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Vietnam Airlines Flight # VN 602 Bangkok-BKK to Ho Chi Minh-SGN Dept: 7:35 pm Arr: 9:05 pm Duration: 1 hr 30 min 445 miles (716 km) Airbus A321 Economy Class: Seats 36E and 36G
Here’s a map of our route:
Taxi and takeoff from runway 19R at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport
BOOKINGWe booked our flight as part of a multi-city itinerary that included the following flights:
ANA Flight NH1011 – Chicago-ORD to Tokyo-NRT – B777-300ER ANA Flight NH 913 – Tokyo-NRT to Yangon-RGN – B767-300It was a bit bizarre that we were flying Vietnam Airlines to begin with as we booked our ticket via [...]
Singapore Airlines Flight # SQ 953 Jakarta-CGK to Singapore-SIN Dept: 8:25 am Arr: 11:00 am Duration: 1 hr 35 min 546 miles (879 km) Boeing 777-200 First Class: Seats 1E and 1F
Our trip continued with an early morning departure from the Keraton at The Plaza Hotel in Jakarta to the Soekarno–Hatta International Airport. The departure time was 8:25 am so we found ourselves up and out of the door at a dreadfully early hour. The good news is that we were in the car on the way out by 5:15 am and made it to the airport in record time since there was no traffic!
Our driver was waiting for us by 5 am!
After a quick but fun and action-packed 48 Hours in Bangkok, it was time to head to our next destination: Vietnam.
We were booked on Vietnam Airlines flight VN 602 from Bangkok-BKK to Ho Chi Minh-SGN out of Gate F3 and decided we had a bit of time to try out one of Bangkok’s Priority Pass Lounges: Louis’ Tavern CIP Business Class Lounge – Bangkok-BKK Concourse G.
First off, Louis’ Tavern has a total of 6 lounges at Bangkok-BKK airport, all of which are accessible with a Priority Pass membership. Here’s a map of all of their offerings:
Artwork at [...]
After checking in for our flight at Jakarta’s Soekarno–Hatta International Airport on Singapore Airlines, we headed through security and off to the lounge.
There are 3 options all in the same area: Pura Indah, Executive and Esplanade. The designated Singapore Airlines lounge for First and Business Class passengers was the Esplanade Lounge, so that’s where we headed.
Additionally, this lounge appears to the be the only lounge that is exclusively for Singapore Airlines premium cabin passengers. There didn’t appear to be any other way to enter, i.e. no other airlines use the lounge and it’s not possible to purchase [...]
The Park Hyatt Dubai is a Hyatt Category 5 property, meaning award nights will cost you 20,000 points or 10,000 + $125. Booking with points didn’t make much sense, though, as we were able to book a special 3-night minimum Ramadan rate of about ~$150 US/night + tax. Best of all, when booking with cash or Points + Cash, you can apply a Diamond Suite Upgrade which will land you in a suite and get you access to the minibar for free. More on that later.
CHECK-INWe arrived at the Park Hyatt Dubai around 9:30 pm on a Thursday night during Ramadan after a very long travel day from the US (see Etihad B787 “Business Studio” EY 130 Washington-IAD to Abu [...]
After leaving Istanbul, we headed to Göreme, in the Cappadocia region of central Turkey. The Cappadocia area is known for its unique geography and rich history. Our main reason for visiting the area was to see the famous caves and “fairy chimneys” and take a world-famous hot air balloon ride.
Trying to cram a lot into a small amount of time, our first 24 hours in Göreme involved lots of activities with little sleep: we got to the hotel (which was partly built into the volcanic rock) around 8pm, dropped our stuff, and headed to dinner at this cool restaurant we found within walking distance, Topdeck Cave Restaurant.
First off, here’s the video we shot with my drone that I impulsively bought at the Apple Store in Greenville earlier today. It shows the Harleston Village around Beaufain, Smith, Rutledge, Coming etc…
All of the pictures were shot around 5-6pm on Saturday 10/8.
Lots of roads closed to The Peninsula
Blurry but the point remains: Family Dollar used ALL of the sand bags
A boarded up 39 Rue de Jean
As part of our quest to fly on Etihad’s A380 in their “First Apartment” from Abu Dhabi-AUH to Melbourne-MEL, we had to find a way to position to AUH for the flight over. We decided it would be fun to spend some time in the UAE (we quickly regretted this decision as soon as we stepped into the desert in 117°F heat) and found award availability from Washington-IAD direct to Abu Dhabi-AUH. Best of all, it was operated by one of their new 787s and featured their “Business Studio” class of service.
Here’s a map of our route for the 13 hr 10 min flight that covers a distance of 7,088 miles (11,407 km):
CHECK-IN
We landed on [...]
(Updated 9/1/16):
Added SFO-SIN Added TLV-SFO Removed IAD-DXBI recently researched and completed a list outlining the longest Delta flights in the world and was surprised to see that Delta is considered to be one of the biggest airlines in the world based upon a number of metrics. However, I also became curious about the other U.S. based carriers.
Other posts in this series:
Top 7: Longest domestic US flights Top 10: Longest Domestic Flights in the World Top 12: Longest Non-Stop Delta Flights in the World Top 15: Longest Fifth Freedom Flights in the World Top 10: World’s longest non-stop flights Top 16 Longest Emirates Fifth Freedom Routes: Coming to a City Near [...]The first award redemption of our Around the World trip to Dubai/Australia was booked using American Airlines miles.
We used 60,750 American Airlines AAdvantage miles each (a total of 67,5o0 – 10% rebate since we both have the AAdvantage Aviator Red MasterCard) and booked the following routes in Business Class. We booked before the March 2016 American AAdvantage devaluation, but this award only increased 2,500 points to 70,000 total (link to new award map here).
While we would never have paid the cash rates, it’s always nice knowing that your miles are getting a lot of value as the airfare for this route hovers at around $9,700 per [...]
