Spherical-the-world SAS EuroBonus problem half 3: Taiwan to Dubai by way of China

Simply earlier than Christmas, I used to be about midway via my SAS EuroBonus million-mile problem that had me touring for 25 days on 20 flights with 15 completely different SkyTeam airways. Alongside the way in which, I visited 16 international locations with a purpose to earn the final word prize: 1 million SAS EuroBonus miles.

My first week on the street took me from Portland, Oregon, to Seoul, South Korea, by way of Seattle and on to Bali, Indonesia, on a mixture of carriers, together with Delta Air Strains, Korean Air and Garuda Indonesia.

Over the course of my second week, I visited Vietnam on Vietnam Airways.

My third week would come with stops in Taiwan and mainland China, in addition to Thailand and the United Arab Emirates. To achieve these locations, I would fly with China Airways, China Japanese, Xiamen Airways, Kenya Airways and Saudia.

After six unimaginable days in Vietnam, I used to be on my option to the airport to take to the skies once more for the largest, most intricate leg of my journey. This is the way it went.

Flight 6: China Airways

I started the following leg of my journey at Noi Bai Worldwide Airport (HAN) in Hanoi, Vietnam. One factor I seen all through this journey up to now was that lots of the airports I used to be flying via have been extremely removed from the town facilities, as Hanoi itself was 25 miles away from its hub. That mentioned, transportation was cheap, so I took a taxi and visitors was mild; I acquired there in about 50 minutes.

The China Airways check-in employees have been pleasant and cheerful, rapidly processing my info and noting that my SAS EuroBonus quantity was on my reservation (a necessity for efficiently finishing the problem).

I then cleared customs and safety and went to one of many airport’s Precedence Go lounges for a fast chunk earlier than my flight.

My journey to Taiwan Taoyuan Worldwide Airport (TPE) would simply be a brief two-hour, 15-minute hop aboard one among China Airways’ Airbus A330-300s.

Proper after we took off and we reached cruising altitude, we acquired a meal. There was a seafood and noodle choice and a hen choice with rice, which I selected. The meal was superb however probably not exceptional. My favourite half was the combined fruit dessert.

There was no Wi-Fi on the airplane, so I took just a little nap after my meal. As soon as I landed, I went via customs and immigration and explored Taipei, Taiwan, as quickly as I dropped my baggage on the lodge since I might be headed to Beijing in lower than 48 hours.

Taipei highlights

I stayed on the Courtyard Taipei Downtown, arguably the most effective Courtyard lodge I’ve seen on this planet (although I am at all times up for exploring extra of them!). There was night turndown service and an govt lounge, not one thing you usually see at a Courtyard within the U.S. Nightly charges have been simply $73.

With just one full day in Taipei, I hit the bottom working. I went to the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Corridor, which homes the Nationwide Theater & Live performance Corridor, the Longshan Temple and Taipei 101. I additionally rode the Maokong Gondola excessive above the town and into the mountains earlier than ending my day with dinner at Raohe Avenue Evening Market.

On the night time market, I attempted a mushroom dish well-liked on social media, German pork knuckle and numerous Taiwanese sausages and desserts. I am going to have to return to attempt the well-known black pepper buns.

Flights 7 and eight: China Japanese

I headed again to TPE for what can be the smoothest check-in expertise up to now. I requested a consultant how many individuals had been placing their SAS EuroBonus numbers on their reservations, and she or he mentioned too many to rely. Three different individuals on my flight to Ningbo Lishe Worldwide Airport (NGB) in China had additionally used theirs. I’m wondering if Scandinavian Airways anticipated this type of turnout.

Safety and immigration have been a breeze and took lower than 5 minutes. Earlier than I knew it, I used to be in a Plaza Premium lounge. On the way in which to my gate, I needed to stroll by the Starlux Galactic Lounge and instantly envied anyone about to enter. It was so futuristic and fun-looking.

As soon as on board my China Japanese Airbus A320, I had a whole row to myself for the one-hour, 45-minute hop to Ningbo. One factor I’ve been noticing is that lots of the Asian airways I used to be flying began their economic system seating rows at quantity 31 as a substitute of one thing decrease, like 5 or seven, irrespective of what number of rows have been in first-class. These have been older planes, and the seats have been fairly comfy, a far cry from the trendy, exhausting, paper-thin seats we have now now.

For the primary time on an inter-Asia flight this journey, I used to be not served a meal. Everybody was given a water bottle, and a beverage cart got here round providing tea. There have been no Wi-Fi and inflight leisure.

As soon as I arrived in Ningbo, I needed to declare my bag after which recheck it, as they did not have a switch desk for China Japanese. Shortly after, I used to be on board one other A320 to take me to Beijing Daxing Worldwide Airport (PKX).

