A planned yet secret trip to Vancouver

33,750 Km's

Reasons?

There were several ... 

Surprise my parents at the end of there tour

Make use of Avianca LifeMiles

Fly ANA's 777 in 1st class Haneda to LA

Fly ANA's 787 business class


Achieved

The surprise was a winner

LifeMiles always allows me to travel in comfort!!!

ANA's 777 1st class - Sensational 

ANA's 787 : fantastic service and style

To see how I made this trip affordable 



As you will see if you push the button I had flights from Tokyo through to Vancouver and back to Sydney. To complete the journey I needed to get from Cairns to Japan and Sydney to Cairns. Jetstar had a special on - buy one way and get the return free - So I did, A$319 up to Narita in June and back in November. You know what that means, I now have to go to Japan late October to use the return flight Narita to Cairns. 

Already in the planning - Hong Kong Airlines have great fares Cairns to Hong Kong. I have a Ramen eating plan for 3 days in Hong Kong and then onto Kogashima. Ready to try the satsuma cuisine..!! and then make my way up to Tokyo for that Free flight home.

The flight from Sydney to Cairns was the 2nd half of a Free return flight I received as part of a deal with the American Express Velocity Platinum Card. 

Now onto ANA's 1st class experience. I had high expectations and they did not disappoint. From the moment I checked in my ever so small piece of checked luggage (5 days in Vancouver I didn't need much) it just got better. Up the escalators and you then enter the Suite Lounge, passed the mighty large Stainless Steel Doors.

 

    

As it was a late departure I headed for the Restaurant, ordered dinner, a glass of Champagne Collet was offered while I waited.

On Board and all the pre-departure preparation was in play. The funky / Sexy Samsonite amenities pack was handed to me and a glass of Krug... AH ... I am lovin this ....  

Moving right along - in flight - I'll let the pictures tell the story.. This can be a never ending story - All food was on request, so I happily managed to use my time wisely.   

A little over 10 hrs later 

A transit in LA for 2.5 hrs and then Air Canada flight to Vancouver business class on a A320, a 3 hour flight. As you have to collect your luggage and clear customs it's oh so nice to find that someone has collected your luggage off the carousel and has it waiting for you in LAX. 

Air Canada's flight from LAX to YVR  was a very average cramped 3 hours on what I call a short domestic Business class product. We arrived on time, exited the Airport and in a Taxi to my accommodation. The whole process was swift 

  

Hashira Cafe & Deli

If you are in Narita Japan this is a great little cafe to go to. It would be one of the few places I would definitely have a coffee - they make it and they make them good.

Lunch is also great, they have a little deli cabinet to choose you lunch set from, always an interesting and makes it hard to decide. But you get there in the end and enjoy this cafe hidden on a side street really close to the JR Narita train station.

Matcha or Coffee

what will it be

Matcha for me this time

This is where to find them

http://hashiracafe.com

https://goo.gl/maps/jkn77cPBtHA2

Street address	Narita, Chiba Prefecture Hanazaki cho 839-30
Nearest station	JR Narita Station / Keisei Narita Station
Directions to	JR Narita Station than a 1-minute walk  from the 2-minute walk Keisei Narita Station  to the east exit of the Rotary of JR There are alternating.  It is a short around the way of that aside.
phone number	0476-22-0789
business hours	7:00 to 19:00

Planning a trip to Japan

Way back in June Jetstar had airfares out for about A$500 return which included checked luggage and credit card fee. A short think, I like Japan - People, food, culture & countryside, I took up this offer. Part of the catalyst was I always tell my mother about this country and whats there and she seems to always hear about it and that's as far as it goes. My farther has no interest in going, a quick decision and a ticket was purchased. The stars must have aligned as cheap fares from Adelaide to Cairns also came up so that go mother to Cairns for the little adventure at a good price as well.

I travel independently but in the last few years I also do it well organised - all accommodation and travel is prearranged and booked before I leave. So when we get to our destination there is no time deciding where and when to stay saving a hugh amount of time particularly if your time is limited.

  

We were set to travel in November. All internal accommodation is booked  mostly Ryokans some with Onsens (one of those little pleasures, I look forward to in Japan). some with meal plans (breakfast and dinner). These Ryokans are small and family run so real Japanese home cooking. 

I used this website to plan all train travel :  http://www.hyperdia.com. And it is a brilliant tool. I worked out the cost of all travel we would do including reservations and I found that it was nearly the same as a 7 day ordinary JR Pass. 

  

So I decided to buy the passes as this must be done before you enter Japan and you must have a voucher to exchange for the pass when you enter Japan. So I did my hunt around the web to find the best priced authorized agent to buy the pass from. The price quoted on the official Japan Rail Website was 29,110 YEN which is about A$332.00 per pass. the company I eventually purchased from was : http://www.japan-rail-pass.com

A UK based company, the passes are sent via FedEx International Priority and so far the purchase system and delivery is running seamlessly. The passes have boarded a plane in 

26 OCTOBER : ROISSY CHARLES DE GAULLE CEDEX, FRANCE

and they are on there way..
27 OCTOBER : 5:12 pm - In transit - DUBAI AE
28 OCTOBER : 11;23 pm - Shipment released - ALEXANDRIA AU

Attempted delivery 1 November by Startrack 
which was not really attempted just carded as I was at home all day.!!!
Australia Post are so UN reliable & UN trustworthy

A trip to the local post office on 2 November to collect 
Great service until FEDEX gave it to STARTRACK
The postage was FREE but the service provided was suppose to be premium door to door

Free delivery, JR map, timetable & travel guide

All this for A$330 per pass

When I have them in my hand I will update this blog

  

Life Miles are back

Buy miles and receive up to 135% bonus

Yep - just got my email today and did a quick calculation : If I were to buy 150,000 LifeMiles I would get an additional 202,500 LifeMiles totaling 352,5000. This is at a cost of USD$33 per 1,000 block. Working on todays conversion from USA to AUD that is about AUD$20 per 1,000 block over the entire 352,500.  

Now that would get you 4 return trips on ANA's band new 787 from Brisbane to Tokyo in Business Class.

The only critical criteria is the following:

Applies only to members enrolled in the program prior to September 7th, 2015.

If you miss out this time join up, it's FREE and hope they do it again. This is the most bonus miles I've seen since I have been a member and it certainly helps with the Oz dollar buying US dollars right now. 

Click Me : This takes you to a page that shows how I have used Life Miles so far 

Life Miles 

Have done it again

LifeMiles is the frequent flyer program for Avianca and TACA

Condition : you must be a member prior to 19th December 2014

If you were a member you would got an email on 1st December offering a sweetener, for that day only if you purchased you would receive a bonus 25% on top of the 100% offered

A purchase of 66,000 miles netted 128,500 miles

Now that's getting in a nice position for 2015 

Here is what LifeMiles has done for me so far

The past year I have redeemed equivalent to 255,000 miles using miles (150,000) and pay (105,000) method allowing me to travel the following flights in business class

(taking a companion on one flight)

1 seat : Singapore (Singapore Airlines)  Shanghai (Air china) Sydney

2 seats : Tokyo (Lufthansa) Frankfurt (SAS) Oslo (SAS) Tromsø

1 seat : Copenhagen (Swiss) Zurich (Swiss) Tokyo