Trip report introduction: Bubble Tea and Stinky Tofu!
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01. Trip report introduction
02. SAS A320 business class, Stockholm to London
03. SilverKris Lounge, Heathrow
04. Thai Airways A380 Royal First class, London to Bangkok
05. Thai Airways Royal First Lounge, Bangkok Suvarnabhumi
06. Thai Airways A330 Royal Silk (business class), Bangkok to Taipei
07. Pacific Business Hotel, Taipei
08. Photo Essay: Taipei
09. The Infinity Lounge by EVA Air, Taoyuan Airport
10. EVA Air B777-300ER Royal Laurel (business class), Taipei to Amsterdam (via Bangkok), part 1
11. EVA Air B777-300ER Royal Laurel (business class), Taipei to Amsterdam (via Bangkok), part 2
13. SAS A320 business class, Amsterdam to Stockholm
14. Trip summary
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What a trip report this is going to be! After collecting Star Alliance miles to my SAS Eurobonus account, I had enough points for a long-haul business class trip. Unfortunately it wasn't enough for two passengers, but my wife graciously let me go on this trip anyway. But I will take her on a business class trip one day! (And now you have it in writing ;))
For this trip, I paid a total of around €350 in taxes and fees. That amount would have been the same regardless of what cabin class I travelled in, so flying in business or first class is generally the best way to spend your miles/points - at least with SAS Eurobonus where the taxes are quite high. If I had paid for this trip in cash instead of miles, it would have cost me a whopping €6112...
I decided on Taipei pretty early on in my planning. There were often award tickets available, and there was a good chance to try a couple of new airlines. Plus it looked like a fascinating city, in a new-to-me country that didn't require a visa. My ambition was to fly there on South Korean airline Asiana, and home with Taiwanese airline EVA Air. However, when I had enough miles to book a ticket, and secured a couple of days off work for this trip, no Asiana tickets were available. Instead a seat in first class on one of THAI:s A380:s had opened up. Yes, please! So this is what the itinerary looked like:
The itinerary for this trip:
2018-10-04: SK525, SAS A320 business class, Stockholm to London
2018-10-04: TG911, THAI A380 first class, London to Bangkok
2018-10-05: TG632, THAI A330 business class, Bangkok to Taipei
2018-10-06: BR75, EVA Air B777-300ER business class, Taipei to Amsterdam (via Bangkok)
2018-10-06: SK1556, SAS B737-600 business class, Amsterdam to Stockholm
Aside from flying first and business class, and flying on EVA Air, there were some other things which I hoped to do or get on this trip as well, so before going on the trip, I wrote a sort of "bucket list" for this trip that I'll go through in the last post of this trip report:
#1 Getting a good view of downtown London upon descent into LHR
When the aircraft are landing on runways 27, and the weather is decent, you'll be provided with a great view of downtown London upon descent into Heathrow. So I made sure to select a seat on the right hand side of the plane, and kept my fingers crossed for a 27R landing.
#2 Being upstairs on an A380
My wife and I flew on Emirates' A380 this summer when we visited Mauritius. It was such pleasure to fly on, and I really wanted to fly it again in the future. Now it looked like I would have the chance to do it. And not just that, but on the upper deck as well. But, THAI are notorious for their equipment changes, so I didn't want to take anything for granted.
#3 Eating oscietra caviar
I'm not really a caviar guy, but in first class cabins, they often serve caviar as the first dish of the meal service. Sturgeon caviar is considered to be the finest, and the oscietra variety is eclipsed in price only by the beluga variety. Oscietra caviar will set you back roughly €250 for one hundred grams, so it's not like I've had the chance (nor the wallet) to try it before. But if it's served for free onboard the LHR-BKK flight, I'll gladly try it.
#4 Getting a Rimowa amenity kit
Rimowa is a German suitcase manufacturer, known for their aluminum suitcases. They've partnered with a couple of airlines, such as Lufthansa, to provide tiny hard-case amenity kits for first class passengers. THAI also occasionally have the Rimowa kits, and EVA Air (as the only airline in the world) actually provide them in business class, but only on selected long-haul flights departing from Taipei. So if I'm lucky, I'll get two Rimowa kits on this trip (one for my wife and one for me...)
#5 Drinking Veuve Clicquot or KRUG champagne
This is like #3. I don't eat and drink a lot of expensive stuff, but if it's free of charge, I might as well try it. Veuve Clicquot and KRUG are two of the most expensive champagnes out there, and they occasionally make their way into premium cabins in the air. We'll see if they are served on any of my flights.
#6 Eating "stinky tofu"
Stinky tofu is a type of fermented tofu with a really strong odour (hence its name), and is a typical dish in Taiwan, where it's often served deep fried. I like regular tofu, so I'll try to find this dish in Taipei.
#7 Drinking bubble tea
An even more Taiwanese dish is Bubble tea - milk tea with tapioca balls. I only have 19 hours in Taipei, so I won't have time to go bananas and try everything (like I did in Japan), but I'll try to find the tofu and the tea. They also feel like safe bets - I don't want to get food poisoning when I'm only spending one night there...
#8 Visit Taipei 101
At 509 metres, Taipei 101 towers above every other building in Taipei. In fact, it was the highest building in the world from its completion in 2004 until 2010 when Burj Khalifa in Dubai was completed. If the weather is very foggy, I might not visit the observation deck, but in any case, I'll visit at street level to marvel at the architecture of this bamboo-shaped skyscraper.
#9 Making every connection...
This one is out of my control, but obviously I want to make every connection. My shortest connection is in Amsterdam on my way back, when I have one hour to make the SK flight back to Stockholm. My longest connection is at Heathrow, where I have 2:55 to make the A380 to Bangkok. But the SK525 between Stockholm and Heathrow has often been delayed this autumn, so I'm a little concerned about that one as well.
Okay, so I've shared the itinerary and my hopes for this trip. Now, let's head to Arlanda to get this party started!
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