jaro

Introduction

My partner and I have been working for the same company for past 5 years, meaning we earned our "recharge" - 1 paid month off in addition to your usual PTO. We were considering spending it in New Zealand but we settled on South Korea and Japan! It will be our first time there and the longest continuous time off work since graduation. (and time to celebrate my partner's recent promotion too)

Booking Flights + Hotels

Booking flights was a little challenge, we had only started planning in early January. I wanted to fly J for comfort but could not find a good deal with my stash of Avios and Amex MR points, so started looking for cash fares. There were a couple we considered:
- LOT had a ex-ZRH ~2k GBP fare with departure from ZRH/LON/few other cities via BUD or WAW. Their business class is sadly 2-2-2 and was not the most appealing to me
- AF had a sale ex-ZRH, for ~2400 GBP you could fly similar open-jaw but there were not 2 seats available; the price then jumped to 4k / person.
- I kept looking at the Premium Fare Deals forum to see if LH/LX fare to/from HKG/ICN can be manipulated into -ICN/TYO- but did not succeed, we did not want to take another flight excluding any positioning.

Coincidentally I found Etihad's sale where open-jaw MUC-ICN/TYO-FRA was 2100GBP/person in J! We snatched this immediately, the avgeek in me is happy with trying out the Etihad's new 787 and A350 business seat to AUH / from TYO respectively.

Hotels were another challenge, I have a considerable stash of Bonvoy points but the hotels were pretty expensive given the brands. Hence we took our corporate discount and booked cash directly - it marked down the price significantly and gave us free cancellation, wifi, and no resort fee (if any). However for Japan we booked independent chains on Booking.com, my partner has Genius discount which resulted in some hotels being 30-40% cheaper. Marriott was too expensive both cash and points, which matches the pricing one would expect from cherry blossom season.

Summary
I'm cautiously optimistic both about going to East Asia and writing this trip report, hope both end up well!

In This Trip Report

• Elizabeth Line and LHR T2 Senator Lounge (LHR)
• LH A320 Business (LHR-MUC)
• Marriott Munich Airport Hotel (MUC)
• Etihad B787 Business Class (MUC-AUH)
• Etihad Abu Dhabi Business Lounge (AUH)
• Etihad B787 Business Class (AUH-ICN)
• Exploring Seoul
  • Day 0.5 - Aloft Seoul, Fried Chicken, and Korean War Museum
  • Day 1 - Historic Palaces and Villages
  • Day 2&3 - Hongdae + DMZ
  • Day 4 - Jungsik and COEX mall
• Asiana Business Suite Lounge (ICN)
• Asiana A330 Economy Class (ICN-KIX)
• Aloft Osaka Dojima
• Exploring Osaka
  • Day 1 - Namba
  • Day 2 - Himeji
  • Day 3 - Umeda
  • Day 4 - Nara
• Sora Niwa Terrace Kyoto
• Exploring Kyoto
  • Day 1 - Arashiyama
  • Day 2 - Hiroshima
  • Day 3 - Fushimi Inari
• Tokyo hotel #1 - Hotel Monterey Ginza (omitted)
• Exploring Tokyo
  • Day 0.5 - A stroll across Ginza
  • Day 1 - Shibuya, Harajuku, and another omakase
  • Day 2 - Roppongi and Akasaka
  • AC Hotel Ginza
  • Day 3 - Central Tokyo and EDITION Ginza
  • Day 4 - Ueno and Yanesen
  • Day 5 - TBD
  • Day 6 - TBD
  • Day 7 - TBD
• Etihad A350 Business Class (NRT-AUH)
• Etihad B787 Business Class (AUH-FRA)
• BA A320 Economy (FRA-LHR)

VorelNaCestach

Subscribed. I am looking forward to this TR.

jaro

Good early morning from London! (well evening from Munich) Today was primarily all about positioning: I took LH2473 LHR-MUC while my partner took ZRH-MUC train, so that we can overnight close to the airport. Woke up, too Elizabeth line to Heathrow, definitely nicer than Piccadilly line and less crowded. It was so empty my luggage could have its own seats:

I was trying not to overpack, hence settled for the duffel bag to have the clothes and the mountaineering backpack to have spare capacity. That said I expect my partner to roll in with her huge suitcase! After uneventful journey, reached Terminal 2, and checked in my duffel bag. I was contemplating bringing both pieces on board, but got email from LH that the flight is full and that they will enforce the luggage policy - given the backpack is not the smallest (but was mostly empty) I did not want to push the limits. I went through security and off to LH Senator lounge:

Entrance to Terminal 2, probably my most favourite terminal. T3 has nicer lounges (hello CX!) but looks grim, T5 as a BA base looks like BA base.

