A quiet time in Mykonos

The economic downturn was very evident in Mykonos this summer. The maddening crowds were nowhere to be found, there was no wait time for the island's top restaurants and we were upgraded to the villa at the Geranium Moonlight Hotel even though we had paid for the more affordable Geranium Town Suites. Blame it on the recession and the string of poor reviews Alex has received on Trip Advisor. We finally felt like our loyalty to the Gorgieve Empire was rewarded. I must note that we were banished to the maid's quarters for the last 2 nights but I can't complain because that's what we paid for.

Much seafood was consumed and paired with cheap rosé wine at Kiki's and Kounelas restaurants. Most of our time was spent lingering at the Geranium pool ogling over a certain Serbian male model named Nicky but we did manage to make it to Elia beach twice. The biggest news on the island was that Pierro's, the oldest living Gay bar in the universe had lost its 40-year reign to a new club named Babylon. Many clubs have tried but have failed to overthrow Pierro's but it looks like Babylon, with its contemporary decor, hip crowd and great music, might have succeeded. Only time will tell.

The weather was great for the most part. The meltemi winds subsided for one day and made the heat unbearable. The overwhelming heat caused a power outage on the island at the exact moment that Ed was leaving for the airport. Poor Ed had to jump over the electronic fence in order to catch his cab to the airport. As a result, he twisted his ankle and broke a heel.

Our flight back was on Lufthansa. Having flown Lufthansa in First class in the past, I was expecting this flight to be just as memorable as my previous ones. I'm sad to say that it was less than satisfying. The cabin looked dated and the service was unorganized and spotty. The only highlight was the caviar service. As it turns out, we were asked to fill out a survey about our experience. Let's just say I'm glad I didn't actually pay for this flight.

A Swiss affair

This was our 14th visit to the Island of Mykonos. Things have changed quite a bit since our first stay, there's a Starbucks now, but the island manages to keep its charm. On this journey, we decided to try out Swiss airline's newly remodeled A330-300. We cashed in our United Airlines winnings from the Elite Choice contest and booked ourselves in First class. It had been a while since we had enough miles to fly in First so I was very excited about this trip. Swiss did not disappoint, in fact, I found the new cabin and service comparable to Singapore airlines. They don't serve caviar in First but everything else made up for it. We got a Bally dobb kit with La Prairie products in it, slippers and pajamas. The service was spot on and the food was plentiful. Most impressive was the new modern cabin.

We landed in Zurich with a few hours to freshen up in the First-class lounge before our flight to Rome, our stopover before Mykonos. We both took showers and Mr. M chose to take a nap in the dayroom while I feasted on nibbly bits.

The flight to Rome was short and uneventful; in fact we slept through most of it. In Rome we picked up our rental car, an upgrade to a BMW hatchback, and headed toward the Waldorf Rome Cavalieri. This is one of my favorite hotels in the world but I liked it much better when it was a Hilton. The rebranding has almost doubled the number of points required for a free night at this palace and has diminished the elite benefits. Nonetheless, we were upgraded to a lovely suite but had to pay a surcharge to have access to our beloved imperial lounge.

Our favorite restaurant, Myosotis, has gone out of business so we had dinner at Pierluigi's in Campo dei Fiori. The place is a total tourist trap and the meal was probably one of the worst I've had in Rome. I should have listened to my friend Shanone and gone to a restaurant in the Trastevere. Lezione appresa.

The next morning, we sunbathed at the lovely pool until noon and then headed off to the Prada outlet in Tuscany. The outlet was a dud but we managed to make a few forced purchases. I really enjoy the road trip and the stops at the many Autogrills on the way but have really been disappointed with the offerings at the outlet the past few times. I think this might be our last pilgrimage for a while.

Next stop Athens > Mykonos!

Tokyoland

The flight to Tokyo on United had the old business class seats and reminded me of how much I like the new seats. We arrived Tokyo an hour early and hopped on the Limo bus destined for the Park Hyatt, one of my favorite hotels in the world. Fortunately, we had enough Hyatt points to secure a second night at the hotel now that we were spending 2 nights in Tokyo.

