Eating In, Peninsula Hotel, Hong Kong

Hotel dining can be a very expensive experience, but if you are there as one of those bucket list fulfillments like we were, then it's not unusual to go the whole nine yards.

Since the stay coincided with my birthday, the first day was set aside to have dinner at the Chinese restaurant upstairs and was one of those sublime experiences.  Of course, it had to be Peking Duck, expensive champagne, and several cocktails.

Oddly enough, breakfast wasn't included in the room rate, but that seems to be normal for a lot of hotels.  It can be if you want to pay upfront, but we don't always have breakfast, particularly if we have dinner the night before.

Or can be bothered getting out of bed the next morning because quite often the breakfast hours do go with staying in bed.

During this stay, we decided to have breakfast one morning, cereal, bacon and eggs, coffee, toast, you know, the usual stuff.

No paper placemats here and the silverware was just that, silverware.  This was going to be full on old world charm.

Coffee served from a silver coffee pot, fine bone china from Staffordshire, not Thailand, tea service for milk and sugar, condiments all in a row.

The only disappointment, I don't think the eggs were free-range.

And, when the conversation dries up, there's always a steady stream of people coming and going through the front door, and the doorman is always at the ready to open the door.

WE went once for lunch, and yes, we had to go to the famous Afternoon Tea, for which you had to book or stand in a very long line.  We booked and discovered preference was given to those who were staying at the hotel.

Out came the silver tea service, and one could imagine that this was the same as what it had been a hundred years ago.  I had tea, after all, it was afternoon tea!

The cakes were interesting, there were quarter sandwiches rather than finger sandwiches, and though I'm not a fan of fruit scones, I'm always up for something different.

After it, it's probably not a good idea to go out for dinner too.

Overall, the experience was worth it.

The Peninsula Hotel, Hong Kong

The sight of the Peninsula Hotel is very familiar to all who visit Hong Kong, if not to stay but certainly if you want to see the last vestiges of British influence in what was once a far eastern colony.

That is, we're talking about the front building, not the new tower at the back.  In the older days there would have been a great view of the harbor from the Veranda (that area with the blue striped canopy) where today, breakfast is taken.

We had breakfast, lunch, and the famous afternoon tea in the ground floor cafe.

These days you would mostly see taxis, buses, and Teslas, if not a flurry of Mercedes and green Rolls Royces in the small car park below.  There is no clear view of the harbor anymore.

From our room, one facing the harbor we could see the space museum, and on the day we arrived, rain, at times, blotting out the harbor and Hong Kong Island barely discernable in the distance.

As for the room itself, it was excellent, a junior suite, I think, because it had two distinctive areas.  Everything was run from a tablet computer, blinds, lights, television, and most important, air conditioning.  This was the first hotel I've stayed in where it was neither too hot or too cold, but just rights.

The bed was very large and extremely comfortable, as were the pillows.  Pillows, I'm afraid, are a bugbear with me, as no hotel seems to be able to get it right.  They're either too soft or too hard, too tall, or too shallow.  Here, they managed to get it right.

The windows were just the right size not to affect the air conditioning, ie. let too much heat in.

I'm not sure I could say the lounge chair was comfortable, but there was only one, which makes it difficult if there are two of you.  I wasn't going to fight for it.

The desk had a surprise in the bottom drawer, a printer!

And the bathroom, though slightly smaller than expected, had some hint of what it may have been like in the early days.  It had both a shower and a bath.

Harbour Grand Hotel, Kowloon, Hong Kong

The Harbour Grand Hotel, Kowloon, Hong Kong, is a modern, but luxurious hotel, one that our travel agent found for us.

I was initially worried that it might be too far away from central Hong Kong, but a free shuttle bus that runs at convenient times took us to and from the hotel to the Star Ferry terminal.

The luxuriousness of the hotel starts the moment you walk in the front entrance with a magnificent staircase that I assumed led up to the convention center (or perhaps where weddings are catered for) and a staircase where one could make a grand entrance or exit.  Oh, and there's a chandelier too.

We booked into a Harbourview suite, and it was not only spacious but had that air of luxury about it that made it an experience every time you walked into it.

