Hotel: W Seoul – Walkerhill 21 Gwangjang Dong, Gwangjin Gu Seoul 143 708 Korea Phone: (82)(2) 465 2222 Fax: (82)(2) 450 4989 Cash & Points Rate There wasn’t much traffic out of Incheon and I was hopeful, but I was leaving the airport around 6pm on a Friday and that couldn’t possibly yield a quick trip. On the other hand, I was heading into Seoul and not out, I thought perhaps that would help. And indeed it did, the traffic in the other direction was worse, but while the freeway was pretty clear for the first part of the trip once we crossed the river we were pretty much in a standstill. In all, the drive took about 100 minutes. Someone was immediately available to assist with our bags, and I walked up to the…
Trip Reports
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Inox Restaurant, Tysons Corner
Finally got out to Inox in Tysons Corner, the new Jonathan Krinn place. Very good for DC, but not quite living up to its potential, at least on our visit. Sweetbreads were oversalted. Vennison Rossini was really outstanding. (They clearly aren’t trying to do ‘seasonal’). Desserts were well-designed on the plate but mediocre, made up for by excellent petite fours. Service tried to be nice – very friendly, attention to detail in descriptions of the dishes, but the kitchen had a hard time getting both of our entrees out at the same time and the sauce on my wife’s plate had dried under a heat lamp. Bread was a good, though less interesting, than it was at 2941 [choices were garlic, olive, or pumpernickel and they did continually bring around plenty of it). Complimentary valet,…
Sheraton Annapolis, Not So Much…
I checked into the Sheraton Annapolis yesterday afternoon. I turned up at 2:40pm, was told they had me in a club room with two double beds. Umm, my wifeand I are still only a few years into our marriage, could we have one bed? 😉 This place was busy, busy, busy. They told me they had no king rooms available, sorry. Could you downgrade me off the club floor and give me a king? “Nothing’s ready, you know it isn’t even check-in time yet.” Ok, when could I have a king? “Check-in time is at 3pm sir, please come back in 20 minutes. I will block you into a king room on the 5th floor.” I return at 3:30pm. They had me in … a club room with 2 double beds. I mentioned that I…
Asiana Business Class, Hong Kong to Seoul
1:10 pm Hong Kong, Hong Kong (HKG) to Seoul, South Korea (ICN) Asiana Flight 722 Business Class Boeing 767 1,269 miles traveled The Thai Airways agent brought the three of us across the terminal, dropping her off at immigration and us at the transit desk where another staff member was waiting for us – he already made sure that Asiana had printed our boarding passes, they just needed to enter our luggage information into their system and assured us that our bags would make it onto the aircraft. He then escorted us through transit security. We wanted to make a stop in some of the shops, so we excused him from further service. Then we made our way down towards the gates and lounge. Asiana issues a lounge invite for the Dragonair lounge near gate…
Thai Airways First Class, Bangkok to Hong Kong, Part Two: Flight Experience
We were approached in the lounge and introduced to our escort who would take us through security and to our flight. The Hong Kong flight was close-in, so no golf cart today. Instead, a short walk to the flight. We boarded and were immediately offered some pre-departure champagne. Thai was serving the ’99 Bollinger, I had been expecting some 2000 Dom Perignon but Bollinger is still a respectable bottle. I assumed this was just for the Hong Kong flight, but some colleagues subsequently flew Beijing-Bangkok-Shanghai in Thai first and had the Bollinger on both segments, so perhaps this is provisioned for intra-Asian first these days. The ‘new’ Thai First seat is nice, certainly an improvement over their old first class (beware the dreaded Thai aircraft swap!) but there’s no privacy to it at all. Perfectly…
Thai Airways First Class, Bangkok to Hong Kong, Part One: Ground Experience
8:00 am Bangkok, Thailand (BKK) to Hong Kong, Hong Kong (HKG) Thai Airways Flight 600 First Class Seats 2J, 2K Duration: 2h 45m Boeing 747 1,063 miles traveled We got up early for our 8am departure, wanting to take as much advantage of the Thai Airways Bangkok departure experience as possible. We caught the shuttle over to the airport just before 5am, and had the driver stop at the first dropoff area, the First/Business Class check-in. The driver took our bags out of the back of the van, I nodded over to one of the waiting porters who came over, I told him first class and he loaded up our bags and brought us over to the first class checkin lounge. We had a seat, handed our passports over to the Thai Airways agent, and…
Novotel Suvarnabhumi (Bangkok Airport Hotel)
Hotel: Novotel Suvarnabhumi Airport 999 Suvarnabhumi Airport HotelMoo 1 Nongprue Bang PhliSamutprakarn – 10540 BANGKOK – THAILAND Tel : (+66)2/1311111 My recollection from past stays was that the airport Novotel had a representative outside of door 4. This time as we headed over there two Thai ladies were at a desk inside the door, checking guests against an arrivals sheet. She asked my name but I wasn’t on the list. I showed her my printed confirmation for my prepaid rate, and we invited me out the door to the waiting hotel shuttle bus. We pulled up to the front of the hotel, grabbed our bags, and went upside. One of the staff members was ready to assist me, and it turns out that I walked in just in time because a sleuth of guests queued…
Flight From Chiang Rai Back to Bangkok
3:30 pm Chiang Rai, Thailand (CEI) to Bangkok, Thailand (BKK) Thai Airways Flight 135 Business Class Seat Assignment at Check-in Duration: 1h 15m Airbus A300-600R 414 miles traveled We left the hotel a little bit after 2pm for our 3:30pm flight and even that was more than plenty early. We were at the airport in about 10 minutes, checked in within two minutes of our arrival (after running our bags through security screening at the entrance) and there was no line whatever for security screening before the gate area. There’s a Thai Airways lounge at the airport, but it’s not much better than waiting outside in the terminal. A woman checks eligibility for entry into the lounge, but there’s a sign on her desk that says “Self Service.” Although there’s not much service you can…
Northern Thai Cuisine Cooking Class at Le Meridien Chiang Rai
Chiang Rai Cooking Class at the Le Meridien: On our last morning at the resort we scheduled a cooking class. I don’t like early morning departures, I’m tired and I’m not relaxed and that really cuts against the whole point of the resort stay. But afternoon departures can leave us feeling antsy, basically just waiting around and killing time until it’s time to fly. So we always try to schedule an activity for the last morning, and on Southeast Asia trips in particular that usually means a cooking class. I enjoy cooking Asian dishes, and usually do bring back what I learn in the class to prepare at home. In advance of the stay I e-mailed Le Meridien to find out whether they offered classes. I did look into what else one might do in…
Touring the Golden Triangle
Golden Triangle Thailand Tour: I pinged a few tour providers in the Chiang Rai area and they were all quoting prices close to what the Le Meridien was asking for the tours arranged through the hotel. I decided to go with the hotel booking for convenience (of course they are contracting with a local tour operator, but do handle everything and ensure the guide and driver are there for us on time, provide their waters and cold cloths, etc).. I did feel a little bit trite in requesting their “tour #7” Doi Mae Salong / Golden Triangle full day tour. But after emailing the hotel and having them send me a list of the tours they offer (a one-page .pdf sheet of each, which is also duplicated in a book in the room) I decided…
