Luxury Airline Travel

Twelve Years Later – Part 2: A Return to Koh Samui, The Trip There & Night 1

May 13, 2025

Previous Trip Notes:
Twelve Years Later – Part 1: A Return to Koh Samui, The Setup

The trip started out on a 7:59pm positioning flight from Minneapolis to Newark. We arrived at MSP airport plenty early to spend some time in the Delta Lounge, courtesy of NSPwife’s AMEX Platinum (and my Authorized User card). I had also somehow amassed eight guest passes, which is why we opted for the Delta Lounge vs. the Escape Lounge, which we normally frequent when we are with NSPpeanuts.

Delta Sky Club Guest Passes

The food was pretty good, and NSPwife and I decided to indulge in some premium bubbles, for a mere 2,400 Skymiles:

Delta Skymiles Bubbly Redemption (1.5 cents per point)

We made our way to the flight, where I was particularly excited to watch Michigan play in the Sweet 16 while having an inflight adult beverage. Of course, this flight was on a 717, with terribly slow WiFi, and a somewhat inattentive crew that did not offer beverage service. Unfortunately, takeoff was at first delayed due to traffic and Newark, and later due to passing thunderstorms in MSP. While this did allow me to watch some of the game with my own hotspot at high speeds, it also meant we were going to arrive way past the scheduled time. Ultimately we landed just before 1am, grabbed our luggage, and then headed to the Airtrain to pickup the Renaissance Hotel shuttle. Thus began our next adventure, traversing the horrific Newark Airport, with a full load of luggage. After a nearly 20 minute walk, we simply called an Uber from where we were at for the mile drive, jumped in, had the driver miss the exit, and finally arrived at the hotel around 1:30am.

Our wake-up call seemingly came fast, 7am for me, and we got ready, making sure all the things we would need for a 1,120-minute flight were in the right bags. We made our way down to the lobby at 7:59am, perfectly timing the 8am shuttle, and arrived at the Singapore Airlines check-in by 8:10am. It was an easy check-in, and we made our way to the British Airways Galleries Lounge, which Singapore Airlines partners with for this flight.

The lounge was pretty nice with some runway views, and we had a decent breakfast and some celebratory cocktails.

British Airways Galleries Lounge Breakfast – EWR

British Airways Galleries Lounge Coffee Bar – EWR

View of Our Bird: British Airways Galleries Lounge – EWR

British Airways Galleries Toast – EWR

It was then time to embark…on quite a long flight.

We boarded the scheduled 18-hour-forty-minute flight thinking this couldn’t feel THAT much longer than the flights we’ve taken from Chicago to Japan (12ish hours) or Chicago to Hong Kong (16ish hours). Business class, sleep, movies downloaded, we were set! We also pre-ordered all of our meals: adults opted for filets, scallops, and curries, and the kids ordered specialized children menus of chicken tenders, mashed potatoes, and vegetables.

The flight was on an Airbus 350, consisting of Business Class seats and Premium Economy seats. The service was fantastic. The flight attendants were polite, professional, and very attentive. But the seat itself was not terribly comfortable, regardless of it being a seat or a bed. There was a foot cubby for you to place your feet, which was challenging at times to find a comfortable laydown position. And there was limited storage for a nearly 20-hour flight!

So despite eating multiple meals, and binge-watching shows, and even the fact that there was complimentary wifi, it was not enough to keep the family entertained. And the kids began a quasi-hunger-strike: they “did not like” the options. Not a huge deal….we thought. We had brought plenty of snacks. But the tiredness and travel put NSPpeanuts in a mood, where they just didn’t want to eat. We’ll come back to this, let’s talk about the flight:

The food was plentiful. The pre-ordered meals made it certain we would get our desired dishes, and there were plenty of snacks. Flight attendants were fantastic to get you whatever you needed. Typically amenities kits are on-demand only; however, we received ours without having to ask.

EWR > SIN: Bubbles

EWR > SIN: Amenity Kit

EWR > SIN: Filet

EWR > SIN: NSPpeanut Meal

EWR > SIN: Sleeping NSPpeanutToo

EWR > SIN: Menu

EWR > SIN: Menu

EWR > SIN: Menu

EWR > SIN: Menu

EWR > SIN: Menu

EWR > SIN: Menu

EWR > SIN: Menu

EWR > SIN: Menu

EWR > SIN: Menu

EWR > SIN: Menu

EWR > SIN: Menu

EWR > SIN: Menu

I can’t quite touch on why the flight seemed longer than it should have. Maybe it was the lack of a comfortable seat. Or maybe the time, which was a full “day” flight, where it was hard to try and adjust to the new time zone forcing sleep during normal waking hours.

Or maybe it was the kids not eating, and while seemingly not a huge deal, it became so when the empty stomach of NSPpeanut didn’t fare well with the turbulence. Coupled with the fact that Singapore Changi Airport asked our flight to hold and land about 20-minutes late due to airport traffic (yes, I was worried about fuel!), NSPpeanut started to not feel well. And rainbow goldfish were…well…undigested and sent into the atmosphere. A quick rush from me and NSPwife to work on clean-up and repair duty, NSPpeanutToo saw this and didn’t want to be left out. So she asked for some pepto. And upon landing (maybe 3 minutes before touchdown), I see a little shadow appear next to my pod, where I rapidly swept her into my seat, put her in my seatbelt with me, and opened another sickness bag, which was used to great effect.

What a way to end a flight! Little did I know, this would be prep for what was to come later in the week. However, we made it to Singapore, albeit nearly an hour late. It was 6pm, and we had booked the Crowne Plaza Airport Hotel with our IHG Credit Card certificates. It was a daunting 90-second walk from the baggage claim to check-in. We made it to our two rooms, unpacked, changed into swimsuits, and promptly headed to the pool:

Crowne Plaza Changi – Pool

Crowne Plaza Changi – Pool

Crowne Plaza Changi – Pool

Crowne Plaza Changi – Pool

After a brief swim, we showered and headed out to the People’s Park Food Centre, where NSPpeanut wanted to try some dumplings. We had dumplings, pork buns, and some Tiger beers, and then headed a short distance to the Riverwalk for some Chili Crab. We opted for JUMBO Seafood, sat outside on the busy and festive Riverwalk, and had a fantastic first vacation dinner:

Chili Crab!!

Chili Crab!!

Riverwalk, Singapore

We spent a few minutes walking around the Riverwalk, and then got a taxi back to the Crowne Plaza. Luckily there were taxis all over the place, however, many would only take you if you paid in cash. Luckily I had pulled some money out of an ATM before heading out for the evening. We returned around 11pm, meaning the 5am wake-up call was just around the corner.

The Crowne Plaza was nice, but most importantly, was convenient – highly recommended. The travel day was, mostly, a success, and the next day would truly begin a week of relaxation (we thought!).

Crowne Plaza Standard Room Bathroom – Changi Airport

Crowne Plaza Standard Room – Changi Airport

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Twelve Years Later – Part 1: A Return to Koh Samui, The Setup

May 11, 2025

It’s been fun looking back, reading my second trip report ever, written in December of 2013. That trip was my first time flying in international first class. Cathay Pacific from ORD to HKG was a mere 62,500 miles. One might say: How things have changed. Then again, we are about to embark on a trip around the world, adding the longest flight on Earth to our portfolio, and flying as a family of four in business class on both the A380 and 747 on the way home. All of this for mere pennies on the dollar, thanks to miles and points. So while, yes, getting to Southeast Asia has been a challenging affair, this seems to support, in Bon Jovi’s words: “the more things change the more they stay the same.” Let’s get into the details.

