After 18 months of planning, chasing SUBs, and obsessing over Seats.aero alerts, I was finally able to put together what really felt like a trip of a lifetime. It turned into a pretty wild 30 day adventure with business and first class flights across the world, stays in some incredible hotels and suites, and overall just one of those experiences you know you probably won’t replicate again anytime soon. Some general notes before the total points breakdown:
I was initially hesitant about flying into Narita, but if you're flying ANA First, the fast track customs makes it a non-issue. My wife and I were through in about 5 minutes compared to an estimated 90 minute wait when we landed.
I booked 3 nights at the Andaz Tokyo Toranomon Hills right at schedule open when it was still a Category 7. It’s an incredible hotel, but if I were doing this again I would’ve just stayed all 7 nights at Hotel Toranomon Hills. We both preferred HTH’s more convenient subway access. Splitting our Tokyo stay between HTH and Andaz, with Disney and Shinjuku in the middle, also made things feel more fragmented than expected.
Virgin Atlantic swapped us into the older “coffin” Upper Class seat at the last minute on the flight home. After experiencing The Suite on ANA and JAL’s A350 business class, what would’ve been the flight of a lifetime a month ago ended up feeling pretty lackluster.
Booking on points doesn’t really “save” money. The cash you avoid spending on flights and hotels just gets redirected into nicer rooms, better meals, and experiences you probably wouldn’t have paid for otherwise.
Flights
Flight| Airline| Class| Total Points| Program Used| ---|---|----|----|----|---- Home-Chicago | AA| Domestic First| 30,000| Alaska| Chicago - Tokyo NRT| ANA| First| 170,000| Virgin| Osaka KIX- Tokyo HND-Paris| JAL| Business| 150,000| AA| London Heathrow-Home| Virgin Atlantic| Upper| 58,000| Virgin|
Hotels booked on Hyatt Points
Hotel| Nights| Total Points| Notes ---|---|----|----|----|---- Park Hyatt Chicago | 3| 79,000| Upgraded all the way to a Lake Michigan suite as Globalist| Hotel Toronamon Hills| 4| 140,000| SUA into Corner Suite| Andaz Tokyo Toronamon Hills| 3| 105,000| Booked pre Category 7 to 8 increase, no upgrade due to full occupancy| Caption Osaka| 3| 28,500| Upgraded to a city view room| Park Hyatt Paris-Vendome| 4| 160,000| SUA to regular suite. Got further upgraded to a Deluxe Suite| Andaz London Liverpool Street| 4| 84,000| Upgraded to suite as Globalist|
Hotels booked on cash
Hotel| Nights| Notes
---|---|----|----|----|----
Tokyo Disneyland Hotel | 3| Alice In Wonderland Character Room|
Hotel Gracery Shinjuki | 1| Godzilla vs King Ghidorah Room|
Kyoisuke| 3| Ryokan in Kyoto|
Hotel Nikko Kansai Airport| 1| Booked via Capital One Travel using Venture X credit|