00:00:00:02 - 00:00:08:04
Chris
I just got back from taking my family to Japan and yes, we flew business class and stayed in incredible hotels all using points.
00:00:08:06 - 00:00:13:05
Katie
And I have not heard any of this yet, so I am taking notes right along with the rest of you.
00:00:13:06 - 00:00:21:02
Chris
In this episode, I'm breaking down exactly how I booked this bucket list trip, flights, hotel, city, and mistakes I'd avoid if I had to do it again.
00:00:21:04 - 00:00:32:12
Katie
So if Japan is on your list. Stay right where you are. We've got a great episode for you.
00:00:32:13 - 00:00:35:17
Chris
Hey, I'm Chris. Welcome to the Upgraded Points podcast.
00:00:35:19 - 00:00:56:17
Katie
And I'm Katie and today we are talking all about Chris's recent trip to Japan. And I cannot wait. We also have some Hyatt news to go over real quick. Before we get to all of that, don't forget to like and subscribe wherever you are watching or listening, and be sure to share us with a travel loving friend. So let's jump right into the Hyatt news.
00:00:56:19 - 00:01:16:20
Katie
Before we get into Chris's trip, I wanted to mention this really quick in case you hadn't seen it. Through April 15th of this year, you can earn up to 28,000, bonus world of Hyatt points on your stays. It is a two tier program. You do have to register, even if you have zero plans to stay at the Hyatt.
00:01:16:20 - 00:01:44:17
Katie
Go ahead and register. It can't hurt and you never know when your plans are going to change. So you can earn, up to 21,000 points at Hyatt Properties worldwide, and that is 3000 bonus points for every three nights stayed during the promotional period, which started on February 2nd and goes through April 15th. And then the second part of that is you can earn an additional 7000 bonus points at Hyatt Place and Hyatt Select properties.
00:01:44:18 - 00:02:08:14
Katie
I had select is not a brand I'm familiar with. I think there's only a handful of them. So really this is for Hyatt Place, which is is a nice opportunity and you can earn an additional 1000 bonus points for every three nights stayed. You can combine these offers. And these include nights booked with both points and money and free night certificates.
00:02:08:16 - 00:02:51:13
Katie
So that's a really nice, bonus if you were in the market for Hyatt Elite status, this is a nice opportunity to get some, low cost mattress runs in. So if you did three nights, if you found a category one off peak Hyatt Place, those would be 3500 points per night. If you were paying for those, you would earn what the 3000 bonus points from the first section of this promotion and an additional 1000 bonus points, which would bring your total cost to 6500 points, or about 2100, just over 2100 points per night after these promotion.
00:02:51:15 - 00:03:00:01
Katie
And if you need to pick up some extra elite nights, that's a really nice low cost opportunity to do so. So keep that in mind. Yeah, yeah.
00:03:00:06 - 00:03:04:02
Chris
Yeah. Start thinking about it now. So, you know, it's you know, rushing at the end of the year.
00:03:04:04 - 00:03:10:17
Katie
Yeah. A couple of years ago when I needed some late nights, I used the Bonus Journeys promotion. And it was it was well worth it. Well worth.
00:03:10:17 - 00:03:32:23
Chris
It. Well, I just stayed at what could possibly be the nicest high place in the world. So I can't wait to tell you guys about that. Let's get into it. Let's do it. Japan has been at the top of our travel list. My family travels for a long time, but planning a family trip that far away can feel pretty intimidating, especially when you're trying to do it all with points.
00:03:33:01 - 00:03:34:07
Chris
And that's what we did.
00:03:34:09 - 00:03:51:07
Katie
Yeah. So today we are talking about Chris's entire trip, from the flight to the hotels to his itinerary in Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto. And we have not talked about his trip yet. So I am really excited to hear about this because Japan is really high on my list.
00:03:51:09 - 00:04:01:15
Chris
Yeah, this isn't a theory or a best case scenario kind of episode. This is exactly how it played out in real life, what we loved and what families should know before trying to replicate it.
00:04:01:17 - 00:04:05:00
Katie
I was on Let's Go. So let's start with how did you get there?
00:04:05:02 - 00:04:35:08
Chris
Yeah. So this is the most important part really. And this is pretty much what dictated the entire itinerary. Anyone that searches for award seats knows that you can't really be too picky. With dates, especially when you're going to somewhere as popular as Japan is right now. And when you're looking for for seats in business class. But, one of our award alerts we sent out a few months ago, there were seats available from Los Angeles to Osaka on Japan Airlines business class for 60,000 American airline miles.
00:04:35:10 - 00:05:02:14
Chris
And that's what I booked. This. Yeah, this was a best case scenario for us. It worked out for the dates we needed in January. And the best part about booking with American Airlines is that you can tack on a domestic flight for essentially no extra cost. So we were on the East Coast, so I found a flight from JFK to LAX to Osaka, and that flight from JFK to LAX was on, the A321 with lie flat seats.
00:05:02:20 - 00:05:21:15
Chris
So we started our trip in, you know, in comfort. And then I had a quick layover in Los Angeles before continuing on to Osaka. And it was just a really nice way to start the trip. This was on the 787 Dreamliner. It's not that, you know, the brand new A350, which I flew last year with my wife, which is incredible.
00:05:21:17 - 00:05:27:15
Chris
But when you're flying an airline like Japan Airlines, the service is so good.
00:05:27:17 - 00:05:28:01
Katie
I mean.
00:05:28:04 - 00:05:45:15
Chris
The. Yeah. Sounds great. I'm not complaining at all. The food was good. They the way they took care of the kids, like, they were like I was eating my food. And the flight attendant came over and was cutting the meatballs for my son. He ordered the kids meal, and it was just like, it just made the getting there just so effortless.
00:05:45:15 - 00:06:12:08
Chris
And it was just a really nice experience. So when we landed in Osaka, that's when the we really started to enjoy things. We stayed at the brand new Waldorf a story Osaka. I'm going to do, a full review so you guys can look at all the pictures on upgraded points.com. This is an expensive hotel, as you might imagine, but I used two free night certificates from the, Hilton Aspire card that my wife and I each have.
