As 2014 comes to an end, I am looking back at the trips I took this year. All in all, it was quite a year of travel and I honestly enjoyed every minute of it!


January
La Paz, Bolivia

I celebrated the New Year in La Paz, Bolivia and it was really such a fun night. It was the last official night of our South America tour, so our group got the nicest hotel we could find (FYI, there are almost no luxury hotels in Bolivia) and celebrated into the wee hours. I knew 2014 was going to be an amazing year because I ate 12 grapes at midnight and made 12 wishes per Bolivian tradition. ;)

The First Class lounge has no less than four different seating areas that span the length of the lounge and as you can see from the photos, the place was nearly empty, which made it feel even larger. The lounge boasts some excellent views and nearly every seat in the house is able to take advantage of them. Once walking in, you will pass some typical seating, followed by table seating for those enjoying the buffet, followed by another typical seating area, and at the far end of the lounge, you'll see the "Red Suite". I'm honestly not sure what the Red Suite is, but it is a nice departure from typical lounge decor and has quite a bit of interesting airline memorabilia, including books, vintage suitcases, and photos, and is a very quiet, nice area to rest while waiting for your flight. The Red Suite even has a champagne and sake room in case you're thirsty.

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


We spent two and a half days in Tokyo and while we didn't hit some of the biggest tourist attractions of the city, we were content to walk around the neighborhoods and just become absorbed. Tokyo is incredibly bustling and can be overwhelming at times, but it's also an incredibly clean and beautiful city full of very polite and helpful Japanese. 

Our first day in Tokyo, we spent the day visiting different neighborhoods and a few tourist attractions in the city. We started off our morning at around 10 AM and headed for the Tokyo Metro. Big. Mistake. Even though it was later in the morning, the train was still packed full of morning commuters. We were literally stuffed into the train and I have never been closer to a total stranger in my life. Despite my discomfort, I had to note that regardless of my location directly in front of a man's armpit, there was no smell in the train car. I really appreciated the Japanese's sense of hygiene at that moment. 

For our first stop, we figured we should check out Shibuya Crossing, which is famous for being one of the biggest crossings in the world. Traffic stops in all directions to allow people to cross and it's usually packed full of people. Unfortunately, when we visited, for some reason there really weren't that many people in the area so it wasn't as impressive as we expected.

From the crossing, we headed to Meiji Shrine, which is a large Shinto shrine dedicated to the deified spirits of Emperor Meiji and his wife, Empress Shōken. Surrounding the shrine is a quite large evergreen forest, which is beautiful to walk through on your way in. It's really quite nice to disappear into a wooded area right in the middle of a huge city full of concrete and we took our time wandering around.

After the shrine, it was time for lunch, so we popped in to a favorite restaurant that Chris had discovered on his last trip to Tokyo. It was dirt cheap and incredibly simple - a bowl of rice with thinly sliced beef and onions on top. Put that with a beer and it was a well-rounded and simple lunch that I actually enjoyed.

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


When we found out that our award routing would take us to Tokyo for three nights, in Chris' mind, there was only one place to stay - the Park Hyatt Tokyo. The Park Hyatt in Tokyo is actually an incredibly iconic hotel and we found it was very well-known around the city. We never had a problem when telling taxi drivers the name of the hotel in English and they all knew where it was. As its biggest claim to fame, for those of you who have seen Lost in Translation, virtually the entire movie takes place at the Park Hyatt Tokyo and in the hotel's signature bar, the New York Bar.

We landed at Narita around 7:30 PM and grabbed a train and a taxi from the airport, then arrived at the hotel around 9 PM. Despite getting quite a bit of sleep on our Singapore Suites flight, we were still pretty tired. Upon arriving at the hotel, we were greeted by several employees who helped us get our luggage out of the taxi and another who met us and asked for the name our reservation was under. She then proceeded to escort us through the entrance lobby and up to the hotel's actual lobby on the 41st floor of the building. Upon stepping out of the elevator, you will arrive into an atrium area with seating and amazing views of Tokyo. The area is mostly unused except in the evenings when it turns into the Peak Lounge. As Diamond guests, we were able to attend a complimentary happy hour in the Peak Lounge, which happens every day from 5 PM to 9 PM. The happy hour offered a full bar, several bottles of white and red wine and champagne, and a few snacks. The snacks were not substantial, but the happy hour was nice and I would recommend checking it out if you're back from sightseeing early enough.

