Trip Report: Royal Brunei Airways, Kuala Lumpur to Brunei (September 2019)

Trip Report: Royal Brunei, Kuala Lumpur to Brunei
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I was traveling from Kuala Lumpur to Brunei and on this route there are three options - Malaysia, AirAsia, and Royal Brunei Air.  Royal Brunei is an airline I wanted to try, the flight times fit my schedule, and I have flown on Malaysia before (check out the review here), and the AirAsia schedule did not work for me on the outbound (I did use them on the return and you can check out that review here).  It was very easy to book the flight with Royal Brunei through their website, and I wanted to book a tour as well and the customer service - through the website, the phone, and email - were all very helpful and provided great assistance.  Royal Brunei is a full service airline so the ticket includes complimentary checked baggage, at 30kg, and complimentary meal and seat selection.  Most of their planes included PTVs on the seatback, but they also provide an app to download which provides entertainment if the operating aircraft does not have PTVs.  

The flight departs from Kuala Lumpur at 12:10pm and is scheduled to get into Bandar Seri Bagawan at 2:30pm.  Through the app and the website, I could check into my flight, confirm my seat selection, and make any changes to my flight.  I had arrived into Kuala Lumpur earlier that day on Malindo (check out that review here) so I was ready for the check-in desks to open at 9am.  Checkin went smoothly and I proceeded to the gate for my flight.  The incoming flight arrives into Kuala Lumpur at 11:10a and this plane is turn around for the outbound departing at 12:10pm.  The incoming plane landed on time, it was deplaned and we were boarded by groups - the group boarding was strictly enforced.  The operating aircraft was an Airbus A320 with a 2-2 seat layout in business and in a 3-3 seat layout in economy.  The FA's were very helpful and smiling in getting passengers to their seats and assisting them with their hand carry.  Once passengers were seated, the boarding doors were closed, a safety video was shown, and we pushed back and made our to Bandar Seri Bagawan.

The economy section was in a 3-3 seat layout.  The seat itself had a PTV on the back, with a USB and headphone jack, followed by a tray table, and then a seatback pocket with the airline magazine, duty free magazine, and the airline safety card.  The seatpitch was alright, not great but not bad, but there was a metal bar for the tray table that cut the seatpitch and hit at your knees (and it made the seating a bit uncomfortable).  The seat width was decent, comfortable enough, but the seat comfort was lower than I expected.  The PTV had a decent selection of TV shows, movies, and audio but the content is censored - the selection was definitely enough for this flight time but not sure it would be enough for longer flights that Royal Brunei operates, say to London.  The flight time to Bandar Seri Bagawan is 2hr 20min but as soon as we reached cruising altitude the inflight service started.  Complimentary meals plus complimentary drinks are provide along with complimentary tea and coffee, no alcohol and no pork are onboard.  Special meals were first delivered followed by regular meals - the meal portion was decent, similar to a standard airline meal, but the quality was lower than I expected.  I had high expectations from Royal Brunei and while the meal was a standard airline meal, I expected a bit higher quality for quality and flavor (in fact, AirAsia had better quality of food than Royal Brunei!?!).  Once the food was served, tea and coffee were also provided.  After the meal trays had been cleared, there was only about 30-45 minutes for the passengers to spend the time however they wanted before the captain indicated we had started out decent into Brunei.  The cabin was prepared for landing, we landed on time, taxied to the gate, and deplaned into Brunei.

Before my flight, I was very excited to fly with Royal Brunei.  I expected exceptional service and a

high quality product - they did deliver on the exceptional service as the customer service agents really worked with me to help me book what I wanted.  What they fell short on, in my opinion, was the high quality product because the onboard experience was decent and nice but it was not high quality; especially the seat comfort and the meal quality.  Also, the metal bar that was below the tray table that hit right at the knee - especially when someone would recline their seat - was a great inconvenience.  If I was to compare my inbound flight on Royal Brunei (a full service airline) and my outbound flight on AirAsia (a low-cost airline), the seat comfort was the same on both, the meal quality was higher on AirAsia, the service was definitely better on Royal Brunei and the entertainment selection was better on Royal Brunei.   

