On the move part 3: AA First Class JFK-LHR

Gate display for our flight to Heathrow

Our flight boarded promptly 45 minutes prior to departure. We were the first two passengers to board the plane. It does always feel nice to turn left after boarding the aircraft.

A is pleased to be turning left once she boards the aircraft.

Boarding

AA has a fairly large first class cabin on the 777-200ER - 16 seats arranged in four rows of a 1-2-1 configuration. A and I had the two seats in the center section of row 3.  Shortly after sitting down we were enthusiastically offered champagne by the flight attendant who could clearly see that we were happy and in love.  Shortly thereafter pajamas were distributed.  AA is the only US airline to offer PJs (and only in F), and I had wondered if the day flight would qualify, as some other airlines (Lufthansa for example) only offer PJs on night flights.  I can't say that I changed into my PJs on the 6hr day flight, but they will be nice to have as a souvenir.

AA 777-200 First Class cabin

Welcome Aboard! leaflet explaining First Class amenities.

After takeoff, we got some nice photos of the Connecticut coast including North Cove near A's parents house.

Printed menus were distributed. The meal service was brunch followed by a light meal prior to arrival.

Menu cover

Wines and Champagne

Menu  - Wines and Brunch

The first course of brunch was a fruit cup accompanied by a sticky (yummy and surprisingly substantial) pastry and yogurt.  The fruit was a nice departure from typical airline fruit bowls in that it included peaches and kiwi.  Although the peaches could have been a bit more ripe.  The second course was cereal with milk and a bagel, but we both declined.

Brunch course 1: fruit, yogurt, and a pastry

For the second course, we both opted for the quesadilla.  By this time it was 11 am and it felt like we had eaten breakfast three times already -- first the Egg McMuffin at McDonald's on the way to JFK, second the fruit and coffee in the Flagship lounge, and third the fruit and pastry on the plane.  So rather than continue with an omelette we went with the lunch-y choice which turned out to be an excellent decision.  The quesadilla was tasty and was just the right size for the multi-course affair.

Quesadilla for brunch

Throughout the flight, flight attendants Kevin, Bob, and Frank provided excellent service.  So often service on US airlines is highly variable, and for our first flight in F on AA the service was truly first class.  

The seat in AA First is unique in the in the industry because  in addition to facing forward and converting to a 6'6" fully horizontal bed, the seat swivels 90 degrees to one side to allow you to work at a fold-out desk.  The window seats swivel to face the window, and the center seats swivel to face each other.  A and I enjoyed swiveling to face each other as we basically spent the entire 6 hour flight talking to each other catching up on all the events of the wedding weekend.  Throughout the weekend we had spent so much time talking to our family and friends and so little time talking to each other.  I tried the fully-flat bed for only a few minutes and it was indeed quite comfortable.  The flight attendants offered turn down service to make up a bed complete with a duvet and mattress pad, but the flight was just too short for a nap.

Cheese plate  midflight snack

Midway through the flight a cheese plate was served.  At this point we were sitting swiveled facing each other, so the service from the flight attendants came as if by magic from behind us without warning.  Bob the FA made us a centerpiece out of a champagne flute, a napkin, and a linen.  A nice touch.

Makeshift centerpiece created by our flight attendants.

With a flight time of only 5 hours 51 minutes from wheels up to wheels down, and 2.5 meal services throughout the flight, we were quite literally eating every hour and a half. Soon after the cheese plate it was time for the pre-arrival light meal.  For the pre-arrival meal C had the bulgur wheat salad (better than the name sounds) and A had the corn and chicken bisque.  To finish was the ice cream.  Who doesn't love ice cream on a plane?

Arrival into London was swift, although the line (queue really I suppose) at the fast track immigration line was longer than the regular line.  Before long we were in a black cab to the Sheraton Heathrow (not the Sheraton Skyline Heathrow -- an important distinction).  Our cabbie was not pleased that our trip was so short.  This was C's first time in a black cab.  The hotel was just around the corner from the airport but the fare was still 16 pounds.

On the move part 2: AA Flagship Lounge JFK

This post is part of a series of detailed posts about the transportation portions of our trip -- like a "trip report" you may read on other travel blogs.  These posts may come out-of-sequence with other posts about our activities at our destinations.

Our trip to LHR began at the AA Flagship checkin area at JFK. We were flying 3-class first (so first class not business class) and AA has a dedicated checkin area.  We were checked in without incident using our sponsored e-VIP upgrades from a friend.  It always feels just a little weird to be checking baggage. We normally travel with only carry in bags, and I can count on one hand the number of times I've checked bags in absence of sporting equipment, moving boxes, or camping equipment.

Checking luggage for the first of twenty times on our trip around the world. 

