HAPPY FLYING AND AIRLINE DINING IN 2012

Eating High has been good in the year 2011. All the 12 Europe-North America round trips and the four Europe/NA-Asia roundtrips have been on either Air France Premium Economy or LH Busines Class or KLM Business Class or Thai Business Class or VS upper class
No Complaints..
I have enjoyed some of the airline meals more than others, obviously, and some flights had better wines and I always loved the Champagne to begin with, poured best in Air France..
I realized that it is the Lounge experience that adds to the International Flight experience and for that alone, Lounge of AF in 2 E at CDG I would become Skyteam Gold Elite!
VS at LHR   Lounge is hard to beat..
US based lounges are mediocre nothing outstanding but they have the friendliest staff.. I can count as friends, staff at CO Clubs at FLL SAT IAH etc.
In the far east: this year enjoyed clubs at HKG BKK KUL SIN


138 flight segments , the last 15 flights, 12 upgrades, so not bad..
coming up:  January  CDG SFO
MIA CDG  Feb  CDG BLR  and SIN CDG


Happy Flying and Happy Dining ..

LH 402 FRA EWR SEAT 4 D

Paris to Frankfurt  LH  they served a nice breakfast. The Lounge at Terminal 2 E at CDG is superb..
Seat 4 D on FRA EWR fight. Piper-Heidsiek champagne served soon afterwards.. Both the main meal and the plate before arrival in New York.. were excellent.  Roast Goose with Kohl and potato. there was the usual cheese and a bite of the cheese cake. the plate served just before landing was French Duck rittels with lentil salad, seaffod mousse with salmon caviar..
Airport Lounges on this journey so far:
Terminal 2 E excelent. free wifi. lots of magazines and newspapers. croissant and cafe
Senator Lounge at Frankfurt  very crowded and no wifi
United Club at Terminal A at EWR.. Pleasant staff, very little in the way of snacks, poor reading selection but very quiet atmosphere.
CO club at FLL  very friendly and helpful staff. free wifi. no food or drinks of note
CO club at IAH  at terminal E is the best one. still just the usual bagels, bananas and packaged snacks.free wi fi. friendly staff.
CO club at San Antonio. Willard Lewis who has been there for ages greets you like an old friend. New terminal a little bit more welcome.

Forthcoming trip:  in two days  EWR -CDG  Air France Premium Voyageur, a small cabin with just three rows of seats. expect a glass of Nicolas Feuillette champagne.. and few hours of sleep to City of Lights..

LH 403 747-400 EWR-FRA 6h 20 min

The champagne served was Piper-Heidsieck but I noted a hint of sourness and not that specific taste I was craving for. Every single seat was taken so the attendants were busy and it took a while for the glass of bubbly to arrive.
Hors d'oeuvres
Chicken Ropa Vieja, Hearts of Palm, pickled Onion
hearty indeed a start..
2009 Nord-Sud Languedoc Viognier, Laurent Miquel, France
I drank this in honour of a good Viognier that I had procured of all places at Whole Foods at Aventura Mall, in Miami.
Entree
Herb Crusted Salmon, Pepper and Tomato sofrito Stew
I eat Salmon almost every day and never seem to get tired of the taste..
2010 Mosel Riesling aus der Steillage, Peter and Peter, Germany
soft taste, easy with Salmon.
a small plate of cheese: sage derby, gruyere and cambozola
A nice cup of coffee


Such a short flight. between reading a little and writing a little, one could only hope for a few winks before the breakfast arrives
I had a cheese omelette along with the usual stuff
Before you know we had landed at Frankfurt Airport.. and there was enough time to go through the Immigration which took one minute and then on to the Senator Lounge which was very crowded and I had no apetite to engage in another round of eating...


Even on the short flight to Paris they tried to serve a meal.. but I enjoyed the coffee and nibbled at the tasty bread...

La Habana to Paris via Miami and New York

I am writing this as I wait for Flight LH 403 at the SAS Lounge at Terminal B at EWR.
19.11.2011  The AA 737-800 left HAV Jose Marti International Airport Terminal 2 at 3 45 pm .
Flight time to Miami 42 minutes.
Global Entry Immigration took one Minute
There were long lines at the Customs but Global Entry cards were allowed to go to the front of the line. It took another two minutes.
By the new Miami Mover to the Car Rental Centre. AVIS preferred had already selected my car and my name displayed in their board saying the car is at A 20.
35 min drive to the house of my sister.
I arrive there at 545pm
Just two hours after leaving Havana... only two hours to traverse SO different worlds and aspirations..


