Here is my trip report with respect to my recent trip to Hong Kong.   This is a very, very, very long read (did I mention it was long (smile)) as I want it to be as comprehensive as possible for anyone who may be interested, and this was a dream trip, so I have done sub-headings, so if anything particularly interests you, just skip down to that particular sub-heading for my thoughts.  As always, if I express an opinion, please be advised that it is just my own, and as is always the case in matters of opinion, your mileage may vary (YMMV)!  Also, I have used a little more explanation than might be necessary for the world savvy frequent traveler just in case folks are not familiar with some of the lingo used herein.

Pre-Departure Day:
My journey began on Friday morning from Toronto, Canada.   Drove into Toronto on Thursday night after a nice series of flights from CLT-CLE-BUF on CO to meet my sister who was to be traveling with me.  Mrs. Gtitan was not up for this one! (smile).  We drove from BUF to YYZ and stayed the night at a Quality Inn where we did park, sleep and fly.  Got up early (6 am) on Friday, got a quick workout in at the Quality Inn, and we headed to YYZ for our flight.  I can recommend for anyone flying out of YYZ the park, sleep and fly option, as the room was more than adequate, was inexpensive, and you could keep your car there for the duration of the trip as part of the package.  There was shuttle service from to the hotel to the airport and back.   The price for all of this was less than a $100.00 American Dollars.

Flight Day and Check in YYZ:
We had checked in the night before on Cathay Pacific’s (CX: the two letter code for Cathay Pacific) website, and I am glad we did because we signed up for flight notification, and they bumped our flight time up by about 30 minutes.  Check in at YYZ in the CX first class (FC) line was a breeze.  Took only a few minutes, and we were given invitations for the CX arrival lounge at HKG.  Interestingly, my sister who is an AAdvantage General Member was shown as a One World Ruby on her boarding pass which did not make any sense to me, but it was interesting nonetheless.   One World is a group of airlines that for those of you unaware that has among other airlines, CX, American Airlines, Qantas and British Airways.   One World classifies its elite members based on three tiers: Ruby the lowest, Sapphire the middle, and Emerald the highest.  Based upon my status as Executive Platinum on American Airlines (which is the highest tier on American), I am classified as a One World Emerald.

Even though I am from ROC originally (been in CLT about 10 years now), I had never previously flown in or out of YYZ (which for those who don’t know is just across Lake Ontario from ROC).  YYZ is a nice airport I must say.  We did not have time to check out the KLM crown lounge at YYZ, but that is no big deal.  As an NW Platinum Elite, I have seen a few KLM lounges in AMS in my time (smile).

Boarding:
We boarded on time.  Boarding was smooth and orderly, and we were shown to our seats.  Ok, as some of you may know, I am new to the OW Family and Emerald Status.  I’ve been a Sky Team Guy for most of my heavy FF time and have flown some * A, but always flew in business class.  This was my first time in both international first class and on a OW carrier other than AA.  I must say it was quite impressive.  We were flying CX 827 from YYZ to HKG which is a 773ER.  I was struck by how solitary and private the seats and the FC cabin are.  We were presented with menus, amenity kits, pajamas, slippers and the like.  We were offered pre-flight beverages, and interestingly, I asked for my standard drink of club soda or sparkling water, and I was told that they could not open the bar till after take off.  In all my years of flying that has never happened, but it was no problem.  I can drink mimosas just fine thank you (wink) (smile).

Take-Off:
We lifted off into the air, and I always get a little giddy for lack of a better term when rising into flight. It never gets old!  We were flying the great polar route, and it was a very pleasant journey.

