*THE* Most Extreme NYE Extravaganza Yet (18th Time RTW, 4 Continents, 12 Countries)
Feb 20, 2020, 6:33 pm
#32
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Before continuing on, due to circumstances that I will detail later in this report, we had to make significant changes to the itinerary while en route. This led to the entire Laos and Philippines portions being cancelled, as well as the stop in Rio. It also required adding NRT-IST-LGW, LHR-BRU-HEL-NRT and SCL-MAD-LHR-GRU-IGU to the itinerary which stretched this to a grueling 70,059 BIS miles over the course of the trip. It was exhausting. In addition to the personal circumstances requiring these additions, the tail end of our time in Asia coincided with the start of the panic surrounding Wuhan Flu. Let's just say that while this trip sounded great on paper, it's not one i'd want to do again.
The final actual routing looked like this:
The final actual routing looked like this:
Feb 21, 2020, 4:20 am
#33
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Gorgeous tr - I had wondered how the NYE plans succeeded.
I also loved Ready or Not movie! I don’t know that blond actress and I loved seeing andie McDowell smoking. She and a daughter were in line behind us at Angelinas in Paris which of course meant that the restaurant slowed down for everyone but her. Thankfully we decided that the hot chocolate at the food court in Bon marche or Lafayette was much better and enjoyable so I’ve not had to return there.
I understand the challenges of booking something and then having to execute it... upcoming pediatric dental visit on Tuesday and I’m just not in the mood for all that driving.
I also loved Ready or Not movie! I don’t know that blond actress and I loved seeing andie McDowell smoking. She and a daughter were in line behind us at Angelinas in Paris which of course meant that the restaurant slowed down for everyone but her. Thankfully we decided that the hot chocolate at the food court in Bon marche or Lafayette was much better and enjoyable so I’ve not had to return there.
I understand the challenges of booking something and then having to execute it... upcoming pediatric dental visit on Tuesday and I’m just not in the mood for all that driving.
Feb 21, 2020, 8:05 am
#34
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Gorgeous tr - I had wondered how the NYE plans succeeded.
I also loved Ready or Not movie! I don’t know that blond actress and I loved seeing andie McDowell smoking. She and a daughter were in line behind us at Angelinas in Paris which of course meant that the restaurant slowed down for everyone but her. Thankfully we decided that the hot chocolate at the food court in Bon marche or Lafayette was much better and enjoyable so I’ve not had to return there.
I understand the challenges of booking something and then having to execute it... upcoming pediatric dental visit on Tuesday and I’m just not in the mood for all that driving.
I also loved Ready or Not movie! I don’t know that blond actress and I loved seeing andie McDowell smoking. She and a daughter were in line behind us at Angelinas in Paris which of course meant that the restaurant slowed down for everyone but her. Thankfully we decided that the hot chocolate at the food court in Bon marche or Lafayette was much better and enjoyable so I’ve not had to return there.
I understand the challenges of booking something and then having to execute it... upcoming pediatric dental visit on Tuesday and I’m just not in the mood for all that driving.
Feb 21, 2020, 9:12 am
#35
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As I mentioned, going forwards, I am going to write the rest of this trip report in a different manner. As such, instead of entries by flight and hotel, I am going to group a bunch of stuff together into loosely related “chapters,” I will endeavor to include the flight and hotel details.
It had been a good NYE, not the BEST NYE of all time, but a strong effort. Now it was time for the group to fracture. We all had different flights out of PQC. The ex-Banker and his Yoga Instructor were set to be on our flight from PQC to SGN, but they were connecting straight through to Cambodia. The rest of the group would fly PQC-SGN on different flights, and all assemble at the Rex Hotel in Saigon for one night before going our separate ways. As an added bonus, another friend who had joined previous NYE trips was fortuitously already IN Saigon, so she was going to meet us at the Rex as well.
My gf and I departed the JW and took off for PQC. We got to the airport quite early, and the man at the check-in desk asked if we wanted to take an earlier flight to Saigon. He couldn’t give us two seats together, but then again he couldn’t do that on our scheduled flight either. I figured any extra time we could have to relax in Saigon would be welcome, since it was only going to be a brief overnight stop before an early AM flight to Japan the next morning.
After we’d accepted our new tickets, we ran into ex-Banker and GF and told them that sadly we’d been swapped to the earlier flight, so we would no longer be traveling together. We agreed to meet up somewhere in the world in the first part of 2020, and parted ways.
The flight info:
VN 7826
PQC-SGN
Airbus A321-200
VN-A393
Seat 2G (Changed to 4G) [BUSINESS]
Flight #1 of 2020
Before this trip, I’d have expected PQC to be a thatched roof little shack with no jetways, as it’s an airport on a small vacation island, but it’s a pretty massive terminal (it even has a Burger King…...!) and the planes DO depart from jetways…well at least some of them do, ours didn’t.
Our flight required a transfer to an apron position and surprisingly in communist Vietnam, there was even a designated bus only for J pax. The Russians coming along for the ride posed for like 80 selfies on the minibus ride to the plane.
The VN seats were about what you’d expect in J for a sub 1-hr flight on a narrowbody. They’re more comfortable than most US domestic F seats, but nothing special. There was no service, not even peanuts, just a pass of the drink cart.
When the captain began the preflight announcements, I was shocked to find that once again we were in Capt. Juan’s charge. The same guy flying us IN and OUT of PQC? I mean it could have been a different Spanish guy named Juan flying for VN, but how many could they possibly have?
After landing, we got a dirt cheap taxi to The Rex. There are a few reputable taxi companies in Saigon, we’d checked online beforehand and made sure to take one of those. Clean, and they stuck to the meter which was not running at some extreme scam rate.
I chose The Rex hotel for the nostalgia factor. It opened in the 1960’s and some of the first occupants were U.S. troops that were billeted there. The rooftop was famously the scene of the “5 o’clock follies” as the daily MACV press briefings came to be known. The rooftop bar was apparently also a well-known haunt for intelligence assets coming in and out of Vietnam during the war. My Father had stayed at the hotel for a few nights, when he was back in Saigon and away from his base during the war. A friend of his was working for Pan Am and was posted in Saigon for some of this time, and they met for drinks on the roof. It seemed like a good place to spend the night.
The aesthetic of the hotel is still very much frozen in the 1960’s for better or worse. For me, this is what I was looking for. I think the suite I booked was around $120 USD, might have been less.
Since we have arrived early, we had a chance to get some rest before everyone else rolled in. Our time on the island had not been super relaxing, and we had to be up at 4:45am the next day to get to SGN in time for our flight to Japan, so drinks did NOT sound particularly appealing, but the show must go on.
Everyone assembled on the roof right as the band was taking the stage. The Rex has amazing views over Saigon, and they have a house band that plays as entertainment. I think they are probably the same house band that has been playing there since the war, as all the members appear to be in their 70’s and they are something, that’s for sure. Most of the tunes are English language hits, and their command of the English language is tenuous at best, but they are enthusiastic. I wish I could find a good place to host video, because really everyone should see their rendition of “Achy Breaky Heart.”
As I mentioned, we added someone for this evening. Long story, but another fraternity brother of ours, who didn’t join this trip is a Navy JAG. While he was stationed in Japan a few years earlier, he became friends with this girl, also stationed in Japan who is a DoD employee. JAG brought DoD along on one of our trips to the Philippines, and from then on she became a fixture of our Asian Theater of Operations trips.
It had been a year or two since she last joined up for one of our jaunts, but as luck would have it, she’d spent NYE in Saigon and when she saw we were going to be passing through, she said we should all link up.
