Tag: japan

Review: Korean Air A330-200 Prestige Class NRT-ICN

.Reading time 5 minutes.
  1. Introduction
  2. Review: United 787-8 Dreamliner BusinessFirst SFO-KIX
  3. Review: Osaka Marriott Miyako Hotel
  4. Highlights from Osaka
  5. Highlights from Kyoto
  6. Review: Kyomachiya Ryokan Sakura Honganji
  7. Review: Hyatt Regency Tokyo
  8. Highlights from Tokyo

Our adventure in Japan was coming to an end. I was excited to get home via Korean Air’s business class. Google Maps told us it would take about an hour to drive to Tokyo Narita Airport. We weren’t sure what the security situation would be like, so we left our hotel around 9am for our 12:45pm flight.

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Highlights from Tokyo

.Reading time 7 minutes.
  1. Introduction
  2. Review: United 787-8 Dreamliner BusinessFirst SFO-KIX
  3. Review: Osaka Marriott Miyako Hotel
  4. Highlights from Osaka
  5. Highlights from Kyoto
  6. Review: Kyomachiya Ryokan Sakura Honganji
  7. Review: Hyatt Regency Tokyo

Tokyo was the last leg of our trip and the most overwhelming city I’ve ever visited. After seven days in Japan, I was pretty tired. If I were to plan this trip again, I would do it in reverse: Tokyo – Kyoto – Osaka, front-loading the days that require the most mental and physical energy at the beginning of the trip. A lesson I’ve learned for my future trips!

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Review: Hyatt Regency Tokyo

.Reading time 2 minutes.
  1. Introduction
  2. Review: United 787-8 Dreamliner BusinessFirst SFO-KIX
  3. Review: Osaka Marriott Miyako Hotel
  4. Highlights from Osaka
  5. Highlights from Kyoto
  6. Review: Kyomachiya Ryokan Sakura Honganji

Booking

I booked four nights here using my Citi Prestige so I could utilize the fourth night free benefit. I called the Citi concierge and provided by corporate code and my Hyatt account number and they booked the hotel for me. Overall, the total cost was $1301.38 before the fourth night free rebate of $283 which posted to my account two months after our stay.

Getting There

After our stay in Kyoto, we took a quick cab from our Ryokan to Kyoto Station. At Kyoto Station, we purchased two Shinkansen tickets from a kiosk for $129 each. We also stopped at one of the many convenience stores in the station to grab lunch and snacks for the train ride. Read More

Review: United 787-8 Dreamliner BusinessFirst SFO-KIX

.Reading time 5 minutes.
  1. Introduction
  2. Review: United 787-8 Dreamliner BusinessFirst SFO-KIX

We arrived at SFO around 8:45 for our 11:15am flight to Osaka. Though our business class tickets granted us access to the United Club, we went to the Centurion lounge instead. After a quick breakfast and some lounging, we headed to gate 102 for our flight.

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  • United 35
  • SFO -> KIX
  • Depart: Sep 28, 2016 11:15am
  • Arrive: Sep 29, 2016 3pm
  • Seats: 2K, 2L (BusinessFirst)

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Japan: Introduction

.Reading time 5 minutes.
  1. Introduction

“Why Japan?”

We were asked this question by many Japanese people on this trip, and to be honest we didn’t have a great answer. We’ve been wanting to go to Japan for a while – but why? Well, a lot of our other friends have been to Japan and really enjoyed it. We were interested in observing a culture that’s so different from our own. And we were ready to eat our way through the Japan. We had a great trip and I’m excited to share reviews and highlights in this trip report! Read More

Award Ch-ch-changes

.Reading time 4 minutes.

I recently blogged about booking business class award flights for my upcoming trip to Japan. A few months after booking, we have to change our travel dates – so I had to do the whole process all over again.

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Except we had less flexibility since we had already transferred points from Chase to both United and Korean Air. So we had to keep one leg of the trip on Korean Air, and the other leg on United or another Star Alliance airline. Read More