A First Class binge: BA F to CPT wine country

[Petrus]

Hei igen! Ny resa i helgen. TR på engelska

_______________________

Background:

My Father turned 60 earlier this year and I thought it was fitting with a treat. Initially the idea was to head to MIA
and Florida to check out a Shuttle launch among other things. Availability did disappear however so I now tried to find
redemption seats to NYC instead. Petrus Sr. is very fond of the big apple and has not been for a couple of years.
As I was playing around with BA.com and the redemption tool the idea of Cape Town struck me.
And could I believe it! F seats available on the dates I had planned for.
I was slightly apprehensive to flyng BA F. My last sector to NYC during the May Strikes was terrible.

Now, finding F availability to Cape Town for one is fluke. For two is equal to winning the lottery.
Who was I to complain? Tickets booked asap and now my main worry was for dad not to log in to his BAEC account
as the booking would be visible there.

Petrus Sr. is winding down his business and is training to become a somelier. I believe the first level certificates are completed.
He had not been to Cape Town yet. This place is basically packed with stellar vineyards in a 50 mile radius.
Combine this with flying BA F and you get a proper First Class wine trip. Dad would be pleased.

A polite note: The picture quality is varying dramatically due to a mix of cameras, poor light, wrong settings and a lot of wine.


Sector 1:
ARN-LHR A320
Seat 2D
Club Europe (intra-EU J)
Crew: Above average

Dropped the wheels at ARN, which I reitirate is one of the most dull, boring airports ever.
As roads in Sweden are empty this time of the year we arrived early. The option now was to
head to the dreadful outsourced lounge at ARN.





Boarding was called and very smooth. We sat down for the just over 2h hop to London.
Champagne please. It turned out we where the only ones in the Club Europe cabing
More Champagne please. I believe I finished 4 mini champer bottles, for a total of 75cl.
I was now in that happy stage of early champagne intoxication.
















Finals to LHR.




We had a 5h 30 min layover in London. We headed into London for Dim Sum however there would be three of us.
As a surprise my sister, who lives in London, was waiting at the table. Petrus Sr. was speechless.
After the delicious Dim Sum at Royal China we headed back to LHR on the HEX.

T5 was a bit of a choker in the non-premium area:



Compared with the F check-in:



South security cleared:


Welcome to the Concorde Room dear Daddy:






To be continued....

[Petrus]

More from the Concorde Room:





The Board Room (work area with authentic Concorde Seats)


If you traveled Concorde Class, this would be your dead ahead view:


I made use of a Cabana to fresh up before the 11.30h flight to CPT:










Can I just mention that the Fog Head Chardonnay is stunning! It is available in the CCR.
A very good Margaux available too. The Champagne was Lanson 1999, LP 2000 and The Bruno Rose.

So it was time to board the next sector on this adventure.

Sector 2:
LHR-CPT 744
Seat 1A
First
Crew: Very good

Over at the B pier ready for boarding.




All good in 1A.






Unfortunately my camera died shortly after this picture. I did however manage to record plenty of video material,
including the taxi and take-off sequence. I shall edit this and upload to this report soon.

The flight was very good with a nearly top notch crew. We arrived a little after schedule. Immigration was a breeze.
Slight head ache from the previous day. Estimated consumption: 3 bottles of Champagne.

In Cape Town we stayed at the new Sea Five boutique hotel in Camps Bay. Lovely are some 5 minute drive from down town Cape Town.

View from the balcony:




First Stop: Constantia and the Uitsig Vineyard:









To be continued...

[Petrus]

Our ride and enthusiastic driver:


Some sightseeing to Chapmans peak:





After a long day of sights and delicious wine (the Uitsig Semillon was fantastic, very much like Montrachet!)
We had dinner at l'aubergine in Cape Town. Springbok filet with De Toren Fusion 5 2001 and then 2003. A truly amazing Bordeaux blend!

The following day was all about wine, and a signal hill:







First up was L'ormarins. They also have a extensive car museum. Recommended.
Second was Rickety Bridge; small estate producing quality wines. Good Chardonnay which I bought two bottles of.
Third was Chamonix further up the hill.
Lunch was at Ruben's, apparently the highest rated restaurant in South Africa. It lived up to expectations.
We had a lovely Chamonix Reserve Pinot Noir.









On the last day our friend was at work so we had to fend for ourselved.
Got a hire car delivered to the hotel and drove off on a a tour.
First stop Cape Point and Cape of Good Hope. Second stop Table Mountain.









Yours truly:


Sunset over Camps Bay beach:



To be continued...

