We were booked on Vietnam Airlines flight VN 602 from Bangkok-BKK to Ho Chi Minh-SGN out of Gate F3 and decided we had a bit of time to try out one of Bangkok’s Priority Pass Lounges: Louis’ Tavern CIP Business Class Lounge – Bangkok-BKK Concourse G.

First off, Louis’ Tavern has a total of 6 lounges at Bangkok-BKK airport, all of which are accessible with a Priority Pass membership. Here’s a map of all of their offerings:

Artwork at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport

As we approached the lounge, it was confirmed that they are open 24 hours a day! However, it’s worth noting that Priority Pass members are technically limited to just 2 hours total in the lounge, so don’t plan on going crazy if they choose to enforce the limit.

This was technically a “Business Class” lounge, but the Priority Pass also entitles you to access “First Class” lounges, this one just happened to be closest as there was some construction taking place on the nearby First Class lounge.

There was plenty of seating although the lounge is a bit small.

Most of the comfortable chairs were spoken for

The lounge was not lacking in quality of snacks either and they had a good selection, such as a hot dish of chicken curry and rice, corn chowder soup and a few hot pastries like chicken basil, spinach puff, tuna, etc… They also had a few sandwiches, like cheese sandwiches, ham sandwiches, etc… There was plenty of fresh fruit to go around, as well: papaya, pineapple and watermelon.

The beer selection included the usual suspects: Leo, Chang and Singha. There was also just about every type of liquor you could want as well as juices, sodas etc… It was pretty well-stocked.

BOTTOM LINE: While there are far nicer lounges at BKK airport (see: Thai Airways Royal First Lounge and Royal Orchid Spa – Bangkok-BKK), if you’re limited to Priority Pass-friendly lounges, I’d certainly recommend this one as a place to get some food and drinks before a flight.

The post Louis’ Tavern CIP Business Class Lounge – Bangkok-BKK Concourse G first appeared on Weekend Blitz.

Can’t get much better than a Bangkok sunset

After visiting a few other Asian cities and countries by now, Bangkok is still at the top of our list and we think it’s a great city to get your feet wet- there’s plenty of tourists and enough English speakers that you won’t feel overwhelmed.

This was our second time actually staying in Bangkok for at least a night, so we were excited to finally get some more time in the city and grab some more of the street food that we’d been dreaming about for the past few years.

Bangkok is different from Yangon (Myanmar’s capital city) in that there’s MUCH more Western faces, people aren’t as innately friendly (probably because there are that many more Western faces, we’re not a shock value to them anymore) and, although things are still cluttered, it just seems like they have it more together and more organized… with clear walkways compared to things just laid out all over the sidewalk. Bangkok’s infrastructure is stronger and newer than Yangon’s, too – the sidewalks are in better shape (rusted railings and huge,deep holes in sidewalks in Yangon) and Bangkok has actual bus stops and a nice sky rail. But, there’s not as much culture on the streets in Bangkok as far as clothing goes: everyone is wearing Western clothes, T-shirts, jeans (not longyis) and there’s LOTS of short shorts, dresses etc. Skin is in.

Here’s our itinerary for our 48 hours. Granted, we’d already seen most of the highlights on our first trip, so we looked at this time as a way to check out areas we hadn’t explored yet and to hit our top favorites from the last time, too.

First Day:

We landed at Suvarnabhumi Airport and took the Makkasan Airport Rail Link from the airport to the Makkasan stop, then took another train to the Nana Nua station, which is a 5-minute walk to the hotel – the Aloft Bangkok Sukhumvit 11. We’d stayed at the Aloft Bangkok in 2011 when it had just opened and we were eager to stay there again to see how the booming area had changed in the past couple of years. Turns out, the area had changed a lot and there were much more hotels and restaurants than we remembered – we hardly recognized it. The Soi 11 street is very upscale with lots of ethnic food options (including an Australian bar and German, Mexican, Japanese and Indian restaurants). Actually, it was quite hard to find some Thai food on the street, to the point that we returned to our room to order green curry room service. Lolz.

Second Day:

We woke up refreshed and ready to hit the town. We took the train a few stops up to Siam Paragon and explored the huge shopping center filled with luxury shops. We’d just been in Myanmar for a few weeks, where the luxury shops haven’t yet arrived, so it was fun to walk through the fancy mall that had air conditioning for a little while. Maybe a lot has changed in 3 years or maybe our few weeks’ stint in Myanmar had us price shocked, but everything at the mall is surprisingly upscale and surprisingly expensive. Still, it was so refreshing to see Western brands – we found the Neutrogena sunscreen we were looking for, Gatorade, Vitamin Water and even Cetaphil face wash (for $30 U.S.).

From there, we walked in the area a while before catching a cab to Wat Pho, one of the largest temples in Bangkok and known for its huge “Reclining Buddha.” We’d visited Wat Pho before but the golden temples are part of Bangkok’s charm and we wanted to explore it after spending the past few weeks exploring Myanmar’s own golden Buddha temples. Wat Pho is also one of Bangkok’s oldest temples, built around 1700 – before Bangkok was the capital of Thailand. There are more than 1,000 images of Buddha in the temple and it’s definitely a must-see on any trip to Bangkok. The highlight of Wat Pho to me is the Reclining Buddha – it’s hard to even take a picture of it since it’s just so large.