00:06:12:10 - 00:06:24:16
Chris
Otherwise, it would have been, about 120,000 points per night. So it's it's one of the more expensive hotels in, in the portfolio. So great use of nice certificates. Yeah.
00:06:24:18 - 00:06:26:00
Katie
Nice going there, Chris.
00:06:26:00 - 00:06:44:11
Chris
We were going to we were going to pay points, but then you'll see why we didn't, later in the episode. So we just decided to do a split stay in Osaka. We did two nights at the Waldorf, at the Waldorf Astoria Osaka, and then two nights elsewhere. And, when you have this aspire card, you get diamond status, as many of us have.
00:06:44:11 - 00:07:04:09
Chris
And this is a great property because we got an upgrade. And it comes with breakfast. So as a family on jet lag, having that breakfast, right. You know, one elevator away was really nice. But if you're considering this hotel, do it. The rooms are gorgeous. It's rich, brand new, full of tech, but you know, tech that works.
00:07:04:10 - 00:07:23:05
Chris
You press one button and everything turns off. You're not chasing around the room for all the lights. You know, hidden lights and everything. It was cold and dark. It was great for sleeping. Like I said, the help with the getting on on the schedule. For the breakfast, two adults are included and one child. And then we paid for our second child.
00:07:23:05 - 00:07:41:19
Chris
So, for four people, we ended up paying for one breakfast. But, it comes with the buffet and the menu and top tier as a diamond. You also get to add lobster to your eggs Benedict. So that was my order every morning along with the buffet. So it was just a really nice, nice way to start the trip.
00:07:41:21 - 00:08:06:12
Chris
And if you've been to Japan, any listeners that have been Japan, you know that just the hospitality and service in general is just on another level. And Waldorf Astoria exceeded that level as well. We when we arrived at sometime and it was like seven, 8:00 at night and we didn't want dinner. We did on the plane, but we were we really wanted to go to 7-Eleven because that's what you do when you're a tourist in Japan or everyone go to 7-Eleven.
00:08:06:14 - 00:08:06:21
Chris
I didn't.
00:08:06:21 - 00:08:07:07
Katie
Know that was a.
00:08:07:07 - 00:08:08:08
Chris
Thing. Oh, yeah, you.
00:08:08:08 - 00:08:09:07
Katie
Go to 7-Eleven. Okay.
00:08:09:08 - 00:08:29:14
Chris
We go to 7-Eleven, and you can have your dinner there. But we were going after these famous sandwiches, and so we get down, we asked the door guy, say, hey, how do we get to this? The 7-Eleven can see on the map, but there's, like, five different levels of streets and subways and everything. It was just really hard to wrap your head around after, you know, flying for 14 hours.
00:08:29:16 - 00:08:48:18
Chris
And he just walked us there was like a ten minute walk. And the doorman walked us there and was like, totally normal. Like their service, everything from start to finish was just so seamless. When we checked out, you know, we called for for Bell Service to have and bring our luggage down and they're like, okay, well, what, are you guys going somewhere else?
00:08:48:18 - 00:09:06:13
Chris
Like, yeah, we're going to another hotel. And they said, okay, great. What time do you would what time do you want a car waiting for you. So we're going to leave at 1230. So we went up, went and had a little checked out the area and came back at 1229. And there was a car, a luxury van waiting with all of our luggage already in the car waiting for us.
00:09:06:14 - 00:09:09:10
Chris
We got in and went off to our next hotel. Just like.
00:09:09:15 - 00:09:10:14
Katie
Fantastic.
00:09:10:17 - 00:09:24:23
Chris
Yeah, everything about the Waldorf Astoria Osaka was a ten out of ten. If you have a free nice certificate, if you have Hilton points, or if you find a great rate, you can book it without question. So that was our first step, right?
00:09:25:01 - 00:09:30:02
Katie
Reason to get that aspire card for those free night certificates just to stay there.
00:09:30:04 - 00:09:46:12
Chris
You could I mean I there are some complaints I suppose because it's you know not in the I don't know, maybe most, traditional neighborhood or whatever. It's like a kind of a new area, right near. But it's right near the train station. So, like, you're minutes away from anywhere you need to go. And it's just Japan.
00:09:46:12 - 00:09:59:02
Chris
The subway system is next level. So I would not if anyone had to, you know, give give a negative that was that would be what it is. But there's tons of stuff to do around there. And you just, you know, an elevator ride from the subway.
00:09:59:04 - 00:10:01:07
Katie
That's awesome. So where do you work after that?
00:10:01:09 - 00:10:07:21
Chris
So this was a a downgrade, believe it or not. We went to the Saint Regis in Osaka.
00:10:07:23 - 00:10:10:19
Katie
Saint Regis has been down. Great. It was it.
00:10:10:19 - 00:10:32:07
Chris
I love it. It's. Well, I'm bummed because we were looking so looking forward to this hotel because I'd never say that a Saint Regis before. And so we were like really hyping it up. And so that's probably where, you know, we ran into some disappointment because we were expecting so much from it. But, I mean, my wife and two kids, we all agreed this was our least favorite hotel.
00:10:32:08 - 00:10:52:06
Chris
Not that it was bad. Nothing bad happened. Right? But there was just a lot of friction with every interaction we had with with staff members from check in. Took like 45 minutes. Check out with billing errors. Breakfast. They forgot to bring our plates. And just like, just little things that added up that you would not expect at a Regis.
00:10:52:06 - 00:11:14:02
Chris
But, that being said, the prices, right? We had a butler, which is really cool. So that was one thing we're looking forward to. I did some research and people said, oh yeah, we feel kind of weird having a butler, whatever it means. But if you do it, take advantage of the packing and unpacking service. And so my wife, she's in charge of in the packing.
00:11:14:02 - 00:11:42:15
Chris
Yeah. It was so cool. So we we got there and we called the butler and we told them we would like the unpacking service. Said, okay, great. I'll be right up there if you or let me know when you're heading out. We said, okay, right now, in about 20 minutes you can come up. And we came back and they had brought over like baskets and organized everything, hung everything up, and it was just like that mental, you know, mental baggage that you carry when you're moving hotels so often, like we did on this trip, with kids.