Food Dining Experience:
Here are the Food and Drink Menu in first class.  Note that meal service was dine when you like, so there was no set time.  One would just order when hungry and be served:

Brunch:     Starters
Orange Juice or Apple Juice
Strawberry, mango and banana energergizer
Fresh Seasonal Fruit
Natural or fruit yogurt
Assorted Cereals

Main Courses
Eggs-freshly scrambled, fried or boiled
Served with your choice of grilled mini steak, steak bacon, pork sausage
Rosti potatoes or roma tomatoe

Imperial fried noodles with Chinese dim sum
Seafood congee with spring onion pancake

Bread Basket
Assorted breakfast bread and fresh toast
served with preserves, honey and butter

Tea and Coffee

Dinner:    Caviar, Smoked Salmon and Champagne
Caviar and Balik Salmon, “Tsar Nicolaj” with Amour de Deutz
Blanc de blanc 99

Starters
Mushroom cream soup
Caesar Salad

Main Courses
Pepper crusted rack of lamb, creamy cheese polenta and green beans
Butternut squash ravioli with creamy tomato, spinach and basil saude

Chinese Favorites
Double boiled conch with fish maw soup
Cold plate –marinated cucumber and seaweed knots
Braised Chicken with abalone
Braised cold fish with bean curd sticks, garlic and black mushrooms served with         steamed jasmine rice and vegetables

Cheese and Dessert
Mini Oka, Goat Herb, Cheddar, Cambozola
Fresh seasonal berries with vanilla sauce
Bailey’s Crème brulee
Bread and butter rhubarb pudding with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce
Red beans soup with lotus seeds

Tea and Coffee

Pralines and Cookies

Snacks:    Roasted duck in noodle soup
Warm chicken teriyaki in manoucher bread
Barbecued pork bun
Haagen Daz Ice Cream
Hot rice with pork spare ribs with black beans and chicken broth
Vegetarian choice

Ok, here comes my flame suit, but I did not eat while in flight!(LOL)  I just don’t eat airline food.  Yes, I know it was CX, it was FC, etc., but as Shakespeare said, “Above all else to thine own self be true …”(LOL).  I did drink some though! <wink>.  My sister did eat and said the food was good and was quite plentiful.

Drink Menu and Beverage Service:
While I tend not to eat on planes, I surely do enjoy a cocktail or two or three or four or ….(LOL).  Anyway, the flight attendants were quite diligent and inquired about beverages with good frequency in my humble opinion (IMHO).  I enjoyed many, many beverages. I tried the CX signature drinks, and they were quite good.  I tend to enjoy a beer or two, and the beer selection was actually a little more limited than I imagined.  There were no American domestics which did not surprise me, but there were no Asian beers offered either interestingly enough.   Note, I had a few San Miguel beers that were quite good.  The champagne was quite excellent as well.

Without further adieu, here is the drink menu (wine list) for first class on our flight:

Champagne:            Champagne Amour De Deutz, Blanc de blanc 1999
White wines:    Curvaison Estate Selection Chardonnay Napa Valley Carneros 2004
Bouchard Pere & Fils Meursault Les Clous 2005

Red Wines:        Felipe Rutini Malbec 2006
Chateau Lynch Bages 2001
Port:        Ramos Pinto Quinta da Ervamoira 10 Year Old Tawny Port

Aperitifs and Cocktails:    Camapri, Martini Rosso, Martini Extra Dry, Tio Pepe Sherry, Harveys Bristol Cream Sweet Sherry, Gordons Dry Gin, Absolut Vodka, Bloody Mary, Screwdriver
Cognac:    Tesseron Lot 76 XO Tradition
Liqueurs:    Cointreau, Drambuie, Kahula, Bailey’s Irish Cream
Beer:    International Selection (see above paragraph for discussion)
CX Signature Drinks:    Oriental Breeze (sour plum tea, cranberry juice with honey and fresh lemon with a hint of rose water
Cloud Nine (vodka, cointreau and sprite with lemon flavor)

AVOD:
The AVOD on the CX flight was really, really nice.  It was essentially having your own private widescreen television.  I watched several movies and sampled some HK cinema with English Subtitles.  Interestingly, my AVOD went inoperative during the flight for a bit, and the flight attendant had to reset the system which fixed it.  I was quite impressed with the ease of use and the plethora of offerings.  It was the best AVOD that I’ve experienced as to choice bar none.

Seat:
The seat was very nice as well.  I would really describe it like having a sleeper sofa in the sky with a seat belt.  I really did not sleep, but my sister had the folks turn the seat into a bed. It appeared quite comfortable.

