Asian Adventure: Cathay Pacific B777-300ER Business Class San Francisco to Hong Kong
Asian Adventure: Cathay Pacific Lounge Review: The Cabin at HKG
Asian Adventure: Cathay Dragon A330-300 Business Class Hong Kong to Beijing
Asian Adventure: Regent Beijing Hotel
Asian Adventure: Beijing - Dongcheng District
Asian Adventure: Beijing - The Great Wall
Asian Adventure: Beijing - Run-ze Jade Garden
Asian Adventure: Beijing - The Sacred Way of the Ming Tombs
Asian Adventure: Beijing - The Legend of Kung Fu
Asian Adventure: Beijing - Tiananmen Square
Asian Adventure: Beijing - The Forbidden City
Asian Adventure: Beijing - Hutong Tour via Rickshaw, Tea Tasting, Flying to Xi’an
Asian Adventure: Hotel Shangri-La Xi’an
Asian Adventure: Xi’an - Qing Dynasty Terra Cotta Warriors
Asian Adventure: Xi’an - Tang Dynasty Dinner and Show
Asian Adventure: Xi’an Wrap-Up, Flying to Lhasa, Lhasa Home Visit
Asian Adventure: Shangri-La Hotel Lhasa
Asian Adventure: Lhasa - Jokhang Temple and Barkhor Market
Asian Adventure: Lhasa - Canggu Nunnery and Sera Monastery
Asian Adventure: Lhasa - Potala Palace
Asian Adventure: Leaving Lhasa and Flying to Chongqing
Asian Adventure: Viking Emerald
Asian Adventure: Shibaozhai Temple
Asian Adventure: Cruising the Three Gorges
Asian Adventure: Three Gorges Dam
Asian Adventure: Jingzhou City Walls Tour
Asian Adventure: Wuhan - Hubei Bells Performance and Provincial Museum
Asian Adventure: Shanghai - Shanghai Museum
Asian Adventure: Fairmont Peace Hotel, Shanghai
Asian Adventure: Shanghai - Old Shanghai and Yuyan Gardens
Asian Adventure: The New Otani Tokyo Hotel
Asian Adventure: Tokyo - City Tour
Asian Adventure: Mt. Fuji and Hakone Tour Returning by Shinkansen
Asian Adventure: ANA Suites Lounge Review, Tokyo Narita
Asian Adventure: All Nippon Airways B777-300ER First Class Tokyo Narita to Houston
Date: October 24, 2017
Flight: NH 174 NRT-IAH
Seat: 2A (ANA Suites)
Aircraft: B777-300
Depart: 11:15 AM
Duration: 12h 15m
I left the ANA Suites Lounge, went down the escalator to the main floor and my gate was a very short walk from there. I left the lounge around 10:30 AM since I wasn't sure how far I had to go and I wanted a little time in the gate area to get my bearings before the scheduled boarding time of 10:45 AM. Our pretty B777 was parked at the gate with its nose not far at all from the window in the gate area but my camera burped and the photo I tried to take did not come out.
At about 10:40 AM an announcement was made by one of the gate agents (who all looked like they were 15 to me!) that boarding would begin soon and she explained the various lanes where we should line up based on the cabin we were flying or our Star Alliance status. I liked that in addition to having a number of gate agents in the area, there were overhead monitors making people aware that they'd need not only their boarding passes but their passports opened to the photo page.
Pre-boarding of one wheelchair and one family with small children didn't take long at all and exactly at 10:45 AM (this IS Japan, after all!) those of us in the First Class cabin were allowed to board. In an "only in Japan" moment, after I'd been checked by the gate agent there was still a little bit of a walk around a corner to reach the jet bridge. Standing there were a number of the other gate agents and even some maintenance workers, and they all bowed as I passed. I sure won't be seeing that at a US airport anytime soon! As I walked down the jet bridge to the plane, it split into two paths with the one on the right heading toward the middle of the plane for Business and Economy passengers and the one on the left for First Class.