20.11.2011
Arrived at the Continental Airlines Check in and quickly checked my bags. Cortadito at Cafe Versailles at the airport. Left at 7 10 am and arrived at EWR at  9 54 am. 
The Train from EWR to Penn Station is a brief 30 minutes and i went into the city, feel the vibrancy even though it was a Sunday...
Looked hard for an Indian Resto or a Viet Resto, but settled for one of the many healthy ecologically conscious restos.. falafel panini mushroom sandwich and a cup of sumatran organic cafe which tasted very good. Another thirty minutes back to the airport. Quick passage through the Security and now in the SAS Lounge.


Soon I will board the flight and just guess, what is my seat number..


4D of course

AF FLYING BLUE PLATINUM 28 OCT 2011

	M. SUDAH YEHUDA	Seuil de Miles Elite
	N° de carte
	Vous êtes membre :    Platinum
	Depuis le :   28/10/2011
	Solde de Miles disponibles 41 411
	Date de votre dernière opération    27/10/2011
	Miles « Statut »    70 831

I am already a Platinum Frequent Flier Member in the OnePass programme of the Continental airlines, and today received the platinum from Flying Blue of Air France.. a nice honour indeed..
this shows that i have flown at least 75 000 miles each of these airlines and their partners and that does not include the following free flights for this year:
Miami to KL  on Lufthansa
Miami to KL  on KLM
CDG  YVR on KLM
Miami to KL  on Thai and others
Miami to Singapour on United and ANA


Thank you Continental Airlines soon to be United Airlines and Air France..


Future flights coming up


Miami to CDG via FRA on Lufthansa and back 
EWR to CDG on Air France


next planned trip to Asia   miami or cdg to sin or kul


short haul flights not included in the above tally
Air Asia  KL to SRP  RGN  SIN etc..

Yet another Crossing of the Pond Air France

I have lost count of the number of times I have crossed the Atlantic over the years. It has been 11 times per year over the past five years, similar amount during my sojourn in London..
Air France Premier Economy, very comfortable seats and I had 18 K on their 777-300 ER so i had plenty of leg room. Since I am silent during my journeys, the small cabin with just a few seats added to that privacy. The flight from CDG to IAD was only 8 hours and after lunch which began with a glass of champagne, and a movie we were already over Canada. It was nice to relax at the Air France Lounge at Terminal 2 E with its good choice of food and beverages as well as the selection of newspapers..
Writing this from Miami, looking forward to dissimilar places such as Eagle Butte in south Dakota and La Habana in Cuba...

Public Transport in France

Monday 24 October 2011
The time table said that the train 8762 would arrive at the Auray station at 1712 and depart at 1716. Sure enough on the dot it arrives at 1712. it is a TGV and it promises to take us to Montparnasse in Paris with short stops at Vannes and Rennes. The estimated time of arrival is 2040 and we arrived exactly on time at 2040. Imagine being able to travel that distance in India or USA which is nearly 500 km or about 350 miles in that short a period? and how wonderful it would be..
There was a dining car where you could get sandwiches, soft drinks and wine and coffee if you wished. but in general the train was quiet and the people were minding their own businesses and no one was making any noise or disturbing their neighbour.
I had a First Class Seat at Coach 13 Seat 32 and there was no one sitting next to me, but i wish i had one of those seats which were by itself by the window, so that there would have been even a greater privacy.
It is amazing that once you know the tricks of the trade, one can travel in first class in France with very little supplemental fees and like yesterday, the fee i paid for first class was less than the economy class ticket!
On arrival, Bus no 65  a good bus to know since it passes through nicer parts of Paris, and at the entrance to the street where Opera is there are two Japanese restaurants Higuma and Edokku.
Edokku turned out to be just ordinary.nothing special , nothing japanese , perhaps the owners are not japanese, like most of the japanese restaurants in Paris. but salmon sashimi tasted good. and satisfactory . to eat less after the feasting in Quiberon.

An ordinary Dinner in Quiberon The French Eat Well

Do not listent to the nutritional advice given by 

the so called Nutri gurus and the Medical Nutritional specialists

they will have you eating like Pigeons

follow the French 

look what they do on an ordinary saturday evening

and i forgot to take pictures of the cheese

why dont they all die of heart disease?

we started dinner at 8 pm and finished at 11pm

talked about  everything including the women's right in Tunisia

the paper bureaucracy of France

the unhelpful public sector workers in Paris

the friendliness of the Bretons...

Food on International Flights

You are never going to hear from me about bad food on the planes.. because so far they have not given me any chance!  We will forget about food on domestic flights in the USA, the airlines are doing nothing but reflecting the bad food in the country in general.
On 15th I left for Paris by a circuitous route, but it was seat 3 C on KLM airbus 330-200 and then AMS-LHR and LHR-CDG
The Club houses at YYZ and AMS and LHR 4  were all superb.. enough to eat and drink while passing the time reading.. or accessing the net..