A few drinks in, my gf and I called it a night, since it was getting late and like I said, we had to be up at 4:45am. The rest of the group continued, and why not. Chino and his GF and Chicago’s Law School friend were staying in Saigon the next day, as was DoD girl. They didn’t have to be up early.
Inexplicably, Chicago, who also had to be up at 4:45am to go to the airport with us, stayed out drinking until around 2:30am…I have no idea how he does it.
To his credit, he was on time and in the lobby at 4:45am to meet us so we could get the cab to SGN.
Things got interesting at the airport.
We were well early for our flight. When we walked to the JAL counters, Chicago, who is a *A guy and a very well seasoned traveler said “wait, I am on Air Japan not Japan Airlines I think.” We finally looked closely at his reservation and realized that he was NOT on our JAL flight, but was on the ANA flight SGN-NRT which was being operated by “Air Japan.” Luckily the flight was only leaving 30 minutes before our JAL flight, and he still had enough time to check-in and make his flight. That could have been a costly gaffe.
The line to get through immigration and security at SGN even that early in the morning was truly horrible. I think it took somewhere in the neighborhood of 45m-1h, so it’s good that we were at the airport early.
Once finally through the monstrous queues, we popped into the very mediocre Priority Pass Lounge and had some farewell pho for breakfast.
As Chicago’s flight was leaving earlier, and he was on the security line after us, he barely made it through in time to run to his gate and board. We’d see him in Japan.
The Flight Info:
JL 750
SGN-NRT
Boeing 787-9
JA830J
Seat 8K (BUSINESS)
Flight #2 of 2020
I had again done packing gymnastics in getting ready for this one. I wore jeans and a t-shirt on the plane along with loafers and no socks. Since it would be winter in Japan, I put thick wool socks in the front pocket of my trifold carryon and carried my ski jacket with my winter hat zipped into the pocket. My plan was to put the socks on before arrival, the don the jacket and hold the hat in reserve.
On this 5h50m minute, JAL have a regional J product in a 2-2-2 config. It’s certainly not the best seat in the world, but it was comfortable enough for us since we were traveling together. It wouldn’t be great for a solo traveler.
JAL’s movie selection also leaves a lot to be desired. They have like 10 versions of every movie with different language options, but not that many actual movies to choose from.
On this flight, I watched “Driven.” It stars Jason Sudeikis and the vaguely creepy guy from “Halt and Catch Fire” that played the rip off version of Steve Jobs on that show. The movie was based on the true story of a pilot/criminal/scumbag who is working as an FBI informant and by chance ends up living next to and befriending John Delorean and then gets caught up in a bunch of criminal high jinks as the Delorean car company unravels, finally culminating in the main character trying to arrange some sort of drug deal with Delorean as a party in a last ditch effort to get an injection of funds to keep his car company afloat. He also sets Delorean and the drug dealers up to be busted by the FBI so he can save his family. Apparently this really happened, and the main character is still out there somewhere under an alias in Witness Protection. I thought it was a really entertaining movie, and I was surprised because I don’t think it was ever in theaters. If you have a chance to catch it on a plane, it’s for sure worth two hours.
During the meal service, I went with the Japanese option. Everything was fantastic and I think JAL do Japanese catering better than ANA.
After the meal and the movie, I spent the rest of the flight typing up some trip notes and then closed my eyes for a bit.
We landed in Japan on January 2nd. Even then, well before it entered the general world consciousness, there was a sign saying something about “Have you recently traveled to Wuhan.” I thought nothing of it, but I remember my gf bringing it up and asking me what it was all about. We brushed it off at the time, little did we know.
Entry to Japan was super easy, we got our bags and went down to the train station. Chicago was coming in on an ANA *A flight, so he would be arriving at a different terminal. Even though his flight departed SGN 30 minutes earlier, he landed after us.
Through txt we were able to coordinate which NRT Express train to book and which car #, as well as which onward train from Tokyo Station to Nagano.
With all the particulars agreed upon, we bought our tickets and went to wait for the NRT Express. When it pulled up, we got onto our assigned car, went to our seats and BAM! There was Chicago, it all worked so seamlessly. I love Japan. Such a pleasant, efficient, clean and polite country.
After the 40 or so minute ride from NRT to Tokyo Station, we grabbed our bags and lugged them over to the Shinkansen trains and waited for our onward ride to Nagano station.
We got stuck in a 3-across for the Tokyo to Nagano train which wasn’t the most comfortable layout, especially since I was in the middle, but it was OK.
From Nagano, we were too lazy to take another train or the bus, so we found a taxi and asked how much it would cost to get to Hakuba. Snow was lightly falling at this point and we were all really excited to get to the ski resort and see a new side of Japan. I had never been outside of the cities in Japan (previous trips to: Tokyo, Osaka, Yokohama, Nagasaki, Hiroshima, Kobe) and had never been skiing there.
The driver gave us a price range, and it ended up costing even less. He seemed delighted when he dropped us off, that the price was less than his initial quote.
We all booked the Courtyard Marriott in Hakuba and it has to be THE nicest Courtyard in the world. Our room was brand new and modern with a huge comfortable bed and the bathroom had a private onsen with continually running hot spring water. As a HUGE fan of baths, this was amazing.
We dropped our bags, scrubbed the journey off and then met up in the lobby with Chicago to go find dinner.
The desk recommended a small Izakaya called Hei on the main street in town, so we walked down the snowy lane until we found it.
We took our shoes off and sat on the floor at the small table and had some great small plates which were washed down with a bunch of beer and sake. After the meal, halfway drunk, content and tired from the journey in we all decided it would be best to get some sleep and be up early tomorrow so we could rent gear and get to the mountain.
In the morning, I awoke and looked out the window at a snow covered landscape. The barren trees, falling snow and quaint houses here and there looked like the perfect metal image I'd had of Japan in winter prior to actually experiencing it. I was pumped and ready to go skiing. I put on my ski pants and a sweater and went down to breakfast with my gf. That’s when the trip went off the rails and everything changed.
While we were at breakfast, my gf got horrible news about a family member in rapidly deteriorating health. This continued back and forth through breakfast, then we went up to the room to get ready to go out and rent ski gear.
This was punctuated by a facetime call while we were still in the room. Listening along, I quickly realized we were not going to make it to the mountain and started looking for flights out of Tokyo and back to London.
As we were hours away from Tokyo, there was no hope of us getting back in time for any of the direct flights, so I booked us on a TK flight through IST leaving that evening.
Hopefully one day we will actually manage to ski Japan.
With the flights booked, we finished packing. I told Chicago I was really sorry to leave him alone in Hakuba, and felt awful about it, but really we had no choice. Having recently gone through a dire health scare with a family member, he was totally understanding, told us not to worry and that for sure there were worse places in the world to be left alone. I think and hope he still had a great time on his own.
We retraced the long journey we’d taken just the day before from Hakuba to Nagano station to Tokyo and back out to Narita.
On the car ride to Nagano, I started unwinding whatever hotel bookings I could, and called AA to change our RTW tickets, as we would not be making our NRT-MNL flight at the end of our projected Japan itinerary. Once I did all that I could to salvage and refund bookings, I updated my parents on the situation, as they were due to fly from Paris to Doha, spend a night in Qatar, then continue onwards to Burma.
They decided that they wanted to meet us in London instead, so I had to call and change their RTW tickets as well, then book them on flights to London and take care of hotels.
It all got sorted. It was a horrible, horrible day that I don’t want to revisit, not because of the insignificant hassle of the travel rebooking, but the emotional toll and the pain of seeing someone you love in pain without the ability to do anything to make it better.
I won’t go into the specifics, because it’s not my story to tell, but we went back to London and remained there for some time.
