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#915219 by Bretty
03 Jan 2016, 01:28
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No pictures I'm afraid, I always forget to take them!
Well I've been back a few days now and note that others who travelled after me have managed to post their TRs before me. We were headed to NYC for 4 nights over Christmas, and our trip started and then seemed to continue with little blips. Nothing serious, but you know...

We took the train down to London from Newark as usual, and just outside Stevenage came to a halt. Virgin Trains were very good keeping us informed, and told us the train ahead of us had come across an obstruction on the line. We had to back up to Stevenage (rather slowly) and the plan was then to divert us via Hertford. However, by the time we got to Stevenage the obstruction had been cleared and we returned down the same track towards KGX once more, arriving some 90 minutes later than scheduled (thank goodness I never fly the same day I travel to the airport!).

Virgin Trains East Coast were brilliant all along keeping us well lubricated and on arrival at KGX every pax was handed a leaflet and form to claim back the cost of their tickets for the delay. Now I must confess to feeling a bit of a cheat claiming back our tickets, which cost the princely sum of £17.80 each for first class. This was mainly because, by the time we arrived I'd had a tasty hot meal, 2 glasses of wine and 2 double vodka tonics - way more than the cost of the ticket. But my hubby insisted I claim so I have!

Off we went to Paddington now for the HEX - got cheap first class tickets since they introduced cheaper tickets the further in advance you book, so £18 each return was a steal. Except we'd discovered a few days before travelling that HEX service was not running on the day of our return. On arrival at LHR we headed to T4 and the Hilton where I'd got a cheap deal on an executive room with lounge access (I don't yet have Hilton status). Very nice room, and lounge started serving hot snacks and drinkies at 18:00, so off we went. Had a nice time, didn't eat too much, returned to our room and promptly ordered room service and crashed in front of the TV.

After a pleasant stay we skipped breakfast in the lounge in favour of breakfast in the Clubhouse. We'd booked DTCI and I ordered an Uber, called through with the licence plate and 10 minutes later we were pulling up at DTCI and were very quickly through security and on our way to the haven of the Clubhouse by 08:00, and a warm welcome. It wasn't too busy and we found a seat quickly, and I did my duty as a v-flyer and posted a hello. No spa treatments this time, there was nothing I wanted. The next 3 hours consisted of eat, drink, rinse and repeat. I had a redhead in had within 5 minutes of arrival, then had another, then I'm pretty sure I had champagne, and maybe another... I lost track a bit. I know I ordered a margarita as my last drink and we planned to leave at first call, which we did and headed to board Soul Sister through L1 and into seat 4K & 5K.

Finally we're onboard!
The crew were all decked out in Christmas costume, and the CC who came to offer me champagne was wearing fabulous striped knee high socks like a little elf, and I complimented her on her choice. The lady and gent in 2 & 3K declared she was their daughter and pointed out her sister, also CC. It seems there were a few relatives or partners of crew travelling in UC that day, but it's fair to say I never noticed anyone getting preferential treatment over other pax. The 2 sisters were working our side of the cabin and they were delightful, you could have a good bit of banter with them and they worked non-stop.

Whilst boarding took place, as usual, they were refuelling the plane and had said they were taking on extra fuel as there was adverse weather in NYC and they might have need of it. We were ready for the off at the scheduled time of 11:30 except there was a problem. They couldn't disengage the jet bridge and close the door. After several attempts they had to call an engineer, and it transpired that when taking on the fuel, the nose of the plane dipped with the weight. The jet bridge is supposed to move with the plane but hadn't and so it was stuck! So the next 'blip' resulted in needing to jack up the plane so they could disengage, and then had to check and double check everything was working. We were an hour late leaving. Surprisingly, we made up the time and landed at JFK on time.

When we were airborne the FSM came around and spoke to every pax in the UC cabin (and it was full), and welcomed me back recognising my Ag status, which was rather nice. He was an excellent FSM leading from the front and very hands on, and was involved in service throughout the flight, and at some point must have also gone through to help in the other 2 cabins. He led an excellent team, everyone was switched on and service was great throughout.

During preparation for take off my IFE had played up when the safety video was shown, and I couldn't get it to work. The CC tried to reset it but couldn't, and offered to swap my seat with her father's which had a working IFE. I didn't want to swap as I'm quite partial to 4K! So she brought me an iPad instead to use (but no offer of miles as I've read others have had for faulty IFE).

