In the last 2 months of 2022, I was given the opportunity to travel to India for a work secondment. I signed up to travel to India without any expectations, but the entire experienced turned out way better than I expected, all thanks to the warm hospitality I received throughout my stay in Kolkata.
30 October 2022 (Sun): Kolkata City Tour
As part of my long stay (at least 30 days) at JW Kolkata, I was entitled to a complimentary city tour. Basically I get to use the hotel car and driver for a day to travel around Kolkata, wherever I wanted. So on my first weekend in Kolkata, I decided to go on tthe tour and check out a few tourist attractions in the city. Since I have an entire van for myself, I asked my team members if they were interested to join and be my tour guides. =P Huge thanks to Saiyam, Ila, and Rupa for agreeing to join me on short notice and graciously be my 'tour guides'.
We met up at my hotel at 8am and departed together in the hotel van. Our driver, Ziaul, was already waiting for us. It was Sunday morning so traffic wasn't bad at all.
We arrived Dakshineswar Kali Temple around 8.30am and I was surprised to see so many people there on a Sunday morning. Apparently, this temple is always crowded on weekends because many locals come here to give their offerings. Besides, I've been a hermit working from home for the past 2.5 years so it had been quite a while since I've seen so many people...lol! Entrance is free.
I was glad I visited with this temple with the locals because I would have been so lost and overwhelmed not knowing what to do. My team members had already told me the day before that I'd need to take off my shoes before entering the temple and asked me to bring along a sandals. I went prepared and wore my sandals thinking that I'd just have to take off my shoes before entering the temple, as in a building (like taking off your shoes before entering a house). What I didn't know was that we'd have to deposit our shoes and belongings (including mobile phones) at the deposit counters before entering the whole temple area. Yes, walking with just socks/barefoot outdoor as well. If I had known this, I would have left all my belongings in the van to save Saiyam the trouble of having to help me deposit my backpack. Anyway, I'm super thankful to have them helping me out and even went all the way back to the van to get me my socks coz he was worried the floor would be too hot for me to be barefoot.
We could only take photos outside (before the entrance) since photography isn't allowed and I didn't have my phone. Yes there are pretty strict about checking for mobile phones at the entrance with a pat-down, like going through airport security...lol!
We left Dakshineswar at 9.30am and arrived at Belur Math around 9.45am. Unlike Dakshineswar, Belur Math had less people and was a lot more peaceful. This place is notable for its architecture that fuses Hindu, Islamic, Buddhist, and Christian art and motifs as a symbol of unity of all religions.
After a quick 15 minutes visit at Belur Math, we headed back into the city for more sightseeing. Snapped some random photos along the streets of Kolkata, and the iconic yellow taxi. All yellow taxis in Kolkata has the same model...the Ambassador Classic, and they are slowly vanishing from the streets due to their age and the competition from Ola and Uber.
We arrived Victoria Memorial at 10.45am. This is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Kolkata. This iconic structure is dedicated to Queen Victoria, the Empress of India from 1876 to 1901.
A bit of history lesson from Google...Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) was the former capital of British India. Similar to Malaysia, India was also a former British colony, which explains why we share a lot of common in the 'British English' we use. The British ruled the Indian subcontinent for around 200 years between 1757 and 1947.
The building and surroundings are very nice, and we were lucky with the beautiful weather and blue skies because the city is usually hazy and smoggy.
Next was a quick stop at St. Paul's Cathedral at 11.30am. This white-colored cathedral was the first new-built cathedral in the overseas territory of the British Empire, and was completed in 1847.
Arrived our last stop of the day, Mother's House at 11.50am. This convent was where Mother Teresa lived and died, and is the last resting place of Mother Teresa.
Wrapped up our tour with lunch at Peter Cat on Park Street after a successful morning of sightseeing. We were lucky to get there early at 12.20pm and was able to get a table immediately as we saw people waiting in lines outside of the restaurant as we were eating. This is a popular restaurant in Kolkata. I ordered the Chelo Kebab (kebabs served with buttered rice, mutton seekh and a sunny side up), which is their famous must-try item.
