Duke787

Introduction

This is my first go at writing a trip report on FT so please be kind. Most of it is written but it'll take me some time to format it for FT (I just got back to the US yesterday but had wrote much of the content when I had the opportunity during the trip) and get the pictures uploaded and formatted correctly. Stick with it because I will be posting the whole thing and I think you'll enjoy.

A couple quick things about my writing style my flight reports are written as if you the reader is sitting on the plane with me however all other posts (including the planning and ticketing and the hotel reviews) are not written in that manner. As for the sightseeing portion of this trip (it was a 3.5 week trip so travel was just a small portion of it), I’ll provide a few posts that show some of the highlights of Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland, Bangkok, and Tokyo. Hope you enjoy reading as much as I enjoyed the trip and have enjoyed writing about it.

Planning and Ticketing

Initially my vision for this trip was straightforward. I’ve always wanted to visit Australia and New Zealand and it just so happens I have two friends who live in Melbourne and Auckland respectively. Of course I decided if I was going to travel all the way to the other side of the world, adding Sydney was a must.

My other main requirement was a flat-bed seat which meant at a minimum a business class ticket on an airline which had lie flat seats given the length of the flight to and from Australia (no way I was doing that in coach).

The other main requirement was booking through United. I work for a consulting firm and United is our choice of carrier so at the time I was still flying UA exclusively and had quite a large pot of UA miles (though I've since moved on to AA).

So with those two goals in mind I set off to research potential dates and flights on United that would get me from either Washington DC or New York to Australia. As I started my research I came across a site named FlyerTalk (yep this trip is what led me here in the first place). I began reading a few threads about award tickets on United and discerned five things very quickly:

1. Don’t fly United to Australia / New Zealand – instead fly one of their Star Alliance partners who still provide service commensurate with a bygone era of air travel
2. It would only cost an additional 10k miles to fly in First Class instead of business class (bringing the total cost to 160,000 miles vs. the original 150,000 I planned)
3. I could stop in as many places as I wanted if I spend less than 24 hours there
4. Most award seats are released 330 days before departure and are often gone within 24 – 48 hours of being released
5. A magical thing exists for roundtrip award tickets – the ability to include a stopover and up to two “open jaws”

Okay with those things now in place I could narrow my search. First I wanted to fly First Class as much as I could (or at the very least on any route over 8 hours). Second, I wanted to stop for a couple days in Asia on the way over, continue to Auckland, and fly home from Sydney. I was then responsible for purchasing my own flights from Auckland – Melbourne and Melbourne – Sydney, both of which cost next to nothing.

Hmm, where did I want to go for my stopover? Well I’m a big sushi fan so Tokyo and this fish market sounds like an awesome experience but Tokyo is expensive; how about I spend a 20 hours in Tokyo, go to the fish market, have some sushi, and then go to Bangkok where I can lie by the pool for a couple days and be in a really cheap country. Plus they seem to have lots of great hotel properties and I have a lot of hotel points to use on free hotel rooms and what the heck maybe I can even get a cheap suit. So it’s settled. I’m going to fly to Tokyo and spend 20 hours there. Then I’ll continue on to Bangkok for 2.5 days. Then I’ll fly down to Auckland for six days after which I’ll fly to Melbourne for five days. Then I’ll continue to Sydney for another five days and then I’ll head home via Tokyo for another 20 hours (got to maximize the sushi opportunities). In total the trip will span roughly three weeks and three days.

I also did some searching and found that Emirates operates a fifth freedom flight from Auckland ---> Melbourne and I could grab a J class ticket for just 35k points which I could transfer from SPG (and only needed to transfer 30k SPG points due to the 5k bonus). About 8 weeks before my trip began, Emirates offered an upgrade for 12.5k additional points which was easily obtained by transferring AMEX MR points (thank you corporate AMEX).