When I reached the plane I was greeted by Mami (mah-mee, but not "mommy"), who would be my flight attendant for this trip. I was in 2A, the window seat, and she said that since only 3 of the 8 First Class seats were booked for this trip, she'd make my bed across the aisle in 2D. Cool, two entire suites just for me! Not only that, but the other two people in First were on the other aisle so I had the whole left (port) side of the plane to myself for the 12+ hour flight!
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| ANA First Class Suite |
I put my carry-on backpack at my seat and Mami suggested I go ahead and change into my pajamas. There were two lavatories for the F cabin (and pilots) and while I was a little surprised at how small they were (these photos were taken in the larger one) the crew kept them just spotless the entire trip. This lav had a board that folded down from the wall to make a little platform to stand on while changing clothes so you didn't have to worry about what might be on the lav floor. With so little traffic in our lav that wasn't an issue but I can think of many other flights where I'd have loved to have something like that.
The lav was stocked with extras of several of the amenities like toothbrushes and mouthwash and, as always, the decorative flower. The tap was motion-sensitive and I don't ever recall having a faucet on a plane that worked like that. When I left the lav one of the other flight attendants took my clothes and hung them up for me.
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| ANA First Class lavatory sink |
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| Still pretty tight quarters |
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| Extra amenities |
The PJs looked quite warm and I was a little worried I’d be hot, knowing the reputation that Asian airlines have for keeping cabins warm, and even though I did get a little warm from time to time, I wasn't nearly as hot as I expected to be. I did not, however, put on the extra sweater that was provided. I can see myself using these PJs as loungewear at home so will put them to good use.
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| Container for the PJs |
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| Oh so flattering! (not! but who cares?!) |
The amenity kit came in a small Samsonite case and some really nice bottles of lotion by The Ginza as well as ear plugs. Mami brought around a tray where I could pick up socks as well as extras of any of the amenities.
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| Amenity kit contents. Mami added the flower when she saw me taking the picture! |
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| Extra amenities |
The Suite
I was quite pleased with the suite, even though it did not have a door like some do these days. It was smaller than the one on the Qantas A380 I flew a couple of years prior but this B777 is a smaller plane and has only 8 F seats vs. the 14 on the QF A380. Anyway, after four intra-China flights in Economy, I was quite happy to have a much wider seat!
The ottoman was the full width of the suite which meant my feet weren't stuck in a little cubby while sleeping - a very good thing. It's hard to roll over when your feet get stuck in there! Underneath the ottoman was an area large enough that I could store both my shoes and my backpack if needed. But since I was the only person on this side of the plane I just put my backpack in the overhead bin.
The IFE screen was a 23-inch model, so it was nice and big. Unfortunately - and this is my only complaint about the flight - the entertainment selection was not great at all. But that gave me time to work on cleaning up photos and even to working on this blog post.
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| ANA B777-300 First Class Cabin |
As weird as this sounds, the tray table was cool. It popped out from beneath the IFE screen which meant if I needed to get up while it was in use, I could move it out of the way. This was so much easier than having to fold out a tray from the side! There was a smaller tray on the window side that worked great for drinks when I didn't need the big tray.
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| ANA First Class Suite tray |
The Sony headphones were stored in a door on the left (window) side of the seat. They were perfectly adequate and helped me to be able to understand the crew instructions as all their voices were so soft! A couple of reading lights were on that side of the seat as well.
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| Headphones and Lights |
Beside that compartment was another one which housed the IFE controller. Below that was an electrical outlet that could handle a US 3-pronged plug (like my laptop has) and a sliding panel that covered the USB port and another type of outlet.
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| IFE Controller |
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| Power ports |
On the right (aisle) side of the seat was another small storage compartment with a little basket in the door, perfect for eyeglasses or a cell phone.
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| Right side compartment |
The Menu
I was offered a pre-departure beverage of orange juice or champagne and went with the juice.