We decided to call it a day after lunch and headed back to the hotel. This tour was definitely a good way to kick-start my 2-month stay in Kolkata. Thank you again to Saiyam, Ila, and Rupa for the warm hospitality and showing me around Kolkata. Also thanks to our driver, Ziaul, for driving us all around and making it so convenient for us to visit each locations. =)
In the last 2 months of 2022, I was given the opportunity to travel to India for a work secondment. I signed up to travel to India without any expectations, but the entire experienced turned out way better than I expected, all thanks to the warm hospitality I received throughout my stay in Kolkata.
Pre-departure Preparation
My original plan was to be in India for 3 months, with a scheduled start date of 26 Sept 2022. However, due to significant delays in my India employment visa process, my secondment was cut short to 2 months instead. Our company's contractor who helped with the visa application process informed me that the visa process should take about 2 weeks. However, mine ended up taking 4 weeks, which would have been even longer if I hadn't stepped in and took matters into my own hands. The main problem was that there were too many parties involved in the visa process - our company's immigration contractor, visa agent, India Consulate's outsourced service provider, and the India Consulate in Atlanta. This delay resulted in a whole lot of stress and frustration. It not only impacted the start date of my secondment (which also had a huge financial impact), it also almost cost us our Greece trip.
I called the India Consulate in Atlanta's emergency number to check on the status of my visa, and explained that I needed my passport back urgently for an international trip. The Consulate staff asked me to go to the Consulate the next day to pick it up, but didn't tell me if my visa was processed yet. At that point, I wasn't really bothered if my visa was ready or not, I just wanted my passport back. I drove 4 hours each way to Atlanta on 12 Oct 2022 (2 days before our flight to Greece), to retrieve the passport myself. I arrived at the India Consulate in Atlanta around 10.15am and successfully got my passport by 10.35am. Best of all, I got my visa too!!! Phew...what a huge relief!!
My original plan was to fly from India to meet up with hubby in Greece. However, since my start date was delayed, I changed my plan to fly from US-Greece-US with hubby. Fortunately, I had double booked my flights to Greece (one from India and one from US), and was able to easily cancel the flight from India for free. Gotta love airline miles for all these flexibility. =)
To add more excitement to my travels, I booked my flight to depart from US to India on the day after we return from Greece. So I was traveling non-stop for 4 days across 3 continents...Santorini-London-US-Doha-Kolkata. As we got home from Greece at 9pm on Saturday, and my flight to India departs at 1pm the next day, I had less than 24 hours at home. As such, I had my luggage already packed before we left for Greece. In fact, my luggage had been packed for more than a month as I was ready to depart as soon as I received my visa. For this 2 month trip, I packed enough work clothes for 2 weeks (these work clothes have been hibernating for 2.5 years), Covid essentials, personal care products, and also stuffs to bring back to Malaysia as I was planning to make a trip back home to Malaysia from India. Another pre-departure to-do's was getting all the necessary vaccination shots. I had 5 shots within the span of 3 weeks.
Hubby dropped me off at the airport at 11.30am. As I was gonna be gone and not cooking for 2 months, we made sure our freezer was well-stocked with food for hubby to survive...lol!!
In addition to the baggage allowance of 2 bags (50 lbs each), the company also reimburses excess baggage of up to 70lbs but I didn't need it.
1st flight: First class seat on this 2 hours flight from Huntsville - Dallas at 1.09pm.
Landed in Dallas on time at 3pm and had a 3.5 hours transit. I went over to the boarding gate to get my travel documents validated first before heading over to the American Airlines Flagship Lounge, which I had access to with my Business Class ticket. This lounge is pretty big and the buffet options are quite extensive. There was also a Quiet Room with some lounge chairs.