Stay Report: Radisson Hotel Brunei Darussalam (Brunei - September 2019)

Stay Report: Radisson Hotel Brunei Darussalam

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I was traveling to Brunei's capital and largest city, Bandar Seri Bagawan, and everyone recommends the Radisson Hotel as the place to stay.  Since I was only going to be there for one night, I wanted to stay in the heart of the city so that I could walk or have access to all the main sights and the Radisson fit this bill.  This would be my first time staying at a Radisson so I had no idea what to expect.  I had booked the hotel through an third-party website but then contacted the hotel to 1) ensure that my booking was valid and to get the Radisson reference number and 2) see if they could arrange for airport pick-up and drop-off.  The hotel does not run an airport shuttle so you can either arrange transport with the hotel, take a taxi, or arrange your own transportation.  I decided to go with the hotel as it was more convenient and their prices seemed to be competitive with what other travelers had said about taxi prices in Brunei.  


I had provided my flight information to the hotel so that when I exited immigration with my luggage, there was already someone waiting for me to take me to the hotel; which took about 30 minutes to reach.  From the outside the hotel looked a bit older, as if it was built in the 60's or 70's.  The hotel was shaped in a long and narrow square with rooms either facing the city and the street or away from it (more on this later).  The car pulled up to the main entrance and I walked up to the lobby.  As the hotel is not very deep, the lobby was also not very grand and large.  The check-in and concierge desks were to the left as well as the business center, in front was the tourist shop, and to the right was the restaurant where breakfast was available, and Indian restaurant inside the hotel, and a small waiting area.  The elevators were right in front along with the stair entrance to the pool and gym, which were located on the second floor.  

When I arrived there was only one check-in attendant and she was already helping someone else but after about 2 minutes another attendant came in from the office and assisted in checking me in.  When booking through the third-party, I had already prepaid for my room but I had an option to upgrade.  As I said earlier, the hotel is long width wise but not depth so the rooms are laid out either facing the street or the facing the other side, and the ones facing the street are considered 'deluxe rooms'.  My original booking was for a regular room, which faced away from the street, but the upgrade promotion was breakfast plus upgraded to the deluxe room.  While I was not interested in the room upgrade, I decided to go with the promotion for the breakfast (a decision I would regret later on, more on that below).  I received my key and went to elevator to go up to my room.

As you get out of the elevator, the rooms are down a long hallway either to your left or right.  As I had upgraded, I was in a deluxe room which looked as follows:  as you enter the room, on right is a sliding closet with slippers, a safe, and lots of storage area.  On the left was the bathroom which contained a sink, a walk-in shower, and a nice toilet that was very Japanese style as it had a built in bidet.  The toilet also contained toiletries such as lotion, shampoo and body wash - while it was a nice gesture, I did not enjoy the smell nor texture of the toiletries.  Further into the room, on the left was the queen size bed with a night stand on either side.  On the right hand side, next to the closet was a stand to put your luggage, and then a TV on the wall, a desk, and then a large window which faced out onto the street (which was not soundproof as at night you could hear the call to prayer as well as car traffic in the room).  The room was very nice, large, well decorated, looked and felt updated, and the bed was comfortable and provided a good nights sleep.  There were two complimentary bottles of water on the nightstand, but the water, the extra space, and the street view were the only indications that this was a deluxe room.  

The hotel is a full-service hotel so there are many facilities for the guests to enjoy including a gym, pool, breakfast area, a restaurant, business center, tourist shop, as well as wifi.  The wifi is complimentary was decent enough for checking email and watching YouTube; the gym was a decent size, not too big but had enough machines for a decent workout; the business center had 4 computer stations and complimentary printing; and the pool was a decent size.  My upgrade also came with complimentary breakfast so in the morning I went down to try that - and it was a sever disappointment.  It was a breakfast buffet and it had a little selection of many things but it was not comprehensive of anything and the selections were not that great; to me, it was not indicative of 4-5 star that the hotel is trying to be, but rather the buffet and the options provided were decent for a 2-3 star hotel (and definitely not worth the price of upgrading).  The hotel also provided a complimentary shuttle to another part of town which had the biggest mall as well as the night market, and this was a nice gesture by the hotel; the shuttle ran on timings throughout the day so you had to wait for the shuttle. 