But the view of Hong Kong Harbour, that was the 'piece de resistance'

I spent a lot of time staring out that window, and it was more interesting than watching the television, which we didn't do much of.   Most of the time, when we travel, TV is limited to International English speaking news channels.

This time we had several movies included with the room, but I still preferred to watch the endless water traffic on the harbor.

The lounge area had several comfortable chairs, an area for the bar fridge and tea or coffee making facilities and on the opposite side the usual table and chairs for those who came to conduct business

The bedroom was separate to the entrance and lounge.  Notable was the fact the room had two bathrooms, one in the bedroom, and one out in the lounge, perhaps for the guests who were having friends in.

We dined in one of the restaurants, Hoi Yat Heen, where we experienced Guandong cuisine.  I tried the roasted goose for the first time, and it was interesting to say the least.

There's no doubt where we will be staying the next time we go to Hong Kong.

Hong Kong, The hotel, the car park, the front entrance, cafes, arcades, and a tailor

I've seen in many times when we visited Hong Kong, but never quite made it to stay at the Peninsula Hotel, not until I decided to put it on my bucket list, and, having just turned 65, we decided to spend my birthday there.

 Of course, arriving in a green Rolls Royce helps to enhance the experience. and is, if you are going to stay at the Penisula, a mandatory extra.

It is rather difficult to imagine what the hotel would have been like in 1928 when it was built.  Without the central tower behind the old hotel building, the tall buildings around it, and all the buildings between the hotel and the waterfront, it would be easy to say it had a prime position.

It’s not far from the Star Ferry terminal, the main transport from Kowloon to Hong Kong Island.  Since then, there is the MTR and the underground tunnel for vehicles, but back then it was the ferry or nothing.

Outside, the centerpiece to the driveway is a fountain.  Around the edges are the cars, the Tesla’s, the Mercedes, the Audi’s and a Rolls Royce or two.  There was even a Lamborghini.  I could see myself doing a tour of the island by Lamborghini.

Or not.  The traffic would be very unkind to such a machine.

Inside the front door, the main part of the ground floor foyer stretches from one side of the building to the other, save for arcades of shops at the ends.  High priced goods can be bought here by the rich and famous.

What is interesting is that they have a very smartly dressed porter at the front door to open it for you.  It seemed very appropriate for a hotel steeped in old world charm.

Either side of the entrance walkway that leads to reception and the concierge desk, and two magnificent staircases.  It is all marble floor, marble columns with sculptures at the top and ornate ceilings. 

And the endless cacophony of sounds you would expect in such a large space.  Either side of the central walkway is the cafe, elegantly set tables, each with its own flower.

People coming and going, people meeting other people, people arriving, people departing.  Hotel staff bustling from place to place and serving staff moving among the guests dining in the Foyer cafe.

The staircase leads to the mezzanine floor where there are more shops, and then up to the first floor where the veranda cafe and the Spring Moon restaurant is located.  The Spring Moon is where we will be having dinner tonight.



So much for the quick hotel orientation.

I had decided that if there was time, and we could find a tailor, I’d get some trousers made that would fit me.  Previously this had been done at Fletcher Jones, a place where clothes were tailor-made for individuals, but it has now gone.

A search on the internet for tailors near the hotel leads to one which is not very far away.  We will go and see what is possible.

To get to the tailor we have to go up Nathan road to Carnarvon road, on paper, several blocks.  One thing I’d forgotten about the last time we were in Hong Kong was the touts on every corner, and in between, offering tailoring or copy watches and handbags.  They are persistent and in your face every twenty yards.  They are not even Chinese, nor do they have a very good command of English.
I’m not sure where we’d finish up if we ever took up one of their offers.

At the street where the tailor is located, there are more tailor shops and we have to endure more touts before getting to the arcade.  Then, as we headed towards the door to the tailor, another tailor tried to guide us into his shop next door.  You have to have your wits about you.