My first ever international Business Class flight!! Qatar Airways QSuite is one of the world's best business class, and I've been eyeing it for awhile so I was super excited to finally have the opportunity to try it out on my 15 hours flight from Dallas to Doha. I booked this flight 10 days before departure date, so you can guess how much this ticket cost. =P
The flight was scheduled to depart at 6.50pm but boarding didn't start until 6.15pm. Usually, I'd wait to board last but for this flight, I made sure that I boarded as soon as I could so that I can maximize my time in this amazing seat and take as many photos as I want. As I booked this flight via AA code share, I wasn't able to select the seats in advance on Qatar's website. I was hoping to get the window seat (A or K) but they were all full so I got 12J instead. It's still a window seat so I'm not complaining.
The seat had 2 pillows, a super comfy blanket, Diptyque amenity kit, World Cup pajamas and a noise-cancelling headphone. I was a lil' disappointed that the amenity kit came in a box instead of a pouch...first world problem I know. =P
The TV is touchscreen but there is also a handheld controller for easy access. There's also an option to pay for in-flight internet which costs $10 for the entire flight but the connection wasn't very stable.
The reason why Qatar QSuite is one of the world's best business class is because of the sliding door, providing complete privacy for each seat, which is even better than some of the First Class seats for other airlines. Full disclosure, I took a lot of photos, videos, and selfies throughout the flight. Pardon my over-excitement and sampat-ness...lol!! =P Even though masks are no longer required in-flight, I wore it on the entire flight purely based on my own personal preference.
Door closed for total privacy. As much as I'd like to 'turn left' when boarding the plane, I was actually glad to turn right to this mini business class cabin with only 8 seats. 2 of the middle seats were empty so this cabin felt very private and quiet. The cabin crew served the signature welcome drink - lemon mint before takeoff.
Changed into this baggy pajamas shortly after we reached cruising altitude. I got S (the smallest size available) and the t-shirt was still too big on me. They were giving the World Cup version in 2022 but I'd prefer the original version. I guess this is a good momento for my first ever Biz Class flight in 2022.
Food and drinks menu. One thing special about Qatar Airways meal service is the dine on-demand a la carte menu. That means I could dine at any time I want, in any order, and choose anything from the menu. I ordered the roasted red pepper and tomato soup, and prawn biryani for dinner.
The ambience in the flight was totally making me feel ready for bed so I requested the cabin crew to help set up my fully lie-flat bed with a bed padding. My bed in the air was super comfy and spacious with plenty of leg space even after laying down completely flat. Benefit of being short...lol!
Woke up after a good solid 6 hours of sleep. I intentionally didn't want to sleep too long as I wanted to enjoy the flight and take more photos and videos...lol! It was actually very dark in the cabin so I opened my window for some natural light. The crew saw me with my gimbal and asked if I'm a YouTuber...lol!! I upload videos on YouTube but definitely NOT a YouTuber...lol!
I had plans on getting so much photo/video editing done for my Bora Bora and Greece trips on this long 15-hour flight but I ended up taking even more photos and videos instead. =.=
Guess what I ordered for breakfast? Corn Flakes and Strawberry Smoothie. This was a very 'expensive' Corn Flakes....hahahah! After breakfast, I ordered the hot buffalo chicken wings with tortilla chips from the Light options menu.
Wrapping up my fancy dining experience in the air with champagne and chocolates.
Ok....few more photos with a more normal lighting before we land.
Sunset from the flight and approaching Doha at 5.10pm.
14.5 hours flew by quickly and this was the one time I wished the flight was longer but we landed in Doha 30 minutes ahead of schedule. Goodbye QSuite....thanks for the wonderful experience! =D
I was worried about my short 50 minutes transit in Doha but turned out I had plenty of time. We landed 30 minutes earlier, deboarded via a jetbridge (no need to take a bus), and the gate for my next flight was just a few gates away. Too bad I didn't have enough time to visit the lounge. For the flight from Doha to Kolkata, business class passengers were asked to wait at the 2nd floor of the boarding gate, which was empty and a lot quieter.
