Upgraded Airline Tickets...Are they really worth it?

This is the second time I unknowingly booked a “Premium” ticket from Paris to Barcelona. Mind you, this “Premium” ticket is not first class and is not business class. It’s the lowest of priority seating you can get, and as far as the actual seats on the plane it just means you’re within the front 15 rows and get a slightly upgraded meal. The seats themselves however are exactly the same as Economy. No word on how much more this “Premium” ticket cost from Economy but I will tell you what perks it offers.

1. You skip the long lines at check-in and security and go right through at a specially marketed section for priority ticket holders. On the perk scale I’ll give this 5 stars.

2. A “Priority” tag on your luggage. Because so many people are considered “Priority” on one level or another, this tag does absolutely nothing and I’m convinced the workers in charge of transporting the bags ignore it completely. Both flights I was close to the last person to retrieve my Priority Tagged Bag. Perk Scale = 0 stars





3. A ticket into the Air France Lounge. Perk Scale = 5 (If you actually use it). During my first trip I couldn’t actually find it to even considering going in, but this time my gate was situated right next to the escalator leading down to the lounge. I thought about it, and call me crazy, but I kind of want to save the experience of the lounge area until I actually deserve it. I’m 26, on a multi-city European business trip experiencing top rate hotels, food, even went to a bbq in the mountains outside of Barcelona at what had to be a 3+ million dollar home. I feel incredibly lucky to be experiencing the things I am, so why not save this one little thing until I actually book and pay for my own first class ticket. A real first class ticket. Similar to my opinion on Louis Vuitton handbags. Sure I can go out and buy one (and a lot of people do), but I want to save this purchase for a time when I can really afford to go drop 1-2k on something and not feel it in the pocket. I’m confident the day will come when I’ll walk into an airline lounge holding my Louis Vuitton…but that day wasn’t today.

Round 3! - Paris & Barcelona

I’m back for another round of jet-setting to Paris and Barcelona! First it was 3 days in the outskirts of Paris, same hotel as last only this time I’ve found several English speaking employees so that has been comforting. (no problem with the toilet this time…knock on wood!).

I’m really starting to feel comfortable here in the Paris office; I’ve gotten used to the schedule and [some of] the people are really nice! Each morning around 9-930am everyone meets in the break room for a morning chat and cup of café. Lunch between noon and 1pm, with most people taking the 5min walk to a small sandwich and salad shop in the nearby mall. 2pm sharp is the second café break. I’ve realized it is not really common to have more than these two cups (or shot glasses) of café per day. It’s more of a social thing and not a means to get a caffeine high, which is a major disappointment to me.

The cups and spoons used for the café are not disposable so each day I would wash my assigned dishes and found my completely random fact for the day. Coffee in the US stains cups, mugs, teeth…you get the idea. The coffee I’ve had in Paris washes clean with just a little water and doesn’t even need soap! So what exactly is the difference between our coffee and theirs? Does this mean their coffee is more healthy? I’ll have to do some research and get back to you…

One of the ladies at the office brought in some homemade canele de bordeaux. It is traditional French breakfast cake that was very tasty and a perfect companion to the morning café. The consistency probably isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, as it’s very “French” and reminded me of a thicker, baked crème Brule.

I also went out to dinner with a group of the office IT guys, one local French and 3 Spanish who were in town. What an eclectic group we were! The common language was English (lucky for me!) but everyone had heavy accents and were often struggling to find their words. It was a very enjoyable evening as we all got to know one another, discussing our families and cultural background, and most importantly we didn’t talk about work at all! These trips are very work centric, so I night away from colleagues is never a bad thing (sorry guys!).

Tomorrow I fly off to Barcelona, unfortunately the weekend weather doesn’t look promising so I may have to grab an umbrella and spend the days shopping indoors rather than sightseeing. Fine with me!! I actually packed light this time so I would have an excuse to go shopping, and would have room in my bag for the flight back!!

ME Restaurant - Barcelona

While I’ve had very little time to experience Barcelona as a tourist, just living and experiencing the day to day as a native (living out of a hotel) has been quite an experience. When I have some more time to write toward the back end of the trip I will definitely go into detail on the cultural differences between the US and Spain, France, etc. For now, I’d like to stick to the topic of food!

