Jet lag and waiting for the sun to come up so here goes Part 2!
Flights to MLEFinally. The day that we’d been waiting for was here! Everything was packed, POM meals were in the cooler (which was a struggle in itself; I just got the cooler to close) and we were ready to go! One of our friends offered us a ride to the airport so we gladly accepted. After all, spending the same amount of money on an Uber to the airport as a business class ticket to MLE would just seem wrong
. On the way to the airport, we picked up some breakfast sandwiches from The Dairy to go so that we could eat them in the lounge while waiting to board. There was no line for the business line check in counter, but it was nice to know that if there would have been, I would’ve been able to wait in line standing on a carpet.
Security was a disaster as it always is in PHL. I don’t know why they don’t believe in having a designated line for F/J Class passengers. Anyways, we eventually made it to the lounge. QR J passengers in PHL get access to the BA lounge in Terminal A, which is apparently the nicest lounge in the airport (source: D93). Being that there was no bartender making drinks and it was 9am, I felt that the only alcoholic drink that it would be somewhat normal to have was a bloody mary. I attempted to make my own, thought I did a pretty good job after taking the first sip, but then realized that it was just downright awful on the second. I decided to just chalk it up as a failure and went to pour myself some Glenlivet 15 instead. After eating our breakfast and knocking back a couple rounds, it was time to board!
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Our home for the next 12 hours:
After walking down the jetway, a flight attendant greeted us, took a look at our boarding passes and told us “please follow me, right here, to your LEFT.” She escorted us to our seats, and within a minute I already had my Armani amenity kit, pajamas, a hot towel and a screwdriver in hand. Not a bad situation to be in. Once I settled in my seat, I finally took in my surroundings and just wow. I know some of you reading this have experienced EY Apartments and the like, but I feel like one’s first premium cabin experience always stands out as special. The AA rep that I booked the flights with was right – the A350 really is a beautiful plane. The seats are spacious, the interior of the plane looks brand new and up to date, and the TV is pretty big considering the fact that you’re on a plane. On top of all that, being in J means that the staff isn’t being obnoxious to you about turning your phone off etc. and they just let you be.
After takeoff, I went to change into my new pajamas (which were super comfortable FYI) and was served a meal. Not sure if it was breakfast, brunch or lunch but it consisted of a couple of pieces of Gefilte fish and a roll for the appetizer and grilled chicken with pasta and carrots for the main. The Gefilte fish was frozen solid so I just had the roll and went straight to the main. The chicken was pretty solid, especially because it was paired with my second (or third?) screwdriver of the flight.
After finishing up my meal, I had the flight attendant make my bed and I went to sleep for about four hours (that would have NEVER happened if I was sitting in Y).
The rest of the flight was great too. Woke up, watched a movie (Bridge of Spies – not the highest on my list of recommendations) while eating some fruit and eventually having another meal (and some more drinks, obviously). The next meal was breakfast, so it was the standard rubbery omelet with some smoked salmon that was actually pretty good.
Before we knew it, we were starting our descent into DOH. The flight went by wayyyy too quickly but I took consolation in the fact that I’d be flying it again in a week from now. It’s funny how I didn’t find the 12 hour flight to be long at all, while my cousin who went to MLE last week and flew on the same exact route in Y told me that it felt like it was the longest flight of his life. Amazing what a bed and a few drinks could do. I watched our plane land through the tailwing camera that I remember reading about online somewhere. It was pretty cool to watch our plane land from that view.
After landing and going through security, we went to the Al Mourjan Lounge (I know, not Al Safwa but hopefully I’ll make it there another time). Al Mourjan is really nice (as is the rest of the airport). Plenty of place to sit, breakfast room (which we didn’t go to) and a quiet area to rest. We went there to relax for a bit and I squeezed in a shower too. The bathrooms and showers in the lounge are really nice, and believe it or not, the staff actually cleans each bathroom stall after someone uses it. Talk about service.
The famous teddy bear:
Entrance to Al Mourjan:
Quiet Rooms:
Shower Room:
One more picture of the lounge:
After my shower, the lounge attendant told me that I should head over to my gate because it was last call for boarding. Apparently in DOH, when you're boarding pass says that boarding is at a certain time, that’s when you actually have to be there because last call is like 5 minutes later. Also, when someone tells you that the walk from the lounge to your gate is “just 5 minutes,” don’t believe them. When we got to the gate, everyone had already boarded and took the bus to the plane. We were the second to last ones to board and the gate agent said that we “just made it.” I asked him to confirm that our bags made the connection (I need those POM meals!) and he checked and said that they were on the plane. Perfect! We got onto the bus, drove to the plane, boarded and took off a few minutes later. Business class configuration on this flight was 2-2-2 and the seats are lie-flat. Business class was full while economy looked almost entirely empty.
