Jacob
24 year old Swedish expatriate who has lived for the past four years in the UK and France but who will now go away on a two months graduation trip (actually double graduation trip...;) around the world for a well-needed holiday. My two months trip will take me to countries like Canada, US, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Cook Islands, French Polynesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, China, Belgium and the UK, and I will have the pleasure of doing it in first class with Star Alliance!! So it will be an absolutely fantastic experience, like nothing I have ever done before.JacobRTW
Enjoy my blog!!
About the trip
The trip is a great chance for me to see some people I haven't seen for a long time, visit many exciting places, and return to a few ones I liked.
I will travel for two months, which may not be a very long time for such an extensive trip, but I think I would actually get a bit restless spending a very long time on the road, so I will keep the trip shorter and use my time wisely, and of course have a blast during my time away!
About transportation
For those who do not know it yet, I decided to go ahead and buy the most expensive ticket I have ever bought, a RTW ticket in first class.
A waste of money? Well we'll see at the end of November, but flying international first class has been a dream for many years, and this is a trip I will only do once in my life. And considering a total flight time of over 100 hours it's nice to travel comfortably and get some proper sleep onboard (and drink lots of expensive champagne! :D). RTW tickets are actually pretty good value for money!
So during the trip I will sample and compare the first class service offered by various Star Alliance carriers, which will be a fantastic experience!!
On top of that I had accumulated enough air miles for a free ticket from Sydney to Cook Islands and French Polynesia with Air New Zealand, in business class! So for obvious reasons this will be a very different trip, and a certain amount of the blog will also cover my air travel experiences.
Enjoy the blog and feel free to leave a comment!!
Map of my travels so far (Generated by Great Circle Mapper)
Itinerary: Stockholm - Copenhagen - Hamburg - Frankfurt - Toronto - Montréal - Québec City - Montréal - New York - Los Angeles - San Francisco - Seattle - Denver - Dallas - Los Angeles - Tokyo - Kyoto - Hiroshima - Osaka - Auckland - Sydney - Wellington - Auckland - Rarotonga/Cook Islands - Tahiti/French Polynesia - Auckland - Christchurch - Sydney - Singapore - Kuala Lumpur - Singapore - Bangkok - Hong Kong - Guangzhou - Hong Kong - Zürich - Frankfurt - Brussels - London - Copenhagen - Stockholm
(The underlined cities are the ones I will visit properly, the others are only for change of plane/overnight stops)
Travel Blog Posts
Christmas decorations in London!
Published: November 19th 2006Europe » United Kingdom » England » Greater London
November 13th 2006
It is quite amazing to see the number of people reading my blog, so far I have over 4500 views. Wow! I hope you enjoy reading it... After a quick visit in Brussels I was off for a quick visit to London. I have lived three and a half years in London, I did most of my university studies there, so I'm certainly not unfamiliar with the city. I mostly stopped there to do some more christmas shopping and to get the most out of my round the world ticket. They have already started to prepare for christmas, lots of nice christmas decorations in central London along Oxford Street and Regent Street, actually much better than most of the previous years. I was impressed! I once again stayed one night in a Radisson hotel, this time ... read more
A rainy day in Brussels
Published: November 19th 2006Europe » Belgium » Brussels-Capital Region » Brussels
November 12th 2006
I spent one day in Brussels on the way back home, mostly to do some shopping, to buy lovely Belgian chocolates for christmas (but don't say anything to my parents). I have been to Brussels several times before and already done all the tourist stuff more than once, but Brussels is a nice city and it's always nice to return there. I had no problems finding my way around, and of course visiting Belgium gave me another chance to practice my French a bit more. As in most French-speaking countries you tend to get much better service if you speak French. I had a long walk around the city centre but it was quite rainy this Saturday morning, so not all too enjoyable. In Brussels they make a big deal about being the centre of the ... read more
Zürich-Frankfurt-Brussels with Swiss and Lufthansa in business class + another three fantastic first class lounges!!!
Published: November 16th 2006Europe » Germany » Hesse » Frankfurt
November 11th 2006
It is quite amazing how much you can get out of a small piece of paper. Because of the tiny boarding pass stub from my Hong Kong-Zürich flight in first class (a small piece of paper of 8 x 5 cm) I managed to get access to three first class lounges in Hong Kong, the arrivals lounge in Zürich, two first class lounges in Zürich, and the fantastic Lufthansa first class lounge in Frankfurt. I bet they wish they had never given it to me, they can't have made much profit with all my glasses of champagne and hot food :D But well I did not make up the rules, I just followed them all too well! :D Anyway, this would be part 3 of my trip back to Europe from Hong Kong to Brussels after ... read more
November 10th 2006
With a six hour layover between flights in Zürich I decided to make a visit to the downtown Zürich. The city centre is only 12 mins by train from the airport, and there are trains at least every 10 mins, so getting there was a piece of cake. I spent a lot of time in Switzerland as a child, I was there almost every summer during a few years, but now I had not been there for well over 10 years (with the exception of one day in Geneva). I had almost forgotten what a beautiful place Zürich is, it is really a lovely little city (well it isn't that large). But I have to admit I did not really recognise everything, the railway station and Bahnhofstrasse I recognised straight away, but other than that... I ... read more
Hong Kong-Zürich with Swiss Intl Airlines in First class + three first class lounges in Hong Kong!!