00:11:42:21 - 00:12:00:01
Chris
And just having that was so cool. And then obviously for the packing service was even better. We told them, okay, we're going, we're going to be going out. If you want to come up and do the packing now, we'd appreciate it. We came back and the luggages were perfectly packed and they, with all our shoes and nice little scenery, just bags.
00:12:00:01 - 00:12:03:21
Chris
And it was just it was a really nice touch. It was.
00:12:04:03 - 00:12:13:08
Katie
Just like, super weird to have a total stranger packing and unpacking you. Yeah, I know that. I it just feels so weird to me.
00:12:13:10 - 00:12:31:00
Chris
That was her biggest concern as well. And I said, listen, I get it. If you if you don't want to, we don't have to do it. But this is the only hotel that we're going to be staying at that offers this service we've never had the service for. At least let's try it out. And so but no, she liked it.
00:12:31:02 - 00:12:50:16
Chris
Yeah. It was, it was cool. So we used, one free night certificate from, her Marriott brilliant card from American Express that covered the 70,000 points per night. And then for the second night, I booked through virtuoso. And that comes with breakfast, which we didn't need because we had status. But $100 credit as well, which I use in the bar.
00:12:50:18 - 00:13:10:12
Chris
So that that worked out nicely, though, you know, the pricing and everything, but it was just, I don't know, coming from the Waldorf, which blew our minds to then going to the senior Regis where maybe our expectations were too high. It just kind of left us with like, yeah, okay. But it is what it is. No one was complaining.
00:13:10:14 - 00:13:16:06
Chris
It was still like a great location, beautiful hotel. It was just, you know, something missing?
00:13:16:06 - 00:13:18:00
Katie
Yeah, yeah. No. It happens. It happens.
00:13:18:00 - 00:13:40:06
Chris
Yeah. But that was a great location because we walked pretty much everywhere. We rarely took. We were there for two nights and we didn't think we took the train once to go to Osaka Castle. But we walked pretty much everywhere. We booked a walking tour. And Viator, it was just a really nice way to to get to see the city and, you know, feel like, you know, when you understand where you are.
00:13:40:06 - 00:13:50:17
Chris
Because sometimes when you just get on a train and go from one place to another, you know, no idea. You know what? You're where you're staying. But this was nice because there's lots do lots of shopping and dining and everything just steps away from the hotel.
00:13:50:18 - 00:13:53:17
Katie
And so you had four nights in Osaka.
00:13:53:18 - 00:13:54:08
Chris
Correct? Yeah.
00:13:54:08 - 00:13:59:19
Katie
And was that was that enough? Was that the right amount? If someone was planning a trip?
00:13:59:21 - 00:14:21:12
Chris
Great question. I think that would be close to the minimum. There was a we really liked Osaka and we liked our next stop in Kyoto as well. But we wanted our most time in Tokyo. And so based on hotel availability, that's what made the most sense for us. Four nights and in Osaka. So I, I would say that'd be be a minimum.
00:14:21:18 - 00:14:32:14
Katie
Okay, okay, I have one I have one more really weird question. And this might not be an Osaka thing. It might be a Japan thing. And I've heard this from a couple other people. Is it true there are no trash cans?
00:14:32:16 - 00:14:33:05
Chris
It.
00:14:33:07 - 00:14:35:00
Katie
Yeah. Like, is that is that a real.
00:14:35:00 - 00:15:00:00
Chris
It's a it's a thing. I was actually surprised we actually saw a couple on the walking tour and like we it made our, our tour guide stop and talk to us about it. Because there had been so much trash from tourists lately that they had to put some in some locations. But no, it's a thing when you go out, like if you're a local, if you create any trash while you're out, you take it home with you and throw it out and you're responsible for your own trash.
00:15:00:00 - 00:15:19:17
Chris
And so it's a very it's a cultural thing. There is some, history about, you know, some other issues with, with trash cans, but in general, the your waste is your responsibility. So, we quickly became, you know, comfortable bringing either eating what you buy. It's a 7-Eleven. If you eat it there, you put it in the trash there.
00:15:19:19 - 00:15:36:15
Chris
Or if you're at a food stand at a street market, or you eat there and return it back to the to the person you're not really walking and eating very often. Some say it's frowned upon, some say it's not, but it's really kind of based around the trash. Because unless you want to be carrying around your trash with you back to your hotel room, you kind of need to figure out where to where to return it.
00:15:36:15 - 00:16:08:08
Chris
But that is true. To get out of Osaka, we went from Osaka to Kyoto. We had a couple options. So this is something we spent a lot of time with. So I'm sure some listeners, may come across this as well. Okay, I was talking Kyoto very close, so it's like a 15, 20 minute train ride. So, but to get to the train with four people and we had four big luggage and carry ons, it was just going to be like a pain to either walk to and have to pay for a taxi to get there and then get on the train, and then some of the trains you need to reserve the right
00:16:08:08 - 00:16:25:15
Chris
seat with space for your luggage. It was just going to be a lot of logistics and it wasn't going to be worth it. So what we ended up doing, we booked a transfer on Clark. Have you used up that website before? I don't know if it's ever. It's a Japan thing, I know, but like all the guides told us, use you.
00:16:25:16 - 00:16:50:18
Chris
Can we we use it a few times the trip, and it was actually quite nice. So we end up paying $100 for, a luxury van, which those are. They're super common in Japan. You'll see them all over the place. Door to door from the Saint Regis to our next stop in Kyoto. And it was great, but all the luggage in the van and we all sat down and and, you know, I think I think it took us, like, one hour to drive, takes a little bit longer, but it was made it so much easier.
00:16:50:18 - 00:16:55:06
Katie
Just $100 for. Yeah, the whole 100% worth it. Oh, yeah. Yeah.
00:16:55:06 - 00:17:12:21
Chris
That's great. The price wasn't even going to be that different because I mean, it's still going to cost us whatever $20 a person to go, plus we had to deal with the luggage. So this was a nice touch. Okay. And so we arrived in what I'm calling the nicest Hyatt place in the world. Okay.
00:17:13:02 - 00:17:17:10
Katie
I need that photo. Yeah, I'm guessing it is not a category one that you can.
