To die for..

Croissants in the Lufthansa Senator Lounges!  Anyone had croissants and sparkling wine for breakfast? Heavenly!

And the journey begins…

So… Here I go..

It started off with a early evening journey to Kuala Lumpur International Airport.  The weather was good, and it was turning dark as I approached the airport.

Honestly I was dreading the flight on Thai Airways (more so in economy class) due to the various reasons, perhaps I’ve been spoilt by the legendary service of Singapore Airlines with they excellent in-flight product (individual screens, etc).

Nevertheless, I reminded myself constantly that one should not write off something based on a one-time expreience.  After checking in, I got all my documents in order and headed toward the Royal Silk Lounge of Thai Airways in the Satellite terminal of KLIA.

It was a quiet evening, which was surprising as this flight to Bangkok was the one that connected with most flights to Europe.

I found my little quiet corner and proceeded to have a drink and something to eat (my first dinner).  Soon it was boarding time – and to my surprise and delight, we were flying Thai’s brand new Boeing 777-300ER.  I got booked into an emergency exit (EMEX) seat, which was plenty thoughtful (TG doesn’t charge for it, unlike a certain SINGAPORE AIRLINES).  Spacious leg room.

The leading steward came over and to my annoyance started to speak to me in Thai (one of the other factors why I don’t fly TG).  That was addressed promptly when I indicated otherwise (me not Thai OK?).  He came over to confirm my order of seafood meal.

Takeoff was punctual and meal service started thereafter.  It was delicious!  When a stewardess was asked what it was, I got the standard “plawn with rai, sir”.

After disembarking from the TG flight in BKK, I headed towards my next gate with about an hour to kill until my next flight to FRA.

The Royal Silk Lounge in BKK (a lot of them) were extremely spacious considering there were two of them opposite each other. Perhaps the majority of Europe-bound flights are in the evenings using 747’s were the consideration when Suvarnabhumi was built.

Needless to say the lounge was rather crowded and there was this really really annoying French dude who left his blackberry ringing continuously for a good 10 minutes or so until another person walked up to him and literally told him to shut it off.

To make matters worse, he then answered a call and was talking so loud that everyone in the lounge could hear him profess his innocence in not receiving emails sent by a lady colleague.

I decided that I had enough of this drama and headed to the lounge located opposite – calm and tranquility greeted me with open arms.

There was no announcements for boarding, by the time I got to the gate it was already boarding the first of economy passengers.

I was pleasantly surprised when I got to my seat in the Boeing 747-400, the seats were brightly coloured (see pic) and pitch for economy was fantastic. I could stretch my legs out without feeling cramped. I guess the choice of aisle seat in the middle groups also helped as the overhead compartments were smaller, hence reducing the feeling of “claustrophobicness”. *note to self – sit in the middle when flying 747’s in TG*

Not long after, it was push back and we were in the air on time.

Cabin service started, and my patience was being tested with numerous cabin crew coming up to me, speaking Thai once again (one of the few reasons why I don’t fly TG that much, or at all).

After making myself clear that I am neither Thai, nor do I speak the language, things settled down and turned rather pleasant. I must say that although the cabin crew came in all shapes and sizes, they were silently efficient.

My meal came thereafter, this time it was a roasted pepper fish appetiser (I think it was snapper fillet) and a grilled garoupa fillet with tomato (I think this is the standard seafood meal selection – had it a thousand times on SQ as well). It was alright, and more importantly served at the right temperature. I’m one of those “purist” that think seafood should never be served with tomatoes.

I managed to catch about 7 hours of sleep, which was fantastic due to the seat that reclined a lot (compared to SQ’s 777-300ER which I normally fly to Frankfurt).

There was this Thai girl behind me (who looked really provincial) who perpetually tried to stuff her feet in the crevice between the seats. After numerous sessions of turning back and asking her to remove her feet, I got furious and stood up and spoke to her firmly but loudly (do you really need to stuff your feed in my seat?). She obviously got the message.  Stupid Thai lady.

Frankly speaking, I miss the joy of flying the 747. Being an old plane, of course it was not fitted with individual screens on every seat (unlike SQ, or any other middle eastern carrier) but it was a good opportunity and further motivation to catch up with some snooze.  Snooze I did (with the help of sleeping pill).

I was really relieved to be able to fly Star Alliance (priority boarding, luggage and more importantly lounge access – no more spending unnecessary money at airports!).

Arriving in Frankfurt on time, I cleared immigrations and headed to the A gates located in the other terminal, passing through the infamous 10km tunnel hehe!

I parked myself at the Lufthansa Senator Lounge (near gate A26) and put my name in on the list for a shower.  I was pleasantly surprised by the state of the shower rooms, which surpassed SOME hotels that I’ve had my unfortunate experience to stay in.

After a short wait at the lounge, it was boarding time for the 2 hour flight to Athens.  Needless to say I was DEAD tired when I finally arrived at the Grande Bretagne in Athens – after almost 24 hours of flying and transiting.

More updates on Athens in the next post…