Air NZ airline of love... Part 2

Okay, so I'm warming to the paint-on uniforms from the Air New Zealand "Nothing to Hide" TV commercial I wrote about a week ago. The fact that Air NZ doesn't charge extra for things like credit card fees or food is something that I like a lot, and is a big point of difference vs. competition.

Plus, I found out that the airline's CEO, Rob Fyfe actually plays the grey-haired baggage handler. He was recently named New Zealand's Hottest Businessman prior to the launch of the campaign, and I think if the vote were held after the launch he'd get even more votes. He's ripped! Here's the commercial again:


And here's the making of, where you can see more of the CEO:


And just yesterday, the airline debuted a new safety video on their domestic Boeing 737 services, based on the campaign. Makes sense that it's domestic only; just imagine someone boarding the plane in Japan and seeing their flight attendants in paint-on uniforms. I actually think the safety video is not only more effective as a safety video vs. the boring one I had to see 5 times, but it's also more effective than the commercial I think. The tone and the staff members exude quirkiness that fits with what they're (not) wearing.


I do feel a bit cheated, because I had just flown the 737 four days before the debut! Today's NY Times also writes about this in today's paper.

RTW Roundup: Best of business class EATS

The Best: Turkish Airlines

Turkish Airlines delivered what was, in my imagination, food service from the golden age of travel. It was all so thoughtful, personalized, and involved not a single piece of plastic or foil wrapper.

Meal service on my IST-BKK flight started with a selection of juice or cocktail with a fresh fruit garnish. Instead of nuts (whether in a ramekin like United, or in a foil bag like Singapore), you had a selection from several different canapes set on a silver tray. You can see the drink and canape next to the breakfast menu, which you mark with your choices for the next morning a la room service, and pass to the flight attendant.

1st course, Turkish Mezze: on the big plate is from bottom left, stuffed eggplant, air dried beef, grilled pepper stuffed with goat cheese, grilled chicken breast, and "Cerkez" chicken which is like chicken salad with nuts in it. On the side are a salad, purslane in yogurt, and marinated artichoke.

2nd course: Artichoke soup with olive crouton

Main course: Adana kebap (minced beef) and spring lamb, green pepper, tomato, and bulgur. This is not an uncommon dish in Turkish restaurants, but very nicely prepared: moist, and well spiced.

4th course, dessert: they roll the trolley out and have a selection of cheese, fruit, Turkish desserts, panna cotta, mousse, cherry cake, and ice cream. You can have any or all of them! I had some fruit, and I liked how as I pointed to each fruit from the platter, the flight attendant plated it nicely in a symmetrical pattern on my plate! The Turkish desserts consited of Kalbura Bastı (the round one - a walnut cake/cookie), and Fıstıklı Kadayıf, made with shredded phyllo and pistachio.

5th course: you think it's over but it's not! They roll the cart around again, and have tiny bite-sized desserts in a tiered holder (like for high tea), tea, and coffee.

In the morning, they bring out a 2-course breakfast. On this flight, it was a pretty standard Turkish breakfast of cheeses, tomato, cucumber, breads, and olives. But you also got your selection of different jams and/or honey, and different kinds of tea and coffee. On the side I got fruit, yogurt with apple mousse on the bottom, and turkey.

The second course was poached eggs on ham and pita bread.

The one drawback of such an awesome service is that it takes longer for dinner to be served, and you have to wake up earlier for breakfast. But I have no problem trading off sleep for food!

The Rest

- United Airlines: Pretty good food, efficient service so you can have more time to sleep

- South African Airways: the food is a lot like United's, only smaller portion sizes

- Singapore Airlines: I was pretty disappointed that on a 7.5 hour flight, we could choose to be served only once, either just after takeoff or just before landing. And the meal was only a 1-course light meal-type affair. I guess I wouldn't have minded as much if someone in the lounge would have told me to be sure to eat before boarding. So I was pretty hungry throughout the flight, having only 2 foil packets of nuts for dinner.