After checkin was security. We used the priority line but I don't think it gave us much of a time advantage this time around. There was one TSA officer roaming around the checkpoint who had such an infectious good attitude that I would think he could have been an official TSA happy-officer-at-large if I didn't know better. And New Yorkers are not known for being friendly either.

Both our iPad and our new 13" laptop made it through security while still in our backpacks.

Once through security we headed to the AA Flagship Lounge, which is inside the Admirals Club. The lounge features great views of the Tarmac, ample seating, acceptable food and mediocre coffee. Often airline lounges have decent fully-automatic espresso machines, but the Nestlé machine in the flagship lounge produced espresso more akin to instant than freshly-brewed.

View of the Tarmac from the Flagship lounge

Some final editing of the new Facebook picture --us together behind the just married  sign on the boat. 

The highlight of the food in the lounge was grapefruit. When in lounges I always try to focus on things that I don't have at home, and pre-cut grapefruit is definitely not something I have at home. 

Before long it was time to head to the gate for boarding. On the way out of the lounge I remembered to ask the lounge attendant how late lounge is open to see if we could use it before our midnight flight from JFK to Lima in September. The answer was 11:30 pm so we will indeed be able to use it. 

On the move part 1: Connecticut to JFK

This post begins a series of detailed posts about the transportation portions of our trip -- like a "trip report" you may read on other travel blogs.  These posts may come out-of-sequence with other posts about our activities at our destinations.

Our big trip / honeymoon began with a 4:45 am wake up call at A's parents house to drive to JFK. We had picked up a one-way Avis rental the day before (the day after the wedding) at Groton-New London airport to avoid the frightening expense of a car service for a 110 mile drive. We opted for the day flight JFK-LHR at 9:40 am so we would need to leave early. Some genius (that would be C) set the alarm form 5:45 instead of 4:45. Fortunately the moms insisted on waking up to see off their 30 year old babies so we were woken up only 3 minutes late by a knock on the door.

The drive to New York was uneventful.  We even managed to get gas in Queens without getting lost. In the end it turned out that there was indeed a convenient gas station at JFK airport, but one thing I've learned when returning a rental car is to NEVER assume that a gas staton will magically materialize at the airport (hello Salt Lake City!).

Once we dropped off the car and took the AirTrain it was off to the AA first class checkin area.

Ile de Re - Salt

Sea salt has long been a major part of the economy of Ile de Re.  A large part of the island is still covered with salt marshes that are used to concentrate seawater and collect sea salt. 

During the spring high tides, seawater is pumped into collecting pools where the silt and sediment settle out.

Collecting pool

 Then the water is pumped into the next pond where things continue to settle out and evaporation causes the seawater to get more concentrated

Settling pool

The concentration really gets going in the next set of pools where clay walls force the water to circulate and further evaporation to occur.  There are certain plants that like the super salty water.  Several are edible and were actually really tasty since they have higher salt content (we got to try some).

Evaporation pond

Once the salt water is quite concentrated it is pumped into the collection ponds.  Here there are 3 levels of ponds, each getting more concentrated.  The salt worker controls when to let water into each level to control the production of salt.

Collection ponds

In the final pond salt crystals form daily and are raked out by the salt worker in the afternoon.  They rake up a little pyramid of salt by the side of each pond and let it sit for a day or two to dry.

The pile here is 1-2 day's harvest of gray salt.  A much smaller quantity of "fleur-de-sel" salt, which comes from crystals that form on the surface of the pond and have a unique crystal shape, can sometimes be produced if weather conditions are just right.

The salt can be harvested only when the weather is warm so production ends around mid September-October.  Then all the producers pool their salt together for packaging, which occurs all winter.

Ile de Re - Biking

Like many island vacation spots, biking is a good way to get around Ile de Re.  The island is mostly flat and has 100+km of bike paths.  So we got up early and drove to the town of Saint-Martin on the leeward side of the island for breakfast on Sunday, then rented bikes and biked to the town of La Flotte.

Map of Ile de Re

Boats sailing off of Saint Martin

 Saint Martin is a walled city with a fort and a very protected harbor with an island in the middle of it.

St Martin harbor (island on the right)

St Martin waterfront

Biking along cobblestone streets

Biking along the waterfront

We arrived in La Flotte around lunchtime and had our choice of waterfront brasseries for lunch.

Harbor in La Flotte

While eating our lunch in La Flotte we saw this little girl a few tables over.  She is probably all of 3 years old and has already mastered using one empty mussel shell to pick up the other mussels (see her right hand).  Not only is she 3 and eating mussels, she is also ignoring the pile of fries that is next to her bowl of mussels.

