Tag: JFK

On the Road Again – Part Three

Greetings from the Concorde Room at JFK, which is the 1st class lounge for British Airways passengers. The great thing about this lounge is that you can have a lovely dinner on the ground before you board your flight. We’ve just finished a 3-course meal and have about an hour before we board our flight to London Heathrow (which you probably already know).

Before we got to the airport, though, here’s our intrepid AAC, CPA with the baggage (no, not me), whilst waiting for our car to arrive:

227
AAC, CPA with the bags

CONCORDE ROOM ENTRANCE
The dapper (and hungry) AAC, CPA arrives at the Concorde Room

The meal was quite delicious:

Artichoke
A grilled artichoke and frisee salad for AAC, CPA

Gravlax
A delicious gravlax with pickled fennel and lemon Greek yogurt for me

Sirloin
We both had the Szechuan Crusted NY Sirloin with Sauteed Baby Bok Choy

Mille Feuille
And we each had the Raspberry Mille Feuille with White Chocolate Ice Cream

Each course came with the appropriate wine pairings and we are both now very relaxed and satisfied. Can’t wait to board the plane and climb under the covers!

Getting back to business:

Now that I’ve told you about how we’re getting to Dubai and also about Seabourn Encore, I thought you might like to know our cruise itinerary. Although there are 9 sea days – the entire cruise is 19 days! – it is, especially for us, port intensive. And all of them are new to us, so it’s a good thing that we’ve done our homework and brought along sensible shoes!

We will sail from Dubai next Monday at approximately 5:00 PM. Here’s a look at our cruise itinerary:

Cruise Itinerary
Map courtesy of Seabourn

As you can see, our first stop will be Doha, Qatar. One of the things we were most looking forward to seeing was to visit the Museum of Islamic Art, designed by the renowned architect, I.M. Pei. As luck would have it, the museum is closed on Tuesdays which is, of course, the day we’ll be in port. (Grrrrr.) We will, however, most likely visit the famous Souq Waqif, the central market, which has served the city for many centuries. If falconry is your thing, the Falcon Souq is just next door!

Doha - Museum of Islamic Art - IM Pei
I.M. Pei designed the Museum of Islamic Art – closed on Tuesdays!

Doha - Souq Waqif
The Souq Waqif – centuries old

Following our depature from Doha, we’ll enjoy our first day at sea (my fave!)

Our next port is Muscat, Oman, the “Pearl of Mystic Arabia”. Muscat is a city of untold riches, as personified by such sites as the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque and the recently built Muscat Royal Opera House, which attracts many of the world’s finest singers. Unfortunately, there will be no performances while we’re in town, but we hope to take a tour and see the opera house for ourselves.

Muscat - Sultan Taymoor Grand Mosque
The fantastic Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque

Muscat - Royal Opera House
The Muscat Royal Opera House

Muscat - Royal Opera House Interior
Interior of the Opera House

Following another sea day, we land in Salalah, Oman’s ancient incense capital and an oasis of lush vegetation, unlike the otherwise arid landscapes of the Arabian peninsula. One of the excursions offered will include a visit to Job’s tomb: a sacred site of pilgrimage for Muslims, Christians, and Jews alike.

Salalah
Salalah, Oman

SONY DSC
A sacred biblical site: Job’s tomb

Once we depart from Salalah, we will then have 5 full sea days, giving us a chance to become really well acquainted with Encore and its passengers and crew. Hopefully, we’ll have good internet service during those seas days so that I can keep you up to date with all of our on board adventures.

Our next port – and the highlight of the trip for us – is Aqaba, Jordan which, for those of you who are Lawrence of Arabia fans, played a major role in the Arab revolt during World War I. Nowadays, the port serves as Jordan’s only deep water port and, as important, is the place from which you can get to Petra, the country’s most important historical attraction.

Because we are in port for only 11 hours, it was necessary for us to book a private car and guide, as we wanted to visit not only Petra but, also, Wadi Rum, which was also one of the primary locations in Lawrence of Arabia. This excursion will be very intensive, but also very exciting.

Long considered the Lost City, Petra is one of the most spectacular sights in all antiquity, a city carved out of solid sandstone, and lost to all but the most intrepid Bedouins until 1812, and excavation of the site didn’t begin until more than a full century later. To get to the main city, you walk on foot (or via a horse-drawn carriage for hire) through a narrow gorge, a mile-long siq. We’re told that a vist to Petra is an experience that you will not easily forget.

