Round The World and other travels

I was the very first to board the 747-400 at YVR, which seemed like a good fit for my seat number   I was warmly greeted and shown to my seat. I had time to take a couple of photos before I was offered some Champagne and some cashew nuts. The warm welcome continued, as various members of the cabin crew appeared in turn to introduce themselves. I was presented with my amenity kit and, somewhat surprisingly for this relatively short day flight, a sleeper suit and slippers.

Despite the late start to boarding the aircraft, we pushed back only 3 minutes down at 1318. Hot towels were distributed immediately after push-back. We made our way out to 26L and took to the clear air at 1337, making a big left turn that gave me a superb view of the airport, the downtown area and North Vancouver beyond. I noted that the cabin was exactly half-full, with a total of 6 F passengers. I was torn between watching the new version of Poseidon for the first time and taking in a second helping of The Da Vinci Code. Since it was new to me, I decided on the former, which was probably not a great move, but you never know until you've tried it!

The meal service got underway with the Antipasti buffet served from a trolley. I chose the Proscuittini and the seafood, but was slightly put off when I noticed that it really did feature a baby squid. This was followed by an absolutely delicious succession of the seafood chowder, duck salad, lamb main course and cheese, all beautifully presented. Having drunk the Krug up to this point, I switched to the ever-dependable Chateau Lynch Bages for the main course. Purser John asked me if I would like to try the promotional L'Ostal Cazes red, telling me that many passengers reckoned it was every bit as good as the Lynch Bages. I agreed to try some with my cheese and had difficulty expressing a preference between them : they were different, but equally excellent. I declined the offer of Port, feeling that my collection of red-coloured glasses was already sufficient   I finished the meal with a pot of Earl Grey tea, something that I would have seconds and thirds of before the flight was out.

After the fairly unremarkable Poseidon was over, I listened to a wonderful performance of Schubert's Ninth, by Simon Rattle and the Berlin Phil, which I followed up with a varied selection of Lang Lang, Abba and The Simpsons! Bottles of water were handed out and I was asked to complete a survey.

Darkness fell as we proceeded eastwards. There was a hot towels service as we approached the New York area. After a big clockwise spiral down towards the runway at JFK, we touched down at 2118 and arrived a little late at 2127.

And the overall verdict? Not wishing for a minute to cast any doubts over my other Cathay F experiences, I can nevertheless say without hesitation that this was the very best flight I had taken to date. A huge to the best cabin crew ever, flawlessly delivering a wonderful product on board one of the finest airlines to grace the skies.