Tall Travel Dude

A Little Background

It was only last month when we returned from a 10 day vacation in Cabo San Lucas. The whole family went (including the mother-in-law who lives with us, and my daughter Lily's friend). It was a nice getaway. All pool, beach and sun. A great way to escape the cloudy, dreary weather of Seattle.

I'm currently unemployed going on seven months now. I was laid off from Microsoft back in October of 2012, and have been looking for my next opportunity ever since. Early on, I thought I was going to get lucky - I had a couple of good phone interviews with Facebook, and the company even flew me down to Austin for in-person interviews. Alas, they chose not to continue with me.

Fast forward through a very slow winter of very few opportunities worthy of pursuit and to the weeks before our trip to Cabo. I had a total of four phone interviews with Google, and upon my return to Seattle after our Cabo trip, I was invited to California for 4 hours of in-person interviews. They seemed to go very well - very conversational, lots of back and forth. I returned home, and a week later, I received the news that they went with someone more qualified. The recruiter qualified the rejection with the news that everyone felt I was good for Google, and should I find a job worth pursuing at Google, I would get a big boost from the recruiter and from the notes given by the interviewers (who all were impressed by my interviews).

How did I feel after the rejection? Well, very rejected. I went to the café where my wife works as a server four days a week, and broke the news (over a yummy omelet and hash browns). She was very supportive, and was glad that I wouldn't have to move to California (since the family would have stayed behind in Seattle due to the school specializing in educating kids with dyslexia that my son Liam attends).




After a few days of getting over the shock of losing out on the Google opportunity (it was hard not to imagine all I would need to do should I had moved to California), my wife Leslie came up with an idea at which I initially balked, but had grown to embrace. She proposed taking our kids on a trip to Bali and Thailand. Her argument? We had the miles for the trip, we had the time to take an extended, leisurely trip, and it would be the first time the kids have left North America (whereas Leslie and I had been to Bali (3x), the Maldives, South Africa - lots of great international destinations). I thought she was nuts. I'm unemployed, for goodness sake. However, she pointed out that we had enough money saved to hold out for some time, and when other chance would we get the opportunity to travel for six (6!!) weeks in such an amazing part of the world.



The first thing I do in planning for a trip of this complexity and length? Create a spreadsheet, of course! I create column headers for date, day of the week, city, hotels/flights, costs, etc. It's a great way to play with different combinations while keeping track of total costs by summing up the costs of the individual elements. Next we had to make some early decisions:

• Who's going? After much family discussion, we decided to take our two youngest kids - Lily (13) and Liam (9). Our oldest, Savannah, is graduating from high school this year, and has no desire to travel internationally (which confounds me). Instead, she'll visit friends in California for a few weeks, before coming home to cohabit with my mother-in-law (who lives with us).

• Where are we going? Leslie definitely wants to return to Bali. We both find Bali to be a magical place, and really want to return to visit our friend Carole who runs a bed and breakfast in the northwest part of Bali. Also, Leslie wanted to try out Thailand. In the past, I've always talked her out of it because of the monsoons that bring rain to Thailand in the northern summer. She won out this time. Bali and Thailand are the main destinations.

• When are we going? I turns out we have two 'hard stops'. My oldest daughter is graduating on June 12, and we can't miss that. On the other end, my daughter has tickets to see One Direction on July 28, tickets we bought over a year ago (hmm...I wonder where the hell I put those tickets). So we can leave as soon as June 13 and return as late as July 27.

• How to get there? Using frequent flyer miles, I had a couple of choices. We could take Cathay Pacific to Hong Kong, use our stopover to buy a return flight to Thailand, before continuing on to our final destination of Bali. The other, relatively new, option was to book Emirates, flying directly from Seattle via Dubai to Singapore, then using it as a base of operations to buy separate flights to Thailand and Bali. There are downsides to each option. First off, I wanted to book the four of us in either First Class or Business Class. For each airline, premium cabin mileage availability is typically released less than a month before departure. With either choice, I'll be booking flights within weeks/days of our desired departure days. Towards this end, it was important to have access to tools that can give me good information on award availability. I subscribed to two important tools - Expertflyer.com (web service) and the KVS availability tool (download). You can search dates and find out what flights have the seats available to travelers flying on awards. It's a different bucket of inventory, and just because there may be seats available on a flight (for sale), the airlines may not have put aside seats for those flying on miles. By using these tools, it's possible to find out the moment (via email alerts) when the appropriate space becomes available. Then, I simply call up Alaska Airlines and have them book the space.