As always, we like to focus on pretty large trips for Spring Break. We’ve done everything from Cancun to Fiji. Choosing a destination is also fun, and sometimes flight and hotel availability dictate what is possible. There were two items that led us to choose Koh Samui. First, the Hyatt Regency opened there a few years ago and allowed 4 people to a room. Thailand has a 3-person fire code capacity, and many hotels can be difficult to book for a family of four. With ample availability during the dates we were looking to book, as well as an available standard suite that we could use a suite upgrade for, this seemed like a good use of points. Second, when The White Lotus announced they were filming in Koh Samui, we decided it might be time to revisit the island, especially if the show led to significantly increased tourism (if that’s even possible at this point). So we booked the hotel in the summer of 2024, and started to look at flights.

There was inventory for 4 in business class on Turkish Airlines, in both directions, when we started looking. The downside was that the layovers would require an overnight, but the arrival and departure times wouldn’t allow for a tour of Istanbul, a place NSPwife and I have never been, but would love to see. So we decided not to book, given this was the long way to Southeast Asia, and maybe a better connecting flight would allow for a day and night in Istanbul. That did not turn out to be a great decision. The Turkish inventory was gobbled up within 48 hours, and we were stuck without any good options. No problem, I thought. If there was inventory when I first searched, it’s bound to come back. And certainly a MSP > West Coast > SE Asia route would open up.

How wrong I was. I used Seats.aero and setup alerts for just about every North American airport to HKG, BKK, SIN, HKT, and KUL. I waited. And waited. And waited. Nothing. I began checking the usual suspects weekly (Alaskan, AA, Aeroplan, United, and Air France). Nothing. Then in November I got an alert that four tickets opened up with perfect times to get from MSP to BKK. Here was the unicorn! I logged in, got to the cart, and made a rookie mistake. I thought about it. I double checked everything. And 5-10 minutes later when I clicked checkout, someone else had grabbed the seats. What was I thinking?? Well, again, my thought was seats would continue to pop up. Again, a false hope. The rest of 2024 slipped by without a single option opening up. As January was coming to a close, we decided to open up our search criteria and started to look at options for the Seychelles, Caribbean, and Hawaii. Still, no specific luck with those destinations either.

Then in the middle of February, a flight opened up from Singapore to Chicago. Unfortunately it was by way of Frankfurt, Germany. So the “long way,” but had an intriguing setup: Flying in Singapore Business Class on an A380, and flying on Lufthansa Business Class on the upper deck of a 747. Sold. Plus, the overnight in Frankfurt might allow for a little bit more of a transition back to Central Time.

Then, amazingly, 24 hours later, a flight from Newark, New Jersey direct to Singapore opened up. THE LONGEST FLIGHT IN THE WORLD! Done and booked. So the long flights were set, and now the positioning flights were needed: Minneapolis to Newark, Singapore to Koh Samui, Koh Samui to Singapore, and Chicago to Minneapolis.

Minneapolis to Newark was pretty straight-forward, and we opted for a direct flight with Delta.

Koh Samui Airport is owned by Bangkok Airways and is really a monopoly in terms of flights. Thai Airways flies twice a day, and Scoot Airlines (owned by Singapore Airlines) also services the airport. So Bangkok Airways and Scoot were the only two options. And pricing reflected this! Our goal was simple though: Spend as much time as possible in Koh Samui, so flight times and not fares was what drove our booking decision.

Lastly, the flight from Chicago to Minneapolis was proving to be difficult, with three options: Have a 7-hour layover and spend 6,000 miles per person, have a 4-hour layover and spend 15,000 miles per person, or have a 2-hour layover and spend 50,000 miles per person. After a 39-hour “travel day,” the 7-hour layover was simply not an option. But spending 50,000 miles on an hour flight in economy vs. 87,500 to fly in Business Class from SE Asia to Chicago just seemed ludicrous. So we booked two different flights: We booked the United flight for 15,000 miles, and also booked the 6,000 mile flight on American, as my Executive Platinum status allows for confirmed same-day changes. And if there were still seats on the perfectly timed flight before we took off from Frankfurt, we would just try to make the same-day change and then cancel the United flight. Unfortunately, available space on American did not open up, so we were stuck with the the United Flight.

Per Person Airline Costs

Positioning Flight #1: MSP > ORD. 14,400 miles + $5.60
International Flight #1: EWR > SIN. 87,500 miles + $174.06
Positioning Flight #2: SIN > USM. 18,750 miles + $67.11
Positioning Flight #3: USM > SIN. 18,750 miles + $126.40
International Flight #2: SIN > FRA > ORD. 87,500 miles + $56.20
Positioning Flight #4: ORD > MSP. 15,000 miles + $5.60

Hotel Costs

EWR Hotel: Renaissance: 1 Hotel Certificate (effectively $120)
Singapore Changi Crowne Plaza: 2 Hotel Certificates (effectively $198)
Hyatt Regency Koh Samui: 135,000 points
Frankfurt Hotel: Hyatt Place – 2 Rooms, 1 Hotel Certificate + 5,000 points

A couple of additional items: We used our Ritz Carlton card $300 travel credit on the Scoot flights, and the Chase IHG credit card that gives me and NSPwife a free night each year has a $99 annual fee. So I’ve added $198 to account for the annual fees, but did not take out the $300 Ritz credit. Lastly, the American Express Bonvoy card, with its $120 annual fee, comes with an annual 35,000 point-certificate. The Renaissance Newark Airport hotel was 29,000 points, or $200, so a pretty good redemption for the certificate.

TOTAL Miles, Points, and Cash for 4: $2,057 + 1,102,600 Miles & Points

How would you value these trips? Well, let’s look at how much the long-haul flights and hotels would cost if paying in cash:

Flight Costs

Cash Price: Biz SIN > FRA (A380)

Cash Price: Biz FRA to ORD (747 Upper Deck)

Cash Price: Biz EWR > SIN (Longest Flight in the World)

Long-Haul Flight Costs totaled: ~$14,000 each.

Hotel Costs

Hotel Cash Price – Koh Samui

6-Night Stay in a Hyatt Regency Suite: ~$3,300

Ignoring the short-hop flights and shoulder hotel rooms, the core of the travel would have totaled nearly $60,000 without miles and points. Not a bad redemption!

One additional note. For this trip, I tried an app called Wanderlog to organize our itinerary, and I can’t recommend it enough. It was super easy to forward all emails from Airlines and Hotels so all confirmation numbers were in one handy place. When traveling to different time zones and taking flights that cross over different days, it was a great help to ensure my planning was accurate. It can also store places and activities that you find in the planning phases. I’ve tried these types of apps in the past, and never really found one that was user-friendly, or more valuable than just a nicely organized Google Calendar or even just checking email. But this checked all the boxes!

Now it is time to start the journey…

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A Private Island on Points – Part 4: Calala Island (The Experiences)

June 18, 2023

A Private Island on Points – Part 4: Calala Island (The Experiences)
A Private Island on Points – Part 3: Calala Island (The Food)
A Private Island on Points – Part 2: Calala Island (The Island)
A Private Island on Points – Part 1: Calala Island (The Setup)

When you stay at Calala Island, the “experiences” continue to come at you. This includes not only the activities at the resort itself, but really includes all facets of the journey. It started for us in the airport in Managua. We showed up early on the morning of our flight to the Bluefields, a quick 18-minute drive from the Hyatt Place Managua (a huge difference from the hour-long ride we had in traffic at rush hour the night before). We were flying out of the domestic terminal, and a representative, Nestor, welcomed us to help check us in and get through the process. It was a bit embarrassing, as when we showed up we were taken in front of everyone already in line. Our bags were all tagged with VIP Calala Island tags, and we were quickly ushered in through security. There was a small shop that had coffee and pastries, and we helped ourselves to it while watching the tarmac, with smoke emitting from the local volcano in the distance. Quite serene.

There were two planes on the tarmac. A small plane. And the equivalent of a VW Bug with wings. My mom asked me: “which plane are we flying on?” I responded that surely it was the larger of the two. Only about a dozen people could fit in the smaller plane, and who knows where the luggage would go.