It had been a good NYE, not the BEST NYE of all time, but a strong effort. Now it was time for the group to fracture. We all had different flights out of PQC. The ex-Banker and his Yoga Instructor were set to be on our flight from PQC to SGN, but they were connecting straight through to Cambodia. The rest of the group would fly PQC-SGN on different flights, and all assemble at the Rex Hotel in Saigon for one night before going our separate ways. As an added bonus, another friend who had joined previous NYE trips was fortuitously already IN Saigon, so she was going to meet us at the Rex as well.
My gf and I departed the JW and took off for PQC. We got to the airport quite early, and the man at the check-in desk asked if we wanted to take an earlier flight to Saigon. He couldn’t give us two seats together, but then again he couldn’t do that on our scheduled flight either. I figured any extra time we could have to relax in Saigon would be welcome, since it was only going to be a brief overnight stop before an early AM flight to Japan the next morning.
After we’d accepted our new tickets, we ran into ex-Banker and GF and told them that sadly we’d been swapped to the earlier flight, so we would no longer be traveling together. We agreed to meet up somewhere in the world in the first part of 2020, and parted ways.
The flight info:
VN 7826
PQC-SGN
Airbus A321-200
VN-A393
Seat 2G (Changed to 4G) [BUSINESS]
Flight #1 of 2020
Before this trip, I’d have expected PQC to be a thatched roof little shack with no jetways, as it’s an airport on a small vacation island, but it’s a pretty massive terminal (it even has a Burger King…...!) and the planes DO depart from jetways…well at least some of them do, ours didn’t.
Our flight required a transfer to an apron position and surprisingly in communist Vietnam, there was even a designated bus only for J pax. The Russians coming along for the ride posed for like 80 selfies on the minibus ride to the plane.
The VN seats were about what you’d expect in J for a sub 1-hr flight on a narrowbody. They’re more comfortable than most US domestic F seats, but nothing special. There was no service, not even peanuts, just a pass of the drink cart.
When the captain began the preflight announcements, I was shocked to find that once again we were in Capt. Juan’s charge. The same guy flying us IN and OUT of PQC? I mean it could have been a different Spanish guy named Juan flying for VN, but how many could they possibly have?
After landing, we got a dirt cheap taxi to The Rex. There are a few reputable taxi companies in Saigon, we’d checked online beforehand and made sure to take one of those. Clean, and they stuck to the meter which was not running at some extreme scam rate.
I chose The Rex hotel for the nostalgia factor. It opened in the 1960’s and some of the first occupants were U.S. troops that were billeted there. The rooftop was famously the scene of the “5 o’clock follies” as the daily MACV press briefings came to be known. The rooftop bar was apparently also a well-known haunt for intelligence assets coming in and out of Vietnam during the war. My Father had stayed at the hotel for a few nights, when he was back in Saigon and away from his base during the war. A friend of his was working for Pan Am and was posted in Saigon for some of this time, and they met for drinks on the roof. It seemed like a good place to spend the night.
The aesthetic of the hotel is still very much frozen in the 1960’s for better or worse. For me, this is what I was looking for. I think the suite I booked was around $120 USD, might have been less.
Since we have arrived early, we had a chance to get some rest before everyone else rolled in. Our time on the island had not been super relaxing, and we had to be up at 4:45am the next day to get to SGN in time for our flight to Japan, so drinks did NOT sound particularly appealing, but the show must go on.
Everyone assembled on the roof right as the band was taking the stage. The Rex has amazing views over Saigon, and they have a house band that plays as entertainment. I think they are probably the same house band that has been playing there since the war, as all the members appear to be in their 70’s and they are something, that’s for sure. Most of the tunes are English language hits, and their command of the English language is tenuous at best, but they are enthusiastic. I wish I could find a good place to host video, because really everyone should see their rendition of “Achy Breaky Heart.”
As I mentioned, we added someone for this evening. Long story, but another fraternity brother of ours, who didn’t join this trip is a Navy JAG. While he was stationed in Japan a few years earlier, he became friends with this girl, also stationed in Japan who is a DoD employee. JAG brought DoD along on one of our trips to the Philippines, and from then on she became a fixture of our Asian Theater of Operations trips.
It had been a year or two since she last joined up for one of our jaunts, but as luck would have it, she’d spent NYE in Saigon and when she saw we were going to be passing through, she said we should all link up.
A few drinks in, my gf and I called it a night, since it was getting late and like I said, we had to be up at 4:45am. The rest of the group continued, and why not. Chino and his GF and Chicago’s Law School friend were staying in Saigon the next day, as was DoD girl. They didn’t have to be up early.
Inexplicably, Chicago, who also had to be up at 4:45am to go to the airport with us, stayed out drinking until around 2:30am…I have no idea how he does it.
To his credit, he was on time and in the lobby at 4:45am to meet us so we could get the cab to SGN.
Things got interesting at the airport.
We were well early for our flight. When we walked to the JAL counters, Chicago, who is a *A guy and a very well seasoned traveler said “wait, I am on Air Japan not Japan Airlines I think.” We finally looked closely at his reservation and realized that he was NOT on our JAL flight, but was on the ANA flight SGN-NRT which was being operated by “Air Japan.” Luckily the flight was only leaving 30 minutes before our JAL flight, and he still had enough time to check-in and make his flight. That could have been a costly gaffe.
The line to get through immigration and security at SGN even that early in the morning was truly horrible. I think it took somewhere in the neighborhood of 45m-1h, so it’s good that we were at the airport early.
Once finally through the monstrous queues, we popped into the very mediocre Priority Pass Lounge and had some farewell pho for breakfast.
As Chicago’s flight was leaving earlier, and he was on the security line after us, he barely made it through in time to run to his gate and board. We’d see him in Japan.
The Flight Info:
JL 750
SGN-NRT
Boeing 787-9
JA830J
Seat 8K (BUSINESS)
Flight #2 of 2020
I had again done packing gymnastics in getting ready for this one. I wore jeans and a t-shirt on the plane along with loafers and no socks. Since it would be winter in Japan, I put thick wool socks in the front pocket of my trifold carryon and carried my ski jacket with my winter hat zipped into the pocket. My plan was to put the socks on before arrival, the don the jacket and hold the hat in reserve.
On this 5h50m minute, JAL have a regional J product in a 2-2-2 config. It’s certainly not the best seat in the world, but it was comfortable enough for us since we were traveling together. It wouldn’t be great for a solo traveler.
JAL’s movie selection also leaves a lot to be desired. They have like 10 versions of every movie with different language options, but not that many actual movies to choose from.
On this flight, I watched “Driven.” It stars Jason Sudeikis and the vaguely creepy guy from “Halt and Catch Fire” that played the rip off version of Steve Jobs on that show. The movie was based on the true story of a pilot/criminal/scumbag who is working as an FBI informant and by chance ends up living next to and befriending John Delorean and then gets caught up in a bunch of criminal high jinks as the Delorean car company unravels, finally culminating in the main character trying to arrange some sort of drug deal with Delorean as a party in a last ditch effort to get an injection of funds to keep his car company afloat. He also sets Delorean and the drug dealers up to be busted by the FBI so he can save his family. Apparently this really happened, and the main character is still out there somewhere under an alias in Witness Protection. I thought it was a really entertaining movie, and I was surprised because I don’t think it was ever in theaters. If you have a chance to catch it on a plane, it’s for sure worth two hours.
During the meal service, I went with the Japanese option. Everything was fantastic and I think JAL do Japanese catering better than ANA.
After the meal and the movie, I spent the rest of the flight typing up some trip notes and then closed my eyes for a bit.
We landed in Japan on January 2nd. Even then, well before it entered the general world consciousness, there was a sign saying something about “Have you recently traveled to Wuhan.” I thought nothing of it, but I remember my gf bringing it up and asking me what it was all about. We brushed it off at the time, little did we know.