Inside the ubosot of Wat Pho (I had to put on one of the long skirts they had outside for visitors)

The giant Reclining Buddha

More of Wat Pho

From Wat Pho, we headed around the corner to a lunch stop where we split a few bites to eat before continuing on to a rooftop restaurant/bar that we’d been wanting to check out.

Eagle Nest is only about a 5-minute walk from Wat Pho, so we headed that way and were early enough in the afternoon to get a prime spot right on top. The rooftop is right above the Chao Phraya River and just across the river is another one of Bangkok’s famous temples, Wat Arun. (Wat Arun is one of my favorite temples because you can climb it, but we didn’t get a chance to re-visit it on this trip, just able to take in its beauty from across the river.) This rooftop bar is probably my new favorite place in Bangkok so I’d highly recommend checking it out and catching the sunset there – it is located on the top floor of the Sala Arun Hotel – just enter through the lobby and take the wooden staircase up to the top.

Enjoying the evening at Eagle Nest

The views of Wat Arun from Eagle Nest’s rooftop deck

More views from Eagle Nest

Of course, no visit to Bangkok is complete without a walk down Soi Cowboy, one of the most famous streets in town thanks to its “colorful” storefronts made even more famous in The Hangover 2. It’s not some place I’m interested in hanging around all night, but it is fun to people watch as you walk down the street (and make a game out of guessing how many of the women dancing in bikinis are really, actually men). It did seem like security had been more enforced all over the city, with lots of security on the train stations, etc., so we weren’t too surprised to see that Soi Cowboy now had barricades on each end, making it look much more like a Beale Street in Memphis than anything.

Being tourists on Soi Cowboy

We’d worked up an appetite after walking down Soi Cowboy, so we slowly made our way back to the hotel and stopped at each of the street food stalls along the way to sample all the delicious offerings, from pad thai (35 THB) to spicy chicken with steamed rice (100 THB) and more.

Bangkok’s street food is arguably the best food in the world

Last Day:

On our last day, we explored a little more around our hotel’s area to see more of the changes that were taking place in this growing part of town.

We ended up eating lunch at Thai Chili Culture, a restaurant just around the block from the Aloft Bangkok, and having our final red curry and som tom salad of the trip. It was, as expected, all very good, but it’s proof that Bangkok can be surprisingly expensive. Total for the salad appetizer and one curry entree was appx ~$20 USD. Not as cheap as we’d remembered!

Goodbye for now, Bangkok!

Som Tom Salad…if you haven’t tried this, you haven’t lived.

One last red curry before we left…

The post 48 Hours in Bangkok first appeared on Weekend Blitz.

Bangkok was our first foray into Asian culture back in 2011 and we’ve found ourselves daydreaming about the city ever since we left. The food, the people, the glistening gold temples — everything about this place we loved and we were thrilled to return.

View from our room on the 26th floor

We hurriedly booked our nights at the same hotel we’d stayed in before (back when it was brand new) because, while we love exploring new parts of cities we’ve visited before, there’s something so special about the nostalgia of staying in the same hotel as before. And, we knew we really loved the area of the hotel so it was fun to explore the new sights and sounds (and the old, familiar ones) of the street. It had really changed and grown a lot in the 4 years in between our visits.

BOOKING/CHECK-IN

We booked two nights at the Aloft Bangkok a few weeks out at 4,000 points per night. Once we’d landed and taken the train into the city, we checked in around 7pm and casually asked about an upgrade. He confirmed that the property doesn’t participate in SPG Platinum Upgrades (which we knew), but said that he’d check – and he quickly upgraded us anyway. We had booked the “Chic” room and were “upgraded” to the “Breezy” room, despite there being a few suites available (you can’t win ’em all).

Aloft Bangkok’s lobby

The work-stations and hang-out areas on the lobby floor

More lobby fun

ROOM

The best part about the room was the good view of the city from the 26th floor (there are 32 floors total). The room was a typical Aloft-style room with two beds, and the bathroom running the length of the bedroom by the entrance. No matter where you are in the world, every Aloft room looks the same to me, which can be comforting (or pretty boring, depending on my mood).

The “Breezy” room

Great work area right in the room – a nice upgrade from Myanmar hotels!

RESTAURANT

When we checked in, we were both completely worn out from traveling all day and, despite wanting to immediately pop out and enjoy the city we both love, we opted for room service for some quick red curry. We can’t get enough of Bangkok’s street food, but the wide-open city was a bit overwhelming for us when we’re utterly exhausted and the room service was simple, easy and delicious.

Room service red curry… yum!

The Platinum check-in amenity was points (250, I assume?) or breakfast. Once we confirmed that the breakfast wasn’t just the grab-and-go option from the lobby but instead was the sit-down international buffet on the 8th floor, we opted for the breakfast amenity.

Breakfast buffet on the 8th floor

Breakfast lasts from 6am – 10:30am each morning and is a fantastic value when it’s free (with the Platinum amenity). Buffet choices include dim sum, an omelette station, fruit, lots of pastries (croissants, muffins, etc.), a huge selection of cheeses (blue, brie, emmental…). All of the food was delicious – and, after spending a few weeks in Myanmar, we were more than happy with the refreshing Western options. Then, we could happily dive back into the Asian fare with the never-ending amounts of glorious street foods right outside the hotel doors.

