Bill&Theresa: "The Residence" - A Step above First Class!!

A "First Class" suite, but not ours...nothing so plebian for us!

When we planned out this trip, it was equal parts “fly around the world” and “try out one of the super exclusive premium ‘airplane rooms’”. There were a few airlines that have done something like this, but we could use points to get it on Etihad, so that became the focus. This was to be the highlight, and the rest of the trip was built around it. We looked at a few options, and determined that, to get the lounge in AUH, we needed to fly out of AUH, not simply into. But adding the segment from SIN to AUH ended up being a better deal, and gave us the arrival and departure from AUH. We looked at going to Paris, London, and Toronto, and the Paris option just seemed to make the most sense. So, that is the stage. Here is the play!

Ahh, much better!! Two seats. But wait! There's more!!

They usually have the airplane at a “lounge gate”—a gate they can access the plane straight from the lounge without the passengers being in the public gate area; but in this case, the gate was almost as far from the lounge as it could have been. At about 1PM, they showed up at our room to escort us to the airplane. There was our concierge, and a man who handled the bags. And the driver, since we got a private cart ride to the gate! Unlike the arrival where the cart was flying through an empty hallway at midnight, this one was dodging people in a busy terminal. When we were as close as he could drive, we disembarked and headed the last 50 yards or so by foot. We passed everyone, and our concierge (with our boarding passes in hand) gave them to the gate agent, then the cabin crew when we boarded the plane. We had about 10 seconds before others followed us on board.

Let's get this party started!!

The “Residence” is in the front left corner of First Class, on the upper deck. It is so far forward, you can see the curvature of the fuselage by the wall/ceiling panels. FC was nice, but WE had a sitting area, a private bathroom, and a bedroom!! The Flight Attendant came to greet us at the jetbridge and show us to our room. She also took the bags and tried to stow them for us. But, recall we packed for two weeks in a rollerboard and back pack (gathering a few things along the way), so things were getting full. Even our suitcases were bowed around the middle. So, as she tried to fit them in their place under the bed (which was exactly the size of the unbowed suitcase), it wasn’t happening!! She was afraid to damage them (yeah, one doesn’t roll and has wheels robbed from another suitcase, so, we’re not worried), so took them to…an empty FC suite? I think. Anyway, now it was time to settle in, and get ready for the flight of a lifetime!

The view from our seats!

Our back wall is a bit taller.

Look! We have doors! So we don't have to see or be seen.

Upgraded "mini-bar" with more (of the same).

The route

And settle we did!! And settle. And settle. We ended up being pretty late, which wouldn’t have been so bad, but it was pretty warm on the plane and only getting warmer. See, sitting on the tarmac in the hot sun gets planes rather hot. And the ground air isn’t really strong enough to cool that huge volume of warm air. And upstairs on the A380…well, hot air rises. So, we sat there getting uncomfortably warm, while our flight attendant was running around getting glossy faced, but in a uniform that could not have been comfortable!

Good-bye Abu Dhabi!
(Actually, this is the new terminal, opened less than 3 years ago.
Last time I flew out of AUH, was like 1-2 weeks before it opened!)

Unusual "unmarked" plane!!

Nappy time!! THIS is how to travel!!
Note the curvature of the ceiling. Also the light pattern.

Finally, we took off; and the engine air-conditioning kicked in. The seat belt sign went off, so, it was time to start checking out our space. First step…change out of our nicer cloths. Since the pajamas were Giorgio Armani (last time…these apparently were not), and I was going to get out of jeans and try to cool down, we went into the bedroom and got changed. We even got ready to try out the bed. But the bed was not very big, and that little room was still quite warm. So, I let Theresa have the space and I went back out to sit in our living room. She had a nice little nap. Somewhere along the way, I laid down and took a nap, and wow! Was it good!!