Petra Souq
You walk through the extremely narrow siq to get to Petra

Petra Treasury
Petra’s most famous landmark – the Treasury, carved out of sandstone

Once we’ve visited Petra, we’ll return through the gorge to our waiting car. As time is so short, we’ll have a box lunch en route to our next site, the majestic Wadi Rum, about an hour away. Indeed, we’ll be transported back to the time of T.E. Lawrence, Auda Abu Tayi, Prince Faisal and the fearless Bedouins who particpated in the Arab Revolt.

Wadi Rum
The majestic Wadi Rum

Wadi Rum - TE Lawrence
Memorial Carving of T.E. Lawrence at Wadi Rum

Following our visit to Wadi Rum, it’s back to the ship. I believe that this excursion will be one of the most memorable we’ve ever experienced.

Another sea day and, then, the ship will transit the Suez Canal. Having already been through the Panama Canal a few years ago, it will be very interesting to compare and contrast the experience. 

Suez Canal opening
The Suez Canal opened to traffic in 1869Suez Canal Modern
A more modern look at the Suez Canal

The following day, we land at Ashdod, the largest port in Israel and the main gateway to Jerusalem. From the port, it’s about a 75-minute drive (in good traffic!) to this sacred city. Again, because time is short, we’ve elected to hire a car and guide/driver to take us from the ship through the Judean Hills to Jerusalem. I visited Israel many years ago (let’s just say not in this millennium) but AAC, CPA has never been. So I’ve chosen what I believe to be the most important sites for us to see: the Old City (in quadrants for the many faiths who live and worship there), the Wailing Wall (the holiest Jewish site in the World) and the Dome of the Rock (the holiest of all Muslim shrines). 

AShdod
The port city of Ashdod, Israel

Dome of the Rock and the Temple Mount
Jerusalem

Thanks to our good friend, Yaniv, who has been so generous in suggesting things to do while we’re in Israel, we’ve also scored a reservation for lunch at one of the city’s finest restaurants, Machneyuda, adjacent to the world-famous Mahane Yehuda Market. It seems that Israel has become a place for foodies!

Machneyuda
Machneyuda for lunch!

Mahane Yehuda Market
The Mahane Yehuda Market next door

After our return to the ship, Encore will reposition over to Haifa, Israel’s primary port and located about an hour away (by train) from Tel Aviv. AAC CPA and I have decided that we’ll venture out on our own, starting with a train ride and then visiting Yafo (Jaffa), the Old City, much of which has become a cultural enclave and also has wonderful cafes and restaurants. 

Tel Aviv - Yaffo
Yafo

So we’ll spend our day in Tel Aviv strolling around the city and taking in the sights. Then we’ll get back on the train to Haifa and return to the ship.

Another sea day and then we’ll travel to the Greek Islands. We’ll visit two ports: Rhodes and Santorini, both of which have rich histories and are extremely picturesque. Although excursions are available, I think we’ll opt for “independent activities”, checking out the sites, taking in the cafes, and just soaking up the atmosphere.

Rhodes
Rhodes

Santorini
The magical island of Santorini

We’ll depart Santorini late in the afternoon – it’s our last port and we’ll sail over to Piraeus (Athens), where we’ll disembark after our 19-day adventure aboard the beautiful Seabourn Encore and transfer to Athens International for our flights home – and to reality – and to getting on the scale to see how much damage we’ve done. 🙂

How lucky are we that we get to travel to these fabulous places? Stay tuned for my reports as we experience them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tuesday: LHR Layover

Good morning from an overcast and cool London. We arrived about 2 hours ago following our transatlantic flight from New York. Due to unfortunate scheduling, we have a 7 hour layover here until we can board our flight for Lisbon and, from there, to the beautiful Crystal Symphony, where we will board in about 9 hours – not a minute too soon.

Backing up 12 hours:

Our car and driver picked us up right on time and swept us out to JFK. Considering it was rush hour, Sammy made excellent time and we were checked in, whisked through security and seated in British Airways’ Concorde Room within minutes of our arrival at the airport.

concorde-aac-enters
AAC, CPA enters the Concorde Room at JFK

We are very fortunate to be able to avail ourselves of the facilities of the Concorde Room, as it has a very nice restaurant with table service. Here’s the dinner menu from last night:

concorde-dinner-menu

And the wine and cocktail list, which is on an iPad:

concorde-wine-spirit-list

concorde-aac-toast
AAC, CPA makes a bon voyage toast

We’ve dined in the Concorde Room before and the great advantage is that you can eat on the ground and then sleep on the plane (unless you’re a certain couple who have a second dinner on the plane – no names, please). And the food you get in the Concorde Room is likely to be better than the food on the plane.

