Four Seasons Dublin, Ireland

 This is just a short interlude before I write further about our hotel experiences in Malaysia and maybe a short story or two. 

Originally we planned to stay at another hotel in one of the suburbs of Dublin as our Christmas present for each other.

Realizing we wanted something more memorable we were looking out for our favorite hotels. We found a very good deal on the Four Seasons' website and decided to go for it. The deal included a guaranteed room upgrade to the next category and breakfast either in room or at the Seasons Restaurant.

We took Bus 7 from Trinity College towards Loughlinstown and got off at the RDS stop. The Four Seasons Hotel is just a few steps behind the Royal Dublin Society (RDS). The National Craft Show was going on, so it was really busy.

We had stayed at the hotel four years earlier and also visited for cocktails or lunch over the years.

It has changed quite a lot. For example check in is not any longer to the left side when entering, but to the right.

The lobby has been also modernized and has some daring pink splashes in the lounge for example.

Check in was very pleasant and we were offered another very special deal. We could upgrade for a reasonable amount to a Junior Suite, which we decided to take. Otherwise we would have received a Deluxe Room.  We were recognized as returning guests. We also asked for a late check out, which was no problem at all. Our room wasn't ready yet, so we went for lunch at the lounge.

It was ca. 1.5 hours before official check in time when we arrived. We were in the middle of eating our starter when the receptionist came with our key cards.

After finishing our meal we went up to see for ourselves what the Junior Suite looked like. It fulfilled our expectations completely. The suite was open plan and large. There was a hall way with a large wardrobe, leading off to the large bathroom to the right or to the bed room and separate sitting area, when going straight.

The room was kept mostly in gold, brown and green colors. We had views over the RDS and Ballsbridge.

The bed was very large with a credenza and a huge TV in front of it. The Four Seasons has the most TV channels available of any Dublin hotel we have stayed so far. There are regional and international channels including CNN and Bloomberg, Arabic, German, Italian and much more.

The minibar was stocked with Sunraysia juices, beer, water and other soft drinks.

The sitting area consisted of a large sofa, a comfortable armchair, large coffee table with Photography books and magazines and a writing desk. There was another credenza with a slightly too small TV.

The safe didn't function, but we had trust in the staff and thought it was unlikely somebody would break into our room. Valuables can be also handed over to reception. Staff will store them in the main safe.

The furniture was scratch free and having tested all, comfortable. We spent hours talking and watching TV.

The lightning was bright, which was a plus. We don't like too dark rooms.

The fully marbled bathroom had the typical Four Seasons set up with a separate bath tub and shower, one sink and a lot of storage space for cosmetics. There were also the usual L' Occitaine bath room amenities.

In room dining is 24 hours a day available. We enjoyed hot chocolate, a pot of green tea, a milkshake, a large bottle of still water, Farmhouse Chicken Soup and chocolate mousse with caramelized banana and peanut butter ice cream. The bill came in at 63 Euro (ca. 85 USD) including tip.

There was also a turn down service, but there weren't any free goodies, like free water or chocolate. The bed was made and slippers put out. The gentleman was very friendly and asked if he could also check the bathroom and if we needed anything else before leaving.

You might wonder what we had for lunch earlier in the day. We had two seasonal cocktails, a cappuccino, a hot chocolate, chicken lollipops (messy eating, but tasty), turkey with ham and root vegetables and venison with greens and red cabbage. The bill was 96 Euro (ca. 130 USD) including tip.

After a good nights sleep we had breakfast at the Seasons Restaurant.

There was a buffet with a selection of cold cuts, smoked salmon, fruits, vegetable, yogurt and much more. There was also an egg station and a la carte items were included in our rate. He had French Toast, which was large enough to feed two and me an omelet.

Afterwards we spent some time exploring the "Sculpture in Context" exhibition - the largest and most prestigious outdoor sculpture exhibition in Ireland by emerging and established artists. It is going on until early January 2014 in the courtyard.

Time Out by Ana Duncan, The Fat Lady Swings by Mike Duhan and A Gathering by Maureen Bush were a few of our favorites. All the art can be purchased ranging from 140 Euro to 30.000 Euro (ca. 189 USD to 40.491 USD).

