Moscow 2011: Cairo to Istanbul

Moscow 2011: Cairo to Istanbul

• Introduction
• The low-cost part of the trip: Penang to Hong Kong
• Hong Kong “forced” layover
• 1^st time in first class: Hong Kong United and Thai First Lounge
• 1^st time in first class: Hong Kong to Bangkok
• The Thai F experience in Bangkok
• Bangkok to Dubai
• Dubai Layover
• Dubai to Istanbul
• Istanbul Layover
• Istanbul to Moscow
• Moscow Overview
• Moscow Day 1
• Moscow Day 2 
• Moscow Day 3 
• Last Day in Moscow
• Moscow to Frankfurt
• Frankfurt/Lufthansa First Class Terminal
• More 1^st Class – Frankfurt to Cairo
• Cairo Layover
• Cairo to Istanbul
• RIP THY 1^st class: Istanbul to Hong Kong
• Conclusion

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I wasn't expecting too much on this Cairo to Istanbul flight after reading some trip reports and reviews about Egypt Air. Our experience turned out to be inline with the rest of the majority where it was an OK experience but I wouldn't go out of my way to use Egypt Air again.  Check-in went by pretty quick and our bags were tagged all the way to Hong Kong.

We then proceeded to one of the business lounges airside.  The lounge was pretty basic and small.  They had some sandwiches, fruit and drinks available.  I just used the rest of the time to catch up with email.  I would not want to spend more than an hour in the lounge itself.

Lydia in the lounge:

Moscow 2011: Cairo Layover

Moscow 2011: Cairo Layover

• Introduction
• The low-cost part of the trip: Penang to Hong Kong
• Hong Kong “forced” layover
• 1^st time in first class: Hong Kong United and Thai First Lounge
• 1^st time in first class: Hong Kong to Bangkok
• The Thai F experience in Bangkok
• Bangkok to Dubai
• Dubai Layover
• Dubai to Istanbul
• Istanbul Layover
• Istanbul to Moscow
• Moscow Overview
• Moscow Day 1
• Moscow Day 2 
• Moscow Day 3 
• Last Day in Moscow
• Moscow to Frankfurt
• Frankfurt/Lufthansa First Class Terminal
• More 1^st Class – Frankfurt to Cairo
• Cairo Layover
• Cairo to Istanbul
• RIP THY 1^st class: Istanbul to Hong Kong
• Conclusion

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Our flight to Cairo arrived at about 8pm and our next flight to Istanbul was scheduled to leave at 3pm giving us a good 18 hour layover to explore Cairo.  We decided to hire a tour guide for the layover tour and it was a good decision. Our tour guide (Marian) did an excellent job! (Send us a comment/email for her details for those who are interested).  She took good care of us and provided excellent info to the sites we visited.

Our first stop that night was the Al-Muizz Street in Islamic area of Cairo.  The street consisted of shops selling various souvenirs and antiques and old mosques with beautiful architecture.

Moscow 2011: Frankfurt to Cairo

Moscow 2011: More 1^st Class – Frankfurt to Cairo

• Introduction
• The low-cost part of the trip: Penang to Hong Kong
• Hong Kong “forced” layover
• 1^st time in first class: Hong Kong United and Thai First Lounge
• 1^st time in first class: Hong Kong to Bangkok
• The Thai F experience in Bangkok
• Bangkok to Dubai
• Dubai Layover
• Dubai to Istanbul
• Istanbul Layover
• Istanbul to Moscow
• Moscow Overview
• Moscow Day 1
• Moscow Day 2 
• Moscow Day 3 
• Last Day in Moscow
• Moscow to Frankfurt
• Frankfurt/Lufthansa First Class Terminal
• More 1^st Class – Frankfurt to Cairo
• Cairo Layover
• Cairo to Istanbul
• RIP THY 1^st class: Istanbul to Hong Kong
• Conclusion

________________________________________________________________________

The flight to Cairo was on a 747.  Lufthansa has their first class in the upper deck with a 2-2 seating.  There have been many complains on the seating due to the lack of privacy and space but we have no complains since we were traveling together and it was a relatively short flight.

