Review: Waldorf Astoria Amsterdam

Introduction
Planning & Booking
British Airways 747-400 First Class Denver to London
British Airways Concorde Room LHR
Waldorf Astoria Amsterdam
Andaz Amsterdam
Park Hyatt Paris-Vendome
Singapore Airlines A380 Suites Class Frankfurt to JFK

Arriving at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport is far better than Europe's other monster gateways (London, Paris, Frankfurt).  By comparison, the airport is far smaller and easier to navigate.  Immigration was a breeze and our bags were among the first on the carousel.  We walked out of the terminal around 8:30 PM to find a bright blue sky - still 2 hours of daylight left - awesome!

There really isn't a "cab line" in the traditional sense as you can just grab any cab - they're all the same price (~45 Euros).  So of course we opted for the blue Tesla Model S and were on our way to the Waldorf in a matter of minutes.  Our driver was super friendly (perhaps overly friendly) but explained a few sites on the way in and warned us to watch out for the cyclists that dominate the city's streets.

Amsterdam is really a gorgeous city and both of us were glued to the windows as we marveled at canal after canal.  The Waldorf Astoria Amsterdam is located right on one of the canals in the center of the city - just a couple of blocks from Rembrandt Square.

One of many canal shots

Review: British Airways Concorde Room LHR (2015)

Introduction
Planning & Booking
British Airways 747-400 First Class Denver to London
British Airways Concorde Room LHR
Waldorf Astoria Amsterdam
Andaz Amsterdam
Park Hyatt Paris-Vendome
Singapore Airlines A380 Suites Class Frankfurt to JFK

Once off the plane, we took the train to the main pier of terminal 5 and clear transit security.  There was a fast track line but it seemed longer than the regular line.  10 minutes and a couple of pat downs later, we were back in the terminal searching for the Concorde Room.  It wasn't the easiest lounge to find.  Down a set of escalators, to the far end of the terminal, back up another set of escalators...and we had arrived.

BA tails on the way to the gate

The lounge "dragon" who looked at our boarding passes on the way in pointed us towards the Galleries lounge (business class and alliance first class passengers) and said we could not enter the Concorde Room.  I knew she was wrong and pushed...and she relented.  It didn't hurt that we already had a cabana reservation and could prove it.

Review: British Airways First Class 747-400 Denver to London (2015)

Introduction
Planning & Booking
British Airways 747-400 First Class Denver to London
British Airways Concorde Room London Heathrow
Waldorf Astoria Amsterdam
Andaz Amsterdam
Park Hyatt Paris-Vendome
Singapore Airlines A380 Suites Class Frankfurt to JFK

This was going to be our first longhaul trip from our home airport (DEN) which was pretty exciting.  Given the departure time (8:50PM) we had the entire day to relax and pack for our week in Europe.  And we needed it because I was feeling under the weather until the early afternoon.  Once packing was complete, we had a couple of snacks and cocktails at our favorite neighborhood restaurant.  We grabbed an Uber Select (no X's available) for $62 flat rate to the airport.

We arrived around 6:30 PM and checked in.  No pre-check for this flight.  We spent an hour or so in the Terminal A Admirals Club which is fine.  We were able to get a seat at the bar and relax for a bit.

Prior to boarding, we snapped a few pics of the beast that would take us to London.

BA 747-400

HHonors Double Points Promotion

I don't write a ton about Hilton HHonors but given it's the summer and many of you are traveling, I figured I'd post about Hilton's summer promotion.

The "Double your HHonors" promotion has been extended to 8/31/15 and includes all Hilton properties around the world.  The promotion provides a choice - double HHonors points or double airline miles.

I have a paid stay coming up in June at a Hilton so I registered and chose to receive double HHonors points. At the moment, I am airline mile rich and hotel point poor.  Even if you don't have a Hilton stay booked, it's worth registering just in case something comes up over the next 90 days.

