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Thu 24 Jun 2010 |
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A round of applause for Lufthansa |
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Regular readers (and if you're reading this, that probably means you) of this site, and my iafrica.com newsletter, will know that I've been grumbling about airline service the last few weeks. Surly clerks, poor food, bad service... all in all enough to make me question why I spend so much time in planes.
Which is why my experience at Frankfurt airport last month came as such a pleasant surprise. Travelling as a guest of Lufthansa to welcome their new A380 'superjumbo', I enjoyed the rare chance to sit up at the sharp end of the plane. As you'd expect; great food, efficient service and a very comfortable flight. Surprised that they haven't gone for completely lie-flat beds in business class, but I'm sure there's a reason.
Anyway, so we land in Frankfurt and I discover that some light-fingered baggage handler (most likely in Johannesburg) has snapped off a zip on my suitcase and rifled through the case. One thing I am meticulous about is never having valuables in my hold luggage, so luckily they scored precisely zero.
But there was still the matter of the broken suitcase. So off I go to Lufthansa's baggage counter to report the damage. "No problem," says the super-friendly (even at 5.45am) clerk. "Just take this voucher to the luggage repair shop at carousel 11 and they'll fix it for you on the spot."
I beg your pardon? Repair shop? In the airport? On the spot? Surely not...
But it's true! It exists! In the airport! Well, all true, except for the part about repair. Turns out they couldn't fix the case on the spot, so they offered to either send it away to be fixed, or replace it on the spot from their stock of brand-new suitcases kept on hand just in case. I went for the latter and walked out of Frankfurt a smiling, not irate, passenger. Now that's what I call service... |
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Mon 03 May 2010 |
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Heading for Herold's Bay... |
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I reckon Dante got it all wrong when he wrote his 'Divine Comedy'. He left out a level of Hell – Somerset West. Or, more specifically, the N2 through Somerset West on a Friday afternoon. What, oh what, were they thinking when they decided to put a freeway through the middle of a retirement suburb? Throw in some robots, road works and road-trippers and it was almost enough to make me turn around and go home.
Almost enough, but not quite. Not when there's the prospect of a long weekend lounging our way through the Garden Route on offer. With Somerset West mercifully disappearing into the rearview mirror the N2 stretched out ahead of us.
Bands of Harley bikers thundered past on their way to the Buffalo Rally in Mossel Bay while family-wagons — packed to the gills with bikes and forlorn family dogs — laboured up the hills. Through the dry wheat fields, a quick stop at Riviersonderend for the best droë wors in the Cape, another at the Blue Crane farm stall near Heidelberg for bread and chicken pies, and eventually I saw a light in the east. Ah yes, the flickering flame of MossGas. A quick zip along the broad sweep of N2 towards George and a slip road off to the coast; Herolds Bay, we have arrived.
Read the full story at http://travel.iafrica.com/searchsa/gardenroute/2343153.htm...
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Decided that all of April’s hard work deserved some reward, so took the missus out to the acclaimed Jardine Restaurant the other night. A recent review - particularly the mention of the West Coast Rock Pool starter - prompted me to shell out an alarmingly large chunk of cash… which was worth (almost) every cent.
The food was outstanding. I've been lucky enough to eat at a fair number of top restaurants and it is certainly some of the most exciting, creative (and also deliciously edible, which is, after all, the point) and artfully presented food I've yet seen. My vegetarian wife was also blown away by what was easily the most incredible vegetarian dish she has ever come across.
Happily, and unusually, the main courses kept pace with the starters: an impressive main of duck breast had an excellent blend of flavours and, interestingly, textures (succulent duck, crunchy walnuts, smooth celeriac puree).
The low point, however, was the service. Not bad, but nowhere near what i expect for those prices. Three people offer drinks in the first 30 seconds, then nobody for another 5 minutes. Waitress appeared to have inability to read the customers - lingering looks and chinking glasses is NOT the time to cheerfully take the orders. Stretching across diner and table to retrieve glasses not the done thing, capiche? Mains arrived with no explanation of the dish (and at Jardine’s an explanation is much appreciated).
Happily, tap water was offered with no snooty looks and refilled regularly.
Overall, the food was outstanding, but personally the decor (or lack thereof) detracted from the meal as an 'event' (and at those prices it should be an occasion, not just refueling). Which, coupled with less than stellar service, made the restaurant as a whole fall short of the impressive kitchen.
Damage: R650 for two starters, two mains, three glasses of wine. They also have a great winter special on offer fo R150 for 3 courses. But honestly, the special menu doesn’t come close to the main menu (R260/3 courses). Visit http://www.jardineonbree.co.za.
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Great competition running on http://travel.iafrica.com at the moment - we're giving away two tickets (including those pesky taxes) to any of Swiss International Air Lines' destinations in Europe! Click through to http://iafrica.com/travel/competitions/2300700.htm to stand a chance of winning... |
I paid a visit to the fascinating !Khwa ttu San cultural and education centre on the west coast recently.You can read the full story on iafrica.com at http://travel.iafrica.com/searchsa/westerncape/2295940.htm, but it was great to see that it also made its way onto a cool new iPhone application that's been built for CNN and South African Tourism. If you're lucky enough to be iPhone-enabled, wander over to the SA Tourism site to download.
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