RTW Roundup: Best business class seats

The Best (tie): South African Airways and United Airlines (new seats)
You just can't beat lie-flat, horizontal. South African has advantages because these are seriously huge seats. As wide as the regular La-Z-Boy business class seats, but the rows are so far apart from each other that you have to undo your seatbelt to reach the seat pocket in front of you. They were a bit lumpy when in horizontal flat bed mode.



















United's new seats are a winner. They're equally comfy sitting up as well as lying down horizontal. They are narrower than South African's seats though, and I'd suggest upper deck window on the 747 in order to have seat-side storage. Otherwise, there's no storage in or around these seats for takeoff or landing.














The Rest
Singapore Airlines has flat beds on some airplanes, angled lie-flat on others, and recliner-type seats on yet other flights. I had the latter two BKK-SIN-SYD. While I did get some good sleep on the angled lie-flat seats, I did feel like I had to occasionally readjust because I slid down towards the floor.














Turkish Airlines also has angled seats on their aircraft, but I might actually like them better than Singapore's angled lie-flat seats. They still have the slight upwards slant around the thighs so you don't slide down and get that wedgie.

Going home

As I left on my flight home, I thought how fitting it was to have ended my Round the World trip in Australia and New Zealand. Like the US, I think of these countries as "New World" countries, bringing people together from all over the world. In fact, I had representative cuisine from each of the countries I visited. A dessert shop from Latin America in Queenstown, my favorite Turkish soup in Melbourne, Thai, Lao, Cambodian food all over New Zealand, and the morning I left, I had a repeat of my favorite meal in South Africa. It's a fast casual chain called Nando's, and while they scream "Portuguese" in all of their marketing materials, it's actually Portuguese as interpreted by South Africans. Definitely try the spicy peri-peri chicken if you get the chance.

I actually hadn't planned on visiting Australia at all on this trip, since I'd been once before. And I was only going to spend a week in NZ, after two weeks in the Pacific Islands. One kayaking safari after another fell through in Fiji, and other Pacific nations required too much thinking on my part to plan for, so I sort of defaulted on seeing the two countries for the whole month. I'm so glad I did. With the cooking class in Sydney and the chocolate class in Melbourne, and the outdoors adventures in NZ (glacier hiking and snowboarding), this month was an awesome way to end my trip.

Trip Report: SYD-LAX-SAN

Final leg of my Round the World trip, and also the longest flight time: a little over 13 hours flight time from Sydney (SYD) to Los Angeles (LAX), and another 35 minutes to San Diego (SAN).

The trip started in the SYD Air New Zealand Koru Club, which I'd been to a few weeks ago on my SYD-AKL flight. I took advantage of the pancaker machine once again, plus eggs, healthy tomatoes, and not so healthy cream parfait for a satisfying brunch.

I also took a much needed shower in one of the shower rooms. It was really pretty, but sort of sketchy because unlike United Red Carpet Club shower rooms, it's not cleaned after each use. So there was water on the floor, and crumpled tissues on the toilet. Still, a shower's a shower.

Just as I left the shower (and just in time, because the lights mysteriously turned off leaving me in pitch darkness), I was paged to the front desk by the United agent on staff, who found me a seat in business class! This was the one segment on my RTW ticket that wasn't confirmed in business, and I'm not sure how she worked her magic (was told at check in that business was oversold), but I sure am grateful. This was going to be one of the planes with the new horizontal flat beds in business, which I was really excited to try out. The seats are both forward and backwards facing, which makes it an unusual cabin when you first see it.

While the seats are narrower than South African's horizontal beds, they had better cushioning. Plus, I think it makes a big difference to have a horizontal bed, compared to an angled bed like on Turkish or Singapore.














The service was above average for United, which has some really variable flight attendant service. The flight attendants on the upper deck on my flight were disarmingly casual but pretty thoughtful and efficient. After the long, drawn out meal service on Turkish (which I loved), it was refreshing to have dinner over within 1.5 hours after departure with each course cleared out promptly, and only have breakfast start 1.5 hours before landing. Unusually for United, the second meal service didn't involve lots of cream sauce. Just poached eggs, spinach (no cream), tomatoes, and chicken sausage. Thumbs up.