The airline staff called a number of names, and people started walking out on the tarmac towards the bigger plane. We were anxiously waiting our names to be called. After about ten minutes, I approached the desk and asked in my mediocre Spanish if we were on the list. Nope. Not our plane. OMG.

We waited another 30 minutes and then our names were called. And we walked out to the smallest plane I’ve ever been on. Obviously no real cockpit…luggage strapped in the back with bungees. School bus style seats. And the kicker? Once we took off, going due East early in the morning, the pilot put up a sunscreen which was not see-through, and the co-pilot took a binocular-looking instrument out, and cocked his head to the farthest side of the window to keep an eye on anything that might be in our way. As someone who does not like to fly, there is not enough Xanax in the world to rectify this issue.

Despite the fears, the ride was smooth, and a passing rainshower that we flew through during the descent was gone by the time we landed. We exited the plane, and walked down the tarmac, and then up a long walkway. Finally leaving the seemingly 20 sq ft airport terminal, we were met by multiple representatives from Calala, along with taxis. In the same manor of the style of plane, these taxis were smaller than Minis. They had luggage racks on top, where you threw your luggage on (no need to bungee them), and we squeezed tightly into the cars. Then began the Formula One: Bluefields edition. We raced through streets, saw schools, shops, and markets. And finally arrived at a port/marina. There was a ton of activity – not for the feint of heart. But the Calala staff whisked us to an open-top speedboat. Flying through the mangroves was a fun experience. Calala staff had bought Minnie Mouse lifevests for the kids, who had an amazing time on the journey. The weather was good, until it wasn’t. But the downpour for 15 minutes added to the adventure, and the kids thought it was the funniest thing in the world. They whipped out ponchos for everyone and we braved the madness.

The clouds then cleared, and the sun was shining as we approached the island. The entire staff was awaiting for us on the dock, with flowers, acoustic guitar playing music, and coconuts. We had arrived, and already had a half a dozen memories.

On the island, everything is unique. Want to kayak? Just ask and they will grab them. You can even compete to try and be the fastest kayaker around the island. Hungry? Ask for anything, anytime. Feel like lobster or fish? They will grab them from the ocean and cook them up. Or do you want to grab the lobsters or go fishing? Just ask!

Feel like a massage? Karen is fantastic. And if you have kids, and want Karen to watch them, she is happy to do so (babysitting fees apply). How about showing up to dinner for a Rum Tasting Experience? Check. Want to learn how to make your own wood-fired pizza? Check. Want to select from multiple coffee beans for your coffee the following morning? Check. Here’s a short list of other experiences on the island:

Cooking Lessons
Returning to your room after dinner to receive a gift each night, plus towel animals – a different once each night
Have kids? One day they put together a treasure hunt, with buried treasure and all
Multiple culinary experiences
Paddle boarding
Linefishing
Kayaking
Turtle Hatching (based on time of season and luck!)
Snorkeling
Cigar Smoking
Swings in the water? Hammock on the beach? Rest in the villa? There’s no shortage of relaxing places to decompress

There are only two things that are not optimal: First, while WiFi is good enough to do most things, it is not 100% consistent. Second, there is no gym, and the island really isn’t big enough to truly exercise. Bring a jump rope or swim some laps if you are interested in working out!

Paddleboarding

Island Hopping – Abandoned House

“Towel Animal” and Free Nightly Gift

Kids Treasure Hunt

Turtle Hatching

Pizza Making

Kayaking

Mini Plane

MGA VIP Check-In

Swim-Up Bar

While the island is tiny, there are endless opportunities to keep your time occupied. There’s also endless opportunities to sit back and relax:

Beach Lounger

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A Private Island on Points – Part 1: Calala Island (The Setup)

February 6, 2022

NSPwife and I had started our plan to take our parents on a nice trip since 2018. In fact, we started our research late 2018, which was then complicated by NSPpeanutToo’s early 2020 arrival, and thus further complicated by COVID. So we were in late summer of 2021, desperate for another international trip, and went back into the research phase. With 5 adults, a 6-year-old, and an 18-month-old, there were some logistical complications. An ANA Round-the-World Trip, which is really want we wanted, would almost certainly not have 6 business class seats on flights. Also, COVID restrictions were ever-fluid, and if any one leg of the trip didn’t work due to entry restrictions, it could throw the entire trip into chaos. Belize looked nice, and allegedly you can book multi-room villas at Mahogany Bay on Hilton Points, but there were some mixed reviews on the property and the surrounding area. We knew Calala Island had recently been incorporated into the Hyatt umbrella through SLH, and seemed like a great experience. We emailed Calala directly in August and asked if they had any 4-night stays available where three rooms could be booked on points (there are only four rooms on the entire island). They responded the next day. There were only 2 options in the next 12-months, and most likely (if we return to a post-COVID normalcy), they would never again allow 3 of the 4 suites on the island to be booked via points. They then emailed back another 24 hours later to say that one of the two sets of dates had been booked, so we were looking at being 8 weeks out as possibly the only time we would ever be able to do this. A quick points recap for the hotel:

40,000 points per night x 3 suites = 120,000 points per night.
5 nights total 600,000 points

It turns out they had 5 consecutive nights available, so we booked it for a cool 600,000 Hyatt Points, transferred from our Chase Ultimate Rewards points. They also mentioned that they would upgrade one of our rooms to the Master Suite, allowing our 18-month-old to join for free. They call this an ultra-inclusive resort – all food, alcohol, water activities, and other excursions are included, and we couldn’t let this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity pass by.

We also booked three rooms in Managua on the first night in Nicaragua, as well as the last night in the country. Rooms at the Hyatt Place were 5,000 points each, and we also transferred points to Hyatt form Chase Ultimate Rewards:

5,000 points per night x 2 rooms = 10,000 points per night
2 nights totaled 20,000 points

Flights would normally be easy: United, American, Aeromexico, Avianca, and Spirit all flew various routes to Managua, Nicaragua. Unfortunately, we are not in normal times. United, American, and Spirit cancelled all their flights, largely due to the restrictive COVID protocols. In order to fly to Nicaragua, you need an rt-PCR test showing negative results, taken no more than 72 hours before arrival. But the difficulty is you need to provide the results to the airline no less than 36 hours in advance. That’s a quick turnaround time. So we knew we had to find a place that provided test results back on the same day. In many cities, that’s not a problem. In Northwest Indiana, and Chicago, it’s not that easy – or cheap. There was a single testing site that we found in Chicago that would test for free, and provide same-day results: Loop Medical Center. Nicaragua states that your tests need seals and signatures, although there is a lot of mixed info related to that. At the end of the day, we did two things to get past this hurdle: First, we booked two appointments for COVID tests. One at Loop Medical Center for 7am, where 6 tests totaled $0. And then booked secondary appointments in the afternoon in case the morning results didn’t come back in time. The second appointments cost $250 each, so we were really hoping the first test results would come back and we could save $1,500 (6 of us were testing in the Chicagoland area). Luckily, the results came in just after 1pm.

The second thing we did was hire a travel agency that specialized in Nicaraguan and Costa Rican travel, run by Alex Ruiz. We found Alex on the Nicaraguan Flight & Travel Facebook group page, that was setup to help figure out how to get through all of the conflicting information on entry into the country. Once the test results come in, you just send them to Alex’s team, where they will confirm if the information on the test will suffice for Nicaraguan’s Ministry of Health’s (MINSA) review. We sent the results to them via Whatsapp a few minutes after 1pm, and they quickly wrote back that we were good to go. They handled all of the various documentation requirements and sent them directly to Avianca (the airline we chose to fly). To book our plane tickets, we booked the following: ORD > MIA, morning flight via American Airlines. 9,500 miles each.