Entry to Japan was super easy, we got our bags and went down to the train station. Chicago was coming in on an ANA *A flight, so he would be arriving at a different terminal. Even though his flight departed SGN 30 minutes earlier, he landed after us.
Through txt we were able to coordinate which NRT Express train to book and which car #, as well as which onward train from Tokyo Station to Nagano.
With all the particulars agreed upon, we bought our tickets and went to wait for the NRT Express. When it pulled up, we got onto our assigned car, went to our seats and BAM! There was Chicago, it all worked so seamlessly. I love Japan. Such a pleasant, efficient, clean and polite country.
After the 40 or so minute ride from NRT to Tokyo Station, we grabbed our bags and lugged them over to the Shinkansen trains and waited for our onward ride to Nagano station.
We got stuck in a 3-across for the Tokyo to Nagano train which wasn’t the most comfortable layout, especially since I was in the middle, but it was OK.
From Nagano, we were too lazy to take another train or the bus, so we found a taxi and asked how much it would cost to get to Hakuba. Snow was lightly falling at this point and we were all really excited to get to the ski resort and see a new side of Japan. I had never been outside of the cities in Japan (previous trips to: Tokyo, Osaka, Yokohama, Nagasaki, Hiroshima, Kobe) and had never been skiing there.
The driver gave us a price range, and it ended up costing even less. He seemed delighted when he dropped us off, that the price was less than his initial quote.
We all booked the Courtyard Marriott in Hakuba and it has to be THE nicest Courtyard in the world. Our room was brand new and modern with a huge comfortable bed and the bathroom had a private onsen with continually running hot spring water. As a HUGE fan of baths, this was amazing.
We dropped our bags, scrubbed the journey off and then met up in the lobby with Chicago to go find dinner.
The desk recommended a small Izakaya called Hei on the main street in town, so we walked down the snowy lane until we found it.
We took our shoes off and sat on the floor at the small table and had some great small plates which were washed down with a bunch of beer and sake. After the meal, halfway drunk, content and tired from the journey in we all decided it would be best to get some sleep and be up early tomorrow so we could rent gear and get to the mountain.
In the morning, I awoke and looked out the window at a snow covered landscape. The barren trees, falling snow and quaint houses here and there looked like the perfect metal image I'd had of Japan in winter prior to actually experiencing it. I was pumped and ready to go skiing. I put on my ski pants and a sweater and went down to breakfast with my gf. That’s when the trip went off the rails and everything changed.
While we were at breakfast, my gf got horrible news about a family member in rapidly deteriorating health. This continued back and forth through breakfast, then we went up to the room to get ready to go out and rent ski gear.
This was punctuated by a facetime call while we were still in the room. Listening along, I quickly realized we were not going to make it to the mountain and started looking for flights out of Tokyo and back to London.
As we were hours away from Tokyo, there was no hope of us getting back in time for any of the direct flights, so I booked us on a TK flight through IST leaving that evening.
Hopefully one day we will actually manage to ski Japan.
With the flights booked, we finished packing. I told Chicago I was really sorry to leave him alone in Hakuba, and felt awful about it, but really we had no choice. Having recently gone through a dire health scare with a family member, he was totally understanding, told us not to worry and that for sure there were worse places in the world to be left alone. I think and hope he still had a great time on his own.
We retraced the long journey we’d taken just the day before from Hakuba to Nagano station to Tokyo and back out to Narita.
On the car ride to Nagano, I started unwinding whatever hotel bookings I could, and called AA to change our RTW tickets, as we would not be making our NRT-MNL flight at the end of our projected Japan itinerary. Once I did all that I could to salvage and refund bookings, I updated my parents on the situation, as they were due to fly from Paris to Doha, spend a night in Qatar, then continue onwards to Burma.
They decided that they wanted to meet us in London instead, so I had to call and change their RTW tickets as well, then book them on flights to London and take care of hotels.
It all got sorted. It was a horrible, horrible day that I don’t want to revisit, not because of the insignificant hassle of the travel rebooking, but the emotional toll and the pain of seeing someone you love in pain without the ability to do anything to make it better.
I won’t go into the specifics, because it’s not my story to tell, but we went back to London and remained there for some time.
Feb 21, 2020, 12:18 pm
#39
Join Date: Feb 2017
Location: Austin, TX
Programs: BAEC Gold, HHonors Diamond, Marriott Titanium, UA Gold (*G), DL Silver, Makers Mark Ambassador
Posts: 4,642
Sorry to hear about the health situation that threw a wrench in your plans.
Also, a trip to the NCG would have been totally rational from halfway around the world!
Also, a trip to the NCG would have been totally rational from halfway around the world!
Feb 21, 2020, 1:11 pm
#40
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Feb 21, 2020, 2:35 pm
#41
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Location: Toronto, Canada
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Thank you for posting about the JW PQC. I was all set to book this for April end but now I’m hesitant. Agree that the prices are high and the beach looked good in pics but sucks to hear about the floating trash.
Feb 21, 2020, 3:06 pm
#42
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It's possible that we caught them at a bad moment since the entire island was at full capacity for NYE and it's cleaner at other times. If you have any particular questions, i'd be happy to answer them. It was a good hotel, just felt like they didn't max out their potential and weren't really hitting the heights they should at that price point in that location. I don't regret going though.
Feb 21, 2020, 3:19 pm
#43
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Feb 21, 2020, 3:28 pm
#44
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Turning Japanese
Part I: Tokyo
After we had done everything we could do in London, we started thinking about whether or not we should continue with the trip.
While neither of us felt much like going anywhere or vacationing, we had booked a lot of stuff that was nonrefundable, and there was nothing more we could do in London. All that was left to do was wait around. Moping didn’t seem productive, but ultimately I left the choice to my gf, I would go along with whatever she decided.
After a lot of painful deliberation, she said that we should get back on the road. There was no point in throwing the $ away, and she felt being distracted would probably be better for her than sitting at home and dwelling.
A week or so earlier, I had re-worked my parent's RTW and booked them on separate tickets from London back to the U.S. to check on my 93 year old Grandfather in Florida before later returning to Paris and then resuming their RTW. So, I was well warmed up to restructure our itinerary.
We decided to pick back up where we’d left off, and head to Japan. Since we had already gone TO Asia on the RTW, we needed a new one-way to rejoin the itinerary. After a lot of searching, I found that somehow a roundtrip on JAL was SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper than any airline's one-way option. Since we have a wedding to attend in Chiang Mai in November (unless it’s postponed due to Wuhan Flu), I structured the ticket such that we should fly from London to Narita (LHR-BRU-HEL-NRT) now, then return (NRT-HEL-BRU) in November, after the wedding, but with enough time to still get back to the U.S. for Thanksgiving.
With everything rebooked, all that was left was to repack and get going on this lengthy itinerary. It wasn’t an ideal routing, but it was extremely cheap for a business class roundtrip and JAL earn 2x EQM on AA.
Our first flight of this very long day would be:
BA 388
LHR-BRU
Airbus A321-200
G-EUXD
Seat 4F (BUSINESS)
Flight #5 of 2020
This flight was departing out of T5, so we used the First Wing check-in, then proceeded to the Galleries First lounge for a pre-flight BEC. Once on board, for this 46m flight, I was reminded once again that BA have maybe the worst intra-euro J seats of all the lousy intra-euro J seats in Europe. It was a light load of 9/20 in J and scarcely more in the back. I think most people just take the Eurostar to Belgium.
I closed my eyes and all too soon we were landing at BRU.