Most of the flight we sat around in pajamas, which felt weird. We watched a movie, ate some, and then needed some time management for the rest of the flight! We wanted dinner and both wanted to try out the shower, so better get started!!

At first, this looked SUSPICIOUSLY like a camera!
But once Theresa found the switch, it was obviously the light feature on the wall/ceiling.

The shower. Compound curves!

Our flight attendant had to make the bathroom “ready”, with towels and who knows what else. Theresa took her shower. Once done, the flight attendant come back and “cleaned up and made it ready” for me. I felt a little silly having her clean it in between. Anyway, she then asked if I “had ever showered before”. I said, “Well, yeah. But not on an airplane!” I think this threw her off!! She repeated it to Theresa with a bit of a laugh, then showed me how it worked. Like the lav doors where you lock it to turn on the light, you have to lock the slower door for water…to prevent water water everywhere (and not a drop to drink)! So, you’re inside. You can set the temp, and then you push a button, and you get water. You push it again and it stops. You have about 5 minutes of water, so best to start and stop. Here’s what they DON’T tell you. Assuming like me, you too have showered (though not on an airplane), you generally want to get the temp right and stay out of the way until it stabilizes. Except…there is not “out of the way” in that little spot. So, brace yourself and see what temp comes out! The other thing, it gets a little cold with NO water going, so the start/stop is a little chilly! But, these are first world problems, so we soldiered on!!

Dinner time! (well, appetizers, at least)

After my shower, I put on shorts and headed out to the living room for dinner which was coming soon! I tried the lamb and Theresa had the beef. Both were good!! Before we were truly finished eating, it was time to start setting up the cabin for landing. The flight attendant was scrambling around cleaning up the shower, and then the bedroom—which we were NOT prepared for! Had we known, I would have gotten dressed and cleaned up, and packed. Oops. Anyway, we had a little break and I did just that about 20 minutes before landing.

A lot of cloud cover over Paris.

Watching the approach.

Charels de Gaulle was a bit wet.

We had the option to disembark at the beginning or end. If we had more time, the end could have been good as we might have changed and packed then. But we had stuff to do, including Bill having a conference call that started 3 minutes before we landed. I wasn’t going to try supporting a call from our “Residence”, or going through Immigration (they frown on that)! So, first, please! As we headed to the door, two women in FC got in front of me, and I wasn’t going to be rude. But the Flight Attendant turned around and saw them in between us, and graciously—but firmly—asked them to let me through. Mr. Important…coming through!! Actually, it was necessary, because once we were to the door, someone was there waiting for us and escorted us to Immigration and through Customs. Immigration was funny. She took our passports and handed them to the officer…so we stood back until he looked at us, stamped the passports, gave them back to our escort, who handed them to us, and we were on our way!

Apparently, there was a "bar area", but we didn't get to visit.

Finally, we exited the controlled area and our driver was there waiting. Did we say they give us a limo to anywhere in like 50 miles? Yeah. They did. Into the Mercedes we went, while someone shoved our bags into the trunk. Bill got on his conference call then, which was 30 minutes in, but also wrapping up. Nevertheless, it was a funny feeling sitting in the back of a Mercedes “limo” on conference call like some …well, Mr. Important!

The Waldorf Astoria!

We made it to the hotel—the Waldorf Astoria, next to Versailles Palace. I mean, if we’re going to fly like kings and queens, why not stay next to a real palace?? (This was a LOT of Hilton points…but otherwise “free”!) As we checked in, there was another call Bill had to get on, so at 8:55…time to look for a place I can talk. I started outside, as our room was and wasn’t ready. It was ready, but they had two twin beds, not a king, so housekeeping was going to remake the bed. But they said we could we head up. So, I joined the call in the room, and sat there watching the woman remake our bed, while Theresa skedaddled. At one point I mentioned I was in the hotel room, and almost said “but not alone”, then realized that was going to need more explanation that this call warranted! Anyway, it was a good call, and that mostly wrapped up the evening!!