Once inside our chose tailor, we could almost breathe a sigh of relief.  The question now is whether we had chosen well.  Those in the shop, two men, and a woman are not Chinese, but Indian I think.  There was a brief discussion about the material, with two bolts of material retrieved.  Italian.  They were two of about a thousand that lined the side and back wall.  Whether that would be the material I eventually ended up with was debatable, and would have to be taken on trust.

The owner spent his time sitting at the back while I was measured, and a quote made up.  These two pairs of trousers were not going to be cheap, in fact, there are very expensive.  But, they were made to measure, the first trousers I have bought since my last pairs from Fletcher Jones, a company that no longer exists.

When could I have a fitting?  I only had three days in Hong Kong.

Come back at five.

I paid the money, and left, fully expecting to find the shop gone along with all trace of my money when I returned.

Or I might just get lucky.  We shall see.

Hong Kong Park, Hong Kong

After arriving in Hong Kong early in the morning, we were taken to the Hong Kong Conrad Hotel where we were staying for several days.  We had a short sleep, then I took the grandchildren for a walk and we found Hong Kong park, with a Fountain Plaza, waterways, a waterfall, and turtles.



Part of the fountain area.



Turtles resting on a rock



A turtle about to go in the water



The waterfall.

It was a pleasant surprise to find this park in such a highly built-up area.

Nearby was a multi-story underground shopping center that was huge, and very conveniently accessible from our hotel.

The Perils of Travelling: Every plane trip is, well, different

The course of plane travel can run like clockwork, or rapidly come apart at the seems.

Every time you go to the airport, it can become an adventure.  Checking in, battling the airline's kiosk, printing and attaching bag labels, going to bag drop, remembering that every airline does it differently.

Hong Kong airport is huge and there are endless boarding gates.  Being dropped off in the zone that belongs to the airline you're flying is simple.  The next step is to find the aisle letter where your flight is checking in and then do the automated boarding pass and baggage label.

If it's international travel which it is today, there's the added stress of negotiating immigration and the duty-free stores.  We followed the rules, got there early, had the usual problems at the kiosk requiring the assistance of two Cathay Pacific staff, and finally made it to the initial departure concourse.

Next, there's the temptation of overpriced airport food if you're hungry which we are not.  But we have a McCafe coffee to satisfy a caffeine fix before the flight.

The shops are all expensive at the initial departure concourse, so we decide to see if there are other shops near our departure gate.  To get to our particular departure gate we descend to the train and get off at the 40-80 station.  It's a short journey, and once back up on the concourse level we find a collection of more affordable shops where we buy every man and his dog a selection of sweets.

From there it's a couple of travellators, which sounds rediculously short, but are, in reality, very, very long, to our gate and we get there ten minutes before boarding is supposed to commence.
Today we are traveling on an Airbus A350-900, a relatively new plane so you would think there couldn't be anything wrong with it.  We had the same plane coming to Hong Kong and was, literally, plain sailing.

We find a seat in the gate lounge and wait along with everyone else.  I'm still surprised at the number of able-bodied people who take the disabled seats for the sake of being closer to the start of the line and worse was a woman who not only took up one of the seats but also another for her cabin baggage which was extensive.

Boarding starts late, and routinely for the first and business, and disabled passengers.  The rest now start to line up in the economy line.  Some people haven't moved, perhaps they know something we don't.

We eventually join the line and go through initial formalities while waiting.  And waiting.  As the minute's tick by nothing is happening other than what appears to be growing consternation by the gate staff.  The tipping point for immediate concern is when the previously boarded passengers begin to come back through the boarding gate.

One of those who had been on board came our way and said there was a problem with the plane.  They were told it was due to technical difficulties the official non-scary description for your plane Is broken.  Because of consternation among the queued economy passengers, there was an official announcement that advised of the technical difficulties, and boarding would be delayed.

We all sit back down, but this time there were a number of disabled and elderly people who needed seats, and our able-bodied lady and her baggage didn't move.  Shame on her.  We are lucky that where we were in the waiting line it was adjacent to nearby seats putting us closer to the head of the line when it reformed.

Now we were able to watch the other passengers jockeying for position to race to be first in the economy class boarding queue the second time around.  I think they realize they have the same seat if they are at the front of the line or the back.  Because we were all asked to sit down, those at the front of the queue would now find themselves at the end if they'd decided to sit and wait.