One factor I’ve seen about most Asian airways I’ve flown is that they do not mean you can use energy banks or moveable chargers in any respect through the flight for security causes, so you’ll want to cost up earlier than you are taking off.

On the flight to Beijing, the expertise was the identical because the prior flight, with no meal service, Wi-Fi or inflight leisure.

Beijing highlights

In Beijing, I stayed on the JW Marriott Resort Beijing, the place I used my three remaining Nightly Improve Awards that I had chosen as my Marriott Annual Selection Advantages and was upgraded to a stupendous nook Sky Backyard Suite with wraparound, floor-to-ceiling home windows offering views of the Beijing skyline. All this value me slightly below $150 an evening. The lodge had a wonderful lounge that supplied a every day comfortable hour with a full dinner buffet. The breakfast buffet was one of the vital in depth I’ve seen, with each Western and Chinese language choices.

I missed one among my days exploring Beijing, as I caught some type of abdomen bug that had me out of motion, however I did not thoughts having to take a relaxation day on the stunning lodge.

As soon as I returned to full energy, I booked a tour of the Forbidden Metropolis and the Nice Wall of China. The Forbidden Metropolis is really awe-inspiring; I might have spent hours exploring it, however I needed to go on to the Nice Wall of China. One of many New Seven Wonders of the World, the Nice Wall of China is an attraction I consider everybody ought to see no less than as soon as of their life.

I attempted to squeeze in a go to to Tiananmen Sq., however I could not handle to get entry. Fortunately, I drove by and noticed most of it on my option to the Forbidden Metropolis. I additionally stopped by the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Temple of Heaven, however entry inside was closed that day.

I checked out at a neighborhood tea home, too. Whereas there, I participated in a standard tea ceremony the place I attempted 5 several types of tea. Apart from the websites, I ate an array of native Chinese language dishes, with my favourite being Peking duck.

Flight 9: Xiamen Airways

After two days in Beijing, I headed again to PKX, the newer of the worldwide airports in Beijing. It’s a stunning open-layout airport, although it’s nowhere near the middle of Beijing.

At Chinese language airports, I discovered safety to be very strict. You should take away something with a battery out of your bag. I left a small energy financial institution in my backpack, and it acquired flagged and needed to be prescreened 3 times earlier than I needed to empty my whole backpack. Given the additional precautions, you will wish to plan to spend some further time in line if you should move via safety in China.

That is the place the daunting a part of the journey started, as I might have a flight daily for the remainder of the yr at that time.

This one can be aboard a Xiamen Airways A321 for the three-hour journey to China’s Guangzhou Baiyun Worldwide Airport (CAN).

There was a breakfast meal service with some type of porridge, however I skipped it.

Just like the prior flight, there have been no inflight leisure and Wi-Fi, however the journey was uneventful and glided by rapidly.

Flight 10: Kenya Airways

Sadly, this was the place issues took a flip. My flight from Guangzhou to Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK) in Bangkok was delayed by a full day, so as a substitute of spending Christmas Eve in Bangkok roaming the Khao San Street, I spent my Christmas Eve on the Fairfield by Marriott Guangzhou Tianhe Park. It was very moderately priced at $59 and was the most effective Fairfields I’ve ever seen. And fortuitously, this night time would requalify me for Marriott Bonvoy Titanium Elite standing.

On Christmas Day, I arrived on the airport in Guangzhou once more to examine in, the place I used to be met with my most regarding difficulty but: My ticket had been modified to a special fare class that was ineligible for the SAS promotion, because it was a fundamental economic system fare that may not earn mileage.

I attempted the whole lot I might to vary it or improve to enterprise class so it will be a mileage-eligible fare, however no person on the check-in counter or at Kenya Airways customer support might assist me. I even tried upgrading on the gate, they usually have been going to let me, however I might solely pay for the improve with Alipay, a digital pockets and cost platform that may not work for me after I wanted it most.

Fortunately, I purposely averted flying SAS in my unique itinerary planning in case I had a problem with one other airline alongside the route, as it will be simple to take a fast flight as soon as I acquired to Europe. So, whereas settling in for my delayed flight, I set about making some alternate plans for later in my journey.

Within the meantime, I used to be shocked that such a giant worldwide airport would use distant gates just like the one I departed from. I wanted to take a bus to succeed in the Kenya Airways 787-8 Dreamliner that may take me to Bangkok.

It is so neat to fly fifth-freedom routes, particularly this one, as I used to be flying an African airline I would not usually get to expertise between two main Asian hubs. The purpose of reserving this specific flight was that it will let me keep away from having to fly to Africa as a part of this promotion, which might have taken me far out of my method.