Unfortunately and way too quickly check out arrived. Again it was quick, warm and friendly.

We can't say enough about the warm, welcoming and knowledgeable staff, the perfect condition of the hardware and the excellent food.

Naturally we are going to return.


 ©2013

Hilton Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

We monitored different hotels and their overnight rates for a few months, before making a decision and booking the Hilton Kuala Lumpur for one night.  One of our thoughts was that we didn't want to have a full blown KL experience after a long flight, so we had to make our mind up, if we wanted to stay at the airport or take the KLIA Ekspress into KL and stay at the Le Meridien or Hilton. In the end we decided to take the train to KL Sentral and walk the short distance to the Hilton.

We also deliberated fairly long which room type to take. We booked an Executive Room Plus with Lake Garden view.

As mentioned we took the KLIA Ekspress, a fast train, to KL Sentral. The journey takes 28 minutes. Two Return tickets cost 140 MYR (ca. 32.40 Euro or 43.80 USD). They are valid three months from the time of issue. At the central train station we followed the signs for the Hilton and Le Meridien. The hotels are located in twin towers opposite KL Sentral. We left the train station and crossed the street at the traffic lights. At the ground level of the buildings is a parking lot; an elevator leads up to both hotel entrances on the same level.  Keeping to the left led us to the Hilton. If we had turned right it would have brought us to the Le Meridien. In 2009 we had a night at the Le Meridien and now in 2013 at the Hilton.

We were impressed by the large, airy lobby and floor to ceiling windows over the Lake Gardens.


Cafe Oro, the Lounge, Vasco's and the Chambers Bar & Grill are on one side, the concierge and reception at the other side.

The lobby was nature inspired, contemporary and for example the barrier between the reception area and Vasco's was looking like huge trees.

Cafe Oro and the Lounge were understated. The cakes and chocolates were presented like jewelry. All was very beautiful and up to a high standard.

There are also Graze, Chynna (Cantonese), The Board Walk (poolside bar) and
Iketery (modern Japanese).

For relaxation guests can enjoy the fitness center, swimming pool and spa. Massages start from 250 MYR (ca. 57.85 Euro or 78.10 USD).

We arrived at around 09.00 hours. We were advised our room wasn't ready. If we preferred we could have another one with city view. Even if this would have been an upgrade we choose to wait and were sent up to the executive club lounge. After an hour we were handed our room keys.

Our room was on one of the highest floors. It was contemporary and large; mostly kept in brown, black and grey shades.

There was Malaysian artwork, wooden floors and a carpet, a huge bed, large TV, DVD player, a chaise lounge, a luggage rack, a large wardrobe, big writing desk and floor to ceiling windows.

The TV offered international and regional channels including CNN and Bloomberg. There was also a mini bar stocked with Sunraysia juices, Asahi or Carlsberg beer and Tau water. Prices ranged from 26 to 34 MYR (ca. 6.05 Euro to 7.40 Euro or ca. 8.15 USD to 10 USD).

The tea and coffee facilities were Nescafe and Hausbrandt from Italy and Ronnefeldt.

The bathroom was large with separate shower and bathtub. Both toilet and the bathtub were from Toto. Until then we associated the company with toilets only, so it was a bit of a surprise for us. The toilet had a bidet function.

The mirror had an integrated TV, but individual channel control wasn't possible. The person in the bathroom has to watch what the person in the bedroom chooses. In November 2010 we had also such a TV set-up experienced at the Grand Hyatt Tokyo.

There was also a weighing scale and Peter Thomas Roth amenities.

Unfortunately we couldn't use our balcony, because the door was locked.

The bed was very comfortable and allowed a good rest.

The wardrobe light wouldn't switch off, when closing the door and I thought this was going to cause problems, but that wasn't any issue. During the night my better half had to get up and use the toilet. Since the bathroom door was made of glass it let the full light into the bed room and woke me up as well.

The black out curtains were very good, making the room completely dark.

The rain shower had strong water pressure and the bath tub was comfortable too, allowing great views over the Lake Gardens, like the floor to ceiling windows did as well.

