So yesterday I arrived back from my semi around the world non stop trip. I learnt many things along the way and thought I’d write about what happened while taking this trip.

First of all this is the routing:

So far I’ve reviewed the Etihad A340 first class and the Cathay Pacific first class flights. The rest should be done over the next few days. The whole purpose of the trip was to review Etihad’s A340 and try Cathay Pacific first class.

Things I learnt…

• Cathay suck at priority boarding.

This isn’t a very important thing for some but when trying to get photos of the onboard product before the flight it’s very useful. I’ve flown Cathay 3 times now and it’s happened every flight. It’s not as bad as Qantas however…

• You still need to sign to purchase things with a credit card in Japan.

This really surprised me. As a country of developing technology I would have thought they at least use pin or pay-wave etc, this wasn’t the case. In Australia its now pretty rare to sign now its pin or NFC payments. I know japan isn’t the only country to still use signature but it defiantly surprised me.

• Etihad have a VIP room as well as the Residence room. 

This also surprised me when I visited the Etihad first lounge in Abu Dhabi. When I first visited the lounge and given a tour It was never pointed out but this time I was told the purpose of the room and it made perfect sense. The VIP room is for very big celebrities, passengers in the Residence if the Residence room is full and large groups of Residence and guests. Unfortunately no picture’s as the room is to be kept exclusive.

• Your Sinuses can play up badly.

This one maybe just myself but after landing in Melbourne my nose was quite sore and irritated. To make it worse it bled 3 times within 2 hours, not a good look inside of an airport lounge… I’d say the pressure and weather changes would have caused it and today it’s fine. Anyone else had something similar?

Summary 

My trip was a great success and enjoyed every minute of it. I hope to do something similar again in the future months.