On board the Kenyan Airways flight, I had a whole row to myself. The seats have been comfy, and there was an inflight leisure system with a number of titles. For breakfast, we had a alternative of a hen or vegetarian sandwich served with strawberry cake. The sandwich was surprisingly tasty and made a pleasant morning snack.

Sadly, there was no Wi-Fi on this flight.

Flights 11 and 12: Saudia

For the primary time this journey, I might be turning left when boarding as I lastly splurged and upgraded to enterprise class on my flight from BKK to Dubai Worldwide Airport (DXB) by way of King Abdulaziz Worldwide Airport (JED) in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

It solely value me $324 to improve on the nine-hour flight, an distinctive worth that I believed was properly value it. I might have usually used my Enterprise Platinum Card® from American Categorical to pay for this buy to earn 5 factors per greenback spent on airfare, however Saudia required I’ve the bodily card and never Apple Pay, so I used my American Categorical® Gold Card to earn 3 factors per greenback spent on airfare as a substitute. This improve additionally earned me round 8,000 bonus SAS factors, which helped me get nearer to incomes SkyTeam elite standing.

The Boeing 787 that took me to Saudi Arabia featured 24 Collins Aerospace Tremendous Diamond seats in a 1-2-1 reverse herringbone configuration. I am 6 ft, 4 inches, and the seat was comfy and supplied me with greater than sufficient room when totally flat.

The chef on board got here by and launched himself. He instructed me that business-class service included on-demand eating and defined the menu to me. He even really helpful some gadgets that weren’t on the menu.

I used to be curious to see how Saudia in comparison with the Center East’s “Large Three” carriers — Emirates, Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways — and up to now, it was off to an ideal begin. For lunch, I had a beef sandwich and a pad thai dish that have been each glorious, and I ended with a croissant bread pudding for dessert.

After this, I caught up on some current films, however in actuality, I most likely watched about 20 minutes of every movie earlier than falling asleep. The inflight leisure system had a big catalog of content material to view. I want I might have loved extra of it, however I could not move up the chance to get some precious sleep within the air.

Once I wakened, I ordered one other meal consisting of a hen salad that did not have any salad, a beef sandwich and a fruit plate.

Though Saudia is a dry airline, which means it doesn’t serve alcohol, it has an in depth nonalcoholic drink menu. The service all through the flight was glorious, and primarily based on my expertise, the smooth product on board was nearly as good as Qatar Airways Qsuite.

This was the one flight I wanted lasted longer. My solely gripe was that there was Wi-Fi that did not work.

As soon as I arrived in Jeddah, I headed for the switch counter, as I had a two-hour layover earlier than a brief jump over to Dubai. Transiting in Jeddah was the smoothest expertise I had up to now on my journey.

My subsequent flight was purported to be on a 787-10 Dreamliner, however there was a last-minute plane swap to an A321. Quickly, I used to be on board one other Saudia plane, this time in economic system. But once more, the Wi-Fi did work.

There was a dinner service with a alternative of hen and rice or a mushroom pizza, however I skipped it as I used to be nonetheless full from all of the meals I had indulged in earlier on my business-class flight.

Quickly, I landed in Dubai, the place I stayed in a single day on the Ingredient Dubai Airport, which value me $73 for the night time. Then, the following day, I caught a Virgin Atlantic flight to London’s Heathrow Airport (LHR) that I needed to scramble to rebook so I might squeeze in some extra flights whereas in Europe to satisfy the situations of the SAS EuroBonus problem.

Backside line

Though I encountered some points on this portion of my journey, fortunately, I used to be capable of get again on monitor even after experiencing some delays and an unplanned flight change that can preserve it from counting towards my EuroBonus tally.

To treatment the problem, I moved my flight from DXB to LHR a day earlier. Then, I might take a fast round-trip flight from LHR to Oslo Airport (OSL) in Norway on SAS and preserve the remainder of my unique itinerary intact.

That might enhance my whole journey time to 25 days, taking 21 flights and visiting 16 international locations.

One other factor I used to be beginning to be aware of was my passport visa pages. After this whirlwind, I solely had lower than three pages obtainable, and a few international locations require no less than two clean pages. When this journey is completed, I will not have any visa slots left, so I should renew my passport.

The journey was beginning to get powerful, as I needed to fly daily for the rest of the yr with no break in any respect, however I used to be within the house stretch and far nearer to these million factors. All through my travels in China, I did meet a handful of individuals additionally collaborating within the problem, so it was enjoyable to share a way of camaraderie with them and bemoan the grueling nature of the problem.

Keep tuned for the final a part of my journey, which concerned taking practically 10 flights, together with a significant transatlantic leg to Mexico Metropolis.