My recently concluded TTOTY was a good break – and now its time to pen my thoughts.
My recently concluded TTOTY was a good break – and now its time to pen my thoughts.
A question from Colin, a fellow doctor I met on my recent conference to Kuala Lumpur.
“Is it more worthwhile to do Business or First redemption?”
There is no right or wrong in this but let’s examine it using some parameters. I have did some random search for return travel to 4 different regions on a random date in November:
One of the most common question someone new into redemption would ask:
ISN’T IT BETTER FOR ME TO DO A LONG HAUL ECONOMY/PREMIUM ECONOMY REDEMPTION INSTEAD OF REGIONAL/SHORT HAUL PREMIUM?
The answer is NO. The 2 rules I will tell my friends would be:
I have broken both rules before – and this was for a special reason – SQ22 Inaugural and SQ21 return.
In my previous review of Holiday Inn Osaka Namba, I had put up some pictures of foods of Osaka. Here are some additional recommendations:
I am not one who is good at writing on food, but this is one place that I cannot ignore and it deserves my compliment. Wa Yamamura is the restaurant of owner cum chef, Mr. Nobuhiro Yamamura. This is certainly a must-visit in Nara – It is the one and only restaurant in Nara with 3 Michelin stars. Despite the rating, the food is reasonably priced (still pricey, but it is cheaper than most 1 star rated restaurants worldwide!). Kaiseki is a traditional multi-course Japanese meal – showcasing the art and culinary skills of the chef and chef Yamamura did well!
Not long after lifting of electronics ban imposed on some airlines, USA is now introducing enhanced security screening for transborder flights from Canada. Although I have only taken 2 transborder flights so far (AC791 from YYZ to LAX and AC578 from YYC to LAX), I was given the special SSSS treatment on my second flight.
This is my first ever tour group review, and also my first ever tour group that I joined since 2006.
This tour that I participated in was made up of 2 different groups with a common itinerary for the first 7 days. The second group however will diverge on day 6 as they will have another 3 extra days exploring the northern part of Hokkaido (10 days 8 notes).
The tour is a fully guided tour with full meals on board (except 2 meals for the 7D 5N tour). The local (Malaysia) tour guide is Cammy while a local tour guide in Japan (Kelvin) took care of the group throughout the journey in Japan.
Hot and sunny Los Angeles
After one and a half weeks of cold eastern weather, finally we had some sun. The weather in Los Angeles was a complete contrast from what we had in New York, Boston and Toronto. We spent 3 nights in Los Angeles including one day in Universal Studios in which we also tried out UberX for the first time. We used it for travel within the city, it was definitely cheaper than the taxi. Getting a car via the Uber app was also very fast and straightforward. One of our trip on UberX was from our hotel in Downtown LA to Union Station. For our trip to San Francisco, I booked the Amtrak Coast Starlight to try a different mode of transport.
That Time Of The Year! 