Flight #3 was a shorter 5hr 15min flight from Doha to Kolkata at 6.35pm. Boarded the flight at 6pm and contrary to the earlier flight, the crew on this flight was more sensitive about me taking videos in the flight due to crew and passengers privacy, which I understand. This flight is a normal 1-2-1 business class layout and my seat was a window seat, 5A. Even though there's no door for this seat, it was still very comfortable and spacious. There was so much leg space I couldn't even reach the footwell without reclining.
Champagne for welcome drink before takeoff.
Food and drink menu on this flight is not as extensive as the previous flight bu still plenty of options to choose from. I ordered the soup of the day, seared curry scallops and prawns, and grilled spiced jumbo prawns.
This seat was also a lay-flat seat and I passed out for a good 3 hours after dinner.
The approach into Kolkata was very cool as the entire city was lit up in colorful lights for Diwali night. Spotted a few fireworks from the air. We landed in Kolkata at 1.55am, 25 min ahead of schedule.
That's all for my very first business class experience. I am well aware that I can only afford economy class so I'm very thankful and grateful for this opportunity to travel in business class. I've certainly enjoyed this experience! Follow along for more updates from India.
Thank you 2022 for allowing us to travel and see the world again. We are thankful for the opportunity to check off a few bucket list this year, including Northern Lights in Finland, Maldives, Bora Bora, and now Santorini. Post-pandemic revenge travel is real...lol!
17 Oct 2022 (Mon): Athens - Santorini
After spending 2 nights in Athens, we continued our journey to our main destination of this trip...Santorini!
Landed at Santorini airport at 6.05pm, about 5 minutes behind schedule. Even though the airport wasn't busy and we tried to get out of the aiport asap, it was already 6.20pm by the time we got out of the airport so we missed the 6.10pm bus to Fira. That means we had to wait for the the next bus at 7.10pm. =.= We decided to wait outside to make sure we don't miss the bus but It was very windy and chilly (20°C/68°F). The Santorini public bus schedules can be found here.
The bus arrived on time at 7.10pm. We stored our backpacks at the bottom of the bus and boarded the bus. The bus conductor came to our seats later on to collect the fare (cash only) and gave us the bus ticket. The cost from airport to Fira was supposed to be EUR 2.20/pax but we had some communication barrier with the bus conductor so we paid only EUR 3.30 for two.
We read online that it should only be a 10 minute bus ride to Fira but somehow our bus ride took 30 minutes and we arrived Fira bus station at 7.40pm. Unfortunately, the last bus to Imerovigli, the town where our hotel was located, was at 7pm so we decided to get some exercise with a night walk to our hotel. According to Google Map, the distance from Fira to our hotel is about 2.5km and takes about 38 minutes, should be easy. =P
Well...what we didn't realize was that it was actually an uphill hike almost the entire way!! Besides, carrying a 10kg backpack didn't make the hike easier. =.= Looking on the bright side, at least we're still fit and strong enough for random adventures like this. =) Anyway, I'm still glad we made the decision to bring a backpack instead of a suitcase for this trip, else we wouldn't have been able to do this random hike...lol!!
Finally made it to our hotel at 8.25pm!! The hotel staff who checked us in probably wondered where we came from looking all sweaty coz we were supposed to call them when we are at the Astra Square car park and they'd come meet us and carry our bags.
We stayed at Astra Suites in Imerovigli for our 4 nights in Santorini. According to santorinidave.com, Astra Suites is one of Santorini's finest luxury hotel and is the hotel with best caldera sunset view. Thanks to IHG's partnership with Mr and Mrs Smith, we were able to book this stay worth $1,200 with 127,500 IHG points. The cost per night was 42,500 points/night and we got the 4th night free as a benefit of our IHG credit card.
Astra Suites is an all-suite hotel and the room we booked is the Studio. Our studio room was a cute cave room with a loft bedroom. The suite was nice and cozy but I'm not a fan of the tile color. Anyway, we were informed at check in that we'd only stay in this room for first night as they are upgrading us to a nicer room for the next 3 nights. =)
We received a free bottle of Santorini wine upon arrival and since it was already 9.30pm by the time we settled down, so we had a quick dinner with camping food and wine...lol!