00:17:17:10 - 00:17:43:20
Chris
Well, this question we should look, because I paid cash, it was like 60 or $70 a night, and I was saving my high points for Tokyo. So we booked the I booked a room with breakfast because I didn't have global status. And it wasn't the smallest, the cheapest room they had. And it wasn't the smallest, but they let us have four people in this room, and I didn't take any pictures because we didn't stay in the room.
00:17:43:22 - 00:18:04:17
Chris
But it was so small. So keep that in mind. It's a great hotel, great price, great location. But the rooms are very small, so be ready. We went back down to the desk and asked for some some upgrade options, and they showed us two rooms. One was actually bigger in the same building. But we actually chose not the biggest option in the back of the hotel.
00:18:04:17 - 00:18:33:02
Chris
It's called the the annex. And you cross a little charming little alley in Kyoto, and then you're in this little building has 2 or 3 floors and, it's just a really nice, simple room in, in Japan, every hotel room, even high places, come with pajamas and slippers and like, really nice hairdryers. And just like the, the, their basic level is just so high, that it was just a really nice place to stay.
00:18:33:08 - 00:19:01:12
Chris
And so we stayed there for three nights, I think, and this was a fan favorite. He was my youngest when his favorite hotel was, he'll tell you, was the high place key. He can't tell you why there was no pool. There was nothing. He was just, like, straight off vibes. The staff was incredible. They had a great breakfast every morning, and it's on top of a subway, so anytime we had to go out, we just barely even stepped outside.
00:19:01:14 - 00:19:23:13
Chris
It was just a really nice experience. And the, the staff helped us ship our luggage to Tokyo because we didn't want to bring it on the bullet train with us and to help save us money, because it's very common to ship luggage into around Japan. You pay, you know, from if you need to store it for a couple days in between hotels and they're like, no, leave it here so you don't pay the extra fee, and then we'll ship it for you in two days.
00:19:23:16 - 00:19:29:06
Chris
So that arrive for you in Tokyo. And just like everything there was just really nice. Yeah.
00:19:29:11 - 00:19:34:02
Katie
And I just looked it up. It's a category two, so it sounds like a slammin deal.
00:19:34:04 - 00:19:56:22
Chris
Excellent. Yeah, it was a really good deal. Yeah. Either cash or points. You can't go wrong there in Kyoto. We did, you know, some tourist stuff. We went to, the Torry Gates, the Fushimi Inari, Taihu Taisha shrine. Excuse my pronunciation. This is where those you pass through the thousands of Red Torry Gates to get up to the top of the shrine.
00:19:57:00 - 00:20:15:18
Chris
So that was a awesome, great experience. It's a little tip here. It's open 24 hours and it gets super busy. So if you are jet lagged and you're waking up at five, 6 a.m. like my family was, get up at breakfast and go because, well, we want we walked up, we made it to the top and there was like two people there when we were coming down.
00:20:15:18 - 00:20:19:00
Chris
It was so busy. So it's it's a great move.
00:20:19:02 - 00:20:28:12
Katie
Okay. Well, that actually is a good segue to my next question. How was the jet lag? Because this is a big trip coming from, you know, I mean, you were coming from Brazil, but yes.
00:20:28:14 - 00:20:37:09
Chris
We started on the east coast to the US for the, for Christmas. So I used that app called Time Shifter. I think we talked about it in an episode of.
00:20:37:11 - 00:20:37:23
Katie
Yeah.
00:20:38:01 - 00:20:56:17
Chris
So the jet lag in general was actually not bad. The worse we got was we were waking up a little bit early. The kids woke up at, you know, 431 one day and they're like, they didn't understand. We're like, you have jet lag, go back to sleep. And they eventually did. But now everything was great. If you guys, any listeners try this app out, it's awesome.
00:20:56:17 - 00:21:16:06
Chris
You put you plug in your, your flight details and a couple days before your trip, it'll start giving you tips on how to start preparing your body, whether that means, taking a nap or don't wear sunglasses or stop drinking coffee or whatever, it'll help get you on the schedule. So that was really cool. And and overall, we didn't lose anything due to jet lag.
00:21:16:08 - 00:21:23:13
Katie
Yeah, well, you had me until. Stop drinking coffee. I don't care what the app says. That's not happening. But I will like I will try out the app, except.
00:21:23:13 - 00:21:39:13
Chris
Well, there are. It's not just that some some of it is drink coffee. One of them, I was, drink, a little caffeine. Small caff. So small amounts of caffeine often for the next nine hours or whatever, though it's really just trying to do that. Train your body.
00:21:39:15 - 00:21:41:21
Katie
Okay, cool. So, yeah, that's that's a great tip.
00:21:41:21 - 00:21:48:18
Chris
It was January and we're there. So it was cold and we got a rainy day. And so one of those days, the rainy days we went to team labs. Have you heard of that.
00:21:48:20 - 00:21:49:23
Katie
No. What is that.
00:21:50:00 - 00:21:55:22
Chris
It's like an interactive art exhibit kind of museum thing. And they have a.
00:21:55:22 - 00:21:57:12
Katie
Couple kids or for.
00:21:57:15 - 00:22:17:23
Chris
Oh, adults. Everyone. Yeah. Okay. My wife and I did it, you know, last year in Tokyo. They have two options. And then we did it in, this year in Kyoto with the kids. And each one's a little bit different. And the one in Kyoto was our favorite of the two we've done. We spent at least six hours there with the kids, running around tons of interactive exhibits.
00:22:18:01 - 00:22:32:04
Chris
Just a really great experience. Great with, you know, great no matter what the weather is. But since it was a cold, rainy day, it was just really nice. And then after Kyoto, what do we do that we. Oh, we hopped on the bullet train to Tokyo.
00:22:32:06 - 00:22:33:13
Katie
Yeah, nice. I was like.
00:22:33:15 - 00:22:51:13
Chris
Yeah, this was it was something we were really looking forward to. And so we booked it right at the train station. We didn't. You could book it like free walk on, but we booked it the day before and selected our seats so that we were on the Mount Fuji side. So we're driving at 200 and 300km/h and Mount Fuji out the window.