After a delay of about an hour and a half, we are finally boarding.  The worst aspect of this delay is losing our slot in the departures and I'm guessing this was going to have an effect on our actual takeoff time.  It appears to be the case.  Boarding does not take very long and shortly after the doors are closed we're pushing back from the gate.

From there, it becomes a chess game when we get a slot.  We are in a queue of planes waiting their turn, and before the main runway planes are separated into two queues, and we are in the second.  Since we are the only one, I suspect we're in the delayed take-off queue, and sit watching four or so other planes take off before we finally get on the runway.

All around us, planes seem to be going by and taking off while we wait, and wait, and wait...

On the plane, we discover one of the toilets is out of action so perhaps that was the technical difficulty.  It's not full so one toilet down will have little effect. 

Leaving in the early afternoon will get us into Brisbane late at night.  It was meant to be around 11 pm, but with the delays, and possibly making up time in flight, it will now be after midnight when we arrive.  Fortunately, we have a 24-hour airport.

The flight from HongKong to Brisbane is without event.  Lunch after takeoff, then a few hours later, an hour or so before landing, we have dinner.  Both of us are not hungry.

We land after midnight, tired but glad to be home.  I guess it could have been worse.

It's the plane! It's the plane! A new plane, a new outlook on air travel.

I'm one of those people who like to travel on as many different types of transport I can.

For instance, underground railways in London, Paris, Sydney, Hong Kong, and, briefly, in Melbourne.

As for trams, try Rome, Cologne, Melbourne, Bratislava, or Hong Kong.

And buses, London double-deckers, Tour coaches which are not all the same, and a uniquely named type of bus in Brisbane, the banana bus.

But the main form of travel is by air.  Flying in Boeings, 717, which to date I have not, 727, 737, and it's many varieties, 747, 757, 767, 777, and as yet not the 787 or the Dreamliner.

As for Airbus, an A320, and A330, and A340, an A380, which to me is the best plane I have ever traveled in, and the star of this piece, the A350.

A recent trip to Hong Kong

There are the usual nerves and borderline panic that sets in a few hours before leaving for the airport.  The sort that preys on your mind, have I packed everything I need, have I got the tickets in my bag, have I remembered to bring the passports?

Then when you think you've mastered all those items, you then have to decide what is the best time to leave for the airport.  Of course, the road you need to take is the one that is problematic at the best of times, the sort where one accident could turn it into a complete mess, and a 20-minute journey can turn into one that can take hours, and you could miss the flight.

It is, for us, a constant source of worry with the roads being the way they are.

We have to be at the airport three hours before the flight departs; airline rules so we can get through check-in and immigration.  Sometimes where there is more than one plane leaving, there can be long queues.  Then there's the obligatory duty-free shopping if there's time left, or, if circumstances are exceptional, a long wait till the plane departs.  With restless children that can be hell.

This time we're not traveling with children so it’s a lesser form of hell.  Everything ran on time and with minimal delays.

By the time the plane is ready to board people are coming from everywhere and start jockeying for positions in queues.  This always fascinates me because no matter how many times they call specific rows, by the time you get in, you discover that nearly every other row has already boarded.  I have never quite worked that one out.  There must be a lot of eligible frequent flyers who can board at any time.

Today we're on an Airbus A350-900, and I have not traveled on one of these planes before.  Straight up, it’s not a spacious as the A380, even though there may appear to be more space on the A350.  It certainly doesn't feel like it, and in the middle seat, even less so.  It's still impossible to eat, and some things will never change.

As for food, the supper is a cut above the ordinary and better than the last time we traveled Cathay Pacific.  Dinner served, trays cleared, darkness descends.

It's time to rest.

What can be said about sleeping on planes that has not already been said?  For some it is easy, for some with an empty seat beside them it is less difficult.  For me, cramped in the middle seat, impossible. I guess I dozed off now and then, but the sore gritty eyes several hours into the journey tell the story.

