Background:
First of all, a big hello to all SQtalkers !
In the past 2 years I have flown around 18 sectors in *A F and many sectors in C around Europe, Asia and between the two (mainly thanks to my friend BMI ). I always go away with the intention of writing a fabulous TR, but for some reason my camera and note pad never seem to leave my bag as I sit back and relax with a glass of champagne, forgetting about the world below. However this year I am determined to carry out my intentions and write a super, amazing report
My girlfriend is an international student from Malaysia so I knew that if I wanted to keep my balls where they are I would have to travel to Asia this summer. I’ve seen enough of KL now to last me a life time so I started thinking of other places I could visit when I’m out there. I’ve already visited Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, and Hong Kong so I was thinking of visiting somewhere different for a change. A few months of lurking on this forum revealed kelvgoh and other SQtalkers’ fantastic TR’s on Japan. It looked so beautiful and exciting that I fell in love and set it in my sights for this years summer trip.
So it was sorted, I will be travelling to Japan this year with a short stop in KL, and as far as I’m concerned there is no better way to get to Asia than in *A F .
I had to figure out a way to pay for both of us to get there. I had around 90k in my BD account but I figured I would have to purchase an extra 35k miles and pay a lot in taxes and on the cash amount and I would still have to fly from Zone 2 (Which I’m sure is well known by a few guilty SQTalkers here ). I also had just over 100k BA miles but these wouldn’t send us very far. I wanted to find a cheaper way of getting there while still retaining my precious BD miles, and then low and behold, a week later the Tesco mobile deal came along... 1000 points when you buy any P&G phone and also a current double miles offer when you convert Tesco points to BA. Around 40 phones later (which I sold back on ebay for the same price I bought them for) my BA balance was up to 260k, but it was still not enough to get us both to Asia. At the same time USairways had the 100% bonus on purchased miles and since they only charge 100k for a return from Europe to N.Asia in F it was a very attractive deal to me. I managed to exchange 160k BA (I gave the other 100k to my uncle for a DUB-USA in C) for 130k US in the Coupon connection foum on FT. I then purchased an extra 70k miles to give me a total of 200k for £650ish.
So now I have enough miles, I just have to plan a route. In my opinion, the more convoluted the routing the better, the more hours my butt spends in an F seat the better and the more champagne I guzzle the better, so I set out to create the most exciting routing I could.
I set myself a list of “to-do’s” for the itinerary and worked from there:
1) Fly the TG 77W suites leased by 9W (could have flown TK but I had done that before and the service was so poor I vowed never to test it again)
2) Visit 2010 Expo in Shanghai.
3) Visit Seoul, a place I have always wanted to visit! (stargold, if you are in the neighbourhood when I’m there I would love to meet up for a drink or two )
4) Experience the delights of Japan and travel on the Shinkansen.
5) Lose my FCT virginity in FRA
6) Take my girlfriend to a Thai island.
7) Fly OZ F, a product I have heard so much about and always wanted to try.
So I set about trying to create an itinerary which incorporated all of the above and eventually came up with the following:
CDG-BKK(TG F) -PVG(TG F)-ICN(OZ F)-NRT(UA F)-BKK(TG F)-ZRH(LX F)
Including a stopover in BKK, a 20 hour transit in PVG and a 22 hour transit in ICN.
I used some of my BMI miles for some flights and purchased some others until my final itinerary is:
LPL-CDG: U2 Y
CDG-BKK: TG F (77W suites)
BKK-KUL: AK Y
1 night in KL
SZB-USM: FY Y
4 nights on Koh Phangan
USM-URT: Ferry
URT-BKK: FD Y
1 night in Bangkok
BKK-PVG: TG F
1 night in Shanghai
PVG-ICN: OZ F
1 night in Seoul
ICN-NRT: UA F
4 nights in Tokyo
NRT-ITM: JL C
4 nights in Osaka, Kyoto, Nara etc
ITM-NRT: JL C
NRT-BKK: TG F (77W suites)
BKK-ZRH: LX F
ZRH-FRA: LX C
FRA-MAN: LH C
taken from gcmap.com
So now I can tick everything off my “to do” list this summer . I will be booking my hotels through priceline where I can to save on cash and I will make sure to include them in my trip report as well. Hopefully there will be plenty of exciting adventures and funny tales along the way which I can share with all of you.
You might be wondering why I am writing this so early? Well the main reason is excitement and the other reason is because I know that if I don’t start it now when I’m excited, it will never be written. Now I know I have to write it or I will have a hoard of SQtalker’s hunting me down for my blood .
Another 4 months till the day of departure but I will keep you updated with hotels I will be reviewing etc .
