Gisele and I are leaving Tuesday to spend three weeks in Taiwan with Devon. Since he can’t come home for Thanksgiving, we will celebrate it there with him. I doubt that we will find any turkey, but a chicken dish in a restaurant will have to do.
We wish Derek could come with us, but he’s in the middle of job hunting. It would be a shame to miss an opportunity because he was out of the country.
We always fly coach to Asia. Round trip coach tickets can be bought for around $1000, while business class costs closer to $5000 and first class is nearly $10,000. So we can tolerate a cramped seat for the 15 or so hours of flying it takes to get there.
But over the years we have accumulated enough miles on United that we were able to do a round-trip upgrade. Not all the way to first class, and not all the way to Taiwan, but we have business class tickets to and from Tokyo. That’s the longest 11-hour stretch, so the extra comfort will be very welcome. And best of all, United has just installed lie-flat beds on these flights in business, so we will be able to stretch out and really sleep! The bad part is that we will get spoiled and it will be hard to fly coach again, but we just can’t justify an extra $8000 between us every time we travel. This upgrade is a once-in-a-decade treat!
9 responses so far ↓
1 Richard // Nov 18, 2013 at 7:07 am
Enjoy your trip. Dianna and I got First Class upgrades on trans-Atlantic trips to and from Ireland. The seats were not completely lie flat, but close enough for me. Cushy!
2 Robin // Nov 18, 2013 at 9:55 am
Nice! Have a great time and say “Hello” to Devon for us!
3 Mom // Nov 18, 2013 at 3:11 pm
I’ve been watching the temperature in Taiwan, and it seems to be close to what it is here, a good time to be there. Hope the typhoon situation stays quiet.
4 Donna // Nov 18, 2013 at 4:56 pm
Cool! Lucky! Have a great trip.
5 Don // Nov 18, 2013 at 8:19 pm
I’ve only flown First Class once from New York to LA and it was when I broke my ribs. The best thing about the flight was getting a set of Bose Noise Cancelling headphones. If you’ve never used a set on an airplane and they have them you are in for a real treat. It almost completely removes the engine sound.
Glad you’re getting to experience this. Have a great time.
6 Daryl // Nov 18, 2013 at 8:43 pm
I have my own Panasonic Noise Cancelling headphones that I really only ever use while flying. I’m sure they’re not as good as the Bose that you used, but they help a lot. If they provide better ones, I’ll keep mine in their case!
7 Dale // Nov 19, 2013 at 9:51 am
It looks like you can watch TV in bed. Have a good time!
8 Richard // Dec 17, 2013 at 3:40 pm
I never asked and you never mentioned, what kind of aircraft was this? Have you flown on a 380 yet?
9 Daryl // Dec 17, 2013 at 8:31 pm
It was a double deck 747, and we sat on the upper deck. It’s nice up there — fewer people, quiet.
I’m pretty sure I haven’t flown on a 380; pretty sure I would remember.
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