Way too much food for breakfast!

As far as the WXYZ Bar and Splash pool bar, full-on big city Western hotel pricing is in effect. $10-12 cocktails, $5-6 beers. No discounts around this place! But, it’s understandable because about 99% of the hotel’s guests are Westerners.

If you’re in a hurry, the grab-and-go station in the lobby is a good alternative to the buffet breakfast.

POOL/AMENITIES

The pool right in the middle of Bangkok is a small oasis – located on the rooftop of the 10th floor, the views are great and it’s a welcome respite from walking around in the heat. We did spend a few minutes lounging by the pool, but much preferred to be walking around to sitting by the pool most times. It is a tad small for the size of the hotel, so people were jousting for lounge chairs.

Aloft Bangkok’s rooftop pool

View from the pool

It’s not a real hotel pool without at least one man in a speedo

The gym is right next to the pool and we used it for a few minutes. It, too, is smaller but I suspect most travelers in Bangkok aren’t wasting time in the gym when they could be on Soi Cowboy or chugging red curry sauce. It had everything you need in a gym – weights, treadmills, ellipticals and a few other machines for a standard work out.

The small but mighty gym

INTERNET

The WiFi works exceedingly well, and the ethernet in the room is 2 – 3 times faster than just WiFi. These high speeds were such a welcome relief from our time in Myanmar, where we struggled to check and send just 1 or 2 important emails per day.

The post Aloft Bangkok Hotel Review first appeared on Weekend Blitz.

Having just landed from our connecting flight from Heho-HEH into Mandalay-MDL, we made our way to baggage claim which had a ton of carousels but was deserted for us.

After grabbing our bags (from a domestic flight), we had to send everything through another security check… Mandalay airport is a bit bizarre in that you’ll have to send your bags through no less than 4 security checks when connecting domestically: one in Heho to pass through security, one when we landed in Mandalay (this is the most unnecessary seeming), one to get through to the check-in aisles at MDL and one to gain access to the boarding gates prior to departing. These 4 security checks would typically be handled by 1 at any US airport, regardless of the connections. Either an extreme dedication to security or a way to keep lots of people employed…

We made it to Mandalay, with bags collected and into the main terminal by about 10 am with plenty of time to spare for our 2:15 pm flight to Bangkok. We had so much time to spare, in fact, that the check-in gate wasn’t scheduled to open for another 2 hours, at 12 pm. But, be warned that check-in only lasts until 1:30 pm, so don’t be late or you won’t be flying!

We posted up at Cafe DeMandalar and ordered some lunch and coffee and spent the entire 2 hours trying to get online. While free WiFi was advertised everywhere in the cafe, the internet connection was so poor that we weren’t able to send one single email. I like to continue to remind anyone considering visiting Myanmar to keep this in mind and just count on being disconnected for the whole trip.

CHECK-IN

After draining our phones and computers for no reason, the check-in area opened:

Line from the main lobby to the check-in counters

International departures only:

Quite the specific list of restricted items:

Once we made it past that line and security check, it turned into a game of hurry up and wait:

Given that they have only a 90-minute window to check-in hundreds of people, it’s not without chaos

When we checked in, they stapled a coupon for Cafe DeMandalar for what I presumed to be entry to a departures lounge and then realized that it was a cafe (with the same name as the one before we went through security) and the coupon was for a free lunch–I guess this is what they mean when they say that lunch is provided on the plane?

LOUNGE

With our free food coupons in hand, it was time to scope out the cafe.

It was really a nice, modern terminal

Our greeter outside the restaurant, she was smiling just for us:

Once settled in, our server presented the menus:

Set Menu

And then the “VIP Set Menu,” presumably for business class passengers:

VIP Set Menu

The options were limited: either a tuna sandwich or a chicken burger. Both options were quite disgusting-seeming, but we each ate a few bites out of sheer hunger and, spoiler alert, I saw mine again on the plane.

Yummm…the chicken burger. Served cold and drowning in mayonnaise.

We had better success with the coffees:

BOARDING

We left Cafe de Mandalar wishing that we hadn’t wasted our time (on the food at least, the coffee was fine) to make our way to the gates.

Posted up at Gate # 8

It wasn’t long at the gate before a handwritten sign appeared announcing a delay from 2:15 pm to 2:50 pm.

This was fine because it would give us some time to watch a few planes take-off and land.

By far, the most interesting plane was the Russian freighter, a Volga-Dnepr Airlines Ilyushin Il-76TD-90VD:

A Volga-Dnepr Airlines Ilyushin Il-76TD-90VD

Once boarding was announced, we made our way to the plane:

Quite a bright and colorful livery!

FLIGHT

We quickly found our seats, 16E and 16F, and settled in for the ~2-hour flight.

The flight was underway before long.

Take off:

Take off down Mandalay’s Runway 17

Here’s a quick shot of Bangkok Airway’s 31 aircraft fleet, serving 30 destinations in Thailand, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, Laos, Maldives, Burma, India and Singapore.

