Category Archives: Trip Reports

A Cathay Present: Cathay Dragon KA221 A320 DAD – HKG Business Class

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0115 Singapore / Hong Kong Time

1315 Eastern Time

I am currently at 34,000 FT, FL340 lounging in the awesome Cathay First Class, just off the shore from Seattle and San Francisco enroute to JFK. With a pot of peppermint tea, here I am sharing about my Cathay Dragon flight earlier in the day. I was on KA221, A320 flying from Da Nang to Hong Kong in transit to JFK. As I mentioned earlier in the previous post there was no queue and the check in, immigration as well as security was smooth, furthermore it is impressive that Cathay have a dedicated First Class Check In line even though there is no first class out of Da Nang. HAHA perhaps they know that there are plenty of us flying First on the error ticket routing through here. In fact the Flight was late upon arrival, the boarding time was 9.10am and the plane just arrived as I reach the gate. I even got to see it land. Boarding only started about 9.35am, 20 mins later than scheduled.

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A Cathay Present: CIP Orchid Lounge Da Nang

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Feeling rather peckish, I actually had a very good sleep last night at the Hilton Da Nang, I was awake by 5am, naturally, with the sunrise right in front when my eyes open. You have no idea how good that felt to be awake naturally. I left the hotel and check out around 7am and got a grab to the airport. The journey was quick and took about 10mins. It does seems that the roads had a little more traffic and the locals getting busy with their lives as well as more of the constant driving while on the horns. Da Nang International Airport sure look fresh, although rather no fills, it was a quiet morning and I was let out just as where the desks of Cathay were located. The desks have just open a couple of mins ago, some customers were already there, although there is no wait for First! It is nice to see that they actually have a dedicated line for First Class passenger even though Cathay Dragon does not have First Class on this route. My bag was checked and I was issued boarding pass all the way to JFK. It is surely a nice sight to see these boarding pass and lounges invites. Cathay uses the CIP Orchid Lounge in Da Nang, in fact all the airlines uses it since it is the only lounge in the Airport.

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A Cathay Present: Introduction

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It all begins on New Year Day, 1st January 2019, Cathay Pacific gave us the miles hunters such an awesome New Year Present. Cathay First Class Ticket from Vietnam to USA for less than 1000USD! What a great start to the new year. This is my very first time taking advantages of an error fare and heck it was so exciting. Must be a new milestone for Seeing The World In Steps! I was almost heading to bed at 6am Singapore time on New Year day and yet, blame on my body clock or my unhealthy sleeping habits, I couldn’t sleep and scroll on my phone. That is when I saw the article on One Mile At A Time, highlighting the error. I found a suitable flight and went ahead to book it for 824 USD. First time that I was that impromptu! With that I begin to build the trip around the ticket! Cathay First Class in May! New York City in May! Woohoo!

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JB X Four Doubletree by Hilton Johor Bahru

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Recently, in April, I took a very impromptu hop across the causeway for another trip to JB that have been missing for the longest time ever. I am in need of a massage as well as numerous good food! All at 30% of the price you find back home in Singapore! I kinda feel like the opposite instead, just like how I am when travelling to Europe. This trip all came about when there was a Flash Sale on Hilton recently and I am on a first track to qualify for Gold. Nothing is better than doing it for 70 bucks a night. I got train tickets and with a daypack, here I am in JB. The Doubletree by Hilton Johor Bahru is located just a short walk from the customs and City Square, which I believe that most of you know about.

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No. 24, Taiwan: Plaza Premium Lounge Taoyuan Airport Terminal 1

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Most of the time Plaza Premium does not disappoint when it comes to Contract Lounge. I feel like they are a step above others when it comes to non airline operated lounges. The plaza premium offerings are usually fairly impressive among their peers. They are a hospitality group headquartered in Hong Kong and operate lounges around the world. I have heard impressive things especially of their lounges in Heathrow as well as in Vancouver. Most of their lounges are also part of the Priority Pass network and you could access them with your membership. In some location, they do have arrival lounges as well. On my way back form Taipei, I was in Taoyuan International Airport. After getting my favourite mochi from I JY SHENG we went to check in. There was a slight wait despite the long line.

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No. 24, Taiwan: Taipei

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Welcome to Taipei I guess! I have been ridiculed, laughed at for having not been before to Taiwan despite being to so many places around the world. Now I can finally say that Seeing The World In Steps have finally been here. I do have to say that Taiwan was never ever on the top of my bucketlist, or even on it! Thankfully back last year while I had some time off and wanted to take a breather, right before I went back to being a student, Taiwan somewhat came back into the plan. Being the very first time in my 24 years of life, I am determined to go all out and this country bumpkin is determined to see all the must see. Especially seeing that I will probably not come back again!

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No. 24, Taiwan: Shin Yeh Taipei 101

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Although not bearing any Michelin Stars, Shin Yeh is one of the most try while you are in Taiwan. They are a local brand that is famed for serving up traditional Taiwanese Cuisine. It is a household name right over there. There are numerous outlet of Shin Yeh located throughout the island and in Taipei itself, however the most famous well-known one got to be the Taipei 101 outlet since it is located right up 85th Floor. This is definitely one of the highest restaurant that you can dine at in the world. At first, I was weighing up the options of whether to visit the Taipei 101 observation deck, seemingly since I am a first time visitor to Taipei. Pondering over it, I was thinking, rather than spending 600 TWD per person for a ticket up to the deck, I might as well just spend that on a meal itself. There comes Shin Yeh in mind.

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