I haven’t been to BRU in quite a while, back when JET Airways still existed, I used to fly them across the pond into BRU from time to time. The last time I had to transit the airport was on a routing out of Birmingham after a friend’s wedding in the Cotswolds on my way to Naples to catch a ferry to Capri, that was maybe Summer 2015?
The airport is easy enough to navigate, but there was an added level of stress on this one. I had booked BRU-HEL-NRT-HEL-BRU because it was VERY cheap for a JL J roundtrip. Originating in London jacked the price up considerably, but LHR-BRU one way tickets were again very cheap. As such, I had booked LHR-BRU as a BA one-way and hoped that the 3 hours in between flights would be sufficient and there wouldn’t be any issues with delays.
As I’m sure most of you know, not only will BA not check luggage through even if it’s connecting to other OW partners on another ticket, they won’t even check through if it’s BA to BA on different tickets. People seemed to have had limited success getting “protected” if their BA flight was delayed and they misconnected with another OW flight, but there was certainly no assurance that would be the case for us.
Luckily our flight to BRU arrived on time and we had ages to make our connection. Since my gf HAD checked a bag this time, and it couldn’t be checked through, we went to baggage claim to get the luggage piece, then found the Finnair desks to recheck it through Helsinki to Tokyo before going through security again.
Oddly, Finnair J passengers use the Brussels Airlines Lounge at BRU. I say oddly, because SN is in *A, while AY is of course in OW.
I was surprised to find that SN have a really excellent lounge at BRU. It’s sleek, comfortable, filled with ample seating and a decent buffet. There are also day rooms to nap in, shower rooms and a spa. It’s definitely flying under the radar and is low key one of the best business lounges in Europe.
We left to head to our gate shortly before boarding, and I would later find out (via social media), that my lunatic friend (the war journalist who was kidnapped by Al-Qaeda) who I had celebrated Oktoberfest with, was in the same lounge in almost the same seat about 30 minutes after we’d left. She was connecting on her way back to Munich. Weird.
As soon as AY began boarding, it was a welcome relief to see how much more comfortable their seats are than BA and how much nicer their cabin crew are. BA is really a garbage airline that’s more like a low cost carrier putting on airs and pretending to be a prestigious legacy carrier these days. All of the price, but none of the pizzazz, there’s their new slogan.
The flight to Helsinki info was:
AY 1542
BRU-HEL
Airbus A320-200
OH-LXB
Seat 4A (BUSINESS)
Flight #6 of 2020
It was a short and comfortable flight. The meal was also surprisingly good. After tucking into the starter, my gf asked the FA what it was and was aghast when she learned it was Reindeer. She didn’t like the idea of eating Rudolph. The main was a pretty decent chicken curry and the service was rounded out with a cake that was excellent. Well done as usual Finnair!
While I despise BA, Finnair are in my opinion one of the best value propositions out there. They often have very cheap business fares ex-Europe to the U.S. and almost continuously offer US-Europe-Asia roundtrip biz fares that can be structured with stopovers to allow visit to Europe in both directions and that earn close to 40k EQM for around $3k USD. A great and useful value buy. I often utilize these as the bones to build other itineraries around…or used to before Wuhan Flu pozzed Asia and I had to strike it off the list of places to visit.
It was an odd transit in Helsinki. I come to Helsinki often and I love the city and the airport. It’s usually abandoned, serene and calm. My gf has not yet made it to Helsinki, but I assured her going through HEL airport would be a breeze.
For the first time I can remember, it was a mob scene. Hectic, crowded and unpleasant to transit. I blame the Chinese. I tried to explain it was not normally so awful.
Once we fought through the crowds and made it past passport control to the AY Platinum Lounge, things improved.
While the AY Business Lounge is “meh,” their Platinum Lounge for AY top-tier elites and OW Emerald is pretty great. There’s a buffet, an a la carte restaurant, a huge amount of seating, including a quiet area, a beautiful bar. Of course, since it’s Finland, there's also an in-lounge sauna and dressing rooms with showers.
We had a relatively short connection, so we popped into the lounge and sat down in the little cubicle-like sofas. I had to straighten out some of our future bookings as things were starting to fall somewhat in to place now that we were back on the road.
The entire Philippines and Laos portions of the trip would have to go. I managed to refund all of the hotels for free, except for one night on Panglao Island. Much to my surprise, Philippine Airlines was also willing to refund most of the $ laid out for our intra-Philippines flights.
With that done, the next step was to contact the Amantaka in Laos and get them to cancel our stay but hold our free-stay voucher for a later date, then shift the timing of our stop at the Peninsula in BKK.
Again, surprisingly, I was able to cancel our VTE-BKK-CEI flights on Thai Smile for a refund, then book new BKK-CEI flights at a better time.
From our projected arrival in Chiang Rai, everything was set to carry-on as initially booked, so we were back in business.
I wrapped up my alterations right as it was time to head to the gate.
The next flight was:
JL 414
HEL-NRT
Boeing 787-9
JA868J
Seat 1K (BUSINESS)
Flight #7 of 2020
We got to the gate right as Group 1 boarding began. This JAL 787 had the Sky SUITE J product. I had only flown this seat longhaul once, back in 2014.
That was a great occasion. I had watched the Buckeyes demolish Alabama in the CFB semifinals from a bar on Boracay Island in the Philippines and immediately after booked a flight back to Dallas for the National Title Game. I flew JAL MNL-NRT then connected to a Sky SUITE equipped 787 back to NYC before repacking my bags and heading down to Dallas to watch the Bucks throttle Oregon and take the first CFB Playoff NC. Sadly there would be no second Playoff Title this season
.
I think internet bloggers love these seats, but I think they are only OK and a bit dated. My 1A window seat was very private, but it lacked any sensible storage space, The large foot cutout is a godsend for someone like me, with big feet, but the staggered nature of the seats makes it feel a bit too much like Club World. The horror!
Our flight time was announced as only 8h32m, which was lousy. Was hoping for a longer flight, so we could finally get some good sleep before landing in Japan. Three flights in one day is always rough.
JAL offer great looking amenity kits, slippers with a shoehorn and a cardigan. However, the cardigan is only for use on the flight, not to keep. Seems unsanitary, I declined it.
As mentioned previously, the IFE on JAL flight isn’t great. I was out of options and thus resigned myself to watch “Gemini Man.” I remember the glory days of good Will Smith action blockbusters and I hoped that perhaps he might have one more in him. He did not…the movie was awful. Essentially the movie is Will Smith fighting a younger CGI clone version of himself. The concept was beyond stupid, the execution was trash and the CGI was cartoonishly bad. Awful movie, stick a fork in Will Smith, his career is about as dead as his no-talent son’s.
The Japanese meal option was delicious as usual, although my gf was not a fan. After Gemini Man, I finally put the seat back and got some much needed sleep. Soon we would be in Tokyo.
After re-entering Japan, we got back on the Narita Express, took it to Tokyo Station then hopped a cab to The Peninsula. Really we should have taken a train, but now that we were lugging a heavy checked bag we opted for convenience.
Upon arrival, our room was ready and they at least claimed they gave us an upgrade. Perhaps it was one of those fake “same room, different view” upgrades, because it looked like the entry level room I remembered from my previous stay at the hotel. EDIT: Upon further research it looks like they “upgraded” us from a Deluxe Room to a Premiere Room. Same exact room layout and size, just a different view. Whatever.
After settling in, the jetlag started to hit hard, so we took a brief nap.
We didn’t want to waste the whole day, so after an hour or two, the alarm went off and we got dressed and out the door. The Peninsula has access directly from the hotel into Hibiya Station, so we took the Chiyoda line to Meiji and saw the Meiji shrine, then wandered through Harajuku.