I’ll skip the details of how I actually booked each of these flights (a combination of website booking and phone calls to the 1K line typically late at night to get HNL agents) but eventually I got my entire itinerary together and I think it came out quite well:

1. JFK - ICN (OZ 221) First Class Suite
2. ICN - NRT (OZ 108) Business Class
3. NRT – BKK (TG 677) A380 First Class
4. BKK – SYD (TG 475) 747 New First Class
5. SYD – AKL (NZ 102) Coach Class
6. AKL – MEL (EK 407) First Class Suite
7. MEL – SYD (VA 841) Coach Class
8. SYD – PEK (CA 174) Business Class
9. PEK – HND (CA 181) Business Class
10. NRT – IAD (NH 2) First Class Old F

In sum I managed to get First Class on five (5) flights on four highly regarded airlines. On each of the three flights with business class, I’m in the highest class operated on the flight. On the Air China flights from SYD – PEK (an 11 hour overnight flight) and then from PEK – HND, I’m on an Airbus A330 with the updated lie flat seats. The two coach class seats are the two shortest flights on the entire trip and I should be able to find a way to deal with that.

My United award ticket itself cost 160,000 miles and an additional $204 in tax. It covered JFK – ICN – NRT – BKK // BKK – SYD – AKL // SYD – PEK – HND / NRT – IAD. I was responsible for purchasing the Virgin Australia ticket from Melbourne to Sydney at a total cost of $68 USD + $35 AUD for an additional checked bag (bringing wine back to the US is a heavy proposition and requires a second bag to adequately distribute weight). In addition as mentioned above the Emirates flight cost 30k SPG points + an additional 12.5k Amex MR points for the upgrade to F.

Overall I spent 202.5k miles across multiple programs and ~$302 USD for the flight portion of this trip.

I won’t go into details about how I landed at each of my hotels but here is a brief outline of those as well:

1. Tokyo Part 1 (1 night): Courtyard Marriott Ginza
2. Bangkok (2 nights): Hilton Millennium Bangkok
3. Comfort Inn Southern Cross - Hamilton NZ
4. Sydney Part 1 (2 nights): Sheraton Sydney on the Park
5. Sydney Part 2 (3 nights): Park Hyatt Sydney
6. Tokyo Part 2 (1 night): Sheraton Miyako Tokyo

Thanks to my numerous hotel points (once again thank you consulting) the total cost for the hotels was just $195. The Courtyard was 30,000 points, the Hilton Millennium was 24,000 points plus $115 (C&P stay), the Sheraton on the Park was 24,000 points, the Park Hyatt was 2 nights from the CC (the only manufactured part of this trip) and the third night at 22,000 points, and the Sheraton Miyako Tokyo was another 12,000 points. The Comfort Inn Southern Cross was about the nicest property in Hamilton NZ and cost $89 NZD (or ~$80 USD)

From a camp I worked at during my time in college, I have a few friends who live in Australia and New Zealand so in both Auckland and Melbourne I’ll be crashing on couches at flats of friends.

Overall the itinerary came in at 66k SPG, 30k Marriott, 22k Hyatt, 24k Hilton, 160k UA, and ~$497 USD. Not a bad value for the travel and hotel portion of a 3.5 week vacation to the other side of the world.

Next up, we fly from JFK – ICN in OZ’s First Class Suite!

In order to jump to specific posts I'm adding a list here of the lounges and destinations so I can link those posts:

1. OZ First Class Lounge @ ICN
2. Tokyo (Fish Market + Ginza Street)
3. NH First Class Lounge (@ NRT Sat 4.)
4. Bangkok (Wat Po + Grand Palace)
5. Royal Orchid Spa and Royal First Lounge
6. Auckland
7. EK Lounge (@ AKL)
8. Melbourne
9. Sydney Days 1 - 4
10. Sydney Days 5 - 6
11. NZ Koru Lounge (@ SYD)
12. CA Business Class Lounge (@PEK)
13. Tokyo #2 (Sushi Yoshitake)
14. NH First Class Lounge (@ NRT Sat. 5)

hlee628

looks like a great trip. looking forward to reading soon!

avm2806

looking forward to this one... have a great Trip

Duke787

OZ 221 (JFK – ICN)

Ahhh the day has arrived! It’s time for us to finally get this trip started! First off we have to make our way to from Manhattan to JFK (thanks to my parents living in Manhattan staying in NYC and making the trek out to JFK is completely free). Thankfully just one other person ahead of us at that check-in line and we’ve still got about two hours until the flight departs to lets go check out the Swiss Air Lounge:



