On July 8, I received a phone call at 1 a.m. I was hesitant to pick up the phone because when you get a call at 1 am, it’s either terrible news, a pervert, or my points-obsessed daughter with a “deal of a lifetime”.
The deal of a lifetime was a rare release of Singapore Airlines first-class seats that became bookable on United.com. I was not ready for what was about to come next – it started something like this… “YOU HAVE TO BOOK NOW! Quick – Pick a date! You can always cancel within 24 hours!!”
I was totally dazzled at this point. After all, it is 1 a.m, and I was in a deep sleep at that time. Then there was silence for about 10 seconds…and then, the “BOOK NOW!” came barking at me again. To shut her up and to get some sleep, I responded, “Ok, book Sydney, Australia for my birthday week.” I have a tradition to celebrate my birthdays in new countries – it’s my way to ease the pain of getting older, LOL.
The itinerary the “diva” set up was surprisingly good. For 80,000 United miles, we were set to fly Newark to San Francisco in United first class, with a 12 hour layover before heading off to Singapore. San Francisco is my favorite US city.
The “layover” was spent visiting famous local attractions and visiting the Napa Valley wineries with my new Park-Hyatt-loving “jetsetr” friend. The man knows his wines, and was great talking travel and points with him. I’m sure Angelina will be posting a mini-trip report about our San Francisco/Napa Valley excursion shortly. The day concluded with dinner with some of my childhood friends that moved to the Bay Area.
Leg 2 of our itinerary was San Francisco to Singapore, via Hong Kong, in the A380 first class suites with a 10 hour layover on thee ground in Singapore. That was my first international first class experience, since I unfortunately missed my Cathay Pacific first class experience last year.
The flight in the Singapore Airlines suites was indeed a trip of a lifetime. The service and food were impeccable, and having the flat bed and privacy doors made the long flight easy to tolerate. Be on the look out for a full flight review soon.
Once we arrived at SIN, we took advantage of the “Free Singapore Tour” that’s sponsored by Changi Airport and Singapore Airlines. The tour leaves from T2 and T3 and lasts for about 90 minutes – 2 hours by bus. The tour gave a general overview of the history of Singapore with a stopover opportunity by Merlion park for photos of the Singapore skyline and Marina Bay Sands. You can leave your luggage at airport for around $4 per luggage for up to 24 hours.
Our final leg to Sydney was Singapore to Sydney in Singapore Airlines A380 business class. SQ has a really nice business class with very wide seats that convert to a full flat bed. I slept 7 hours out of the 8 hour flight. We chose to “book the cook” and had an Indian-style lamb shank dish before dozing off on our red-eye flight.
So far the trip has been a blast, and I look forward to sharing the trip reports when we get home. Now, we’re off to the Blue Mountains!
Happy Travels,
The Dad
80K miles for SQ 1st? is this RT or are you staying in Sydney? :-) Happy B-Day & Enjoy!
Hi “The Dad & Angelina” Welcome to Australia
Love your posts
Cheers
Chris in Perth Western Australia
Dang!
This must be one way but still 160,000 R/t would be fantastic.
not sure how to take you, when you send out stories about travels and points. not sure if you are BRAGGING or TRYING TO TEACH.
most travelers ALREADY KNOW all about the POINT SYSTEM and REWARD PROGRAMS, so you must be be trying to —–
now, lets face it, you and your dad must do alot of spending on plane tickets to have so many points or flymiles to use, right??? do you ever donate?? lottsa needy people who REALLY NEED A GET AWAY!!
@ Bob – lots of needy people either need to GET A JOB or spend more time reading travel blogs to figure out how to do these types of trips in C or F for very little cash outlay. It isn’t hard, but if you’re the sort expecting a hand out, maybe the points & miles scheme isn’t for you . . .
@Bill in DC- Thanks for the birthday wish. 80K UA was one way…I was able to book 9000 BA miles round trip to Melbourne…And I really lucked out finding Asiana business class saver award 40,000 UA miles from Sydney to Seoul with 17 hr layover and continuing on to Tokyo to join
Flyer Japan do event….and I used 25000 AA miles in economy Tokyo to NY and adding free 1 leg to Maui.
@Chris Kirwin-Love the Australian hospitality. Some of the nicest in my travels. Thanks for reading and keep on traveling.
@jayson-Too “old” to know what “dang” means..Hope it is good.
@Jane-Round Trip would really spoil me..See Bob answer for my itinerary coming back.
@Bob..My family supports many charities.Hope your does too. Why so angry? Read the blogs, learn as much as you can, and become inspired!..Then at some point, if you feel charitable, you can inspire someone else, and maybe donate your own miles.
@ Erndog-Well said, and thanks for your support.
Welcome to Sydney, my awesome hometown. 8-)
Love your blogs and posts.
If you have time for a meetup and a drink, I can show you around a few bars. Otherwise have a great time here. And I’ll catch you in D.C in April.
Steve
@Jane: Yup, it would be 160K if it were round trip. We are stopping in Tokyo before heading back home so our return is 25K AA miles + 40K UA miles on the return.
@Bob: I’m sorry you feel that way. The purpose of my blog is to share my enthusiasm and excitement about all things miles and points, hoping to inspire people to get out and travel in the process. Dad likes to add his old-fashioned humor in his posts.
@Steve: Shot you an email, looking forward!
excuse me, do know quite a bit about the travel industry, how points add up and how to get double and triple points at one time, using the reward program the use the reward cc at payment time. been there done that. so excuse me if you took me in the worst of ways, when sharing a viewpoint that was necessary.
excuse me again, work was 12 hour shifts, and put in 39 years already. not after anything FREE, just some views.
happy birthday to you as well, loved those bdays celebrating elsewhere. do hope all your travels bring much joy and happiness, with lifelong memories, as ours did.
Just found your blog! In all craziness, I am actually also from Marlboro and family still lives there. I am over there every few weeks. Small world. And, on top of that, I also have a similar relationship with my dad :) Though his birthday is July 4 so he likes to watch the fireworks and pretend they’re “in his honor” ;)
He just forwarded me the $5 for $10 at Starbucks Groupon deal… as if 12 bloggers didn’t announce that already!
Hope you’re enjoying Australia!