I normally wouldn’t write up a review of a hostel stay, but I feel like the Golden Time Hostel 2 in Hanoi deserves a special mention. It’s not fancy by any means (but it’s a step up from a normal hostel since all of the rooms are private rooms), but the service was incredible. The…
I know this is a couple of weeks late, but better late than never, right? 2014 was my heaviest year for travel yet. I flew 189,524 miles in 2014, almost all of which were for leisure (5,739 miles were for work). Most of my miles came from flying to Asia. I started off 2014 in Tokyo,…
Back to the trip reporting! Apologies for the long pause, but I hope to do a better job of finishing my trip reports in a somewhat timely manner… One of my friends told me that I should go to Halong Bay, so I tried to do research on the best tour options. Part of the…
Another underrated Alaska Airlines award redemption besides premium economy is intra-Asia flights on Cathay Pacific. You can only redeem Alaska miles for routings that are defined in their award chart, which generally means that you can only redeem miles for awards that begin or end in North America (e.g. you can’t redeem for Emirates between…
Lots of people in the past have talked about using 70k Alaska Airlines miles to fly from North America to South Africa in Cathay Pacific First Class (although that’s no longer possible since Cathay no longer has first class between HKG and JNB), and Alaska is also well known for offering redemptions for Emirates First…
Links to stories #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, and #6. It’s been a long time since I last posted a travel story that had to do with race, but three incidents this past weekend inspired me to write this post. Incident #1: Random woman on the street (directed at me): “Ohayou!” Incident #2 (while waiting at…
This hotel is one of the few cheap Hilton redemptions after Hilton’s devaluation a couple of years ago. Since it’s a category 2 hotel, it’s only 10k Hilton points per night. In terms of Western hotels in Hanoi attainable using points, there’s also a category 2 Sheraton, a couple of IHG properties, a category 4 Marriott,…
For US passport holders, we need a visa to enter Vietnam. I had pre-arranged a visa on arrival, which meant that I had sent my passport, travel information, and a nominal fee ($9 per person) to a somewhat sketchy visa agent recommended to me by a friend (Vietnam Visa Pro, if you’re wondering). In return,…
After spending a day in Bangkok and relaxing in the lounge, we boarded our short flight to Hanoi. We were departing from a remote stand, so we had to take a bus to the plane. On the plus side, we were parked by an A380, so I got to ogle a plane and reminisce about…
Good news for Admirals Club members: accessing Alaska Airlines Board Rooms just got easier. While there’s been a reciprocal agreement with Alaska Airlines in the past, the requirements were a bit onerous in that you had to be traveling on a flight marketed AND operated by American to use the Board Rooms at certain airports….