Welp, I’d say it’s as bad as people proclaim it to be. I’m not going to even bother with the food or drinks (other than water / Diet Coke) given what we’ll be eating and drinking on the plane. At least there were some decent tarmac views from here and we can see the bird taking us to Seoul this afternoon:



I guess the seating area was decent as well:



Well it’s 12:15 and boarding is at 12:30pm for a flight that departs at 1pm so we should probably head on over so we can be among the first to board the plane. Time to finally unwrap our present and enjoy the journey in F on a world class airline. I’ve spent 11 months working on this itinerary and countless hours tweaking it, perfecting it, searching for award space to find the right flight to complement the others, and it’s time to see if it was all worth it. I should mention this plane holds over 300 people and they plan on boarding it and pushing it from the gate in 30 minutes – if only US airlines could board this efficiently, over on United it takes them 45 minutes to board a 737 with roughly 215 people.

There she is close-up at the gate, I can already tell we’re going to have a great flight today:



A quick passport check, a walk down the jetbridge, a quick check of our tickets at the boarding door, and then one of my favorite things to do when boarding an airplane, turning left, toward the front and to our First Class Suites for the next 12-14 hours.

Upon first glance it’s clear, at least for me, that this thing is unlike any seat I’ve ever sat in before in my life. For starters it has the biggest TV I’ve ever seen on an airplane. United has a 15.4 inch in business class which I thought was pretty big, but this thing is a monster. At 32 inches it is literally the size of the TV in my living room and it’s sitting here in my suite on an airplane.



As for the seat itself – well we certainly won’t have any problem lounging here for the next 12 – 14 hours. In addition to sliding doors, it also has an ottoman, seemingly infinite storage areas, and the widest seat I’ve ever seen on a plane. It also has the standard features you’d expect in an industry leading first class product: fully-flat seat, USB and electric plugs, a touchscreen for controlling the TV, and a touch screen display for controlling the seat (which among other things includes a “do not disturb button”).









And the view from each of our suites is music to my ears. These high sliding doors and the slight stagger between the suites provide near complete privacy when the doors are open and complete privacy when the doors are closed. I know for many on FT (and maybe you as well) the most important thing about a FC flight is the food. Or maybe the IFE. Or maybe seat comfort. Well for me it’s seat comfort but a very close second is privacy and boy do these suites score extremely well on that front for me:



Anyway, we have an extremely light load today; only one person other than us is up here today. I’m over in 2K and the other gentleman is in 2A leaving the middle unoccupied (and you in 1K of course). After sitting down both FAs working the first class cabin immediately came over to welcome us onboard and offer a set of pajamas for the flight. No alcohol is served on the ground at JFK (if any alcohol is opened while on US soil the airline is required to pay US Duty and Excise taxes so Asiana has chosen not to serve alcohol on the ground in the US) but no matter, we’ve got plenty of time for that, just a water for now thank you.

Despite being 1pm in the afternoon, JFK as always has a line to take-off, so at about 1:25pm it’s finally our turn and this magnificent 777-200 begins to spool her massive engines. A few short seconds later we rotate and are up in the air and on the way to Korea!

Now, about that alcohol, Flight Attendant? The champagne please? Ah yes thank you. It looks like for today’s flight we’ve got Pol Roger Cuvee Sir Winston Churchill 2000. I don’t know what that means but I supposed it means it’s expensive so I’ll take a glass of that. Ahh – cheers



I want to savor this moment and also take a moment to thank everyone in my life that has helped me get here. I mean we’re sitting here in First Class drinking expensive champagne and I’m just 25 years old! I really hope this isn’t my peak and that there is plenty more of this to come.

Okay so I savored that for more than a moment. Sorry. Where were we, actually after just 35 minutes of flight time we’re over Burlington Vermont! (I lived in Burlington for a few years growing up hence the shout-out) Hey Burlington, too bad regular domestic flights can’t get up to Burlington this quickly:



Now, since we didn’t eat in the lounge I am starving. I think it’s time to find out what these first class meals are all about. Unlike in coach or even in business class, up here in first we have the run of the place. With both Korean and Western offerings on the menu we’re free to choose either one or mix the two together. Hmm let’s take a look and see what our options are today.