9,500 miles x 6 passengers = 57,000 miles
$5.60 for taxes per passenger x 6 passengers = $33.60

It was great to have Citi add American Airlines as a temporary travel partner, and we significantly loaded up our AAdvantage account. NSPwife is still an Executive Platinum member with American, due to her Hyatt Globalist status and their gifting of American Status in 2020 (which extended through 2021 due to COVID). This allowed us to check all six bags for free. MIA > MGA, early evening flight via Avianca Airlines, 19,300 miles each booked through United. There were five economy seats available, and we needed 6. Luckily there was one saver Business Class seat also available for 33,000 miles (and the lap infant only cost $20).

19,300 miles x 5 economy tickets + 33,000 miles x 1 business class ticket = 129,500 miles
Taxes + $20 lap-baby fee totaled $113.30

For the return flights, 2 of the individuals in our party flew from MGA > IAD through San Salvador, again booked via United for 19,300 miles each. The other five returned to Miami via Avianca for 19,300 miles each, and then MIA > ORD for 3,940 miles each booked through the Citi Travel Portal (cash tickets were dirt cheap!).

19,300 x 6 = 115,800 miles
3,940 x 4 = 15,760 miles
Taxes = $20 lap-baby fee totaled $327.77

All in, 318,060 miles were needed for flights and $609.03 for taxes & fees. That put the total trip cost at 948,060 miles/points and $609.03.

Given the prices of the rooms alone would have been:

Master Suite Cost – Calala Island

Junior Suite Cost – Calala Island

Not bad for a private island experience for seven. Let the games begin!

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A Week in Argentina – Part 5: A Wild Trip Home

October 1, 2020

Previous Trip Notes
A Week in Argentina – Part 4: Park Hyatt & Mendoza, Argentina
A Week in Argentina – Part 3: Santiago, and our 2nd trip to Hell (SCL)
A Week in Argentina – Part 2: Copa Airlines Business Class ORD > PTY > SCL
A Week in Argentina – Part 1: The Setup & Arrival to Hell (ORD)

We were flying on LATAM from Mendoza, Argentina to Lima, Peru, with an 80-minute layover back in Santiago. No problem, should be easy. But in Mendoza, they would not let us check our bags through to Lima, which meant we would have to wait for our bags, clear customs, then re-check our bags, and make the multi-mile trek back to the gates. There was no way we were going to make it. I had booked the tickets through British Airways, so I called them up. They couldn’t do anything, as it was a LATAM operational decision. I called LATAM, they wouldn’t help, stating that we would not have a problem with that turn-time. I worked every angle to try and figure out a plan…there were more than a half-dozen flights from Santiago to Lima that day, but LATAM wouldn’t change our flights. So we made a game-plan: NSPwife would take all of our carry-on luggage (except my backpack) as well as NSPpeanut, and I would RUN to take care of our bags. NSPwife would head to the point-of-no-return – where she would either exit the secured part of the terminal to meet me outside, or simply stay for the transfer to the new flight. I RAN, and I mean RAN to the baggage claim. Definitely over a mile long. And then I waited. And waited. Cell coverage was mediocre at best, but would occasionally get in touch with NSPwife. She was at-the-point-of-no-return, and luckily, there was a LATAM customer service station right there. So she started exploring our options. I FINALLY got the bags, about 35 minutes prior to our scheduled flight take-off time. I then RAN to customs, only to find quite the line. No cell phones allowed in customs. Damn. I cleared with about 15 minutes to flight time, and got in touch with NSPwife as I was lugging 8 bags in a cart in the main terminal searching for LATAM. She said they had worked it out…she thought, and that I just needed to get through security. I made a 90-degree turn, as I was literally right in front of security at that point…the first thing to go our way. I started getting yelled at by security. The cart, right, it wasn’t allowed in. I bailed on the cart, pulled out my phone, only to find the boarding pass had been cancelled when I went to scan it. I texted NSPwife. Yep, she changed me to a flight 30 minutes later…the last seat on that plane. She texted me the confirmation number, and I was able to pull it up on my phone. I re-scanned the new boarding pass, and was cleared to go. Except, I had to carry eight bags, through a massive immigration and security line. Immigration was easy. Security was not. One of the security officers, when seeing how many bags I had, was adamant that I could not bring that many bags through. I explained to him, in my mediocre Spanish, the situation. Reminder: NSPwife had the stroller, and I had a stroller bag FULL of all of our clothes. The officer said to wait a minute while he went to talk to his boss. I said OK, and he walked away. I started loading the luggage up to start being scanned. It all went through. The car seat was taken out of the bag, so the security officer scanning saw the car seat. They definitely didn’t see the stroller…nor were they looking. The first security officer came back, and realized all of my bags had gone through, and I had cleared the metal detector. He was at first upset, then looked down at the stroller bag. I could tell he didn’t believe that there was a stroller in there, so he called out to the officer scanning and asked if was a “coche.” “Si,” replied the officer. I had almost loaded everything up by that point, and the security officer clearly just wanted me out of his hair, and waived me on. OK. Now I have a 20-minute jog. With eight bags. I glanced at the screens while I was running by, and it seemed like the gate for the flight that NSPwife and NSPpeanut were on were only two gates down from my flight. I just kept running. I made it to NSPfamily’s gate just as the plane was backing up. There were still agents at he counter. I dropped my bags, just to take it all in. I had missed our flight, by about 5-10 minutes. Even that was a miracle. They asked me if I was on that flight. I said yes, and they gave me looks that one could imagine, that of sadness and pity. I picked up my plethora of bags, and walked two gates down. I put my bags by some chairs, then walked to the counter with just my stroller and car-seat bag. I asked for gate-check tags. They asked me where my child was at. I explained, in my best mediocre Spanish, that my wife and child took off ten minutes ago from two gates over, and I had missed the flight picking up the luggage. They seemed to understand, and gave me the tags.

I finally made it on the plane. My gate-checked bags were left at the airplane door on the jet-way, and I kept my backpack and carry-ons. I was sweating, beyond belief. My hair was disheveled. I could barely breathe. I had taken some clean clothes and deodorant out of my bags to change into when I got on the plane. We took off shortly after boarding. The passenger next to me appeared to be pretty hung-over. Despite being an afternoon flight, she gave off the same body language and looks of someone taking off from Las Vegas on an early morning flight, fighting between unconsciousness and the barely-living. When the seat belt sign went off, I thought about getting up to change. But my legs wouldn’t work. I was done. I physically couldn’t get up. For a fleeting moment I felt bad about my hygiene, until I looked at my seatmate, who seemingly was only on the brink of the living. The flight was nice. The sandwich was ok, there was seat-back entertainment, and I oscillated between conscientious meditation to calm my nerves and napping.

LATAM Economy Beer, SCL>LIM

LATAM Economy Sandwich, SCL>LIM

I disembarked from the plane, with the eight bags, and made my way to the baggage claim, where I reunited with NSPwife and NSPpeanut. We were all exhausted, and grabbed a trolley to push our entire haul of cargo.

The last time we were in Lima, was in 2012 for a wedding, and I really wanted to head into the city to grab some great Peruvian food. Prior to the day’s debacle, we were at a 30% chance, given how bad traffic is in Peru. Despite the 5-hour layover, clearing customs, re-checking bags, catching a taxi to the city during rush hour, and getting back would have been difficult. With the sweat still barely dried, we grabbed a close second to a nice seafood dinner in the city…airport McDonald’s. We ate while we stood in line at the American Airlines counter, which only opens four hours before the flight, which meant we had to wait for about 45 minutes. It was ok. The french fries hit the spot, and we didn’t have much else to do.