Pre-departure drinks and nuts:

Some pictures of the cabin:

Moscow 2011: Frankfurt/Lufthansa First Class Terminal

Moscow 2011: Frankfurt/Lufthansa First Class Terminal

• Introduction
• The low-cost part of the trip: Penang to Hong Kong
• Hong Kong “forced” layover
• 1^st time in first class: Hong Kong United and Thai First Lounge
• 1^st time in first class: Hong Kong to Bangkok
• The Thai F experience in Bangkok
• Bangkok to Dubai
• Dubai Layover
• Dubai to Istanbul
• Istanbul Layover
• Istanbul to Moscow
• Moscow Overview
• Moscow Day 1
• Moscow Day 2 
• Moscow Day 3 
• Last Day in Moscow
• Moscow to Frankfurt
• Frankfurt/Lufthansa First Class Terminal
• More 1^st Class – Frankfurt to Cairo
• Cairo Layover
• Cairo to Istanbul
• RIP THY 1^st class: Istanbul to Hong Kong
• Conclusion

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The flight got into Frankfurt about 45 minutes late cutting our layover in Frankfurt to less than 5 hours.  We were initially planning on taking the train down to downtown Frankfurt to do some quick sightseeing but with the gloomy wet weather and the even short layover, we just decided to kill the time in the First Class Terminal which turned out to be a good idea. 

On arrival in Frankfurt, announcement was made that we would have to be bused to the terminal.  What made it more annoying that for some reason that even the flight attendants didn’t know about, only the back door was being used.  This meant we had to wait for the entire plane to leave before we could.  I caught a glimpse of a Mercedes approaching the plane when the landed and I thought to myself if that car was for us.  Sure enough, when we got off the plane, the driver had a clipboard with both our names on it.  He took our carry-ons and explained that this was a service provided for First Class passengers.  People in the bus were looking at us and probably thinking who this 2 young Asian kids were… if only they knew :P The driver took us to the main terminal where we proceeded to clear immigration and head over to the First Class Terminal....

Tokyo is a no go..

Lydia and I are supposed to be on a plane to Beijing right now.  In the bigger picture of things on what's happening in Japan right now with the nuclear plant, it was/will be a good idea to put of Tokyo to some other day.

On a slightly better note, Lydia has some 7000 due to expire Krisflyer miles.  We're thinking of using those miles for a weekend gateaway to Manado/Bunaken for some world class snorkelling in June.  Can't wait :)

To Tokyo or not...

This was supposed to be the first family vacation with the mum, dad, sis and bro in over 15 years.  Sis has already postponed her trip and the parents are seriously considering canceling. Should we cancel or should we not...  

Moscow 2011: Moscow to Frankfurt

Moscow 2011: Moscow to Frankfurt

• Introduction
• The low-cost part of the trip: Penang to Hong Kong
• Hong Kong “forced” layover
• 1^st time in first class: Hong Kong United and Thai First Lounge
• 1^st time in first class: Hong Kong to Bangkok
• The Thai F experience in Bangkok
• Bangkok to Dubai
• Dubai Layover
• Dubai to Istanbul
• Istanbul Layover
• Istanbul to Moscow
• Moscow Overview
• Moscow Day 1
• Moscow Day 2 
• Moscow Day 3 
• Last Day in Moscow
• Moscow to Frankfurt
• Frankfurt/Lufthansa First Class Terminal
• More 1^st Class – Frankfurt to Cairo
• Cairo Layover
• Cairo to Istanbul
• RIP THY 1^st class: Istanbul to Hong Kong
• Conclusion

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Back to planes and lounges…

Our flight from DME was 2 weeks before the terrorists bombing.  This definitely put things into perspective on how close one can be with tragedy..

 

We left the hotel at 4.30 am on a pre-booked taxi for our Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt from Domodedovo airport (DME) that was scheduled for 7 am.  The first impression of DME was that this was a newer airport if compared to SVO. We checked in at an empty first-class Lufthansa counter since we had a first class flight to Cairo later that day.  I had already pre-booked seats 7A and 7C and didn’t realize until we actually got on the plane that Lydia was moved to 7D giving us an entire row to ourselves.  I’m guessing that this must have been due to the first class ticket. Sorry for the lack of pictures of the airport as I was paranoid on whether taking pictures at the airport was allowed in Russia..