Welcome to my next trip report, covering a quick round the world trip with travel in Ukraine International business class, Vietnam Airlines business class, Cathay Dragon first class, and Hong Kong Airlines business class. My initial inspiration for this trip was wanting to fly Air Belgium, the new startup airline operating flights between Brussels Charleroi…
Continue reading: Introduction: An Unexpected Round The World Trip
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Cannot wait for the HK Airlines review. They are expanding like mad with Chinese hot money through the HNA Group.
The W Hong Kong would be a good target for a review during a short layover in HKG at some point ... it's right off the Airport Express so you can be at the front desk in a half hour from the airport terminal.
I'm planning a RTW trip also where I hit all 7 continents over a span of 6 weeks. Any advice on getting to Antarctica? The cheapest thing I'm seeing is cruise/flight combos for like $5k from South America or Africa.
Best wishes. I’ve always done my RTW trips flying to the west. The jet lag isn’t bad - waking up in time to watch the sun come up ✈️
Just curious, why didn't you take the flight from Kiev to Brussels, given that you had to get to London anyway? From Brussels the flight to London is shorter and cheaper with Avios, and you could even take the high speed rail if you felt like it.
@ Willem -- Keep in mind I was trying to catch the same HKG-LAX flight, and there's no way I could have caught that if I took the same KBP-BRU flight, since it would have been a day after I ended up leaving Kiev. I would have then had to reschedule my return, which would have been more complicated/costly.
@aatraveler, I would suggest a boat from Ushuaia. One of my friends did that. But you have to get there first...
Lucky, tell me: how do you explain your travel patterns and one-night layovers to immigration officials? I have had some terrible times with skeptical border agents (especially in the UK and Canada) traveling on similarly weird itineraries. Do you tell them you're a blogger?
@Andrew
I did a mileage run where I flew from LAX to Auckland to just be there for one day and fly back. Immigration officials detained me and I was held for questioning and had my belongings and searched. It was a scary experience and now I am scared to even go back to New Zealand!
@Andrew that's a good question. I can understand why they're suspicious, with drug trafficking and all that. However, with the rise of bloggers and reviewers, this is becoming more common (and just for fun too!). On the other hand, if you tell them you're a blogger and you are reviewing hotels and so forth, does that constitute "work"? Hope Lucky can shed some light on this.
BTW, great itinerary Lucky - expertly planned!
Great thought! I had a similarly tough experience trying to leave LHR just to get lunch for an 8.5 hour layover. Very curious, @Lucky.
Having flown from Madison to Shanghai, then Bangkok to Chiang Mai and returning to Hong Kong to Chicago then Madison last September; I can't imagine how you had fun flying your Kiev London flights. Good for you! I even went Polaris business class. Took me a week to get over the jet lag.
Just got back from Maui - SFO - MSP - Madison a week ago and am still suffering. Coach was a lot rougher. 🙂
@Andrew @Eric I did two mileage runs to NZ earlier this year where I literally flew from Sydney to NZ on an EK flight, cleared immigration and came straight back through to catch the return flight to Sydney the same day. I didn't have any problems at all, not even a raised eyebrow which I thought was interesting. So easy I would definitely do it again if I needed to.