And their route map:

You’ll notice that most of their routes are either domestic or very short distance regional flights. Their extensive looking route map is deceptive because most are operated by their partners.

After a quick and uneventful flight, it was time for landing at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport.

Quick note from McCown: The flight was anything but “uneventful”… Jeffrey used his throw-up bag not once but twice on our short flight and barely had the energy to deplane. I thought he might not even make it past the Ebola fever-scanners at Bangkok’s airport. It seems like the sickening amount of mayo they put on the chicken sandwich at Cafe de Mandalar really got the best of Jeffrey and made for quite the descent into Bangkok. This was, in fact, the most eventful airplane ride I’ve ever been a part of…

Landing on runway 019R and then taxi to Concourse B

We made it to Bangkok less than an hour late and it was off to the city!

BOTTOM LINE: We were pleased with the service and comfort of Bangkok Airways. For just $125 each, we were able to fly from Myanmar to Bangkok, which included a hot meal on the ground in Mandalay, a meal in-flight and free checked baggage!

The post Bangkok Airways Flight # PG 710 Mandalay-MDL to Bangkok-BKK first appeared on Weekend Blitz.

OVERVIEW

We booked this flight about 6 months before our departure date as part of our multi-country award ticket with United Airlines MileagePlus miles (more on our booking can be found here: Award-Booking Honeymoon trip with United miles…All in First Class).

By using United award miles, we were able to take advantage of its routing rules to have 1 free stopover, 1 free open-jaw and 2 long connections that allowed us enough time to explore the city (aka 2 more free stopovers).  It looked like this:

1. Depart New York-JFK on Lufthansa to Frankfurt-FRA. We arrived in Frankfurt, Germany and had an appx 23 hours layover; this allowed us to stay the night without it counting as a stopover.
2. Next flight was Frankfurt-FRA to Bangkok-BKK –> Denpasar-DPS (Bali). This was the beginning of our open-jaw.
3. After about a week in Bali, we purchased a cheap ticket on Air Asia from Denpasar-DPS to Jakarta-CGK and explored the Indonesian capital for 2 nights.
4. From Jakarta-CGK, we flew to Male-MLE in the Maldives via Singapore-SIN. The flight out of Jakarta concluded our open-jaw segment and we purposely picked an 8+ hour layover in Singapore which allowed enough time to explore the city for a few hours.
5. With the Maldives counting as our stopover, we stayed for a little less than a week and then began the trek home flying from Male-MLE –> Singapore-SIN –> Tokyo-NRT –> Newark-EWR. This concluded our United award ticket.

Airline: Thai Airways
Flight # TG 431 (THA431)
Aircraft: Boeing 777-200 (B777-200, B772)
Depart: Bangkok-BKK Suvarnabhumi Airport
Arrive: Denpasar-DPS, Indonesia Ngurah Rai International Airport
Cabin: Royal Silk Business Class
Seats: 12K, 12J
Distance: 1,832 miles (2,948 km)
Scheduled time: 4 hours 25 minutes

BOARDING

After enjoying hot oil massages in the Thai Airways Royal Orchid Spa, we were running rather tight on time for our 8:50am departure. I wrapped up a few minutes before McCown and had gathered our things and stood outside pacing back and forth for her to hurry up and meet me outside. We made it over to our gate, D1A, at about 8:30am, just moments before the final call and the closing of the boarding door:

We scurried out to the bus that would take us to the plane after a decent little hike (maybe as much as 10 minutes? But who knows, we were both entirely dazed by this point):

Despite being a far-from-full flight, the ground crew had 2 mobile boarding ramps deployed and ready for us.

We made it onto the plane and into our seats on the Boeing 777-200 Royal Silk cabin, 12K and 12J.

Thai Airways Boeing 777-200 seat configuration

Traveling pretty light: our rather empty cabin

THE SEAT

The 30 passenger cabin was probably only around 30-40% full when the boarding door closed (just about as soon as the late bus, including us, boarded).

We had angled lie flat seats which turned out to be a little worn but still in good shape.

You might call me crazy or extremely spoiled by this point, but having just come off of Lufthansa First on a B747 and Thai Airways Royal First on an A380, the seats in this business class Thai Airways B777 cabin seemed rather narrow and much less comfortable:

IN-FLIGHT ENTERTAINMENT

The audio-video units were probably around 10-12″ and controlled by a remote at the seat. The interface and media selection was virtually identical to that of the A380 flight. This included the awesome selection of programs! The entertainment selection –movies but especially the TV shows– were great. They had entire seasons of many popular shows: Mad Men, Breaking Bad, etc…

The controls were great; the handset remote was very easy to use and the screens were easy to navigate.

MEAL SERVICE

A few minutes after getting airborne, a flight attendant came over to confirm my “Personal Meal,” the beef curry which I had ordered using the website in advance of the flight. I figured that it had been about 2 years since our last venture to Thailand and I didn’t know when I’d be back so I wanted to get the most authentic Thai curry I possibly could (even if it was just airplane curry) during our short 3 hours in Bangkok.

After a few minutes, the cart came around with cashews and aperitifs:

“Can you do a Bloody Mary?”

For the first course, we had Thai shrimp and scallops with a tomato and mozzarella salad.

