travel – Hooked On Points

Qatar Airways Business Class – Doha to Washington DC

July 7, 2025Tagged airline, airlines, business-class, travel, travel-tipsLeave a comment

After disembarking the aircraft, I headed over to the Al Safwa First Class lounge with the hope that I would be able to get a private room to get some proper sleep. Luck was not on my side as all rooms were booked and the earliest I would be able to get one was 7.30am but that was a non-starter since my flight was at 8am. After contemplating how terrible things were going for me, I decided to head over to the Al Mourjan Garden lounge in the hope that I would get a nap room there. Yet another swing and a miss as no rooms were available but one would be available around 4.30am. As the lounge was empty, I decided to crash on one of the couches until the room was ready. When I got a room, I could not sleep and was just doom scrolling until it was time to leave. Got a shower room to freshen up, had a light snack/drink and then headed to the gate.

Up the escalator to the Al Safwa lounge

Oooooooh – water fountain

Everyone crowding the bear from the front – I just went to the back where its nice and quiet.

Hopped on the train to get to the C concourse where the Garden lounge was located

Overlooking the Orchard – at night

Overlooking the Orchard – sunrise

Water pool structure thingy

Heading towards the E concourse

Morning bird watching

I assume the new E concourse is specifically for US flights as there are new sterilized areas for additional security and other checks before entering the gate area. Everything went by smoothly and dare I say the staff were much nicer than TSA staff. After 15 minutes of idling around, boarding was called with business class first but as usual, all gate lice decided to block J passengers from boarding and things got a bit testy. Eventually, I made it onboard.

The female cabin crew member working my side of the plane was nice and way better than the crew from the previous flight. She came by to introduce herself, offered a PDB and brought PJs.

Started with OJ.

The view

Safety video as we were taxi-ing

View while taxi-ing

Lining up on 16R …

Aaaaaand nothing happened. We started to move but no massive engine spool up – just continued to taxi off onto the other taxi way and towards 34L which was the opposite end of the runway. The captain came on the horn announcing a change in wind direction necessitating a take off from the other direction.

Ok, once more unto the breach

See ya later DOH.

After take off, the cabin crew got into action. Started off with a pipping hot cup of Karak Chai.

Breakfast showtime

Told the cabin crew to skip all the fluff stuff and just ordered the omlette. Was really good.

After that, asked the staff to add the stuff to make into a bed.

Thank goodness for Starlife WIFI – was able to doom scroll when I was bored watching stuff on the TV.

Got a burger mid flight and it was meh – was a bit cold.

The real showtime approximately 2 hours before landing.

Hooray for caviar in business class!

Chicken Maskhool – yum

Warm salted caramel and almond cheesecake – too sweet for my liking but good overall

Somewhere over the US close to IAD

IAD

It was at this point that the fun ended.

One last longing look.

Taking the people mover to the main terminal

Immigration was easy enough with Global Entry and bags came out shortly after arriving at the belt. Headed up to the departure hall to check in my bag on the connecting United flight back to YYZ.

Qatar Airways First Class – Bangkok to Doha

July 7, 2025Tagged airline, airlines, business-class, flight-review, travelLeave a comment

As stated in the previous post, the flight was departing from the new remote and you had to take the underground train over.

People were already lined up by the time I got to the gate. From the perspective of the picture below, I was standing in the premium boarding line with no separate F line and the right side was non premium passengers. As you can tell, that line was MUCH shorter. Once boarding started, the premium line moved fairly quickly.

Was welcomed aboard by the male purser and pointed in the direction of my seat.

Amenity kit and cold towelette was waiting at the seat

I will say this up front – I set my expectations too high and I was disappointed by the service. It took 15 minutes before a member of the cabin crew came by to welcome me and this was a sign of lacklustre service to come during the flight. They were not rude in any way but it just lacked polish and attentiveness when compared with my previous SQ flights. As foreshadowing, my upcoming QR J flight was so much better in terms of service from the cabin crew.

