By RamonRamon is the creator of Travelling Companion. He focuses on flight reviews, hotel reviews, and helping stretch your travel dollars, miles, and points further. Train Summary Our train ride on Renfe was comfortable but could use a refresh and was similar to an Amtrak coach experience. Pros- Good leg room, comfortable seats, good recline, and solid food options for purchase. Cons-Old train interiors, slow train equipment, no power outlets, hot train cars, and dated entertainment system. Trip Overview: European Adventures 2018 Flight Review: American Airlines A330-300 Economy CLT-LHR Hotel Review: London Marriott Regent's Park Food in London Flight Review: British Airways A319 Economy LGW-BCN Hotel Review: AC Hotel Irla Barcelona Train Review: Renfe Clase Turista Barcelona-Valencia Exploring Life in Valencia Exploring Life in Barcelona Flight Review: American Airlines 777-200 Economy BCN-JFK Flight Review: American Airlines A321T Business Class Seats JFK-DCA Check In During our stay in Barcelona Christina and I took a day trip from Barcelona to Valencia Spain to visit Christina's family living in Valencia. We decided to take Renfe which is the national train system of Spain and bought advanced tickets in Clase Turista (economy class). I was excited to take an intra-European train for the first time. We walked from our hotel to the Barcelona Sants Station located in the northwestern section of Barcelona. This is the main train station in Barcelona and I found it to be crowded as we rushed to catch our train. I would recommend that you arrive at the station early because Barcelona Sants station is large and can be confusing for a first time rider. We ran to our gate and handed the check-in agent our boarding passes and we able to make our train.  Barcelona Sants Station Train and Seats  Renfe Train The train departed Barcelona Sants right on time and we made it on board with only a few minutes to spare. Renfe's Clase Turista does not have assigned seating so we grabbed two of the seats on the left side of train hoping to catch a view of the ocean for our over three hour journey.  Renfe Clase Turista My initial impression of the train was that it was similar to Amtrak's older regional train cars. The train seats were laid out in a 2-2 seat layout perfect for travelling companions. The seats were old but very comfortable and had very good recline. The seats featured a mesh pocket, tray table, and a foot rest similar to premium economy seats on airplanes. The seats had no power outlets at all and we resorted to charging our phones using a portable power brick. One of my biggest complaints about the train was that it was too hot and did not have individual air vents. The lack of air conditioning seemed to be a recurring issue in Spain and I think points to different expectations for travel amenities in the United States versus Spain.  Renfe Clase Turista Seats One of best parts about this train ride was the views of the sea and the Spanish countryside. The views made me want to come back to Spain during the summer to try out the beaches and explore the rest of the country.  View of the Spanish Countryside Entertainment and Food The train featured overhead entertainment on circa 1990 screens similar to old American Airlines in-flight entertainment monitors. Near the start of the train ride Renfe employees came through the aisle to offer earbuds. The entertainment provided was Spanish only movies and the screens had poor resolution. Because of our early departure time Christina and I were hungry and I went up to the Cafeteria car to purchase breakfast. I ate an Iberian ham and cheese sandwich which was delicious! Christina's enjoyed her coffee but did not like her cold sandwich.  Iberian Ham Sandwich Even with the views out the window I found the train ride to be very slow. This was due to the fact that the train itself was slow and that it made numerous stops at cities and towns throughout eastern Spain. Towards the end of the trip I found myself wishing for an express train with limited stops between Barcelona and Valencia.
Valencia Joaquín Sorolla Train Station On our journey back we arrived several hours early at Valencia Joaquin Sorrla train station. One note of caution is that if you buy the "Promo" fare which is the cheapest fare you cannot change to a different train. Because we bought this fare we ended waiting around at the train station for several hours. However, during our wait I was impressed by the modern train station which featured many restaurants and stores. The design of the station was very sleek and impressive for a relatively small city such as Valencia. Take Away When I thought about European trains I envisioned high speed and modern trains whisking people from place to place in Europe. This train was more akin to an old regional Amtrak train with slightly better food but perfectly comfortable for our trip to Valencia. If I needed to explore cities in Spain I would take Renfe again. However, when possible I would opt for the high speed train and hope to get a more modern train car.
