Adventures of Lydia & Calvin

Sunday, February 2, 2014

Thanksgiving 2013 in Maldives: Rome Layover

____________________________________________________________________________________

We were determined to make the most of our short stay in Rome even with the slight delay on arrival due to dealing the luggage and the jetlag kicking in. After checking in and dropping of our bags at the Best Western Hotel Universo, we headed back to the nearby Termini station and took the metro to the Trevi Fountain. I visited Rome and the Trevi fountain during the day years ago and without Lydia and the fountain looked much more beautiful than I remembered especially this time with Lydia and with the lights turned on at night and less of a crowd than during the day.

We then made our way to the Spanish Steps which we didn't spend much too time since it wasn't too interesting. We headed back to the Termini station and made a detour at one of the many McDonald's around the area for a late dinner/snack. We ordered a ciabatta type sandwich that I assumed was unique to Italy and it was pretty disappointing. The fries also came out soggy and we both agreed this was probably the worst McD we've tried.

We got up bright and early next the day to again maximize our time in Rome and hopefully beat most of the lines. The day started of with the mandatory espresso and croissant at one of the many espresso bars nearby the hotel. There's one thing I love about Rome is the endless supply of amazing espresso.

The main objective of the day was the Vatican and St Peter's Basilica. The sun was only coming out when we got there and I was happy to get some pretty good pictures of the Basilica and the square.

Thanksgiving 2013 in Maldives: Frankfurt Layover & Frankfurt to Rome

____________________________________________________________________________________

We had about a five hour layover in Frankfurt which was just the right amount of time to make use of the "Porsche experience" that's offered to Lufthansa First Class or Honor Circle members. For ~99 Euro, we had a Porsche for 3 hours/150 km. 99 Euros might seem pretty steep for a 3 hour car rental but it included the insurance and fuel as well and it was like a once in the lifetime experience for us.

There were no lines at both immigration and Avis counter so we were in the car a quick 20 minutes after we landed. We were slightly disappointed to be getting the less sexy Porsche Panamera instead of the 911 but we didn't want to waste time arguing for one (more reason to fly through Frankfurt again in the future to try the 911!). We sat in the car for a good fifteen minutes getting used to the car but for the most part trying to switch the navigation controls/GPS from German to English. Thankfully my iPhone had data roaming but so we gave up in the end and relied on maps from coming the iPhone.

We did some research prior to the trip and read about the Avis' recommended routes available here. We had decided to try the Weinheim to Rüsselsheim route since it looked like there were a couple of straight portions on the Autobahn and views of Auerbach Castle. I was somewhat nervous initially driving the car since it would not have been fun if we were to have gotten into an accident but we were eventually driving up to speeds of 220+ km/hour once we were on the Autobahn. It was so much fun! The Porsche handled and accelerated so smoothly and it felt safe even going at such high speeds.

The problem with all the fun of driving at such high speeds was that we used up the 150km quota rather quickly. It only took us slightly less than 45 minutes to reach the half way mark at the city of Bensheim where we caught glimpses of the Auerbach Castle from a far. We got out of the car for a couple of minutes to stretch our legs and get from fresh air before making our way back to the First Class Terminal.

We returned the Porsche at the First Class Terminal only about one and a half hour after taking it out and wished we had more kilometers to drive the car although we were slightly tired by this point anyway. Ah, the pleasures of departing Frankfurt as a first class passenger - someone to pick up the car and we were past security, enjoying a relaxing bath with a glass of champagne five minutes later.

This was our fourth time visiting the First Class Terminal and I'll say again that it has not gotten old (previous reviews here, here and here). After refreshing ourselves with a much needed shower, we helped ourselves to a late lunch. In addition to the usual wide selection of buffet and ala carte items, they were running a "Born to be Wild" theme meals which featured wild game like pheasant. I tried the pheasant and risotto which was really good and worth of any fine dining restaurant.

Thanksgiving 2013 in Maldives: Austin to Frankfurt

____________________________________________________________________________________

It was freezing cold in Austin and most of the United States the week of Thanksgiving and we were happy and excited to be getting some sun and warmth in the Maldives. We had booked a revenue flight on American to Denver via Dallas as part of hitting the 30k miles required to hit Executive Platinum.

I was looking forward to switching over to AA/Oneworld after United hugely devalued their miles but we've been having constant flight delays on AA flights we were taking which I'm partly blaming on the aging MD80 fleet. It was no difference this time as there was a water leak in the forward galley but thankfully they managed to get it fix with "only a 45 minute" delay to Dallas. The delay ate into our layover time in Dallas but we still did manage to squeeze a early lunch in the Amex Centurion Lounge.

Early lunch in the Amex Lounge

Thankfully the flight to Denver was uneventful but more importantly, it left and arrived on-time! It would have really sucked to have the flight delayed or cancelled and missing the Frankfurt flight. After a quick check-in with no issues having our luggage short checked to Rome, we headed for the American Airlines lounge which we got in thanks to my Amex Platinum card. I knew ahead of time that the United lounge that Lufthansa uses was nothing special and the AA lounge was actually way close to the Lufthansa gate.