It’s been work, eat, drink, sleep, repeat for one full week. Every lunch and dinner has been fantastic; I’ve had not one complaint. And the dinner we had last night was no exception!

We walked to a place called ME just about 4 blocks from our hotel. Some of my co-workers had dined here on previous business trips and they had been raving about this chocolate desert for days, so we had to go try and get a table. After about 10 minutes of negotiating with the owner, they finally let us in even without a reservation. The food, atmosphere, and service was top notch and the owner actually sat down with us when we ordered to answer any questions we had about the food, and then again at the end of the evening. He was super personable, even to the table of 6 who showed up without a reservation, so I’m sure the service is spectacular on any day.

I couldn’t decide if I should go for the octopus starter or entrée, so I ordered both. And I wasn’t disappointed! We each had a desert; I had goat cheese cheesecake and stole a bit of someone else’s chocolate desert which more than half the table ordered. We also wiped out the restaurant of Albarino wine…we drank 6 bottles!

This honestly was one of the best restaurant’s I’ve ever been to, and the prices weren’t unreasonable. If you ever get the chance to visit Barcelona, this is an absolute MUST!

For information on ME Restaurant, I found this utube video including a tour of the restaurant and interview with the owners.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqIxvptawMo

I also found this New York Times Review:
Away from the crowds in the popular L’Eixample area you’ll find this cutting-edge and affordable restaurant, a seven-month-old hybrid of New Orleans, Vietnamese and Catalan cooking created by Thang Pham.

ME Restuarant
Carrer de Paris, 162, Barcelona, 8036
93/4194-933
www.catarsiscuisine.com


ENJOY!

8pm = early bird special

It’s no joke, dinner doesn’t start in Spain until 9pm. Tapas, yes, you can certainly enjoy a tapas dinner at 7pm or earlier but if you’re looking for a real dinner with starter, entrée and desert, don’t expect those restaurants (authentic Spanish restaurants) to open their doors before 9pm.

Last evening we worked in the office until 8:15pm, dropped off our bags at the hotel and headed out for dinner. We arrived at our destination around 8:45 and were the first patrons to walk through the door. At 9:05pm, the doors flew open and tables were full shortly after. How is this possible? How can people afford to have a full dinner, including desert and coffee (and at least 1 bottle of wine) starting at 9pm or later? Simple! Their day prior to dinner looked like this:

9:00 am – employees arrive in the office
10:30am 11:00am– employees leave premises to break for breakfast
1:30-2:30pm – employees leave premises to break for lunch
5pm sharp – employees leave premises for the day
At least 1-2 times within the day, employees gather for coffee and/or a game of cards.

When I find the time, I’d like to do research on the average life expectancy in Europe and I would put money on the average being at least 5 years higher than that of the United States. Stress levels, not to mention cancer and terminal illness, should also be significantly lower. As a psychology student in school, I would love to do a study on overall happiness of Europeans compared to Americans. Even with working 12+ hours days since I’ve been in Europe, the work-life balance is hard to ignore and the work-hard, play-hard philosophy has certainly been put into practice.

** The restaurant we ate at Monday evening was Market Hotel and was fabulous!! A proper dinner with starter, entrée, desert and wine (2 bottles) for 3 people was a total of 90 Euro (without tip). Be prepared, the entrée doesn’t include much of a side, but the meal itself is wonderful. http://www.markethotel.com.es/
Make reservations if possible, for anytime after 9pm. We called about 6 times throughout the day but nobody ever answered the phone, so we arrived at 8:45pm and they gave us a table anyway.

Topic Train!

I’ll start off today’s blog by asking a simple question. Has anyone ever had a good experience at the Paris Charles de Gaul airport? I’ve flown domestically and internationally out of the CDG airport and each time the experience is beyond poor. I’ll skip the details because there are far more exciting topics to discuss, but please do share your thoughts on CDG.

I’ve only been in Barcelona for half a day, but already so much to talk about!! Where to start!!