I ended up with a green beef curry with white rice and egg noodles, just to make sure I wasn’t lacking in starches.

McCown ordered the Panang Chicken served with white rice. We’d have to say this was the winner of the 2; again, McCown out ordered me by just choosing from the regular catering menu and not ordering ahead. This red curry dish was much spicier than the green beef curry.

It would have been a shame not to pair this meal with a Thai beer:

Rounding up the meal service on our 4.5 hour flight was a dessert of Strawberry, Vanilla and Chocolate mousse:

SERVICE

Again, we were absolutely spoiled over the past 2 days leading up to this flight but the service, as is usually the case with Thai Airways premium cabins, was perfect. Since our destination was the vacation destination of Bali, there was a pretty equal mix of vacationers, business travelers and families traveling on our flight. I think this relaxed tone of the passengers was noticeable among the airline staff as well. The flight attendants were attentive and professional but also relaxed and friendly. Either way, with a rather empty cabin, they were able to complete the meal service without too much effort and retreated to the galley as we tried to get a few hours of rest.

We experienced some great views as we departed Bangkok and approached Bali:

A few minutes of flying time south of Bangkok

On approach to Denpasar’s Ngurah Rai International Airport

We had an on-time landing and taxied to the terminal:

We decided to arrange a visa expeditor service through our hotel, the W Retreat & Spa, for an additional $30 US per person. We had a good experience with the service, although the terminal didn’t seem that busy and many of the people that were on our flight who did the normal visa process were waiting beside us at baggage claim so it didn’t really save us that much time.

The terminal looked brand new and was in great shape:

The VIP Immigration Clearance agent pushed our bags on a cart straight out to the hotel car that was waiting for us in the pickup area. All in all, this was a very painless process.

BOTTOM LINE: Whether international long haul in Thai Royal First or flying Royal Silk Business Class on a much shorter flight, Thai Airways maintains a great standard in service, meal quality and entertainment on all of their flights.

The post Thai Airways B772 Royal Silk Class – TG 431 Bangkok-BKK to Denpasar, Bali-DPS first appeared on Weekend Blitz.

CHECK-IN

We took the train in from Frankfurt after having spent the night in the city for a ~24 hour layover (read: Bratwursts Galore! Sightseeing around Frankfurt, Germany and Westin Grand Frankfurt Hotel Review – Frankfurt, Germany). The good news is that Frankurt’s airport is a short and very easy 15-20 minute subway ride from the center of town.

Thai Airways actually has 2x daily non-stops to Bangkok: a 9pm/10pm departure on a Boeing 747 and a 2pm/3pm departure on an Airbus A380. And this is in addition to Lufthansa’s daily flight on an Airbus A340–that’s a ton of seats per day! This might explain why we were able to find first class Star Alliance award space.

There was a dedicated lane for Thai Royal First Class:

Marketing banners galore

BOARDING

We got to the gate around 1pm for a scheduled boarding time of 1:15pm and scheduled departure at 2:10pm. It was evident that boarding was going to be a bit delayed and so we killed our final few minutes in Germany for the foreseeable future. During our short wait, we saw plenty of weird German things, including but not limited to a skinny girl in a Santa suit wandering around passing out candy from her “toy bag.”

By 1:50pm, it was time to board and we were greeted with another first: taking an escalator up a level to board directly on the upper deck. As with all other carriers, First and Business class was announced to board first.

Since the A380 is such a monster of a plane, it is almost always boarded using multiple doors to cut down on ground time. Thai Airways has both First and Business class on the upper deck, so up an escalator we go.

We passed through the boarding door and were greeted by an army of Thai flight attendants dressed in the traditional Thai garb. We were escorted to our seats and began the utter sensory overload of examining every single button, gadget and compartment at our disposal on the plane.

2F: Home, sweet home

My neighbor’s seat: 2K

PRE-DEPARTURE SERVICE

After allowing us a few moments to get settled in, a FA came by to announce my pre-departure selection: the Lobster Thermidor. We flew Thai Royal First about 2 years ago and the man sitting next to us kept raving about how it’s a crime to not order their “signature dish.” I didn’t want to make the same mistake again but I did find it quite difficult to pass up a spicy Thai curry dish.

Next up, the pre-departure champagne was flowing. I don’t know what was better, that technically this was honeymoon champagne, that it was Dom Perignon (and I’m accustomed to drinking the cheap stuff) or that it was being served to us at the beginning of our Thai Royal First experience… but this stuff tasted tasted extra good.

While sipping ‘champ in up front, waiting for take-off, I was browsing through the Thai Airways magazine and was surprised to see that Thai flies to 13 different European cities.

And they’re growing quite rapidly, adding 17 new planes in 2013, including three A380s.

But seriously, how does this thing fly?!

The seat is filled with magazines to read (including a Cosmo in German for McCown), pajamas, slippers, 2 comfortable pillows, headphones and an amenity kit. The Thai amenity kit was the same as 2 years ago and sort of weak:  it was essentially the same exact case as Lufthansa but a little nicer.

Also, if you want a good idea of just-how-freakin-enormous this plane is, check out the picture below that reveals the 16 emergency exit slides!

