Intro:
I don't fly much but thanks to Flyertalk I have definitely amped up the travel in the past few years and saved a lot of money. My first and only other international trip was in 2009 to London in VS Y (before there was YQ) + a Hilton Amex AXON reward when it good for 6 nights.
This trip to Australia was actually planned for 2014 to optimize points/miles (and would of been booking it last month) however the specter of devaluation had me move the trip forward a year.
Australia was always a place I wanted to visit. When I was a kid, some relatives of my grandmother who lived in Sydney came to visit and brought me a stuffed animal toy in the form of a koala. And yes I saw one not in a zoo while in Australia.
Since I was writing details of my trip for friends, I figured I should expand on that with more FT details and share my experience here as I benefited from others who did the same.
Planning
As stated above, the impetus to booking this year was Hilton's additional hotel categories and increased points for the AXON rewards. I was debating going back to the UK in Oct as I figured everything was booked up for Australia (we're talking Apr at that point). But it wasn't as horrible as I thought if I booked it as 2 one ways (with multi-city coming back) vs roundtrip tix.
The original plan was to do the whole Melbourne Cup Festival (Nov 5-9). Due to my late booking, I couldn't get saver reward flights into MEL until after the actual Melbourne Cup. I figured since I was in Australia why don't I just pop down to Sydney too? I still had a few leftover BA Avios to get the intra-Australia flight.
Moving the trip forward a year left me short miles for a pure Biz RT. Having flown SFO-LHR in Y and at 5'7, I need leg room if its more than a 6h flight. Thanks to those who post on Flyertalk, I knew Air New Zealand in Y was a solid choice.
Hotels were the easiest to book. The Radisson Blu was done online, 50k points for 2 nights in Sydney. Hilton requires calling to use the Axon - couldn't get the South Wharf location but Park location was very good.
So I ended up with this (and will be posting the following):
SFO-AUK-SYD on New Zealand in Y
Radisson Blu Sydney - 2 Nights
Intra-Sydney travel + Ferry
SYD-MEL on Qantas in Y
Hilton On the Park - Melbourne - 4 Nights
Intra-Melbourne travel + Tours (Phillip Isl & Great Ocean Rd)
MEL-BKK on Thai in J
EVA lounge at BKK + BKK-TPE on EVA in J
EVA lounge at TPE + TPE-SFO on EVA in J
Amenity Kits
Not quite one-bag trip. I have the soft sided Dakine 21 inch bag with some ebags packing cubes to give some structure/separation. The Dakine is very prone to tipping over (knew about that flaw) but it's ~5 pounds, was on sale and would only hold clothes and toiletries.
Also had a new laptop - bought on sale for $199.99 Aspire One 756 (11.6/3 lbs). I was close to getting the new ASUS Win 8 tablet but went the safe route. Had to adjust to the much smaller size of the AO but it worked fine for VPN-ing to work.
Laptop was in my mini backpack (Target) in a sleeve with the camera. I also had my simple nook - didn't use it at all - with all the chords/adapters that go with the tech. The backpack weighed close to 6 lbs!
I had the new Citi Hilton Reserve with Chip-and-sig. Also brought my BOA chip- and-sig just in case (didn't end up using it) and Charles Schwab debit card.
Citi card worked as it should. The only time the pin didn't work was at a Target in MEL - they had to swipe it.
Debit card worked except at the Flemington racecourse ATMs. They had the Plus sign and 2 dozen others. Guess they didn't want me betting more money. lol