More drinks and snacks followed (I had the blushing bellini - champagne with a funkin strawberry mixer) and orders taken for the main meal. I know some of you like the menu so here it is:

Starters
Chicken and smoked duck terrine with pickles and melba toast (which I had, tasty)
Waldorf salad
Tomato and basil soul

Warm breads

Mains
Chicken biryani, rice
Garlic and herb marinated fillet of beef, red cabbage & dauphinoise potatoes
Fillet of Atlantic Cod, cauliflower purée, buttered kale and piquillo peppers (which I had and very tasty)
Spinach and ricotta tortellini, black olive and tomato sauce, rocket

Pudding
Toffee apple pecan sponge with toffee sauce (was scrumptious)
Chocolate brownie with raspberry coulis

Cheese and port for those that had room!

I'd got a bellini on the go when dinner was served, and declined extra wine, but then the FSM came around and forced me to have some champagne too. In fear for the arm he had firmly twisted up my back I acquiesced. The flight passed quickly, plenty of drinks runs were made. I watched a film, read some. I went to the bar but no-one else was using it so quickly returned to my seat like a Billy no mates. I had a good chat with the couple next to us who'd been treated by their daughters to a break in NYC and tickets to The Rockettes Christmas Extravaganza at Radio City Music Hall.

Afternoon tea was served a couple of hours out, all nice and fresh and I sampled everything on the trolley, just to be sure it was safe for the other pax of course.

Embarrassing moment
I decided to get ahead of the rush to freshen up before landing and trotted off to the bathroom at the front of the UC cabin to do my ablutions and apply some deodorant. I took off my shirt to do so, which I don't normally do, and sprayed briefly. Then I heard the beeping noises that made me think the seatbelt signs had been switched on, and one of the CC was banging on the door. I quickly put my shirt back on whilst the door continue to be assaulted, and opened the door. She sniffed and said "have you sprayed?" and I said yes, and she told me that it had triggered the smoke detectors and the alarms and the pilot had sent her to investigate. :-O I smiled and apologised (this hasn't happened before) and deftly headed back to my seat with my head bowed and a few pax staring at me. :blush: The FSM came round shortly afterwards topping up drinks, and said "did you get caught out doing your ablutions?" And when I nodded he said, "she's like a Rottweiler that one" and just laughed. Anyway, no harm done although clearly they initially thought I'd been smoking in the lav! (I hadn't btw, I don't smoke).

The next person to go in came out smelling like a perfumery, she didn't trigger the effing smoke detectors though!! :-P

And so we prepared to land arriving on time at a very warm but soaking wet JFK and took our cabin baggage (a first for me travelling cabin baggage only) and were through the automated ESTA machines very quickly, maybe 10 minutes. I loaded the Carmel Limo iPhone app and confirmed arrival and off we went to get our car into lower Manhattan to the Conrad Hotel.

If you got this far, well done. Very quickly, before I conclude, this is where we hit another blip. I'd checked in using the Hilton app and chosen our suite, we collected from our key and headed to the 14th floor. The suite was fantastic, huge 700 square feet 3 rooms, almost as big as my bungalow! Then I noticed water coming in the bedroom window and there was a little puddle on the floor so we called reception, they sent a bod to check it and offered to move us to the 11th floor, same style room. Only when the bellman arrived he had a key to the same room on 10th floor. We proceeded to the room, opened the door, and then I quickly closed it again as it was clearly already occupied. Thankfully no one was actually in the room, because that would have been super awkward, more so for the hotel than for us as there would no doubt have been major ructions. As it was we headed back down to reception to get the correct key, the receptionist very apologetic, and returned to our new room on the 11th floor, to relax before deciding to go out for a quick dinner to Blue Smoke a Southern BBQ joint close to the hotel, where we had a fab dinner and some good banter with a friendly and sassy waitress, and 4 guys at the bar bought us dessert, but that's another story...

So, in spite of a few little blips, we had arrived for our super Christmas trip. The flight was fantastic, the crew excellent and we had a really pleasant flight. The return TR and a sample of our trip will follow ASAP.

Thanks for reading.
John
Last edited by Bretty on 03 Jan 2016, 12:52, edited 1 time in total.
#915223 by ScoobySu
03 Jan 2016, 02:29
What a brilliant trip report Bretty - thank you very much! And the blips were all minor thankfully!

Like you I've found Virgin Trains - both East & West - very proactive in offering compensation for delays.

The next three hours consisted of eat, drink, rinse and repeat
. True V-Flyer style!

Look forward to hearing how your trip in New York was!