Take off was VERY bumpy; the A380 is a big ass vessel that really shakes as it hits every bump on the runway.

THE SEAT

This beast can hold up to 507 passengers. Luckily, we were in the cabin that held a max of 12:

The table beneath the LCD doubles as the meal tray by easily sliding out

Thai Royal First on the Airbus A380 is the carrier’s newest cabin and features cubby-style seats that give you a good bit of privacy when lounging and sleeping.

This cubby-style seating makes it great when traveling alone but not as great if you’ve got some company. In fact, the 1 x 2 x 1 configuration and the distance between seats makes it virtually impossible to effectively communicate if you’re seated in anything other than the middle aisle that is 2x seats side-by-side.

There was a multidirectional seat control that let you situate yourself in just about any position humanly possible/desirable.

What’s up, lumbar support

There’s no need to worry about staying charged throughout the flight between the 2 USB ports and 1 international power convertor that could accept just about any plug.

The cubby design also has a hidden coat closet. No coat? If you elect to use the pajamas (and why wouldn’t you?!), this will make a great place to hang your clothes.

Your very own personal coat closet

Ahh, cubbies every where!

Seat controls: upright, dining and bed

IFE: In-flight Entertainment

The headphones were basically Bose knockoffs and, while they looked very similar to the Bose noise canceling headphones, the quality was very far from being authentic Bose quality. The noise canceling features did not work very well and the sound quality left a lot to be desired.

With the only bad part out of the way, on to the good: the screens are huge! They’re easily 24″ and maybe bigger? The HD widescreen quality was excellent.

And what better to go with a nice big screen? An awesome selection of programs! The entertainment selection –movies but especially the TV shows– were great. They had entire seasons of many popular shows: Mad Men, Breaking Bad, etc…

The controls were great; the handset remote was very easy to use and the screens were easy to navigate.

The only other negative on the entertainment system, apart from the crappy headphones, was that both of our screens froze twice during the flight, mid-movie. This required calling the FA over who then had to go manually reset the computer and let it reboot for 10-20 mins.

Another qualm: the A380 fleet was supposed to have inflight WiFi installed but, after trying repeatedly, I could never get a connection out:

What gives, Thai Airways?

DINNER MEAL SERVICE

~40 mins after take off: Once we were at cruising altitude and wasting no time, the crew came around to distribute the “First Serving”: Canapés.

Canapés

The canapés consisted of: very thinly sliced parmesan cheese on a slice of French bread, a scallop and a sliced meat (prosciutto?) wrapped around asparagus with a pesto or olive oil and herbs garnish.

~ 1 hr after take off, around 3:35pm, our first plates were cleared and tables were set.

The delicious caviar cart making it’s way around:

~1.5 hours after departure: Well, with 2 rounds of “First Servings” down, now time for the actual appetizer, or “First Course”.

This one was another cold dish with a Rillette of crab meat, grilled shrimp, portabello wrapped cheese and roasted pepper and salmon roe.

After wolfing that course down, it was Lobster Thermidor time:

Served with pasta and spinach, there was a decent-sized lobster tail and claw meat. Apart from being a little on the tough side, the dish was excellent with great flavor.

McCown ordered the “Chicken with Eggplant in Green Curry, Steamed Thai Hom Mali Rice, Mixed Vegetables”:

This dish was, as McCown puts it “awesome! Very spicy with chicken and lots of broth…very spicy and very, very tasty. Full of green curry flavor and is making me think we might need to skip our next flight and just stay in Thailand!” I had a bite, too, and secretly wished I ordered it over the lobster — but that might just be my love of Thai food clouding my judgement.

4:35pm (~2 hrs after departure): Within about 20 mins, this 4th, main course was cleared and it was on to the cheese, fruit and port selections. For simplicity of choosing, they wheeled the cart around again:

Yes, I’ll take one of each

I ended up trying a “small piece” of just about all of them. There were 4 types of cheese but the one that stood out the most was the blue cheese that had a great flavor. There were then kiwi, cantaloupes and strawberries. Finally, it was all washed down with the Cockburn’s Special Reserve port wine.

And, last but not least: an apple crumble for dessert! (as if we hadn’t been served enough food already…)

(And here they come with the 3rd hot towel of the flight) 

So how was the meal service overall? Since we’d just flown Lufthansa First Class the day before, we naturally drew all of our comparisons between the two carriers. Compared to the Lufthansa First Class experience, our Thai Royal First meal service felt a little rushed and mechanical. However, we found the Thai Airways flight attendants much friendlier and pleasant but that might just be my experience with Germans vs Thais.

With our dinner (lunch?) service over, it was now time to catch some shut eye but we needed to clear out for a few minutes so that the FAs could make our beds. We took this opportunity to explore the rest of the plane, starting with the First Class cabin.

ROYAL FIRST A380 CABIN

There’s a decent-sized “first class lounge” in the far right corner of the cabin– although, in practice it was empty and seemed quite awkward to use. Maybe if they had some food or drinks in there?

The bathroom was possibly the highlight of the trip. I’ve just never imaged one so spacious on an airplane. As you walk in, there is a small seating area and full length mirror. As I understand it, this is the space that a shower would have been installed, had Thai Airways opted to include one at the factory.

