If you followed through all the instalments, thanks again
The trip was indeed 12 crazy days and I did feel sore and burnt out for so many times. Would I do it again? Absolutely, but I would pace it out and not squeeze everything in. It was a pity that I wasn't able to visit Madrid, let alone having to resort to so many back-to-back flights with a schedule even more dense than cabin crew.
Of course I'm also happy that EXP until 2019 was safely bagged in after this trip pretty much. And compared to 2016 where basically everything long haul was CX and AA for domestics etc, this trip really injected a lot more diversity into my FF portfolio...
QR did meet mostly my sky high expectations, but at the same time BA was not as bad as I had envisioned. All in all, bags after bags of surprises.
Many parts of the trip of course were made much more enjoyable derived from the excellent resources and advice available here on FT, so a big thanks to the community too, especially the QR and BA forum which I don't frequent much.
What's next:
I had wanted to write a similar TR for spring break a year ago but that was a much less exciting itinerary, can't blame myself for giving up
but if I am not lazy and you guys like it, I'm planning on writing three more TR episodes soon:
- Thanksgiving on the AA LAX-HKG new service rt in J: the 'CX EXP's' take
- Japan Airlines First Class NRT-ORD, April 2017
- Cathay Pacific new business class trial service ORD-HKG, June 2017
And of course this is only half of the RTW ticket, I still have some remaining segments including CX's new business class trial service on ORD-HKG, followed by HKG-HND-HKG, HKG-DPS-HKG and finally ending with HKG-TLV. (Yes, all hail CX!)
G-CIVC