Separate entrance to Senator part of the lounge. Food offering / magazines / amenities are the same, the difference is restricted access to Senator+ or *G only. It is good during busy periods, but when the lounge is empty I find the non-Senator part is nicer as it is more open:


After a while I heard an announcement: "mr. jaro please contact the lounge staff". I instinctively checked my phone to see if the flight was cancelled by any chance, as that's what happened last week with my BA EWR-LHR one. The opposite happened - for operational reasons I got op-up'd to C (or J if you will), changing my seat from 10C -> 2C. Good start of the trip and pleasant surprise given I booked the flight with UA miles and as a *G (UA Gold) I never credit flights to miles&more.

Old and new boarding pass; I was surprised the upgrade doesn't also change the boarding group - but turns out Group 2 is J on LH flights. Short time forward and a stroll towards our gate

boarding started and gave us a view of the plane:

jaro

LH 2473
LHR-MUC
A320
STD-STA 1110-1400
ATD-ATA 1138-1418
Seat 2C

While pleasantly surprised I was upgraded, I was hoping my other bag with all the clothes makes it onboard as well! Had I known about the upgrade earlier, I would have not checked the bag in at all Short and sweet flight otherwise, very packed, Y and J were completely full. Boarding was delayed due to trying to find out place for all the cabin bags - I wish gate agent / cabin crew would police this more aggressively; they made several announcements about having one personal item under the seat in front of you but that was a futile effort! Eventually we took off and the service started:

The LH J plaque most likely contributes to 50% of the intra-EU J flight price

Lunch - chicken salad with pretzel roll and a chocolate cake. Lunch could have been bigger, the short short-haul flights (ie LON-MUC/ZRH/VIE) never have a substantial offering. Another pretzel roll later I was temporarily satisfied

Chocolate praline as a dessert #2 while watching Netflix documentary about Bernie Madoff, can recommend! (both)

Eventually we landed, waited for bags roughly 40 minutes, and made my way onto the hotel.

Familiar scene as a friend's luggage never arrived for our ski trip in December, leaving him with a sweater and a laptop.

jaro

We chose Marriott to make use of the double nights promotion. Booked for 93EUR/night; Hilton was selling for 170/night during the same period. Next time I would stay at Hilton to have a datapoint to compare against.

The name is slightly misleading - while it is the closest Marriott to the airport, it is roughly 15 minute drive from the airport. In hindsight it was good we stayed here, as the Hilton looked a bit depressing - and we could take a leisurely stroll in the evening. Upon landing, I took bus 635 to Freising and then walked through the nice, quaint town, reaching the hotel after 15 minute walk from the train station:

Road towards city centre

Alleyway on the way to the hotel

Hotel itself, looked a bit dated from the outside

After going through the check-in formalities, as a Bonvoy Gold I was upgraded from the most basic Deluxe room to Executive room. To be honest the rooms look the same online, the latter is slightly bigger.

Executive Guest room with a Queen size bed

View from the hotel room, facing the town. Not bad

I browsed FlyerTalk while waiting for my partner, went to the train station, picked up her up, went back to the hotel, and looked for dinner. There's couple of places folks recommended:

• Bräustüberl Weihenstephan, oldest brewery in the world (since 1040!)
• Weißbräu Huber, a classical Bavarian tavern

We eyed both of them but wanted something lighter; we found a restaurant named Korbinianswirt with pretty good reviews. (4.8 in 11) The food was good, I had pasta and my partner had dumplings - but the service was lacking. Will find a picture of the food later.

Time to shower and sleep before pinnacle #1 of the trip, new Etihad's business class!