Overall, it was a decent stay at the Radisson.  The hotel was centrally located so that within 10-15 minutes I could walk to most of the major sights, restaurants, and shops.  The airport pickup and dropoff went smoothly and the beds provided a nice and comfortable rest.  The only disappointment was the breakfast buffet, which in my mind did not meet the standards in terms of selection and quality to what the hotel was trying to achieve.  In my opinion, do not choose the upgrade but instead enjoy the standard room and get breakfast from a local coffee shop.

Trip Report: AirAsia, Brunei to Kuala Lumpur (July 2019)

Trip Report: AirAsia, Brunei to Kuala Lumpur
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I was in Brunei and needed to travel back to Kuala Lumpur.  I had arrived on Royal Brunei (check out that review here) but their flight times for the return did not work with my schedule, and I wanted to try a different airline.  Based on flight times, I decided to go with AirAsia and I wanted to try their product.  I had flown AirAsia back in 2011 on a short flight from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore, but I wanted to experience their service on a longer flight and see if there had been any changes in almost 10 years.  AirAsia is the pioneer of low-cost flying in SouthEast Asia and as a LCC they charge for everything.  They have a variety of options and packages available depending on your preference and price points.  While I had initially wnated to book the flight through an online travel portal, I decided to book directly with AirAsia as I could clearly see what different options were available.  Navigating the AirAsia website was very easy, but 1) you have to sign up for their frequent flyer program in order to complete the booking; there is no other option and 2) it was somewhat difficult to process the payment for the ticket if you are based in the US and the AirAsia assistance was not very helpful (this should have been a clue to how my flight was going to turn out).  

As I said, AirAsia is a LCC which means they charge for everything.  I was traveling with a checked baggage so I searched through the various options that included a checked baggage.  The option I choose was the 'Value Pack' which included 20kg checked baggage, a meal, standard seat selection, and 1hour baggage guarantee.  I appreciated the bundle package, and while it had more items that I really needed, the bundling was a smart idea.  Every ticket comes with 7kg complimentary hand carry, and this is strictly enforced (more on that later).  My flight was scheduled to depart Brunei at 4:30pm and arrive into Kuala Lumpur at 6:50pm with a scheduled flight time of 2hr 20min.  48hours prior to my departure I received a notice that it was time to check into my flight; I was used to 24-hour notices and receiving a notice this early caused me to panic a bit and check to ensure I had booked the correct flight.  While I appreciate checking in so early, I wish AirAsia would advise customers of this as it would save some panic attacks.  Checking in through the app or the website was very easy, and while checking in I could move my seat selection to any standard seat selection in the cabin (they have standard seat selection and 'Big' seat selection with extra legroom).  Even though I had already checked-in and had my boarding pass, I still arrived at the airport 2hours prior to my flight as I had to check my bag and get my documents checked.

The check-in counter was pretty empty when I arrived (I discovered later that it was a pretty empty flight) so checking in was really quick.  Both my checked luggage and my hand carry were weighed, and because of a laptop my hand carry was a bit over the limit by 2kg and this was written on my boarding pass.  I proceeded through security and immigration to my gate, where they were setting up for another checking.  The entrance to the boarding area was sectioned off to check the boarding pass but also to weigh the hand carry.  I understand they are a LCC and they need to be strict about their hand carry weight, but this can be done either in a customer friendly or non-customer friendly, and this day it was handled in a non-customer friendly way.  The airline ground staff were extremely harsh and a bit rude when enforcing the 7kg hand carry limit.  When it came to my turn, I started to tell them that my hand carry had already been weighed when I was interrupted by the agent who said 'everything needs to be reweighed so put it on the scale'.  I put my hand carry on the scale and that is when the other agent noticed the writing on my boarding pass which had stated that I already had my hand carry weighed and after a conversation I was let go.  Again, I understand the strictness but the way it was handled was poor customer service.