concorde-beets
First up: Roasted baby beets and charred goat cheese

concorde-rack-of-lamb
Followed by a delicious rack of lamb

concorde-dessert
Our waiter insisted that we have this pumpkin mousse

By the time we had finished eating, it was almost time to board.

ba-116-waiting-to-board
AAC, CPA waits for the boarding announcement

Then, a 5-minute walk to the gate and – voila! – we board our 747 chariot bound for LHR.

ba-116-aac-01
AAC, CPA gets settled in for the night

As I mentioned, we could have had another dinner but I just wanted to put on the pajamas that were provided for us and get into bed. So, I opted for this:

ba-116-cocoa
White chocolate cookies and some hot cocoa (with a drop of Bailey’s!!)

Following my little meal, I popped some Sudafed, aspirin and an Ambien and I was off to the races for the next 4 1/2 hours. 

By the time I woke up, we were about an hour from London, so I took care of some business, made sure that AAC, CPA was awake and just relaxed.

When we had landed at LHR, we knew we had to change terminals for our flight to Lisbon. However, we had been under the assumption that we’d be able to spend most of our layover in the Concorde Room over in Terminal 5, which turned out not to be true. That’s a shame, as the Concorde Room here is perhaps even nicer than the one at JFK. Not only that, but we had requested a complimentary private “cabana” for a few hours so that we would have been able to get some more sleep. No such luck.

So we traipsed from Terminal 5 over to Terminal 3 and here we are in the first class lounge. Not bad, not great. They also have a sit-down restaurant, and we’ll probably go over for some lunch a little later.

As a friend of ours’ says, “These are champagne problems”; ie., I’ll get over it.

So here’s a little look at the Terminal 3 lounge – it’s not terrible 🙂 

ba-bar-01
One of several bars here – all complimentary, of course

ba-bar
Another bar – what, no Campari??

ba-champagne-bar
It’s the champagne bar – too early in the day, perhaps?

ba-aac-breakfast
AAC, CPA chows down on a light breakfast

ba-flight-board
The departure board – see how far down the list our Lisbon flight is?

So, that’s where it’s at, kids. I’ll update you tomorrow when we’re ensconced in our digs about Symphony.

Have a good one!!

 

 

“Your Attention, Please – Now Boarding Flight 007 For Paris”

Last time, I shared with you how attending an Air France exhibit in Chelsea on a warm June afternoon morphed into spending Christmas week in Paris. Any chance to go to Paris is a gift, whether at Christmas or any other time of the year. And add to that, the wonderful luck we had in being able to take advantage of highly discounted fares, which enabled us to fly in first class (a/k/a La Premiere). Mon dieu!!

Our adventure began at the La Premiere check-in desk at JFK. After handing over our passports, we were given our boarding passes and our personal “handler” – at least, that’s what we called him – arrived. He was very nice and very French and escorted us through Terminal 1 to our waiting area. Along the way, he insisted on carrying our carry-ons as he whisked us through security.

Eventually we arrived at what seemed to be a private dining room, which had 2 tables, a seating area and lots of windows. We were immediately greeted by a waiter who offered us a glass of champagne or cocktail and presented us with a menu. No matter that we were on a dinner flight – perhaps we were feeling peckish and required some grub before boarding. We decided to have champagne and a couple of hors d’eauvres, both of which were yummy. 

Paris - AAC choosed dinner
AAC CPA checks out the menu….

Paris - Champagne

Paris - Tasty Vittles
….and has some bubbly with a little tasty thing 

After awhile, our friendly handler arrived to escort us to the plane. We were taken to a private elevator and then towards a special boarding area. As we were flying on an A380 (double-decker configuration), we boarded through the lower deck, at which point our handler wished us a bon voyage.

Paris Chariot Awaits
Our chariot awaits

Check out the AF A380 Aircraft

The purser met us as we stepped onto the plane, introduced himself and escorted us to our seats. There are only 9 seats in the cabin, so we could have easily found them ourselves, but who were we to complain?

Paris 1st Cabin
Our cabin and our seats in front

Once at our seats, we met our flight attendant (FA) and, again, offered a glass of champagne while he explained how the seat worked and presented us with an amenity bag, along with pajamas and slippers, as well as a dinner menu.

The Air France A380 holds up to 516 passengers, so you can imagine that it took awhile for boarding to be completed. While we were waiting to leave the gate, we chatted with the FA and got used to our surroundings.