Taxi drivers – while they don’t drive Mercedes as they do in Paris, taxi drivers in Barcelona are a lot friendlier (not to mention cheaper!!). My driver chatted the entire ride into the city, talking of topics from the economy to the fact that Shakiria is now living in Barcelona. He also made sure to tell me there is a great disco across the street from my hotel!

Sidewalks – I don’t know why, but I love that there are sidewalks on the side AND middle of the larger roads.

Dogs – Last time I was in Barcelona we noticed that most dogs in the city were not on a leash, something you’d never see in the States. As we travel more and more we realize this is the norm in Europe. So far today however, I’ve seen about 10 dogs and every one was on a leash.

Dinner – My hotel is about 6 blocks from the hotel Brian and I stayed in two years ago, and I was determined to have dinner at the little restaurant half a block from our hotel. I made my way there (without a map!) and to my disappointment, the once authentic restaurant with the most amazing paella had been replaced with a tourist bar with pictures of the food for a menu. I sat down anyway, and even though they didn’t have paella I did have three of my favorites, Estrella Damm, chorizo boccadillo, and calamares. All for 7.80 euro!!! Can’t beat it!

Wedding Dress Capital – For those who don’t know, Barcelona is where Brian proposed and because of that maybe I noticed more than ever how many wedding dresses are displayed in shop windows. I’ve been to my share of cities and I swear Barcelona has more than the average number of bridal shops. I noticed it again tonight, as I walked to dinner I must have passed at least 5 shops in a matter of 6 blocks.

Paris Hilton (yes, Paris Hilton) - I find it wrong that Paris Hilton’s arrest with cocaine charges is discussed every 5 minutes on CNN and SkyNews, in between news such as the Prime Minister’s new baby daughter and Glenn Beck’s rally. Paris Hilton’s name should never be spoken on any respectable news station and is it me, or do you think she wanted to get caught to compete with Lindsay Lohan’s drama? I am however very pleased they have English speaking channels. Again, something that was rare in my two Paris hotels.

Hotel – my hotel is fantastic, very contemporary, spacious and has all the amenities. Just one problem. As I was sitting on my bed catching up on the evening news I started to hear a buzzing sound coming from outside. I look out and notice a spotlight that is located directly below my window has turned on. Apparently there my room is located directly below, or next to, a very important sign outside that must be lit up at night. I kid you not, I feel like Kramer on that Seinfeld episode where the red light from the Chicken sign shines into his room and drives him crazy. Look at this picture! It is 10pm and no lights on inside my room. Hopefully the light gets turned off around midnight? One can hope…

We’re Not in Paris Anymore

When I was in Paris last month I stayed in a hotel walking distance to the Eiffel tower. While that was great because it allowed me to explore the city on my one day/night off, my commute to work was about an hour each way. Considering I am only staying two days this trip I decided to stay in a hotel closer to work. The office is in a town called Lisses, and I am staying about 10minutes away at the Best Western Etiolles which is located on a golf course. I’m definitely not in the city of Paris anymore! The hotel is actually a collection of bungalows and the rooms are very spacious and super quiet! In my hotel in Paris the people in the room above me were having a dance party at 2am, but here it's so quiet I could hear a pin drop. There is a lake and golf course view out my bay window, but sadly no room service. As I discovered during my last solo visit, I’m not a fan of eating alone in a restaurant so I’d prefer room service when possible.

The staff that I’ve met do not speak any English, which made my visit to the front desk to tell them my toilet was running, so much so that I couldn’t even flush it, pretty entertaining to anyone watching. The two of us are using hand motions and even walked into the ladies bathroom in the lobby thinking if I could point to an actual toilet she would understand what I was saying. This didn’t really work so she finally agreed to come with me to my room. After 10minutes of fiddling with gadgets, she also gave up and put the lid back on. A few minutes went by while we just stood there looking at each other and back at the toilet, and suddenly we realized the bowl was filling up! Crisis averted, I smile and say “merci!!” (one of 5 words I know in French. Okay, 3 words I know in French), and I’m back to finishing up more work while listening to French Family guy in the background.

Oh, this was my coffee up I used in the office. You can’t really tell from the picture but its about the height of a 3 shot shotglass and a little wider. And it packs as much caffeine as 3 coffees back home! The candy next to it was a Christmas Santa made of marshmallows on a stick that someone was handing out at the office. Not sure why.