0 Comments
By RamonRamon is the creator of Travelling Companion. He focuses on flight review, hotel reviews, and helping stretch your travel dollars, miles, and points further. First Class Honeymoon Trip Report Booking Singapore Suites Booking Etihad Airways Apartments Introduction Christina and I have never flown international business class or first class. However, this blog aims to help you stretch your travel dollars further and provide advice for travelling companions. Travelling in international first class with miles is one of the best examples of how to accomplish both of those goals. One of the best ways for travelling companions to both save money and travel comfortably is to use miles and points to book international business and first class travel. Miles and points are a currency just like any other except they generally have the best value when used for travel. Just like dollars you want to get the maximum value out of your currency and you simply can't beat the value of flying business or first class with miles and points. For economy travelers, like Christina and I, with a limited budget it takes the same discipline as a putting together a good travel budget. After two years of travelling together my travelling companion (aka fiancée) Christina and I accumulated a large number of frequent flier miles, hotel points, and credit card points and have saved them for one blowout honeymoon in two of the best first class airline products in the world for couples the Singapore Airlines Suites and Etihad Airways First Class Apartments. Both of these first class products feature actual beds in the sky which can be joined together to offer a double bed perfect for travelling companions. In May I shared the experience of booking our first leg of our honeymoon in the Singapore Airline Suites. Now I can share that last week we booked the flight back to the US from honeymoon in the Etihad Airways First Class Apartments! As you can see in the screen shot below these one way tickets in Etihad Airways First Class Apartment on the Airbus A380 normally cost over $8,500 each and we booked them for 115,000 American Airlines miles and about $49 in taxes and fees each. This means that we got a value of more than 7 cents per mile!  Etihad First Class Apartments AUH-JFK Cash Price In this post I am going to update you all on our honeymoon itinerary, share some of the features of the Etihad First Class Apartment, and let you know how we booked this flight. Another goal of this blog is to share our adventures and I am looking forward to sharing a full trip report next year. Thank you again for reading and please subscribe to our new Facebook page and our mailing list to keep up to date on our adventures. Honeymoon Itinerary Below is our likely route for our honeymoon next year. So far we only have the first long haul leg on Singapore Airlines Suites and the return long haul leg in Etihad Airways First Class Apartments booked. Since my last post on our honeymoon covering the Singapore Suites our route has not changed. However, what has changed is the length of our honeymoon. Our honeymoon will now be three weeks long instead of two weeks and this equates to 17 nights on the ground and two days and one night in the air. We are currently planning to spend five nights in Singapore, five nights in Koh Samui (Thailand), five nights in Bangkok, and two nights in Abu Dhabi but we are also debating whether we need to add another stop to another location such as Changi Mai in Thailand and shorten the Bangkok stay.  Tentative Honeymoon Route Map Map generated using the Great Circle Mapper-copyright Karl L. Swartz Etihad Airways Experience So I know what you are thinking what is the experience like flying in Etihad Airways First Class Apartments? Well I have included a few highlights below: 1. The Apartments feature a 6 foot ten inch bed. Some of which are interconnected and as Etihad Airways describes them as "perfect for when you’re travelling with a companion" and we will definitely put that to the test.  Copyright Etihad Airways 2. The Apartments features a separate chair and a 24 inch television allowing you to stay entertained throughout the flight.  Copyright Etihad Airways 3. My favorite feature is that it has an onboard shower! I imagine this is going to be a surreal experience showering in the air.  Copyright Etihad Airways 4. First Class Lounge in Abu Dhabi features a la carte restaurant dining, a fitness center, and a spa.  Copyright Etihad Airways Booking Etihad First Class Apartments Etihad Airways is based in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates and is considered one of the Middle East Three (ME3) airlines along with Emirates and Qatar. These airlines are major international players in particular when it comes to business and first class travel in part because of their favorable geography. Etihad Airways First Class Apartment is the airline's flagship first class product only available on its A380 (the world's largest commercial passenger aircraft). The Apartments are so luxurious that they were named by Skytrax as the best first class seat in the world in 2017. Etihad is not a part of any major alliance and the best way for US-based travelers to book award tickets on Etihad is through American Airlines AAdvantage because the airlines partners with Etihad. A flight between the United States and the Middle East costs 115,000 AAdvantage miles in First class.  