After checking our bags, we headed to the Hanaq Priority Pass Lounge. It was a nice lounge, two levels, with food, drinks, and most importantly for me, a shower. NSPwife and NSPpeanut grabbed some snacks, and I went to shower. Fully reinvigorated and alive again. I hit up the bar, only to find out they limit alcoholic drinks to two per person. We still had a few hours until the flight. Time to find a new lounge! We hung out for about 45 minutes, NSPpeanut was playing with some other kids in the kids-area of the lounge. It was really fun to watch kids play with one another, not understanding one another due to different native tongues, but not letting that get in the way of a good time. Maybe there is yet hope for humanity. We then walked through the terminal, hoping to find an open currency-exchange location, but to no avail, so we went to the Sumaq Priority Pass Lounge, which is adjacent to the Hanaq Lounge. As would be expected, the food and drink offering was identical. We spend about thirty minutes in there until it was time to board our flight.

Sumaq Priority Pass Lounge

We had purposefully booked this flight, all 3 people in business class, to give us 5.5 hours of sleep in the air. The flight was listed at just over 6 hours. As we were settling in, the captain came over the radio stating that the flight time would be roughly 4 hours and 45 minutes. That meant that after subtracting time for take-off and landing, we’d be lucky if we got just even four hours of sleep.

American Airlines – Pre-Departure Drink, SCL>MIA

American Airlines – Amenity Kit, SCL>MIA

American Airlines – Amenity Kit, SCL>MIA

American Airlines – Business Class, SCL>MIA

We would have forewent drinks or food and stretched our sleep time as long as possible, but give it wouldn’t be much anyways, so I decided to try the spread:

American Airlines Dinner – Business Class, LIM>MIA

Landing in Miami, we had planned to go to the American Express Centurion Lounge that comes along with the AMEX Platinum Card. We had visited that lounge on the way to Costa Rica just a couple years earlier, and really enjoyed the experience, but opted to try out the American Airlines Flagship Lounge. I hadn’t thought our international business tickets would grant us access upon arrival, but it did. The lounge was on the second floor and very large, which allowed us to take an entire section for our extremely tired 4-year-old to be a bit grumpy and still not bother any other guests:

American Airlines Flagship First Lounge, MIA

American Airlines Flagship First Lounge, MIA

American Airlines Flagship First Lounge, MIA

American Airlines Flagship First Lounge, MIA

American Airlines Flagship First Lounge, MIA

American Airlines Flagship First Lounge, MIA

They had a nice food spread…

American Airlines Flagship First Lounge – Food & Beverage, MIA

American Airlines Flagship First Lounge – Food & Beverage, MIA

American Airlines Flagship First Lounge – Food & Beverage, MIA

American Airlines Flagship First Lounge – Food & Beverage, MIA

American Airlines Flagship First Lounge – Food & Beverage, MIA

American Airlines Flagship First Lounge – Food & Beverage, MIA

American Airlines Flagship First Lounge – Food & Beverage, MIA

…although Florida law prohibited alcohol to be served in the morning:

American Airlines Flagship First Lounge, MIA

American Airlines Flagship First Lounge, MIA

We packed up our stuff and headed to the gate. There was a small kids area on the way:

Kids Zone, Miami Airport

Kids Zone, Miami Airport

We jumped on the final flight, a short hop in First Class from Miami to Chicago. It was a great trip, minus the many self-inflicted travel-related issues we encountered. Luckily everyone worked through the pain, including NSPpeanut, albeit with multiple McDonald’s french fry bribes. We love South America, and can’t wait to go back.

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A Week in Argentina – Part 2: Copa Airlines Business Class ORD > PTY > SCL

March 6, 2020

Previous Trip Notes
A Week in Argentina – Part 1: The Setup & Arrival to Hell (ORD)

CM236: Copa Air Business Class, ORD>PNY
We boarded the flight a bit late, given our morning issues. While there would have been time for a pre-departure drink, the flight attendants didn’t offer us any. All other travelers in business class had either water, orange juice, or champagne. While it would have been nice to start off with a mimosa, it wasn’t a big deal. It’s funny how time and experience changes perspectives. Six years ago, Copa Airlines was one of the first business class flights I experienced. The food was GREAT (or maybe it was just relative to our experiences in economy). Looking at flight reviews of Copa, there tended to be an overwhelming amount of negativity towards to service and in-flight experience. I received first-hand that type of experience the night before our flight. I first chatted online with a Copa representative asking if they had Copa Showpass on our flight. After waiting 10 minutes to be connected to an agent, we chatted for a few minutes and then the chat window closed down and said “chatting is out of the service hours.” Which continued to say that for the next 20 minutes even though it was two hour prior to their stated chat service hours. So I gave them a call. I asked three questions:

Did the flight have Showpass?
Did the flight have power plugs?
What was the latest we could get to the airport and check our bags (our boarding pass stated 90 minutes, but just wanted to confirm)?

The answers were: yes, yes, and three hours. I said three hours seemed strange, since online and the boarding pass said 90 minutes. He then confirmed that 2-3 hours is the time. I hung-up and told NSPwife: “I’m not sure he even works for the airline, but my guess is we just received incorrect information. Which we did. The reason for the Showpass question was to determine how many shows and movies we would need to download for NSPpeanut. Power plug availability would determine if we needed 1-2 computers (I wanted to get work done while flying, even without wifi). So we planned for no Showpass and no power plugs. Good thing, there was neither. Even despite this page in the magazine in my seatback

Copa Airlines Phantom Amenities

Copa Airlines Phantom Amenities

Ya, this didn’t exist.

Prior to takeoff, we gave the flight attendant our orders. Choices were between a quiche and pancakes. I ordered the pancakes, but unfortunately there was only one left, so switched to the quieche so that NSPpeanut could have the pancakes. As it turned out, breakfast was pretty good. Nothing to write home about, but it definitely hit the spot:

Copa Airlines Business Class Breakfast

Copa Airlines Business Class Breakfast

One of my favorite things about flying internationally is trying the different beers from various countries. I went with an Atlas beer from Panama, and it was pretty good:

Copa Airlines Beer Flight

Overall service was friendly, but somewhat inattentive. Despite having two attendants manage the business class cabin with 16 seats, only one attendant handled most of the food service, which meant it took nearly 20 minutes to serve everybody. Seats were large, and fairly comfortable, but the lack of wifi, inflight entertainment (other than a shared drop-down screen that played pre-selected movies), and power plugs really limit ones productivity on the flight. The rest of the flight was uneventful, and we were soon landing in Panama.

CM111: Copa Air Business Class, PTY>SCL
We had a 70-minute layover in Panama City. We scoped out where our gate was to ensure we wouldn’t be late for boarding, and headed to the closet Priority Pass lounge, The Global Lounge. We were on such a tight schedule, that we only had about ten minutes in the lounge, so I didn’t get a chance to snap photos. I was too busy trying to find food that NSPpeanut would eat. She’s not the pickiest eater in the world, but she is also not the easiest. Luckily the lounge offered four of her favorite dishes: pasta, rice, tomatoes and cucumbers. She didn’t like the pasta (until I put Parmesan cheese on it) and didn’t like the rice, but she demolished the tomatoes. We were there long enough for me to have one beer and burn my mouth on a cappuccino. NSPwife had a club soda and we were on our way.

We boarded the plane 28-minutes before take-off, and noticed this plane was much nicer than our previous ride. This plane had individual entertainment consoles, power plugs, and USB chargers:

Entertainment Screens and Power Plugs. Check.

Thank goodness. This also helped NSPpeanut survive another long flight, as the kids selection was fairly decent: Mickey’s Roadster Racers, Moana, and Frozen are NSPpeanut favorites that were all offered. And since they were on a personalized TV vs. her iPad, it was extra special. Pre-departure drinks were offered, and the flight attendants took meal orders. Choices were chicken with rice or pork empanadas. Meal service started with a salad, asparagus soup (which was really good), and warm bread:

Copa Airlines Business Class Meal, PTY>SCL

Copa Airlines Business Class Meal, PTY>SCL

Meal service was then served. My pork was pretty good, although nothing special. And NSPwife’s chicken and rice was pretty good. The main courses were followed by a dessert cart offering brownies and lemon cakes, as well as Bailey’s, coffee, and/or cognac. The dessert was average, but the Bailey’s on the rocks hit the spot. After the meal, I sunk back into my seat and finished watching a movie.