In-flight Flight Attendant Service:
I was impressed with the CX flight attendants and found them engaging and personable.  They were based in YYZ and HKG.  I note that I have read reports where some found their service a bit much ,or some find it the best ever.  Actually, I found it just about the same as most international flights I have taken in premium cabins.  Could be me being just a little provincial, but AA, NW, CO, UA and the like have equally good FAs IHMO.  Don’t misunderstand CX was good, very good, but I did not find them appreciably better than AA.  YMMV, I, of course, grant.

Day 1:

HKG Airport
Well, 15 hours really flew by, I slept perhaps three of it, and we were in HKG!  HKG is a nice airport.  It is very easy to navigate.  Folks are very friendly.  Took me a while to get over folks wearing the surgical/pollution masks, but with the swine flu, SARS and air quality issues, it is completely understandable.  We made our way down to the CX arrival lounge.  It was quite nice.  Had some food. My sister checked her e-mail.  I liked the fact that they had I-Macs as I am an Apple enthusiast!    There were showers, but neither one of us used them.

In total, the “CX Experience” in FC including the Arrivals Lounge was very nice as you may guess.  It was certainly luxurious in a way that I have not had before with an airline.  I enjoyed it thoroughly, but I was even more excited about finally getting to visit Asia and in particular Hong Kong.  To use the pop culture reference, visiting HKG could be considered on my bucket list.

To wit: the adventure begins!

In Hong Kong:
While at the airport, we purchased the Airport Express MTR passes.  MTR is the Mass Transit Railway System (i.e. the local train and subway system).  These passes gave us unlimited use of the MTR for three days and also allowed us to travel round trip on the Airport Express.  We headed on the Airport Express into Kowloon as we are staying at The Kowloon Hotel on Nathan Road.  The train was a really clean, nice quiet ride.  I love to take trains from the airport into a city, and this was no different!  We got into Kowloon Station and took the bus (K2) to our hotel.

The Kowloon Hotel:
We got a nice room with a Harbor View, club access, with internet included.  Check in was quite easy and the reservation agent was personable and engaging.  The room is quite nice.  Some say that the rooms are small, but the view of the harbor and the location more than made up for it!

Exploring Kowloon:
After changing clothes and grabbing quick showers, we hit the club lounge for high tea and headed out to explore Nathan Road where we wandered for several hours.  Personally, I love the experience of being somewhere for the first time, taking in all of the sights, processing the experiences of the new and the unknown.  Perhaps, it seems childish or the like, but it is indeed how I feel.  I shall never grow tired of the adventure of travel!

We wandered about till dinner and came back to the hotel and grabbed a few cocktails and light dinner, and we made our way down to the waterfront to snap some shots of the city and the harbor at night.  It was fabulous gang!  It was just fabulous!

Day 2:

Early Morning:
I got up early as I tend to do.  I went down to the desk at the hotel and bought a pass to work out at the YMCA across the road as the Kowloon Hotel has no exercise facilities on premise.  For any of you unaware, the YMCA in Charlotte is expansive and has some lovely facilities.  For whatever reason, it is safe to say that the YMCA is a big deal (yes, I am a member (LOL)).  Anyway, I really got a good chuckle as I thought to myself that what I do on a normal day in Charlotte, I am doing 8000 miles away from home.  Just served to remind me that it is a small world indeed!  Anyway, I worked out and then headed back to the hotel for some breakfast.

Breakfast at the Kowloon Hotel:
Breakfast was included in our package, and it was a very nice buffet style arrangement with a chef available to make eggs of any variety for you.   We enjoyed it tremendously as I tried to sample a little from each station especially dishes that I would not normally eat in the morning (i.e. some seafood offerings).

Star Ferry:
We headed from our hotel and walked down to the Star Ferry.  It was another hot one (shocking eh(smile)?)  Many of Kowloon’s roads by the waterfront are under construction, so you need to use the underground to get across the street which was nice as the underground passages were air conditioned!  Anyway, we got across the street, bought our tickets, and we were off for our ride across the Harbor.  It was indeed breathtaking!  My camera (as it was for most of the trip) was snapping many pictures as we crossed.  The view was magnificent, and the breeze was indeed welcome.   My only complaint was that the ride was too short!  I enjoyed it thoroughly.