Breakfast so soon after a late supper is almost unpalatable, despite how tasty the food looked.  Coffee was probably a better idea but in the infrequent turbulence, not a good idea.  I had two mushrooms and a roll.  The fruit; watermelon, rockmelon and honeydew melon looked and tasted less than appetizing.

Nine hours in a plane is so much better than 13.  I watch the plane's track and view the camera in the tail facing forward.  Not so good at night, but it was an eye-opener landing in the torrential rain.
There does not seem to be a long wait to get off the plane as there is at some airports, and so early in the morning, perhaps it is relief just to get up and start walking.

But, we're in Hong Kong, and this time something special awaits!

[Read more - There are arrivals, and then there are arrivals]

What works on paper doesn't necessarily work in reality

You are always just one slip-up from it all going to hell in a handbasket.

Let me explain...

No matter how hard you try, how seamless, on paper the plan is, the odds are something will go wrong.  That is not to say I am a fatalist, or a glass half empty kind of traveler because most of the trips I have planned and taken have been relatively painless.

Except our good luck had to finally run out.

It was not a matter of bad planning; it was just one of those times when events didn't quite go according to plan.  It happens.

For instance, the simple objective was to get from Brisbane in Australia to Florence in Italy.  There is no direct flight.  Booking on an airline site is a horrendous experience, fares are ridiculously high, and there are no accommodating stopovers.

This is a trip that only a travel agent can handle.

The objective, travel to London via Hong Kong, or Singapore, or any medium distant airport, then on to London, or Paris, or where-ever, then to Florence.  No overnight stopover, staying in a hotel, not this time, in either of Hong Kong or London.

Simple.

Not.

It was as horrendous for the agent as it was navigating the airline's internet site.  It was not something that could be done, sitting opposite her as she deftly navigated the highways and byways of the travel system on her computer.  This was a longer, more intricate job.

Two days later she had the solution for the Brisbane, Hong Kong, London, and thence Florence trip.  It would require a stay of 10 hours in Hong Kong, the connections didn't align according to price constraints, and then a 14-hour layover in London as flights to Florence was not aligned either.

All well and good.

Cathay Pacific for the trip to London and Vueling Airlines for the London to Florence leg.  At least we would arrive in Florence at a reasonable hour, about 6pm.

On paper, it was the most practical solution in the circumstances.

Reality proved it to be something else entirely.

At Brisbane airport, we were given boarding passes for the flights through to London, but by some quirk of fate had our baggage checked through to Florence.  How this could be done without boarding passes for the London to Florence flight was a surprise.

Back in Brisbane, the check-in person told us she could not give us a boarding pass for the London to Florence leg because the system would not issue it.  We could she said, get it easy enough when we arrived in London.

The first leg went smoothly enough, though we did not realize until we got on the plane that it stopped over in Cairns for an hour or so.  This was not a problem, just made the time between Brisbane and Hong Kong longer than we anticipated.

In Hong Kong, we had no trouble getting into the lounge I’d booked.

The problem came with the interpretation in using the bathroom facilities, and it took several hours before we finally realized that the bathroom facilities were not part of the lounge but operated independently and you had to book your place.

By that time there were a large number of people ahead of us (who obviously knew the problems associated with these facilities) and it annoyed me that the lounge staff did not mention it when we arrived.

The Hong Kong to London leg was as all long haul flights are.  We knew what to expect, and arrived in London around 6 am.  We arrived at terminal three and the lounge we'd booked was in terminal three.  All we needed was a boarding pass to get in.

Oops.

That was not the case.

Because we could not get back into terminal three without a forward boarding pass we had to exit and go through customs and immigration.  We were told that the only way to get a boarding pass for the Florence flight was to go to the airline counter.

The problem was Vueling did not have an airline counter.

This is where tempers started to flare.  7:30 in the morning, no means of getting into the lounge which we had paid a lot on money for, and no one in the terminal being helpful.
The Vueling web site was impossible to use.

The telephone number rang out.

At this point, I was beginning to believe the airline didn’t exist and we had been ripped off.

Only by a quirk of fate, reading the departures board, did I see a flight for Vueling leaving at 10 am, with the check in counter displayed.

By this time we had spent two very frustrating hours and I was nothing short of angry.