• Where will we stay? There were a few non-negotiable items. We want to stay at Carole's in the north, in Ubud, and on the peninsula (Jimbaran/Nusa Dua/Uluwatu). Thailand was wide open, but we were trying to decide among Phuket, Koh Samui and Krabi. Also, do we spend time in Hong Kong (if we take Cathay Pacific), Dubai and Singapore (stopovers if we take Emirates). We wanted to procure rooms where all four of us can fit into a single unit, or with units that connect or are otherwise next door to each other.

• What activities will we do? Lots of fun things to do - elephant treks, white water rafting, volcano bike tours, ziplining, temple tours, snorkeling, diving, etc. Most of these activities we'll likely book at our hotels, but there may be a few worth booking ahead of time.

After much research on Trip Advisor (a must have tool), we learned that June/July is the low season in the part of Thailand to where we had planned to travel; we learned that Phuket is very touristy and Koh Samui rather isolated (and expensive to travel to airfare wise). Eventually, we decided upon staying in Krabi - the gateway to all the beautiful bay islands (like the islands seen in "The Beach" and in "The Man with the Golden Gun")


Bali was always at the core of our plans. We wanted to spend the majority of our time on the island, but also wanting to spread our time among several different hotels.

Finally, we decided to use Emirates for our flights, so that gave us time in Dubai and Singapore, where between the two we'll be able to spend a week.




Booking premium cabin seats require either booking a year out (when the airlines load a few award seats into their systems) or by booking very close to the date of travel (when airlines realize they won't sell all their seats, and make award seats available in order to get some value out the inventory; when booking with miles in this case, Alaska will pay Emirates some dollar amount for those seats, seats that otherwise would go empty).

I couldn't base our trip on solid dates because I don't know which dates will have availability. I created a buffer period on each end of the trip. Singapore is our buffer location. If we get a flight when desired, we'll have 3 nights to spend in Singapore. If we can't get a flight until 3 days after my desired departure, we'll skip Singapore and go straight to Thailand. The same buffer exists on the end of the trip.

Using 700,000 Alaska miles, my goal is to book 2 First Class seats and 2 Business Class seats. Mom and Dad in the front, the kids in the back (well, middle, really). First class costs 200K miles each to Asia from North America and Business costs 150K miles each.

Based on our itinerary, we wanted to depart Seattle on June 13, arriving in Dubai on June 14, spending 4 nights in Dubai before continuing onto Singapore on June 19. My plan is to return from Singapore via Dubai on July 24.

This is where the anxiety begins. A few weeks ago, none of these flights were available in our desired cabins. Using Expert Flyer, I created an alert to email me when 2 first class seats and 2 business class seats became available on June 13/14/15. Then, while umpiring a rainy baseball game for my son's team on May 16, my phone vibrated and the email informed me that the seats were available. After the game, I rushed home and got on the phone with Alaska to book those seats, along with the onward flight to Singapore. I nailed the seats I wanted on the June 13 flight, and found four seats in business class on a 1 stop direct flight from Dubai to Singapore (stopover in Colombo, Sri Lanka). This wasn't my ideal flight, I want to eventually get on the A380 non-stop flight from Dubai to Singapore in First and Business, but those award seats weren't available yet. Moreover, I had to book a return that fell within a 90 day window of our departure. I couldn't book my actual desired return since the award space wasn't released, so I booked a return on September 3 from Singapore>Dubai>Houston>Seattle. I have no intention of using this flight. It's just a filler to ensure I have a return booked, and so my itinerary isn't misinterpreted as a one way flight (which would leave us stuck in Singapore with no way home). Total cost for these flights? About $100 per person in taxes and fees. Not a bad deal given the retail value of the first class seats alone is about $20K each.

Next steps? I've got flight alerts set for the A380 flight to Singapore from Dubai on 6/19. Worst case, we have seats on a flight that fits our desired date (even though in business and not in first). Unfortunately, since I'm not an MVP Gold with Alaska, every change I make will result in $400 worth of change fees ($100pp). I'm hoping to limit these changes to 2 of them. One for the aforementioned change to the A380, and another change to obtain our desired return on or about July 24.

