Virgin Atlantic & Alliance Hotels
This amazing trip began at the Virgin Atlantic check-in desk at 1930 on the 8th of May. A total of 10 of us travelled, including the hosts Sarah Jelley from Virgin Atlantic & Glen Farmer from Alliance Hotels. It was an equal mix of 5 girls & 5 boys and the ice breaker was 3 of the girls were called Vicki! The other agents worked for Redfern Travel, Delta Travel, Fairs Fare, Giles Travel, Quorn Travel, Broads Travel & the Co-operative Travel Management (or Parador Travel?).
After checking-in Sarah took us to show where the chauffer service arrives for the Upper Class passengers. It’s a very tranquil area; you wouldn’t know you are even in the airport. Virgin will already know how many passengers & bags are travelling and will be waiting to greet them with their boarding cards. The parking area outside can take up to 10 cars, however it never gets that busy. The clients can arrive as close to 40 minutes before their flight – Virgin Atlantic will take responsibility to get them there. They can go straight through customs & security without queuing. We proceeded through this area and headed towards the Virgin Club Lounge…
Definitely the best of the club lounges I have seen – comparing to British Airways & Malaysian Airlines! It is very modern, spacious & relaxing. There is the usual selection of complimentary magazines and papers & the drinks / food are all by waiter service. There is a wide choice of light bights or small meals to be enjoyed. There is also a pool area, a TV area and a selection of sweeties to choose from! There is a selection of beauty treatments and a Bumble & Bumble hairdresser area. The hairdressers are all sent to New York for training. It is advisable to book these services in advance as they can get busy.
We all sat together & enjoyed the complimentary champagne! We started to get to know each other – have never met a group who have bonded so well!
Virgin Atlantic had merged 2 of their flights to Hong Kong into 1 so the outbound flight was very busy. The majority of the group, including myself, were upgraded to premium economy and a few to upper class. Premium economy is the smallest cabin on board, has more comfortable leather seats and more leg room than economy, also an upgraded menu. Virgin Atlantic has recently launched new seats in premium economy – 38” seat pitch, 21” seat width, lumbar support, flexible headrest (which I discovered when I woke up) and a new foot rest. We were welcomed on board with a complimentary sparkling wine and dinner to follow was very tasty. I can vouch for the comfort as I slept straight after dinner until breakfast was served!
After a delightful 13 hour flight we arrived safely into Hong Kong. The airport is large and clean and easy to find your way around – if you speak English or Chinese that is… just follow the signs. Hong Kong Airport is approximately 40 minutes by road or 20 minutes by the Airport Shuttle Train into Kowloon. A taxi will set you back around HKD90 – approximately £8.
Our 1st hotel is the Royal Plaza. It is a 5* Hotel situated centrally on Prince Edward Street. We all have our own room equipped with a large double bed, seating area and the essential fluffy bath robe! Very modern and comfortable. We had a couple of hours to have a much needed and refreshing shower before meeting up to take in the night time sites and sounds of Hong Kong. We were very thankful that our host Glen from Alliance Hotels had lived in Hong Kong for 10 years otherwise we would never know where to begin! We took a bus downtown observing an abundance of shop after shop, restaurant after restaurant enroute. We took a short walk from the harbour to one of the vast shopping malls for a burger ‘n’ chips dinner. Nothing exciting to report about that however afterwards we took a walk to Knutsford Terrace - a vibrant area of bars and restaurants where we were able to sit at a large table outside and observe Hong Kong life until the early hours before taking taxis back to the hotel.
Day 2 took us on a half day tour of Hong Kong Island. We started with a ride up to Victoria Peak by tram. Here we experienced breathtaking views of Hong Kong Island and Kowloon. We then proceeded to the famous fishing village of Aberdeen where we took a fascinating Sampan ride. Our tour finished at Stanley Market where we had our 1st market experience and bought some fabulous bargains!