There were also lots of perfumes, lotions and plugs (even 110 volt for fixing your hair etc):

ECONOMY CABIN

We then ventured for a lap through the plane, starting with economy. We first had to head down the stairs:

For all of the reasons that First Class was awesome, Economy looked miserable. Those seats just weren’t made for average-sized people to spend 10+ hours on a flight.

Packing them in:

ROYAL SILK BUSINESS

Business Class looked nice, the A380 configuration uses cubbies similar to Royal First and makes great use of space by staggering the seats to accommodate more passengers but still permit lie flat beds.

ROYAL FIRST BED

We came back to find a very inviting bed:

At 5:05pm (Frankfurt time), appx 2.5 hours into the flight, the lights in the cabin were dimmed to nearly 0%. A quick glance at the in-flight map showed me that we had 6 hr 50 mins of flying time before reaching Bangkok.

~5 hours later, around 10:05pm Frankfurt time, it was “morning” according to Thai Airways. The lights were back on and beds were being made. And, as if we were even mildly hungry, it was breakfast time as well.

BREAKFAST MEAL SERVICE

For this “Second Serving,” we enjoyed a first course of fresh fruits, yogurts, cereals and fresh juice. To our flight attendant, apparently asking for a “little bit of fruit” actually meant “give me an entire fricken pineapple.”

A+ for presentation, however. For the Main Course, we had the following choices:

McCown ordered the “Crepe Filled with Ham, Mushroom and Cheese” which came with friend bacon, asparagus and a grilled plum tomato.

Not really feeling the soft boiled egg or cold cuts platter, I went with the most American version of breakfast and settled on the “Spinach Omelette” with grilled bacon, grilled tomato and sautéed mixed mushrooms.

(And here comes our 5th hot towel of the flight…where do they keep getting these things?)

With breakfast (and all eating that I’d need to do for the next 3 days) out of the way, the flight attendants came around with souvenirs: Thai Airways A380 Playing Cards! I wonder if Airbus threw those in for free or if they had to pay for them on top of the $414.4 million for the plane.

And then, as quickly as it began our flight came to a screeching halt as we touched down at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport with a wheels down time of 12:01am Frankfurt time, 6:01am Bangkok time.

Here are a few more comparisons to Lufthansa First:

• Cabin: Lufthansa was much more spacious:  in about the same space, Thai had 12 seats vs the 8 seats on Lufthansa. The Thai seat area felt cramped compared to Lufthansa.
• IFE: Thai won in the in-flight entertainment department. Widescreen on Thai vs 4:3 on Lufthansa and much higher resolution on Thai. Not to mention that Lufthansa had far fewer programming choices.
• Bed: The Lufthansa bed was leaps and bounds better. Thai, while flat still felt like a seat turned into a bed bed. It got pretty hot in the Thai cabin, too.
• Service: the service was much friendlier on Thai, Lufthansa was great and very professional but the Thai people just have a way about them that makes them seem so much friendlier. Also, the service felt relatively more rushed on the Thai flight.
• Summary: I just can’t say enough good things about the Lufthansa bed!

THAI ROYAL FIRST GROUND SERVICE

After arriving at the gate, we were whisked off the plane and were escorted down the jet bridge to a golf cart that whisked us away to the lounge.

We went from touchdown at 6:01am to sitting in the lounge at 6:26am, a record 25 minutes! Thai Airways Royal First ground service is simply unrivaled.

BOTTOM LINE: Thai Airways First Class continues to stand out as world class for both hard product and service. Despite feeling slightly rushed, the 6-course meal was decadent and impressive. The A380 cabin was neat to experience, from the giant bathroom to the private cubby-style seats. All of this was topped off by impeccable ground service in Bangkok.

—————————————–

The post Thai Airways A380 Royal First Class – TG 921 Frankfurt-FRA to Bangkok-BKK first appeared on Weekend Blitz.

There’s about as much to do in Thailand’s capital city as there are names for it… but, after spending some time in the city (and then determining that it’s one of our top favorite cities in the world), we’ve come up with a list of our top 8 things to do in Bangkok.

So, without further ado…(and in no particular order):

1) Take a tuk tuk ride AND a taxi ride to anywhere in the city (but just make sure it’s in the day time).

Public transportation is an experience in and of itself in this bustling city. We felt safe but quite uneasy during our tuk tuk and taxi rides… But haven’t stopped talking about them since. Tuk tuks are a popular MOT in Bangkok:  small, three wheeled “vehicles” that are more or less mopeds with a few extra seats. These open-aired vehicles are a quick and easy way to get from one place to another, but just be VERY forewarned that the place you’re going…may not be the place you requested. Same goes with the taxis. It sems these tuk tuk and taxi drivers all have a mind of their own and are just determined to take you where they think you should go…and definitely not anywhere close to where you say you want to go.

Our experience: we took a short tuk tuk ride and were very firm with the driver that we wanted to go to ONE particular place. He took us there with a bit of hesitation and disappointment that we didn’t want to go where he wanted us to go.

We had to climb out of taxi that was way too intent to take us to Point B when we requested (and then demanded) Point A.