AAdvantage Award Chart Etihad Airways award tickets cannot be booked on AA.com. This is common for American Airlines. In fact, only seven of American Airlines 25 partners can be booked online. If you are only searching for award availability on AA.com you are missing out on a significant number of American Airlines partners. To search for Etihad award space you should go to the website of their frequent flyer program Etihad Guest and select book flights now. To book the Etihad First Class Apartments I went to the website and entered my departure point Abu Dhabi and my destination New York JFK. Then I selected First Class, two adults, and miles as my form of payment.  Etihad Guest Website This brought me to a new screen where I was prompted to login into my Etihad Guest account but I selected "proceed without logging in". The new screen showed that two seats were available in Guest First on the flight from AUH to JFK (which means they are also available to book via Etihad's partner airlines). Etihad generally has little to no award availability when booking this route out of New York-JFK but typically releases two first class seats on the route when booking well in advance from Abu Dhabi to New York. This makes this route ideal for couples travelling together but difficult for larger groups of travelling companions. For groups larger than two I would recommend booking Etihad's business class or economy if you want to travel on this route. Also, Etihad has recently struggled financially, primarily due to bad investments in partner airlines, and in response reduced the number of daily flights from from JFK-AUH from two daily to one daily making this redemption more difficult but still possible with advanced planning  Etihad Guest Award Availability With the knowledge that our flight had two available award seats Christina and I called American Airlines AAdvantage Reservations. Compared to my last experience booking the Singapore Suites our experience booking the Etihad Apartments was a breeze. The most difficult part was getting past the computerized prompts which continually tried to direct us back to the website to book the ticket or get additional information, though Etihad Airways is not bookable online. Once we were able to get through the computerized system we gave the agent our flight information and she transferred us to the international desk. Once we reached the international desk we once again gave the agent our information and she quickly found the availability and booked us two first class tickets on the flight. I was surprised how easy it was to find this availability since other bloggers have reported that U.S. based American Airlines agents continue to have difficulty finding Etihad award space. Our reservation immediately showed up in our American Airlines accounts but actually ticketed about six hours later.  American Airlines AAdvantage Reservations Contact Information If there is SAAver availability American Airlines allows you to add on a free connection within the North America which we could have used to get back from JFK to DCA. However, there was absolutely no SAAver award space on American Airlines between JFK and DCA in either First Class or Economy despite looking nearly a year in advance. American recently has substantially tightened award availability on its own flights and often requires you to connect to redeem a domestic award. It ironic that the award availability has gotten so bad on American Airlines that it was easier finding an international first class ticket than a domestic First Class or Economy ticket. In fact for us to get back to DCA from JFK in business class using miles it would have cost 75,000 miles each, enough to get us back to Abu Dhabi in business class! This is for a flight that is 1 hour and 45 minutes and costs $174 in business and $84 in economy. Sometimes it is easier to just to buy the ticket.  American Airlines Business Class Reward Availability JFK-DCA ne piece of advice is to make sure to ask for the Etihad Airways record locator because American Airlines is unable to make seat selections on Etihad Airways flights. We asked for our Etihad record locator and called their customer service number to choose our seats. Once again we ran into a very confusing computerized system which kept trying to hang up on us. However, after selecting the number two for "existing reservations" we were able to reach a customer service agent. Similar to my Singapore Airlines booking experience the language barrier was challenging. When it comes to selecting seats couples will want to select seats 3A and 4A, 3K and 4K, or 1H and 2H since these seats are connected to one another and have a screen which can be lowered between two beds allowing couples to share beds in the sky! Seats 3A and 4A were already taken which was surprising since we booked so far in advance. However, seats 3K and 4K were available and we selected these seats in adjoining "Apartments".  Etihad A380 First Class Seat Map This process was much more straightforward than booking the Singapore Suites. What I believe made the process much easier was that we booked through a US based airline and we are already American Airlines frequent flyers so American Airlines had all of our information on file. We are super excited about our trip and I imagine it will be a once in a lifetime experience!