Finally, I booked flights on Tiger Airways (the Ryan Air of Asia) to get us from Singapore to Krabi, and then from Krabi to Bali (via Singapore). The base airfares were cheap (<$100 per person from Singapore to Thailand); however, they ding you for baggage and for seat selection (otherwise, we could all be sitting in different parts of the plane) This should be an adventure. Cattle class all the way.



We've finalized all of our hotel stays. I can tell you that we'll be staying at eight different hotels on our trip in four different countries. However, I'll keep these undisclosed until I arrive and blog about our experiences at each of them.

I'll post again about one week before we leave with updates on the journey. Once we start the journey, I'll be posting more frequently, and with more photos!

NA-Flyer

An amazing introduction photo ^

NYBanker

Sounds like it will be a good trip. I look forward to following it.

apodo77

Love the shot of the camel. Great picture. ^

chicagodesi

looking fwd to this TR, hope for lots of pics

tys90

Takes some patience to be able to wait that long to book awards. I think the anxiety would get the best of me. Looks like a great trip!

kcmd

Looking forward to the TR, hell of a lot of patience booking these tix but well worth it I'm sure!!

BA5E

Great reading so far, cannot wait for it to take effect, will be glued to the computer after the 13th June, this is going to be one amazing TR, please give us lots of pics^

TWA4Me

What an intriguing trip planned! I hope it's every bit as wonderful as it sounds like it will be!

priyavishy

Enjoy your fun trip! Very excited for you and awaiting TR with lots of pics!

cloudybw

Looking forward to the trip report. I am surprised SEA-DXB is much shorter than LAX-DXB or even IAH-DXB...

Tall Travel Dude

If you'd like to see the accompanying photos to any of my posts, please visit my blog...I'm sick of trying to resize photos to fit

I finally found myself with a moment of clarity, where my brain doesn't feel as fogged up as the inside windows of my car on a rainy day. My family is in the same boat; our bodies beaten up by the dramatic shift in our circadian rhythm. Some of us slept our first night, some didn't; we all napped much of today away, unable to fight the inexorable pull of fatigue. So different from when we left Seattle. I need some time to absorb and observe the incredible cultural, geographical and meteorological differences before commenting further on Dubai.

Leaving Seattle in Style: Emirates First and Business Class

Knowing that frequent flyer miles are a quickly depreciating asset (inevitably, airlines increase the number of miles needed to book award tickets), and having been spoiled by traveling first class on our previous trips to South Africa and Bali (those trips with just Leslie and I, on Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines), I booked two first class seats and two business class seats (for the kids, naturally).

For the geeky flying types out there (that means you FT'ers), booking Emirates (EK) using Alaska Airlines (AS) miles has a few restrictions. First off, itineraries are only allowed to be 90 days in length from departure to return (other airlines allow a full year); not really a problem for most travelers from a practical standpoint - most journeys are well short of 90 days. However, from a logistics standpoint, it presents a problem. Before beginning a journey, the full outbound and return needs to be booked. On EK (and most airlines), finding premium cabin space (first and business) is best done a long ways out (we're talking 8 months to a year) or very close in (up to a month before the flight). Given the last minute nature of our trip, we had to go the latter route, waiting for space to open up closer to our departure date. About a month out, we were able to book SEA>DXB with 2 pax in First (award class Z) and two in Business (award class D) for a total of 700,000 AS miles (200K for first, 150K for biz), but the only onward flight to Singapore available at the time (a very important distinction) was business class seats on a direct flight (with a stop in Colombo, Sri Lanka) to Singapore.

Another idiosyncrasy of booking EK awards using AS miles is the 'married segments' requirements. On most other airlines, one can book segments separately. For example, when we went to Bali on Cathay Pacific, we booked our SFO>HKG segment months before finally booking the HKG>DPS segment. Both bookings were independent of the other. If space was available in our award booking class, we got the seats. However, with EK, if two segments are being flown (and even though we are spending five days in Dubai, the ongoing Singapore flight is considered a connecting flight), both flights must have the desired award booking class available in order to book. In this case, there were four business class seats on both flights (which allowed us to book business class on the ongoing Singapore flight). Unfortunately, this rule means that even if a flight to Singapore with first class seats open up (and there are three daily flights of this kind to Singapore), there would have to be two first class seats available on our SEA>DXB flight in order to book those seats. This creates a catch-22. We took the last two first class seats on the SEA>DXB flight, and there are no more available, so even though we have those seats, we wouldn't be able to book first class to Singapore (unless we changed the entire outbound itinerary to a date that had first class available on both flights - this wasn't going to happen based on our schedule).