First of all, a big hello to all SQtalkers !
In the past 2 years I have flown around 18 sectors in *A F and many sectors in C around Europe, Asia and between the two (mainly thanks to my friend BMI ). I always go away with the intention of writing a fabulous TR, but for some reason my camera and note pad never seem to leave my bag as I sit back and relax with a glass of champagne, forgetting about the world below. However this year I am determined to carry out my intentions and write a super, amazing report
My girlfriend is an international student from Malaysia so I knew that if I wanted to keep my balls where they are I would have to travel to Asia this summer. I’ve seen enough of KL now to last me a life time so I started thinking of other places I could visit when I’m out there. I’ve already visited Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, and Hong Kong so I was thinking of visiting somewhere different for a change. A few months of lurking on this forum revealed kelvgoh and other SQtalkers’ fantastic TR’s on Japan. It looked so beautiful and exciting that I fell in love and set it in my sights for this years summer trip.
So it was sorted, I will be travelling to Japan this year with a short stop in KL, and as far as I’m concerned there is no better way to get to Asia than in *A F .
I had to figure out a way to pay for both of us to get there. I had around 90k in my BD account but I figured I would have to purchase an extra 35k miles and pay a lot in taxes and on the cash amount and I would still have to fly from Zone 2 (Which I’m sure is well known by a few guilty SQTalkers here ). I also had just over 100k BA miles but these wouldn’t send us very far. I wanted to find a cheaper way of getting there while still retaining my precious BD miles, and then low and behold, a week later the Tesco mobile deal came along... 1000 points when you buy any P&G phone and also a current double miles offer when you convert Tesco points to BA. Around 40 phones later (which I sold back on ebay for the same price I bought them for) my BA balance was up to 260k, but it was still not enough to get us both to Asia. At the same time USairways had the 100% bonus on purchased miles and since they only charge 100k for a return from Europe to N.Asia in F it was a very attractive deal to me. I managed to exchange 160k BA (I gave the other 100k to my uncle for a DUB-USA in C) for 130k US in the Coupon connection foum on FT. I then purchased an extra 70k miles to give me a total of 200k for £650ish.
So now I have enough miles, I just have to plan a route. In my opinion, the more convoluted the routing the better, the more hours my butt spends in an F seat the better and the more champagne I guzzle the better, so I set out to create the most exciting routing I could.
I set myself a list of “to-do’s” for the itinerary and worked from there:
1) Fly the TG 77W suites leased by 9W (could have flown TK but I had done that before and the service was so poor I vowed never to test it again)
2) Visit 2010 Expo in Shanghai.
3) Visit Seoul, a place I have always wanted to visit! (stargold, if you are in the neighbourhood when I’m there I would love to meet up for a drink or two )
4) Experience the delights of Japan and travel on the Shinkansen.
5) Lose my FCT virginity in FRA
6) Take my girlfriend to a Thai island.
7) Fly OZ F, a product I have heard so much about and always wanted to try.
So I set about trying to create an itinerary which incorporated all of the above and eventually came up with the following:
CDG-BKK(TG F) -PVG(TG F)-ICN(OZ F)-NRT(UA F)-BKK(TG F)-ZRH(LX F)
Including a stopover in BKK, a 20 hour transit in PVG and a 22 hour transit in ICN.
I used some of my BMI miles for some flights and purchased some others until my final itinerary is:
LPL-CDG: U2 Y
CDG-BKK: TG F (77W suites)
BKK-KUL: AK Y
1 night in KL
SZB-USM: FY Y
4 nights on Koh Phangan
USM-URT: Ferry
URT-BKK: FD Y
1 night in Bangkok
BKK-PVG: TG F
1 night in Shanghai
PVG-ICN: OZ F
1 night in Seoul
ICN-NRT: UA F
4 nights in Tokyo
NRT-ITM: JL C
4 nights in Osaka, Kyoto, Nara etc
ITM-NRT: JL C
NRT-BKK: TG F (77W suites)
BKK-ZRH: LX F
ZRH-FRA: LX C
FRA-MAN: LH C
taken from gcmap.com
So now I can tick everything off my “to do” list this summer . I will be booking my hotels through priceline where I can to save on cash and I will make sure to include them in my trip report as well. Hopefully there will be plenty of exciting adventures and funny tales along the way which I can share with all of you.
You might be wondering why I am writing this so early? Well the main reason is excitement and the other reason is because I know that if I don’t start it now when I’m excited, it will never be written. Now I know I have to write it or I will have a hoard of SQtalker’s hunting me down for my blood .
Another 4 months till the day of departure but I will keep you updated with hotels I will be reviewing etc .
Comment