While passing through a small street, we happened upon a micro pig café, and much to my chagrin, my gf decided this was something that HAD to be on our agenda. They were booked for the day, so we took their details before leaving. On the way out, some ancient and obese American backpacker woman showed up desperate to get an appointment. The woman at the desk was actually going to acquiesce, but when she quoted the price per 30 minutes, the shortest increment of time available, the woman seemed crestfallen. She declined and asked if she could pay less for 15 minutes. That was of course not possible, and this woman had an awkward breakdown in the entryway while we slinked out. Her attempt to bargain so absurdly reminded me of that old school Chris Rock bit from “I’m Gonna Git You Sucka.” Classic.
We walked around Harajuku for a bit, then tried to find a place for lunch. There seemed to be huge lines everywhere. I wanted to get ramen, but couldn’t find anywhere we could slide into, so we gave up and got some katsu curry at a place with a sub-15 minute wait for seats. It was OK, but their idea of “spicy” is not very spicy.
After lunch, we walked towards Shibuya Crossing. On the way there, we saw a sign for a store called “NUDE TRUMP.” As a YUUUUGE fan of the GOD EMPEROR, I had to see this in person. It turned out to be a vintage store. Hilariously enough, one of the items for sale was a hat that seemed to be of 1980’s vintage that said “U.S. Space Academy” on it. Surely this was an Easter Egg from the simulation runners. A 30 year old U.S. Space Academy hat sitting in a store named after the FOUNDER of the U.S. Space Force, couldn’t be a coincidence.
I wanted to head home after we got to Shibuya Crossing, but another one of my fraternity brothers, a nuclear engineer currently living in Japan, saw I was in Tokyo and kept messaging me demanding that we meet up. He lives in the countryside a ways from Tokyo, but he was in town on this particular day. Finally, I gave in and we made plans to meet for drinks.
For the past few years this guy has been back and forth between Japan and Washington State. I haven’t seen him for a while. The last night I remember hanging out with him was a few years ago. It was us and the aforementioned JAG officer. We started near Ebisu Station and went from there, getting rocked well into the evening. He’s a good dude.
We met at the Hachiko Statue, then wandered for a while hoping to find a bar that was open before 5pm.
We eventually settled in and drank away the remaining daylight. After, we walked my buddy back to Shibuya station and sent him on his way to Tokyo Station where he’d have to connect onwards to the hinterlands. He hoped he wouldn’t miss the last bus from the nearest station to his small town, otherwise his wife would have to come pick him up.
Once my buddy was on his way, my gf and I took in the sights of Tokyo after dark before heading back to the hotel for room service and an early night.
In the morning, we had breakfast in the hotel lobby and oddly enough there seemed to be a wedding reception going on. I don’t know everything about Japan, but 10am seems to be a bit early for a wedding unless it’s still going on from the night before.
My gf stuck with the western options, while I had the Japanese breakfast. I thought it was fantastic.
After breakfast we went to the Tokyo National Museum and the park around it. We then hopped a cab to the Asakusa Shrine. As we wrapped up our time there, we realized we were closing in on the time we were supposed to be back in Harajuku for the micro pigs and took off for the station.
The trip across town was much longer than we’d planned for and about halfway through we realized we weren’t going to make it and audibled and returned to the hotel. I think we were being optimistic with the amount of stuff we thought we could cram into one day anyway.
After grabbing a quick coffee and seeing the Godzilla Statue across the street from The Peninsula, we got ready for the evening.
We went to my favorite restaurant in Tokyo, Jomon. If you have never been, I highly recommend it, no one I have ever sent there has come back with anything but high praise for the place. It’s located in Roppongi Hills, near the Roppongi metro stop. As we were all done up in our finery at this point we took a cab to the restaurant.
We had an amazing meal seated at the counter accompanied by a lot of sake and a few beers. A little bit buzzed post dinner, we walked to the metro stop and continued to Shinjuku station for a quick trip through piss alley before walking over to the Golden Gai area to tie one on.
If you’re not familiar, the Golden Gai is a small area, a few blocks maybe, with 200+ bars crammed in. They are all small bars holding between 2-10 people. Some are members bars, some are Japanese only. They all have different rules, different themes and different stuff on offer. It’s a really neat place.
The first bar we popped into was pretty tame, a couple of tourist from New Zealand, what appeared to be an American-Asian guy and some absolutely plastered Russian girls that almost fell down the stairs. We stayed for two drinks then moved on.
The second bar would end up being our home for the rest of the evening. I don’t remember the name. They were playing good classic rock, and it was packed. By packed, I mean like 8 people were in there. As we entered we were accosted by this large Australian manchild who told us his name was Tiger. He was flamboyantly gay, about 6'3'' 250lbs and incredibly drunk. He kept telling people they were his best friend and trying to hug them. He was a LOT but in the end, his insanity made the evening more amusing and memorable.
He kept revising his story, first saying he was a University student, then telling us he was studying languages in Tokyo then saying actually he was only 17, then 16, then 15.
At one point he came out of the bathroom and was like “GSJS, can I tell you a secret? I was doing cocaine in the bathroom! Don’t tell anyone!” Quite a character this guy was, who knows what his actual story was. He DID speak Japanese and the bartender never threw him out.
Eventually he left with his friends and was replaced by some Irish people and some dudes from Sweden. I started talking to the Swedes and we actually knew some of the same people in Stockholm. Always a very small world.
Sometime after 2am, we finally decided to take off and bid adieu to the bar and our new friends. The bartender was so nice, and had offered us several free drinks so my gf attempted to tip him. Of course, as he was Japanese, he vehemently refused the tip but thanked us. Goddamn I love the Japanese.
We had a big day to round out our time in Tokyo. Another leisurely breakfast at The Peninsula, then after getting ourselves together, we took off around lunchtime. We stopped into a sushi place near the hotel that the concierge recommended, it was OK.
From there we had to take the metro to a light rail to get to the TeamLab Borderless “museum.” It was more of a digital art installation than a museum, but it was VERY cool. I was skeptical and expected it to be lousy, but really it was super neat and I would suggest anyone headed to Tokyo add it to their itinerary.
We spent a few hours at TeamLab, then again went all the way across the city to see the damn micro pigs. This time we made it on time. I have to admit, they were pretty cute and basically act like little puppies. My gf was in love with them.
Once our time petting the pigs wrapped up, we went to nearby Afuri for ramen. I think it’s a highly regarded place, but honestly I was not impressed. The broth tasted too strongly of lemongrass (I think), and it was so fatty that I had an upset stomach for most of the night.
After dinner, we went back to the Peninsula to get some rest before continuing to following morning to Kyoto.
Part I: Tokyo
After we had done everything we could do in London, we started thinking about whether or not we should continue with the trip.
While neither of us felt much like going anywhere or vacationing, we had booked a lot of stuff that was nonrefundable, and there was nothing more we could do in London. All that was left to do was wait around. Moping didn’t seem productive, but ultimately I left the choice to my gf, I would go along with whatever she decided.
After a lot of painful deliberation, she said that we should get back on the road. There was no point in throwing the $ away, and she felt being distracted would probably be better for her than sitting at home and dwelling.
A week or so earlier, I had re-worked my parent's RTW and booked them on separate tickets from London back to the U.S. to check on my 93 year old Grandfather in Florida before later returning to Paris and then resuming their RTW. So, I was well warmed up to restructure our itinerary.
We decided to pick back up where we’d left off, and head to Japan. Since we had already gone TO Asia on the RTW, we needed a new one-way to rejoin the itinerary. After a lot of searching, I found that somehow a roundtrip on JAL was SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper than any airline's one-way option. Since we have a wedding to attend in Chiang Mai in November (unless it’s postponed due to Wuhan Flu), I structured the ticket such that we should fly from London to Narita (LHR-BRU-HEL-NRT) now, then return (NRT-HEL-BRU) in November, after the wedding, but with enough time to still get back to the U.S. for Thanksgiving.