By RamonRamon is the creator of Travelling Companion. He focuses on flight reviews, hotel reviews, and helping stretch your travel dollars, miles, and points further. Hotel Overview Mentioned in my review of the The AC Hotel New Orleans: The AC brand is native to Spain and I was excited to check out the brand in its homeland, however, our stay was terrible and AC Hotel Irla in Barcelona was one of the worst hotels I have ever stayed in. Pros- Affordable price Cons-The hotel was old, rooms had no air conditioning or room temperature control, the service was terrible, the room service food was overpriced and horrible, and beds were uncomfortable Trip Overview: European Adventures 2018 Flight Review: American Airlines A330-300 Economy CLT-LHR Hotel Review: London Marriott Regent's Park Food in London Flight Review: British Airways A319 Economy LGW-BCN Hotel Review: AC Hotel Irla Barcelona Train Review: Renfe Clase Turista Barcelona-Valencia Exploring Life in Valencia Exploring Life in Barcelona Flight Review: American Airlines 777-200 Economy BCN-JFK Flight Review: American Airlines A321T Business Class Seats JFK-DCA Location AC Hotel Irla is located in the Northwestern portion of Barcelona near Avinguda Diagonal, a major road in the city. We took a taxi from the Barcelona El Prat Airport which is about 20 minutes away and cost $12. One thing to note is that at the time we were in Barcelona in February 2018 Uber was effectively banned but resumed to the city in March 2018. The hotel is about two miles away from major Barcelona sights such as La Sagrada Familia. If you are up to walking Barcelona is a very walkable city and the hotel's location is convenient to many shops and restaurants. However, if you are not up for walking and would like to stay close to the tourist sights or the beach, this hotel would not be an ideal location.  AC Hotel Irla Check In After stepping out of our taxi I was surprised how busy the streets around the hotel were and this would prove to be a problem throughout our stay. The exterior of the hotel looked very similar to the AC Hotel New Orleans but that is where the similarities ended as the interior was very dated.  Street Outside of AC Hotel Irla We walked up to the check-in desk and began the check-in process first in Spanish and then switched to English when the conversation grew too advanced. The front desk attendant spoke both Spanish and English but was not very friendly. The check-in process was very slow even though there were no other guests waiting to check in. While Christina continued the check in process I looked at the assorted travel sized items such as deodorant or toothpaste which were on a stand next to the front desk. I found the items to be overpriced and I would recommend walking to any of the nearby stores to purchase these instead.  Items for Sale at the Front Desk The rest of the lobby was dark, (a trend that would continue throughout our stay), and unimpressive with a number of chairs scattered around four round tables. Overall the lobby was uninviting. The front desk attendant proceeded to ask us a series of questions and tried to up sell us on breakfast which we declined. She also scanned our passports (a first for us) it made me very uncomfortable having to turn over this personal information to the hotel. Later on I read that it is common in the European Union because of a requirement that hotel's identify their guests.  AC Hotel Irla Lobby Rooms Once we completed the check-in process we proceeded to our room using the elevator. The elevator was old and very small with the ability to hold at most four guests with suitcases. As we walked to the room we noticed that the hallways were very dark and gloomy.  AC Hotel Irla Hallway Upon entering the room we could not turn on any lights and realized that in order to turn on the lights you were required to keep your key card inserted into a slot at the entrance to the room. This was very inconvenient and could lead to guests getting locked out of there rooms after forgetting to remove the key. My first impression of the room was that it was tiny. It is easily the smallest hotel room I had ever stayed in. Worse yet, as Christina pointed out, the hotel did not use the small space very well. The room had a queen size bed and desk in the corner of the room near the window. Also, on the desk were two complimentary bottles of water, which I appreciated, and a room service menu. The closet in the room was so small that our suitcases could not fit and we just left them on the floor.  Complimentary Bottles of Water The interior of the room was very old and it included almost none of the modern amenities of a hotel room despite the hotel and the AC brand advertising themselves as modern. One of the biggest missing items was the lack of international outlets or USB plugs. This forced us to go out on the first night to buy a international adapter.  Spanish Plug The bathroom had a shower and numerous AC branded amenities including a comb, lotion, body wash, and a very small bottle of toothpaste. I appreciated that the hotel provided all of these amenities. The bathroom also had the same glass sink you will find in all AC brand hotels and AC branded towels.  AC Branded Amenities However, the problems with this room continued in bathroom. After taking a shower I came out to a completely soaked floor. After inspecting the shower I realized that that the door to the shower was not closing correctly and had flooded our bathroom floor. I was really annoyed but we used our towels to mop it up and continued to try and get some rest.  Room #1 Bathroom The room was hot so we turned the nob on what we thought was the central heating and cooling system to adjust the temperature since it had no electronic display. However, the room seemed to only get hotter so we opened the window to allow some cool air to come in but this also brought in the significant noise from the busy street below. The room grew so hot and noisy that we could not get much sleep. Furthermore, the bed was very hard and had no sheet only a quilt. Because the room had no air conditioning this meant sleeping without any blankets or overheating under the quilt. After not one but two problems we were so frustrated that we asked to switch rooms the next morning.  Room #1 Bed To the hotel's credit after asking they switched us to a room across the hall. This room was marginally bigger since it was a corner room and the shower doors closed correctly further preventing flooding. However, it suffered from all of the other problems of the previous room in that it had no USB plugs, was hot, and had no air conditioning forcing us to sleep with the window open exposed to the street noise. We found out later that the entire hotel had no individual room temperature control and during the winter, spring, and fall had NO AIR CONDITIONING! So in fact we were turning on the heat the first night. This was truly shocking to us and it is the first hotel I have ever stayed in that had no air conditioning offered during a stay. Between the hard bed, lack of sufficient bedding options, street noise, and heat Christina and I slept terribly throughout our stay at this hotel even after we switched rooms.  Room #2 Bathroom Room Service and Gym Christina and I did not try out the breakfast during our stay but one night when we were so exhausted from walking around Barcelona that we decided to try the room service which was offered 24 hours a day. The room service menu offered various dishes including starters, "bits and bobs", desserts, wine, and spirits.
