A380 First Class Marathon

I arrived at the gate just before boarding started. 

I selected on inside bulkhead seat 6D in the 2nd mini-cabin, which is regarded by UA Flyertalks as the best seat on the plane.  The bulkhead seats had larger cut out cubby holes for your feet when sleeping.  OK, it may be the best on this plane but it's a far cry from anyone's First Class.

This is a nice touch and indeed the Saks Fifth Avenue pillow and duvet were very nice.

Friendly and pleasant FAs made the rounds hanging up jackets and serving PDBs and chocolates.  But no one is going to confuse this with First Class.  With 48 Business Class, it was pretty hectic as the entire Economy cabin of 200+ boarded at 2L and walked thru the Business mini-cabin.

United's wine list, mostly 86, 87 and 88 rated wines, although the Tempranillo had a sticker on the bottle claiming Robert Parker gave it a 94.  We'll see about that.

The Polaris amenity kit.  Nice packaging with the Saks logo.

But a grab bag of mostly meh.

The IFE system had a hand controller which was mostly useless as it could only scroll up, down, left or right and not enter anything.  So I just used the touch screen controls.

The forward Business Class cabin.

After take-off our crew was quick to start service.

My usual G&T.

Then inexplicably, just as I started sipping on my G&T, another FA brought out the dinner tray.  Seriously??  Ever heard of pacing?  It's a 3pm departure and a 10 hour for effsake.   I asked him to go away, LOL and serve me at the end, which he obliged.

Fifteen minutes later, my meal tray.  

The smoked duck was OK to be kind.

While the salad was just gross and inedible.

Apparently catering is rationing the garlic butter on the garlic bread.

After those two starters, I was dreading the worst with my pork chop.  But lo and behold, I was served a large and beautiful pork chop. 

Perfectly prepared, moist and delicious!   After a 2nd G&T, I tried a glass of the Tempranillo which was actually pretty good.

And the dessert cart.

My made to order sundae was excellent, with chocolate sauce and extra M&Ms.   Love the cardboard bowl which United is using since their old glass apparently were chipping.

I slept pretty well for nearly 4 hours and then did a little work.  Wifi worked reasonably well but sporadically.  It was a little pricey at $28 for the flight.

Breakfast options were the omelet or fruit plate.

It was pretty good.

And so was the cinnamon bun.

We touched down at CDG 15 minutes early and were at the gate a few minutes later.  All in all, a reasonably pleasant flight for the price.  But it's a far cry from Air France or even Lufthansa First Class and I don't want to make a habit of it.   

Just after 12:30pm, I headed down the hall to the Qatar Lounge, which was just opening.   Pleasant QR rep indicated that while they were unable to issue boarding passes, they could check me in, and my boarding pass would be waiting for me at the gate.  And that my e-ticket confirmation was all that I needed to get thru security and to the gate.  Not as clean as I would have liked, but it sure beats the alternative.  The Qatar Lounge is only about 6 months old and is quite lovely, reminiscent of the LHR lounge. And with the same wonderful service.

I freshened up with a shower before we headed to lunch. 

A glass of Billecart Salmon to start our lunch, and an meze amuse bouche.

My cream of asparagus soup.

And the delicious lamb birhyani.

Our fabulous server Vasanthi who insisted that we try a glass of the Chateau Peymouton St-Emilion Grand Cru.   Just like in a government subsized Delta Club. LOL.

From Gate A3, it was a short walk thru an empty concourse to the main central terminal complex of shops, restaurants and lounges.

HIA's huge showpiece signature teddy bear.

Stunning architecture as we wander around trying to locate the Al Safwa Lounge.

The relatively new terminal is a pleasure to visit but signage leaves a lot to be desired.   Major directional signs show directions to First Class Lounge which just turned us in circles.  The only explanation I can think of is that there is a generic First Class Lounge for all but Qatar.

The gorgeous Al Mourjan Lounge is still where is was three years ago.

Even with directions from the Al Mourjan sentry, it still took another 5 minutes to find the promised land. 

Talk about an impressive entrance.

The Lounge is huge, indeed mind-blowingly large with numerous wide corridors.  It's not particularly warm lounge though.  It kind of reminded me of a modern museum but without the art.

There is also a convenient and secure check-room behind the inside First customer service counter, where we left our carry-ons during our visit.

I set up shop in what is arguably the nicest Business Centre of any airline lounge, anywhere.

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The bar and dining area is huge, sleek and modern but not very personable or intimate.

We headed for the bar.

Are you serious?  The house champagne is the La Grande Dame.  Wow.

And Showtime, Al Safwa style.   The menu was lovely but I forgot to take a pic.  My bad.

Our starter was excellent.

And the pasta dishes simply out of this world.

And you everyday bottle of wine that you will not find served at your government subsidized Sky Club.

OMG, I don't think I need to eat on our Doha-Guangzhou flight.

From our arrival gate, it was a 5 minute walk to customs and immigration.

Where we were for a good half hour if not more.   We took advantage of the 24/72 hour visa-free transit which is available in many Chinese cities including Guangzhou.  And just as FlyetTalk's Short hair Francis predicted, our short stay prompted a few questions.  We were first told that we didn't have enough time (less the 8 hours) to qualify.  Then shuttled off to a secondary area where we waited for 30 minutes while our request was processed.  We chatted with another westerner who had lived in Guangzhou and was back visiting friends, and reassured us that this was just part of the bureaucratic paper-pushing Chinese dog and pony show.  Sure enough, a few minutes later, we were approved to enter the country.

We had pre-arranged for a local private guide (highly rated on Trip Advisor) to meet us, show us Guangzhou and drop us back at the airport later that night.   Xaq was waiting for us with a name sign and we exited the terminal and our driver "Peter" pulled up a short time later.  

By this time, it was nearly 5:30pm and we're headed off for the city center of Guangzhou.

In rush hour, it took more than an hour.  Given our later arrival and visa issues, we were at least 90 minutes behind schedule.  So we decided to skip the previously planned Six Banyan Temple, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall and Pearl River cruise and go right to dinner at a local Cantonese restaurant that Xaq has suggested.

Xaq ordered for the table and we thoroughly enjoyed his selections.

Rain from the approaching typhoon had picked up during dinner as we found Peter and headed for a nightime tour of new Guangzhou. 

Despite the off and on rain, we got out at the new Guangzhou Library for our walking tour of impressive new Guangzhou. 

In the distance, iconic Canton Tower. 

We took the subway for the 1 stop ride under the Pearl River to Canton Tower.

And a look back across the Pearl River.

At the base of the Canton Tower, we met Peter for the 70 minute drive back to the airport.

With a population of 13 milliion, Guangzhou is the 3rd largest city China.  Five hours is way too short to really do it justice.