MarkP24

Curious if anyone on this thread has stayed at both the IC Osaka and Hyatt Regency Kyoto, and of so, any preference between the 2 as a base to explore the area?

jaro

Early good morning from Seoul! (or Munich at the time the pictures were taken)

Upon taking the shuttle from the hotel and checking-in, we found our way at Munich's Terminal 1, which is always packed and looks dated! Apparently it's meant to be renovated until year 2030, let's see what that brings Short check-in queue later, we find ourselves in front of the massive security queue:

Security queue at 8:30am with multiple international departures

Upon passing security and passport queue, we faffed around in the lounge for a bit. The lounge looks like your average lounge, hence I did not attach any pictures. Onto the main course:

EY 006
MUC-AUH
B787
STD-STA 1045-1930
ATD-ATA 1046-1919
Seat 8K


Timely boarding was accompanied by armed police keeping us safe

My partner's confident stride while boarding

First view of the cabin

Few steps later, arrived to my seat 8K:

View of my seat with the amenities kit. Moving the kit aside reveals built-in wireless charging for your phone!

wireless charging

Sitting down we can explore the seat and its features:

Acqua Di Parma amenities kit in a faux leather (?) finish

Opening the kit reveals standard contents - moisturisers, toothcare, and socks with an eye mask

Enough leg space to allow myself (±195cm tall) to fully stretch while lying flat

View from the seat towards the aisle. The seat is a suite (has a door which can be closed), however for this flight the doors were locked open.

Table big enough for a 16-inch MacBook and a huge IFE screen. IFE had a huge amount of choices (all possible franchises - Harry Potter, Marvel, DC, Hunger Games) and support for connecting BT headphones!

Folding the table back reveals a tiny compartment in the bottom with a bottle cooler :O

Extensive and easy-to-grasp seat controls

Armani bedding complements the chic look of the seat

Pre-departure beverage was offered (water / orange juice / lemon and mint cooler) and you were also asked for a drink of your choice upon take-off. With boarding completed and a short taxi later, we depart runway 08R and while climbing we are rewarded with a nice view of the Alps:

Alps, blue tint is due to playing around with the electronic blinds

Onboard service starts and I was wondering when we are going to get the menu. Contrary to other flights I had taken, the menus were already distributed at every seat before take-off, hidden in the magazine compartment. Quick look at the menu reveals a wide range of options and dine at any time - the latter being extremely convenient. I wish legacy carriers (UA, BA, ...) would take suit - especially on TATL red-eyes / day flights you might want to sleep first or eat at odd hours to help adjust to time zone difference. Back to the trip report, menu attached:

Menu

Menu 2

Food choices

Wide selection of drinks

Wide selection of drinks (wine card flipped to the overleaf side)

Crew went around each seat before the service started, asking for your choices and when you would like to eat. Addressed by title and first name, I was very impressed! The service did not feel forced and addressing me by first name gave it a more comfortable feel. To diversify, my partner went for the arabic mezze starter / chicken biryani / chocolate eclair while I went for tomato soup / same main / toffee pudding. The choices were somewhat intentional; reviews online mentioned that the mezze are on a smaller side but good and the soups are always good. We definitely did not regret our choices:

Mixed nuts with the pre-ordered drink

My partner's starter, arabic mezze. Accompanied with the famous Etihad duo-bread (bottom left), french butter, and a small salad.

My starter, tomato soup with basil pesto. Accompanied with the famous Etihad duo-bread (bottom left), french butter, and a small salad. I left the salad untouched.

Main course, chicken biryani with garlic yoghurt. (bottom left)

Dessert, sticky toffee pudding. My partner ate the eclair faster than I could take the picture

The inflight manager walked through the cabin, asking every one in J if they are satisfied and what their plans are. Afterwards I went through the IFE, settling on Blade Runner 2049. I kept drifting to sleep and waking up, as I was jetlagged due to returning from New York on Saturday morning. Eventually I wake up for real as we are about to start descending, with the cabin manager making one last round through the cabin.

Sunset on the approach to AUH

I ask if it is possible to have a quick look to the cockpit upon landing and upon disembarking I get waved by the cabin manager and stewardess to come the front of the aircraft:

Upgrade from 8K -> 0A

Both captain and senior flight officer were extremely nice, took time to chat about the plane and its features, and offered to take a picture for myself and my partner. Some pilots go above-and-beyond to share their passion for flying with you and this was the case! Overall review for the flight is 10/10, Etihad's newest business class suite is very nice, the seat itself was comfortable, has great features (large IFE, plush bedding, wireless charging, bottle cooler), and the cabin crew was extremely pleasant. The toilets (omitted in the review) were ok, with mostly non-branded toiletries. They will however play a bigger role on the next flight to ICN...