[Petrus]

Time to head back to Europe.
My dear friend gave us a 130mph average speed' lift to CPT International.

It was empty. As it turns out we had the same crew as on the outbound.
Needless to say we had absolutely spectacular service.

Sector 3:
CPT-LHR 744
Seat 2A
First
Crew: Outstanding.

Light load, only 6 out of 14 seats occupied. I'll let the pictures tell the story.



















Starter 1: Prawns. Tasty. Worked nicely with the Mersault.


Mood lighting:


Starter 2: Soup on veggies. Also tasty.


Entree: Line fish. Too salty. The Laurent Perrier 2000 balanced nicely here.


Pudding: Chocolate cake with ice cream. Coffe and JW Blue. Why make things complicated?


I asked to be woken 1h 15min prior to arrival:




Landed. The always impressive BA line up at T5:


The flight was truly exceptional. The crew seemed thrilled to have us again.
We where looked after in the best way. If every sector was like this, wow.

A slight shambles in flight connections and security.
The crew had forgotten to seal my duty free shopping... re-pack and check bag to hold.

Since we where on an F inbound we could access the Concorde Room.
Perfect after a nearly 12 h flight, even in F. cabanas reserved for 2 hours.
A shower, a 1h sleep and then brunch:


Sector 4:
LHR-ARN A320
Seat 1D
Club Europe (intra-EU J)
Crew: indifferent

Not much to say really about this flight. I slept most of it and sticked to water
since I would be driving once back in Stockholm.


To summarise: BA F exceeded all expectations except for the bubbly. The crew was great. The Champagne onboard in F is now
Laurent Perrier Millesime 2000, only. That is piss poor BA. A year ago it was Bollinger GA 1999 and Pol Roger 1999.
A serious slip in standards.

Cape Town was fantastic. I am considering moving there. A rare blend of religion, culture and people that works nicely. Diverse.
Stunning scenery. Extremely friendly people. Fantastic wines, obviously.

Petrus Sr. said this is the kindest thing someone has ever done to him. Mission complete

Thanks for looking,


Petrus

[MountainDew]

Takk for meget god rapport Petrus
Helt enig i at Cape Town er en fin by. Kunne selv tenkt meg et strandhus der!

[pgaa]

Meget bra rapport dette, takker for den

[Maverick]

Håper dette skjer på min 60 årsdag

Veldig bra rapport

[LN-FHU]

Hmmmmm...Bra skrevet , men "Bandwith exceeded" på Photobucket = ingen bilder...

[Petrus]

Ser ni bilderna nu? Min bandwidth var exceeded.

Mvh,

Petrus

[SQ321]

Knall rapport Petrus, og artig med alle bildene. SA står høyt på lista over destinasjoner jeg vil besøke.

[Discus]

Takk for fin rapport. Var i CPT med EK i fjor, skal nedover igjen til vinteren med LH i F (sponset av USAirways).

Originally Posted by Petrus

Ser ni bilderna nu?

Ja.

[sk931]

Fin fin rapport, jeg havde nu også gerne set en rapport fra agterdelen af flyene, idet det jo er der de fleste af os alligevel skal sidde
Hilsen
ole

[Tarom]

Originally Posted by sk931

Fin fin rapport, jeg havde nu også gerne set en rapport fra agterdelen af flyene, idet det jo er der de fleste af os alligevel skal sidde
Hilsen
ole

Det er nettopp derfor det er morsomt å lese disse rapportene. De aller fleste av oss vet vel hvordan det er å sitte på "monkey" class, mens vi drømmer om Buz. Nei keep em coming sier nå jeg. Flott rapport.

[Hermann SF]

Strålende rapport

[Flying-news]

Flott rapport! Har selv vært i Cape Town, men da var jeg 6 år bare, altså 10 år siden... Med andre ord er det på tide med en ny tur til SA, har tross alt familie der også... Kan anbefale Durban til alle som vil oppleve flotte strender, men også VARMT vann! En flott kombinasjon mellom flere meter høye flodbølger og forsåvidt stille vann. Durban ligger på østkysten, og det indiske hav er jo VARMERE enn Cape Towns veskyst-> atlanteren...

Men Cape Town er dog finere på mange andre måter, og mye mer kjent. Så for de som vi ha en ordentlig bra tur til SA foreslår jeg en "hovedtur" til Cape Town, med en svipptur innom Durban! Johannesburg er ikke noe spesielt egentlig...

Ellers angående TR: nøl ALRDI med å legge ut flere rapporter som er i biz/F class! Alltids spennende, og jo flere bilder, jo bedre, mener nå jeg.