The final challenge in booking the itinerary is based on the 90 day max rule. As I mentioned earlier, space is easier to find far out in time, or close to departure date. Ninety days out has almost no award space on EK. I had to search and search, and finally found a return itinerary from Singapore connecting through Dubai to Houston, and finally flying to Seattle from there on AS. This is for September 3. We need to go home sometime between July 24 and 27. I therefore have to play a waiting game, watching award availability closely as we approach those dates in order to find a way home. We may flight straight to Seattle (hopefully), or we may be forced into other North American gateway cities (SFO, LAX, IAH, DFW) that AS serves. More on this in later posts.

After hurried last minute errands and packing, we were ready to head to the airport at 2:30pm. A great benefit of flying Emirates in First or Business is chauffeured transportation to and from the airport - for all stops along the journey. Given how much luggage we have (two suitcases each), I opted to book dual town cars for the ride to SeaTac. Liam and I rode in one, while Lily and Leslie departed in the other. The original intent was to convoy to the airport, but as we turned the corner from our street, I panicked and asked the driver to pullover so I could confirm I had our passports in my computer bag. That done, we ended up taking separate routes that resulted with Liam and I arriving about 10 minutes ahead of the others.

Once we checked in - a very pleasant process with a dedicated line for first class (and one for business class as well), we whisked through security, using the priority line. It took us around 10 minutes to complete the security process, while the standard line snaked off in the distance for a good 200ft (who knows how long it took those folks).

The flight left from the south concourse, so we made our way via the tram, and headed to the International Lounge, a contract lounged used by several airlines including Emirates. It was a small lounge, with few amenities, and a poor food selection (just some bagged snacks, cans of soda, some beer, and a bar tended when you ring a bell). Compared to the British Airways Galleries lounge just upstairs, it's pretty poor.


An hour before departure, we headed for the gate. The plane was moored at S16, the seating area of which was surrounded by construction - it took a while to find the area. Unfortunately, in this isolated set of gates (including S15), two international flights (the other on Condor to Frankfurt) were set to depart at the same time. The two different sets of passengers couldn't be more different. Waiting for the Condor flight were a combination of European and American passengers, while the vast majority of those attending on the Emirates flight were likely from the Arabian Peninsula and the Indian subcontinent. It was noisy (lots of small children), crowded (never enough seats for everyone) and stuffy.

Finally, First and Business class boarding was called, and we walked along the long air bridge, past a cart holding a variety of newspapers - both international and local, and across the threshold of the 777-200LR (a long range version of the 777, with a max range of 10,800 statute miles). Door 2L was being used for boarding so all four of us crossed to the starboard aisle and took a left where the forward cabin of business class (nice and quiet - only two rows) and first class were located. I made sure the kids were squared away, giving them the basics on how to adjust the seat and use the onboard entertainment, then took some time to get to know my first class suite.

A 23 inch monitor, a minibar with various soft drinks, lots of room for carry-on luggage, and three windows across the length of the suite, That's my favorite part - being able to see so much and get so much natural light. After a pre-departure glass of Moet, we pushed back and took off to the north (a rarity in Seattle). Unlike the various American domestic airlines, which keep the fasten seatbelt sign on for a good 20 minutes before allowing passengers to stretch, on our flight, the light was off before even reaching the 'double-ding' altitude, the 10k foot threshold above which electronics can be used.

Though the most direct route to Dubai (following the great circle) would have taken us just under 100 miles south of the North Pole, due to the wind patterns, a route was chosen that took over the north of Greenland, down through Norway, Finland, Russia, the Caucuses and Iran en route.

All first class guests are provided with pajamas, but the purser informed me that she only had a large, not an extra large. I went to the lavatory (which was, surprisingly, of a standard size). The pajama pants bottoms fit, but were high waters; however, the top was way too small (fat guy with a little coat small). So I stuck with my tee shirt.

