Amazing Sicily and Tuscany

Castiglion des  Bosco

Montalcino, Tuscany

Castiglion del Bosco is one of the most beautiful and amazing country hotel resorts one could hope to visit.  Located in the Montalcino district of Tuscany just 30 minutes south of Siena, this 800 year old 4,500 acre Tuscan estate was purchased in 2004 by Massimo Ferragamo.  Ferragamo spared no expense in restoring and building an incredible resort... luxurious facilities with only 22 suites and 9 villas, in a setting that is nothing short of stunning.

Excellent cdb website with lots of history and pics.
http://www.castigliondelbosco.com/estate/default.aspx

Off to London

After dropping our friends off at the Four Seasons Florence, we headed to fill up the tank and drop the rental off at the airport. Garmin GPS was great at getting us near the airport but Mrs. SFO and I had to laugh at how many loops of the access road it took before we found the POORLY MARKED rental car return lot. Yo, FLR. How about some better signage?? Incidentally, fourth time around was the charm.

The Four Seasons has a beautiful lobby, but a strange out of the way location.

FLR-LCY
Florence-London City
Air France CityJet 5280
Economy
Seats 17CD
Avro RJ85 (AR8)
1:15P-2:40P
October 3, 2012

Very few pax at the AF counter today and no one in the SKY PRIORITY lane as we checked our one bag.

We had 90 minutes before departure so we headed for the pre-security VIP lounge, another Priority Pass affiliate.

At about T-40 we headed to security and our "gate". I use the term loosely as FLR has no jetways. All boarding is done by bus from a open departure area.

Time to board...

Our luxurious bus to our spacious AR-85. LOL.

This is the one flight I was really dreading... two plus hours in an all Y 30" pitch 3 across AR8. But in the end, with the advice of FTers, it was actually pretty comfortable. The last 3 rows are 2x3 instead of 3x3... more room and those rows are rarely used except on full flights. Worked like a charm today as we wound up with the entire last two rows to ourselves.

Friendly DUB-based crew offered multiple rounds of drinks and sandwiches.

My first time at LCY and I can see the attraction. Very small with few pax and a great location near Canary Wharf.

Today is BA New First day!

That plus The Concorde Room and I'm excited to give BA another chance. As we drove up to the First departure area, a BA representative greeted us and asked if we'd like to use the new Complimentary valet service today. Apparently, this is a very recent addition to BA First service.

Using a hotel type luggage cart, our valet escorted us the First check in area and to an open check in counter.
Pleasant chit-chat as the agent linked our AA PNR, issued our ORD-DEN boarding passes and checked our bag thru to Denver.

Security was very light and we were thru in no time, although both my bags were flagged and routed for the baggage equivalent of an anal cavity inspection. But pleasant and friendly security staff. When I joked about all the electronics in my bag, he assured me that mine was nothing compared to others, especially those going to NBO. "You wouldn't believe what people try to carry on to those Nairobi flights... car parts, plumbing supplies."

British Airways Concorde Room

Mrs. SFO no longer asks "why are we leaving the hotel 4 hours before departure?" She knows that we are going to spend time in at least one lounge. And after today's first visit to the Concorde Room, I think she's hooked and may want to leave 5 hours before departure next time. I believe here exact words were "this is better than Lufthansa" although that did come after her 4th glass of Bollinger.

Seriously though, IMO the Concorde Room is indeed on a par with LH FCT/FCL in FRA/MUC, SQ's Private Room in SIN and the QF FCL in SYD.

Nicely appointed with multiple attractive seating areas both inside and "outside" on the terrace overlooking parts of T-5.

If you travel frequently and qualify for it, NEXUS or Global Entry are arguably one of the most important memberships a US citizen (or qualified visa holder) can have.

I've had NEXUS for 5 years, allowing me to travel to/from Canada typically without even speaking to a customs agent. It's a FBI/RCMP background check ID that let's you bypass a lot of the time-consuming and annoying border crossing and security hassles that are a part of modern travel. NEXUS automatically gives you Global Entry. And Mrs. SFO recently got her Global Entry so we were ready for the crush of pax in ORD after multiple international flights had just arrived.

There were probably 300 pax in the non-US queue at ORD and another 200 in the US queue, but not a soul at the 5 self service Global Entry kiosks. We scanned our passports, answered the declaration questions and the kiosk spit our receipts. CBP agent waived us over, interrupting the processing of another pax, looked at our receipts and waved us thru. From scanning the passport at the kiosk to baggage claim in 90 seconds. Wow.

The other benefit of NEXUS or Global Entry is trusted traveler status which lets us use the PreCheck security lanes. These feature the old metal detectors and you get to keep your shoes on, keep your laptop and liquids in your bags. And I have never had more than one other pax in the PreCheck lines.

We only had to wait a few minutes for our bag to appear on the carousel. Then exited customs and drop the bag with AA to be transferred on our connecting DEN flight. A short train ride to T3, nobody at AA priority security and we were in the ORD Admirals Club a few minutes later. Since our ORD-DEN flight was a continuation of LGA-ORD and operating from K5, we decided not to trek all the way to K20 for the Flagship Lounge. The ORD AC is pleasant enough, although we were there an extra hour as our inbound from LGA was delayed.

ORD-DEN
AA 353
MD-80
Seats 6EF (row 4 of 4)
8:45p-10:15p (sked)
9:40p-11:18p (actual)
October 4, 2012
WiFi, No PDB
Snack

Like an old shoe, we were back in our favorite and comfy 6EF on a soon to be retired Mad Dog. AA introduced new menu options on October 1st so this first time with the new menu selections. Choices were hummus and veggie plate or open face chicken sandwich. After stuffing myself all day courtesy of BA, it was simple and adequate. Hummus was tasty. Didn't look like the grapes were washed though.

Meanwhile in DEN, the 83F/29C temps of the previous day were long gone and we arrived home to 41/5.
And when I went downstairs to my office in the morning, saw my first taste of winter in years. OMG, it's only October 5th.

Thanks to all who have follow our trip and commented.