We got off the Star Ferry, and we were ready to head down to Ocean Park home of Giant Pandas!.  My sister had never seen pandas live and in person before, and she was most anxious to see them as she is a panda enthusiast to say the least.  I’ve seen pandas before at the San Diego Zoo, but nonetheless it seemed like a cool idea, so I was on board.  Anyway, we thought that you could get the MTR all the way to Ocean Park, but soon realized that you need to take the bus (No. 6).  We did not feel like waiting for the bus, so we just caught a taxi, and once again, we were on our way!

Ocean Park:
Ocean Park was a pretty cool amusement park.  Although, other than the panda exhibit, it really did not have that different a feel from any other amusement park that I have visited.  It was hot and crowded, as you might guess, but that did not take from the excitement of discovery.  We ventured up to the panda exhibit.  We had to wait a while as the pandas were not out, but eventually, one came out, and my sister’s face started to beam.  That alone was worth the trip to Ocean Park for me anyway!  We snapped many pictures, and thereafter headed back to Central (i.e. Hong Kong’s “downtown”).  This time we took the bus.  It was a cool double decker, and we headed to an MTR station at Admiralty.  We then took the MTR to Causeway Bay where I wanted to visit.

Causeway Bay:
We did not wander too much in Causeway Bay where there is a great deal of garment trade.  We went to Time Square and had a little lunch.  Had some seafood udon which was quite tasty!  I even used chopsticks.  I am not particularly skilled with their use (LOL).  Food was good.  We then headed to Hollywood Road.

Hollywood Road:
We went to Hollwood Road and did a little exploring.  For those unaware, Hollywood Road is a hub for the antiques trade in Hong Kong.  It was really nice to wander about there as it had a much less of a “touristy feel.”  The shops were quite nice and had a lot of very nice merchandise.  We decided that we would return again the next day to check it out.  We hopped on the MTR again and headed to Lan Kwai Fong.

Lan Kwai Fong:
Lan Kwai Fong is an area of central where a good bit of the “party scene” of Hong Kong is, and it did not disappoint!  Hong Kong was sponsoring Beer Fest, and it was just like any street festival involving beer that I have been to in North America and/or Europe.  It was a hoot!  Of course, I had a few drinks which I enjoyed tremendously.  There was live music there, and one of the songs being performed was “Sweet Home Alabama.”  The irony of flying 8000 miles to Asia and then attending a beer festival and listening to Sweet Home Alabama for someone that makes his home in Charlotte, NC was not lost on me for one moment!  It also served to reinforce a theme that my travels tend to reinforce that while there are many differences in this world, it nonetheless remains a small world indeed.  Well, we enjoyed the scene and then headed back to Kowloon on the MTR.

MTR Overall Thoughts:
I’ve ridden the tube in London, the subway system in New York City, light rail in Chicago, BAART in San Francisco and the Metro in Washington, D.C. among others, and I can honestly say that the MTR was as clean and as user friendly as any light rail system that I have ever used.  It was so easy to navigate. It ran on time and with great frequency.  It was a literal breeze to transfer between lines.  All in all, I must say that it was fantastic!

Kowloon for the Evening:
We got back to the hotel, and I took a long nap!  I must be getting old or something (LOL). I am 37 by the way!  We then went out for a late dinner.  My sister was getting discouraged that it was difficult to find vegetarian options so we went for a very late dinner at Dan Ryan’s Chicago Grill.  Food was fine.   We debated heading back to Lan Kwai Fong, but we decided against it because we had a full day ahead of us and did not want to drag through it.

Day 3:

Breakfast and Kowloon Wandering:
We had breakfast at the Kowloon Buffet again which was quite good.  It was certainly filling!   We were going to checkout today as our flight was Tuesday morning at 2:30 a.m.  We decided to stay close to Kowloon during the day and then head into Central in the afternoon (our checkout was 2:00 p.m.).  We tried to go to the Hong Kong space museum, but unfortunately, it was not open until 1:00 p.m.  So we just sort of walked around and snapped more pictures which was fine by me!

