Part Nine:
Sunday morning was another early morning for me. I had gone to the gym, checked out/settled my bill and finished packing, all before the wife and kid got up. Once they were up, we went to the lounge to pick through some food and then back downstairs to go over the room for lost items. The bellhop arrived about five minutes later and took all our bags down. We followed shortly after with a quick stop in the Lobby to change some money. The cab drivers in Hong Kong do not take CC (ones we took) and would not take USD either. I was trying to get an almost exact amount of HKD so I would not be left with any when I got home. I ended up with $274 HKD and went down to get our bags and a cab. The drive to the airport is about thirty minutes and for some reason this one took a bit longer, making our trip charge about $285 HKD. The driver was nice and took what I had and we were on our way to check in.
Cathay Pacific First Class check-in was a bunch of computer screens with CX personnel doing all the work. We were able to get our bags tagged all the way to JFK, and our boarding passes, even though the flights were booked separately. This would end up being very beneficial for us. We cleared customs and security and went to The Wing, which is CX’s First class lounge area and got a Cabana. The Cabanas are a private room with a shower, bath, restroom and some lounging space, but nothing too crazy. We put our stuff down and went to look through the lounge and have some drinks and Haagen Dazs. The lounge was right above our gate, so I was able to keep an eye on boarding times etc. We went down for boarding and as F passengers and travelling with a kid, we were heading down the jet way with the wheelchairs to board. Now I do not believe I had this the last time I flew from HKG, but before boarding, they had security look through all your carry on bags for who knows what. After getting past that, we were ready to board.
We were fling on a 777-300 with only six First Class seats and two would be ours. We had flown into Hong Kong on CX F as well, but that was on the 747 and had a different layout. Originally we were booked to sit 1K and 2K, but we were able to switch with someone so we could be directly across from one another. This makes dealing with the kid a little easier and in turn make our flight better. The seats seemed even bigger than the already huge F seat from the 747 and I think the setup was a bit more convenient as well. On the 747, the TV’s were positioned on a side wall and it would swivel out, this plane had the same swivel idea, but it was positioned directly in front, making it easier.
We got pre-departure drinks, our amenity kits and pajamas and were ready to settle in. Putting on those pajamas was like sliding my legs into silk. Not sure how they do it, but there were the most comfortable pajamas we had, by far. A small perk which definitely gets overlooked, is that the tag you get with the pajama kit has an offer for a free gift at any of the PYE locations. Just bring in your tag and get a free gift. This offer is written in tiny letters on the last paper on the tag, causing most people to throw it away. I had seen a TR mentioning it months ago and was on the lookout for it.
The flight went by relatively quickly between the meals and all the Haagen Dazs I got. (I actually did not eat the main parts of the KSML’s and was able to give it to someone travelling in Y who must not have ordered – You’re welcome.) I got in a few movies, slept for a few hours and was ready to go for our early arrival in LAX.
We had left HKG Sunday afternoon at 1:00 PM. We were landing in LAX Sunday morning at 9:15 AM, almost four hours before we technically departed. We had a friend pick us up and did breakfast, watched some football and went to PKD for Lunch/Dinner and then back to the airport. We got to the airport with less than an hour to boarding, but since we had tickets and our bags were tagged, we didn’t waste any time. We managed to check out the Flagship Lounge for about five minutes and then went to the gate for our final flight f this trip.
We were originally going to be flying the A321 to start our trip and know we were going to be ending our trip with it instead. We boarded and went to our seats, which were tiny compared to CX. Though for a domestic first class, this was pretty nice. The service on this flight was also very hard to get used to after CX, but again, for domestic, it is not bad. Not sure if it regularly like this, but the bedding was a “help yourself” situation. There was a bag on your seat and whenever you were ready, you would just rip it open and put the bedding on. Just under five hours later, we were landing in JFK completing an around the world trip.
Here our some stats from our trip:
• Five flights JFK-LHR-HND-HKG-LAX-JFK
• Three different F classes flown. BA F, CX F and AA F
• 20965 miles flown
• Around 40 hours flown
• Three hotels (HR Tokyo, Conrad Tokyo and HR TST Hong Kong)
Until next time, enjoy the read.