Even though the seat had far more options than the seat on the earlier flight, I did not find it very comfortable. The seat naturally reclined a bit in it’s fully upright position, and since the leg rest was an extension to the seat, you couldn’t bend your knees at a 90-degree angle. This forced you to sit back a bit and have your legs at a weird forced angle. Throughout the flight I would try to reposition myself, and the seat, to no success.

Overall the service was good, but nothing particularly special. Amenity kits were basic:

Copa Airlines Business Class Amenity Kit, PTY>SCL

Copa Airlines Business Class Amenity Kit, PTY>SCL

We arrived about fifteen minutes early, which was great given it was 12:05am, and we had a central market and cooking tour the next morning at 8am. Unfortunately, it was roughly a mile walk to immigration. Despite being in business class, the fact that we had to wait for our gate-checked items meant most of the plane was already in line in front of us. Luckily, a security officer pointed us to a secondary line for pregnant women, disabled patrons, and kids with strollers. Thank goodness. Five minutes later we were out to get a taxi, since…as noted previously, we didn’t have any checked bags.

I had read that you should only hire the official taxis outside of the airport. What I didn’t read, or maybe realize, was that you had to pay for the taxis inside. I thought they were your Cancun-like private car companies that would try to scam you. So we went outside, jumped in a taxi, and when they asked for my ticket, meant we had to go back inside and buy one. We got to the hotel a little after 1:00am. We were all exhausted, ready to go to bed, and set our alarm for a quick six hours of sleep.

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A Week in Argentina – Part 1: The Setup & Arrival to Hell (ORD)

March 5, 2020

The Intro
Well, that was an adventure. Traveling hundreds of thousands of miles over the past decade, while there have been occasional delays, cancellations, and unexpected issues that have arisen, we have been pretty fortunate with our travels and are both adaptable when necessary and keep relatively calm under pressure. This required both adaptability and a cool calmness that approaches an entirely new level.

The Trip Setup
NSPwife and I traveled to South America in 2013. The impetus behind the trip was that a good friend of ours was getting married in Lima, Peru. Coincidentally, this was the first miles and points trip I ever booked. We flew business class on United and Copa Airlines from Cleveland to Chicago to Panama to Buenos Aires. We stayed at the Park Hyatt in Buenos Aires, and were immediately hooked. This was our first lounge access trip. Our first business class trip. Our first 5-star hotel experience on points. And what a way to start. It continued flying LATAM business class to Santiago, Chile, where we headed to Colchagua Valley, stayed at a Vineyard and got engaged. We continued in business class on LATAM to Lima, then finished off our journey on Air Canada in business class in our private pods. There was no going back.

While we loved South America, Southeast Asia has a special place in our hearts, and other than a trip to Mauritius and South Africa, we have steadfastly explored the various countries in Southeast Asia. We decided it was finally time to break that habit, and return to South America. We had looked at Rio, Patagonia, and a few other locations, but given NSPwife was carrying NSPbabysister in her belly, we were restricted to non-Zika zones. Thus, we had to find high-altitude locations. We loved Santiago, Chile, but only spent a night there on our previous trip, so we decided to hit that up for a day on our way to Mendoza, Argentina. Who doesn’t like Malbec, steak, the Andes, and some potential adventure activities. So that was our agenda.

The Flights

Chicago O’Hare to Panama City, Panama – Copa Airlines Business Class: 60,000 miles per person + $20.55 total
Panama City to Santiago, Chile – Copa Airlines Business Class: Continuation from above
Santiago, Chile to Mendoza, Argentina – LATAM Airlines Economy 6,000 miles per person +$26.40
Mendoza, Argentina to Santiago, Chile – LATAM Airlines Economy: 14,500 miles per person + $235.26 total
Santiago, Chile to Lima, Peru – LATAM Airlines Economy: Continuation from above
Lima, Peru to Miami, Florida – American Airlines Business Class: 30,000 miles per person + $116.72
Miami, Florida to Chicago O’Hare – American Airlines Business Class: Continuation from above

That totaled: 339,000 miles and $398.93 for round-trip mostly business class flights to South America for three people.

The Hotels
We used our IHG free night certificate that comes with the Chase IHG card for Santiago to stay at the InterContinental. While the certificate is free, the cost for the card is $49 per year, so let’s consider the price for the night at $49.

In Mendoza, we stayed at the Park Hyatt. NSPwife has Globalist status, mostly from spend on her World of Hyatt credit card. So for 12,000 points per night and an applied suite upgrade, we rocked a Park Hyatt for four nights for a total of 48,000 points and no dollars.

Total cost for five nights at nice hotels was 48,000 points and $49.

The Start
We took off for the airport at 6:20am to catch a 9:00am flight. It should be a 50-minute drive at that hour, giving us enough time to casually check-in, head to a lounge for a bite to eat and drink, and then board the plane. All was going well, our scheduled Uber was perfectly on time, and the roads were looking good. Then we hit some traffic. I popped open Google Maps only to see something that seemed like it couldn’t possibly be right: An hour and fifteen minute proposed delay due to an accident that was right at a point where alternate routes weren’t an option. Surely they would clear the accident soon and traffic would resume. Only, they did not, and it did not. I anxiously watched the airport arrival time creep on, ultimately set at 8:28am and not budging in either direction, and begin thinking through our options:

Beg the gate agents to check our bags, stating it was OK if they didn’t make our plane and could go on a later flight
There was space available on the 2:40pm flight. That would be worst case scenario. We had a central market tour and cooking lesson in Santiago the next morning at 8am that we would miss. And the thought of flying a red-eye on non-lie-flat seats with a four year old seemed like a bad way to start the trip
NSPwife and NSPpeanut could possibly get to the plane, and I would check luggage and take the 2:40pm flight. FML, but at least the other two could be on their way
We had a baby stroller and car seat, each with their own bags. We could take all of our clothes/toiletries/shoes/packed items out of our one large suitcase and throw them in the stroller & car seat bags to gate-check. I was not sure if that was frowned upon or admissible

The Uber pulled up and I ran with the two bags we were going to check to the Copa counter. NSPwife was taking care of NSPpeanut and our carry-ons. I flew to the counter. It was a ghost town. No one to be seen. I yelled a few times hoping someone from Copa would be in the back. No luck. We decided that we were going with option #4. The transfer of items began in full force, items thrown ravishly out of the suitcase and into the stroller bag. and we left our suitcase behind. Only a couple hours later I feared the worst: did we leave the suitcase in the middle of the terminal or did we push it by a trash can? Was O’Hare Terminal 5 now on lockdown because an abandoned suitcase was found there? Nerves kicked in during the end of our next flight and lasted until touch-down and a quick google news search.

We were lucky…the night before I downloaded boarding passes on a whim to my phone. Typically, I wouldn’t bother for international flights. So we had boarding pass documents to get us through security. Security said we had too many bags. I explained they were gate-check items that were approved by Copa. Luckily security really couldn’t care less about what was going on. That worked. They shrugged and let us pass. There was no security line, thank goodness. And Copa allows TSA Pre-Check. So we scrambled through quickly.

We got to the gate, grabbed our gate-check tags, and were some of the last ones on the plane. Somehow. Somehow, we made it. Sweaty, out of breath, but relieved. I really needed that pre-departure beverage…

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A Delayed Honeymoon: Part 11 – Athens, Greece & Business Class Home

February 14, 2020

Note: This post was apparently never finished nor published, and is thus being finished over four years after the completion of the trip. Some details, ahem, are a bit foggy.