Kowloon Hotel and Checkout:
We checked out at about 2:00 p.m. and had the concierge hold our bags for us.  All in all, I enjoyed the Kowloon Hotel.  Club room was nice especially with the harbor view; the internet was responsive, and the breakfast buffet both days was quite good.  I would stay there again.

Hollywood Road:
We went back down to Hollywood Road to do some site seeing and take some more pictures.  My sister bought some souvenirs.  We finished up there and took the MTR out to Tung Chung Station to see Big Buddha on Lantau Island.   Big Buddha is (I believe) the largest Buddhist Statute in the world.

Cable Cars:
To get out to Lantau Island from Hong Kong Island, one can do the bus or the cable cars, and we opted for the cable cars!  The view and the ride were nothing less than spectacular!  On the way over, we had the cable car to our self.  Riding high above the islands was impressive and  breathtaking.  The camera was working overtime!

Ngong Ping and Big Buddha:
We got off the cable cars at Ngong Ping village.  It was humorous to me to see both the largest Buddhist idol in the world and Starbucks and Seven Eleven essentially in the same place!  It was hot on Lantau for sure.  We walked up to Big Buddha and let me tell you the climb up those stairs was hot.  We got up to its base and snapped some pictures and looked around.  It was a memorable experience.  We headed back to Ngong Ping via the cable cars after touring about a bit although this time we shared the cable car with some other folks.  We had some drinks at the outlet mall there for “happy hour” and then took the MTR back to Hong Kong station.  We then caught a taxi to Victoria’s Peak for the night time view.

Victoria’s Peak:
Victoria’s Peak is one of, if not the highest point in Central, and at night, provides one of the most spectacular views of Hong Kong Island and Kowloon.  We snapped pictures galore and did some souvenir shopping.  We then headed back to Kowloon on the MTR and picked up our bags at the Hotel.  We got back on the MTR to pick-up the Air Port Express to head back to the Airport.

HKG Airport and Check in:
We checked in at the airport which was a breeze.  The airport was fairly empty as it was pretty late.   When we checked in, we were given invitations to the FC Lounge where we went to the Wing to wait for the flight to YYZ which we were flying in business class.

Wing FC Lounge:
Well …….  the only word that does the Wing justice is “WOW”.  I have been in some nice SkyTeam lounges and the AA FC lounges at ORD and LHR but nothing quite like this.  The buffet was excellent, and the menus you could order off of were fantastic. I had some delicious smoked salmon, toast and many, many glasses of champagne.   I would be hard pressed to imagine better luxury than the Wing (well perhaps the Pier (HKG’s other CX lounge), but we did not get a chance to head down there).  The shower was heavenly and the couches and chairs were wonderful to relax in after a very long but exciting day,

CX 826:
We headed down to our flight and boarded.  As noted we were flying business class.  I had read some folks did not like the business class seats on CX.  I found them just fine.  I wish I could give a better description, but to be honest, I put the seat into lie flat position and for our 14.5 hour flight I may have been up for a grand total of two hours of it.  I did not use the AVOD once. I got incredible rest!

In-flight:
The flight team from our outbound was working this flight, so I managed to catch up with Lynn the flight manager and recount our experiences.  I will be honest with you again I did not eat, but I did have a few drinks! (smile).   Of my experience, I can only say that were I to fly CX again, I would just fly business class.  FC was magic indeed, and it was certainly amazing, but for someone like me that just wants a good seat, drinks, and good AVOD, business class was more than sufficient!   This flight may have been the quickest flight of my life.   Before I knew it, we were back in Canada.

YYZ:
Again, YYZ was a breeze.  No problems going through customs.  We did not check bags, and we were the first flight in, so whole process perhaps was 20 minutes.  We called the hotel, and they sent the shuttle promptly.  We picked my sister’s car up and headed home.

Overall Thoughts on Everything:
Well, what can I say other than if I never get to go to Hong Kong again, I did so once, and I can honestly say that I made every minute count!  The flights, the hotel, the city, the airport, the lounges and all of it exceeded my expectations by a mile.  I was very blessed. For all of you that have never visited HKG or flown CX in a premium cabin, I will say that if you get the opportunity, you should.  I can only speak for me, but it was something that I will never forget.