2) Grand Palace and Reclining Buddha (Wat Pho)

Splendor and riches. Need I say more? The jewels that adorn the outside of these buildings will make your jaw drop… and will make your friends back home jealous of your awesome #travel Instagrams. Dont. miss. this. stop. All the kings of Thailand have lived here since 1782 and wouldn’t you if you were king of Thailand? Heck yes. Check out these grounds and don’t miss any little detail. My favorite are the little statues (monsters?!) helping to “hold up” the temple. Like any other temple, women aren’t allowed inside without a long skirt, but they sell cheap wraps right outside the palace grounds. So cheap (~$2) that, even though I was wearing pants, I bought a cute one to take home as a bathing suit cover up.

From the Grand Palace, walk up to the nearby Reclining Buddha (Wat Pho), politely avoiding eye contact with tuk tuk drivers and (probably) well-meaning guides trying to (inevitably) screw you out of some bahts. It’s a very short walk. The reclining buddha is popular because of its sheer size:  160 feet! I mean, Yikes. This thing is huge. You can’t get the entire statue in one camera shot.

3) Street food on Sukhumvit Rd.

Jeffrey and I are still talking about Bangkok’s street food. Think of the very best authentic ethnic food you’ve ever had. Multiply by 100. Then add in the fact that it costs less than $3. The options include rice dishes, pad thai, etc. etc. etc. AND fresh fruit. So many delicious, delicious options and all at the very cheapest price. We boycotted all street foods for our first few days in Bangkok (worrying about sanitation) and then, when we were especially hungry, Jeff took a chance on some fresh mango. From there, we didn’t care if we caught scurvy or what-have-you, nothing was getting in the way of our eating all the street food we could find.

4) Soi Cowboy with all the Ladyboys

Ready for perhaps the most unforgettable night of your time in Bangkok? Head to Soi Cowboy, also made famous by Hangover 2. This is where the action happens and where the term ‘ladyboys’ come from. In this red-light district of Bangkok, walk but don’t touch. Surely the diseases passed around these parts would make even the halls of ___ jealous. Catering mostly to tourists and expatriots, you can find just about anything you’re looking for around here… that is, if what you’re looking for happens to be a boy pretending to be a girl (for hire). Our experience:  we sat down at a table on the street and did some people watching. And, the highlight of our activity was watching an American man flirt with and then leave with a Ladyboy. Bet he regretted that decision in the morning?

5) Eat in an alley way with the locals

This may sound a little sketchy but, if you’re hungry and you see an alleyway, dart in! There’s no better food in Bangkok than the street food that locals make for other locals. If you can find a residential alleyway that smells like food is cooking, head towards the smell, then politely ask if you can join (gesturing is fine because there’s usually a big language barrier). They’ll happily show you to a stool and will serve you the best meal of your life and then ask you for about $1. Win-Win.

6) Splurge on a sunset drink at the Sky Bar (the world’s highest open air bar!)

Ok, so, forget everything you’ve ever heard about Bangkok being relatively cheap to visit. Now, head directly to Sky Bar, made famous in the Hangover 2 movie. It’s the world’s highest open air bar but also (arguably) Bangkok’s most expensive cocktail. Once you get over the fact that you’re paying for the view, the price of the drinks get much more bearable. This is a can’t-miss opportunity because the skyline is something you’ll never forget.

Our experience: When we asked our waiter to take our photo, he led us all along the restaurant/bar for a legit photoshoot. These Thai people sure aim to please and I could get used to this caliber of service.

Hint, if you’re looking for a cheaper place to view the sunset while relaxing over a drink, try the River View Guest House. While it won’t excel you high into the skyline of Bangkok, it’s a fraction of the price and a much more casual atmosphere.

7) Climb to the top of Wat Arun

Bangkok is chock-full of temples. It seems that everywhere you turn you run into some sort of temple. Although admittedly hard to choose, our ultimate favorite temple is Wat Arun. First off, you’ll have to take a ferry across the ___(river) to get to it. The ferry is fun by itself. But, then, you’ll land on the other side of the 10 minute journey across the water and find yourself at a huge and very tall temple with an unusual shape and intriguing decoration. Spend some time exploring each level and take note: the very top level has the steepest stairs you’ll ever be faced with climbing.

Loser Alert:  Although Jeffrey made it to the very top of the temple, I chickened out and couldn’t bring myself to climb those last very-very steep stairs. I’ve regretted it ever since…

8) Chinatown

Haven’t been to China? Neither have I (because I don’t think Hong Kong really counts as mainland China). If you find yourself in Bangkok before you’ve had the opportunity to explore China, I imagine this is what it really feels like. Chinatown here is huge and much more of a cultural experience than Chinatown in New York (duh?) or Singapore. This place is awesome. Goods of all kinds are pedaled on the sidewalk and open air markets are found (and smelled) around every turn. In the rest of Bangkok, there are not nearly the sheer amount of people sharing the sidewalk with you — it truly is a unique experience in the city. And, the Chinese architecture, especially the gates, are worth seeing just on their own. Get lost in some alleyways. It may look a little daunting but it sure is fun.

So, there you have it. Eight things to do in Bangkok. Whatever it is you decide to do, we think this will be one of your favorite cities to explore.

The post Top 8 Things to Do in Bangkok first appeared on Weekend Blitz.