As Hilton Honors Gold members we received blackberries, apples and salted peanuts as a welcome gift.

In room dining is available 24 hours and offers a wide range of Malay, Chinese and Western dishes. Prices range from 19 MYR to 68 MYR (ca. 4.40 Euro to 15.75 Euro or ca. 5.95 USD to 21.25 USD).

Turn down was also automatically provided and delivered free water bottles.

Being tired after the long flight we went to nap for a few hours as soon as our room was ready.

Afterwards we ventured out to explore the area a bit.

Before we knew it was already evening and time for the happy hour at the executive club lounge.

The executive club lounge is located on the 33rd floor and offers stunning views over the city and the Lake Gardens. It is divided into two parts - a restaurant and a lounge set up. There is also a small library with books and magazines.

During the happy hour alcohol and food was served. There was wine, whiskey, rum, vodka and gin. Of course there were also non alcoholic beverages. The buffet was large and had western and eastern delights. It was enough to cover dinner. There were for example small sandwiches, sushi, cold cuts, Chicken Kong Po and short ribs.

The next morning we headed again for the executive club lounge for breakfast. There was a wide choice available, including Beef Rendang, noodles with ground chicken, dim sum, sausages, tomatoes, salad, mushrooms, cakes, yogurt, donuts and much more. Eggs were made to order at the egg station.

Every member of staff was friendly and efficient. They were also unobtrusive, but there when needed.

When it was time to check out, the electricity was suddenly gone and we were trapped on the floor, because we couldn't use the elevators and were unable to access our room again, since it was working via electric key. Thank goodness the black out lasted only a few minutes, but it had started to get uncomfortable hot since the air conditioning had stopped working when the electricity was gone.

When the elevators were working, we made our way down to reception. It seemed the hotels own generator had kicked in. Check out was fast and painless.

Unfortunately electricity hadn't been restored in the whole building and before waiting ages until the lift was working again, we decided to walk the stairs down. We were accompanied by a member of staff with a torch. Safely on the ground floor we crossed the street, ready for our next adventure: using the public transport and checking in at the DoubleTree by Hilton Kuala Lumpur.

Would we stay here again? Yes, we would for longer than just one night, though, and we wished that the glass door could be replaced.


©2013

Flight Aer Lingus / Malaysia Airlines

We booked our economy class flight via Expedia, because we liked the price, timing, route and had good experiences with Malaysia Airlines on short haul flights in the past.  It also gave us the opportunity to fly the Airbus A380, which would be our first time.

We had an early flight from Dublin to Paris Charles de Gaulles, arriving at 09.00 hours at CDG. It was pleasant and eventless. Our luggage was checked through to Kuala Lumpur, but we had to get our boarding passes for the leg between Paris and KLIA at Charles de Gaulles. We had tried the online check in the previous day, but it didn't function the way we wanted it. We were checked in, but didn't receive any boarding passes.

At Charles de Gaulles was a short confusion - we were sure we simply had to go to the departure gate of our next flight and receive our boarding passes there, but an airport employee tried to convince us it might be better to go through security and go to the check in desk. After some discussions with her the time was running out to go to the check in desk and we headed to our gate. It let us believe, if we had followed the employee's advise we would have had problems later on with the counter being closed while we were stuck in security or something along the line.

No Malaysia Airline staff was there yet, so we waited and when somebody arrived, asked for the print out of our documents. Unfortunately there were problems with the printing, so it had to be done for us and other connecting passengers off site. We had to wait until the very last moment. All other passengers had already boarded. Finally we were on our way to Kuala Lumpur.

We were located on the main deck.

The seat configuration was 3-4-3. Both of us were happy with the seats. The leg room was okay.

The in-flight entertainment system was a bit own minded and always froze, when we wanted to check what kind of meals were going to be served. As soon as a public announcement was finished, the system was working again. Having learned our lesson, we didn't use this feature again and waited until the flight attendant gave us the choice for lunch. Our neighbor had the same issue and was a bit impatient. She rang the bell to summon a flight attendant quite often, which in turn didn't make the stewardess happy having to explain again and again they would restart the program for the passenger as soon as we had taken off and reached cruising altitude.
Another problem was the remote control. It didn't work either, so I couldn't play games. The touch screen on the other side was working fine.

