Introduction
American Airlines First Class Greensboro to Charlotte to New York and a Day in NYC
Cathay Pacific Business Class New York (JFK) to Hong Kong
Cathay Pacific Arrivals Lounge and 12 Hours in Hong Kong
Cathay Pacific “The Wing” Lounge and HK Express Hong Kong to Chiang Mai
Le Meridien Chiang Mai and Exploring Chiang Mai (Part 1)
Exploring Chiang Mai (Part 2) and Dusit Princess Chiang Mai Hotel
Thai Airways Bangkok to Delhi and Radisson Blu Connaught Place New Delhi
Exploring Delhi (Part 1)
India Rail Delhi to Agra
Exploring Agra and the Taj Mahal and Radisson Blu Agra Taj East Gate
India Rail Agra to Delhi and Exploring Delhi (Part 2)
Plaza Premium Lounges Delhi and Etihad Airways Business Class Delhi to Abu Dhabi
Etihad Airways Premium Lounge Abu Dhabi
Etihad Airways First Apartment Abu Dhabi to New York
American Airlines First Class New York to Charlotte to Greensboro

I had been eyeing a trip to Asia for a little while, since we had most recently done trips to Europe, South America, and the Caribbean.  Both the Mrs. Guru and I had a relatively sizable number of frequent flyer miles with American Airlines, and as of now, American has, by far, the cheapest award prices to Asia.  For comparison, a One Way Business Class ticket from North America to anywhere in Asia currently only costs 55,000 miles using American miles, but United and Delta both charge 70,000-80,000 miles.  I knew that eventually, American would be raising their prices, which they just announced a few weeks ago, so it was the perfect time to book this trip while their prices were still way below the competition.

I also had read a lot about Etihad Airways (based in Abu Dhabi, UAE), since they have a First Class that is head and shoulders above any seat on any other airline today.  Their First Class on the Airbus A380 isn’t just a seat; they call it an Apartment – and for good reason!  Inside your Apartment, you have a huge seat, along with a separate 80” long sofa that folds down into a bed.  Here’s a sneak peak of what the First Apartment looks like:

Earlier this year, Etihad only flew the A380 from Abu Dhabi to Sydney and Abu Dhabi to London, so there wasn’t really a good way to incorporate that into our trip, but in March, Etihad announced that in December, they would begin flying the A380 between Abu Dhabi and New York.  That was all the motivation I needed to start looking into snagging us seats on that flight.

Etihad doesn’t make very many First Class seats available for redeeming your miles on the A380, but in May, they did open up some seats for early December.  I was able to grab 2 seats on the Abu Dhabi to New York flight on December 2, and then was able to build the rest of the trip around that.  Needless to say, I was extremely excited for that flight, since it only cost us $55 in taxes!  Normally, I’m content to book international flights in Business Class, since there often isn’t that much of a difference between Business and First Class, but in the case of this flight, there’s a huge difference, so it made it worth the extra miles.  We would be returning from India, and each one way ticket from India to the US in First Class was 90,000 miles, which sounds like a lot, but considering the Mrs. Guru and I both signed up for a credit card last summer that earned us 100,000 miles each, we had plenty of miles for it.  Unfortunately, that credit card (the Citi American Executive Card) no longer has the 100,000 mile sign up bonus – it was reduced to 75,000, and now recently has gone down to 50,000 – but it was a tremendous deal at the time.  The annual fee on the card was $250 for the first year, which I know sounds steep, but if you had the chance to fly from India to the US in the Etihad First Class Apartment for around $300 ($250 annual fee + $55 in taxes), I think you’d agree that would be a steal!

In any event, we knew we had been wanting to go back to Thailand after our short 1 night layover there on our Honeymoon, but Thailand is a pretty large and diverse country with everything from big cities to jungles and pristine beaches.  We decided that since our Honeymoon included some amazing tropical beaches in Bali and Seychelles, we opted for a different experience on this trip and settled on Chiang Mai (in the northern part of Thailand, with jungles and lots of nature) as well as Bangkok (to check out the sites in the big city).

Since we were using American miles, and American is partners with Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific, we were able to line up the flights with almost a full day in Hong Kong en route to Thailand.

Our departure was on Saturday, November 21, which was the Saturday before Thanksgiving, so it was a bit tricky finding flights within the US, but we were able to grab flights early in the morning on Saturday, with the flight to Hong Kong leaving around midnight on Saturday night, giving us a full day in New York as well.

In the end, our trip looked like this:

Saturday, November 21

• American Flight #5366, Depart Greensboro 5:25 am, Arrive Charlotte 6:19 am
• American Flight #2042, Depart Charlotte 7:30 am, Arrive New York (JFK) 9:20 am

Sunday, November 22

• Cathay Pacific Flight #845, Depart New York (JFK) 12:45 am, Arrive Hong Kong 5:40 am (+1 day)

Monday, November 23

• HK Express Flight #753, Depart Hong Kong 5:35 pm, Arrive Chiang Mai 7:45 pm

Thursday, November 26

• Thai Airways Flight #1151, Depart Chiang Mai 8:35 am, Arrive Bangkok 9:50 am

Friday, November 27

• Thai Airways Flight #315, Depart Bangkok 8:00 pm, Arrive Delhi 11:00 pm

Tuesday, December 1

• Etihad Airways Flight #223, Depart Delhi 8:50 pm, Arrive Abu Dhabi 11:35 pm

Wednesday, December 2

• Etihad Airways Flight #103, Depart Abu Dhabi 3:20 am, Arrive New York (JFK) 9:10 am
• American Flight #2069, Depart New York (JFK) 11:55 am, Arrive Charlotte 2:04 pm
• American Flight #5090, Depart Charlotte 2:45 pm, Arrive Greensboro 3:32 pm

All in all, we covered 20,805 miles in a more-or-less around the world trip:

It was certainly one of the more cultural trips we’ve taken, so stay tuned for the details ahead!