Tomorrow it’s off to Barcelona; can't wait for paella and tapas!! And a language I know more of three words of!

A Familiar Face

The trip has started off great! My mom was nice enough to drop me off at the Philly airport so I wouldn't have to cab it from Conshohocken, and after checking my baggage I actually walked right through the security checkpoint with only one person in front of me! I was so excited I asked the security attendants if I could take a picture of this amazing good luck, but after they looked at me funny I decided just to take off my shoes and walk on through.

As with I every flight I've ever taken to Europe, this one included a group of 40+ high school students on some kind of organized trip. But something was different about this group. While there was the handfull of girls talking over one another while surrounding the cutest boy in the group trying to win his attention, the screeching and typical immature comments common of youth traveling abroad these days was kept to a minimum. Lucky for me, I ended up being completely surrounded by these teenagers on the plane, who I later found out was a group of high school seniors from all over the country headed for a 10 month exchange program all throughout France. Yes, in deed the difference was these kids weren’t just going for a 2-3 week long social vacation, they were actually going to experience the culture, history and learn something! (I’m one to talk…I went to Australia my senior year and returned with 95% pictures of my friends and 5% pictures of the scenery. Not to mention didn’t actually attend any classes.)

The program actually seems pretty cool. It’s an exchange program through Rotary. As I said, it’s a 10 month program, family and friends are discouraged to visit during this time so not to disrupt the emergence into a new culture, and it cost less than $5000! (So said the one girl sitting next to me from Oklahoma.)

So back to the flight. As I was boarding I immediately recognized the flight attendant greeting passengers and guiding us to our seats as the same flight attendant on both of my flights to and from Paris last month. He actually almost snuck me into first class on the return flight if another flight attendant didn’t adamantly stop us by a snappy “excuse me…we don’t do that”. So after breezing through security I’m feeling in a friendly mood believing it had to be a sign that this was going to be a good flight, so I stop at my old friend and tell him I’m beginning to feel like a regular, because I remember him from my previous flights. He must have felt special because he smiled ear to ear and while he tried to start up a conversation, I didn’t want to be that person who holds up the line so I just smiled and kept walking.

My seat on the other hand, is the only negative part of the flight. I’m in seat D on a plane that has seating in 2 4 2 layout, which means I was in the middle of the middle. (With giddy high school girls hitting on the guy in the pink button down in the row behind me).

Dinner and drink service begins, chicken or pasta, and after eating half of my pasta the drink cart finally arrives…guided by a familiar face. I tell my flight attendant friend (name unknown) I’d like a diet coke to which he replies… “And a Jack Daniels?”. I say, “Sure, if you’re handing them out”. Next thing I know I’m being handed a tiny plastic Jack Daniels bottle each time the guy walks by my row! Finally I had to explain that this was a business trip and I had to go to the office immediately upon arriving in Paris. So 4 Jack and Cokes later I finished up watching When in Rome (great movie btw) and pass out with my head on the tray table, which I’ve found is the only way I can sleep on a plane if I don’t have the window seat.

Moral of the story – I bet this will work with a lot of flight attendants if you’re interested in trying to get free booze. And if I ever see this guy again, I’m asking for the first class seat again. My bet is he’ll pull it off next time.

I wont’ bore you with the majority of my day which consisted of not having a phone because either my company or At&t “forgot” to add the international plan, so I had to wait until my office back in the states woke up to sort that out. Left the office at 7:20pm…have you ever been so tired you just wanted to break down and cry for no reason? Yea…that’s how tired I was. And yes, I am still that tired even as I sit here and write this blog, but I figure if I don’t do it now, it’s not going to get done.

Signing off for now! Skipping dinner and headed straight to bed, only to be woken up by my loving husband when he gets off work at 11pm Paris time.
Love you Brian!

Prepping for Europe!

After weeks of waiting, my company finally confirmed I'll be headed to Paris TOMORROW and Barcelona on Saturday. I'm super excited, but there's a lot to do before jetsetting out in 24hours!

