Booked: Six Airlines to South East Asia

After many years of seeking out many of the world’s best aspirational airline products, 2023 is set to be the year that I take aim at the last handful of business class and First Class experiences I haven’t flown yet.

To that end, I’ve kicked off the year with a whirlwind trip of no fewer than six premium flights en route to and from South East Asia, as part of a trip that also lets me catch up with some friends and family and review a few high-end hotels as well.

In this article, I’ll share the thought process behind how I planned the trip and which reviews you can look forward to here on Prince of Travel.

(Rather unconventionally, this “Booked” article is written after a trip has already taken place, as this was one of those rather spontaneous expeditions where I didn’t complete the finishing touches until midway through the journey.)

The Trip

While the primary motivation for this trip was to review as many new airline products as possible, I had also wanted to hit up a few specific destinations in South East Asia.

First up was the island of Gili Trawangan (affectionately known as “Gili T”) off the coast of Lombok in Indonesia, adjacent to Bali. Prince of Travel team member Rohin has made this island his temporary home, and I had been planning a visit out there that was long overdue.

Gili T offers world-class snorkelling and scuba diving, majestic beaches, and many other types of transformational experiences within its party scene, and I was excited to spend a few days exploring a part of the world I hadn’t visited before.

After Gili, I had wanted to spend some time in Singapore, a city I hadn’t visited since the pre-pandemic days, in order to catch up with friends and review a handful of hotels.

It turned out that I’d be stricken by an episode of “Bali Belly” during my time in Singapore, but I still managed to complete my primary goals between getting some rest and recuperation.

Then, I planned a few days in Hong Kong in order to meet up with my parents, and it’s always a joy to revisit the city I had called home during my childhood.

With this basic structure of the trip in place, I began architecting a behemoth of a flight itinerary – going the “long way around” in both directions – to tie everything together.

The Flights

After celebrating Chinese New Year with family in Toronto, I booked British Airways…