From the atrium area, she took us right and led us past one of the hotel's restaurants, Girandole, which is where you can get breakfast in the morning, then through the library and finally, into the reception area. At that point, we were met by another employee who took us straight to our suite to complete the check-in process. 

As I mentioned, check-in was completed in our room but I honestly was not a fan of the courtesy. To me, it was incredibly awkward to be walked into our room and to sit down in our living room, then be asked all the standard check-in questions and not be able to just relax once we arrived in the room. Luckily, it was a fairly quick process and of course the staff member was incredibly polite and professional. He explained the features of the hotel, asked us to select our Diamond benefits and then thankfully, we had the room to ourself.

Chris paid cash for a standard room and then used a suite upgrade that he received for participating in the Hyatt Diamond Challenge, so we were upgraded to a Park Suite King. We took a separate elevator that only goes to the guest floors up from the lobby to our room and the same bluish color scheme from the reception area continued into the hallways. Our doorway was flanked by ducks on pedestals, which made it look incredibly special and when we made it inside, the room was incredible. 

We walked in to a completely separate front entrance hall and only after walking through that could you see any of the suite. The layout was well thought-out and had distinct areas, but was only actually separated by an accordion style wall. The suite had a living room with dining table and desk, a large bedroom, an incredible bathroom and even a dressing table and large closet to place our luggage in. 

The room was beautifully appointed and the decor was timeless. There were light Japanese touches throughout, which really made us feel like we were in Japan despite actually being in a Western hotel chain.

The newest of American Express' Centurion lounges opened on November 6th at SFO. Centurion lounges are available for American Express Platinum cardholders and their guests regardless of what airline or class of service they are flying. The others currently open are located at New York LaGuardia, Las Vegas McCarran, and Dallas Fort Worth. 

SFO's lounge is located airside in Terminal 3, which is SFO's United terminal. Unfortunately, I primarily fly American Airlines out of Terminal 2 these days, but we decided to book a flight to LA on United for November 7th so that we could check out the new lounge.  

The signage for the lounge starts at the far end of Terminal 3 and directs you to gate 74, which is nearly all the way to SFO's international terminal. Unfortunately, the majority of the flights out of Terminal 3 are quite far from gate 74, so you've got a bit of a walk to your gate if you decide to visit the lounge. 

The entrance to the lounge is quite grand and is immediately noticeable when walking up to it. The lounge is on the second floor of the terminal and the entrance has a huge two story glass wall which showcases the living wall inside as well as the staircase and wood paneling.

When we arrived at the lounge, it was quite busy and there was a bit of a line at the front desk, which took about 10 minutes. Since it was only day two of the lounge being open, there were honestly quite a few kinks that they were still working out: the first of which was how much information to give to each visitor when they checked in at the front desk and how to process each person quickly. 

Despite the wait, the front desk agents were extremely friendly and handed every cardholder a grand opening welcome gift, which consisted of a gigantic cookbook written by the chef who created the menu for the lounge, Christopher Kostow, and a American Express branded candle. Despite being quite generous, the gifts didn't seem to be very well thought-out by American Express as they were quite heavy and bulky and now travelers would have to carry them with them to their final destinations and back. As a result, I witnessed several people in the lounge trying to pawn off their gifts to others so they wouldn't need to carry them.

One of the lounge's most memorable areas is the glass wall full of wine that you see when you walk into the lounge on your left. The wine wall is also seen in the dining area and one of the most fun aspects of the lounge is the wine tasting you can do. If you ask the bartender, you can get a ticket good for five tastes of wine, which you can use at the wine wall to taste a selection of 15 white, red, and rose wines from Northern California. Unfortunately, quite a few of the bottles were empty when we were in the lounge, so we were a bit limited in our selection, but it was still a very fun option.