While I was waiting for someone to come by, I took pictures of the menu.

One of the other cabin crew members came by to welcome me and asked if I wanted a PDB – just went with OJ.

Followed by a date and arabic coffee

Safety video by Kevin Hart was playing and it was hilarious! 😀

Missing the flower 🙁

Was poking around the seat and oops, somethings wrong here. LOL

The line up for take off was ridiculously long and I counted 15 planes passing us by towards the runway before it was our turn.

Finally, we were off

Service began quickly after the seat belt sign came off.

Caviar and Balik Salmon to start – delicious

Amuse bouche – meh

Lobster with jumbo crab

Grilled lamb chops and chicken kofta – dry

I dont think I had dessert because I dont have a picture and I looked back at the menu and went “Hey, I dont think I tried any of those” 🥲

Went to change into PJs and one of the crew made up the seat into a bed …. Which was actually just putting a seat cover and walking away …

Went down for a nap and I was so groggy when I woke up around 30 minutes prior to landing due it being a short-ish flight.

Cold towel to get me out of my foggy state

My next stop 😀

Next up – Qatar Airways Business Class – Doha to Washington DC

Qatar Airways Lounge Bangkok

June 26, 2025Tagged asia, food, review, travel, travel-tipsLeave a comment

The flight to Doha was at 9pm and I could only secure a 2pm late check out from the WA. Dayuse to the rescue and booked 6 hours at the Divalux Resort near BKK for $42 CAD.

Booked the hotel shuttle service to take me to the airport which was efficient and after 20 minutes, made it curbside.

Found the QR desks. No F line, everyone in premium cabins were funneled through one line and was round robin to the F and J desks. I did however get checked in at one of the F desks.

The famous escalator as shown on social media as a sad reminder that the fun in Thailand was at an end. All premium passengers get to use the fast track lane for immigration and security which was on the other side of the check in hall. Happy to report that immigration is done via automated gates when exiting the country (hopefully they will introduce auto gates for entering the country soon).

After clearing all that, I headed over to the tax refund area and after 20 minutes, got my cash and made my way to the QR lounge. There is no separate section for F passengers but to be honest, the lounge was nice enough that you couldnt tell the difference. I had a small dinner in the dining area before heading to the other end of the lounge and found a quiet spot to myself.

As I entered, there were 3 staff members on hand to help me check in and one of them escorted me to the dining area and also gave a brief tour of the lounge.

Food items were all buffet style in the dining area. One item was not replenished and I asked if there was more. One of the staff members asked me to have a seat and brought a fresh bowl of the items directly to me – amazing service.

After dinner, I went to the other end of the lounge to find a quiet spot to relax.

As I sat down, a staff member came by and handed me another menu for a la carte items but I didn’t want to over indulge.

Service at the lounge was excellent and dare I say even better than the lounges at Doha. As an example – I was getting a terrible headache and I asked a staff member passing by if they have any tylenol or similar medication; he indicated no and that was the end of that. I went back to sit down and just tough it out till the flight was ready for boarding and then another staff member came by and gently inquired if I was feeling ok to which I replied that I was just closing my eyes to make sure my headache didnt get worse. After that, another staff member came by to let me know that there was a pharmacy close by in the terminal and that I could purchase medication there – she even came outside of the lounge with me and pointed me in the direction of the pharmacy. After buying the meds, I needed water to take the pills and when I came back to the lounge, the staff all asked if I managed to find the pharmacy and get the medication – to which I responded in the affirmative and just needed water to take the pills with. After that, boarding was called and one of the staff again came out with me and gave me directions on how to get to the new remote terminal where the plane would be departing from.

Up next – Qatar Airways First Class – Bangkok to Doha

Waldorf Astoria Bangkok

June 21, 2025Tagged asia, food, nature, photography, travelLeave a comment

After an uneventful 40-osh minute ride, we pulled up to the front of the hotel. Staff were on hand and immediately handled luggage and I was escorted to the elevator that would take me to the 15th floor where check-in was located. I was handed off to the check-in staff who swiftly processed me through the formalities.