At the gate, the head of the check-in counter, a representative of Vueling was surprised we had any problems, particularly in Brisbane, but happily issued the boarding passes.  When we mentioned the baggage she advised us it was lucky we did, otherwise it would have gone missing.  She took the tag numbers and sorted that problem out.

The airline, it seems, is well respected, and based on the service I received, I had to say I agreed
The problem was back in Brisbane with an inexperienced check in person.

There was only one problem in getting to the lounge, now four hours later than we had advised, the fact we had to go back through customs, and in doing so, the duty free that we had brought from Hong Kong was now outside the limits allowed, and the customs staff were adamant despite the circumstances we could not take it with us.  $400 worth of goods finished up in the bin.

It would be true to say that day the customs staff at Heathrow were not the best ambassadors for their country, and one, in particular, would be best doing service elsewhere where human contact was not a requirement.  As for the others, they were as helpful as they could be, but rules, unfortunately, were rules.

At last, rather distressed over the duty-free, and the lateness of our arrival at the lounge, there was no possibility of getting a short sleep before going to Florence.  At least we did not have the same problems using the bathroom facilities, our room I’d book had them included in the room.

We rested, and figured nothing else could go wrong.

Not.  Again!

The plane was advertised to leave London at about 3 pm.  We left the lounge expecting to get to the gate on time.  We checked on the departure board for the flight to get the gate number, only to see a notice ‘delayed’.  When that delay passed 5 pm, two hours later, we decided to go to the counter and find out what was happening.

Only to find there was no airline counter.  Again!

We asked at least a dozen people, including the special helpers the airport who there is plenty of signage to say to go to if you have a problem, but not one of them knew where the counter was or who was looking after the affairs of the airline.  By this time other irate passengers of the delayed flight were massing, also seeking answers.  One discovered who the agent was, and we descended on the counter as a large group.

The first person I saw at the counter was the woman who had checked us in that morning.  For her, it had been a long day, and it was getting longer.

The problem, the plane had been delayed on an earlier leg, yes it would be arriving, having just left the lat airport, and we would be embarking about 7:30.  For our trouble, we got a meal voucher, and at least we could have a reasonably good dinner.

The plane arrived, we embarked, the service was good and the people on board as cheerful as they could be given the delays and the discontented passengers.

We arrived in Florence just before midnight, our driver to take us to the hotel was waiting for us, and the hotel upgraded us to a very nice room.

All in all a harrowing journey, but in the end, after basically a six-hour delay, and being very tired, we ended up happy people.  And we were in Florence, in summer.

What more could anyone want?

Hong Kong, the Peninsula Hotel, and then High Tea

There is no doubt that the Peninsular Hotel in Hong Kong is one of the worlds most famous hotels, and luxurious.

It was on my bucket list, after spending a few days at Raffles, in Singapore, a hotel equally famous for its old world charm.

The Peninsular has been around since 1928 and thankfully had only changed for the better.

We took the signature Rolls Royce transfer from the airport, an experience everyone should try, and where your hotel stay begins.



We are staying in the old building, overlooking the Space Museum.  I'm sure, in 1928, there would have been a clear view of Hong Kong Island, still visible through the foreshore buildings.



The view from our room.  When we arrived it was at the end of a typhoon (level 3), which meant it was more rain than wind.  You can see the rain in the distance.



Old hotels lend themselves to explorers, like us, and we went down to the shopping mall in the basement, as well as on the ground floor, and through the Lobby Cafe, where as illustrated below, the ornate tiling and pillars, and decorated roof are impressive.



As well as staircases to the mezzanine floor, where there are shops and restaurants, including the signature breakfast room.



Also, a signature dish is the famed Afternoon Tea which people come from everywhere to have, even line up and wait.  As guests of the hotel, we were able to book a time and bypass the queue.



By the way, it was amazing, particularly the tea, special blends by the hotel which can also be bought at the hotel shop in the basement.

They also have special chocolates, and they are to die for.

Hong Kong: from the Grand Harbour Hotel, Kowloon

We were not expecting either the grandeur of the suite we received nor the incredible view of Hong Kong and probably more fascinating, the harbor.

