This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
Okay folks, as some of you already know we chose to stay at the Sofitel T5 the night before our trip, and wonderful it was too. I've already posted about the afternoon tea and the saga of the mix up over a day room and overnight room so won't repeat myself except to say that after that it was still a lovely place to stay. I'd like to say we tried one of the restaurants, but we were lazy and had room service; the quality of which was excellent.
Anyway onto the trip.
DTCI was nothing short of excellent. We'd paid for this as we were travelling on G's and I didn't want to waste miles on it. I know it's only a short journey from T5 to T3 and can be done for free, but it appealed to my ego somewhat and we loved it.
We got a text a few minutes before our driver arrived and everything went smoothly. We had a really pleasant chatty driver, and when we got to the other end were greeted by 2 VS ground crew, handed over our bags, picked up our boarding cards and straight through to security. I'd checked in online, but sadly only got SEQ14. As some of you already know, I'd kept this secret from OH, I'd only told him we were being picked up at 08:15. He was very impressed with it, especially the ease of just getting out the car handing over your bag and trolling off through security. I think he's a convert! 
At security I got searched and my bag
but that only held us up by a few minutes (there was a woman having her bag searched ahead of us and she was not pleased, getting very stroppy and pulling faces at the inconvenience, whereas I think you just have to get on with it and smile, they're only doing their jobs. She might have been one of those DYKWIA types, but it wasn't working!).I'd say we were in the Clubhouse no more than 15 minutes after dropping our bags. Greeted by lovely VS staff at the door and in we went, about 08:45, and it looked a little busy, but not ever so (there were a few Delta flights called during the morning). First thing I did was book my treatment, and I had opted for a cutthroat shave. Now, I'm one of those people who generally grows what is called "bumfluff" so I don't shave daily cos there's nothing to go at, so I had saved 2 days worth for this treat!!
After that we wandered around and sat in the restaurant area to have breakfast and by 09.00 I had my first glass of champoo in hand. I ordered egg royale and OH ordered the full English, both went down a treat. Service was excellent from a young lady on her second day. From there we moved to the chairs by the hanging chairs near the spa. Not the comfiest seats but my OH wouldn't move so that's where we stayed. We were next to a group of noisy South Africans enjoying themselves and all I could think about when I heard them was the Air Afrikaans video on YouTube!
OH disappeared to the loo and the waitress came so I ordered champoo again and said my OH would be back soon and didn't know what he'd want. She came back with 2 glasses and cheekily said she didn't want him to get jealous so she brought him a glass too! I told her he was teetotal and she said, "oh well, you can drink the other one I'm sure". Sure enough, when he got back he ordered tea. She looked after us the rest of the morning, sweeping through the area frequently to check everyone was topped up with food and drink as they like.09:30 came and so off I went for my shave, which includes a facial and shoulder and head massage. I nearly fell asleep in the chair, it was so relaxing. Having never been shaved by another person before I found it an interesting experience, it was quite an intimate experience, and afterwards I felt completely chilled out which I'm sure was helped by the 2 glasses of champers I'd had by then. On returning to my seat I quaffed the extra glass of champoo that was waiting for me, went to the deli and got a bit more to eat, ordered a bacon butty, and just chilled out. I decided to have a quick sojourn to duty free, and these days always find it difficult as there's never anything I want or need really. Still, I managed to find a travel pack of Clarins men, but that was more to satisfy the need to spend money than the fact I wanted or needed it!
Back to the Clubhouse where I just chilled out some more, had a margarita and then next thing you know the flight is being called for boarding. Now I know the accepted ritual for v-flyers is to order another drink and wait until second call, but him indoors was rather keen to board so I had to give in and go, so off we trolled to gate 20, straight through the priority boarding lane and and straight onto Lady Luck through door B.
We pushed back late because they took some time refuelling, and therefore departed about a half hour late, but flight time was estimated at 11 hours 8 minutes I think. 237 pax and 13 crew aboard, I would say a good half of them Japanese crew; I got settled and was quickly offered champoo, so of course I took it. The UC cabin looked full. FSM was visible and we had 2 CSS aboard, and service from start to finish was spot on, very attentive and CC with personalities rather than robots. I can't remember if I changed into my jimjams before or after dinner, but I got comfortable anyhow. I can confirm the amenity kit given out for outbound was just the small purse sized bag, not the one that is an iPad case. From the pax list in the galley I noted 1AU (sat next to OH) and 2AG in UC.
Dinner
I committed theft in order to remember the menu!
Starters
Crab stuffed cucumber
Minestrone soup
Warm breads
Mains
Seared fillet of beef with Jersey Royal potatoes, carrots, watercress sauce.
Chicken Yakitori in teriyaki sauce with lotus root, carrot flower dashi, sugar snap peas, broad beans, tawara rice and miso soup.
Paneer kofta and korma sauce with pilau rice and tandoori chole.
Warm oak smoked trout salad with seared new potatoes on a bed of salad leaves, dill and mustard dressing.
Pudding
Croissant bread and butter pud baked with eggs and raisins, orange sauce.
Chocolate and hazelnut slice, double cream and biscotti.
Cheese and Port.
Extra bites (Graze menu?)
Gourmet beef burger with tomato and potato crisps.
Baby back pork ribs with relish.
Tempura vegetables, sweet chilli sauce and noodle salad.
Fruit and chocolate at the bar as usual.
I had the cucumber crab which was nice and fresh, and the chicken which was very tasty but a little dry. It was meant to be skewered chicken but was a whole breast. The bread and butter pud was lush. Him indoors opted to skip starter and have the fillet of beef followed immediately after by the burger from the graze menu! Both were delicious apparently, especially the burger. He had the chocolate desert but was put off as it was mainly dark chocolate, serves him right for being greedy!
I didn't bother much with the IFE and chose to read for most of the flight. I headed off to the bar for a drink and chat with some of the crew and a young man who was moving to Tokyo for 3 months with his job and was keen to get tips from the CC about where was good to go sightseeing at weekends. Poor guy didn't do very well as the CC we were chatting to was from Osaka and hates Tokyo! He mentioned he'd previously always flown BA and had transferred to VS because of a bad experience where BA CC spilled a drink on him and it wasn't handled well, nor was his complaint afterwards. The VS CC just smiled and muttered under their breath about BA, lol. He couldn't believe there was an actual bar on board and wanted a photo, so now there is one of me quite probably on this guy's Facebook page, sitting at the bar in my jimjams with a glass of champers! Hey ho...
Anyway, it was time to try and get some sleep as most of the cabin had bedded down. I don't normally manage to sleep on flights but I got set up and opted to use the VS headphones to block sound instead of the ear plugs, and I managed to get about an hour and a half of sleep, unheard of for me and it helped so much later with settling in and avoiding jet lag. I watched a film, (Gravity, it was quite good) and then read some more. Breakfast was served about an hour and a half out of NRT, delicious full breakfast with plenty of coffee.
On approach to NRT I was allowed to keep my kindle on and continue reading which enabled me to finish my book. We landed early, very smooth landing and disembarked through door B again, into security and customs which was nice and quick and our bags were in the hall quick; and off we went to meet our driver for transfer into Tokyo.
From start to finish the whole experience was fantastic and made travelling such a pleasure. I can't wait until my next UC flight now, lol (I've now completed return flight sector).
We've had a tremendous holiday in Japan, got lots of photos to sort through and lots of memories. Return TR to follow ASAP.
At the end of the jetway TURN LEFT and... champagne, champagne for everyone 