00:22:51:15 - 00:23:10:16
Chris
And it's super common to bring, you know, snacks, bring your little bento boxes and snacks. And so we had, just a really nice experience. And, yeah, that was just, a great way to get to Tokyo. And I think that's a nice little segue. We'll take a little break before we, dive into Tokyo, do you think?
00:23:10:21 - 00:23:17:23
Katie
Sounds great. Let's do it. All right. Back.
00:23:18:01 - 00:23:31:00
Katie
Yeah. Okay. Welcome back. Let's jump back into Chris's trip. I think we are on Tokyo. So you just took the bullet train to Tokyo? What was your first stop?
00:23:31:01 - 00:23:54:06
Chris
That's right. And our first stop was at Tokyo Disneyland and Disney Seahorse, of course. Shocker. Right. I won't go too much into this because a literally could be its own episode. But we had so much fun. We stayed at the Hilton Tokyo Bay, which is inside the Disney complex. It's on the Disney Resort line, which is like the monorail.
00:23:54:07 - 00:24:19:08
Chris
And this was great because we paid cash and this is a resort technically. So with our Hilton Aspire cards, we get $200 every six months and the resort credits. So our hotel was like $180 per night, and we just swiped our aspire card in it to wipe right off the, The room was really cool. It had one of the, like most hotels in Japan, a really small.
00:24:19:10 - 00:24:45:09
Chris
This was the opposite. It's built for people going to Disney. It had, I think, 3 or 4 beds and a bunk bed, and it had views of Mount Fuji, which was just so cool. Yeah, it was like for $180. It was it was a really good experience. And then you walk down, you're on the monorail. And, if anyone has been to Tokyo Disneyland or Disney Sea, everyone talks really highly of it.
00:24:45:13 - 00:24:55:11
Chris
Disney is a top tier park. I, I don't know if I'm going to say it's the best park and, you know, in the Disney portfolio, but it's definitely up there.
00:24:55:13 - 00:24:57:18
Katie
Those that's strong words coming from you.
00:24:57:20 - 00:25:17:14
Chris
They are they. And when we we did Disney see one day and then and then Tokyo Disneyland the second day. And we were just like this is very overwhelming, especially even for theme park people like like I am. And my wife. But on the second and the third day was supposed to be like an off day for us, and we're sitting there like, we need to go back.
00:25:17:16 - 00:25:38:02
Chris
We had to go back and it's so cheap that we did. It was, after 3 p.m., it was, $30 for the kids and 50 for the adults. So think we're going to spend that eating sushi and ramen anywhere else? Might as well go do it at Disney. But yeah. So we ended up doing, you know, two and a half days and it was really good.
00:25:38:04 - 00:25:47:08
Katie
That's awesome. That's a great way to kind of have, what like a half a day of just kind of rest in the middle of the trip, but then still kind of make the most of it and save some money. It's actually a.
00:25:47:10 - 00:26:05:12
Chris
Exactly. That's what happened there. But unintentionally, it's what happened. We slept in and we didn't do anything. And we're just like walking around like, okay, well, what are we going to do now? And we were listing off our options and I was like, I just I checked the price, what I was like, it's only $30. Let's go.
00:26:05:14 - 00:26:07:17
Katie
Yeah. No, that's a smart move.
00:26:07:19 - 00:26:28:15
Chris
But that was the, you know, the segue into the our final week in which was going to be in Tokyo. And there was previous, you know, whatever it was, 7 or 10 days, we were jumping around between a bunch of hotels and we were exhausted already. So this was, where we needed we wanted to stay in one spot for a little bit longer.
00:26:28:15 - 00:26:48:11
Chris
So that's why we stayed at the Conrad Tokyo. And that's why we didn't use our points back in Osaka. Because I was saving them for five nights. And if you know the Hilton Honors program, you know that is a sweet spot with award nights because you book four and you get the fifth night free. So rates were 120, 130,000 points per night.
00:26:48:15 - 00:27:09:14
Chris
Yeah. Super, very expensive. So my wife and I, between us, we pooled our points. We had, I forget like 3 or 400,000 on our in our accounts and I had to buy the rest. But in my mind it was worth it. It is a very nice hotel. We have a review and upgraded points that were linked to, but as a diamond member we got upgraded.
00:27:09:16 - 00:27:34:01
Chris
We had they have an executive lounge, so that means happy hour, and snacks in the evening, which end up being dinner for us, breakfast in the morning, late check out and excellent location. I can't recommend the Conrad Tokyo enough. It is just a great hotel. Especially if you have lounge access. So for a family of four, we saved on dinner and breakfast almost every day.
00:27:34:01 - 00:27:37:06
Chris
And so even though it was expensive, it was it was well worth it.
00:27:37:08 - 00:27:41:12
Katie
And you have your diamond status from the Hilton Aspire card, is that correct?
00:27:41:12 - 00:27:41:23
Chris
Yep.
00:27:42:01 - 00:27:55:09
Katie
I mean, we've talked about that card already, what, 4 or 5 times in this episode. It seems to be like a great spot. You know, the aspire card in Tokyo together at last, right? Yeah. Japan together. It seems like a really good option for this trip.
00:27:55:11 - 00:28:14:21
Chris
Yeah, it is. And so this was a great location. It's right, like many hotels right on top of, subway station. So for those five days, we were doing all the tourist stuff, and we took the kids to Shibuya Crossing, where, you know, thousands of people cross at the same time. We took a bus tour. We went to the Meiji Shrine.
00:28:14:23 - 00:28:42:08
Chris
We went to over an hour. How how did you go? And the fish markets. And we just, like, ate and drank and shopped. And it was just it was fun. We didn't have too many plans. Nothing like, really booked, you know, set in stone and just went with the flow. I know we got another rainy day and, we went to, the Warner Brothers studio in Tokyo, and they have this Harry Potter exhibit, and this was not on our radar at all.
00:28:42:10 - 00:29:06:08
Chris
But when it was raining out, we started looking at what to do. We'll apply as some people. And it was either team labs, which we had done. Well, we had done previously in Tokyo. And then we did the Kids in Kyoto. It was the that or this Harry Potter thing. Okay. We like Harry Potter. We're big universal fans and we went there and we were blown away at how good it was.
