After our time in Shanghai, I wanted to get down to my favorite city in the World — Hong Kong! This little jaunt south was not part of my award ticket, so I had to hop on the Interwebs to find a decent deal for a round trip from Shanghai to Hong Kong. I heavily…
Things didn’t start well at the airport. Immigration and customs were both fine, but then it went downhill. Yes, we were exhausted after over 30 hours of travel from Munich at that point, but we fell into a trap at the airport – a trap that I should know better not to fall for: we…
After an extremely early morning bus ride from the Hyatt Regency Tokyo out to Narita, I proceeded to the very exclusive feeling ANA Suite Check-in facility. Here, I was quickly checked in and whisked away to a private security line before I went on to clear immigration. I relaxed for about an hour in the…
We arrived at Shanghai’s Pudong International Airport a couple of hours before our scheduled departure for Toyko-Narita. Check-in was quick and simple, and I was pointed towards the security line where I was able to skip the line since I was flying First. I ended up clearing security and immigration only minimally quicker than my…
First of all, I’ve made no secret of my love for Park Hyatt properties. I feel that they are some of the nicest and well-done properties in the world, and are certainly amongst the best hotels in which I’ve stayed. Before my trip to Shanghai, I’d previously stayed at Park Hyatts in Tokyo, Dubai, Melbourne…
As previously noted, we spent the first part of our layover at the THAI Royal First Lounge, but with twelve hours between flights, I wanted to get into the city a bit just to experience a little of the utter chaos that is Bangkok. We left the lounge and headed for Thailand immigration, where our…
We arrived at Munich’s Franz Josef Strauss International Airport over three hours before our flight since we were just ready to relax a little bit before the flight. There was already a queue formed when we arrived, but we were the first guests in line for Royal First Class. On this flight was myself and…
I’ve been pretty open about my love for Oktoberfest in Munich. As the largest festival in the World, Oktoberfest attracts over 6 million visitors each year during the 17 day event. The past five years, I’ve spent at least a couple days at the Wiesn, and I’ve always had a blast. This year was no…
I’m posting this after completing a short, weekend trip to Anchorage, Alaska as part of a mileage run to hit the American Airlines Executive Platinum Status Challenge. Anchorage is a great place to spend a day, and obviously a fantastic hopping off point to explore more of Alaska, including Denali, the Kenai Peninsula, or even…
A review of our flight back to the States from Sydney to San Francisco in United Global First Class on the B747-400. United Global First is an extremely comfortable way to cross the Pacific, though the seat privacy and catering lags in comparison to first-rate international carriers.