After hearing so much about Cathay Pacific lounges, I am so glad that I am finally able to be able to check them out. I am like a little kid, bursting out when the transit bus arrive and speeding through transit security like a season traveller. Belts off, laptops out, two bins each. The security check let us out around Gate 1, same as if you are departing from Hong Kong. I decide to head to The Pier, which is located around 62, it is a long walk. Thankfully there is a train that takes you from Gate 1 to Gate 40, but it only goes in one direction. Weird! This is one of the two awesome first class lounge in Cathay Pacific base, with the other being The Wing.

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Feeling rather peckish, I actually had a very good sleep last night at the Hilton Da Nang, I was awake by 5am, naturally, with the sunrise right in front when my eyes open. You have no idea how good that felt to be awake naturally. I left the hotel and check out around 7am and got a grab to the airport. The journey was quick and took about 10mins. It does seems that the roads had a little more traffic and the locals getting busy with their lives as well as more of the constant driving while on the horns. Da Nang International Airport sure look fresh, although rather no fills, it was a quiet morning and I was let out just as where the desks of Cathay were located. The desks have just open a couple of mins ago, some customers were already there, although there is no wait for First! It is nice to see that they actually have a dedicated line for First Class passenger even though Cathay Dragon does not have First Class on this route. My bag was checked and I was issued boarding pass all the way to JFK. It is surely a nice sight to see these boarding pass and lounges invites. Cathay uses the CIP Orchid Lounge in Da Nang, in fact all the airlines uses it since it is the only lounge in the Airport.

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Most of the time Plaza Premium does not disappoint when it comes to Contract Lounge. I feel like they are a step above others when it comes to non airline operated lounges. The plaza premium offerings are usually fairly impressive among their peers. They are a hospitality group headquartered in Hong Kong and operate lounges around the world. I have heard impressive things especially of their lounges in Heathrow as well as in Vancouver. Most of their lounges are also part of the Priority Pass network and you could access them with your membership. In some location, they do have arrival lounges as well. On my way back form Taipei, I was in Taoyuan International Airport. After getting my favourite mochi from I JY SHENG we went to check in. There was a slight wait despite the long line.

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