I always like to start a long journey with a glass of champagne and this time it was no different. A glass of Champagne or two on YYZ AMS flight and the flight was so short and the service not hurried so that one had only time to savour the dinner with a nice NZ Sauvignon Blanc before it was time for breakfast. Long layover at AMS but Schipol has to be the most civilized of all airports in the west...

The year is coming to an end.. but I have
CDG IAD
EWR  FRA
FRA EWR
IAD CDG
flights to look forward to : 4 D on LH and the other two on AF.

SEPTEMBER 2011 WHAT A LOVELY MONTH OF TRAVEL

Day 1  MIA-FRA-BLR
Lufthansa Business Class   Very Good
Best Meal in Bangalore:  Coconut Grove in the Central Business District. Mangalorean/Kerala/Seafood Cuisine
Dentist: Dr Jagdeesh     Excellent
Opthalmologist: Dr Jyoti          Very Good


Day 5  BLR-KUL    
Air Asia  Okay
Not a memorable visit to KL, fourth time this year.
Hair cut by Fei Wen and Mani/Pedi by GS    at A Cut Above, Bangsar. Very Good
MALACCA   Excellent
Cheng Ho Museum
Best Meal:  Ole Sayang Nyonya Restaurant


day 11   KUL-SIN
Air Asia  Okay
Singapour is very crowded and it has a great airport. 
The City is nothing extraordinary for a visitor


Day 11   SIN-CDG-LHR  Air France  Premium Voyageur  Very Good
Day 12   London St Pancras to Gare du Nord, Paris  Eurostar Premium
Very good meal served on board
Day 18   CDG-LHR   Air France  A regional airline, crowded and hardly any service
Day 19   LHR-MIA   Virgin Atlantic  Upper Class
Excellent
The Club House is fantastic, had a hair cut and shoes shined and a cooked breakfast.
Miami: Excellent Dinner at Maroosh Lebanese Rest, Coral Gables
Day 21   FLL-IAH  F  IAH-OKC  Y
Mantel Restaurant at Bricktown  Okay
Day 22   OKC-DEN Y  DEN-OMA  F
Vivace Italian Restaurant  Good
Day 30  OMA-IAH  F  and IAH-MIA  F
Superb help from Continental Elite staff on the phone when changing the flights because of delay


Has been a good month: Airline Lounges at Miami, Frankfurt, Singapour, Paris, London, Houston, Denver, Fort Lauderdale


Motto: be loyal to your airline   for me, Continental (soon to be United) in the USA and Air France in Europe.


Exceptional People on this trip:
India    None
KL       Dr Li
Malacca    Dr Tan  and Mrs Irene G
Paris    Family
Miami   Family
Among the American Indians:  Indians


Upper Class but Homeless
the Man in seat 4 D

Comfort, Curiosity and Travel: The Man in Seat 4D

The desire to travel arrived very early in life and fortunately means to travel, mainly in the mind arrived too. I can honestly say that I have been traveling since 15 March 1993.. on that day I left for Bangkok from London and then Malaysia, Singapour and Borneo. Had traveled before of course!
Since a trip with my brother E in 2001 to Chile, Bolivia and Peru and in 2002 to Singapour, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos... both South America and South East Asia looms large in my travel universe. I have visited Cambodia, Vietnam and Myanmar at least ten times since then. A chance meeting in 2008 was followed by five times a year visits to Malaysia and enjoy its food and the company of good people.
the travels in 2011 include: Multiple trips to Europe, Four trips to ASIA:  Malaysia in each of those visits but also Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam, India and Singapour. USA is a destination where I am very much at home and in fact may have traveled within USA more than many of the locals.
So forgive me if I ask for little comfort during my travels and I have learned to extract the most comfortable journeys during my travels. Take a recent trip:
Miami to Miami in just 19 days but MIA-FRA-BLR  LH Business Class, BLR-KUL on Air Asia, KUL-SIN on Air Asia after a delightful visit to Malacca, SIN-CDG Air France Premium Voyageur, CDG-LHR  on Eurostar Premium and LHR-MIA  Virgin UpperClass. I enjoyed each of these flights, slightly less the Air Asia flights.
All journeys are educational and this one was no exception. Meeting LG, Curator of Museum Cheng Ho in Malacca at a sumptuous lunch at Ole Sayang Nyonya Resto in Malacca was one of the highlights.
So many domestic flights are in the waiting, but I look forward to be back in Miami and spend time with my sister and my good friends there..