I'll be posting the trip reports from our honeymoon trip here over the next few weeks, as we complete them. I'll try to edit this first post with an index as we add the posts, hope you guys enjoy reading!
- Award-Booking Honeymoon trip with United miles…All in First Class
- Finagling our way into Lufthansa First Class with VERY last minute changes
- Lufthansa First Class Lounge – New York JFK Airport
- Lufthansa Boeing 747 First Class – New York JFK to Frankfurt FRA (LH 405)
- Bratwursts Galore! Sightseeing around Frankfurt, Germany
- Westin Grand Frankfurt Hotel Review – Frankfurt, Germany
- Lufthansa First Class Lounge Review – Frankfurt-FRA Terminal B
- Thai Airways A380 Royal First Class – TG 921 Frankfurt-FRA to Bangkok-BKK
- Thai Airways Royal First Lounge and Royal Orchid Spa – Bangkok-BKK
- Thai Airways B772 Royal Silk Class – TG 431 Bangkok-BKK to Denpasar, Bali-DPS
- W Retreat & Spa Bali Seminyak – Bali, Indonesia – Hotel Review Part 1
- W Retreat & Spa Bali Seminyak – Bali, Indonesia – Hotel Review Part 2
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All about our Honeymoon trip: Bali, Jakarta, Singapore and the Maldives - Overview and Index
We’d been stockpiling United miles for months and had finally saved enough for 2x round-trip tickets in first class, a cost of 140k miles each. After some painstaking (but exciting) mapping, routing and time on the phone with United award booking representatives, our itinerary ended up looking like this:
By using United award miles, we were able to take advantage of their routing rules to have 1 free stopover, 1 free open-jaw and 2 long connections that allowed us enough time to explore the city (aka 2 more free stopovers). It looked like this:
- Depart New York-JFK on Lufthansa to Frankfurt-FRA. We arrived in Frankfurt, Germany and had an appx 23 hours layover, this allowed us to stay the night without it counting as a stopover.
- Next flight was Frankfurt-FRA to Bangkok-BKK –> Denpasar-DPS (Bali). This was the beginning of our open-jaw.
- After about a week in Bali, we purchased a cheap ticket on Air Asia from Denpasar-DPS to Jakarta-CGK and explored the Indonesian capital for 2 nights.
- From Jakarta-CGK, we flew to Male-MLE in the Maldives via Singapore-SIN. The flight out of Jakarta concluded our open-jaw segment and we purposely picked an 8+ hour layover in Singapore, which allowed enough time to explore the city for a few hours.
- With the Maldives counting as our stopover, we stayed for a little less than a week and then began the trek home flying from Male-MLE –> Singapore-SIN –> Tokyo-NRT –> Newark-EWR. This concluded our United award ticket.
We were able to fly some pretty cool First Class cabins on this award ticket and visited some beautiful – and unique - places. We booked this ticket last summer for appx 140,000 United miles + $120 in taxes but, since United’s award devaluation, this same trip would now cost 260,000 United miles!
Here’s the overview of our trip and an outline of future posts:
- Award-Booking Honeymoon trip with United miles…All in First Class
- Finagling our way into Luftansa First Class with VERY last minute changes
- Lufthansa First Class Lounge – New York JFK Airport
Uh…white table cloth dining with a waiter in an airport lounge? Off to a great start!
Well done again, Lufthansa. Who wants a seat that turns into a bed when you can just have both?!
The Frankfurt Christmas Market was in full swing; I’ve never been one to turn down a glass (or 8) of hot wine
Ok, just stop it already, Lufthansa, a jamón ibérico slicing machine at my full disposal?!
Yes, this is a full-on private spa room inside the Bangkok airport and yes, it was free for first class flyers!
- Thai Airways Royal Silk (Business Class) – Bangkok to Bali
- W Retreat & Spa Bali Seminyak – Bali, Indonesia – Hotel Review Part 1: Booking, Check-In and Room
W Retreat & Spa Bali Seminyak – Bali, Indonesia – Hotel Review Part 2: The Restaurants
- Photo Gallery: Around Bali
- Exploring Bali: Tanah Lot
McCown was like a local celebrity in Bali: tons of Indonesian girls demanded a picture with her. #localceleb?
Staggered rice terraces of Ubud, Bali next to our hotel
At the Ubud Palace in Bali: Puri Saren Agung Ubud
First economy class flight of the trip. I feel dirty and poor.
Yes, this is inside Singapore’s airport!
They also have a giant butterfly garden!
Ferry from Male airport island to the main Male island…they have a surplus of islands around here