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Get Global Entry and you don't have to deal with any of the officers at arrival. You do have to go through a background check and perfunctory interview to get the status. It also gets you a "trusted traveler" number which should get you Precheck through security at U.S. airports. I returned through JFK (terminal 4) last month and there were plenty of Global Entry kiosks open. Was through to baggage claim in about a minute. (But there were also no lines at the regular immigration either so I am sure most of those folks got through fast). You get a little receipt from the kiosk that you hand to the customs officer and they basically wave you through.

Minimum Connect Time at NRT is actually only 45 minutes for this connection. But that assumes everything is on time. I flew via NRT a couple of years ago in F. It was a TG to UA connection. I was met at the end of the jetway by an ANA rep who walked me through security to my gate. Boarding was already nearly complete by the time I got there. I think it was supposed to be about 50 or 55 minutes connection time but we were late departing BKK and I was freaking out a little bit. It certainly helped that I was flying up front and the agent could radio ahead to let them know we were on our way. My bag made it no problem. Since you're flying in economy I would try to get a seat as close to the front as you can and let the crew know you have a short connection. They may let you get off right after business class. I would maybe also check TG's schedule and see if they have any flights that have a bit better connection. Since it's all Star Alliance they should be able to book you with them instead.

I always try to arrive in Asia in the late evening so that I can just go to the hotel and go to bed. That way I get onto the new time pretty quickly without much jetlag. For me the problem is that once you've flown "up front" it's nearly impossible to go to the back of the bus again. I've been using miles to get to Asia for the last several years. I just booked next year's trip using the rest of my UA miles and a big chunk of AA miles. I've still got enough US miles in the bank that I should be able to book one more F class trip for 2015 once the merger is finalized as long as the new AA doesn't really devalue their miles. After that I'll be at near zero unless some mileage windfall comes along in the meantime. It was all a fun game while it lasted. I'll probably end up going to Europe more instead of Asia since the flights are so much shorter that even if I have to fly in the back I will be able to survive it.

Theoretically they could also book you on TG from NRT instead of NH for people flying on the BKK. With all of their unfriendly changes I am glad I spent all of my miles. Now I need to figure out what my strategy will be going forward as far as picking a plan to collect miles in. None of them is probably all that great these days.

Maybe they will finally get their act together eventually. But I never use MRT. The only time I ever did was when I stayed at the Sukhothai Hotel. I just use BTS. But I agree the card would be more useful if you could use it for more things. The one in Taiwan is good for all transport in Taipei, 7-Eleven, Family Mart, and I think even things like McDonald's. I used it on the local trains in Tainan. It was great and should be a model for everyone else.

I got a Rabbit card last year. I prefer a stored value card so that I don't have to fool around with getting change or standing in line at the ticket machine. You don't need to attach it to a day pass type of thing. It just deducts each trip's cost as you go. Topping up is easy but I think the minimum amount to add is 100 baht. I'm just used to using that sort of thing here at home. I also have one from Taipei. Picked one up in HK last year for their system too even though I don't really intend to return. They don't cost much money. I suppose if you are pinching every penny you might not want to get one. But I like them.

That does seem like a lot of miles. I just booked a saver award to SE Asia for 70K miles in F ... DPS-SIN-NRT-IAD. Looks like MrBill booked a business class standard award which is 150k one way! AA awards are even cheaper 67,500 miles one way in F to SE Asia but they have more restrictive routing rules (you can only go trans pacific for example while UA/Star Alliance allows routing via Europe).

Great report. I've always been intrigued by Banana Club but have never stopped inside. You're almost the second coming of ShamelessMack ... I still really miss his blog.

So, I was looking through the few old threads here. I am trying to figure out my plans for next year. With all of the airlines devaluing their miles I am thinking I need to plan something soon for autumn next year. I haven't done too much research yet, but it sounds like there are some pretty gay places in Seminyak...including a number of "clothing optional" resorts which always scare me a bit. I stayed at a clothing optional place in Key West many years ago which was a little scary. I'm not much of a beach person so I will be looking for historic and cultural type of activities during the day. I know Pong made some interesting posts in the other threads that took a bit of deciphering. :-) But anyone been over to Bali or other parts of the country lately?

