This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
With treatments booked at 16:30 for Mrs D and 17:15 for myself having the car all at 15:00 seemed ideal. Regretfully a last minute work emergency had me stuck at my keyboard and we didn't get away until about 15:05... We struck out for the A4 to join the M4 and were horrified to join a large traffic jam of like ne'er seen before. The trip to the bottom of the M4 took 40 minutes instead of the usual 5. Needless to say this did nothing for stress levels so eschewing the normal M4 routing we directed the driver to use the A4 - a wise move as it turned out.
Pulling into the drive through check in area we were promptly greeted and our luggage was taken whilst our details were checked. As we were travelling from Nairobi to Mombasa on the same PNR as our other flights we were assured that we wouldn't see our luggage again until Mombasa - welcome news as we'd pretty much used our 60 Kg allowance (courtesy of 20Kg of my dive gear) and I didn't really fancy dragging it from the international terminal to the domestic.
The charming functionary then started to whisk us away towards security until we pointed out the lack of tickets in our possession. Boarding cards were all very well but we were meant to be collecting paper tickets. Given the lateness of the hour I suggested Mrs D go ahead and I'd wait for the tickets. This proved to be sensible as the tickets took another 15 minutes to locate. Still I've not marked the check in down as it was wonderfully civilised just sitting in the posh dedicated area waiting for our tickets to be sorted. When I did venture outside I was struck by the TOTAL absence of queues at normal check in.
Upstairs to Travelex to collect some Kenyan Shillings - cue a very worried looking employee who spent ages locating them and then explained with a nervous smile that they'd only just started doing Shillings because 'Virgin have only just started to fly to Kenya'. Despite having asked for low denomination notes I was presented with only 500 Shilling notes - not very useful when the recommended tip for everything seems to be around 100 shillings. So covering my proverbial I purchased an additional $100 in singles.
Fast track was a breeze - three people in front of me. Stopping only to pick up a Travel Scrabble and look for magazines for Mrs D and I I hotfooted it to the Club House which was pleasingly empty. The V-Flyer award looked splendid in the glass case at reception! Just enough time for a London Pride then bag and coat into cloakroom and off for my pedicure.
Bizarrely the young lady explained that as BAA were playing around with the hot water I wouldn't be able to have my feet washed so they'd be hot towelled instead! Interestingly different. Apparently a similar thing happened with Mrs D in the hair salon - well tepid water rather than hot towels but...
When I emerged Mrs D had eaten and was ensconced in her book so I went off and did the usual Clubhouse Burger. Just as I finished off my meal boarding was announced so we wandered down to Gate 1 (very posh as has been mentioned) and walked straight onto the 346 we'd be taking to Nairobi.
The first thing that struck us was how low the loads were - 9 in J, 7 in W and about 120 in Y. The second thing was how excited the crew were to be going to this new destination! As has been noted elsewhere the safety video has simply been extended and revoiced - so bye bye Danni Behr. As PReiffer noted the suites have had a couple of subtle changes which worked - though strangely they didn't take advantage of the opportunity to fit the new improved tables.
With heavy heart we picked up our menus to see what we'd have to eat this time and both simultaneously squealed in delight. As it's a new route they've got the forthcoming new menu early so without further ado...
Starters
Prawn Cocktail with iceberg lettuce and Marie-Rose sauce served with granary bread
Carrot and sweet apple soup served with a choice of warm breads
Honey and dill marinated salmon and cumin masala chicken served with dill and Greek yoghurt dip
Main Courses
Roast lamb with rosemary and black pepper roasted new potatoes, runner beans, carrots, Yorkshire pudding served with lamb gravy and mint sauce
Higgidy potato and mature cheddar pie served with asparagus and hollandaise sauce
Malvani chicken curry and paneer jalfrezi - spicy Konkan chicken curry and paneer cheese stir fried with peppers served with steamed basmati rice and curried potatoes.
Cheese
Dunsyre Blue
Hereford Hop
Burland Green
Dessert
Wimbledon bakewell tart served with warm custard
Crushed strawberries and cream ice cream served with fresh English strawberries
Breakfast
Usual fare except no pig (Kenya being Muslim in large part apparently) so Chicken Sausage instead of bacon bap and lamb sausages in the full English.
The wines has also changed :-
Champagne Charles Heidsieck Brut Reserve nv
Berrys' Extra Dry Cremant de Limoux, Jean-Louis Denois
White
Avila Chardonnay 2005, CA, USA
Les Fumees Blanches 2006, Vin de Pays d'Oc, France
Hewitson Lu-Lu-V Viognier 2006, Victoria, Australia
Red
Bastide St Vincent 2006, Vin de Pays de Vaucluse, France
Domaine Carnaval Pinot Noir 2005, Vin de Pays d'Oc, France
Elvara Piedra Azul 2006, Toro, Spain
Finally Fallen Vodka has disappeared from the menus - months after is disappeared from the bar!
As v:Port is now featured on the VS site I haven't bothered recording it here but it did have several African themed movies.
The IFBT came around and spoke to Mrs D and I together and promised that we'd be the first ones to be treated soon after take off. Mrs D (correctly) surmised that we were the only Aus in the cabin and the staff were correctly briefed! So soon after takeoff Mrs D had some form of relexology type hand massage and as soon as the turbulence had passed I had the wonderful back massage. Normally I have hot hands but knowing I was guaranteed a treatment I opted for my favourite! The IFBT was saying that she actually prefers busier flights and that her worst was an IAD flight were she had 2 passengers wanting treatments!
The crew were all fantastic (I'm sure that the complete lack of soft 'a' sounds in their accents had nothing to do with it [:)]) and most of then seemed to know the FSM we raved about on the way back from NRT in my last TR. The FSM on this flight also obviously ran a tight ship and nothing was too much trouble for anyone.
After a few hours kip I opted for the full English and Mrs D opted for the additional sleep. The SCC who I'd talked to about a potential PVG trip came with a note with her recommendation for the best bar in PVG.
Landing was 15 minutes early but judging by how quickly we slowed down upon landing the runway must be shorter than usual. Off the plane we were quickly down to immigration and as the crowds started to gather around the Visa desk (you can pay as you enter) we walked straight up to an offical (having got ours in London) and were through in minutes.
Walking briskly to the domestic terminal unencumbered by bags we checked in for Mombasa. Puzzled the lady queried the fact that we were travelling so light. 'Our luggage is checked though - we'll get it in Mombasa'... 'Oh no you won't - you have to collect it from Arrivals, take it through customs and then check it in here'. [:(]. So traipsed back to the International terminal where our bags were already circulating, collected them, back to the now sizeable queue for domestic, rechecked the bags (an exercise in itself as the lady had to reenter all of the bag details 'or they would show up in Mombasa as belonging to no one') and through for the next stage of our trip.
All in all another fantastic UC trip, making it two in a row...