Published: November 14th 2006Asia » Hong Kong
November 9th 2006
So it's time to leave Asia and head back to Europe. To get back to Europe I had the pleasure of trying yet another airline in first class, this time the national airline of Switzerland, Swiss!! Needless to say I had another exceptional flight, the longest on the trip with a flight time of 13 hours from Hong Kong to Zürich. I had also done my homework and read the rules, so I knew I would have access to as many as four dedicated first class lounges in Hong Kong, one of them rated as the best in the world!!! I managed to visit three of the lounges but had to skip the fourth one. I'm really having a hard time rating and ranking the various airlines I have tried during this trip as they all ... read more
November 8th 2006
Yes I made it to China, to the city of Guangzhou, or Canton as it has been know in the west for some time. It is quite interesting that this city has three million inhabitants, Greater Guangzhou has six million inhabitants, and still so few people have heard about it back home. Anyway, I immensely enjoy Guangzhou!! OK, like my guidebook says very accurately, the city is not exactly pretty, but it's a real Chinese city! Those who know me may know how much I hate overexploited tourist places packed with souvenir shops selling junk, I just can't stand it! And here there are hardly no tourists, hardly any westerners at all actually, which means no souvenir shops and no people begging for money or trying to fool you. People just get on with their lives ... read more
November 6th 2006
UPDATED WITH MORE PHOTOS! A few photos and a jou sahn (hello) from Hong Kong. This is quite a crazy city, wayyy too much people and traffic!! Although the people in general are very friendly and helpful, when you're out in the traffic or in the street the politeness is gone. People jump queues, they run right into you and push their way through, and it's not like anybody would bother saying "sorry". Well it's just the way of life here, and you get used to it after a while, it's just a little overwhelming and frustrating at first. Quite a difference from Britan where people say sorry even if there is hardly any reason for it. Otherwise it's a cool city, lots to do and activities around the clock (or so it feels). The hostel ... read more
Bangkok-Hong Kong with Thai Airways in First class!!
Published: November 5th 2006Asia » Thailand » Central Thailand » Bangkok
November 4th 2006
Time for another flight report, this time Bangkok-Hong Kong with Thai Airways in first class, or as they call it "Royal First Class". Quite a short flight, but it gave me the opportunity to visit the brand new Suvarnabhumi airport in Bangkok which opened just a month ago and also try the new fantastic first class facilities at Bangkok airport including a secluded first class check-in area, escort service from check-in, and a fantastic lounge. It's nice to see so many people are reading my blog! So far I have over 2700 views, not bad at all, at least it keeps me motivated to continue writing. I'm in Hong Kong now, a pretty crazy city if you ask me, just one more week left of the trip. I have to admit I start to feel a ... read more
Another three flights with Singapore Airlines in First class!!
Published: November 5th 2006Asia » Singapore
November 3rd 2006
I have now completed another three flights with Singapore Airlines in first class, this time three fairly short flights. Of course neither the cabin/seat nor the inflight service are as fancy on shorthaul flights as on longhaul flights, but the use of the first class ground facilities well make up for it. The last flight also came with a little positive surprise, I ended up being the only person in first class!!! A whole cabin to myself and a pretty Singapore Airlines girl just serving me!! :p A few people have also asked how much various things cost during my trip (the ticket, hotels, things in general). I am not going to try to make people believe that the trip does not cost any money, because that's obviously not true and nobody would believe it anyway. ... read more
Kuala Lumpur + an even more spectacular hotel!!!
Published: November 2nd 2006Asia » Malaysia » Wilayah Persekutuan » Kuala Lumpur
November 2nd 2006
I have once again switched country, I'm now in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur (or as the locals call it, "KL"). Quite a nice city, but very different and very oriental. It actually feels more oriental and Middle Eastern than Asian. The fact that islam is the dominant religion might be one of the reasons. It is very hot here though, probably 32-33 degrees, and very humid. I don't actually have a problem with the heat (quite used to it after having visited many warm places in the past weeks), my main problem is the humidity, you just never stop sweating. I have probably drunk 2 litres of water or so in the past 7 hours, and I'm still thirsty. Again I'm staying in a really fancy hotel, the five star Shangri-la hotel in central KL. ... read more
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