A Real Round-The-World Trip – Part Two: CX 807, Take Two

Previous Trip Notes:
A Real Round-The-World Trip – Part One: The Setup

It’s been roughly six years of collecting miles and points. What was originally a play to collect 125,000 miles applying for both a 50,000-mile signup bonus for United and 50,0000-mile signup bonus for Continental airlines credit cards prior to their merger, plus 25,000 miles for depositing money into Fidelity for 90 days, turned into a complete obsession. My original CX 807 flight from ORD to HKG is partially to blame. At the time, it was a mere 62,500 American Airlines miles to fly first class on Cathay Pacific from the U.S. to Asia. You could easily earn that many American Miles in just a few weeks with the credit card offers at that time.

I still remember the flight attendant, who when we presented our tickets, rushed us in the opposite direction of the rest of the passengers. I still remember the great sleep on the plane, so much so that I didn’t experience jet leg. I still remember thinking, “this whole flight cost less than $50 and was the most comfortable and convenient travel experience I ever had.” Since that time, NSPwife and I have experienced some of the best airline products in the world: showering at 38,000 feet on Emirates; having an executive chef on Etihad Airways; ice cream sundaes on United and LATAM, and many more. Despite all of these other experiences, Cathay still holds a special nostalgic place in my heart. So when I again handed my boarding pass to the flight attendant while stepping on the plane and was rushed to the left, I was in my happy place.

We started off the day in the British Airways first class lounge. The lounge was small, too small for the number of passengers in there, and did not have many options for food.

British Airways First Class Lounge – ORD

This was somewhat surprising given they also have a business class lounge; I would have thought the product in the first class lounge would have been upgraded a bit more. I wasn’t overly concerned, I had a Newcastle and was holding out for the meals on Cathay. And the view of the tarmac was pretty good:

British Airways First Class Lounge – ORD

A quick unsuccessful side trip to try and buy a micro SD card (I snapped mine in half 30 minutes previously) for my GoPro, and it was time to board.

On our first trip, we sat in 1A and 2A. We loved that side of the plane, as in first class the other four seats face one another, so the “A” side is extremely private. This trip, we were on the other side. As it turned out, Cathay’s seats still provide a lot of privacy, and I don’t feel the experience was downgraded by not sitting on the “A” side.

Our flight attendants were amazing. Michael and Josie were everything you could hope for. Attentive, professional, and went out of their way to provide the best possible experience. They knew it was my birthday, and made sure that many people came over to wish me a happy birthday and great flight.

After takeoff, NSPwife and I decided to dine together. I, of course, donned my pajamas before takeoff. These were different, though similar, in style. Despite requesting the same size, these new pajamas were a bit larger, and the previous set I had fit me better – which might also be why I believe the first set was a bit more comfortable.

CX 807, 2013 “A-Side”

CX 807, 2018 “Non-A Side”

We started with cavier, always delicious. NSPwife opted for the truffle potato leek soup to start, while I decided to pace myself and skip an appetizer.

CX 807 – Potato Leek Soup

CX 807 – Cavier

The warm bread was fantastic, accompanied by salted butter.

CX 807 – Bread Starter

For our main courses, NSPwife ordered the Maine lobster while I went with the beef filet.

CX 807 – Maine Lobster

CX 807 – Filet

Later NSPwife tried the burger:

Cathay First – Burger

While we started the trip with the renowned 2004 Krug Champagne, I went with the 2006 Chateau Branaire-Ducru Saint Julien and NSPwife the 2016 Framingham F-Series Sauvignon Blanc. My red was particularly delicious. Of course, the meal was finished with some chocolate:

CX 807 – Chocolates

At that point, I went back to my seat to watch a movie – opting with The Last Jedi, which I had not seen before. After a few minutes, I had an awesome surprise. NSPpeanut was carrying a birthday cake to me!

CX 807 – NSPpeanut bringing me a Birthday Cake!

CX 807 – Birthday Cake

Cathay charges $38 for a cake, and has to be ordered in advance. The crew let NSPpeanut and NSPbabysitter hang out with us for a while, which was really nice.

NSPpeanut hanging out in Cathay First Class

NSPbabysitter Hanging out in Cathay First Class

NSPpeanut was so well behaved, they let her hangout throughout the flight:

NSPpeanut hanging out in Cathay F (with her own food)

I then decided to take a nap. My original plan was to sleep for about six hours, which would allow me to quickly acclimate to Hong Kong time when we arrived. Maybe it was the wine, or maybe I caught a bug, but I woke up nine hours later! I couldn’t believe I had wasted time experiencing the flight. When I sat up, I quickly felt nauseous and laid back down. After sucking down about 10 bottles of water, and lying down for another hour, I started to come back to life, although never to the point where I could experiment with more wine or food – terribly disappointing as I wanted to try the lobster or burger options. I did opt for one of their great cappuccinos:

Cathay First – Cappuccino

The rest of the trip was nice, the crew, as mentioned before, was always completely on top of their game, and even gave me a bottle of wine to enjoy for after the flight. Overall, another extremely memorable experience, and I can’t wait for take three.

Menu & Wine List: