Background

In my previous guest post, I reviewed my Lufthansa First Class flight to Europe for Christmas. For the return journey, I found first class award availability with British Airways, and I decided to book it using AAdvantage miles. It cost a fairly reasonable 62,500 miles for the one-way flight, but the fees and taxes of $382 were a bit steep.


Check In

British Airways has a separate first class check-in area at Heathrow Terminal 5, so I headed there and was surprised to find a long line of about 15 people. Fortunately there were quite a few check-in desks open, so I only had to wait about 5 minutes to get my boarding pass. I then proceeded to Fast Track security and was airside a few minutes later.

Lounge

The last time I was at Heathrow Terminal 5, Jen and I tried the Galleries First Lounge, but this time I had access to the Concorde Room, which is only available to first class passengers flying British Airways. Since first class passengers and oneworld Emerald members from other airlines aren’t permitted, the Concorde Room is considered the more exclusive of the two lounges.

The lounge is located immediately to the right after exiting security. I first showed my boarding pass to the lady guarding the door, then once inside I needed to show my boarding pass again. Maybe it’s a British thing, but I didn’t find any of the staff members to be particularly welcoming. In fact, they seemed quite annoyed that I had decided to stop by.

The lounge has both an indoor sitting area and a terrace overlooking the terminal, and seating consists of various kinds of chairs and couches. In the indoor section, there is a full-service bar, but the staff also walk around and take drink orders. There is no buffet, but there is a restaurant area where food can be ordered.

Since I hadn't had breakfast yet, I headed to the dining area and was promptly seated. There were a few British-themed breakfast items on the menu. I opted for the traditional English breakfast, along with an orange juice and a cappuccino. The one thing I couldn’t help but notice was how miserable the wait staff seemed. They all looked incredibly sad and interacted with me as little as possible. Maybe it’s from dealing with overly-entitled passengers all day.

A few minutes after ordering, my breakfast arrived. Sadly, I wasn’t incredibly impressed by the food. It wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t very good. Let’s just say the best part of my meal was the baked beans, which probably came from a tin. The cappuccino tasted mostly like warm water; I couldn’t tell that it contained any coffee or milk.

It's been a long time since I've posted a Travel Tip Tuesday post, so I thought I would take a break from all the trip reporting and reviewing to share a couple of really awesome sites (and an app) I recently discovered. They can all be extremely useful and valuable to anyone, but they each have a travel angle as well. 

evreward.com

I discovered evreward last week when reading about one travel hacker's annual miles and points strategy. She mentioned that a large portion of her miles and points come from shopping portals, which was surprising. I've mentioned shopping portals before, but despite my considerable online shopping addition, I've honestly never really used them. To be completely frank, I really don't want to spend any more time than absolutely necessary when completing purchases and I also don't want to spend ages figuring out which portal I should be using.

Enter evreward.com. It's a quick, no frills site and all you need to do is enter where you plan to shop. From there, it will give you all possible loyalty program rewards as well as any coupons that may be available. 

This is a game changer. I checked West Elm because I bought a dining table from the website just the other day. Unfortunately, since I already made the purchase, I completely missed out on 3 points per dollar when shopping through the Ultimate Rewards mall. Trust me, I won't be making this mistake again.


gethuman.com

The second site I discovered recently is gethuman.com. This site can be a lifesaver for anyone - it's definitely not limited to travel. How many times have you had to call an 800 number only to spend ages trying to make it to an actual human? I swear Comcast has an endless loop they deploy just to spite me that never actually ends in a human...

Anyway, this is another very simple site that can be used any time you need to speak to someone to get support. Travel-wise, this could be if you're missing baggage, if your flight is cancelled or delayed, etc. You just enter the company you want to speak to on the front page of the site and it will get you the phone number and tell you exactly what to dial to make it through the prompts to an actual person as well as the average wait times. There's even an option to have the company call you back so you don't have to wait on hold. Amazing.

Path Talk

Path Talk is an app that I saw mentioned on Twitter because I follow the founder. He occasionally re-tweets people talking about how good the app is, but I dismissed the self-promotion for a while until I found myself in a situation where I needed to push back a dinner reservation. I couldn't make a phone call myself and Chris couldn't get through on the phone, so I downloaded the app. Path Talk lets you essentially text any business a question that you have and they work to get back to you with an answer in 5 minutes or less. Sometimes it takes a bit longer, but they update you along the way if there's a delay.

Amazingly, it seems that Path actually employs a call center of people who receive these incoming texts and then call the business themselves to ask the question/handle the issue. This is huge for anyone who doesn't like making phone calls or who find themselves in a situation where a call isn't possible. I think this is great for travel because you can use it for anything from asking whether a store nearby carries a particular item (forgot to pack something?) to having your own personal concierge get you a dinner reservation while you're traveling.

These three services are some of my recent favorites and I definitely wanted to share. Do you have any awesome little-known sites or apps to recommend? Share in the comments!

Travel Planning: Fall in Asia
Review: LAX Star Alliance Lounge
Review: Singapore Airlines Suites Class LAX - NRT
Review: Park Hyatt Tokyo
Recap: Time in Tokyo
Review: HND JAL First Class Lounge
Review: JAL Business Class HND - GMP
Review: IP Boutique Hotel Seoul
Recap: Time in Seoul
Review: ICN Cathay Pacific Lounge
Review: Cathay Pacific Business Class ICN - HKG
Review: Hyatt Regency Tsim Sha Tsui
Recap: Time in Hong Kong
Review: HKG Cathay Pacific “The Wing” First Class Lounge
Review: Cathay Pacific First Class HKG - SFO


Background

First, a little background on the (very special) IP Boutique Hotel in Seoul... 

As you will remember, we chose to stay at the Park Hyatt in Tokyo. By we, I mean Chris. He was dead set on staying at the Park Hyatt, but I was just not willing to pay for half of the stay (it's exorbitantly expensive). Unfazed, Chris decided that since we had three nights in Tokyo and three in Seoul, I could pay for the Seoul hotel and he would pay for Tokyo. As long as he could stay at the Park Hyatt, I was free to choose literally any hotel in Seoul. Even a hostel. I accepted the challenge and found the best hotel I could under $200 a night - enter: the IP Boutique Hotel. 

The Hotel

Online, the hotel looked quirky and kind of fun. The rooms are decorated in a very interesting way. Admittedly, the design wasn't quite what we were used to, but I thought it could be fun. After combing through Trip Advisor and Hotels.com reviews, I decided it was at least decent, so I booked it. After finding a 15% off coupon for Hotels.com (seriously, always Google for a coupon code before booking ANYTHING), I ended up paying $158/night for 3 nights. I was satisfied. 

We arrived at the hotel around 8 PM after our flight in to GMP. Traffic was absolutely insane and it took almost two hours for us to get from the airport (which is much closer to the heart of Seoul than ICN) to the hotel. The hotel is located in Itaewon, which is an area of Seoul known for having a lot of expats, which we figured meant we could find some different food and some English speakers. We actually liked the area a lot. It was lively and had a ton of choices for restaurants, bars, and shops. The hotel was also about a 5-10 minute walk from Itaewon Station, which was super convenient for getting around the city.

Your first impression (and your last impression) of the hotel will be almost an assault of color and odd design choices. Coming from the Park Hyatt, we literally could not have found something more different. Gone was understated, muted luxury. It was replaced with rainbow colors, white leather, and glass and mirrors. So much glass and so many mirrors. 

The lobby was something. It had several hanging swings along the side of one wall, a lot of mirrors, and various pieces of funky artwork. After such a long taxi ride from the airport, we were pleased that check in was very easy. The front desk agents spoke English and processed us quickly. Somehow (I have no idea how), we had even been upgraded to a suite. 

We took the elevator up to the third floor (which had a bit of a funny smell) and were greeted with a dark hallway. We made it to our room and were met with some combination of sterile, yet rainbow decor (if that exists). The furniture was all completely white. The chair and sofa in the living room were white leather. All of the furniture in the bedroom was white. The color was on the floor and in the accents around the room. Bright red carpet, a giant strawberry decal on the wall over the bed, a rainbow comforter. 

It was really quite something. 

After getting over the initial shock of the decor, the hotel really is completely functional and wasn't bad at all. For the price, you really couldn't beat it and it had everything we needed. The hotel offers free wifi, which is awesome, and the room has everything you would need. We had a safe, two TVs, a closet, a desk, a nice bathroom and there was also a coffee maker, free water bottles, and a minibar.  

The bathroom was one for the books. It's just glass and mirrors. Luckily, the glass is frosted, but not all the way up or down. The glass also doesn't extend all the way to the ceiling. This means that the bathroom is not enclosed. At all. This means that "bathroom sounds" can be heard with absolutely no effort whatsoever by anyone sitting in the bedroom. 

You'll want to be very secure with the person you're staying in this room with. The bathroom leaves almost nothing to the imagination and I was certainly not prepared for it. 

That being said, it was still nice. We had a large tub, the shower had a nice rain shower head, and the toilet was Japanese, so it had all the bells and whistles you could ever need. 

At the end of the day, we had a decent place to stay and it was cheap. Would I stay here again? Probably not. It was a bit too weird for my taste and I probably would just bite the bullet and spend a bit more if I ever find myself back in Seoul. However, it honestly wasn't bad and if you're okay with funky decor and an exposed bathroom experience, go for it - the location was great, the hotel was clean and the wifi was free. 

Happy Travels!

Background

Over the Christmas holidays, I traveled to Scandinavia to visit my family. When I was trying to book my ticket, I didn't find much award availability out of my home airport (SFO), so I included other airports on the west coast in my search. After obsessively checking all the airline search engines multiple times a day (much to Jen's annoyance), I eventually found some first class award space on Lufthansa out of Seattle. It's easy enough to get from San Francisco to Seattle, and I'd never flown Lufthansa First Class before, so I decided to book it. The one-way ticket cost me 110,000 United miles, which is quite steep, but on the plus side the fees and taxes were only about $40.


