Checking In Ep 22: Japan Trip Report w/Raymond

Thanks to Raymond (@outasflyguy) coming on the show!

• 0:40 Purpose of Japan trip
  • 6th time going to Japan, just about every previous time I’ve gone during late October / early November in the Fall.
  • Weather is perfect; not muggy like in Summer…
  • Probably my favorite time to go even though everyone thinks Cherry Blossom season is ideal
    • I think there’s value going in the shoulder season
  • 2020 - Rebooking of trip with P2 that was initially supposed to be Japan + Taiwan trip
    • COVID happened — canceled trip in favor of Walt Disney World trip in Fall 2020
    • P2 is a huge Sanrio fan
      • Supposed to fly EVA Air on the Hello Kitty 77W on the way home from TPE
  • March 2021 – attempted again to go during October 2021 timeframe
    • Japan still under heavy lockdown
    • Japan trip was scrapped — went to Paris instead
    • Visited Paris Disneyland and Walt Disney Studios
  • May 2022 — Made a gamble that there’s no way by November 2022, that Japan would still be closed
    • So as part of the trip — I was planning on proposing at SFO right at the check in counters in the Intl hall.
    • As September rolls around, I have a ring ready…
    • But I read the Japanese entry requirements for tourism, you needed to book a tour guide thru a Japanese tour agency, or needed to book flights and hotels thru a tour agency
    • Started thinking the trip might not happen
    • So, I pivoted on the proposal, and while were visiting Toronto in September, I decided to propose on a boat right in front of Niagara Falls — just to get it out of the way…
    • The same day we got engaged, we saw an announcement that the Japanese government was going to lift the requirement to book with a tour guide and you can enjoy basically the same access that US nationals had pre-COVID.
    • So there’s that……….
    • Either way, we were excited to have the Japan trip already booked and that early booking gamble paid off
• 10:40 Flights — 14 day trip to Japan
  • Outbound
    • Initially booked JL SFO-HND in PY using BA Avios for Oct 29.
      • 52.5K BA + $220 YQ
    • As we got close-in to departure, started monitoring JL J/F availability for 3+ weeks out
      • Noticed trend that T-minus 2 weeks at 5pm PT, JL was dumping heaps of premium cabin availability.
        • Especially F cabin
      • On 10/11 (Tues) saw there were 7 F seats released for Tues 2 weeks out.
      • Observed similar trends on Wednesday 10/12, Thursday 10/13, Friday 10/14.
      • Saturday Oct 15, pretty much queued up my alarms for 5pm and refreshed. Luckily right at 5pm — JL released 3 F seats…
        • Quickly scooped up 2 F using 140K AS, canceled the BA award and paid the $55/pp fee
    • JL First Highlights
      • Second time flying SFO-TYO in JL F
      • F cabin was completely full
      • I checked a few weeks before on the JL website and I believe the site would allow you to buy 6 seats, so I know that the cabin wasn’t completely full, up until close-in.
        • My guess is that 2/8 seats were revenue seats…
        • Rest were JL awards or partner awards
      • Service is really where JL shines
        • Nice thing about the F seat is the little bench in front of your seat — it has its own seatbelt.
        • It felt like the seat was asking for company to join you for dinner
        • Asked FA if P2 and I could dine together… which the FAs were delighted to oblige
        • Dining across from your significant other at 38,000 ft, that alone is something that I’ll remember for the rest of my life…
        • But the F dining service just put that over the top —
          • the quality of the food and beverage service,
          • the absolute attention to detail
          • … it was just perfect.
        • Worth every mile over the redemption in J, and that applies to Asia Miles, Alaska miles, American miles, hell, maybe even BA Avios with a 30%  transfer bonus on a single leg itinerary…maybe!
  • Inbound
    • Initially booked JL KIX-HND-SFO in J using 120K AS
    • About 1 month out, got an email that JL canceled the HND-SFO leg on the return date
    • Automatically re-accommodated on a bad itinerary leaving at 6:30am with a 12 hour layover plus airport change from NRT to HND
    • Waited to contact AS to rebook because I wanted to see if we could leverage the flight cancellation to get miles back just in case the trip didn’t happen
    • When we knew the trip was a go + couldn't find award availability
      • Contacted AS and politely asked if they can re-accommodate us on the original flight numbers, but a day later…
      • This is what I initially wanted to book but award space wasn’t there.
    • AS contacted JL desk and they were able to work out a reaccommodation into a revenue fare bucket…
      • Able to earn miles on an AS Partner award? Yes please!
    • Booked into the APEX Suites on a B78-9
    • I don’t think there’s a bad pair of seats for couples traveling together if you’re flying the APEX suites
  • Flights recap
    • In the end, it all worked out great. First class outbound, Business class return… JL is a truly gem of a carrier and always seems to release inventory close-in.
  • Take home Lessons
    • Good idea to book a placeholder flight that you can live with and hope for a schedule or equipment change…
      • or pay the cancellation fee and mentally think of it as insurance.
    • If there’s a schedule change, keep that in your back pocket
      • You might be able to leverage a free cancellation
      • Or even ask the partner to rebook you into inventory that might not be bookable as an award
    • Get partner confirmation number and use JAL Manage Booking site to select your seats
• 27:05 Hotels
  • 7 days in Tokyo
  • Arrived in NRT
  • We took probably what is the best value option to get from NRT to the Conrad —
    • Narita Express to Tokyo Station
    • Taxi via Uber App > Tokyo station to Conrad
    • Other options
      • Taxi was too expensive
      • NRT Limobus no longer serves Conrad
      • Local train would have been a disaster with several luggages and Tokyo subway rush hour with a couple station transfers
  • 5 night stay on Hilton points at Conrad Tokyo
    • 95K/night with 5th night free
    • 2nd time staying at the Conrad Tokyo — last time was late 2019.
    • I had been talking the Conrad up to my P2 for over 2 years now so I wanted it to be a special stay…
    • No Diamond recognition nor complimentary suite upgrade
    • Paid $100/night for an upgrade from base King Room City to King Suite Bay Corner —
      • well worth it IMO thought it did suck that there was no complimentary upgrade.
      • My thought is that maybe 30% of people staying were Diamond and there was no way they’d be upgrading everyone past a standard Executive floor King / Twin room.
    • Was also able to meet up with fellow patron @kristoff and his P2 and have dinner while we were there
      • It was nice to know I wasn’t the only person dragging their P2 around Japan like a kid in a candy store
  • 2 nights at Hilton Tokyo Bay
    • Stayed here to be close to Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea
    • $360/night - 2 nights
    • Booked a standard room, though good Diamond recognition and booked into an overly large Celebrio suite…
      • Would have been absolutely fine with a standard room.
      • Celebrio Suite felt like they took two rooms in the corner and removed the door that adjoins the rooms
      • Nonetheless, I was happy that Hilton Diamond actually gets you something meaningful here.
    • Really good location if you are spending two full days visiting both parks.
      • Recommend staying at a nearby hotel to the park if staying for > 1 day
      • If spending just one day at Disneyland, don’t think it’s worth all the effort to trek out to the nearby hotels, just take a taxi or train to Disneyland early and trek home when park closes
  • 3 days in Kyoto
    • Hyatt Regency Kyoto
      • Booked into a King Standard Room via ‘The Hotel Collection’
      • $240/night x 3 minus $200 THC credit
      • Hyatt award rate was very bad in comparison (24K/night)
      • Happy to use up a $200 THC credit given I had no other plans for the rest of 2022 to use them
      • $100 credit used on room service
      • Don’t forget to add your Hyatt # to your booking, as you still get elite benefits.
  • 3 days in Osaka
    • Wanted to end the trip with a bang
    • 3 nights at St. Regis Osaka into a King Skyline City View
    • 3 consecutive FHR 1 night bookings using 3 Plats
      • Was hoping that the FHR program in Japan was not quick to realize updates to AMEX FHR program terms and potentially be able to get 3 consecutive nights of FHR benefits.
      • Didn’t work
      • Still received $200 credit per night on the card, daily breakfast and late checkout, but only 1 day’s worth of $100 dining credit… which we used on room service on one of our ‘lazy nights’.
    • St Regis includes Butler service, which includes a welcome drink every morning that we always forgot to order when we woke up.
      • Butler service also includes 4 daily articles of clothing to be ironed for you
    • Overall, price was $315/night after the $200 FHR credit
      • With all the FHR benefits, I think it was a good use of the FHR benefits across 3 Plats
    • Make sure to check your Marriott app on the day you check in, there were 2 promotions that showed up that I was able to add on the day we checked in,
      • 2500 points after your second stay and 2500 points for every stay after
      • 2000 points for stays including a Friday / Saturday night
      • The 3 ‘stays’ ended up netting an additional 7500 points after revenue earning
  • Overall:
    • With the exception of my Conrad stay, all my stays were paid in cash in some form or another.