00:29:06:08 - 00:29:20:13
Chris
And this is just a, it's a studio, there's no rides or anything. But we spent four hours there and we could have spent longer. It was just really well done. So if there are any Harry Potter fans listening and you're going to Tokyo, add this to your list. It is really good.
00:29:20:15 - 00:29:38:17
Katie
Okay, my daughter actually just started reading the books, and Tokyo or Japan is like the number one place she wants to go to. So yeah, I will absolutely add that to her. Another question about the kids. Your your daughter's almost the same age as my daughter, and you have a younger son as well. How did they do with eating?
00:29:38:17 - 00:29:51:05
Katie
Because my daughter is a really picky eater, and that's one of my main concerns about planning a trip to Japan with her is how do you navigate that? Do you have any any tips for that? How are your kids with eating over there?
00:29:51:07 - 00:30:10:14
Chris
Yeah, it's definitely a challenge. There's a lot of just different sights and smells and sounds. Just it everyone's a little bit out of their comfort zone. So we did a lot of kind of like training in before. We watched tons of YouTube videos of families and kids and what to eat, what not, blah blah. But my kids like sushi.
00:30:10:14 - 00:30:31:20
Chris
We sushi a lot here in Brazil, so that part was easy. And then the other big things we're eating were ramen. So like, those two were pretty good. But there are there's McDonald's, there's burger King, there's Wendy's, you know, I mean, in an emergency or whatever, those are available. We had room service. You know, we ordered possibly a is and club and club sandwiches.
00:30:31:20 - 00:30:41:21
Chris
One day, just like you'll be able to get by without, you know, you don't have to go into like full Japanese mode to meet. Like, she has plenty of options.
00:30:41:21 - 00:30:46:02
Katie
Yeah, I'm going to take her to Japan and we're going to survive on room service and Wendy's.
00:30:46:04 - 00:30:46:17
Chris
I know.
00:30:46:22 - 00:30:47:21
Katie
Well, you got to do it.
00:30:47:21 - 00:31:08:22
Chris
You better than not going to Japan. Exactly. But yeah, I think there were there's a lot of good food and dishes like steak sometimes. Yeah. Okay. Like the Kobe beef and Wagyu beef. It's just like that's really they they know what they doing over there. So. But, yeah. Good question. Yeah.
00:31:09:00 - 00:31:10:03
Katie
Okay. Where'd you go next?
00:31:10:05 - 00:31:28:23
Chris
This was we saved the best for last. And if anyone in the points in Miles world, it's thinking about Tokyo. I'm sure you can guess where it was. We stayed at the Park Hyatt Tokyo for our final two nights, and it was so good. I'm glad we saved it for the end, because it gave us something to look forward to.
00:31:29:00 - 00:31:55:19
Chris
And unlike the Saint Regis, where we had such such high expectations, the park height exceeded these even further. The hotel is so good if you can find availability. Phuket. This is the hotel. Okay, for anyone who's not familiar, this hotel, it was already one of the best, you know, uses for high points in the world. But it closed and it had been closed for 19 months, for renovations and just opened in December.
00:31:55:19 - 00:31:57:12
Chris
We went January. You were.
00:31:57:12 - 00:31:59:18
Katie
They were right there at the beginning, right after it reopened.
00:31:59:18 - 00:32:27:01
Chris
That's not even 100%. They were, I think they said 60%, back in occupancy, but there was no signs of construction or anything. One of the biggest concerns people had was, oh, they're going to it's going to lose its you know, its charm or whatever. I had not been there before, but from what I've read and from what I saw, they did a really nice job of keeping everything, keeping the charm and keeping, you know, the originality of the, of the building and, and everything that people loved about it before.
00:32:27:01 - 00:32:47:22
Chris
But just give it a refresh. The rooms are really nice tech where you need it, not where you don't. This room, the room was tied for the best toilet. Let's go to Japan. You're going to be very impressed with the toilets. The toilet, toilets. So between this and the Waldorf, they had the same toilet with the same controls.
00:32:47:22 - 00:33:07:17
Chris
And the seat that opens up and closes by itself and lights and sounds. It's just very nice. So we paid 40,000, high points per night. Obviously, on each end of our stay, there were rooms available for 35,000. We didn't, have too much flexibility there, so we paid 40,000 points per night. And that was money well spent.
00:33:07:17 - 00:33:27:16
Chris
Points well spent. I received a guest of honor, certificate. So that means I got globalist benefits. We received an upgrade to a larger room breakfast for everyone, even the kids. No one, no up charges. And, for Pan Lake, check out, which is incredible because our flight was at seven, so that just worked out perfectly. Check in.
00:33:27:16 - 00:33:46:01
Chris
They bring you, they escort you. Of course, everywhere they everyone does take you all the way up to the 41st floor, things like that for the check in, then walk all the way back to the building, and then you just sit down and do all the paperwork and welcome glass of champagne, walk you up to the room, explain how everything works.
00:33:46:01 - 00:34:06:07
Chris
It was just, just a really nice. Our room had a view of Mount Fuji, which, apparently. Yeah. So nice you can't see Mount Fuji year round in the summer. I guess the the way that the area is, it's just harder to see. But we're there in the winter. It was clear day, and it's just an incredible way to wake up and just have Mount Fuji out your window.
00:34:06:07 - 00:34:07:14
Chris
So that was really cool.
00:34:07:16 - 00:34:14:07
Katie
Okay, so Park Hyatt Tokyo, definitely one you want to hit. Are you writing a review for that? For the site?
00:34:14:09 - 00:34:34:00
Chris
I am I'm working on right now, so it should be live hopefully. Or at least done. By the time we by the time we, we publish this episode. But for anyone who's saving this kind of hotel as a bucket list, you can this can be your destination if you want to. I mean, there's a incredible hotel, pool on the 42nd floor, the rooftop, jazz bar.
00:34:34:02 - 00:34:56:03
Chris
We had dinner at kazoo, which is like their contemporary Japanese restaurant, and it was, like, so nice. I felt bad for the kids because I didn't realize how nice it was going to be. We did like the preset menu, and it came with, champagne and wine tastings for for me and my wife and the kids are over here, like, how many courses are coming?