Exterior of the hotel

Entrance

Ground floor lobby

Elevators

Check in area

Welcome drink

Base category room

Welcome treat

Room with turn down service

Bed side screen

Lighting buttons

Bathroom area

As a welcome amenity, I had a choice of points or breakfast. Went with the latter.

Choices included a buffet or a la carte

Breakfast – chilli egg with dried shrimp chili paste, chicken floss and crispy bacon

Bakery section

Good mix of Western and Asian food options

Lots of seating

Exploring the rest of the hotel. Bar area behind the reception area.

View

Cracks on the window from the earthquake in April

Went up to the roof top pool for a quick visit to catch the sunset.

Explored the Ratchamdari area. Walked into one of the malls and go figure the first thing I see is a reminder of home. 😀

Just like how all North American fast food joints serve better quality food out of North America, the same applies for Tim Hortons. The selection of pastries and other sweet treats was way better compared to what we get back home.

Crossing over the street via the overpass walkway

Walked around the Central World mall. People were taking pictures of some boy band group.

Temple outside the mall

Small lunch at Mickey D’s – omg, the fried chicken was so good.

After 2 days, checked out for the long journey back home.

Singapore Airlines Business Class – Singapore to Bangkok

June 17, 2025Tagged asia, bangkok, photography, thailand, travelLeave a comment

Back at Terminal 2 around 2pm to catch my 4pm flight to Bangkok.

One of the agents helped me with self check but for some reason, the scanner did not like my passport despite having a bag tag attached. Had to go back in line for 15 minutes before having the desk agent validate my passport and let the bag go through.

All of us waiting in line had a drama show unfold right in front of us. An Aussie couple were having issues and the husband/male partner (or whatever politically correct term is appropriate here) was drunk and loudly shouting at his wife/female partner (omg, did I misgender them? Dont cancel me please, im trying ok!)

The staff were exceptional and handled them in a very calm manner but was cringe to watch the drama plus not easy to ignore.

Needed the peace and serenity of the SKL to calm my nerves after that episode … and also some food and drink.

Yay for Laksa.

Was bored and decided to stroll through the concourse towards my gate. Lucky I left when I did because I got an E gate and it was the furthest one.

Security checks were underway when I arrived to the area, passed through after 5 minutes and sat to wait for the boarding announcement.

Once boarding was called, made my way down the tube.

K seat this time.

Pushback and taxi – we were delayed on pushback due to apparent airport traffic congestion.

See ya later, SIN

BTC Chicken Rice

Bangkok came into view a couple hours later

Coming in hot

See you in a couple days 😉

Twenty wait for the Grab to go to the hotel.

Serangoon House and a couple days in Singapore

June 17, 2025Tagged asia, food, photography, restaurants, travelLeave a comment

I’ve written about this hotel before, so nothing new to report other than breakfast which I tried for the first time. Check in was easy; I dont even remember if I was upgraded but as a single person, the room was more than comfortable for me.

The Gup Shup restaurant is located in the basement and everything is a la carte with your choices of 3 items (starter, main, drink).

Colorful vibe

For lunch, I took the MRT over to the Old Airport Road Food Centre.

Slowly getting through my to do list of restaurants to try out and finally got to try this one.

Roast pork and char siu combo

Got an avocado shake from the stall next door and it felt so good drinking it in the SG heat.

For dinner, went to Bistro Du Vin to meet up with some friends.

Beef Bourguignon

Creme Brulee

Last morning before heading out to the airport. Went over to the mall next to the hotel for breakfast.

