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In my day-to-day life I rarely have a second to just stop and breathe, so while this trip might seem exhausting to some, I found it supremely relaxing. There’s no therapy quite like being able to turn off one’s phone for 14 hours and disconnect with a good meal, a movie, and most importantly, a good nap, while traveling to some of the world’s coolest destinations.
Part of the fun of traveling long distances, for me at least, is the complete blur that the trip becomes. There’s something exciting about not being tired at 4AM, yet being dead tired at 2PM. And that tingle I get in my head when I wake up and I’m not quite sure where I am or what time it is.
The highlight of my trip, no doubt, was being able to spend a couple of days with my brother, which I don’t do often enough. While I’ve traveled all over the world with him, we’ve never just met up on continents other than North America or Europe. So it was kind of funny to be waiting for him in the arrivals hall at Incheon. It just comes to show you how small the world we live in can be.
As far as the flights go, I was really happy to be able to sample ANA and Asiana for the first time in first class. ANA was all that I expected it to be; they didn’t let me down. They have a great hard product and solid soft product. The flight attendants were great, and the food was quite good. The real pleasant surprise, though, was Asiana. The hard product was fine, but the soft product really blew me away. I’m thinking they have the best western meals of virtually any airline. If there’s an airline with better western meals out there, I’ve yet to try it.
Singapore Airlines was Singapore Airlines. What else needs to be said?
I once again remembered why I refuse to fly United internationally — the product is just incredibly sub-par (mostly stuff not within the crew’s control), but I guess that shouldn’t be surprising.
And most importantly, Aeroplan first class awards from North America to Asia with two stopovers remain one of the best values out there. Being able to travel “around the world” for 120,000 miles is a bargain that never gets old.
I guess this might be as good of a time as any to mention my award consulting business. Till recently I’ve operated mostly by word of mouth, since that has kept me just about as busy as I can handle. But since I get emails all the time from readers asking about award help, I might as well bring it up here. I just added a link to the sidebar which describes my award consulting business, through which I can help you build a similar trip (or any type of award trip you’d like to book). Trips like this aren’t out of reach for anyone that puts a bit of effort into the hobby…
Anyway, more fun travels are on the way in the next few weeks, including some international travel.
Thanks to all that read my report, regardless of whether you enjoyed my report for what it’s worth or decided to pick apart every sentence and read selectively. I welcome your comments either way. 😉
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