Forgot to take a picture of the seats but this is from Google:
We were served another meal after take off. This time it was salmon with some applesauce, crackers and some other snacks on the side. The food came from France and the Salmon was actually really good.
After the meal, I tried to fall asleep but couldn’t, so I popped open my laptop and typed up this installment of the TR. I couldn’t leave you guys hanging for that long, right?
After writing up a bit more of this TR, I ended up falling asleep for about an hour and then woke up when the pilot announced that we were about 30 minutes out. That’s when we got our first taste of some Maldivian views.
We eventually landed and stepped out into the humid Maldivian air. It was 32 degrees Celsius (feel free to convert it; I’m on the metric system
)!
Bye Bye:
Customs was uneventful, but when they scanned our bags on the way out of the airport, they asked us to open both of our bags. They apparently spotted bottles in one of them (showed them it was just ketchup and peanut butter) and I had to open our cooler bag too to show them it was just food. Everything was still frozen solid but I hope that opening the bag won’t make it defrost faster (ETA: It didn't). Guess we’ll find out soon enough. Once we were done with that, we walked out and were greeted by a Hyatt representative who led us to the lounge and took our bags from us and went to check us in. Lounge is nothing special but it has wifi and air conditioning so that’s the most important.
Probably one of the coolest stamps I'll ever get in my passport:
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After about 3 hours it was finally time to board our third and last flight.
Our plane was a small, 50 passenger propeller plane. Slightly less comfortable and noisier than the A350 that we flew on earlier.
Unfortunately, the sun was already starting to set when we took off so it was hard to see any of the islands from the sky but I took a few pictures before it got completely dark.
After about an hour, we landed in Kooddoo Airport – probably the smallest, most 3rd world airport in the world.
Apparently the technology for conveyer belts hasn't reached this side of the world
:
Once we had our bags, the Hyatt representative loaded them on to a golf cart and drove us to our speedboat. The speedboat ride was about 30 minutes long in pitch dark. I’m sure the views would’ve been great if we were able to see anything, but I guess we’ll find out when we fly back home.
Arrival at PH MLEFinally, the boat slowed down and we pulled up to the jetty. Another Hyatt representative greeted us by name and we got on to another golf cart. They check you in at your villa here so we were driven straight to our villa and went through some brief paperwork there. When we pulled up, I asked our driver what type of villa we were in and he told me that they had upgraded us to a Pool Villa! Both our jaws dropped the minute we walked into our villa. As to why, I’m just going to let the pictures do the talking.
Outdoor Shower:
Outdoor Bathtub:
Bathroom Sink Area:
Shower Room:
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View of bedroom from the bathroom:
Bedroom (bathroom is behind the bed):
Sitting Area:
Private Plunge Pool:
The first thing we did was open our cooler bag, and thankfully, everything was still frozen solid. I gave all the meals to the Hyatt rep to put in the freezer and singled out two of them to be heated up for dinner right away. After getting a tour of our villa, we went for a swim while waiting for the meals to arrive. After about an hour and a half (the meals were THAT frozen), there was a knock on the door. The chef came to introduce himself and told me that he’ll talk to me in the morning about doing everything he can to accommodate my Kosher needs. They brought the food in one of those metal warming boxes so that it wouldn’t get cold on the walk from the kitchen to our villa, and they even brought brand new plates and cutlery for us to use. Not sure if that was a throw in or not because when I originally emailed the hotel about bringing meals, they told me that the charge would be $20 per meal to store and heat up and it’ll come with new dishes. Once I told them that I didn’t need the dishes, they knocked the price down to $15. I plan on trying to get it all waived anyways, so we’ll see what happens.
Dinner was sesame chicken with sides of mashed potatoes and sweet potato (not sure why I doubled up the potatoes) and fire popper nuggets with couscous and mashed potatoes. Sesame chicken was okay but could've used more sauce; fire popper nuggets were very good. The sides were decent as well but probably would’ve tasted better if they were a little hotter. At this point though, it was nice to get a hot meal before calling it a night.
Dinner on our private deck:
To be continued...
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