Given our poor experience with the hotel thus far we decided to play it safe and only order dishes with ham since that is a Spanish speciality and we thought there was no way they could mess that up. We were wrong. The process started off badly as we ordered a bottle of water along with our food and the food showed up without the bottle of water. The silverware used for the room service seemed legitimate but as soon as I opened the top and saw the food that positive impression went way. The ham and cheese sandwich I ordered cost 11.20 euros ($13) and the ham tasted like Lunchables ham and the cheese tasted like slices of Kraft singles. The chips that came with the sandwich were literally plated Pringles and the salad included no cheese and was completely flavorless. My sandwich was so bad that I ended up leaving most of it on the plate save the Pringles. Christina ordered the Iberian ham with breadsticks which cost 15.30 euros (~$18) was not much better. For this price she got a plate of what was certainly the worse Iberian ham we had the whole trip and hard breadsticks. I must say that this was the worse meal I have ever had at any hotel and if this is the best that the hotel could offer for room service they just shouldn't offer it.
The hotel did not have many amenities and did not even have an AC Lounge, which is the bar featured in many other AC hotels. However, it did have a gym. We did not use the gym during our stay but I did check it out before we left and it was small but appropriate for a hotel of this size. The gym had three cardio machines, one of which was broken during our stay. On the positive side it did offer free bottles of water, a sauna, and a shower.
Service and Hotel Response The service at this hotel was just terrible. As I stated we had numerous problems throughout our stay and honestly I got the impression that the hotel simply did not care. First, when we complained about the water flooding onto our floor and the hot temperature in our room no one ever followed up to see if the second room was better or to apologize for the leak. Second, when the room service showed up without the water we ordered we called down to the front desk and they said that we could come down and get the bottle. We declined and just made sure it wasn't charged to our room. Third, one day we showed up to hotel and our key cards were all deactivated. This has happened to me in the past but never to multiple key cards from the same room. We went downstairs to get them reactivated and they asked to reconfirm how long we were staying. This implied to me that the key cards were activated for the wrong length of time at check-in. Finally, after numerous issues at check-out were were never asked how our stay went. The impression I got was that the hotel did not care. We had such a bad experience that for our first time ever we wrote to Marriott customer service to complain about our stay. Very disappointedly Marriott customer service simply forwarded our complaint to the hotel. The hotel responded back saying the following which I have paraphrased from their response. First, the hotel said that some of their rooms have international plugs and USBs but one must have not been available when we checked in. However, they sell international adapters at the front desk. Second, that hotel only offers heat during the winter and air conditioning during the summer and that guests have no individual control of temperature in their rooms. Third, some rooms in the hotel had been undergoing a renovation so the shower issue is common when they renovate rooms. Fourth, the key cards likely deactivated when put next to an electronic device so the hotel staff always asks to confirm the departure date when guests get new cards. Finally, the hotel asked for more details about the issues with the room service meal and said they would forward the feedback on the room service to the proper department. I must say I was extremely disappointed by this response from the hotel. After numerous problems over five nights at the hotel we were offered no compensation at all. Instead what we got were very weak responses and excuses. Honestly, if this hotel doesn't even have individual temperature control how can it advertise as having "modern rooms"? Take Away The AC Hotel Irla was one of the worst hotels I have ever stayed in and if I ever find myself in Barcelona again I would never even consider staying at this hotel again no matter the price. This hotel was only built in 2003 yet it looks like it hasn't been updated since the 1990's. After a decent stay at the AC Hotel in New Orleans the stay at the AC Hotel Irla really hurt my impression of the AC brand. Thankfully, as you will see in a future trip report about our visit to Puerto Rico, my faith in the brand was restored after a great stay at AC Hotel San Juan Condado! |
Archives
February 2024
Categories
All
|
RSS Feed