The interior was designed in a way we didn't feel like we were going to spend around 13 hours on board of the world’s largest plane. The red and dark colors were great and the mood lightning a nice feature.

The staff was friendly and efficient.

Two hours into our flight lunch or dinner (It was around 2 PM in Paris or 9 PM in Kuala Lumpur, so you can decide what it was we had.) was served, either spicy chicken curry with rice and vegetables or fish in a creamy sauce and potatoes. The starters, side dishes and dessert were the same for either main course. There was vegetable salad, camembert, crackers, Kitkat and vanilla chocolate cake. Beverages to choose from were wine, different juices and water. After lunch tea and coffee were also offered.

Soon afterwards the lights were dimmed to prepare for our overnight flight. The crew regularly offered more alcohol free beverages. If any one was thirsty or hungry in the mean time, the galley had always something stocked, including snacks.

While my better half managed to sleep for about four to five hours or so, I couldn't and napped for about two. At least I could use the in-flight entertainment to its full potential.

Between lunch and breakfast we also received a snack box, containing a healthy bar, roasted peanuts, cookies and a fish snack.

We definitely weren't left hungry or thirsty.

Breakfast was served 1.5 hours before landing. Choice was Nasi Lemak (Malaysia's national dish) or eggs with sausage, potatoes and mushrooms.

I also used the toilet. The floor was a bit scruffy, but over all it was clean, there were enough hand towels, toilet paper, soap, moisturizer, perfume for him and her and aftershave lotion no matter if it was at the beginning of our flight or near the end. Thumbs up for this.

Time was passing fast and soon it was time to land at 07.00 hours the next day in Kuala Lumpur.

Having spent 23 days in Malaysia, learned a lot and tried a few things it was unfortunately time to return home.

Our route was slightly different. Our connecting hub was London Heathrow. Having experiences there, we knew how it functioned.

As always our luggage was checked through to Dublin, but we had to get our boarding passes for the leg between Heathrow and Dublin at the connection center.

We had again an Airbus A380 and were seated on the upper deck. We liked the experience better, because it felt slightly more intimate and had a configuration of 2-4-2.
As always the staff was attentive and friendly.

There was never a shortage of eating and drinking. The in-flight entertainment system was fully functioning and the flight took slightly over 13 hours.

There were slight turbulences over India, but otherwise it was an event less flight.

We were served two meals. The first was a choice of chicken or fish and served around two hours after reaching cruising altitude; the second beef or chicken arrived two and a half hours before landing. In between we also received ice cream and a snack box, containing the same as on the flight from CDG to KUL. Everything was tasty. We were stuffed at the end of the journey.

Having had a good experience on our connecting flight from Dublin to Dubai via LHR the previous year we thought this one would be also a breeze. Wrong.

After landing we at 16.15 hours the same day followed the signs for the connections and arrived at the transport center, where we waited for a few minutes before the bus arrived.

We had a long walk to security.
The queue wasn't too long, but somebody famous I won't name was in front of us and kept everyone up. The person didn't want to remove his electronic devices from his bags, when finally doing so, the lap top ended up on the floor. They also had an unbelievable amount of hand luggage with them, so it took ages. There were also constant reminders from security to have all liquids in sealable plastic bags and to remove all electronic devises. It started going on my nerves. Finally it was our turn. We were well prepared and weren't reminded or asked if we had anything in our pockets.

Then there was the passport control. The queue was very long and the whole process let me more feel like entering a fortress and was a marked contrast to our experience in Malaysia or Brunei, but I assume it is even there depending what nationality you are...

Finally having all security checks behind us we went to the connecting desk of Aer Lingus. We were wondering what was keeping the short queue from moving. After what felt like eternity it was our turn to have the boarding passes printed. The whole process from deboarding to finally hold our boarding passes in hand took over two hours. It was a bit frustrating.

The rest of the experience went flawless. Our flight back to Dublin was on time and eventless.

Would we fly again with Malaysia Airlines? Yes, we would.




©2013