First the Western meal:

Starter
Melon, Parma Ham, and Marinated Shrimp
Caviar
Poached Lobster and Salmon Gravlax
Lentil Soup

Mixed Greens
Caesar Dressing
Garlic Balsamic Dressing

Main Courses
Beef tenderloin steak served with green peppercorn sauce, potatoes, and vegetables

Or

Grill Cod Fish served with Lemongrass Sauce, Mashed Potato, and Vegetables

Or

Grilled Chicken Breast served with chicken jus, potato, and vegetables

Cheese
Cheddar, Cambozola, Camembert

Dessert
Raspberry Cake



Next the Korean Meal:

Starters
Ginko Nut and Dried Date
Turnip Vegetable Roll
Korean Pumpkin Porridge “Hobakjuk”

Main Course
Korean Royal Cuisine, ‘Bibimbap’ and Beef Short Rib Bulgabli

Dessert
Fresh Fruit



Well, we’re on a Korean flight so the main course has to be Bibimbap, but I’m a little scared of the Korean starters so why don’t we stick to the Western starters and go with Caesar dressing for the salad. Since you tend to copy me I’m pretty sure you got the exact same thing.
First up, we’ve got the “Melon, Parma Ham, and Marinated Shrimp”:



Interesting, melon and ham is actually a decent combination though I think the shrimp bite is a bit of a throwaway.

Next we have the caviar. Now I’ve been offered caviar before, in fact back in 1997 when I was 9 years old I traveled to Russia with my family and had an opportunity to eat caviar. I passed then, the thought of fish eggs was disgusting, why in the world is that a delicacy. Fast forward to now, there is no way I’m passing on caviar we’re on an international flight in First Class, we’re expected to eat this:





I’m not going to lie, that was delicious. I tried it with all the various accoutrements (egg whites and yolks chopped up, onions, and sour cream) in both the blini and the crackers. The champagne glass seems to be continually full (don’t think the gentleman in 2K is drinking it so it’s on us to finish this bottle) so that was a nice accompaniment but with caviar likely on the BKK – SYD and NRT – IAD flights, we’ll have to try vodka with our caviar next time.

Next, we’ve got the “Poached Lobster and Salmon Gravlax.”

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The lobster is surprisingly tasty but the salmon is mediocre at best. Hopefully the sushi in Tokyo is better than this. I’m already full but we’ve got to persevere, time for some lentil soup:



Okay time for our Caesar salad.



Definitely better than any salad I’ve consumed on an airplane but I wouldn’t order it at a restaurant.

Full yet? Better not be, it’s time for the main course, the featured dish of this flight, bibimbap. Oh and flight attendant, if you don’t mind let’s switch to red wine with this. How about the Chateau L’Arrosee 2008.



Wow, what a spread. I have no idea what the four bowls in the back left corner contain so I’m not going to touch that but let’s mix the rest of it together.



Oh my, this is delicious. I’ve had bibimbap in a couple of restaurants before and this compares favorably with that.

Well I don’t know about you but I’m absolutely stuffed to the gill. I’m glad I went with the “L” pajamas she offered; those “M” might not fit after that meal! Speaking of – I’m going to go put mine on and check out the bathroom.





Hmmm this bathroom isn’t too bad at least compared to the bathrooms I encounter on the domestic flights that I spend most of my year on. The sink has high text motion detection to operate, plus they have a basket of cool stuff including one of my all-time favorite international travel items (which I had completely forgotten about until this moment) an Evian spray bottle. These things are awesome, I mean all they do is spray water on your face but I’m a fan.


Okay this has been fun but it’s time to put this seat down and try and grab a few hours of sleep, I recommend you do the same – I’ll come stop by your suite when I wake up. I’m going to close the doors the suite and fall asleep under this night sky (ha) – good night.

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Wow that was a nice nap. About three hours of napping and it looks like we’re over the North Pole or somewhere thereabouts right now and there are some pretty cool views out the window (opening it slightly is fine with the doors to this suite shut):





For the record according to the airshow we’re approximately 35,000 feet up right now so that river running through the ice must be massive. Let’s check out this IFE. Oh and flight attendant, I think the moment has arrived, it’s time to crack open the Johnnie Walker Blue that should be nice to sip on while watching a few movies. Yes Scotch purists, there is ice in there. Sorry. You don’t have to put ice in yours.

