once the smell gets into the car or room, it is almost impossible to get it out. The smell is pungent! The durian at the club was made with coconut milk and brown sugar in a soup. It was still possible to smell the durian, but less than normal. It was actually pretty tasty.

After trying a host of Malaysian desserts it was time to leave. What an enjoyable evening with our new friends in Kuala Lumpur. Hopefully we can reciprocate soon is Texas.

Singapore via Tokyo

Well, here we go again. We are flying to Singapore via Tokyo.

I need to discuss the difference between Continental and United airlines. We reserved our seats on Continental getting a very reasonable rate in economy. The flight we reserved is from Intercontinental in Houston to Singapore. We have to change planes in Tokyo. It turns out that the second leg from Tokyo to Singapore is actually on a United plane.

We went onto the Continental web site to select our seats. On the first leg on Continental from Houston to Tokyo, we were able to get decent seats, and we requested a miles upgrade to Business Class. We were immediately wait-listed.

When trying to get seats on the second flight from Tokyo to Singapore, we found that the system would not accept both our seat requests. We could see the empty seats, but sometimes we could select one seat and other times the system would delete our selections.

I called Continental OnePass center, but they told me that as it is a United flight I would have to call United. I did so, but the agent told me that there was nothing he could do. We would have to wait until we got to the airport, even though it was at least a week before our flight!! So much for seamless alliances between the two airlines.

Two days ago we received a very pleasant e-mail from Continental, telling us that our upgrade had come through on the Houston to Tokyo flight.... oh joy of joys!

On checking in online last night, we confirmed the business seats, easily selecting two excellent seats next to each other with aisle access on either side. Fun!

At the same time, I noticed that United had given us seats, however they were 18 rows apart and were both cramped seats, one in the middle of five seats! Not pleasant.

After dropping our bags at the Continental counter this morning, in an efficient easy manner, and going through security we went to the Continental Presidents Club, always a haven of peace.

We mentioned our United seating disappointment to the lady in the club. She was FANTASTIC!! She went to a lot of time and trouble to rearrange our seats on the United flight to a bulkhead aisle and adjacent seat.

It is interesting how she could do it, but the United representative could not do the same thing a week ago. Well done Continental.

So now we can look forward to a pleasant series of flights to Singapore.

More to follow shortly......

Alaska Cruise Video

The Video of our Alaska cruise on Celebrity Millennium through the inside passage is now available on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KES7L5ST8VY
Enjoy!