After taking a quick Christmas Day evening flight from Buffalo, NY to JFK, we hopped on the AirTrain one stop to Terminal #7. Thrilled with excitement, Joshy and I checked into our flight at the First Class counter, which is located in a separate area. Our boarding passes all the way through to Phuket and lounge invitations printed. We were then escorted through a private security entrance and found our way to the British Airways First Class Terrace Lounge, which is shared with Cathay Pacific and a few other airlines that are part of the OneWorld alliance.
Our flight was called and we speed walked to our gate. We were the first to enter the gorgeous First Class Cabin aboard Cathay Pacific’s Boeing 777-300. Each of the 6 individual First Class “suites” are absolutely stunning. The overhead bins are actually removed in First Class, as each suite has its own private storage lock built into the mega suite. A 16”flat screen TV complete with Cathay’s fantastic audio and visual entertainment technology would keep anyone busy for the 15 ½ hour flight ahead of us.
As we got settled into our suites, 3 cute and bubbly flight attendants’ introduced themselves to us as Irene, Karen and Laura. They were authentically adorable, but their generic names were certainly not 😉 We all became quick friends and enjoyed a glass of champagne prior to take off. We were each given an Ermengildo Zegna amenity kit complete with a toothbrush, comb, shaving kit blah blah blah and everything else needed for an overnight flight. We then received an exclusively made for Cathay Pacific First Class set of Shanghai Teng sleep suit complete with slippers and eye shades.
Dinner was then served. In First Class on Cathay, each guest chooses when they want to eat and what they want to order from the menu, which offered various Chinese specialties and western items including a hot Reuben sandwich and made to order ramen.
The way the seats are set up, two people can dine across from each other, and so I invited my boyfriend out on a date 37,000 feet above sea level. It was actually very sweet and romantic. We enjoyed caviar and smoked salmon sashimi appetizer followed by a Chinese quail soup with roasted Asian tofu. For our main course, we both jumped on the beef tenderloin with roasted fingerling potatoes and English mustard. Absolutely delicious. We were stuffed. Before desert came out, Laura prepared Josh’s suite and converted it into a plush feather bed. We both changed into our sleep suits and hoped into bed together . We enjoyed a delicious desert treat of red berries and hand whipped cream. After the movie, we split up and went to bed.
9 solid hours later, I woke up refreshed and in bed with josh again. We enjoyed a fresh breakfast of champions. Fresh fruit, Special K, and a full entrée of sunny side up eggs, bacon, toast and home fries. MMMMmmmMMM!
Before we knew it, we were landing in 30 minutes. We arrived into Hong Kong 30 minutes ahead of schedule! Once we landed, we headed right for Cathay’s First Class arrivals lounge where we smoked a few cigarettes, showered, and once again, ate. We enjoyed a refreshing star fruit and pineapple smoothie with a tomato an and egg sandwich along with some Chinese chicken lo mien. As time flew by, we headed to our connecting flight to Phuket. As we were still seated in business class, the seats on this 3 hour flight are comparable to a US airline’s domestic first class. But the Chinese meal service was superb!
We just completed 31 hours of travel and it was a treat, easy, flawless and delicious. As I write this post from our flight into Phuket, I am getting revved up knowing we will be on the beach in just about 1 hour’s time! No more food for me… for now 😉