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Okay time to put on my movie critic hat – I’m pretty sure you watched the same movies so feel free to chime in. First up: Captain Phillips. I actually enjoyed it quite a bit. Tom Hanks was great as always and they certainly get the drama up. Next: Gravity. I enjoyed the second half but I hated the first half. Don’t get me wrong I’m a big fan of Sandra Bullock, but the entire first half of the movie I wanted to strangle her. She had this “woe-is-me” attitude that was both selfish and frustrating. I guess I should commend Sandra’s acting because she successfully evoked that reaction from me.

Okay, three hours to go. Time for a quick stretch to the back of the plane and then let’s eat another meal in about 45 minutes. I tend to be pretty good with changing time zones but I’m not certain how my body will react to this. I’ve never gone East of Moscow and a few other towns slightly east so this amount of time shift is new to me. To make matters more complicated, I have about 2.5 hours in Seoul before a flight on to Tokyo. I’ll probably get to my hotel at about 11pm Tokyo time and in order to go to the fish market I’ll need to be awake by 3:30am Tokyo time. We’ll see how my body does and where it’s at. Thankfully the flight from Tokyo to Bangkok later in the day on Saturday is 7 – 8 hours long so I should be able to have a nice sleep if I need it. Plus I’m actually in Bangkok for 40 whole hours so I’m fine sleeping late and lounging by the pool one of the days.

Okay time for another meal. We have a few options to choose from here. First is the “refreshments” menu.

Refreshments
Udon
Ramen Noodles
Sandwiches
Assorted Fresh Fruit

We also have a “snack” menu with more comprehensive offerings. Like lunch, this menu is divided into the “Korean” and “Western” options though like with lunch mixing and matching is permitted. I had intended to take a picture of it while on the flight so I could provide full details later but alas I forgot so I can’t provide you a picture to see for yourself. However I can say I went with two items: ramen noodles and beef skewers with teriyaki sauce, vegetables, and rice.

This time they were served at the same time:



Both were delicious. Oh the wine we’re having there – that’s the Louis Jadot, Corton Greves Grand Cru 2007. A quick check on prices here in Incheon and it looks like the Louis Jadot is a $60 bottle while the L’Arosee is just $45. I’m not sure which you liked better but despite the price difference the clear winner for me was the L’Arosee – it had a longer finish and was a bit more complex. The Louis Jadot was a good first sip but died pretty quickly.

Let’s be real though, the real drink of choice is the Johnnie Walker Blue so it’s time for some more of that and one last movie, Rush. Putting on the movie critic hat again I thought it was a great movie. It was fast-paced, involved F1 cars, and had a solid storyline. If I’m ranking the three movies I watched it definitely goes: 1) Captain Phillips 2) Rush 3) Gravity.

Well at this point we’re just settling in for a smooth landing at Incheon International Airport (ICN) in Seoul South Korea. Look at this airshow map and how far west we went to avoid North Korea (for good reason):



Well that clear blue sky is a nice way to end Friday afternoon. That’s all for now – next up is the F lounge at ICN, a flight from ICN – NRT and then the real action – the fish market.

bthotugigem05

Excellent start to the report, I love seeing the pics over the arctic on a sunny day.

SFO777

Great start to your TR. Congrats on the efficient use of your miles and your patience/persistence in snagging some great flights. And for knowing how/when to reach the HNL call center. Asiana First looks like a very nice product. And that bibimbap looks amazing!

hlee628

everything looks great about that seat except the upholstery. can't figure out why they would choose to use such a drab design.

drzoidberg

Nice TR! Does the 32" TV show HD content or just standard definition?

FlyingDoctorwu

Nice start.. I quite enjoyed OZ F... Love the Winston Churchill.. and the Korean dinner.. I like how they use a proper caviar spoon... I had to use a fork on LH and TG....

FDW

deovrat

Superb effort for a first TR from you! And unique writing style too, kudos !