 

We were very happy to have a second day in Tokyo, as we couldn't fit everything we wanted to do in one. I was especially happy about this stay at the Park Hyatt because with Mr. M's Diamond status we would have access to the very exclusive spa. I hit the spa as soon as we checked in. The place was not very crowded so I felt like I had it all to myself. 2 minutes in the sauna and 3 minutes in the Whirlpool was all I could handle. On my way out I noticed several Japanese businessmen in the locker room. One was rigorously blow-drying his entire body.

 

Our first dinner was in Ebisu. We met our good friend Marcus at Shunju Yurari, a modern Washoku restaurant that marries European and Asian influences with Japanese fundamentals. The dishes were very minimalist and artfully presented. Needless to say, we left the place hungry.

 

The next morning, we headed off to Tsujiki fish market for a sushi breakfast and then a full day of shopping at Muji and Uniqlo in Ginza. A throng of morning rush hour commuters greeted us.

 

Back in Shinjuku, I was able to locate the Ramen place I had been memorizing directions to on Google street maps. The place is called Sakura Fubuki and the ramen was Yummy.

 

That night we had reservation at Tempura Kondo, a one Michelin starred restaurant specializing in fried deliciousness. The food was great but we walked out of there smelling like we'd been deep fried in batter ourselves.

 

The next morning we had enough time for a Japanese breakfast in the hotel, a quick visit to Tokyu hands department store and the food court at Takashimaya. We broke down and went back for some more ramen goodness and then caught the Limo bus back to Narita for our flight to LA.

 

No night in Bangkok

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More Safari

Safari 101

We flew to Port Elizabeth where we were picked up and driven to Shamwari Private Game Reserve. There we were shown our room and told that we would be paired with a ranger and a group of people for our entire stay.

Meals were included so our expectations were low. Our first lunch was inedible so we decided to just order simple food from then on.

Safari Day 1:

We met our new British family and our ranger JJ at 5 pm and set off for our first game drive. We saw Elephants, Rhinos, Hippos, Zebras, Kudus, Warthogs, heard lots of mummy this and mummy that. Got back to the lodge with enough time to change and meet mummy and daddy for dinner.

Lucky for us, dinner was a traditional Braai (South African BBQ) so it was a simple affair with grilled meats. Except that the grilled meats came from some of the animals that we saw on our drive! We sampled Kudu, Warthog and Antelope. Kudu won hands down!

Safari Day 2:

Up at the crack of dawn for a 5 am drive. Now this time, we got to see a pride of Lionesses with their cubs. A Cheetah get chased down the valley by a Lion because he tried to steal the Lion's half eaten prey. We greeted Giraffes and revisited some of the old chaps we had previously seen. All in all this was the best drive we had. 

That afternoon, we were separated from our British family and paired with 2 new couples, one South African and the other Irish. That evening's drive was a dud and dinner was formal but fortunately Kudu was on the menu!

Safari Day 3:

On our last drive, we got to see our Lion once again. This time, he was extremely frustrated because his mate was ignoring his calls. At one point, he just got up and sprayed the tree he was lying next to and walked away. 

It was now time to pack up and head back to the airport. We were scheduled to connect in Cape Town to a Lufthansa flight heading to Frankfurt. From Frankfurt, we would connect to an Air Berlin flight to Berlin where we would spend New Year's Eve with friends.

Once again, we checked our bags all the way and were convinced that we would never see them again. Our fear was confirmed by the agent who checked us in at Port Elizabeth. She tried to discourage us from sending our luggage all the way through as we were traveling on 3 different airlines and through 3 different airports. We ignored her plea and decided to take our chances and got our flight to Cape Town.

In Cape Town, we boarded our Lufthansa flight, were greeted by our prison matrons and settled into our business class torture chambers. We were given stale bread and water and told that we would be beaten if we refused it. I am slightly exaggerating. We were thrilled to arrive in Frankfurt and connect to our flight to Berlin. Much to our surprise, we were once again reunited with our bags in Berlin!