18 Oct 2022 (Tues): Sightseeing at Imerovigli
Woke up to this stunning view from our balcony!! Wowwww...welcome to Santorini!!
We packed our stuffs and moved to our upgraded room for the next 3 nights - Senior Suite with Caldera View (Room 106) which costs EUR 600 per night!! As compared to the Studio, which is located at the ground floor, this suite is located on the 2nd floor so it offered more privacy. It also has a private balcony and outdoor terrace.
Interior of the suite features a separate living room and bedroom area, 'gold' bathroom, Marshall bluetooth speaker, kitchenette with Nespresso machine.
Received this special local wine from Mr. George, the hotel's Managing Director. =)
Welcome to our private balcony...
...with sweeping views of the caldera, Aegean Sea, Skaros Rock and Santorini’s stunning sunset! I don't know how I ended up taking sooooo many photos of this same view. =P Many people think that hotels in Oia has the best sunset views but many hotels in Oia doesn't have sunset views. In fact, hotels in Imerovigli actually have the best sunsets of any town in Santorini. This is because hotels in Imerovigli are perched high on the cliff with great views of both the sunset and the caldera. Best of all, Imerovigli doesn't have the crowds like Oia. Even better, we get this amazing view directly from our own balcony!
Even though I'm a IHG Diamond member, I know that the free breakfast benefit doesn't apply to Mr and Mrs Smith hotel so I wasn't expecting to get free breakfast in this hotel. However to our surprise, the hotel actually includes daily complimentary room service breakfast!!! They gave us a menu to fill out the day before, specifying the time we want breakfast delivered and we could order anything from the menu!!! Wowwww!!
Breakfast with amazing views on our terrace was cool but cold (17°C/63°F)!!!
Another breakfast with a view on the terrace of our upgraded room.
For the other 2 days, we asked the staff to serve our breakfast in the suite coz it was too cold outside...lol!!
Things we order over 4 days include Toast with guacamole & sauteed mushrooms, Summer tabbouleh (couscous, cucumber, tomato, zucchini & fresh herbs), Scrambled tofu with turmeric, vegetables & fresh green salad, omelette with onion, tomato & fresh asparagus, Egg-white omelette with spinach & cheese, Fried eggs with bacon, mushrooms, sauteed cherry tomatoes & sausage on the side, Pancakes with lemon/cinnamon cream & maple syrup, Ham & cheese French toast with briche & maple syrup, Selection of cold cuts, Selection of Greek cheese, Sliced seasonal fruits, Coffee, Milk, Corn flakes, Smoothie. They were very generous with the cherry tomatoes...lol!! As usual, we turned our breakfast into brunch and saved on our lunches. =P
A cool and thoughtful thing the hotel did was providing this brochure which was updated daily with the weather and some helpful info.
The surrounding of this hotel is very nice and clean and the different shades of blue all around the hotel against the whitewashed buildings looks perfect!
Infinity pool with caldera view. We didn't use the pool but it's nice that it was heated.
Can't get enough of this view. Spot the cruise ship in the distance.
Views of the hotel surrounding at dusk.
For our first full day in Santorini and while waiting to switch our room, we went for sightseeing around Imerovigli.
Our first stop was a short hike to Skaros rock. The start of the trail is conveniently located 5 minutes from our hotel.
The path begins with concrete steps and a thin wire guard rail, and transitions to a gravel path with no barrier. The hike was short and easy.
There’s a small church, Panagia Theoskepasti, half way along the trail, which seemed to be a popular spot for photoshoot. It was actually very windy and that lady's dress give you an idea how windy it was...haha!!
This site was historically used as a fortress, with its elevated position and wide views of the surrounding area with Fira on the left and Oia on the right.
We spent about 1.5 hours for the round-trip hike to Skaros Rock. Most of the time was spent taking photos...lol!
Looking back to Imerovigli from Skaros Rock and spotted both our hotel rooms from far.