Lufthansa Check-in Area

AA Lounge

We arrived at the departure gate right as boarding was about to begin. There was a sizeable crowd that we manage to squeeze through to get into the first class line and soon enough we were in the exclusive confines of the upper deck of the 747 taking us to Frankfurt today.

Thanksgiving 2013 in Maldives: Introduction

_________________________________________________________________________________

Another long overdue report! :( Hopefully, I'll finish this as soon as possible.

After only visiting Conrad Maldives last Christmas and already visiting twice before that (reports here and here), we were not planning to return to Maldives that soon. Yes, it's one of our favorite places on earth but it can be expensive to make it a yearly tradition.

We had gone on the whale shark excursion during the last visit and had signed up to the non profit Maldives Whaleshark Research program mailing list/facebook page that ran the excursion since we wanted to learn more about the maginificent whale sharks. Early in 2013, there ran a silent charity auction for a stay at the Conrad Maldives which we ended up winning much to our surprise!

We had initially booked a more direct Turkish Airlines Houston to Male via Istanbul in business class through my United miles to get to Maldives. I was reasonably happy with the redemption since it would give us a chance to try Turkish Airlines and their much acclaimed lounge in Istanbul.

Two weeks prior to departure, I got restless and managed to come up with a much long winded way of getting to Maldives albeit in First Class:

Austin to Denver on revenue tickets on American Airlines
Denver to Frankfurt in Lufthansa First Class and onto Rome
Rome to Bangkok in Thai First Class
Bangkok to Maldives via Singapore on Thai and Singapore Business Class

Although the flight experience wasn't new having tried both Lufthansa and Thai in first class before, we decided the difference in miles and the additional day traveling required was worth it since it was first class for the most part (First is still First :)), we got to take a Porsche out for a drive during our layover in Frankfurt and had a day for a quick look in Rome.

For the flights back to Austin, we opted for one of the ex-CMB AA fares since we needed the AA miles for the AA 30k EXP challenge that both of us managed to sign up for. By the time we got around to booking the ticket, the first class fare was no longer available and routing on AA metal or codeshare was somewhat limited which resulted in another long winded multi-hop flight back:

Male to Colombo on Srilankan Airways
Colombo to Manchester via Abu Dhabi on Etihad in Business
Manchester to Austin via Chicago on American Airlines in Business

Ritz Carlton Kuala Lumpur

Quick Introduction and DFW to LHR (AA Business)
LHR layover
LHR to SIN (BA Business)
Ritz Carlton Kuala Lumpur
Penang to Hong Kong (Malaysia First Class)
Hong Kong to Haneda (Cathay Pacific First Class)
Tokyo Layover
Tokyo to Los Angeles (JAL First Class)

____________________________________________________________________________________

Lydia and I had to spend a night in Kuala Lumpur on our recent trip back to Malaysia (full trip report coming!) to get your US visas renewed. Instead of staying at our usual Doubletree or Hilton Kuala Lumpur spots, we decided to stay at the Ritz Carlton due to a pretty good deal from booking with American Express Platinum Leading Hotels & Resorts program. As part of booking with Amex, we would be getting a room upgrade, complimentary breakfast and guaranteed late checkout till 4pm. On top of those perks, Amex offers a hotel specific perk like a free lunch or spa credit. In our case, it was a $100 USD dining credit per stay which was the kicker for us considering the room rate was $180 USD after taxes. A $80USD per night rate at a Ritz Carlton seems like a awesome deal!

Since we had a ton of luggage, we arrived at the Ritz from KLIA via taxi. A porter was on hand on greet us and help with the luggage. What was amazing was that the porter addressed me by name when he handed me the luggage stubs. I'm guessing the took a peek at our airline luggage tags to figure out our names - what great service to start.

They did manage to find a room ready even though we arrived earlier than the check-in time at around nine in the morning. The front desk agent than went over our perks as part of booking with Amex and we were caught surprised that instead of the $100 USD dining credit, we were offered a afternoon tea instead. I didn't make a big fuss about it then since we were given lounge access even though this was not an entitlement.

We did later found out that there was no afternoon tea available on the day we were at the Ritz which was really disappointing. Since it wasn't available, the front desk should have proactively swapped out the perk for something else. We eventually went back to the front desk to make a fuss about it and only after standing firm did the front desk manager "replaced" the afternoon tea with the $100USD dining credit.

It looked like we had been upgraded to a next category room from the cheapest room that we had booked. It wasn't terribly large but I found the room nicely furnished and functional. I liked the fact that the TV was both in front of the sofa and bed allowing me to either laze in bed or relax by the sofa and watch the TV.

The bathroom was huge and almost the same size as the bed room. It was stocked with high-end amenities and Ritz branded towels.

We also noticed what looked like last night's turn down amenity left behind and not cleaned up when we checked-in. This was definitely another no-no as a Ritz.

Last night's turn down amenity

Since we had arrived early, we managed to sample breakfast at both the lounge and the main restaurant. The breakfast at the lounge was disappointing in that it was very chaotic with not enough tables and the staff having a hard time keeping up with cleaning up the tables and taking orders. The selection in the lounge was as usual, less than the main restaurant but what was supposedly a more relaxed atmosphere was supposed to make up for it. Definitely not in this case.