We disembark the plane continue our journey to Seoul with a transit at AUH, next: Etihad's Business Lounge at AUH

jaro

Being relieved of my captain duties, we disembark in the middle of terminal A. I'm always impressed by Arab's monumental architecture, airports such as AUH or DOH are a prime example of that. Long walk to transfer security follows:

Initial view from the terminal

5 minutes later, getting close to transfer

Hectic but efficient security check later, we are in the heart of the terminal:




Our first steps led to the business lounge to refresh and refuel ourselves. Upon finding the lounge, we are greeted by an army of Etihad staff to check us in and advise us. After quick shower, we decided to get some food:

Dining hall










A quick meal later, we embark on the journey to the gate. Intermission in the form of my partner shopping delays us for a while


Getting closer

Boarding starts and we get onboard.

Next post: Etihad's legacy B787 to Seoul

jaro

EY 856
AUH-ICN
B787
STD-STA 2205-1125
ATD-ATA 2217-1106
Seat 7E+F

Upon boarding, we're greeted by the seat and its features:

Chose the couples seat to have a good night, as they are 1. facing forward and 2. protected from the aisle

Seat view featuring the clumsiest table I have seen

Playing around the seat - you can call / chat any person in the plane

The same amenity kit as previous flight

Extensive menu also accompanies this flight:




As it was almost 3am in Seoul when we were taking off, took 1.5mg melatonin to doze off. Before visiting the dreamland, asked the stewardess to wake me up for food and record my options. Few hours of uninterrupted sleep later, the cabin crew wakes me up. Mild annoyance here was that crew were suggesting to be woken up 3 hours before landing, while I was hoping to sleep for a bit more than 6 hours (so roughly 1.5 hours before landing) and then inhale the breakfast. The latter happened nonetheless:


Breakfast, Swiss cheese omelette

Coffee and a cake to wash down the breakfast

Bircher müsli to satisfy jet lag powered appetite

Uneventful descent later, we parked at our position, greeted by LH 747:

LH 747

Snaking through the airport to reach the immigration

10 minute walk to immigration and 40 minute immigration queue, we are admitted! What surprised me that at no point during the journey (MUC, AUH, boarding, check-in) we were asked to show the K-ETA; even for the countries outside of the waiver list. At LHR the staff insists on seeing the K-ETA all the time!

Luggage hall

T-money card acquired, forgive the thumb

Next report: first half a day in Seoul

IluvSQ

Requirement for K-ETA has been temporarily suspended for 22 countries until the end of this year - you must
have passports from eligible countries.

FS_FRA

The only advantage of K-ETA at this time is that you don't have to fill out an arrival card...

jaro

Yep, I'm British My Romanian girlfriend was not asked to show the K-ETA at all; what was puzzling that K-ETA's website showed notice that Romanians do not have to apply either

jaro

We took the airport limousine from airport to Myeongdong, which took roughly 80 minutes. Aloft Seoul (pictures below) will serve as our base, chosen due to a good price and location.


Aloft Seoul Myeongdong

View from the 13th floor

Classic Aloft room

Small but cozy bathroom ft. japanese style toilet

Upon dropping off all our luggage, off to refuel and explore:

Tastiest fried chicken I have ever had, the basket was enough for 2 people and for everything together we paid roughly 13 pounds!

I managed to persuade my girlfriend to visit the Korean War Museum, I would recommend it to everyone. They had tons of interest exhibits about Korean history and culture but also a large military-oriented collection. I'll let the pictures do the talking:

View towards the museum square


Korean platoon involved in the war

Celebrating the "victory"

Serving the Korean flag

Some of the vehicles used by Koreans in the war


Amphibious vehicle used by Korean and American forces

You could get a photo in the transporter

A jet

We stayed until 6pm when the museum closed and returned to hotel, where I fell asleep immediately. Being very jetlagged, woke up at 4am the next day to hit the gym and scavenge some food.