Silvercar Review

A few weeks ago, Emily and I went to The Phoenician (review coming soon) for the weekend.  We have been a number of times and typically just grab a cab from the airport to the resort.  This time, we wanted to check out Silvercar which is a pretty new startup basically creating an Uber for car rentals.

Here's how it works:

• Create an account and download the app on your phone
• Make a reservation online or on the mobile app
• Text Silvercar when you arrive at your destination airport (within the app)
• Meet the Silvercar rep at the designated location (this varies by airport)
• Unlock your Silver Audi A4 with the QR code within your mobile app.  The car comes with Sirius/XM radio, wifi, no surcharge for tolls, and they'll refill the gas for a flat fee of $5
• Drive away and get on with your vaca/business trip
• Return the car to the Silvercar location when you're done and they will valet you to the airport

Because they are just getting going, they're only in a select few airports (Denver, Phoenix, LA, Chicago, San Francisco, etc...) but expanding rapidly.  They are offering multiple promotions at the moment:

• Code AFF-FTD should get you $50 off a 2 day rental (depends on city but around $50-$60)
• Code (mine) EBERLIN will get you (and me) $25 via PayPal.  I signed up through a referral link and received my $25 the next day.

Our Phoenix experience ended up costing us $73 for the weekend.  About the same as a cab both ways to the resort and we had unlimited freedom and a brand new A4 to drive around.

The transfer from the airport to the rental car facility was easy.  We texted our Silvercar "concierge" on the way over and he met us when we arrived.  He drove us 5 minutes to the Silvercar location and checked my license (first rental only).  2 minutes later we were in the car and on our way.  

Dropoff on Sunday was seamless.  We texted our ETA in the morning and our concierge was there when we arrived.  He checked the car for damage, checked us out, emailed our receipt, and drove us (in our car) to the terminal.

Silvercar is a pretty life changing service.  Generally renting a car sucks.  Silvercar does not.  I highly recommend it next time you're in a city (including Denver) where the service is available.

Singapore Airlines Book the Cook

Many airlines offer a chance to pre-select meals in premium cabins.  Asiana, Thai, and Singapore to name a few Asian carriers offering the service.  In the US, American has a version of this service where premium cabin passengers can select their meal choice from the menu - to ensure they get their first selection.

Singapore Airlines' "Book the Cook" program seems to be the most comprehensive of these services. We've flown Singapore Airlines First Class several times (trip reports here and here) and we've been pleasantly surprised with our "Book the Cook" entrees each time.  From what I have read, SQ is offering the service in First, Business, and Premium Economy - so this is an option a lot of passengers not the plane have access to.

A sampling of First Class Book the Cook offerings

For our upcoming flight home from Frankfurt to JFK, we selected our meals online from the menu.  The hardest part was deciding what to order!  I selected the Lobster Thermidor - I had it on a previous flight and it is spectacular.

Lobster Thermidor SQ Suites SIN - LAX

You can access the book the cook menu for your flight by logging into your KrisFlyer account, navigating to your booking and clicking on the "select meals" icon on the right hand side of the screen.  Menus for departure cities and cabin class can be found online here.

British Airways 747 - Row 1

Prior to departure, I'll double check our seat assignments to see if anything "better" has opened up.  Initially we had selected the first row of "couple seats" on BA's 747 service from Denver to London.  That's row 4 in the image below.  Row 4 means no window for either of us and considerable foot traffic in the aisles as the galley and lavatories are both behind the first class cabin.

BA 747 - courtesy of Seatguru.com

Typically, BA reserves row 1 for elites and then opens the seats up for the masses a few days before departure.  We must be lucky because I checked the other day and both seats in row 1 were open!

Seatguru has these seats as yellow because of the closet in the middle and the lack of overhead bin space.  But I'll take those two downsides for the chance to sit even further forward then the pilots.  The two "curved" windows also provide an opportunity to look a bit forward while flying - something both of us have had on our travel bucket list.