Exterior of Farrer Park MRT

Ya Kun Kaya Toast for brekkie

Set A

Singapore Airlines Business Class – Male to Singapore

June 14, 2025Tagged airline, business-class, singapore, singapore-airlines, travelLeave a comment

Singapore Airlines Business Class – Male to Singapore

The boat docked back at Male around 9am and I had an hour to kill before the check-in desks opened. Camped out in the AC section of the food court area.

At T-3, I made my way up to security before heading into the check-in hall. The Y line up was massive, so I just walked up to the J class line, told the security “Singapore Business class” and he let me through without even a document check. After passing through security, I proceeded to check in and was the first person to do so. I inquired if any business class seats were available for cash upgrade and indeed there was one available. After a quick swipe of the credit card and a few signatures, I received my BP and made my way to immigration.

There were separate lines for J passengers in the immigration area and for secondary security. I was through after 20 minutes and made my way to the lounge.

I remember reading an influencers post on IG that this was the worst lounge he had ever seen but I told him that he’s never been to the Air India lounge at Delhi airport.

At T-70, an announcement was made in the lounge that boarding for the SQ flight would begin soon. Took that as a cue to leave and made my way downstairs to the bus gates.

Lovely views during the bus ride

The vibe felt off with the cabin crew this time around. I chalked it up to the fact that I was a last minute upgrade and set my expectations low for the flight.

11A

Bubbles

Hot towel

Safety video

Taxi to the runway

See you in a few months, MLE!

This view never gets old

Not long after, the lunch service began.

Appetizer – meh

Garlic bread

Mee Siam Goreng – perfect!

Dessert was meh

Settled down for a snooze after the meal service and not long after, the lights of SG came into view.

Next up – Serangoon House and a couple days in Singapore

Dhigurah Island – fun in the sun, diving and relaxation

June 14, 2025June 14, 2025Tagged adventure, asia, beach, nature, travelLeave a comment

A far cry from the luxurious resort trips that are typical of the Maldives – no meet and greet at the airport, no seaplane transfer, no luxury dining, no butler. As mentioned in the intro, a friend organized group dive trips multiple times throughout the year. This included the hotel, daily meals, airport boat transfer, dives and excursions.

Once all the members of our group arrived through various flights, we jumped on the boat transfer to take us to Dhigurah island.

Very cozy with 3 and 3 seating arrangement. The crew were very particular about filling the seats from back to front in order to balance to boat.

After a 90 minute ride, we arrived at Dhigurah. Once bags were offloaded, the hotel crew collected everything and we were bused to the hotel.

Our ride. 😀

Definitely not in Kansas anymore … not that I’ve been to Kansas but you know what I mean.

Our hotel

Entrance

Lobby

A most welcome cold towel

Delicious mango drink

The room which was located in the Beach House building of the hotel – I was given the upgraded suite. 😀

Yes, very luxurious.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner were all buffet style. Usually there were 5 to 6 selections with breakfast always having the same items like roti, cold tuna, eggs, beans and sausage. For lunch and dinner, it was white rice, pasta in a white or red sauce, chicken or fish, a veggie and daal (lentils). There was also a salad, soup and bread station.

No alcohol but they did make fresh juices and had shisha selections. Fizzy drinks and ice cream were available at an extra charge.

Dining area

Sunrise at 6:15am

Sunset around 6:30pm

Walking around town – groups of us would usually do evening walks when the weather was pleasant

A local

Dive centre

With the exception of arrival and departure days, we had 2 dives everyday. We would set out at 8am and be back by 1:30pm. After that, we were left to do whatever we wanted. We did have one night dive and 2 excursions to two different sandbanks.

Dive boat

Dive briefing

Recovery time before the 2nd dive

Now you see me …

Now you dont …

One of our dive days was a long one and the hotel catered lunch for us.

Attempting to get a nice picture of the night sky after the night dive but failed miserably 😀

Dhigurah Island is the longest island in the Maldives. One half of the island is modernized while the rest of it is just jungle and a dirt road. The other side of the island has a long sandbar connected to it and this is where we went for our first excursion.