Next: exploring Seoul's palaces and villages

jaro

As previous post concluded, woke up at 4am to check out the Aloft's gym. 2/5, I was surprised by lack of any reasonable equipment - for example the dumbbells in the gym were 1/2/3kg and then 10/20kg. Enough to get a workout in:

Weights section of the gym

Cardio section with assisted pull-up machine

Few hours later my partner woke up and we scavenged for food; as our corporate rate did not include breakfast we found a toast place around the corner:

3 pounds for 2 toasties with ham, eggs, cheese, and cabbage. Killer deal and very tasty

After devouring the toasts, we went to explore. Order of the day was:

• Gyeongbokgung palace, main palace of Korean Joseon dynasty
• The National Folk Museum of Korea
• Bukchon Hanok village, residental area with traditional Korean houses (hanok)
• Insadong district, to shop for some traditional products (and check out the Kimchi museum!)

Seoul is a mix of normal buildings

and historic ones. Main gate for the palace


Yet another gate for the palace


Guard changing ceremony accompanied by locals and tourists wearing the traditional Korean dresses


Shrine of the main building where the royals used to spend their time


One of the side palaces. Each had their own purpose, for example to house the maids or concubines, or be used as a storage place.


Yet another palace. Some (including this one) differed that the insides were very hollow

Two hours later, we moved to the neighbouring folk museum to get our feet a break. Similar to the Korean War museum, the exhibits spanned hundreds of years from Korea's ancestry until modern ages. It was nice to read up on some of the Korean traditions.


Various lanterns used as a deity to gods

I forgot what this was


Food played a big role in the museum explaining the history of Korean food choices (ie kimchi and/or pickled vegetables such as daikon were used to make any meals more nourishing!)

"Vehicle" used to move the deceased one

Upon exploring the museum, we went to the hanok village, where I was astounded after an interaction with a Chinese tourist - I was minding my own business staring into the phone when I heard someone shouting and when I had noticed the lady, she was waving me away so that I don't ruin her picture! Unfortunately for her, I was not the only tourist there but maybe one of the taller ones


Hike up towards the village

View from the almost the top

Hanok, classical Korean house. Visually pleasant with the mix of brick walls, wooden entrance doors, and short trees


Inspiration from the folk museum, dumplings with kimchi


Origins of kimchi, vegetables stored with salt and pepper

Different storage containers for kimchi



Different pickled vegetables

Kimchi in pop-culture

After a cup of tea (pictures missing, ugh!) we went back to the hotel, ate, and slept. Plan for next day: Hongdae district and shopping

jaro

I'll cut to the chase here - day 2 we spent primarily shopping in Seoul, so there is not much to talk about. 20000 steps later and few hundred $$$ lighter, we returned to the hotel and called it a day early before heading to the DMZ!


Early start in Seoul with a colourful tour bus

DMZ

Old tracks for the train running between South and North Korea

Old locomotive running along this route

Iron Horse, old locomotive serving as a sign of reunification dream. "Let The Iron Horse Run Again" symbolises Korean hope for North and South to be one country again

Wall (or Fence) of hope, with prayers for the reunification. Our tour guide mentioned others revolve around prosperity for North Koreans, who live in incomparably worse conditions than the South ones

Gondola running across the river in the Civilian Controlled Area. We took it to check out the small museum at the other end of the river

Inverted red triangle "Mine" was very visible throughout the day. Often you looked to the left, you saw soy fields, you turned right, you saw mine fields.

Replica of the room where the 1953 armistice agreement was signed

Memorial to the US president Truman (accompanied with 50 US and South Korean flags intertwined), who was the first leader to rally in the UN for sending help to South Koreans

Design of the 3rd tunnel, which was dug by North Koreans to most likely invade south. There were 4 of them and the plan was to simultaneously strike Seoul.

View from Dora Observatory, highest point in the area. North Korean flag visible on the ±160m visible flagpole. Used to be highest flagpole in the world at some point, now ranks #4!

View from Dora Observatory, notice the Hollywood-like sign behind the 3 buildings. Built by North Koreans for propaganda.

Korean BBQ to refuel ourselves

Korean BBQ with all the trimmings

Highlight of today were drinks at Zest, 18th best bar in the world. I booked a table 1 month in advance via Catchable.

Stylish backdrop in the bar.

Gin&Tonic

Cocktail with 3 types of gin and vermouth

Negroni with candied strawberry

The prices were very reasonable, each cocktail was roughly 14 pounds. They had also interesting taste but given that I seldom drink alcohol I was not able to tell the different aromas or tastes apart We returned to the hotel, tired, well fed, and hydrated and dozed off before last full day in Seoul.