As soon as the plane landed from Kuala Lumpur, and the passengers had disembarked, boarding started.  Boarding initially started in groups but then given the light load and the lack of lines that quickly turned into everyone boarding at the same time.  On board the Airbus A320, it was a 3-3 seat layout.  The standard seats were in black while the 'Big' seats had a red cover on them.  The seat itself was alright but a bit uncomfortable and the legroom was not tight but definitely not roomy either.  In my opinion, the seat would be comfortable for a 1-2 hour flight but anything over that would be very uncomfortable.  As a LCC, the seat is very basic with a tray table in the middle and a seatback pocket which contained the airline magazine, the menu, and the Duty Free magazine.  Once boarding was completed, given the light load passengers were free to move to another seat as long as it was another standard seat (ie you could not move from a standard seat to a 'Big' seat, and this was being enforced throughout the flight).  Manual safety demonstrations were conducted, we pushed back and headed off for Kuala Lumpur on time.  The aircraft itself looked middle aged, it definitely was not a new plane but was not an old plane either; and same for the cleanliness as it was not too clean but was not too dirty either.  

Even after we had reached cruising altitude, it took the crew a while to start the inflight service; maybe it was due to the light load but usually LCC's are quick to start the service as it is a revenue generator.  The first pass was those who had preordered meals or who had meals booked with their ticket and the second pass was for those to purchase any items; then a third pass was made with a duty free cart.   I have been on a couple of LCC's and some of them sell the product hard but the crew on this flight did not seem bothered; again, the lack of customer friendliness that was evident from the ground staff was also evident in the air.  The 'Value Pack' that I had booked with my ticket came with a meal and I could choose from a variety of options that were able to be prebooked.  I had booked the vegetarian option, and this came with a bottle of water.  The food was delivered with just the food, utensils, and a bottle of water - there was no presentation or effort put in at all.  The food itself was actually very good and very flavorful, and I was very surprised as I had very low expectations of the quality of the food.  The remaining time passengers could pass the flight how they choose; to sleep, read, or do as they choose.  AirAsia does offer wifi on board and does offer some complimentary entertainment when connected to the wifi, but the entertainment selection consisted of Malaysian television movies and tv shows (so not great for international audiences).  It was a very uneventful flight and the only entertainment provided was by the captain who made various announcements throughout the flight and he seemed to take pride in his job (the only one who seemed to do so).

We started our descent into Kuala Lumpur and landed on time, proceeded to the gate, and disembarked through a jetbridge (another surprise as most LCC make you board and disembark via stairs).  Once immigration was cleared, it was only a 10-15 minute wait before the luggage arrived.  Overall, it was a disappointing flight with AirAsia.  As one of the biggest LCCs in the world, I was a expecting a good LCC experience but what I received was a poor LCC experience with ground staff and crew that seem disenchanted, an extremely strict enforcement of hand carry rules, and overall just an average flight.  I saw nothing and experienced nothing that would set AirAsia apart from another carrier or something that would make this flight special or make me want to choose AirAsia.  To me, AirAsia seems to have decided that just providing low fares is enough and nothing else is need to entice passengers; for me, that is not enough.

Stay Report: Residence Inn Edinburgh (Edinburgh - July 2019)

Stay Report: Residence Inn Edinburgh

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We were a group of 3 traveling to Edinburgh and so we needed at least two double beds; however most of the hotels in the city only offered either one double bed or two twin beds.  The only hotel that I could find that offered the opportunity for all of us to stay in one room was the Residence Inn Edinburgh.  Residence Inn are Marriott's suite hotels and I have stayed in them before and enjoyed all the suite benefits - larger room size, generally a separate bed and living area, a small kitchenette, a bathroom, and complimentary breakfast.  Given my previous experience with the brand, and the fact that they offered two double beds, I booked the hotel through the website.  

The hotel itself is outside the city center and is located near the University of Edinburgh and about a 5-10 minute walk from the National Museum of Scotland; its about a 15 minute drive up the hill from the main train station.  With its location, there are many shops, restaurants, grocery stores all within a short walking distance away from the hotel.  The hotel looks newly built from the outside and it does not look like a hotel, as all the surrounding building look like they were built together and some were turned into offices, some into apartments and some into hotels.  The entrance to the hotel faces the walkway and not the street, so there really is no entry way to the hotel; you park on the side, unload your luggage, and walk up the stairs to the entrance of the hotel.