On one side was the passenger ship terminal, which played host to several cruise ships during our stay, but also incredible views of Hong Kong island, day and night.

Quite literally, we did not have to watch TV to be entertained.  There was endless activity right outside the window!



Looking towards the Passenger Liner terminal, and a smaller cruise ship at anchor.



A Chinese junk that crossed our path several times during our stay



The view outside our room window.  At sunup, it was amazing, at sundown, incredible.



We were not sure what this vessel was, though it looked like a car or vehicle ferry, but not once when we saw it did it have any vehicles aboard.



This, we were guessing, was not only a junk, but a passenger ferry of sorts, or perhaps it went on harbour cruises.



A ferry, obvious from the name on the side of the ship

And a smaller cruise ship returning



Housing on the foreshore of Hong Kong island, just across from our room during the day,

and at night.

Moving close to the business section of Hong Kong Island, with a dredge in the foreground.  They finished work the day we left.

Hong Kong: There are arrivals, and then there are arrivals!

Remarkably, the Peninsula Hotel experience began at the arrival gate.

The moment we stepped out of the air bridge and into the terminal building, a representative of the Hong Kong airport was waiting with a card with our name on it.  She was there, with driver and electric car (sometimes called a golf cart) to ease our way through the immigration and baggage formalities.



No walking for us, which was fine by me.  It’s a train ride and a long walk from the gate to immigration.  And after all the sitting on the airplane, walking was not the first thing I was looking forward to.

The drive took a few minutes, slowed down by many other passengers walking towards the same destination, most wondering why two relatively young people like us (even if we are in our 60’s) were getting a ride.

After clearing immigration, which took very little time, and where there was a very short queue considering the number of arrivals they handle, we were met on the other side by our airport representative, and taken to the baggage carousel.

Another simple process, our bags were almost waiting for us.  From there we exited customs, and out representative handed us over to the representative of the hotel.  I thought he was the driver.
He took us through to the limousine lounge and directly to our car, a very clean shiny new looking green Rolls Royce, the ultimate in the airport to hotel transportation.

Inside it was immaculate, and astonishing, and very, very comfortable.  I could image the Queen riding in the back of one.  It took about 30 to 40 minutes, one of the quietest, most smooth rides I’d ever had, and worth every cent we paid for it.

The bucket list now has one less item on it.



The arrival at the hotel was effortlessly handled.  We were met by two of the check-in staff and escorted to our room on the fourth floor.

There was just enough time to take in the amazing foyer, front entrance and twin staircases leading to a mezzanine floor, before getting into a waiting elevator and taken to our floor.  As an aside, the mirrors in the elevator were like something out of a hall of mirrors, you look into the mirror and see dozens of yourself looking back.

It’s an effect I’ll have to take a photo of.

We have been upgraded, and out room is larger than the one originally allocated.  It has a view of the Space Museum, the Veranda Cafe roof, and parts of Hong Kong harbor.  It is overcast and raining so it does not matter about the view.



It’s Hong Kong, and that view will change every hour.

Formalities over, we are left standing in stunned silence.

We have arrived.



They say getting there is half the fun.

They’re wrong.

Or at least in the case of the Peninsular Hotel they are.

If just getting to the hotel via the signature Green Rolls Royce is any indication, there had to be a lot more in store.

We booked a room in the ‘old’ hotel and it was categorized as ‘deluxe’.  The Peninsula adds a whole new meaning to the word Deluxe.  If this was one of their lower priced rooms, then I’d love to see their better rooms.

But the room itself is not the sum of the experience; it is also the aura within the building, the service, which is quiet and unassumingly polite and unobtrusive.  You are ushered from the front door, held open by a very elegantly dressed concierge, to your room without so much as a heartbeat.

The details, well, they are mere details that cause no concern, all taken care of before you arrived.  We arrived early, before the advertised check-in, and this fazed no one.  Room available, tired travelers sigh in relief, knowing a hot shower and several hours sleep would not be possible.
I was more than pleasantly surprised, and exploring the hotel would have to wait.

For a few hours anyway.