The connection in LAX was uneventful, and so was the LAX-SAN flight. I was sad though about the service from LAX-SAN. I'd flown that route a lot before, and I always looked forward to it because Skywest operates the flight. I always though their flight attendants were the best, and they always served drinks and crackers or cookies. But now it's "too short so it's a non-beverage service flight." Times do change.

Lodging Review: Hotel SO, Christchurch

In marketing you learn that often the best designed products aren't the ones that are the most broadly appealing, but the ones that really delight a core group. Hotel SO is a product that I feel has really attained that "designed just for me" holy grail. Basically, it's a hotel that gives me just the benefits I want: private room, free wifi, private bathroom, gym, laundry room. And takes out the things I don't need: a lot of space, maid service, concierge. Which results in a really good value: the US $43/night price ends up being only 2x what a dorm bed would cost in Christchurch. There are even some extra, unexpected touches, like what seemed like 10 channels of movie channels without commercials.

Hotel SO is located just a couple minutes' walk from Cathedral Square, the center of town, or the bus depot. At night, you can easily identify it by the rainbow colored lights on the outside.



















Upon entering the lobby, you also get the feeling that this is a design-y boutique-y hotel. There's only 1 or 2 staff on duty at any point of the day, and at night you have to buzz them to open the door. This gives indication of how they're able to offer such low rates.














First thing you notice when you walk in is the blue night light under the bed; they say studies have shown your sleep is more restful when you look at blue light before you fall asleep. The room itself is pretty small. The walls pretty much touch either end of the bed, save for a shallow shelf on one side. The mattress is raised up high, so you can store your luggage underneath.

The bathroom is basically a quarter of a pie in footprint, and contains the full sink, toilet, and enclosed shower. I was impressed that the shower was enclosed, since a space-saving measure that some hotels take is to just put the showerhead over the bathroom floor with a drain on the bottom.



















Note however that the standard room doesn't have a window. This is also a cost-cutting strategy, since they can build rooms on the interior of a building. This is the one tradeoff that I am still reluctant to give up. One night I woke up in the middle of the night just because I felt claustrophobic and cut off from the outside world. To help with this, there are several "mood channels" on TV to give you that glimpse of nature!

The other innovative feature that mitigates the lack of natural light, and actually should be in EVERY hotel, is the light-based sleeping and waking system. Basically, to help you sleep, there's a sun lamp that gradually dims to off in the time you allocate it. To wake you up, the sun lamp gradually brightens. Then one of the TV turns on and one of the mood channels plays, just in case you didn't wake up by the light alone. You can also use the bathroom lights for mood lighting, but I didn't use this feature.

I wish the Hotel SO every success in its expansion plans, and wish it were in every city I visit. I worry that there will be some sort of trademark battle with Accor, whose Sofitel brand just announced the launch of the SO by Sofitel design-y boutique-y sub-brand. Seriously, Hotel SO has been around for a couple years now so it definitely came first. But Accor is also a Goliath in the hospitality industry. We'll see.

Trip Report: ZQN-CHC

New Zealand has given me many firsts: hiking on a glacier, snowboarding, and now, flying on a commercial airplane with no security screening! What a trusting country. And airline.

My flight from Queenstown (ZQN) to Christchurch (CHC) began with checking in 1 hour 30 minutes before departure in a totally empty airport. I was really early. So I hung out in the little Koru Club. This was my first domestic flight on Air New Zealand, and didn't realize that you just scan your boarding pass at the entrance and walk in. The attendant who was chatting with some other people finally got up and did it for me. But I guess if she's not looking, you really can just walk in.














This is a "landside" lounge, which means that you don't have to go through security to get to it. So when the attendant called boarding 20 minutes before departure, I was in a big rush to leave. I still had to go through security! But nope. You just go downstairs, and scan your own boarding pass (no ID required), and walk onto the tarmac right to the plane!

It was the trusty ATR-72, which I also flew in Laos. On board, we were served a "biscuit," water, tea or coffee. And before landing, we got the usual Air NZ hard candies.

One of the best parts about the flight is the amazing views of the Southern Alps and lakes along the way. I had actually considered taking a scenic flight back from Milford Sound, since the views from the light aircraft are supposed to be amazing. Unfortunately, it was an approximately US$200 upgrade, so I had to give it a pass. While we didn't fly through a fjord, I think at US$37 including taxes and fees, my Air NZ flight was the better value! If you fly northbound from ZQN to CHC, sit on the left hand side of the plane for views of the alps (the other side looks onto the Pacific Ocean which is probably not too bad either).