More Cape Town

Southern Cape-ifornia

I'll get to the title later. 

Cape Town Day 1:

We arrived Cape Town exhausted after 24+ hours of flying and checked into the Westin where we ordered room service and crashed. 

Woke up in time for an amazing Indian dinner at Bukhara and then went back to the hotel where we crashed again.

Cape Town Day 2:

Woke up at 3 am. Had oysters and champagne at the lounge for breakfast and worked up the courage to request an upgrade to a Jr. suite. We were told that one might become available later in the day so we decided to go check out the waterfront while we waited. Fell in love with colored ostrich eggs and bought a whole bunch to take home. On a side note, not one security person at 5 different airports asked us about the eggs in our carry-ons except, you guessed it, TSA @ JFK. We got a "Wachu got in your bag? Snow globes or somethin" and then she proceeded to unwrap and inspect them and say "Are they really THIS big?" um, no! I could hear Mr. M muter "Be careful, they're fragile" under his breath.

Got back to the hotel and our wish was granted. A corner suite with a view of Table Mountain and the harbor.

Lunch was had at The Royale Eatery, losely based on Pulp Fiction, where we had yummy Ostrich burgers. I love it when the hotel concierge has to Google my restaurant picks :-)

Cape Town Day 3:

OK, so today we were determined to do some sightseeing and decided to go to the top of Table Mountain. Big mistake, the line for the cable car was at least 2 hours so we made our cab driver take us on a tour of the cape instead.

Dinner was at Bo Kap Kombuis, an authentic Cape Malay restaurant in the Bo Kaap district. Yusuf and his wife Nazli, the owners, were extremely gracious and could not believe that we had come all the way from Hollywood to eat at their restaurant. Nazli's homemade chili sauce was so delicious that I made her give me a container to take home with me.

OK, so our joke was that Cape Town looks just like Southern California and we couldn't believe that we came this far when we could've just stayed home! It's like Orange County 10 years ago :-p

Call of the wild

This was not only our much anticipated trip to South Africa, but an opportunity to compare the C cabin on 4 different Star Alliance carriers and test out Mr. M's new top tier status with Hyatt and Starwood. More importantly, this trip was in memory of my late father who longed to revisit his beloved South Africa. The itinerary was all over the place so we set ourselves up for a few bumps in the road. It went something like this:

LAX>LHR>JNB>CPT>PLZ>CPT>FRA>TXL>CDG>MUC>FRA>JFK>LAX

LAX>LHR:

We got to LAX 40 minutes before the flight and I was stressing. Fortunately, a United angel escorted us to the plane and promised that our bags would make it on the plane. We weren't as optimistic. United cabin was ratty, FAs were cranky, meals were mediocre and IFE was substandard...and yes this was Business class.

We arrived London with six hours to spare so we dashed to the Arrivals lounge, took quick showers and changed into new underwear. Knowing that the only places that would be open on Christmas Eve would be the shops in Knightsbridge, we hopped on the Piccadilly line and headed into town. Harvey Nichs was open so we went straight up to the 5th floor and had ourselves some Yo! sushi, looked at overpriced yet beautifully packaged products and got right back on the tube to Heathrow.

The new Star Alliance lounge at Heathrow is a step up from the old Red Carpet Club but I really miss lounge hopping in the old terminal. We nibbled on curry bits and headed toward our gate.

LHR>JNB

The seats on South African Airways were spacious and they actually lie flat! We knew we would get a good night sleep on the way to Johannesburg. The food was beautifully presented but tasted like airplane food and the service was friendly but nothing special considering that we were one of 4 couples in the cabin. We watched "Baby Mamma" and slept like babies all the way to South Africa.

JNB>CPT

In Jo'burg, we barely had time to make our connection to our flight to Cape Town. We thought for sure our bags would not make it on the flight. They arrived in Cape Town a bit tattered but still in one piece just like us!