Cycled the Shimanami Kaido, and Yamaguchi, Saga, Nagasaki etc.

[rbjhan]

Ah yes, even though I caught some really nice Sakura, the main purpose of this trip is cycling!
Shimanami Kaido has been on my bucket list for some time, finally got to tick it off

Bought CX cash tickets back in May 25 when I was able to stack two promos together. Yeah that price was not coming back anytime soon...

So the flights were MEL - HKG - cough return.

In Japan I went Fukuoka - Onomichi - Kurashiki - Iwakuni - Kawatana onsen - Kokura - Ureshino onsen - Takeo onsen - Nagasaki - Fukuoka.
Don't worry if you haven't heard of half those places hopefully by the end of this TR I can convince people to see some of the least visited places in Japan...

 

[rbjhan]

So, one year ago Cathay was consistently asking about 4k return to Japan.
Then there's the stopover promo for 10% off, I also had a $300 cash back offer on my AMEX. The ticket ended up costing about $3300.

I picked the flights based on time.
Then they switched CX178 to be the B777 with Aria suites, lucky

Not so lucky was the lounge situation in MEL...was advised to use QF lounge
Okay I suppose Plaza Preminum would do...nothing to see here.

Let's fast forward to boarding!

Now this is really nice.





In case you need some help with the new seat...


And the bathroom indicator
Must say I find it very useful!



What are we looking at?
The alleged wireless charging....who design this thing and do they have a 10 year old phone or something??
Thankfully there's a usb-c port down below!

 

[rbjhan]

This was a supper service.
I had the cuttlefish ball with egg noodles.
***You can pre-order meals online 10 days before flight. BUT, unless you are departing HKG, the online choices are exactly the same as inflight menu!



Dessert


When doors were closed...the seat number lights were very handy.


Time to sleep!

 

[rbjhan]

Woke up and chose the western breakfast....damn so salty！


Anyways we landed ontime at HKG.
I had 1 hour 20 mins transfer time, normally it should be enough....ah BUT...

CX has been doing handsomely since the Middle East thingy broke out....their transfer security area was a total zoo spend 30 mins queueing.....they know how many people are going through each hour, why not add a scanner or two?! (only two scanners in transfer security). Ah that's why Changi is still my favourite airport.
If you are transfering HKG lately, do plan accordingly!

So when I got up to departure level, it was almost boarding time
Keep in mind HKG is huge!
And my gate was in the T1 Satellite building so a fair walk.

Up and over the Sky Deck.

 

[craven morehead]

Looks good so far

 

[rbjhan]

Found my gate, exactly 5 mins to boarding
So I just stood there waiting...

First onboard!


HKers are famously not morning people, just like me ha ha
The 8am flight was not popular, hence the A321 NEO (my return trip was a massive regional set up 777).
For the shortish flight to cough, that's enough I guess.


Thought they might serve breakfast, but nope, got a proper meal instead.

 

[rbjhan]

Final thoughts on the flights:
The Aria Suite is very nice. I love the door, the screen, all the high tech stuff are great.

The display by the armrest showing the time left so you don't need to go fire up the big flight map....


Tray table is now under the screen.


All the small changes are great, except for the wireless charging

However, for me the most important thing is the bed. And here I don't think Aria is that much different to their A350 J seats. It might actually be a tad smaller? I'm a small person so it doesn't matter but others might feel different. Also the mattress is so thin you might as well not have it.

OFC I prefer Aria to their old seats. But for now The Room is probably still my favourite.