We landed in Athens for our final two days and one night of the trip. We opted to stay at the Intercontinental hotel, given we had our annual free night certificate that comes along the the Chase IHG Card (at the time it was a $49 annual fee, making it a $49 room rate). The hotel was large, and nice, though the room rather simplistic. One nice touch was a check-in amenity of greek olive oil:

Intercontinental Hotel Welcome Amenity – Athens, Greece

Intercontinental Hotel – Athens, Greece

Intercontinental Hotel – Athens, Greece

Intercontinental Hotel – Athens, Greece

Intercontinental Hotel – Athens, Greece

Intercontinental Hotel Standard Room – Athens, Greece

Intercontinental Hotel Standard Room – Athens, Greece

Intercontinental Hotel Standard Room – Athens, Greece

Intercontinental Hotel Standard Room – Athens, Greece

Intercontinental Hotel Standard Room – Athens, Greece

We spent our time exploring the many ruins in Athens:

Sanctuary of Asclepius – Athens, Greece

Arch of Hadrian – Athens, Greece

Acropolis – Athens, Greece

Temple of Hephaestus – Athens, Greece

Acropolis – Athens, Greece

Acropolis – Athens, Greece

Parthenon – Athens, Greece

Parthenon – Athens, Greece

Temple of Olympian Zeus – Athens, Greece

Acropolis – Athens, Greece

Acropolis – Athens, Greece

Odeon of Herodes Atticus – Athens, Greece

Acropolis – Athens, Greece

We walked the entire day, taking in the sites. While the ruins and history were amazing, the sheer density of people was overwhelming. It didn’t help that much of the city was seemingly unkempt, with trash and graffiti everywhere. When on top of the hilltops, while the view was stunning, all you could see were rolling hills with houses piled up one on top of the other:

Rolling Hills of Athens, Greece

One highlight was exploring the Panathenaic Stadium, made of marble:

Panathenaic Stadium – Athens, Greece

Panathenaic Stadium – Athens, Greece

Running the Stairs at Panathenaic Stadium – Athens, Greece

Running a Lap at Panathenaic Stadium – Athens, Greece

We were dead tired by time we got back to the hotel. We opted for a nice restaurant which was about a five minute walk from the hotel, called it a night, knowing that the morning was going to take us back to reality.

The next morning, we arose very early. We had changed our flights when availability for a more direct routing opened up just the day before. Our original itinerary had us departing Athens at 6:10am, flying Lufthansa Business Class to Munich, followed by Lufthansa Business Class to Amsterdam, then United Business Class to Washington Dulles, landing at 3pm. The new routing gave us a wonderful 20 minutes of additional rest, flying out of Athens at 6:30am to Zurich on Swiss Air Business Class, then straight to Washington Dulles on United in Business Class landing at 3:25pm. The change not only gave us 20 minutes of more sleep and one less stop, it also allowed for a relaxing layover rather than non-stop running from one plane to the next.

I was excited to try out Swiss Air’s Business Class product as I had heard good reviews of it. Sadly, the experience did not live up to the hype. In addition to having regular economy seats (business class meant they placed a tray over the middle seat so no one was sitting next to you, they played cartoons on old-school drop-down TVs and had mediocre food:

Swiss Air – Business Class, Athens, Greece to Zurich, Switzerland

Swiss Air – Business Class, Athens, Greece to Zurich, Switzerland

The one nice touch was providing some Swiss chocolate:

Swiss Air – Business Class, Athens, Greece to Zurich, Switzerland

Once we arrived in Zurich, we headed to the Lufthansa Business Class Lounge. It was a nice lounge, very large, and despite the early hour, had multiple fully-stocked bars:

Lufthansa Business Class Lounge – Zurich, Switzerland

Lufthansa Business Class Lounge – Zurich, Switzerland

Lufthansa Business Class Lounge – Zurich, Switzerland

Lufthansa Business Class Lounge – Zurich, Switzerland

Lufthansa Business Class Lounge – Zurich, Switzerland

Lufthansa Business Class Lounge – Zurich, Switzerland

Lufthansa Business Class Lounge – Zurich, Switzerland

Overall it was a fantastic honeymoon. One that started off solo for each of us, me in Abu Dhabi, and NSPwife in Germany, had us taking a surreal nighttime power boat ride through the middle of the Indian Ocean, snorkeling with sharks, watching sunsets over deserts in the Middle East and the waters of the Mediterranean Sea, and experiencing luxury airline travel and hotel stays. Reality was about to crash back to us, particularly 149 days later when NSPpeanut would finally join our family.

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A Long Weekend in Tokyo – Part 4: ANA First Class, Home

February 3, 2020

Previous Trip Notes:
A Long Weekend in Tokyo – Part 3: Day 3 & Park Hyatt
A Long Weekend in Tokyo – Part 2: Days 1-2 & Grand Hyatt Tokyo
A Long Weekend in Tokyo – Part 1: Trip Set-Up & ANA First Class

With only being in Tokyo for three days, our schedule was action-packed. We tried to keep quasi-western hours, waking up at a local time that I usually go to bed at on the weekends back at home. When figuring out our final days’ activities, we charted everything out and booked our train based on the time we needed to be at the airport. Except, because of a miscommunication between me and NSPwife, the time the Narita Express left was actually the time we were supposed to be at the airport. Whoops. Given it is roughly an hour train-ride, we were cutting it really close. To say we had some nerves was an understatement. Upon arriving at NRT, we worked our way up the escalators. And up. And up. It seemed like we were never going to get there. We began to jog. We finally made it to the arrival terminal, which was very large, and had kiosks. Given we did not have checked luggage, and just needed to get to the gate, we approached a kiosk. Luckily, an ANA representative asked us where we were going, and seeing we had First Class tickets quickly ushered us to a private check-in area, which was almost a mini-terminal in itself:

Private ANA First Class Check-In Area

After a quick check-in, they escorted us out what seemed like a secret back-door, and walked us to a private security clearance area. Forget the fairly long line, it took roughly seven minutes from the moment we entered the check-in area to get our tickets and clear security. There was again time for a lounge visit.

We found some comfortable seats to relax after our nice jog:

ANA First Class Lounge – NRT, Tokyo, Japan

NSPwife went to look for some Olympic Gear she could buy, and I checked out the food and beverage selection. Overall, the lounge was fairly mediocre. Given the check-in situation, I was expecting a highly elevated offering, but it was not much different than a standard U.S. domestic lounge. One nice feature, though, is a currency converter machine. Sadly it was out of service, but the exchange rates were pretty competitive, and given the number of times I’ve found myself in a lounge before boarding a plane with local currency, was a nice touch. Food and beverage was average, at best:

ANA First Class Lounge – NRT, Tokyo, Japan

ANA First Class Lounge – NRT, Tokyo, Japan

ANA First Class Lounge – NRT, Tokyo, Japan

ANA First Class Lounge – NRT, Tokyo, Japan

ANA First Class Lounge Currency Machine – NRT, Tokyo, Japan

ANA First Class Lounge – NRT, Tokyo, Japan

ANA First Class Lounge – NRT, Tokyo, Japan

By time NSPwife got back, it was time to board the plane:

ANA First Class Boarding, NRT > ORD

ANA First Class Boarding, NRT > ORD

Well hello, First Class ANA. I haven’t seen you in….72 hours.

