This trip was at least 18 months in the making. It also went through varying destinations. We started out with the desire to do an around the world trip, then it became a “quick experience of Asia” trip, with visits to Taiwan and Malaysia (still haven’t made it to either), then we had to delay it. Eventually it started to really take form: Around the world, with stops in Tokyo, and Beijing. A last minute add (where I learned some lessons), was Frankfurt/Mainz, Germany, for me personally, a huge stop. I think my mother in law enjoyed Beijing and the Great Wall most, and my wife enjoyed Tokyo most. Maybe that’s the sign of the perfect trip.
Here are the segments of the trip report (in order of our stops, not necessarily in order of the posts):
Flying All Nippon Airways Square Class
Flying All Nippon Airways Business Class
Touring the Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo, Japan
Dueling Alliance Lounges at Tokyo-Haneda Airport
Realizing after the fact, I kind’ve left out a pretty amazing flight on Swiss Air from Beijing to Zurich. Suffice it to say, I had the best steak–ever–in the air.
Best steak ever!
I also skipped the United flight review from Frankfurt to Dulles, primarily because it was originally supposed to be Lufthansa, but thanks to a Lufthansa pilot strike, we were re-booked on United. I flew first class, in fact, I burned the additional miles to fly first class, specifically because I wanted to visit the Lufthansa First Class terminal again. Needless to say, the folks at the LH FCT offered tissues as they drove us to the “main” terminal to check in for our United flight. There are no words for how I felt.
Overall the trip was pretty amazing. It was perhaps the trip of a lifetime for my mother in law (really the focus of the trip). I know that my wife and I both really learned a lot from our experiences as well.