It's funny you should mention this. One extraordinarily odd trend I noticed was the number of boys wearing comically oversized eyeglass frames with no lenses. Some strange fashion thing that made no sense to me. But they sure are cute!

It's been my experience that any time you change currency with one of the banks before you leave you get a terrible rate. I have gotten baht from BoA in the past, but the rate is not very good. You can always check on their website to see what kind of rate they are offering before you complete a transaction. It's much better to just wait and get some money from an ATM once you arrive. The airport has many ATMs.

Be prepared for some headaches on your return through PEK. Of course all flights to the USA are a total PITA these days with all of the extra security theater hoops you have to jump through. My PEK-IAD flight last year was a mess. They required you to get another boarding pass at the gate even if you already had one (something I didn't find out until I got to the head of the boarding line). And then they search everyone another time on the jetway before you get on the plane. Lots of people had their water confiscated at that point leading to plenty of very unhappy people. Transfer security at PEK on that transit also required that everyone remove every single electronic device/item from their carry on bag. So the line took forever. And since I was traveling with a lot of photography equipment, laptop, etc I had to essentially empty my bag. It was even worse than TSA madness in the US. I will avoid PEK in the future as a result of that unpleasant experience. I never had a major issue going through NRT though.

For sure UA's rise in partner award mileage requirements is a big blow. It was fun while it lasted has been my general attitude. Not sure what I will do from now on either. Once the AA/US merger happens I will have a boatload of AA miles so I will be able to squeeze some Oneworld flights out...until AA devalues their chart too.

Not necessarily. Depending on your origin you could fly UA to PEK for example. Plenty of Star Alliance options though so you can avoid UA altogether (which I recommend) unless you've got status on UA for upgrades. Don't they also fly to PVG? You can fly EVA to Taipei and connect there to either EVA or THAI. UA will also start flying to TPE from SFO on April 1, so maybe that's the switch. You can go via Seoul with a variety of options. SIN as well. Or you can go via Europe.

It's messed up for me too

And here are the rest. Some better setting sun lighting...

OK. Here are a few pictures. I will work on the rest tomorrow.

The drumming seemed to have little rhyme or reason to it. Lots of variation. But the paddling didn't appear to have much to do with the drumming. Maybe to the trained ear it makes a difference.

I may add more later if I find some other good ones

more

So, I've been in Singapore for several days. Today I happened to notice that there was a big dragon boat regatta taking place on the river just a couple of blocks from my hotel. So once the ran more or less stopped I headed out and spent a couple of hours there. Tons of cute college boys. I really like it here for the most part. The men are generally very handsome. I think it's that whole melting pot things. Lots of really bad body odor though. There are lots of photogenic places to see. I will need to come back to see more. Less hot than BKK, but even more humid. Grindr and Jack'd are pretty popular here as well. The twist here though is that I have been directly solicited by a number of "masseurs". One of them a very hot 21 yo guy from Kazakhstan. But I didn't ask how much he wanted. I am here one more day though...

Not just Thai guys, all guys. I prefer no facial hair. But don't mind hair anywhere else. Those pathetic little "mustaches" Thai guys sport these days are just sad.

My three days here are at an end. Got a massage at Hero but otherwise it's been a quiet visit for me. Too damn hot. I did spend last evening doing some sightseeing which was fun. And I've spent some time shopping. Staying right at Ratchprasong makes shopping easy. I had planned to go over to Soi Twilight this evening but in the end just couldn't be bothered. Dealing with expensive drinks and the usual gogo bar BS just didn't have enough appeal. If I was staying in the neighborhood I probably would have gone out there though. Lots of guys online and on jack'd and grindr. But I guess I am just not in the mood.

Probably not until I get back to civilization. Typically when I am traveling there isn't much time to go through the pictures, do the edits, etc. I prefer to do that on my real computer at home. But I'm not sure I really have any better pictures than what aussie_ already posted.

Here's a link to the official photos posted by the organizers http://www.flickr.com/photos/twlgbtpride/sets/72157636961870896/