As with all international first class products, you dine whenever you feel like it. This is an especially great option for the 1am departures from the West Coast to Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific. Who wants a full meal at 2am? Better to get some sleep and eat later. However, on our flight, our departure made an immediate meal service make sense. Dining was a la carte - there were many options from which to choose (even anytime breakfast options like pancakes). I started with a couple of flutes of Dom Perignon, 2003 vintage accompanied first with a warmed nut mix, then with caviar. Also, at this time, I opted to dine while watching the latest Die Hard thriller, set in Russia this time with John McCain having to save his CIA operative son from trouble (no, he doesn't say yippee cayea in this movie, I don't think).

Next, I had another appetizer, a seafood plate, and another wine - a lovely Grgrich Hills Chardonnay (well, two glasses of it). Moving on to the entrée, I enjoyed a mixed meat plate with beef, lamb and chicken (along with a couple of glasses of a red, vineyard and varietal forgotten).

I finished with yet more wine, a cheese board followed by a chocolate dessert, at which point I was both full and fairly drunk. Almost four hours had flown by, and though the night had fallen in Seattle, we were well enough north not to draw the shadows of the south. I was able to laugh and cry through an episode of Nurse Jackie that I'd not seen yet (No! why did Charlie have to die!), then decided I need to get some sleep.

I asked the flight attendant if she could make the bed next to my wife who was sitting in the center (first was a 1-2-1 configuration). She changed the seat to a bed, added a mattress, duvet and pillow. I stumbled over, put on my eye mask, took an ambien for good measure, and promptly fell asleep to the view of stars sprinkled across the ceiling bulkhead of the cabin - a starry night.

Tap, tap....tap, tap. I stir awake to my wife nudging me awake. She's enjoying breakfast and informs that there was just over an hour left in the flight. Doing a little math, I figured I was out for almost nine hours! Did I feel refreshed? No - just very hung over and dehydrated...why did I drink so much wine! (reminds me of a flight Leslie and I took on Cathay from Hong Kong to Johannesburg in business class. I was drinking lots of wine, but that time, I started flirting big time with the flight attendant - until that ended in disaster. I spilled my wine on the floor and broke the glass. The purser got mad and threatened to cut me off. However, I cut myself off and promptly passed out).

My take on our experience? The service was excellent. The flight attendants (three of them serving a first class load of five passengers) were all sincerely friendly, and quick to please. A great crew. Though the Emirates wine list was superior, I preferred the Cathay Pacific menu selections and food quality over Emirates. Moreover, the Cathay Pacific first class seat is huge; very wide and great for sleeping and lounging. The Emirates seat had no ottoman, making lounging (watching movies, etc.) not as comfortable. Also, the bed wasn't as comfortable. The entertainment system (ICE) is unmatched for content, and in our case screen size. I've flown business class on Emirates three other times for work, and found it superior to other airline products; I just think Emirates fell short in its first class product (yes, I know, first world problems to be sure).

Landing at dusk, all of us still tired in spite of the various amounts of sleep each of us got, we started the long walk, including a short train ride, to the main terminal three (which is completely occupied by Emirates) immigration and baggage claim. Fairly empty at this hour, we had our passports stamped, found our luggage already waiting for us off the belt, loaded up four luggage carts, and headed landside. We finally found our way to the Emirates transport lounge, and loaded up two Mercedes station wagons (business class transfers use Volvos), and headed into the night towards the Atlantis.

Tall Travel Dude

Dateline: Dubai.

There isn't much more of a time change that we could have encountered and not have it been to our advantage. Eleven hours. Day is night, and night is day. The jet lag creeps up, ensconced in an excitement of arriving at an exotic location. Bright lights, steamy night. Despite having slept for nine hours on the flight over from Seattle, I fell asleep quickly the first night. But the respite was short lived, giving way to a cycle of not knowing when I was awake or asleep.

Jet lag wracks not only the body's rhythm, but takes a psychological toll creating swings in energy and fatigue. It's a monster that lurks both in the darkest night and the brightest day. It's as if my Super Ego has fully sprung into my consciousness, sweeping nonstop insecurity and doubt across my thoughts as I float in and out of sleep during the night, and stumble through the day by an inertia at odds with my foggy state of mind.

