It's the end of the year again, and it's time for my to fly back home to visit my family in Thailand. However, this time is different because on the way to Thailand from San Francisco, I decided to stop over in Japan for 7 days, so I'll be posting more about my trip in Japan and in Thailand here. My itinerary looks something like this:
- Dec 19th -- Leave San Francisco
- Dec 20th -- Arrive at Tokyo Narita Airport
- Dec 27th -- Leave Narita and arrive in Bangkok
- Jan 11th 2015 -- Leave Bangkok to San Francisco
We'll get started by talking about my flight to Tokyo Narita. I originally bought a round trip ticket from SFO-NRT-BKK in Business class from All Nippon Airways (ANA) since they are in Star Alliance and I can collect miles for my next trip. However, I also had some American Express credit card points (so called "Membership Rewards" points) that I can transfer to ANA to request an upgrade for my flight from Business class to First class. It takes 40,000 points for a segment from San Francisco to Narita. I decided to take a chance so I transferred the points from American Express to ANA, and request an upgrade. I requested the upgrade on September 24th and had been on the waitlist. My upgrade was cleared just on November 30th. This is my first time on any first class flight and I've been very excited about this flight!
Read MoreIt was Friday. My colleagues who live around the Mission area of the city asked if we wanted to go get some brunch before going to work. Our whole team (minus one) decided to go, and we ended up going to Mission Beach Café. Mission Beach Café is famous for its weekday brunch, and of course, it's caramelized pepper bacon.
Read MoreAround mid-May 2014, as I was trying to get the number of nights for the Hyatt Diamond Challenge (I got the information about the challenge from One Mile at a Time), I ended up staying at the Hyatt Embarcadero Center in San Francisco to check out the Diamond member's benefits and to fulfill the number of nights requirements for the Hyatt Diamond Challenge. Here's my impression on the hotel.
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