With everything rebooked, all that was left was to repack and get going on this lengthy itinerary. It wasn’t an ideal routing, but it was extremely cheap for a business class roundtrip and JAL earn 2x EQM on AA.
Our first flight of this very long day would be:
BA 388
LHR-BRU
Airbus A321-200
G-EUXD
Seat 4F (BUSINESS)
Flight #5 of 2020
This flight was departing out of T5, so we used the First Wing check-in, then proceeded to the Galleries First lounge for a pre-flight BEC. Once on board, for this 46m flight, I was reminded once again that BA have maybe the worst intra-euro J seats of all the lousy intra-euro J seats in Europe. It was a light load of 9/20 in J and scarcely more in the back. I think most people just take the Eurostar to Belgium.
I closed my eyes and all too soon we were landing at BRU.
I haven’t been to BRU in quite a while, back when JET Airways still existed, I used to fly them across the pond into BRU from time to time. The last time I had to transit the airport was on a routing out of Birmingham after a friend’s wedding in the Cotswolds on my way to Naples to catch a ferry to Capri, that was maybe Summer 2015?
The airport is easy enough to navigate, but there was an added level of stress on this one. I had booked BRU-HEL-NRT-HEL-BRU because it was VERY cheap for a JL J roundtrip. Originating in London jacked the price up considerably, but LHR-BRU one way tickets were again very cheap. As such, I had booked LHR-BRU as a BA one-way and hoped that the 3 hours in between flights would be sufficient and there wouldn’t be any issues with delays.
As I’m sure most of you know, not only will BA not check luggage through even if it’s connecting to other OW partners on another ticket, they won’t even check through if it’s BA to BA on different tickets. People seemed to have had limited success getting “protected” if their BA flight was delayed and they misconnected with another OW flight, but there was certainly no assurance that would be the case for us.
Luckily our flight to BRU arrived on time and we had ages to make our connection. Since my gf HAD checked a bag this time, and it couldn’t be checked through, we went to baggage claim to get the luggage piece, then found the Finnair desks to recheck it through Helsinki to Tokyo before going through security again.
Oddly, Finnair J passengers use the Brussels Airlines Lounge at BRU. I say oddly, because SN is in *A, while AY is of course in OW.
I was surprised to find that SN have a really excellent lounge at BRU. It’s sleek, comfortable, filled with ample seating and a decent buffet. There are also day rooms to nap in, shower rooms and a spa. It’s definitely flying under the radar and is low key one of the best business lounges in Europe.
We left to head to our gate shortly before boarding, and I would later find out (via social media), that my lunatic friend (the war journalist who was kidnapped by Al-Qaeda) who I had celebrated Oktoberfest with, was in the same lounge in almost the same seat about 30 minutes after we’d left. She was connecting on her way back to Munich. Weird.
As soon as AY began boarding, it was a welcome relief to see how much more comfortable their seats are than BA and how much nicer their cabin crew are. BA is really a garbage airline that’s more like a low cost carrier putting on airs and pretending to be a prestigious legacy carrier these days. All of the price, but none of the pizzazz, there’s their new slogan.
The flight to Helsinki info was:
AY 1542
BRU-HEL
Airbus A320-200
OH-LXB
Seat 4A (BUSINESS)
Flight #6 of 2020
It was a short and comfortable flight. The meal was also surprisingly good. After tucking into the starter, my gf asked the FA what it was and was aghast when she learned it was Reindeer. She didn’t like the idea of eating Rudolph. The main was a pretty decent chicken curry and the service was rounded out with a cake that was excellent. Well done as usual Finnair!
While I despise BA, Finnair are in my opinion one of the best value propositions out there. They often have very cheap business fares ex-Europe to the U.S. and almost continuously offer US-Europe-Asia roundtrip biz fares that can be structured with stopovers to allow visit to Europe in both directions and that earn close to 40k EQM for around $3k USD. A great and useful value buy. I often utilize these as the bones to build other itineraries around…or used to before Wuhan Flu pozzed Asia and I had to strike it off the list of places to visit.
It was an odd transit in Helsinki. I come to Helsinki often and I love the city and the airport. It’s usually abandoned, serene and calm. My gf has not yet made it to Helsinki, but I assured her going through HEL airport would be a breeze.
For the first time I can remember, it was a mob scene. Hectic, crowded and unpleasant to transit. I blame the Chinese. I tried to explain it was not normally so awful.
Once we fought through the crowds and made it past passport control to the AY Platinum Lounge, things improved.
While the AY Business Lounge is “meh,” their Platinum Lounge for AY top-tier elites and OW Emerald is pretty great. There’s a buffet, an a la carte restaurant, a huge amount of seating, including a quiet area, a beautiful bar. Of course, since it’s Finland, there's also an in-lounge sauna and dressing rooms with showers.
We had a relatively short connection, so we popped into the lounge and sat down in the little cubicle-like sofas. I had to straighten out some of our future bookings as things were starting to fall somewhat in to place now that we were back on the road.
The entire Philippines and Laos portions of the trip would have to go. I managed to refund all of the hotels for free, except for one night on Panglao Island. Much to my surprise, Philippine Airlines was also willing to refund most of the $ laid out for our intra-Philippines flights.
With that done, the next step was to contact the Amantaka in Laos and get them to cancel our stay but hold our free-stay voucher for a later date, then shift the timing of our stop at the Peninsula in BKK.
Again, surprisingly, I was able to cancel our VTE-BKK-CEI flights on Thai Smile for a refund, then book new BKK-CEI flights at a better time.
From our projected arrival in Chiang Rai, everything was set to carry-on as initially booked, so we were back in business.
I wrapped up my alterations right as it was time to head to the gate.
The next flight was:
JL 414
HEL-NRT
Boeing 787-9
JA868J
Seat 1K (BUSINESS)
Flight #7 of 2020
We got to the gate right as Group 1 boarding began. This JAL 787 had the Sky SUITE J product. I had only flown this seat longhaul once, back in 2014.
That was a great occasion. I had watched the Buckeyes demolish Alabama in the CFB semifinals from a bar on Boracay Island in the Philippines and immediately after booked a flight back to Dallas for the National Title Game. I flew JAL MNL-NRT then connected to a Sky SUITE equipped 787 back to NYC before repacking my bags and heading down to Dallas to watch the Bucks throttle Oregon and take the first CFB Playoff NC. Sadly there would be no second Playoff Title this season
.I think internet bloggers love these seats, but I think they are only OK and a bit dated. My 1A window seat was very private, but it lacked any sensible storage space, The large foot cutout is a godsend for someone like me, with big feet, but the staggered nature of the seats makes it feel a bit too much like Club World. The horror!
Our flight time was announced as only 8h32m, which was lousy. Was hoping for a longer flight, so we could finally get some good sleep before landing in Japan. Three flights in one day is always rough.
JAL offer great looking amenity kits, slippers with a shoehorn and a cardigan. However, the cardigan is only for use on the flight, not to keep. Seems unsanitary, I declined it.
As mentioned previously, the IFE on JAL flight isn’t great. I was out of options and thus resigned myself to watch “Gemini Man.” I remember the glory days of good Will Smith action blockbusters and I hoped that perhaps he might have one more in him. He did not…the movie was awful. Essentially the movie is Will Smith fighting a younger CGI clone version of himself. The concept was beyond stupid, the execution was trash and the CGI was cartoonishly bad. Awful movie, stick a fork in Will Smith, his career is about as dead as his no-talent son’s.
