Part 1: Going East by West - Feb. 28-Mar. 2, 2019

4/1/2019

The next big adventure for Coasting with Culture is here! This was a nearly month-long visit to Asia that involved five different countries which would feel a lot like it was three separate trips, thus it is being presented as such, with the first part focusing on the exploration of Southeast Asia with stops in Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei. While being presented as separate trips, it was because of the last portion that the first two would even happen in the first place, and for that, we need to rewind the clock back to last July.

It was at that time that I was visiting the state of Michigan with my friend Rick when he began to mention the possibility of going to South Korea while we waiting for a coasting we were attempting to ride to open (I believe it was at Colasanti's Tropical Gardens in Ontario), and I thought that it sounded like a great trip, so I told him that I would be interested in joining, and for a while the plan was going to be to put my Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan Miles toward the flights as I knew I was close to having enough for booking business class with their international partners, including Korean Air. As it got closer to being time to start booking, I saw an article from the Points Guy about how some airlines allow you to book open jaw itineraries (Where the starting and ending points of your booking are different) or to have stopovers, essentially adding another destination to your travel plans. As luck would have, Alaska allowed for both open-jaw and stopovers, and you could have stopovers both ways.

With this knowledge, I began to get a little creative with my investigating to see what possibilities could come from this, and it ultimately led to the plan to use my miles to get to Singapore from Seattle using Japan Airlines, and then getting from Hong Kong to Seattle with an extended stopover in Seoul for the time I would spend there with friends. While by policy I could have booked a stopover in Tokyo with JAL on the way to Singapore, there were some issues with booking online that didn’t allow me to do so in the same reservation, but when I just had the regular layover in Tokyo, it went through. So while I wouldn’t get a lot of time in Japan, I was at least getting to experience business class on an airline I already really liked, plus the overall trip was pretty long as it was already, so adding ANOTHER destination could have been a bit much. If anything, I have had a chance to visit Japan once, and I’ll use the “last time it was only a short layover” excuse to justify a return.

So the grand plan for these flights was that I would be flying with Alaska to get to San Diego, and then switch to Japan for the flight to Tokyo, followed by one more flight to Singapore. There were a few local flights that I would pay for out of pocket, but this miles redemption would cover my flights with Korean Air later in the trip to fly from Hong Kong to Seoul, and then after our time in Seoul, I would fly with them to Las Vegas, where I would have an overnight layover before going home with Alaska again to Seattle. In all, it cost me 125,000 Alaska Miles, but to get two flights at 10-12 hours, one at 6-7 hours and one at about 3 hours in business, and one of my two Alaska flights in their first-class cabin, I feel like it was a pretty good overall redemption! With that, after many hours of planning, and a long night trying to stay up to influence how I slept on the planes, it was time to grab the bags and head to Asia!

With an early morning departure on a fairly cold day, the crews were busy deicing the planes, which is a process I have never seen in person before. It dawned on me that I hadn't put a lot of thought into what would be involved in this process, as for some reason I didn't think it involved spraying down the plane, but as I think of it more, how else would they do it? Our plane was also given the would get a deicing treatment after we had boarded.

While Japan Airlines is a partner of Alaska, at the time of this trip they did not have direct service between Seattle and Tokyo (Which was beginning later in the spring after a couple decades when they stopped serving that route). Because of this, my first flight would be with them to San Diego. From there, I would be going to East by going West!

The weather and timing for this flight was PERFECT! On a clear day, you can see Mt. Rainier from the Seattle area, including from SeaTac and the airport, so it was cool seeing it in the background when taxiing to the runway. Even better though, with our departure being right around sunrise on a fairly clear day, we were treated to incredible views of Rainier on the way South thanks to that clear weather! We also saw Mt. Addams as well (which is the one seen in the "through the window" picture). I will also say that approaching San Diego has to be one of the coolest landing experiences with how close you get to the skyline, along with the views of the coast and nearby bay.

After spending a bit of time in the Admiral Club (thanks to the business class flight with JAL, which is part of OneWorld with American Airlines), it was time to head over to the gate to get to Tokyo! I had previously flown with Japan Airlines back in 2017 for the Airtime Coaster Travels Tour of Japan, and was quite pleased with their service, so getting to try business class this time had me pretty excited to see the difference compared to economy. The only immediate downside came from the short layover in Tokyo, which didn’t leave much room for error as it was only about an hour and a half, and as luck would have it, our flight did have a short delay.

While these business class seats were certainly more comfortable than the normal economy seats, and having the ability to recline further was great, I have to admit that it wasn’t as nice as I had hoped it would be as the seats on this 787-8 were an older style that would become angle-flat, meaning that when in a laying position for sleeping, the foot is lower than the head, which lead to some awkward sliding down the seat at times when I tried to get some shuteye. I didn’t get to sleep as much as I would have liked on this flight, especially as my plan was to do the most of my sleeping on this flight in an effort to try and adjust to the time of Singapore a bit more quickly. Even though it wasn’t ideal for sleeping, it was still an improvement over normal economy seating, especially when reclining for watching a movie or two.

After a long 12 hours, our flight would safely land in Tokyo, and in going through security to continue to my connecting flight, it was very efficient, so while I felt like I had to rush at first to make my connection, I actually had plenty of time to get to my gate and make a restroom stop on the way. I would have liked to stay in Tokyo for a night as I love the city, but there was a different city to get to, and that was Singapore!

The last flight for this stretch would be aboard this 777-200ER had a nicer style of mini-suite business class seats that offer a better feeling of privacy, and because of the layout, the seat does lay completely flat in this arrangement, which was much nicer for resting, as I ultimately would for a couple hours. I originally wanted to stay up for this one, but as I was so worn having stayed up the previous flight, and only getting a short snooze here and there with the previous flights that I just went ahead and let it happen.

After another 6-7 hours on the plane, we made it to Singapore! The first of five countries that would be visited in the overall trip. With landing after midnight, the options to get to the first hotel were a bit limited, so I went ahead and took a cab, which was reasonable priced at about 25 Singapore Dollars (roughly $18-19 USD). The ride over gave a small glimpse into the city that was about to be explored soon!

After being having pulled an all-nighter, followed by around 30 hours in transit from leaving my condo to walking into my first hotel room, there was nothing better than seeing a real bed! After a quick shower, it was time to get some sleep.

And that was the journey to Singapore! Up next, after getting some rest, it would be time to explore the city-state courtesy of a familiar friend from back in South Africa!

2019 Southeast Asia Trip

Next: Part 2
Exploring Singapore >

YOUR CART

2019 Southeast Asia Trip

Part 1: Going East by West - Feb. 28-Mar. 2, 2019