• Introduction
• Singapore Changi Airport Terminal 3 – SilverKris Lounge
• Singapore Changi Airport Terminal 3 – Marhaba Lounge
• Singapore Airlines Q608 Boeing 787-10 Singapore to Incheon
• Conrad Seoul
• Fairfield by Marriott Seoul
• JW Marriott Hotel Seoul
• South Korea Incheon Airport Terminal 1 – Asiana Busines Lounge
• Singapore Airlines SQ611 Boeing 777-300ER Incheon to Singapore

I just realized the title has a nice ring to it. Hehe.

So the story is that I had expiring miles starting from June 2019 onwards, in varying quantum in different months. And I really didn’t want to redeem for Scoot.

So I started stalking SQ’s Spontaneous Escapes for a bit. With my Hilton Amex Krisflyer Ascend 1-night and 2 Accor Plus stays still un-redeemed, I started to think maybe I can engineer something on biz class with 2 free nights albeit switching hotels. Over a short weekend taking minimum leave.

BUT there were a few glaring issues:

1. Spontaneous Escapes is only released later mid-ish of each month for the next month and there is no predicting which routes will be available.
2. I wanted my first proper business class experience to be good and hence the type of aircraft has to be the right ones too.
3. The free Hilton night list of properties is quite lacklustre, with most being in China.
4. I don’t want to redeem my Accor Plus free nights on cheap properties.
5. End June is most likely as I’d like to stagger out my leave dates.
6. I didn’t want to take too much leave.
7. I’m going alone so the place has to be relatively safe.
8. It has to be a quantum of miles so I didn’t have to think about expiring miles again in the next 6months.

So all factors combined, Shanghai / Guangzhou / Beijing became possible targets as at least one of them was on Escapes each month.

Then June 2019 Spontaneous Escapes was released.

And.No.China.

There were Tokyo and Osaka but there were no biz class coming back. Going on business class and having to come back on economy seems sad. #firstworldproblem.

Then there was Bali. Fine, I’ll make do with 2.5hours on biz (I can’t even finish a movie!). But it was waitlisted. Argh. 26,600 miles in the air.

While I was waitlisted, Hilton announced its 50% sale off Korea, Japan, and Guam.

And Seoul has biz class on my fly dates, YAYSSSS. And there was Conrad Seoul calling out to me.  I figured I’d wait to see if my intended dates do actually trigger the sale rates.

And drumroll* it did! BUT only for 1 of my 2nights. WHY OH WHY.

I contemplated a few options. Do I bite the bullet and paid full price for the second night (SGD450!)? Do I skip Seoul completely and wait for Bali to clear?

In the end, I found JW Marriott’s club room at a slightly cheaper rate of SGD380++ (cheap is subjective). And it only re-opened in Nov 2018 after a complete refurb -icing on the cake!

And with that, I am officially 65,800 miles + SGD$82.20 in taxes poorer. And the 2nights probably costing me SGD$700. And redeeming of my Accor / Hilton stays came to nought.

And in the midst of wrecking my braincells on all this, my Marriott Platinum Challenge got involved and I need to clock another 2 nights before end June 2019.

So Fairfield By Marriott at 65, 835KRW per night (SGD76) became my mattress run choice.

AND the new Marhaba Lounge opened in time on 23 May 2019 at T3 and because I love anything with new carpets I’m going to lounge hop over to check it out too!

My final itenary looked like this:

• Changi Airport Terminal 3 – SilverKris Lounge
• Changi Airport Terminal 3 – Marhaba Lounge
• Singapore Airlines Q608 Boeing 787-10 Singapore to Incheon (2018 Regional J)
• Conrad Seoul
• Fairfield by Marriott Seoul (pitstop)
• JW Marriott Hotel Seoul
• Incheon Airport Terminal 1 – Asiana Business Lounge
• Singapore Airlines SQ611 Boeing 777-300ER Incheon to Singapore (2013 J)

Lounge wise:

I will be ticking the Changi Airport SilverKris Business Lounge off my list:

And the meh sounding Incheon Airport Asiana Lounge:

Flight wise:

I’ll get to try the 787-10 J

And 2013 J

Most people I spoke to said I was crazy for flying all the way to Seoul only for 2 days.

See, this is why I don’t like discussing my itenary before I booked. Too many opinions is too much confusion. After all, I am spending my own money to spoil myself, so why the heck not?

With that began the endless stalking of reviews and plotting how to make myself stay awake on my red eye to Seoul (I will kill myself if I fall asleep after supper and wake up close to landing). Will just coffee do it? Should I prick my eyes open with toothpicks?

Decisions, decisions.

I am counting down every day now.