The Japanese meal option was delicious as usual, although my gf was not a fan. After Gemini Man, I finally put the seat back and got some much needed sleep. Soon we would be in Tokyo.
After re-entering Japan, we got back on the Narita Express, took it to Tokyo Station then hopped a cab to The Peninsula. Really we should have taken a train, but now that we were lugging a heavy checked bag we opted for convenience.
Upon arrival, our room was ready and they at least claimed they gave us an upgrade. Perhaps it was one of those fake “same room, different view” upgrades, because it looked like the entry level room I remembered from my previous stay at the hotel. EDIT: Upon further research it looks like they “upgraded” us from a Deluxe Room to a Premiere Room. Same exact room layout and size, just a different view. Whatever.
After settling in, the jetlag started to hit hard, so we took a brief nap.
We didn’t want to waste the whole day, so after an hour or two, the alarm went off and we got dressed and out the door. The Peninsula has access directly from the hotel into Hibiya Station, so we took the Chiyoda line to Meiji and saw the Meiji shrine, then wandered through Harajuku.
While passing through a small street, we happened upon a micro pig café, and much to my chagrin, my gf decided this was something that HAD to be on our agenda. They were booked for the day, so we took their details before leaving. On the way out, some ancient and obese American backpacker woman showed up desperate to get an appointment. The woman at the desk was actually going to acquiesce, but when she quoted the price per 30 minutes, the shortest increment of time available, the woman seemed crestfallen. She declined and asked if she could pay less for 15 minutes. That was of course not possible, and this woman had an awkward breakdown in the entryway while we slinked out. Her attempt to bargain so absurdly reminded me of that old school Chris Rock bit from “I’m Gonna Git You Sucka.” Classic.
We walked around Harajuku for a bit, then tried to find a place for lunch. There seemed to be huge lines everywhere. I wanted to get ramen, but couldn’t find anywhere we could slide into, so we gave up and got some katsu curry at a place with a sub-15 minute wait for seats. It was OK, but their idea of “spicy” is not very spicy.
After lunch, we walked towards Shibuya Crossing. On the way there, we saw a sign for a store called “NUDE TRUMP.” As a YUUUUGE fan of the GOD EMPEROR, I had to see this in person. It turned out to be a vintage store. Hilariously enough, one of the items for sale was a hat that seemed to be of 1980’s vintage that said “U.S. Space Academy” on it. Surely this was an Easter Egg from the simulation runners. A 30 year old U.S. Space Academy hat sitting in a store named after the FOUNDER of the U.S. Space Force, couldn’t be a coincidence.
I wanted to head home after we got to Shibuya Crossing, but another one of my fraternity brothers, a nuclear engineer currently living in Japan, saw I was in Tokyo and kept messaging me demanding that we meet up. He lives in the countryside a ways from Tokyo, but he was in town on this particular day. Finally, I gave in and we made plans to meet for drinks.
For the past few years this guy has been back and forth between Japan and Washington State. I haven’t seen him for a while. The last night I remember hanging out with him was a few years ago. It was us and the aforementioned JAG officer. We started near Ebisu Station and went from there, getting rocked well into the evening. He’s a good dude.
We met at the Hachiko Statue, then wandered for a while hoping to find a bar that was open before 5pm.
We eventually settled in and drank away the remaining daylight. After, we walked my buddy back to Shibuya station and sent him on his way to Tokyo Station where he’d have to connect onwards to the hinterlands. He hoped he wouldn’t miss the last bus from the nearest station to his small town, otherwise his wife would have to come pick him up.
Once my buddy was on his way, my gf and I took in the sights of Tokyo after dark before heading back to the hotel for room service and an early night.
In the morning, we had breakfast in the hotel lobby and oddly enough there seemed to be a wedding reception going on. I don’t know everything about Japan, but 10am seems to be a bit early for a wedding unless it’s still going on from the night before.
My gf stuck with the western options, while I had the Japanese breakfast. I thought it was fantastic.
After breakfast we went to the Tokyo National Museum and the park around it. We then hopped a cab to the Asakusa Shrine. As we wrapped up our time there, we realized we were closing in on the time we were supposed to be back in Harajuku for the micro pigs and took off for the station.
The trip across town was much longer than we’d planned for and about halfway through we realized we weren’t going to make it and audibled and returned to the hotel. I think we were being optimistic with the amount of stuff we thought we could cram into one day anyway.
After grabbing a quick coffee and seeing the Godzilla Statue across the street from The Peninsula, we got ready for the evening.
We went to my favorite restaurant in Tokyo, Jomon. If you have never been, I highly recommend it, no one I have ever sent there has come back with anything but high praise for the place. It’s located in Roppongi Hills, near the Roppongi metro stop. As we were all done up in our finery at this point we took a cab to the restaurant.
We had an amazing meal seated at the counter accompanied by a lot of sake and a few beers. A little bit buzzed post dinner, we walked to the metro stop and continued to Shinjuku station for a quick trip through piss alley before walking over to the Golden Gai area to tie one on.
If you’re not familiar, the Golden Gai is a small area, a few blocks maybe, with 200+ bars crammed in. They are all small bars holding between 2-10 people. Some are members bars, some are Japanese only. They all have different rules, different themes and different stuff on offer. It’s a really neat place.
The first bar we popped into was pretty tame, a couple of tourist from New Zealand, what appeared to be an American-Asian guy and some absolutely plastered Russian girls that almost fell down the stairs. We stayed for two drinks then moved on.
The second bar would end up being our home for the rest of the evening. I don’t remember the name. They were playing good classic rock, and it was packed. By packed, I mean like 8 people were in there. As we entered we were accosted by this large Australian manchild who told us his name was Tiger. He was flamboyantly gay, about 6'3'' 250lbs and incredibly drunk. He kept telling people they were his best friend and trying to hug them. He was a LOT but in the end, his insanity made the evening more amusing and memorable.
He kept revising his story, first saying he was a University student, then telling us he was studying languages in Tokyo then saying actually he was only 17, then 16, then 15.
At one point he came out of the bathroom and was like “GSJS, can I tell you a secret? I was doing cocaine in the bathroom! Don’t tell anyone!” Quite a character this guy was, who knows what his actual story was. He DID speak Japanese and the bartender never threw him out.
Eventually he left with his friends and was replaced by some Irish people and some dudes from Sweden. I started talking to the Swedes and we actually knew some of the same people in Stockholm. Always a very small world.
Sometime after 2am, we finally decided to take off and bid adieu to the bar and our new friends. The bartender was so nice, and had offered us several free drinks so my gf attempted to tip him. Of course, as he was Japanese, he vehemently refused the tip but thanked us. Goddamn I love the Japanese.
We had a big day to round out our time in Tokyo. Another leisurely breakfast at The Peninsula, then after getting ourselves together, we took off around lunchtime. We stopped into a sushi place near the hotel that the concierge recommended, it was OK.
From there we had to take the metro to a light rail to get to the TeamLab Borderless “museum.” It was more of a digital art installation than a museum, but it was VERY cool. I was skeptical and expected it to be lousy, but really it was super neat and I would suggest anyone headed to Tokyo add it to their itinerary.
We spent a few hours at TeamLab, then again went all the way across the city to see the damn micro pigs. This time we made it on time. I have to admit, they were pretty cute and basically act like little puppies. My gf was in love with them.
Once our time petting the pigs wrapped up, we went to nearby Afuri for ramen. I think it’s a highly regarded place, but honestly I was not impressed. The broth tasted too strongly of lemongrass (I think), and it was so fatty that I had an upset stomach for most of the night.
After dinner, we went back to the Peninsula to get some rest before continuing to following morning to Kyoto.