With best wishes

ScoobySu
#915225 by buns
03 Jan 2016, 06:41
Bretty

Thank you for a super TR - full of detail and drama, which kept me riveted :-D

Your two delays (firstly on the train and then the jetbridge episode) have cemented in my mind why i will never do the ex-EU ploy. I would have been worried stiff had a I had connections to a EU starting point :blush:

The FSM clearly was one of the best VS have on thier rosta - and sounds very similar to the one mrs Buns and I encountered in November. When you ahve this level of service, VS cannot be beaten.

hope you did not get heatstroke in NYC ;-)

buns
#915227 by hiljil
03 Jan 2016, 08:14
Thank you for an entertaining and enjoyable TR. I hope your blips aren't the rehearsals for full blown HL happenings !! :-O
#915228 by Maximus
03 Jan 2016, 09:13
Thanks for a very detailed and certainly entertainig TR! The flight over sounded great, just take care with that spray ;-)

Looking forward to hearing about the highlights of your trip. How did you find the Conrad? It's been a while since I stayed downtown, our first trip to NYC we stayed in Greenwish Village and since then midtown/ uptown.
#915248 by Bretty
03 Jan 2016, 13:07
Thanks folks.
@Buns I hear what you're saying. For our ex-DUB trip last June and later this year, we planned travel to airport the day before flights, and this year I'll ensure we fly out early and we're on an evening flight back with another overnight before the long haul leg. We had a tight connection last year due to outbound flight delay so I'm going to take earlier flight.

@Hiljil I hope so too!

@Maximus, we loved the Conrad. There was another blip during our stay concerning dinner on Christmas Day, but that aside I loved the hotel, and the space we got for the price we paid plus extras was great, and the location in lower Manhattan put us well away from the noise and lights of Times Square etc and gave us a quiet retreat. It was just a 15-20 minute car ride to town or 30 minutes subway / walking (which we couldn't be bothered to do). It was also right next door to One World Trade Center, just one block walk to the 911 Memorial etc and we had a view of the freedom tower from our suite. I'll fill in a little more when I post the return TR.
#915250 by TimCrawley
03 Jan 2016, 13:23
Very enjoyable trip report, thanks for posting.

After the "eat, drink, rinse and repeat" in the CH it's lucky you only got the blame for the smoke alarm and weren't held responsible for the extra 'passenger fuel' weight wrecking the Jet Bridge :-)

As Hijil mentioned, this was starting to sound like a potential HL edge-of-disaster trip in parts .... but all seems to have worked out well in the end and really pleased you got such great crew on board.
#915255 by ultreen1
03 Jan 2016, 13:52
Fab TR John, I can forgive the absence of photos!

Having kept track of your trip through the wonder of Facebook I'm finally happy to have a TR to read!!

I thought you might have fell out of the toilet topless...now that would have been funny!!! But still, setting the smoke alarms off...hilarious!!!

I can't wait for the next part of the HL-Bretty trip!!!
#915259 by pjh
03 Jan 2016, 15:08
Excellent TR from what sounds like an excellent flight, aerosol mishaps notwithstanding. Looking forward to the return story and tales of NYC.

Good job you didn't have to go down the Hertford Loop. It's the Kings Cross route equivalent of the Bermuda Triangle.
#915263 by Blacky1
03 Jan 2016, 16:12
Great TR John , up to your usual standard and wouldn't accept anything less :-D
Look forward to hearing all about your trip in the return TR and your thoughts on NYC
Often wondered about staying downtown , might have to give it a go now
#915264 by Blacky1
03 Jan 2016, 16:14
pjh wrote:Excellent TR from what sounds like an excellent flight, aerosol mishaps notwithstanding. Looking forward to the return story and tales of NYC.

Good job you didn't have to go down the Hertford Loop. It's the Kings Cross route equivalent of the Bermuda Triangle.


Lol I come from Hertford Paul , this might help Mrs B understand some of my unexplained absences over the years ;-)
#915265 by marshy11
03 Jan 2016, 16:22
Bretty, what a great read, thank you for taking time to write and post.

I must admit to thinking the ablution story was going to end with an item of clothing being flushed away…..

I hope you had a wonderful time in NYC, despite the unusual weather.

Look forward to the return TR.
#915362 by mrsw
05 Jan 2016, 18:13
Great TR, John! A very enjoyable read indeed.

Sounds like an excellent flight despite all the blips along the way! Looking forward to seeing what you guys got up to in NYC in the return TR :D
#915364 by Hev60
05 Jan 2016, 18:42
Very interesting TR. I was beginning to think to myself as I read on that HoneyLamb would be proud of this :-P

I did say it was gonna be wet, wet, wet but I am sure you made the best of it, especially as you like a bit of retail therapy!!!

I remember walking back from Bloomindales to our hotel carrying those enormous brown paper carrier bags, when all of a sudden as we crossed the road the darn things collapsed due to the rain soaking in :-D resulting in very wet purchases all over the sidewalk.

The Conrad is a lovely hotel, only opened in 2012 I think. We poppped in there recently just to have a coffee. I love that location - ie down the other end of Manhattan with the Battery Park areas being so peaceful, compared to the noise/busy areas around Times Square and even Central Park.

Look forward to reading your thoughts and experiences following your visit to my favourite city in the world, especially at Christmas. Hev
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