    • With FHR credits and focusing a large part of my earning game in cashback through the Altitude Reserve and AMEX MR cashouts, I felt comfortable booking the majority of the hotels using cash at a somewhat discounted rate.
    • I have really started to look at AMEX, USBAR, and CapOne cashouts as my indirect way of paying for the hotels I wanted to stay at and not being constantly bound to a single hotel chain.
    • Plus also mitigating the adverse effects of a possible shutdown.
• 51:40 Trip Goals
  • Sanrio Puroland
    • Sanrio Puroland is like the Disneyland of Sanrio fandom
      • I couldn’t believe there was such a theme park just for Sanrio
    • P2 is huge My Melody fan
    • Previously was shopping through Instagram Live for Sanrio collectibles
    • Basically let her run free with shopping for Sanrio items
  • Tokyo Disneyland
    • Crazy good value right now, single day tickets are $65/pp
    • Very nice park
    • Staff is the best I’ve seen at any theme park anywhere
    • Food was a below average  copy of standard American Disney park fare
    • Long Lines —
      • queues are pretty much double what they are at Disneyland
      • Japanese people seem to be very tolerant of queues
    • If you’ve seen my profile picture on Slack, you’ll know I’m a huge Pua fan from Moana
      • I was very sad to see that there were basically NO Puas to be purchased in any Disney merch store anywhere in Japan
  • Tokyo DisneySea
    • The best park theming I’ve ever experienced anywhere
    • Each section of the park feels so natural, and organic
      • Cannot tell you’re going from one part of the park to another
    • Mysterious Island — probably my favorite part of the park — just feels like you’re instantly transported to Jules Verne’s Journey into the Center of the Earth
  • Universal Studios Japan (Osaka)
    • Again, long queues
    • Park staff was great
    • Main goal was to visit Super Nintendo World
      • Need a timed-entry ticket for this section of the park
      • Mario Kart ride is really cool — you sit in a 4 person Mario Kart, put on holographic lenses and you’re on a moving augmented reality version of Mario Kart
      • Would definitely ride this again
    • Plenty of roller coasters
    • The park theming though, especially in juxtaposition with Tokyo DisneySea, felt like a big step down
  • Rest of trip
    • Standard City Tourism
      • Second night we were there was Halloween
      • Shibuya Scramble Crossing
      • Tokyo knows how to party for Halloween
    • Shopping
      • Ended up bringing 8 pieces of luggage home
      • Surprised we weren’t questioned at SFO customs
    • Crane Games at Round 1
      • Our Guilty pleasure
    • Shrines and Temples
    • Eating
      • Sushi
      • Torikizoku (chain Izakaya)
      • Ramen (Ichiran)
    • Bars
      • Golden Gai near Shinjuku
      • Nikoyokocho (Meat Alley) in Shibuya
      • 
        

59:00 Earning

• Simon Mall
  • 5 mins walk to Simon Mall
  • USBAR is my main card of choice
• WUBP
  • Lots of issues lately with Network Error in-store
  • Could use help in the #western-union channel on crowdsourcing nuances of in-store BP and what the actual limits are
  • Most I’ve been able to get through in-store is 6K in 24 hours
  • Usually can get a single 3K payment through, but 2nd payment occasionally errors out
  • Tested a few 5K payments but it's a crap shoot whether they error out
  • More reliable success with 1 x 3K payment and then single 1K payment right after
• Grocery Money Orders when WUBP errors out too often
  • Longer slog as local grocery does $1800 max per visit per day
• Fluz - only doing Apple Pay loads and then withdrawing back to linked checking -- using sparingly as its not a huge play
• CVS + Venmo on a restaurant card
• Playing upgrade downgrade game on a stable of vanilla Plats
  • Currently have 7 personal Plats (4 are vanilla)
  • Each year the card is a Gold for part of the year ( max 25K grocery)
  • look for upgrade offer for a Plat
  • Liquidate FHR, Airline, Uber, Saks, then seek retention
  • If no retention and planning to cancel, downgrade to Green, wait for prorated AF and then close.
    • There is some AF cost, but hopefully earning the 4x grocery on the gold, plus cashing out the Plat benefits, and then downgrading to Green if no retention and waiting for the prorated AF to post, then closing out the card seems to be a decent play that I’m happy with in the last year.
    • Should look into really closing out the Plats in early 2023 so I can free up charge card slots — seems that I just stumbled into having 7 personal Plats but know that I need to dump a few of them