Last month, I used 145,000 Hilton points to book a four night stay at the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Waikiki. (This was a 55,000 point discount because I booked an AXON award.)

When I booked, the only room available was one king bed. My traveling party wanted two beds, but I wasn't worried because I knew that would be an easy change at check in.

Chauffeur Service

Pre-Departure Services and Emirates Club Auckland

Emirates First: Suite, Seat, and Bed

Emirates First: Service and Food

Emirates First: Shower Spa

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Once inside Auckland's airport, I headed straight to the Emirates check in counter.

According to this thread on FlyerTalk, the Wyndham hotel group has devalued their loyalty program in a big way.

This is terrible news, especially coming on the heels of Priority Club adjusting their award chart for the worse by introducing a whopping nine redemptive tiers. For a complete breakdown of that change, check out my post, Priority Club's Big Award Chart Devaluation.

What does the new chart look like?

I have attached a screen shot of the new award chart below:

That looks fairly innocuous.

Part I: The Main Award & Finding a Free Oneway

Part II: Breakthrough: Maximizing the Routing in a Major Way

Part III: Adding a Great Sidetrip

As part of my New Year's travel resolutions, I really wanted to visit Tokyo and see a close friend in Europe this year. My vacation time is extremely limited, so I was forced to maximize the award ticket. Luckily, my best times to take off are in October and November.

LOT, a Polish airline that is a member of the Star Alliance, flies several Boeing 787 Dreamliners to North America with incredible award space in business class.

The Dreamliner is a technical marvel, a plane I am dying to get on.

LOT's business class on the Dreamliner is up to international standards--a fully flat bed with a big TV monitor at each seat.

LOT flies to three North American destinations, all with the Dreamliner.

New York (JFK) <-> Warsaw (WAW)

Chicago (ORD) <-> Warsaw

Toronto (YYZ) <->

LOT, a Polish airline that is a member of the Star Alliance, flies several Boeing 787 Dreamliners to North America with incredible award space in business class.

The Dreamliner is a technical marvel, a plane I am dying to get on.

LOT's business class on the Dreamliner is up to international standards--a fully flat bed with a big TV monitor at each seat.

LOT flies to three North American destinations, all with the Dreamliner.

New York (JFK) <-> Warsaw (WAW)

Chicago (ORD) <-> Warsaw

Toronto (YYZ) <->

Chauffeur Service

Pre-Departure Services and Emirates Club Auckland

Emirates First: Suite, Seat, and Bed

Emirates First: Service and Food

Emirates First: Shower Spa

__________________________________________________

My shower-in-the-air, room-service-to-my-suite, bar-on-a-plane trip report starts on the ground with the first part of my trip: the included chauffeur service.

With a few exceptions, Emirates First Class and Business Class passengers are eligible for free chauffeur service to and from the airport. This page lists the rules for every airport.

1. Wear ear plugs every night. 

This is by far my number one tip, and I'm shocked that not everyone does it already. Hostel rooms are loud. Someone will come in after you've gone to bed--perhaps turning on the light and rustling through his bag for his toothbrush. Someone will be waking up for a 7 AM bus with an alarm set for 6 AM. Lockers will be opened and slammed. Bags will zip. Plastic will rustle.

Wear earplugs, and you'll sleep through the night.

I'll be giving some activity ideas for New Zealand during my trip here. See Wellington, NZ.

Yesterday I biked the Queenstown Trail in Queenstown, New Zealand.

Queenstown is my favorite place so far in New Zealand for its amazing array of outdoor activities from bungee jumping, sky diving, hiking, biking, boating, and more. I was in Queenstown for four days, and it rained for two complete days.

Pre-departure services and the Global First lounge

United Global First Los Angeles to Sydney

Sydney Airport and Air New Zealand Lounge

Air New Zealand Business Class Sydney to Auckland

United 839
Los Angeles (LAX) – Sydney (SYD)
Depart: 10:10 PM on Monday, December 31
Arrive: 7:45 AM on Wednesday, January 2
Duration: 14:35
Aircraft: Boeing 747-400
Seat: 2A (First Class)

After several full meals in the Global First lounge, I headed to gate 77. There were two separate doors, one for the premium cabins and one for the hoi polloi people who haven't discovered miles yet.