After a few hours free time for lunch / relaxation / recovery we met in the lobby suited and booted for hosted dinner - Chinese food including jelly fish + a few other unidentified objects, mainly nice though! This was followed by a site inspection of the Royal Plaza Hotel.
The Royal Plaza is a 5* hotel catering to both the leisure & business traveller. It has the capacity to hold functions – in fact there was a wedding happening that evening. It has 693 rooms of various categories appealing to most budgets and is attached to an 8 floor shopping mall. There is 1 restaurant, 1 bar and a 24 hour front desk enabling 24/7 check-in. For relaxation their well being spa area is a must. It has a well equipped gym, sauna, jacuzzi & an outside pool area. The pool actually has music playing under the water! For the business traveller there is a business centre equipped with a meeting room, meeting area, fax / photocopy facilities & internet access.
Following the site inspection we were taken by bus to Temple Street night market to search for more bargains followed by a few a few more drinks at the Knutsford Terrace area.
Day 3 was agreed by all, the best of the trip - a tour of Lantau Island via a deserted beach where we got half an hour to enjoy the white sand and warm water. We were then taken to Tai O Fishing Village where we walked around in the heat & observed how the locals live. From the fishing village we went to see Big Buddha followed by a delicious vegetarian lunch at the Po Lin Monastery. We descended from here back down to the village by cable car witnessing the most breathtaking view of Hong Kong and the surrounding islands.
The Royal Garden was the next hotel on the agenda and was even more luxurious than the 1st and in my opinion a better location. From here we took a short walk down to & along the harbour front to join the Aqua Luna cruise. The views of Hong Kong Island were spectacular as we cruised along watching the lazer show, listening to classic music & enjoying a glass of wine. After setting down we walked to One Bar for a western set dinner sponsored kindly by Tour East UK. The evening was rounded off by a very expensive drink on top of the 5* Peninsula Hotel!
Day 4 was an “on foot” tour through the streets of Hong Kong. It was nice to see everything from ground level! We got to see a lot more markets – jade market, fish market, gold fish market, bird market, flower market and even a market that was closed – ladies market. By this point we thought perhaps we had seen enough of markets – all interesting though! We then took the train into Sha Tin which is more out of town to visit the 4* Royal Park Hotel. We were greeted by friendly staff and shown around this lovely hotel. It is an ideal destination for 2nd or 3rd time traveller to Hong Kong looking to save some money on accommodation. It is an easy train ride into town – takes approximately 15 minutes. If required I have a full information pack about this hotel!
For the evening we were taken by bus back up to the Peak for dinner at Café Deco. The best location and the best views of the whole trip! A wonderful way to finish it off sampling lots of different appetizers. This is also where we found out we were guaranteed upper class for the return flight home so tonight we decided to “go for it” make the most of Hong Kong and party until the early hours at Lan Kwai Fong. This is the liveliest of areas on Hong Kong Island with bar after bar playing loud music. The atmosphere was wild!!
After a few hours sleep we checked out of the Royal Garden to start our return journey. We were taken by taxi to the station for the Airport Express Train. We checked in for the return flight – which took ages but once through security and on the train it is a very fast service taking approximately 20 minutes. The taxi driver informed us that it wasn’t much more to take the taxi all the way to the airport so would recommend this service over the train.
The upper class lounge at Hong Kong was modern and relaxing. Duty free & the shops were very expensive so best to stay there!! Upper class cabin was obviously very nice and comfortable! More seats than I expected & not as exclusive. We were looked after very well by the crew. We made the most of all the facilities – movies, games, magazines & papers, and the angled flat bed! Had to check-out how that worked!! Lunch was a very sociable occasion as there is the facility to dine for two – so a group of us sat together and reminisced on the most fantastic fam trip of our lives!
Vicky travelled to Hong Kong courtesy of Virgin Atlantic and Alliance Hotels, The Royal Garden, The Royal Plaza and The Royal Park