Travelling down the dusty road.

We were dropped at the end of the road after 20 minutes and walked through this path to get to the beach

After another 15 minutes of walking, we finally came to the sandbar. The island off in the distance is the LUX resort.

Looking back towards Dhigurah island

Enjoying an evening swim and the sunset

Walking back to the pickup point

Second excursion to another sandbar on our last night. The boat ride took around 20 minutes.

Tide was coming in and that was our queue to leave.

One last look

Beach BBQ on our last night

Last one breakfast before departure. Roti and tuna. 🤤

Sausage and cheese sammiches.

7:30am boat departure

See you in a few months – IYKYK wink wink.

Singapore Airlines Economy Class – Singapore to Male

June 11, 2025Tagged airline, business-class, photography, singapore-airlines, travelLeave a comment

No business class award seats available – so had to rough it out at the back of the bus. Truth be told – everything was good, set my expectations low and I got the opportunity to witness how the crew works in Y.

Checked out at 7am and the Jewel was quiet and peaceful. Followed the connecting bridge to T2.

The Wonderfall

Step 1 – check to see if my flight exists, check!

Got here just in time to see the show – love this thing.

No SKL access, so camped out at the PP Sats lounge which was good enough.

Didnt get a chance to take pics of the buffet but it was a good selection – even had a DIY laksa station.

Got early to the gate and the security line was long but move as quickly as it could. Unfortunately due to bad luck and bad timing, I could not snag a last minute cash upgrade to J as the couple in front of me grabbed the last two. After a short 10 minute wait in the holding pen, eventually made it onto the plane.

Going from 1A to 70A is a humbling experience. 😭

At least I had 3 windows 😀

Cabin crew were coming around with hot towels

STEAMY towel

No seat buddy for me, so more space.

Bit of a queue for the runway but we eventually made it to the front

Peace out, SIN.

After the seat belt signs went off, the crew were in action. Love these snax.

Drink service

Asked if I wanted a chicken or fish dish. Went with Chicken – forgot to take a pic, so imagine saucy noodles with chicken pieces. Was decent.

Crew came around after to hand out ice cream and WOW, it was good! Pro tip – if you dont like the dessert in F or J, you can request ice cream from Y.

The flight was as uneventful as it could get – I watched a movie to pass the time and before I knew, we were over the Maldives and began our descent.

Male

Taxi

Love remote stands

Last off the plane and on the last bus to the terminal. Once we got into the immigration area, a new lane magically opened up and I was able to bypass the snaking lines. Processed quickly, through bag scans and I was pulled aside to show a maple syrup bottle in my suitcase and show it was not alcohol. After that, I went outside into the heat of the arrivals area to find the boat to take me to Dhigurah island.

Next up – a sun filled week in the Maldives

Singapore Airlines First Class – Jakarta to Singapore

June 10, 2025Tagged airline, business-class, first-class, food, travel, travel-tipsLeave a comment

After being dropped off at the airport, I made my way to the SQ check in counters.

Requested the agent to tag my bag all the way to MLE and I would rough it out at the airport hotel overnight.

BPs were handed to me and I was informed that another agent would be escorting me to security. At security, she waved me through and I was on my own – seemed fairly counterintuitive for an F passenger but I wasn’t sweating it.

Departures screen

Into the PP lounge

SQ has its own lounge within the PP lounge and is located in the back of the PP lounge.

An agent scanned my BP and escorted me.

All the way to the back of the SQ lounge into the F lounge.

J section

F section

After enjoying the calm and serenity of the F lounge, I slowly made my way to the boarding gate.

Leaving the PP lounge.

Hello birdie

People were already neatly lined up when I got there and staff were making sure all passengers were waiting in the right line.

There was no F line, so I just decided to hover around in the area until boarding was called. An agent came by, looked at my BP and immediately escorted me to the plane before boarding even began. Snuck a quick peek at the PPS line up and all I got back was dagger stares LOL.