A tour through SE Asian eats, in NZ

I took a culinary tour through Southeast Asia, in New Zealand! I was able to have the cuisine of every SE Asian country I've been to (except for Singapore, but I'm sure that's here too, somewhere). In Auckland, I had Vietnamese and Malaysian. I also had food at a Laos stall on Ponsonby in the city, though it was this sweetish coconut-based curry, the likes of which I never came across in Laos.














In Queenstown I had Thai, once at a restaurant run by Koreans (it was okay), and another time at a place run by Thai people complete with Thai pop music in the background (it was okay too).

In Christchurch I had some pretty interesting experiences. There are a ton of Cambodian restaurants (it seems) in this small town. I tried "Khmer Satay Noodle House" on Colombo St south of Cathedral Square, and ordered the Combo #1. This included noodle soup with chicken, and grilled chicken (or beef) in satay sauce, in a hamburger bun! I can attest to the authenticity of the soup, because it was really sweet. Which meant I didn't like it that much. The satay burger was pretty tasty though!














The stand out meal though was at The Bodhi Tree also on Colombo St, but north of Cathedral Square. This might be the best meal I had in New Zealand! Keep in mind, you do have to have a reservation. I made a reservation three days in advance, and then showed up a bit early since I got into town earlier than I thought. I was thinking, it's a Wednesday night, how busy can it be? Totally booked all night, so I had to come back at my original time!

Maybe my enjoyment of this meal was heightened by actually having fresh vegetables and fruit after days of eating burgers. I ordered mohinga (a sour fish soup which I'd had for breakfast a lot in Myanmar). It was pretty good, nothing spectacular in itself but I had really craved this especially after a doomed effort making it myself. I also had Nga Hin, fish in tamarind and coriander curry - very clear flavors, well balanced. Beidi Thoke, green beans - a bit muted, but the fried shallot on top enlivened it. I ended with tamarind sorbet with fresh fruit. I had always had an aversion to tamarind because I always thought it was overly sweet, but after having the Nga Hin and the tamarind sorbet, I'm reconsidering my relationship with the fruit!

I'd read some reviews online which said The Bodhi Tree is the best restaurant in Christchurch. I was skeptical before, but now I can believe it. The food might even be better than a lot of what I had in Myanmar, since the dishes are freshly prepared and use very little oil. In Myanmar, a lot of dishes can be quite oily, and are made in advance and wait inside large steel pans all day waiting for customers.

Closing Thoughts: Queenstown

I hadn't planned on spending so much time in Queenstown. From what I had read about the town before I got there wasn't promising. Resort town, big party (i.e. frat) atmosphere. I've learned on this trip that I'm really a big city sort of guy, and thought I would get claustrophobic in Queenstown.

But once I got here, I was just so amazed by the stunning setting of the town. It's around a lake, with huge craggy mountains on every side. Here's a picture across the lake towards my hotel, with the Remarkables in the background.

When I think of resort towns, I think of overpriced, generic food. But Queenstown has accommodation for all budgets from backpackers to 5-star hotels, and likewise there are food options across the price spectrum, and across cultures too. You can find Japanese, Thai, Korean, Indian, even Mexican here. The whole town is really compact, and you just walk pretty much everywhere.

It can be easy to forget you're in NZ though. In every store I went to, there was American or Canadian staff, and young Japanese people are everywhere too whether working as housekeepers or ski instructors. But I guess it's that diversity that lends itself to the cool eating options!

Even though I spent a week here, I never got tired of the rugged scenery. It's definitely something best experienced in person!

Best of Queenstown Eats: gourmet burgers part 2 and free internet

I've learned that gourmet burgers isn't just an Auckland phenomenon - it's a New Zealand thing. And Queenstown has its own gourmet burger shop, Fergburger. It has the requisite pun-ny names like (Little Lamby - lamb, Sweet Bambi - deer). I had tried the Cockadoodle Oink (chicken, avocado, bacon) - really good, but had an odd sweet sauce. The Ferburger (regular hamburger) - again, that odd sweet sauce. And the Little Lamby, which was nice and peppery, but then there was this sweet goo coming out. Uh oh, I guess it's the tomato relish again.

