Azamara
Quest
22
August – 9 September 2015
Delightful
Havens Voyage
Club
Ocean Suite, 7004
Saturday/Sunday,
22-23 August 2015 – Enid to London
Wade
referred to it as the “Amazing Race” - the route we took to even
get to London. I was determined to fly business class to London but
didn't want to pay an arm and a leg to fly on a domestic airline so
after hunting around for quite a while, I finally found a reasonably
affordable business class flight from Boston to London on Aer Lingus.
The catch was that we would have to fly from Wichita to Chicago to
Boston and then transfer to Aer Lingus to Shannon, Ireland and then,
eventually, London. Our travel buddies, Wade and Charlie boarded a
non-stop flight from Atlanta straight to London at around 9 pm. We
left Enid at 3:30 am on Saturday and landed in London at 10 am on
Sunday morning. - just about 24 hours spent traveling.
It
was pouring rain with a lightning storm on the way to the new airport
in Wichita – the Mid-Continent airport had been transformed into
the Eisenhower Airport since the last time we flew out together from
it – the new terminal was really nice. We stopped for some
breakfast and coffee at the Dunkin Donuts in the terminal and soon
boarded our plane for a 7:45 am departure. The transfer in Chicago
was a problem. Our 11 am flight was delayed and then delayed and
then delayed again. When we finally boarded, we sat in the plane for
another hour and finally took off almost 3 hours late due to a
problem with their radio. I guess there are about half a dozen
places on the plane where there can be a problem with the radio and,
of course, it seems like it was the very last place they replaced a
part that finally solved the issue with the radio.
We
arrived into Boston at almost 5 pm for our connecting flight at 7:15
pm. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem arriving for an
international flight except that we had to collect our bags, get to
another terminal, and check-in on a different airline. We got our
bags some 30 minutes later and took a taxi to terminal E from
terminal B instead of waiting for the shuttle bus just to save us
some time. I held up a $10 bill and asked the driver how much our
fare was and he said “ok” so I just handed him the $10. We
checked in and made it through security by 6 pm which did still give
us enough time to head to the Aer Lingus lounge for about half an
hour of quiet time with a drink (and a snack).
We
flew business class to Shannon, Ireland which was nice with the
reclining seats and amenities like quilt blankets, toiletries, and a
nice dinner after taking off. The seared filet was quite good and we
were offered wine during dinner. I had never had colcannon before –
it's basically mashed potato with chopped cabbage. I thought it was
really good.
When
we got to Shannon, we had to change planes with about a 2 hour
layover. We found our gate and were a little hesitant – the gate
was in a really old part of the airport and it reminded Seth of the
type of airports you see on the way to third world countries. The
gate was pretty empty for quite some time and then about 10 minutes
before we boarded, a ton of people showed up out of nowhere for our
flight. We were in economy on this last leg of the flight and these
were the tightest seats we had ever seen – Seth's knees were up
against the seat in front of him and the seat wasn't even reclined
back. Thank goodness this flight was only a little over an hour.
We
collected our suitcases in London and I used the free London airport wifi to call
for an Uber vehicle. We were instructed to meet the Uber at the taxi
stand which was a bit away from baggage claim. I had called for an
Uber XL because of the number of bags we had and we were picked up by
a mini-van. The ride to the Sofitel St James took about 40 minutes.
Even though we had requested early check-in, our rooms weren't ready
yet at about 11:30 am but, being a high end hotel, they gave us a key
card for access to the fitness center in case we wanted to use the
shower and changing facilities. We checked out the fitness center
and then had a drink in the bar and got our first taste of horribly
expensive London prices. 2 drinks in the bar cost over 30 pounds
(over $40). Not too much longer, Charlie and Wade arrived at the
hotel – just in time for our 12:30 pm lunch reservation at the
Balcon restaurant right in the hotel. Of interest, we were able to
compare our Uber ride (57 pounds) with their taxi ride (over 70
pounds) from the same location.
We
celebrated the beginning of our 2 week vacation with a bottle of wine
from Chateau Gachon in Saint Emilion – one of the wine appellations
that we would be visiting while in Bordeaux. For lunch, I had the
“hot dog” with foie gras – it was delicious.
Following
lunch, our room was ready but Wade and Charlie's wasn't quite ready
yet so we all went up to our room. I really needed to get a run in
so I went back down to the fitness center and pounded out 4 slow
miles on the treadmill then headed back to our room, showered, and
took a short nap.
Our
dinner reservation was at Heston Blumenthal's restaurant at the
Mandarin Oriental hotel which was less than 2 miles away. We took an
Uber to the hotel for about 5 pounds one way and arrived at the
restaurant just a little bit early. We were seated right away and
led to the chef's table in the kitchen to a table that overlooked the
central kitchen as well as another prep kitchen to our left.
Our
menus were on the table in a long brown box which we got to keep.
The menu was fascinating and our waitress explained that each of the
courses represented a different time period with more explanation of
each course on the back. We were seated at a table surrounded by
whimsical drawings on the 3 walls depicting things about the
restaurant and its owner.
The
Earl Grey Tea cured salmon was great – even Seth liked the salmon.
The buttered crab loaf was even better but, to me, one of the
highlights of the evening was the Meat Fruit which, honestly, didn't
sound that great but the chicken liver pate on the brioche was so
good every single person in our party absolutely raved about it. It
was paired with a Sauternes which was perfect. The Frumenty
(octopus) was my least favorite on the menu but the rest of the menu
was delicious. I even enjoyed the lamb and that's not one of my
favorites in general. The menu was punctuated with really cool bits
of genius like the cucumber ketchup which was so good. Apparently
the restaurant is well known not only for its Meat Fruit but for its
signature dessert – the Tipsy Cake. Hands down, this was the most
amazing dessert I've ever had. Ever. The “cake” was like mini
Frontier rolls (complete with an obscene amount of butter and sugar)
– crunchy on the outside and soft/warm in the middle – served
with a roasted caramelized pineapple. The nitro ice cream trolley
was fun to watch but the ice cream melted so incredibly fast and I
normally love sprinkles but the candy coated fennel “sprinkles”
weren't for me.
 |
| Earl Gray Tea Cured Salmon |
 |
| Buttered Crab loaf |
 |
| Meat Fruit |
 |
| Meat Fruit |
 |
| Frumenty - octopus |
 |
| Adding broth to the frumenty |
 |
| Frumenty - octopus |
 |
| Roast iberico pork chop |
 |
| lamb and cucumber |
 |
| Roast peach |
 |
| Tipsy Cake |
We
took another Uber back to the Sofitel and went to bed exhausted but
happy.