In addition to packing clothes and toiletries, business essentials such as laptop, notebooks, power cords and adaptors, I am also in the process of getting an expedited passport renewal. For those who don't know, some countries require you to have your passport valid for 3-6 months after the planned return to the States. In my case, my passport expires 12/3/10, or more importantly 09/03/10, but my planned return is not until 9/9/10.

I found that there are a lot of 3rd party companies that will expedite your passport for you (some legit, some are not. Check with the BBB before trusting any of these), but if you have a Regional Passport Agency nearby I recommend working directly with them. There is an automated phone system that will schedule you an appointment, provide you with a confirmation number and you're set! In my case, I called on Sunday night and the next available appt was Tuesday at noon.

Thank goodness I don't live too far from the city, nor does my company mind if I work from home and take a few hours off here and there, because my quick trip turned into two round trips, once at noon to provide my application, then returning at 3pm to pick up my new passport. I was also 2 minutes away from being on the Parking Wars TV show because when I returned to my car I had a white envelope with a parking ticket inside...stamped TWO minutes prior to me getting there. If I had walked up while someone was writing me a ticket there is no doubt I would have flipped out at the poor sap who was writing it up. (I had just come from a government office where I saw dozens of people, most of which were in security outfits, telling people to put away their drinks, food and cell phones just because they can. 1. get over the power trip, you have no real authority, and 2. you really get paid for that?) I had enough of uniformed officials for one day :)

Packing for two weeks of a business trip is tough! You don't really want to repeat clothes, and two weeks isn't really long enough to do laundry. But I did manage to keep everything to one suitcase, mainly because dragging two bags around would certainly not be fun.

Jetsetting to Paris!

Last month I traveled to Paris for my "day job", and although I was only there for less than a week, working 13 hour days, I did manage to get a glimse of the city and the people. Not only was this my first time in Paris, but it was my first time traveling alone! It was a great learning experience traveling alone, sightseeing alone, not to mention eating alone!!

Here are 10 things I learned while in Paris:

1. Motorcycles have their own lanes on Paris highways / streets. They're called the shoulder and the dividing lane lines. They will fly in these lanes going 50 km/hr while cars are stuck in the real lanes going 20. I wonder what the statistics of motarcyle fatalities are? I'm guessing high.

2. If you eat out alone, bring a something to read / do. Or make sure to eat at on an outside terrace, so you can watch the people strolling by instead of awkwardly staring at the people at the tables around you. (dinner in Paris is slow, 1 hr will feel like 3 when you have nobody to talk to)

3. The Eiffel Tower is really freakin' cool, and I could stare at it all day

4. LC's trip to Paris may have been more glamorous than mine, but I got to see the Tour de France and Lance Armstrong (for you guys out there, LC is from MTV's The Hills and she rode on a dreamy guy's (who wore really tight pants) motorcycle around the city at night, as well as attending the Crillon Ball.)

5. You aren't allowed to hail a taxi on the street, and they are never at their marked locations. The only way to get a taxi is to call them, and when you do they start the meter then...not when they pick you up. Every cab I got in (when the exception of the airport) started at 8 euro or more. If i can give one bit of advice to someone vacationing in Paris, this would be it!!

6. I'm pretty bad when it comes to a sense of direction, but wtih the Eiffel tower as my north star I am very proud to say I didn't get lost once! This is pretty amazing considering I didn't look at a map before i arrived.

7. The espresso tastes just has horrible as the worst airline coffee, but can snap you out of the worst jetlag in a second!

8. The sun sets a little over an hour later than it does at home, around 9:45 (in late July).

9. I love cheese = I love french cuisine.

10. Paris is much more fun when shared with someone you love ;)

Euro Down, American Travel Up

Due to the recent fall of the Euro from it's $1.35 value to $1.22 this morning, more and more Americans are realizing that Europe is starting to become afordable. Read today's article on CNN about how the price differentials could change your next trip:

http://money.cnn.com/2010/05/14/news/economy/euro_zone_vacation/index.htm

Call Brian at JetSetPilot for help with your next trip no matter where it is or browse some of the trips we offer on http://www.jetsetpilot.com/ Remember that these are not all of our trips!