ANA First Class, NRT > ORD

The amenity kits had been changed out during our trip (technically they were supposed to be on our outbound flight, but had not been changed yet), so it was actually nice to be able to receive both of them:

ANA First Class Amenity Kit, NRT > ORD

ANA First Class Amenity Kit, NRT > ORD

Despite gorging on food for four straight days, the menu was too good to stop now:

ANA First Class Amuse-bouche, NRT > ORD

ANA First Class Meal Service, NRT > ORD

ANA First Class Meal Service, NRT > ORD

ANA First Class Cappccino, NRT > ORD

ANA First Class Meal Service, NRT > ORD

ANA First Class Meal Service, NRT > ORD

ANA First Class Meal Service, NRT > ORD

ANA First Class Meal Service, NRT > ORD

ANA First Class Meal Service, NRT > ORD

Service was again good, and for essentially 47,000 miles, the flight can’t be beat. Concluding the flight, it was time for a celebratory drink:

ANA First Class Champagne, NRT > ORD

It was now roughly 96 hours after we took off to go halfway across the world. Most people think we are crazy to have gone to Tokyo for just four days. But one of the advantages of flying in business and first class is that it’s part of the journey, part of the trip. And rest comes much easier than in economy. Even though jet-lag hit us, we were generally well-rested. That allowed us to hit the ground running, on both ends of the trip.

I changed out of pajamas and back into the same clothes I started the trip with. Home.

ANA First Class, NRT > ORD

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Credit Cards / Luxury Airline Travel / Miles & Points / Travel

A Long Weekend in Tokyo – Part 1: Trip Set-Up & ANA First Class

December 1, 2019

The Setup
It’s hard to find a true deal in the miles & points world these days. Chase 5/24 significantly limits options not only on their own front, but for personal cards across all banks. Selectivity is key in order to maximize value. And sometimes things pop up where it is nice just to have a “bank” of miles and points in places that you never thought you would use. That’s probably the hardest part of playing to survive Chase’s 5/24. Having said that, the bank of Citi Thank You points and AMEX Membership Rewards we’ve amassed have sat rather idle. We tapped into them for our trip around Asia last year, but otherwise primarily rely on Ultimate Rewards. So when both Citi and AMEX announced a 30% point transfer bonus to Virgin Atlantic, we jumped on it. You can fly ANA First Class using Virgin Atlantic miles for only 120,000, round-trip. In addition, ANA flies non-stop from Chicago to Tokyo. With the transfer bonus, you only needed 92,308 miles (although technically since you can only transfer in increments of 1,000, it took 93,000 miles per person). 93,000 miles. First Class. Round-Trip Non-Stop to Tokyo? Yes please.

The Trip
We woke up around 6am and called an Uber. It took roughly an hour to get to O’Hare airport, and there was no line at the ANA check-in counter. We rolled up to the first-class check-in line, each with a back-pack and small carry-on; no need to check anything for this trip. The agent checked our Passports and handed us our tickets. We headed towards the security lines, which were massive for those without TSA Precheck, but was less than five minutes until we cleared security with Pre-check. We made our way to the United Polaris lounge, which is the partner lounge that ANA uses for their first class passengers.

The lounge was very nice, probably the nicest lounge we’ve been to in the U.S., and United nailed the first impression with an impressive entry check-in area. Once inside, even the hallway leading to the bathrooms looks fairly chic. Seating choices include semi-private suites, similar to airline suites, open chairs which aren’t very conducive to eating, high-tops in the bar area, or the bar itself. Despite needing a light breakfast, we opted for the more comfortable and open chairs. We ordered mimosas from the bar and snacked on some of the breakfast offerings. We were reluctant to load up on food in the lounge, as we were excited to try the highly praised food once on our flight.

United Polaris Lounge, ORD

United Polaris Lounge, ORD

United Polaris Lounge, ORD

United Polaris Lounge, ORD

United Polaris Lounge, ORD

United Polaris Lounge, ORD

United Polaris Lounge, ORD

United Polaris Lounge, ORD

United Polaris Lounge, ORD

United Polaris Lounge, ORD

United Polaris Lounge, ORD

United Polaris Lounge, ORD

United Polaris Lounge, ORD

After about an hour of relaxing, we made our way to the flight. The boarding area was crazy, everyone was lined up for all cabins.

ANA Boarding, ORD > NRT

First Class passengers share their boarding lane with ANA Diamond members, and I have to imagine if business flyers are going back and forth between Tokyo and Chicago, they rack up those elite miles quick. As such, there were about 20 passengers in front of us waiting to board. After about ten minutes we made it to our seats.

ANA First Class, ORD > NRT

ANA First Class, ORD > NRT

The flight attendants introduced themselves, asked if we wanted to change into our pajamas (of course!), and let us know that the other two seats on our side of the plane were empty, and that we were free to use them if we wanted for sleeping, eating or otherwise. We each changed into our pajamas, ordered champagne, and started checking out our new abode for the next thirteen hours.

ANA First Class, ORD > NRT

The seats were nice, although the suite itself blocks three of the four windows, and due to this it isn’t possible to look out the window while seated normally. I also didn’t find the bed or the seat positions to be the most comfortable I’ve experienced. The TV, remote, and storage spaces were all nicely laid out, although the headphones barely fit in their specific headphones cabinet, which was a bit odd (maybe they changed out to larger headphones after the cabinet was made?). The amenity kits were great:

ANA First Class, ORD > NRT Amenity Kit

And they of course provided noise-cancelling headsets as well as free 10MB of WiFi:

ANA First Class, ORD > NRT Free WiFi

ANA First Class, ORD > NRT Headphones

After takeoff the flight attendant came around to take meal orders. The menu included western and Japanese menus, although I opted to order off of both:

ANA First Class, ORD > NRT Menu

ANA First Class, ORD > NRT Menu

ANA First Class, ORD > NRT Menu

ANA First Class, ORD > NRT Menu

ANA First Class, ORD > NRT Wine List

ANA First Class, ORD > NRT Wine List

ANA First Class, ORD > NRT Wine List

ANA First Class, ORD > NRT Wine List

I had been excited for quite a while to try the Suntory Hibiki Whiskey on the flight, however, I learned on the plane that they only serve the 18-year on the Chicago-Tokyo flight and that the 21-year is exclusive to the London and New York flights. While a bit disappointed, the food more than made up for it. I started with the amuse-bouche including apricot and goat cheese, smoked salmon, foie-gras mousse, and a pepper bar, followed by a shrimp and scallop appetizer, corn soup, sashimi, filet, and a berry tarte:

ANA First Class, ORD > NRT Kirin

ANA First Class, ORD > NRT Mousse

ANA First Class, ORD > NRT Cheese & Crackers

ANA First Class, ORD > NRT Filet

ANA First Class, ORD > NRT Sushi

ANA First Class, ORD > NRT Corn Chowder

ANA First Class, ORD > NRT Shrimp

Immediately after breakfast, ahem, dinner, I went to the restroom and asked the flight attendant to prepare the bed. I brushed my teeth – the lavatory had a ton of toothbrushes, toothpaste and other toiletries – and headed back to my seat. The bed was set, and I quickly fell asleep for roughly six hours. I woke up at 4pm Central Time, which was 6am in Tokyo. While slightly groggy, I had a couple cappuccinos to wake up, which were served with some chocolates:

ANA First Class, ORD > NRT Menu Cappuccino

ANA First Class, ORD > NRT Chocolates

I also ordered a bowl of ramen, which was quite possibly the best food I tasted on the entire trip, and accompanied it with an 18-year Habiki Whiskey:

ANA First Class, ORD > NRT Ramen

ANA First Class, ORD > NRT Hibiki Whiskey

Later in the flight I finished meal service with curry and rice as well as some Matcha:

ANA First Class, ORD > NRT Curry

ANA First Class, ORD > NRT Matcha Green Tea

We landed at about 1:30pm local time, and zipped through customs given we had no checked luggage. There are multiple options to get from Narita Airport to downtown Tokyo. Taxis are about ~$250, and the trains were on discount to be just under $40 per person, round-trip. Given the hour of the day, and the possibility of rush hour traffic, we opted for the Narita Express Train. A whirlwind few days were just ahead of us…

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Credit Cards / Luxury Airline Travel / Miles & Points / Travel

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