After lunch we biked to a nearby beach and went for a swim.  The water was just slightly cold but felt nice once we got in.

C locking up our bikes at the beach

Beach at La Flotte

One weird thing that Ile de Re is known for is donkeys that wear pants.  Apparently the donkeys used to be afflicted by a disease that was spread by fly bites so the pants protected the donkeys from getting bitten.  They don't have to wear them anymore but there were still some donkeys wearing pants in the park near where we returned our bikes in St Martin.

Donkeys "en culottes"

Ile de Re - Beach

We approached Ile de Re around 4:30 pm on Sat and (after a much more successful toll booth experience) promptly encountered a traffic jam on the bridge.  Seems beach traffic is a universal problem.  Ile de Re is connected to La Rochelle by a 3km long bridge that is one lane each way.  It is a big family vacation destination for both French and British tourists.

French traffic jam - the merging is just as cut-throat as in Paris

After checking into our hotel in the town of Le Bois Plage en Re we immediately went to check out the beach which was in walking distance.  Le Bois Plage has a 5km long beach with nice sand, though the tide was out and the wind was up when we arrived.

The kiteboarders were out in force and we got an amazing show from a few of them right near shore.

Blue flags designate the edges of the life-guarded area of the beach

The tides in this part of France are quite large (typically one tide per day is around 3 meters and the second tide per day is around 5 meters).  Therefore the sand/water ratio at the beach varies drastically depending on the tide.  The beaches all had large swimming areas marked by yellow buoys and at low tide several of them would be high and dry on the beach.  (This also can get interesting for boats - some boats just end up sitting on the sea bed at low tide, and the docks all have long ramps to accommodate the tide swing)

Swimming area buoys at low tide

Green Venice

We left Airvault on Saturday morning and proceeded to drive about an hour toward the coast to an area known as the Marais Poitevin or the "Poitevin Marshes."  This is a large area of marsh land that has mostly been drained over the years with the creation of lots of canals.  Now there are several little towns all connected by canals that have given the area the nickname "Green Venice" thanks to lots of overhanging foliage and duckweed.

We stopped in the town of Coulon which is the main town of Green Venice and rented a canoe after a lovely lunch of sandwiches next to the canal (where we saw baguettes carried in 6 different ways in a matter of 30 minutes - see previous post).

In Coulon the canals are offshoots from the river Sevre-Niort, one of the two rivers that gives the Department (like a state or county) its name: Deux-Sevres

Barques for rent along the canal in Coulon

Our canoe glides through tranquil shaded canals

The canals passed through lots of farmland with cows, leading to repeated "vache" jokes a la Monty Python

Most of the pastures are islands among the canals and it seems that the canals are still used to transport the cattle.

Some houses along the canal have their "backyard" across the canal accessed by a small bridge

Returning to Coulon along the river Sevre-Niort 

After a few hours in the Marais Poitevin we continued on to Ile de Re, an island off La Rochelle on the Atlantic Coast.

Tout le monde a une baguette

This kid struggles to contain his baguettes while reaching for his keys.

In France, everyone has a baguette.  Seemingly at all times.  The French carry their baguettes any way they can:

1. Sticking out of the top of a backpack (C tried this way in St. Loupe sur Thouet)
2. Carried against the handlebars while riding a bike
3. Held haphazardly while carrying several baguettes at once
4. In the front basket of a bike
5. In the rear basket of a bike
6. In the undercarriage of a stroller

Baguette in the front basket of a bike

Baguettes carried under the arm.

Time to move on after a relaxing stay in Airvault

Front building of Chateau St. Loup

Chateau de St. Loup

Today we move on from Airvault to Arcais ("Green Venice") and then Ile de Re.  During our time in and around Airvault, we have have explored the surrounding region and visited several chateaux.  We have driven aimlessly around (and also driven quite aim-fully around thanks to several iPhone offline mapping solutions we've found).

Approaching a one-lane bridge in Thouars

Simply driving from tiny town to tiny town has been surprisingly entertaining.  The roads are good, traffic is light, and the French road signs are always an adventure.  The speed limit changes quickly and dramatically as you approach and leave each town.  The landscape goes from open fields to tightly-packed urban stone buildings in a matter of a few hundred meters.  No urban sprawl here.

Truck driving through the old city wall in Thouars

Le Vieux Chateau (The Old Castle) in Airvault

About to drive through the old city wall in Parthenay.

Cloeseup of road signs next to old city wall crossing in Parthenay, France.  So many instructions! (From top: The other direction has priority, closed to vehicles wider then 2.8m, closed to vehicles taller than 3.9m, and speed limit 20 km/h (12mph) due to pedestrians, cars, and bikes.  And restaurant diners as it turned out.