Growing Old in Style - With Cathay Pacific and British Airways in Business Class

Growing Old in Style – With Cathay Pacific and British Airways in Business Class

Index:

Authors Introduction.

I’ll be honest with you. This trip report was nowhere on my horizon until even about 4 weeks ago when I began to think about it. Join me as I grow old in style. Or… grow old disgracefully? There’s not much of a difference.

Usual rules apply – especially to grammar now I’m not getting older and I’m still dyslexic. Heck I can’t spell successfully correctly these days without autocorrect at the moment.

But enough of the chatter. Onto the writing!

As some of you know, I went over the hill a few weeks ago and went over a big number in age terms.

The card from my esteemed coworkers.

A few weeks beforehand, I was going to damned if I was going to be staying at home and growing old disgracefully at home.

Thankfully, I have a battle-pile of Avios for occasions like this – some left over from my BMI Diamond Club days, some minted since I’ve been a member of British Airways Executive Club.

And with a battle-pile like I have, I can afford to blow Avios on trips and not worry about it.

But where to go? That was the next question.

I had a limited time window of time I could take off (as we were becoming increasingly short-staffed in the office), so I theorised four days off would be achievable.

Naturally, I wanted Business Class seats too. Well, 1) I wanted the luxury and 2) if I was going to be back in the IT Engineers hot-seat on the day after I returned, I needed to be rested on the way back.

With respect to the USA, I’m in and out of the place enough, I didn’t feel like it. However, I wanted a place with some familiarity. Therefore, I looked towards Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore.

Then it was down to the availability gods. Availability went up and down like a yo-yo, until the perfect pairing occurred:

BA936/CX376 – this would route me from Heathrow to Hong Kong via Düsseldorf
CX253 – direct from Hong Kong to Heathrow

Interestedly, as I would be departing on what British Airways deemed an “off-peak” day, and my first segment would be on a British Airways flight, so my final price for this trip would be:

187,750 Avios + £231. That’s a lot of Avios.

But – as this year seems to be – it was time to burn the Avios and enjoy them.

Well, that the point of miles – not to accumulate them and let them rot and devalue but to use them and enjoy them.

So with the flights in the bag, it was time to look at hotels. Again, I wasn’t hot for paying top dollar for what essentially would be a crash pad in Hong Kong. Sadly, prices for hotels were going up and up. I therefore redeemed some points for the Holiday Inn Express Sheung Wan. Not the plushest property going – but it is accessible, comfortable and adequate.

That and I wasn’t in the mood to pay £400 a night for the Intercontinental (I might had been if my 2-4-1 voucher had arrived… it still hasn’t).

Finally, to get there and back, Buses and trains are the order of the day, with National Express to take me to Heathrow, and whatever trains I could find to take me home.

Here’s the map for this fun adventure.

So in a few bullet points

2 Cathay Pacific Business Class Flights
1 British Airways Club Europe Flight
1 Ride on the National Express
1 set of train rides
Whatever I do in Hong Kong…
… and all in Four Days

A recipe for disaster… or the perfect way to enjoy my 40th?

Read on and find out!

Next: National Express. Why do I do this to myself?

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