After the Skaros Rock hike, we continued walking around Imerovigli town.
Imerovigli is a quiet town located in between Fira and Oia, which makes it nice to walk around coz we don't like crowds. =P
These restaurants in Imerovigli, which includes Five Senses restaurant in Astra Suites, offer stunning views of the caldera.
One of the many churches with blue domes on the island...Church of the Resurrection of the Lord in Imerovigli
Random photos around Imerovigli. As mentioned above, we love the fact that there weren't many tourists in this town. =)
Bought 3 souvlaki (marinated and grilled skewers of meat) pitas from Let's Eat for dinner and enjoyed it on our terrace. Total cost for 3 of these and 2 beers were $29.
19 Oct 2022 (Wed): Sightseeing at Oia + Hike from Oia to Imerovigli
Started our 2nd full day in Santorini at 9.15pm with a 40 minute walk/hike from Imerovigli to Fira. This was the same route we walked/hiked when we first arrived 2 days ago but it was sooooo much easier to walk this direction as it was mostly downhill and we weren't carrying our big backpacks this time around. =)
The walk was pretty easy through well-paved paths and the weather was cool which made the walk a lot more pleasant. It was still fairly early and a lot of shops were just opening up so there weren't many people around yet.
Quick photo stop at another blue-domed church, Three Bells of Fira.
Arrived Fira bus station at 9.50am, just in time to catch the 10am bus to Oia. The bus station was busy but we found the Fira - Oia bus pretty easily. We paid EUR 3.50 (cash only) for the two of us to the bus driver before boading the bus. The bus departed at 10.10am and was only half full. We sat on the left side of the bus but the view on the right side was better. We arrived Oia's bus stop at 10.30am.
There were obviously a lot more tourists in Oia, which made it difficult to get good photos. Oh well, I'll just show the true picture then. =P Left: Church of Panagia Akathistos Hymn; Right: Ιερός Ναός Αγίας Τριάδας
The famous blue-domed church in Oia. Apparently this is one of the best photo spots of the church and it's not a secret (just google) so of course there are plenty of people wanting to get that perfect insta-shot here. I managed to the photo on the right for that 3 seconds without people...lol!
Random bell as we were exploring the many alleys and steps in Oia.
I brought my tripod but didn't get a chance to use it at all coz there were too many people around. =.= We managed to get a non-selfie photo of us thanks to a nice lady who offered to help us take a photo. =)
People here, people there, people everywhere. =.= This is not even bad, can you imagine coming here during summer? No thank you.
Castle of Oia is where people come to watch sunset but since we were there around 11am, there weren't as many people and I finally managed to use my tripod for photos. Thanks to the wind, my phone caught this hilarious photo of me trying to save my tripod and phone from the fall...lol!!
All those nice Windmill of Oia photos we see on instagram are zoomed-in and cropped. This is what it looks like without zooming...I'm keeping Santorini real...hahaha!!
We were gonna walk down to Amoudi bay but decided to turnaround halfway after realizing how much we need to climb when we return. There are other ways to get down to Amoudi bay without walking all these steps but we weren't planning to eat anything there so we decided to give it a pass.
Donkeys and their poop all over the steps.
Few more same same but different photos of this view before we head back.
After spending 1.5 hours in Oia, we decided to start our hike back to Imerovigli around 11.45am. Sorry Oia, you're too crowded!
8km hike to Imerovigli...let's go!! Our destination is that town at the top of the hill in the bottom two pics....so farrrrr!!
Passed by this quiet part of Oia which actually looks nicer than the popular part we were at earlier. The buildings here are more whitewashed than the ones earlier.
The trail from Oia to Imerovigli/Fira...uphill climb almost the entire hike. =.=
I'm not a fan of hiking and obviously didn't do my research well to know that there's quite a lot of uphill climb on this trail. Looking at the top photo, we started at the far right town of Oia and our destination was the far left town of Imerovigli. Looking at how far we've walked and how much more we have to go wasn't very motivating...lol!