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| OJ: the PDB of champions! |
We pushed back on time (of course, it's Japan!) and taxied for about 13 minutes before taking off. The flight attendants began preparing lunch once the seat belt sign was turned off about 15 minutes later.
A general rule of thumb is that when you're departing from an airline's hub you should choose the menu with the local cuisine. But after 3+ weeks in Asia, I was ready for something different. I felt bad not selecting the Japanese offering after Mami suggested it but I really just wanted something else. Here was the menu for this flight:
The menu book also had the selections for the USA-Japan route which was similar but not identical:
The Light Dishes Anytime menus for snacks:
Then there was the beverages section that started off with the wine list:
And a sake list:
Soft drinks and spirits:
And a whole section of tea:
Service began with an amuse:
Followed by the snow crab appetizer:
And it's not a donut, really, but the bread that accompanied the starters:
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| Not a donut. Really. |
Next up was the salad with Caesar dressing on the side. As an aside, I wish restaurants would do this instead of dousing salads with Caesar dressing!
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| Salad with Caesar dressing |
The corn soup was very tasty:
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| Corn Soup |
And there was another piece of bread:
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| More bread |
For my entree I had the Wagyu beef which was very good:
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| Wagyu beef entree |
Dessert was the Hiraizumi Golden Baumkuchen with vanilla ice cream. (No chocolate choices again!)
One of the three post-dinner petit fours was chocolate and I had a cup of tea to top off my meal.
Belly full, it was time for a nap and Mami had made up the suite across the aisle:
And provided another bottle of water and another flower:
Even with the eye mask I only managed a couple of hours of sleep because my body clock said it was the middle of the day. I went back to my window suite and continued working on my laptop for most of the ride back. I could have had something from the Light Dishes Anytime menu but with that large lunch I just wasn't all that hungry.
After I grew tired of editing some of the 21 GB of photos the 12 of us had taken on the trip, I dozed and played games on my tablet for the remainder of the trip.
Returning Home
We arrived on time in Houston and thanks to Global Entry I was through the Immigration process quickly. To purchase this ticket I'd used the sign-up bonus I received from the Chase Sapphire Reserve card which earns Ultimate Rewards (UR) points. URs can then be transfered to several airline frequent flyer programs. Two of those programs are United MileagePlus and Singapore Kris Flyer, which are both part of Star Alliance. United wanted 110K miles for the flight while Singapore only wanted 100K so I booked it through them. Unfortunately that meant I could not get a domestic First Class seat from Houston to Memphis because United does not make those available if you book through a partner program. Nor do they provide lounge access even though my next flight was on United. Fortunately the Sapphire Reserve comes with Priority Pass which allows lounge access in many airports worldwide, including the KLM lounge in Houston. So I spent most of my layover there. I won't review it because it was quite busy and they had a TV tuned to a loud game show. It was better than the concourse - and had free wi-fi - but was certainly not the oasis you'd hope a lounge would be.
I eventually took the train to the terminal where I'd catch my connection. It's always a big drop going from international First Class to Economy on a regional jet but I made it home safely with my luggage and that's what counts.
Recap
In the first post of this series I had a number of maps of how much all of us flew but here's the map of the flights that I took:
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| Pink: Positioning flight from Memphis to San Francisco, Red: Cathay Pacific flight to Beijing, Green: Viking-arranged flights from Beijing to Xi'an to Lhasa to Chongqing then Wuhan to Shanghai to Tokyo, Blue: ANA flight from Tokyo to Houston and United flight back to Memphis |
We covered 792 miles on the river and 21,800 miles in the air. The Roof of the World portion of the tour was extremely well-organized, as I now expect from Viking. I was not as excited about the Tokyo extension. The day trip to Mt. Fuji was great but I was not as thrilled with the city tour. I was amazed at how well I'd be able to get around in the major Chinese cities and in Tokyo without speaking a word of Mandarin or Japanese. Maybe someday I'll get to go back and find things I missed this trip.
And that's all for the 2017 trip! For the fall 2018 trip I'll be headed back to Europe with a week in Iceland as the main attraction.
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