Introduction to the trip
I was due to arrive at Vancouver before my graduate studies start in late August, and it meant more transpacific flying again, and what better airline to cross the Pacific than on Cathay in their 747s? Furthermore, I had enough points to redeem a First Class flight with them so I started with the AsiaMiles flight redemption booking and got myself a one way ticket from HKG to SFO on seat 1A in the 747. This will be the first time for me sitting in International First and what better way to do it than onboard Cathay's 747, with the seat in the front of the nose to top it off!
Cathay 747 Jumbo Jet
Now that the longest route of them all has been settled, I had to get tickets that will bring me from TKG (Bandar Lampung Raden Inten II Airport, where I stay) to HKG, and flights from SFO to YVR. As much as I like how Garuda has improved in Indonesia, their widebody fleet is still lacking and even having asked my Dad to buy its shares on its listing early this year (their share has underperformed...) I have not really considered them for my overseas travel since their prices are close Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific. That's when another idea struck me: having had some miserly Krisflyer points from regional routes, I topped up my account with credit card points, and voila I have enough for a one way ticket from Jakarta to Hong Kong in Business Class. An SIA flight in Business - now that's another thing to look forward to. But sadly, direct flights between Singapore and Hong Kong are lacking in redemption slots, so what's the next best idea? I found a variety of flights from Singapore to Guangzhou.
If my Geography serves me right, Guangzhou and Hong Kong seems near enough, and this would be an excuse to visit Guangzhou as well. It was then time to settle the overland crossing from Guangzhou to Hong Kong. The most direct choice would be the KCR train that will bring me directly to Hong Kong from Guangzhou, but it isn't a high-speed rail. I initially considered taking the high-speed rail between Guangzhou and Shenzhen but scrapped the plan due to the heavy luggage (with books) that I was carrying en-route to YVR.
After drafting the general route in mind, I went on to book my SIA flights with miles, I was able to find certain dates that allowed me a 2 nights stopover in Singapore! And with this stopover will coincide during the National Day Holidays, allowing me time to enjoy the festivities and food in the island city as well as connect with friends I made in school while studying there. It turns out I had to add more miles to redeem this stopover, which wasn't mentioned when I booked this ticket, but only a few days before departure. This totally gave me a bad impression on Singapore Airlines in terms of customer service, since they refused to acknowledge the fault in their online redemption/booking/check-in feature on their new website and tries to shift the blame to the passenger.
The final step was to settle the last flight to Canada from San Francisco and having seen the gleaming new Embraers of Air Canada in SFO early this year, I settled on Air Canada. Since Air Canada had a sale on their Executive class tickets and considering the luggage I would be bringing plus the perks of Air Canada's executive class such as lounge access, snacks and refreshments onboard and the bonus miles, I got a front cabin seat on the Embraers for the 2 hour flight to Canada.
For lodging, I chose to stay at SPG properties in the cities that I will be transiting and will include a stay in one of my favourite hotels in Asia - the St Regis in Singapore.
Thus my flight itinerary will be:
GA103 TKG-CGK
SQ957 CGK-SIN
SQ850 SIN-CAN
CX870 HKG-SFO
AC565 SFO-YVR
I have thus far completed the reports on the 1st 2 segments of this itinerary and would add on to the rest in a week or 2. I will also include a list of my previous trip reports so readers could get a prelude of what to expect
Circle Pacific on oneworld: CGK-HKG-YVR-JFK-LAX-MEL-SYD-CGK
Springtime travel YVR-LAX and LAS-YVR, with the latter on a widebody
CX712 Singapore to Bangkok in Business
Garuda Indonesia between Jakarta and Bali, and a 737-800 suprise
Garuda Indonesia Executive Class - Jakarta to Makassar
Dragonair (KA) from HKG to PVG in J
Regional CX Economy from Jakarta to Hong Kong