Paris - AAC settles in
AAC CPA settles in

Finally, it was time to depart. The plane doors were closed and we pulled away from our gate and began to taxi (which, at JFK, can sometimes seem almost as long as the flight). What’s really cool on the A380 is that there is a closed-circuit camera in the tail of the aircraft, so you can see where you are going. Even though it was dark, it was still interesting to see where we were going, especially at takeoff and, later, at landing.

Paris - Watching our taxi
Taxiing towards the runway

Once we were wheels up, the FA was immediately at our seat to take our cocktail and dinner order. As it was a relatively short flight (about 7 hours) and because we had already eaten on the ground, we opted to have 1 or 2 dishes and then have our bed made up so that we could get right to sleep. We’d always heard that food on Air France was among the best in the sky. And the airline did not disappoint; however, the real culinary treat awaited us on our return home. For some reason, the food when flying out of Paris is superior. More about that later.

Paris - Menu Cover

Paris Joel R

Paris OnBoard Dinner Menu
Our dinner menu

Note the chef’s bio in the menu. As stated, Joël Rubuchon is one of the most celebrated chefs in the world.

Once we had eaten, we changed into our PJs – by the way, in our cabin there was one bathroom and one changing room, which was particularly luxurious. And the pajamas were kinda cute, too.

I’m a notoriously bad sleeper on planes, even when I have the luxury of a full-size bed (not to mention pharmaceuticals). In this case, I think I managed to get about 4 hours which, for me, is a bloody miracle.

(AAC CPA, on the other hand, can go to sleep while sitting up straight as the plane is taxiing towards the runway.)

I must have awakened about 90 minutes before landing, and our FA offered me some breakfast (heaven forfend that I should be hungry!).

After a delicious (and I mean deeelicious) Croque Monsieur and some tasty fresh fruit, I was ready to change back into my traveling clothes and prepare for gay Paris.

Paris - Croque Monsieur
My extremely yummy breakfast

As we made our final approach, the captain reactivated the closed-circuit camera and I was able to watch our descent and landing from my seat. We landed a bit early, and it was a slightly overcast and cool looking day.

Coming in for a Landing
Our landing into CDG, Paris

We gathered our carry-ons and our FA wished us a very happy holiday and safe travels.

As we stepped onto the jet way, we were immediately met by our next handler, who seemed to know exactly who we were, as he called us by name. With a brisk “Bonjour et bienvenue à Paris”, we were escorted off the jetway, down a corridor, into an elevator and taken onto the tarmac.

Get a load of this: We were then handed off to a chauffeur and private car to drive us to customs and baggage claim. How much fun is this!!! Our handler met us at customs and whisked us to the front of the line (oops, “Pardonnez moi, tout le monde!”) So customs was a breeze, and then we were escorted to baggage claim.

And then, we had an experience that had never ever happened to us before. Can you imagine what it was? It was so rare that it never would have occurred to us. It seemed inconceivable that it could ever happen. The baggage carousel started to move and – much to our amazement – the first piece of luggage on the carousel was mine! I mean, what are the chances? We both tingled a bit when that happened. Zoweeee!

Our handler assumed that, of course, we’d be met by our own car and driver, but we had to ruin his day and say that a taxi would do nicely, merci. So he escorted us out of the terminal and, somewhat embarrassingly for us, took us to the head of the taxi queue, and made sure that we were given the first taxi. And, off we headed to the City of Light for a lovely Christmas week. 

To be continued……

Taking Flight

Good morning, everyone, and greetings from the Galleries Lounge at British Airways/JFK. We’re all ready to board our flight in about 20 minutes, so here’s a quick check-in before we go. No wireless on the plane – what? – so we’ll be incommunicado until we’ve crossed the pond.

Went to bed last night at 10:00 (thank you, Ambien), but we both woke up around 3:00 – don’t know why. Tossed and turned ’til 5:00 then got up and finished the packing.

IMG_1366
Too much luggage?

Then it was into the car (thank you, GroundLink), and off to JFK. Check in was a breeze, and then off to security.

IMG_1368
Dropping off the baggage (no, not AAC CPA)

And then, it happened. Somewhere in security, I lost my iPhone. Well, for a minute or 2, anyway. It was an anxious moment, and not just for me. Cut off my hand, but don’t take away my iPhone.

Now we’re hanging in the Galleries Lounge ’til it’s time to board. AAC, of course, had to check out the food and grab a bite, whilst I post.

And here he is looking dapper:

IMG_1369
The dapper AAC CPA

That’s all, folks! In just a few hours, it’ll be wheels down in LondonI