The lobby of the hotel is very compact.  As you enter, there are luggage carts in front of you and you go towards to right for the check-in desks. In front of the door is the small waiting area and to the left is the business center with two computers and a printer.  Next to check-in desks is the bar and restaurant, and this is also where the complimentary breakfast is provided.  The check-in agent who assisted us was not very courteous nor customer friendly and it provided a bad start to the overall experience at the hotel.  We checked in, received our key, and went down a narrow hallway to the equally narrow elevators.  Based on the narrowness of everything, it seems that the 'hotel' was designed as apartments and then later turned into a hotel; however it was designed, it was not a great design for the hotel.


Once we got to our floor, the hallways for the rooms were also narrow so that only one direction of traffic could fit in the hallway at one time (again, not built as a hotel).  As you entered into the room, you entered into the mini kitchen which contained a sink, a microwave, a mini fridge, cabinets above and below, a countertop, as well as plates, cups, and cutlery.  It was more of a kitchenette but it had the basics and was a nice addition to the room.  In most Residence Inns, from the kitchenette you proceed to the sitting area and then to the bedroom but here it was opposite.  As you stepped into the main room, the beds were in front against the right side of the wall and against the left side of the wall was the sitting area.  We had a room with two beds and the beds were wide, comfortable, and provided a good sleep.  There was a nightstand in the middle of the bed but that was the only space to place things if you were in the bed area.  

Across from the beds was the sitting area and a desk.  The sitting area was a L-shaped connected couch that

could also be turned into a sofa bed.  The couch was comfortable enough and provided some nice seating areas or additional places to store luggage (as that was lacking throughout the room).  In between the couch and the window was a desk which faced towards the room and bathroom and had your back towards the window.  The window was nice as it was large, spanned across the entire wall, and let in air and natural light; however, the window faced offices which were occupied during the day and it was very close so you could see right across - opening the windows meant diminished privacy.  The room itself - with the beds and the sitting area - was spacious and there was a lot of room to move around.  NOTE: there was no AC in the room at all.  Edinburgh was going through a heat wave and it was EXTREMELY hot inside the room and all the hotel did was provide two small fans which really did not help cool the room at all.    

The bathroom, on the other hand, was tiny and compact.  To the left of the sitting area was the bathroom which was separated into two parts.  There was a small sink with a soap and lotion dispenser up top and towels on the bottom - this part was open to the room - and then there was a door that led into the toilet and shower.  The shower was long length wise but was very narrow, and the shower/toilet area was very small so that you could not open the door to the shower and the door to the bathroom - also the shower door would hit the toilet.  There was also only one light in this area and that was above the shower area so this left the toilet portion in somewhat darkness.  Given how spacious the room was, the bathroom was that compact and not well lit at all.  The bathroom amenities - dispenser next to the sink and body wash dispenser in the shower - did smell nice.

There are a couple of standard amenities that the Residence Inn provides including complimentary

breakfast, complimentary wifi, usually a gym, a business center, and complimentary parking.  I did not check out the fitness center but I did try the complimentary breakfast, the business center, and the wifi.  The wifi was complimentary but there were two wifis - one for the room and one in the lobby.  The lobby wifi worked well enough for email but was very poor for streaming videos while the room wifi was horrible in that the connectivity kept dropping and you could barely do any emails.  The business center had two computers connected to a printer and the printing was complimentary but the computers were slow and inefficient.  The breakfast was complimentary and was basic - complimentary muffins, cereals, some fruit and eggs.  It was not great and just provided the basics.

Overall, it was a disappointing stay at the Residence Inn.  Yes, the rooms were spacious, two beds were provided, and there was a kitchenette but these positives were outweighed by the negatives which included the compact bathroom, poor customer service, lack of AC in the room, horrible wifi connectivity, and generally poor design of the hotel. If I had to choose again, I would much rather pay for 2 rooms in another hotel then stay in one room in this hotel.  