I'm grumpy, I know I'm grumpy; I choose to be self-reflective at the worst possible time. At the time when I need to focus on the moment, and enjoy my surroundings and my family, I find myself internalized, allowing negative imagery and thoughts to flash into my mind and take over my focus. Sacrificed, of course, is being fully engaged with my family.

Now in my third full day in Dubai, I slept a full seven hours last night, and awoke refreshed, positive, and looking forward to embracing this experience fully.

Edited later that day: I was wrong. Jetlag still kicking my ....

Tall Travel Dude

If you'd like to see the accompanying photos to any of my posts, please visit my blog...I'm sick of trying to resize photos to fit

Lesson One: Do not visit Dubai in the Summer

Vegas is hot; Phoenix is hot. Both are in the desert; both experience hot summers. Hot, dry summers. Having lived in the Pacific Northwest my entire life, where humidity hovers in the low 30s, I have little experience with high temperature, high humidity environments. While in Dubai, I have never experienced such uncomfortable heat in my life. For example, as I write this at 2pm, the temperature outside is a reasonable 95 degrees, but with the humidity, Weather.com shows a 'real feel' of 113 degrees (and we've still not hit the forecasted high temperature of 104 today).

Just stepping outside produces an instant sheen of sweat, drains mental energy, and starts an inexorable physical deterioration even with constant water intake. It's simply miserable. However, while crossing the city on a taxi journey in the middle of the day, I see construction workers - all dark skinned, foreign guest workers - laboring under the sun in dark jumpsuits. Obviously, humans have the ability to adapt to most environments; some more than others.

Besides the heat, there is a constant haze, greatly diminishing the views of the city and casting a yellow tinted veil over the adjacent Persian Gulf. The combination of the heat and the haze greatly diminishes the attraction of the city - there's nothing pretty to look at, sun worshippers are brutally punished, and any foray into the authentic, cultural pockets of Dubai requires surviving the oppressive heat.

Lesson Two: The Cultural Melting Pot is Hard to Endure while Jet Lagged

With the eleven hour time difference from Seattle, we've not had the chance to fully synchronize with Dubai's time zone. We awake tired, struggle against the fatigue, and have found our patience threshold severely tested. I've observed that the kids are just as negatively impacted by the jet lag, but in different ways. Where Leslie and I can recognize just how tired we are, Liam and Lily tend to get cranky and have acted out on numerous occasions. There have been instances of intense civil war as the four of us have gotten on each others' nerves. This low tolerance for irritation applies to dealing with the foreign cultures we've encountered.

For example, Arabian kids. Bratty, undisciplined with their parents taking seemingly no interest in keeping them in line. We hear them running through the hall outside our room late at night (these are small kids!), we tire of them cutting in line or trying to push their way into elevators without any regard to our presence.

Another example is the lack of apparent friendliness in Arabian culture. There is such a lack of smiles and playful energy as we're accustomed to experiencing it. There is a sense of entitlement, and definitely a stratification of class between the haves and have-nots.

I recognize that cultural differences are a reality, and that every person - wherever he/she lives - experiences the same range of emotions and feelings as I do. This is where my lack of fully functioning facilities fails to allow me to chill and simply experience and enjoy the differences. I chalk this up to my jet lag.

Lesson Three: Planning Ahead for Activities was a Mistake

Several weeks before we departed on this long trip, I researched the various activities in Dubai, looking for fun things for our family to do. However, I didn't account for a few things: the oppressive heat, the disabling jet lag, and the extreme lack of demand of activities due to this being the low season. The result? In some cases, it was hard to enjoy the activities (ones I'd already paid for) due to the fatigue, and in others, we simply chose to forfeit what we paid because we simply didn't have the energy to do them. Though jet lag and heat won't be such extreme factors for the remainder of the trip, I won't pre-book anything more, leaving us more flexible.

farbster

Very nice adventure. Something to remember for sure...A few questions...

1) why didn't you call an umpires timeout and book your reservation on the phone? Make it like you have to review the infield fly rule...

2) did you have any problems with the kids in a different cabin? I think they look old enough, but some pax/crew can be wacky about that...

3) how hot/bearable did you think DXB would be in the summer?

Keep up the great TR! No pics necessary on FT in my opinion...

Good luck on the job search!