The Flight 

Lufthansa #491
Seattle (SEA) – Frankfurt (FRA)
Sunday, December 21st, 2014
2:05 PM – 9:15 AM (+1) : 10 hours, 10 minutes
Airbus A330-300: Seat 2A (First Class)

I arrived at SeaTac airport about three hours before my flight and made my way to the Lufthansa check-in area. There was no line at the First Class counter, so I stepped right up and the agent was able to get me checked in quickly. After receiving my boarding pass, she asked me if I wanted an escort through security. Did I want an escort through security? I'd never been asked that question before, so absolutely I wanted an escort through security! I started imagining her shoving aside passengers left and right, carving a path to the front of the line. Unfortunately it turned out that I'd misheard her - it wasn't an escort through security, it was an escort to security. She took me on a 30-second walk from the check-in counters to the end of the security line, and then left me there to fend for myself. So overall not that useful, but it was better than nothing I guess.

Lufthansa uses the Club International contract lounge at SeaTac's S gates. The business class section was crowded, but there was a separate first class room which was empty. Within the first class section, the staff checked in on a regular basis to take food and drink orders. Unfortunately the only hot food available was soup, so I decided to skip food and just order an orange juice. Overall I wasn't all that impressed with the lounge, and after about an hour, I left the lounge and headed to the gate, which was a short walk away.

Boarding was about 10 minutes delayed, which they apologized for multiple times (oh, Germans). First Class boarding was soon announced and after making my way through the crowd, I was asked by the gate agent if I wanted to be escorted to the plane. Never one to say no to an escort, I agreed and she led me down the jetway and introduced me to one of the flight attendants, who brought me to my seat (2A).

The Airbus A330 First Class cabin was elegant and had just two rows in a 1-2-1 configuration. On my flight, there was just one other passenger flying in first class, so it felt incredibly private. The seat was comfortable and had a large TV screen, an ottoman, and plenty of storage.

Once seated, I was offered a drink and I chose champagne. She served me a glass of Laurent-Perrier Grand Siecle, along with a glass of water and some salted macadamia nuts.

After enjoying my champagne for a few minutes, the flight attendant came by to provide me with pajamas, slippers, and an amenity kit. The pajamas were Van Laack brand, and although the pajama top was comfortable, the trousers were made of polyester and felt cheap. The amenity kit was manufactured by Rimowa and was the same style as their luggage, which I thought was cool.

Travel Planning: Fall in Asia
Review: LAX Star Alliance Lounge
Review: Singapore Airlines Suites Class LAX - NRT
Review: Park Hyatt Tokyo
Recap: Time in Tokyo
Review: HND JAL First Class Lounge
Review: JAL Business Class HND - GMP
Review: IP Boutique Hotel Seoul
Recap: Time in Seoul
Review: ICN Cathay Pacific Lounge
Review: Cathay Pacific Business Class ICN - HKG
Review: Hyatt Regency Tsim Sha Tsui
Recap: Time in Hong Kong
Review: HKG Cathay Pacific “The Wing” First Class Lounge
Review: Cathay Pacific First Class HKG - SFO


Japan Airlines #0093
Haneda Tokyo (HND) – Seoul Gimpo (GMP)
Wednesday, October 14th, 2014
3:35 PM – 5:55 PM (+1) : 2 hours, 20 minutes
Boeing 767-300ER: Seat 3K (Business Class)

After spending a few days in Tokyo, we were headed to Seoul. Honestly, I wasn't incredibly excited about the idea of going to Seoul, but it worked out that we could get business class seats using 15,000 British Airways Avios and $55.55 each, so we went for it. 

After flying into Narita, we flew out of Haneda, which is much closer to the heart of Tokyo and is actually quite a nice airport. Due to Chris' One World Emerald status, we killed time before our flight in the Japan Airlines First Class lounge and were not far from our gate once boarding began. 

Despite the short flight duration and awkward timing (being late afternoon), we were served quite an extensive feast for our in-flight meal. I honestly have no idea what most of the food was, and unlike our Singapore Suites flight, we weren't given a menu to choose from. The meal consisted of some fruit, a soup, some sushi-looking items, several types of meat in different settings, including the main course, which was, I believe, beef served over rice and rice noodles, and a cup of green tea. Really, it was quite extensive, but I wasn't very excited about it personally, so I spent the meal pushing things around my plate while eating the fruit and some rice. 

What I was excited about, was the miniature bottle of soy sauce that was provided with the meal. I thought it was so cute and really wanted to take it home, but was afraid it would leak all over my suitcase (not to mention, Chris thinks I'm a hoarder), so I didn't.

The dessert was undoubtedly the best part of the meal - a small cup of chocolate Häagen-Dazs ice cream.

Throughout the flight, the service was friendly and attentive and I appreciated the fact that the flight attendants recognized the fact that we didn't speak Japanese and addressed us in English. Although, to be honest, I really don't know what about me says "I don't speak Japanese", but I digress. 

Japan Airlines is a solid choice if you're flying out of Japan and I would honestly highly recommend flying out of or into Haneda rather than Narita due to the proximity to Tokyo if you can manage it. Overall, the flight was easy and enjoyable and we made it to Seoul in one piece. 

Happy Travels!