UTex09

great report so far. Loving your prose and your pictures. Looking forward to the rest

Duke787

Where were we? Ah that’s right, we’ve just arrived into Seoul’s Incheon International Airport. That might be the fastest I’ve ever been let off a plane – the FA literally held back everyone else until we deplaned – a very nice gesture if you ask me. Just a quick pass through transit security and we’re officially into South Korean territory though sadly no stamp in the passport.

No matter, this place is everything you think of when you imagine Seoul, the airport is wide open and clean, everything is extremely efficient and the Asiana First Class lounge is right upstairs on the fourth floor:



Now before we go in we have to set expectations. The First Class Lounge at an airline’s home airport should be the flagship in the system, particularly when we’re talking about a top airline such as Asiana.

Sadly the lounge seems to fall short of the flagship lounges of its peers. Don’t me wrong the seating area is quite nice and they have a nice selection of booze including my new favorite Johnnie Walker Blue - look I even had it without ice this time!





In addition the lounge has a separate area with individual TVs and recliners set up so you can kick back and watch whatever you please.



What about the most important part, the shower? Now before I go any further I need to tell you a quick story. There are many instances where I board a plane after a long day of work stuck in my suit and tie all day. For a 2-3 hour flight home that’s no big deal, those flights usually leave at 5-6 and get back to DC by 10pm-11pm at the latest leaving plenty of time to shower and relax when I get home.

However over the past 18 months I’ve spent significant time with clients in LA, Las Vegas, and Reno. Flying home from any of those places often requires a redeye which means departing after 9pm local time. Sleeping in a suit on a redeye sucks and domestic carriers don’t give you PJs – but there’s a solution, the pre-redeye shower.

After initially resisting the concept of taking a shower at the airport, I got over any objection when I took a shower for the first time at the AC at LAX. Since then I’ve become such a big fan of the airport shower that my sister and brother-in-law have started to make fun of me for it. In a nod to them I decided to provide a special analysis of all airport showers during this trip including an overall rating and individual ratings on the following categories: cleanliness, toilet (after all this is Asia, their toilets can do anything), the shower itself, and the shower amenities.

Shower Rating
Cleanliness: 10/10 – Let’s be real – this is South Korea. They cleaned the shower stall before I even entered and I can only imagine how mortified they would’ve been if I’d found even a speck of dirt in there.



Toilet: 8/10: I want to give this a 10/10 I mean look at all these buttons. The seat is even kept warm at all times. However I’m taking two points off because I have no idea what any of these buttons do and I’m too scared to even press them for fear of what water jet I might turn on



Shower: 6.5/10: The water pressure itself is pretty good but the shower head isn't the best - the water coming out is too hard despite the actual water pressure being good



Shower Amenities: N/A – I’m just kidding – I have no idea if the shampoo and body gel is fancy and impressive or not. If it’s not Old Spice and Pert Plus it’s all the same to me. They did provide these free sandals which was a nice touch.



Overall Rating: 7/10 – The shower is the most important part so the fact that it scored only a 6.5/10 hurts the overall rating. I’d definitely use this shower again and after a 14 hour flight it was exactly what I needed, but it didn’t blow me away

In sum, the lounge was a quiet, relaxing place to spend a couple hours but it certainly was a huge letdown given my expectations. It certainly is not in the same ballpark as the aforementioned First Class Lounges and it seemed to be in the same league as many business class lounges found around the world. No matter – it served its purpose and was better than sitting at the gate. Next – we finally fly to Tokyo!

Duke787

Thanks! Yeah the views from the plane were incredible and my iPhone did a surprisingly good job of capturing those pictures.

Thanks for the kind words - much appreciated coming from the TR master! I wouldn't hesitate to take OZ F again and the bibimbap was delicious. Only my meal on NH F coming back to DC was better.

Yeah - I don't really understand the color scheme though given how much I liked everything else about the seat, it's something that I can live with.

Thanks! I think it was SD but it was a good SD

Thanks! Yeah the proper caviar spoon was nice. I didn't have to use a fork on TG thankfully but as you'll see they gave me a pretty crappy spoon. The OZ caviar was definitely better than the TG caviar too.

Thank you - I wasn't sure how well the writing style would work but I'm glad to hear people are enjoying it!

Madone59

Great start to your TR, and great photos. I am looking forward to the rest. ^

jacobac00

Very nice TR so far. The first suite looks very impressive.