00:34:56:05 - 00:35:11:13
Chris
They had their they had a kids menu. But it it was udon and they the kids did great and I was very impressed with them and they behave themselves but they, I could the every time a course came out they're like, what are you guys going to be doing? But we were we was like our only moment.
00:35:11:13 - 00:35:30:13
Chris
That was the only really fancy meal we did a lot of, you know, ramen and sushi with the kids, but this is only like a nice meal. So we were enjoying it. It was fun. But, the breakfast, if you have, if you're a globalist or if you get a guest of honor, this was I think it was the best breakfast I've had at a hotel.
00:35:30:15 - 00:35:31:09
Katie
Oh.
00:35:31:11 - 00:35:38:22
Chris
Yeah. Okay. Ten out of ten on our first day, I didn't know if it was because, you know, as a podcaster or if I was a globalist or.
00:35:38:22 - 00:35:40:19
Katie
Whatever, getting recognized in Japan there.
00:35:40:19 - 00:35:59:22
Chris
Chris, I'm sure we walked down. And the problem is, the service is so good. You feel like you're a VIP no matter who you are. And so we walked down there was like, we were almost at the end of, breakfast service ended when every 1030 we got there at ten. And I might tell my name, like, go right this way.
00:35:59:22 - 00:36:16:22
Chris
And they bring us back. The restaurant's packed, and they bring us back to this private room, and this room had views of Tokyo, and they came in and start serving us. The chef comes in and is presenting with some fresh, fresh baked pastries and everything. And we're like looking at ourselves like, oh my God, this is so nice.
00:36:17:00 - 00:36:46:00
Chris
And then the second day was the same thing, the same incredible service, but just out in the other in the main restaurant because the other area was full and we just happened to get lucky for that dining room. But, everyone feels like a VIP and I mean, they were serving they have caviar on the, on the buffet and little salmon and caviar, and I ordered truffled, eggs Benedict and everything was just so good, that it's literally nothing to complain about.
00:36:46:01 - 00:36:48:13
Chris
That's that's a lie. I will say there's one thing.
00:36:48:17 - 00:36:50:09
Katie
I cannot complain. Okay?
00:36:50:11 - 00:36:56:02
Chris
Yeah, I will complain. Hopefully they can fix this by the next time I go. The location. Just.
00:36:56:02 - 00:36:56:17
Katie
Okay.
00:36:56:19 - 00:37:19:16
Chris
No. Well, the biggest complaint that people have is that it's not very close to a train station. So on the all of our other hotels, we were on top of a train station, take an elevator basically down into your into the train car. This the Park Hyatt in Tokyo was about a 10 to 15 minute walk to Shinjuku, which is a nice neighborhood where we wanted to walk around anyways.
00:37:19:16 - 00:37:40:12
Chris
But that's also where the closest train station is. So you could use that as a complaint if you wanted to, but they offer a shuttle, so, I mean, we didn't use the shuttle. We liked the walk. Yeah, yeah. It was it was good. But yeah, this was almost perfect. Almost perfect. Yeah. Maybe maybe they'll move the hotel by the time we get there.
00:37:40:12 - 00:37:50:16
Chris
Or maybe Tokyo will install, extend the subway line or something. But, I would not even consider that. Add that into anyone's decision making. This is the hotel to go to.
00:37:50:18 - 00:37:55:19
Katie
Okay. Sounds like I need to work on my globalist status for next year, so.
00:37:55:19 - 00:37:56:17
Chris
I guess the.
00:37:56:18 - 00:37:57:04
Katie
Rest.
00:37:57:04 - 00:37:59:18
Chris
Yeah, whatever the the brand is worth it. Yeah.
00:37:59:22 - 00:38:04:11
Katie
Sounds awesome. So how many nights were you in Japan in total?
00:38:04:13 - 00:38:08:10
Chris
I think total was like 18 nights. Something like that.
00:38:08:12 - 00:38:10:05
Katie
Oh, that's a long time. Yeah.
00:38:10:09 - 00:38:22:04
Chris
And all with points, I mean. Oh, I'm sorry. The Hyatt place was, was paid with cash, but it was so cheap that I don't even $70 at my son's favorite hotel in the world. No.
00:38:22:06 - 00:38:23:14
Katie
And, hey, sounds.
00:38:23:14 - 00:38:49:19
Chris
Yeah. Awesome. Yeah. So we were, but we were super flexible because I wanted to book something better. On the way home, we had booked Japan Airlines Economy Tokyo to New York on the A350. Beautiful plane. I was waiting for some miracle for Asiana to open up on Virgin Points and and they actually did open up four seats, but with Virgin Points, you can't book it less than 14 days in advance.
00:38:49:19 - 00:38:59:21
Chris
And so I just saw them sitting there and I didn't have enough points to transfer over to book directly. Just like okay, so but it was fine.
00:38:59:21 - 00:39:01:15
Katie
How did you get back then? Yeah.
00:39:01:17 - 00:39:23:13
Chris
Well, technically, yes. So when we left, well, as we were getting ready to leave, we're supposed to leave on Sunday. On Friday night, Japan Airlines canceled and a flight because we were going back to New York. And they had that major snowstorm. So I get back to the room on Saturday night, and I called Japan Airlines like, oh, we can't do anything because you booked American.
00:39:23:13 - 00:39:47:01
Chris
I knew that. I don't know why I called them, so I called American and they're like, well, listen, the only thing we can offer you on Japan Airlines is next Thursday, flying through Paris and then to New York. And I was like, in business class, like, no, in economy. I was like, you know what? Just cancel it, give me my miles back and I'll start searching for something else.
00:39:47:03 - 00:40:08:09
Chris
So that's how I spent that with that Friday night. Just looking for flights. I didn't even book until Saturday night. Because there just there were some options. What I ended up finding was, because I need to get back to Brazil. I found flights from Honolulu through Dallas to Rio, an American Airlines premium economy for 40,000 miles.
00:40:08:11 - 00:40:35:07
Chris
And that was, in my opinion, incredible price. Yeah. And so I just need to get to Honolulu and from Tokyo, it's really not bad. It's a six hour flight. So there were plenty of options. There was Japan and a Delta. Who else flew there? Someone else. But I had plenty of options. And so what I ended up doing, I used those virgin miles that I was saving for a I use them on Delta.