Just for kicks, I tried the Kiwiburger from McDonald's, coming in this cool box with NZ references on it. And yes, the tray liner has a french fry in the shape of the country. The Kiwiburger has beetroot and egg (hmm, like the special burger that's been sold in Australia...). It was refreshing to have some honest to goodness processed American cheese to provide that savory kick, rather than sweet goo. But after having all of those gourmet burgers, I now realize how tasteless the actual hamburger patty is.

The real treat in Queenstown's dining scene is Patagonia Chocolates. Actually run by folks from Brazil and Argentina, a lot of the desserts are from Argentina like dulce de leche ice cream, and even their own version of mil hojas. I came here at first just to use their free wifi since the connection at my hotel was extremely expensive. I would just buy a NZ$6 hot chocolate (sometimes with ginger in it), or two scoops of gelato for NZ$7 and just sit down and use the internet for an hour or two.

But their food is truly excellent! The hot chocolate rich with clear flavors, and the gelato balancing different flavors like dulce de leche or fig and pistachio well. So I couldn't tell in the end, was I getting a hot chocolate for free with internet, or internet for free with hot chocolate?

Back to School: learning how to snowboard

From when I was first planning my RTW trip, I'd been eyeing learning how to ski or snowboard in New Zealand. I'd forgotten it for a while, and it wasn't until a few days ago that I signed up for a 3-day package including lift passes, equipment rental and lessons.

In Queenstown, you can easily stay in town and take a bus (or drive) to either Coronet Peak or the Remarkables. I ended up choosing the Remarkables, since the sales staff said it was a bit quieter, plus it worked out to be NZ$50 cheaper. I can't comment on Coronet Peak, but I just loved the landscape of the Remarkables. Here's the view of the beginner slope, where I spent 100% of my time. The inverted white triangle in the distance isn't more snow - they're clouds! It was spectacular driving and driving in the grey cloud, and then suddenly coming up into the blue sky. Just like flying.

So, I was torn choosing between skiing and snowboarding for my 3 days. People say snowboarding is harder to learn at first, but what tipped me towards snowboarding is..... cooler fashion! I love the moon boots that you get to wear (not the narrow plastic things for skiing), plus the designs on the boards themselves are awesome. The board I used was a basic beginner's board, but it still had the cool Burton font.

The first day was really fun, with one class in the morning, one in the afternoon. We learned how to start and stop and drift side to side, but on one edge of the board only. The second day was tough, with just one lesson and then me practising for the rest of the afternoon how to start and stop on the opposite edge. It fell to Spike the kiwi bird to help cheer me up. Seriously. Not only is the costume cool for having a perpetually happy-dazed look, it had neat claw-boots. Plus whoever was inside was really funny. It just put its wing around me and looked into the distance, or threw snow at me while I was going up the Magic Carpet (aka conveyer belt).

Remember you can click any picture to enlarge, e.g. to see the claw-boots more clearly

The third day, I made sure to have a big breakfast (McDonald's!), and then practiced again in the morning. In the afternoon, I was really lucky to get the instructor I had my first day, Jason from Sydney. He was a seriously great teacher, very encouraging and quick to diagnose what we were doing wrong. Jason was also really poetic, using similes and visualization techniques that really worked. A few choice ones:

*About which leg is your front leg: "It's whatever leg you would use, if you were dancing like Tom Cruise in Risky Business."

*About the correct posture when stopping on your toe edge: "It's like taking a piss, but you want to avoid the dribbles on your feet."

Jason teaches both in Queenstown and in Tahoe, and I definitely recommend requesting him as an instructor. Here's his website which tells you contact info.

On my third and final day, on my last run down the (beginner's) slope, I finally made it down only doing S-turns and not falling! Quite a rewarding way to end the three days.

Actually, the real ending was the amazing views on the drive down. You can pay a lot of money for a cable car ride up a hill in Queenstown, but I think these views would be hard to beat.