Few photo stops along the way. Thank goodness we had music to keep us entertained during the hike. Even though it looked like it was gonna rain, luckily it didn't and the weather was nice and cooling for our hike. I definitely wouldn't recommend doing this hike in the summer because there is no shade at all along the trail (we were walking along the top of the caldera the entire hike).
Even though Google Map showed that the hike would take 1hr 55min, it took us about 2.5 hours to complete the hike and made it back to Imerovigli at 2.15pm...phew!!
20 Oct 2022 (Thurs): Chill day in hotel
On our final full day in Santorini, we decided to chill and relax in the hotel and fully soak in the breathtaking views of Santorini before we bid goodbye.
21 Oct 2022 (Fri): Santorini - London
Time to say goodbye to paradise. =( Checked out of the hotel at 11am and walked 5 minutes to the Imerovigli bus stop to catch the bus to Fira. Luxury mode off, backpack mode on. =P According to the bus schedule, the bus from Imerovigli to Fira was scheduled for 11.05am but the bus was late and arrived at 11.20am.
The bus ride from Imerovigli to Fira costs EUR 1.60/pax and took about 10 minutes. Fira is the main bus hub in Santorini and we had to switch to a different bus here to get to the airport. This bus stop was definitely busy but I'd say it's an 'organized chaos', and definitely a cost-efficient way to travel around Santorini. We took the 12pm bus from Fira and arrived at the airport at 12.15pm. Our total bus fare of EUR 4 is much cheaper than the EUR 45/way transfer the hotel was gonna charge.
Santorini airport is pretty small but there were two British Airways flight leaving around the same time so it took us some time to check-in and drop our bags at the British Airways counter. I'm impressed with my packing skill, getting almost the same weight for both bags without a scale...lol!
We used 30,000 AA miles +$98 per person for our flights back to the US. Santorini - London - Charlotte - Huntsville, with an overnight transit in London.
Our British Airways flight from Santorini - London was supposed to depart at 3.20pm but was delayed by almost an hour and departed at 4.11pm.
Arrived London at 6.15pm...welcome to rainy gloomy London! Spotted Tower Bridge and London Eye on our approach to Heathrow. Surprisingly, immigration was super fast and it took us less than 5 minutes to get through immigration...whoa!!! Even my cousin who lives in London was surprised how fast we got through immigration at Heathrow...lol!!
We had planned to meet up with my cousin for dinner so as soon as we got off the plane, we took a bus from Terminal 5 to Terminal 4 to drop off our luggage at our hotel, then hopped on Elizabeth line at 7.40pm from Terminal 4 to Ealing Broadway station. This train line is fairly new so the train was nice and new. There was also free wifi in the train.
We arrived Ealing Broadway station at 8.10pm and met up with my cousin for dinner at Tonkotsu Ealing. So glad to be able to meet up and catch up with them over dinner, and thanks Audrey and Greig for coming all the way out to meet us! =)
We stayed at Holiday Inn Express in Hounslow (Terminal 4) for the night. This hotel is connected to T4 via a covered walkway which makes it convenient for our overnight transit. We used 15,000 IHG points for this stay.
22 Oct 2022 (Sat): London - Charlotte - Huntsville
Had complimentary breakfast in the hotel before checking out at 10am.
Took the free train transfer from Terminal 4 to Terminal 3.
Arrived Terminal 3 at 10.45am to make sure we have plenty of time before our 2.05pm flight. Wanted to go to the lounge but it was full. =.=
The 9 hour flight from London to Charlotte on American Airlines was completely full and food was ok. Typical US carrier...no expectation...haha!
That's a wrap for our weeklong Greece trip! Despite all the stress and uncertainties leading up to this trip, we are so glad and grateful that everything went smoothly. From the Penthouse Suite in Athens with gorgeous view of the Acropolis, to the suite with balconies overlooking the caldera in Santorini, we are so thankful for all these incredible experiences. Best of all, we were able to keep the total cost pretty low (approx. $530 for both of us) all thanks to points and miles! =)