Trip Report: Avianca Airlines, Medellin to Bogota (August 2019)

Trip Report: Avianca Airlines, Medellin to Bogota
comment below and let me know your thoughts :)

I was traveling from Medellin to Bogota and there are a couple of options for intra-Colombia flights: LATAM Colombia, Avianca Colombia, and Viva Air.  LATAM and Avianca are more legacy carriers while Viva is a low-cost carrier.  I was looking to fly in the evening and was flying without any luggage so when comparing everything, LATAM and Viva were close in price while Aviana was almost twice as expensive.  Despite this, I selected to fly with Aviance because I wanted to try the airline and also Avianca is a member of Star Alliance so I would receive points for this flight. 

It was very easy to book the flight through Avianca's website and easy to manage the reservation through the app (tip: there was a price difference on the same flight between Avianca's US website and its Colombian website - so if you understand Spanish and have a credit card that can be charged in international currency, book through other websites).  Unlike its competitors, Avianca does not have a basic economy option.  It is a full-service airline so its lowest fare option includes a meal and complimentary checked baggage, but you have to pay to select a seat.  Since the flight time is only 1hour, I decided to take my chances and not to pay for the seat.  Once the flight was booked, it was very easy to manage the reservation either through the app or through the website and 24-hours prior to the flight I was able to check-in and receive my boarding pass through the app.  While checking in I could also select my seat for free based on seat availability.    

My flight - AV9333 - was scheduled to depart Medellin at 8:52p and arrive into Bogota at 9:49pm.  Due to traffic in Colombia, I arrived at the airport earlier than usual and with my mobile boarding pass (and no luggage to check-in) went through security and directly to my gate (with virtually no interaction with anyone from the airline).  We were scheduled to board at 8:15pm but we were delayed and did not end up boarding until 8:30p.  We were boarded by groups and boarding was somewhat efficient so that we were seated and ready to go by 9:15pm.   The operating aircraft was an Airbus A321 with a 3-3 seat configuration.  The seats were very comfortable with nice padding, nice seat width, and excellent seat pitch (I had a lot of legroom and I'm 6'1).  The seatback had a nice and new PTV which was touchscreen and contained a USB port underneath (to charge your phone and small electronics).  Below that was a full tray table and below that was a seat pocket for your personal belonging as well as the airline magazine and safety card.  Above the seat was an air vent, a flight attendant call button, and new screens which showed no cellphones and buckle seatbelt signs.  The PTV was on and operational from the time you sat down so you can start browsing the selection and start watching immediately.  Even though this was a domestic flight, there were TV shows, music, and games available; while there were no movies, there was enough selection of the other entertainment to cover the 45min flight. 

After the safety video was shown, we started our slow taxi to the runway.  It took more than 25 minutes from the time we left the gate to the time we took off, and during that entire time no communication happened from the flight deck - in fact there was little communication throughout the entire flight.  Once we reached cruising altitude, the inflight service commenced.  As it was night time, complimentary tea, coffee, and water were provided.  Even though the flight was only 45min, it was nice to receive these complimentary items - and the water was a full mini-bottle of water so it was nice to receive it as another amenity of Avianca as a full-service airline.  Once the inflight service was finished, the FA's came around to collect trash as it was already time to descend into Bogota.  We landed behind schedule, taxied to the gate, waited, and finally deplaned.  

Overall, it was a pleasant flight with Avianca.  As I said before, the prices for this flight were double

those of both Viva Air and LATAM so in that aspects Avianca is not competing; however, Avianca wins in every other category from inflight entertainment to service options to overall satisfaction.  Yes you do pay a higher price (as I said, double that of both LATAM and VivaAir) but with the higher price you get a higher quality of service and a higher quality onboard product.  The positives were free checked luggage included in the ticket price, great onboard product, good service, and Star Alliance partnership; negatives included late departure, no communication regarding delays, and higher price.  Would I fly them again - if I had luggage that I needed to check and it was a longer flight, then definitely yes for long-haul, but for short-haul I am not sure the higher fare, again more than double the fare, justifies the good onboard service.