00:40:35:08 - 00:40:46:02
Chris
I was like 30,000 or somewhere around there to go from Tokyo Haneda to Honolulu. And then we had a nice three day layover in, in Waikiki.
00:40:46:04 - 00:40:47:15
Katie
And that doesn't sound too bad.
00:40:47:18 - 00:41:04:19
Chris
No, it was actually it was a it was a blessing because it was a quick flight. Six hours compared to whatever would have been 13 or 14 hours if we went to New York in economy. And then it was just a nice transition because it was cold in Tokyo. We get to Hawaii and it was like, nice, and we get to Brazil and it's hot.
00:41:04:21 - 00:41:10:21
Chris
So that was nice. And just no one's complaining. We're going to going to Hawaii in January.
00:41:10:21 - 00:41:18:13
Katie
No. And we were stuck in Snowmageddon over here. Oh, you telling me you were stuck in Hawaii to not feel bad for you at all?
00:41:18:16 - 00:41:38:04
Chris
Yeah, I know, I, I didn't even post it right away. I was like, I'm not even going to let people think I'm really suffering in the park a little bit longer. But then, like when we were flying out of Tokyo Haneda, we, we had to use all our coins because everyone uses bags of cash in Japan. And we got this super rare, apparently.
00:41:38:06 - 00:41:55:14
Chris
Pikachu captain, with the little Haneda airport on him, and it's super cute, and apparently it's hard to find. So it was just like, everything just worked out so nice. And then we flew back, you know, all the way from from Hawaii to Rio and premium economy, which is not business class, but it was way better than economy.
00:41:55:14 - 00:41:57:03
Chris
As you know, you're a big premium economy.
00:41:57:09 - 00:42:03:11
Katie
That was on the air. Really, not on American. Yeah. Yeah. I've flown that many times. I have my Dreamliner very comfortable.
00:42:03:13 - 00:42:21:03
Chris
We did, I preordered the kids meals and, it was delicious. Like I was sharing that I think the first leg was, like bowling ace in the second or brek. And then breakfast was like eggs and home fries and sausages and, like, way better than the adult meal. So let me go a little, little hack there and get the kids.
00:42:21:05 - 00:42:28:22
Chris
Yeah, yeah. But yeah, that's how we got home. That's how we traveled, around almost around the world. Kind of.
00:42:28:22 - 00:42:42:02
Katie
Yeah. I mean, it sounds like a fantastic trip. This was this was one fun episode, I hope, I hope our listeners and readers have, you know, gotten some good tips and hopefully we'll, we'll have thrown up some, photos and videos.
00:42:42:04 - 00:42:42:11
Chris
Oh, yeah.
00:42:42:11 - 00:43:02:03
Katie
Again for everyone. So, yes, I hope to do this trip next year. I don't imagine I'm going to be able to spend 18 days, but, but it's really nice to see real life trips that people do with families with points and miles staying incredibly comfortably, flying comfortably. So it's always I love hearing other people's trips.
00:43:02:05 - 00:43:07:09
Chris
Out of pocket. Costs were just on ramen, and sushi can just melts.
00:43:07:11 - 00:43:26:19
Katie
I mean, that's awesome. So we actually have a question that's sort of related that I wanted to ask you. We got this, from Sarah on Instagram who says, what is the best option for dealing with train fares as a big family? Is it worth getting an unlimited pass?
00:43:26:21 - 00:43:46:08
Chris
Awesome question, because taking the train is the best way to get around Tokyo and Japan in general. And yeah, they do offer some some unlimited passes, which can make sense. We didn't go that route because we weren't totally sure we're going to be using trains all day, every day. Like, for example, when we stayed at the scenery, just, we walked everywhere.
00:43:46:10 - 00:44:11:07
Chris
And, so it was just it didn't make sense for us. So what we did, my wife and I, we added money directly into our personal accounts, and so that's like their, one of the programs you can use to just tap into the subway. And so you can just add that as you need. We added a few thousand yen and just it just discounted as we used it, it you tap in and tap out so it'll, it'll tell you exactly how much you're using.
00:44:11:09 - 00:44:28:02
Chris
And then for the kids since they don't have cell phones and Apple Pay, which you can do, you can just go get them a physical card. And now what we had to do, which you can do, is you can buy one ticket each time. And that's the that's going to be the cheapest way because you can. Kids are 50% of the fare.
00:44:28:04 - 00:44:51:23
Chris
So in order to save a few hundred yen every trip, we would go and you know, figure out, you know, which train stations are going to and how much it's going to cost. And it was it was a pain. But what you should do is take your kids passports and go to the ticket office in any major train station, and with the passport, then you can get a free kids card that will cost 50%.
00:44:51:23 - 00:44:55:00
Chris
I think I have it here.
00:44:55:01 - 00:45:18:15
Chris
And it actually has. Yeah, a little Suica card. So ours was parsimonious with Suica. But then you can just fill this up with, however many yen that you want. And every time they tap it, it'll make a cute little bird sound and they get 50% off. So instead of us doing the mental math, trying to figure out how many train stations we're going to get, every time we just put a balance on there, filled it up, and then and then they spent that.
00:45:18:15 - 00:45:36:12
Chris
And so that's that was how we did it. I think it was the best option for us. And the beauty about these cards is you can use these in many places besides the subway, for example, like dining in like a lot of ramen stations, you could just tap your, your train pass and they'll deduct from that balance.
00:45:36:12 - 00:45:49:23
Chris
So that's what we did. Yeah. That's we didn't think the unlimited pass was going to be worth for us. But yeah, if you're going to do it and you want to save time, make sure you bring your passport so you can get the, the 50% off cards for the kids.
00:45:50:01 - 00:46:09:06
Katie
So. Great. Thank you, Sarah, for that question. You have questions that you would like to submit for us to answer on air. You can reach us at podcasts at Upgraded points.com. And as always, don't forget to like and subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, or wherever you're watching or listening. And be sure to share with a travel loving friend.
00:46:09:08 - 00:46:14:14
Katie
This has been a fun one. Chris, thank you so much for sharing your trip and we will see you next week.