Hong Kong Day 1 (Apr 11/12)

[Zawadi]

Today, April 11, is the day for our eastern adventure. Nala, our cat, checked into her hotel at 09:00 and we returned home to tidy up before leaving for the Virgin Atlantic Upper Class lounge at London Heathrow. The car arrived at 15:30 and we were in the lounge by 17:10 after a speedy trip through the dedicated security channel.

Time for a drink and some dinner:
Minted pea soup with a crisp crouton
Chicken Jalfrezi
Banoffee pie
Washed down with Trevisiol Prosecco di Valdobbiadene

The lounge has a pool table, large video wall showing several channels with personal audio feeds, deli bar (breads, hams, cheeses, fish & fruit) and a health & beauty spa.

By 19:10 the lounge was filling up as there were several VA flights this evening. We were scheduled to leave at 22:30 and we would be called at 21:45. So, plenty of time for some cocktails "Cosmopolitan" (Grey Goose L'Orange, Cointreau, Lime & Cranberry Juice) and "Bonito Spring" (Vodka, Mango, Apple, Cointreau & Lime). This is the life!!!!!

The clock rapidly ticked by and after a few more beverages and sharing a chocolate fondant our flight was called.

All on board and we pushed back 5 minutes early. The service was impeccable (much better than on the London to Orlando flight). We both opted for Pea and Mint Soup with Creme Fraiche followed by Lemon & RicottaTortellini. Neither of us could face a dessert. During the flight we watched Les Mis. After a long sleep we started to watched Life of Pi and The Hobbit before the descent into Hong Kong was announced. In the end the flight lasted 11 hours with a +7 hour time shift. We landed an hour early and it took all of 20 minutes to clear immigration, collect the cases and be seated in one of the hotel's cars (a Mercedes Benz).

In the hotel, since we were club level we were escorted directly to our room (view from room) where we were checked in. We were offered a room upgrade as the stay covers our wedding anniversary. A lovely suite with living room, steam shower room and 2 person jacuzzi. Really nice until the concierge asked for an extra HKD4000 (approx USD600 or GBP400) per night.

We ventured to the club lounge for some champagne and snacks before walking out to the avenue of the stars, and meandering to the 1921 Clock Tower which is all that remains of the old Clock Tower Kowloon Railway Station (demolished 1978) but in its day you could board a train back to Europe via Mongolia.

On returning to the hotel we asked the conceige where we could buy Octopus cards (pre-paid RFID cards for the public transport MTR network). The concierge was surprised that we knew about the cards on this being our first visit to HK. We got sorted out in the business centre.

We returned to our room, (night time view) grabbing a soft drink from the lounge on the way, unpacked to discover a severe shortage of drawers in the room, and hit the pillows at 23:30, a mere 27 hours after leaving our house. We left the curtains open to see the view. We woke up during the night to see that most of the neon lights, on the North Shore buildings, get switched off during the wee small hours.

[Awesome_guy]

Wow great start to the trip! Look forward to hearing more! =)

[Tink1]

Nice! What hotel were you at?

Nanc

[badkitty]

Fantastic view! What a great beginning to your trip. I can't believe it is time for your HK trip already! I'm looking forward to reading more.

[Zawadi]

Nice! What hotel were you at?

Nanc

Intercontinental Kowloon
(club level)

[VWL Mom]

Sounds like a wonderful way to start your trip! Looking forward to reading more.

[NJGIRL]

Wow....sounds like it is going to be a great trip.

[ibelieveindisneymagic]

Just the lounge and plane ride sound like a great vacation.

[DisneyDINK]

20 minutes through customs, not bad!

I'm off to your next day...

[Melanie]

Settling in to read your reports. Great start to your trip!

[Joannelet]

Yay! I am finally getting around to reading your trip reports! Great arrival day!!!