Singapore 2014: Planning
There was a great deal to Singapore from LAX for about $930. I wanted to book on AA.com to get a 24 hour hold and also have the flights loaded into the AA app. It took a while for me to find the flight I wanted and then manage to book it. I also wanted to make sure I get an AA flight LAX-NRT so that I could use my SWU on it. Many other people easily booked it on Orbitz.com.
The deal was good for the springtime so I wanted to find a marathon during that time. Hong Kong was in a time that worked with the fare I could find. The problem was that I couldn’t sign up for the marathon when I booked the ticket. I figured that I would at least get a week in Southeast Asia even if I couldn’t run the marathon.
The original plan was to spend a short 7 hour layover in Tokyo, 4 days in Singapore, 3 days in Kuala Lumpur before flying home. I booked this ticket in July 2013 and registration for Hong Kong Marathon was sometime in October. I made sure to be ready for the registration as the race was sold out within hours the previous few years. Here was a blog post about registering for the 2014 Hong Kong Marathon. Registration opened at least 30 minutes early so I had no troubles signing up for it.
After registering for the marathon, I changed my plans to have 3 days in Singapore, 2 days in Kuala Lumpur and then another day or so in Hong Kong.
Flights
I would take a cheap revenue ticket from SIN to KUL. KUL-HKG and HKG-SIN would be on Avios award tickets.
Here was my list of flights. All non listed flights were my original mileage run LAX-SIN:
- BOS-LAX (United award)
- LAX-NRT (AA 777-200, Business with SWU)
- HND-SIN (JL 767-300 Coach (supposed to be 787), overnight)
- SIN-KUL (Tiger, Coach)
- KUL-HKG (ML Business, A380, Avios)
- HKG-SIN (Cathay Business, Regional 777, Avios)
- SIN-NRT (JL 787, overnight)
- NRT-LAX (AA 777-200, Business with SWU, overnight)
- LAX-BOS (AA coach, revenue ticket)
Hotels
- I had a short overnight stay at Four Points LAX. It was cheap and close to the airport.
- In Singapore, I stayed at Park 22 Hotel. It was a good price and had good reviews. It was very centrally located and would stay here again if I came back.
- In KUL, I am staying at the Meriden and Sheraton.
- In Hong Kong, I am renting a room at my mom’s friend’s place.
Weather
- Weather in Singapore reached about 90F and felt like 95F with the humidity.
- In KL it was 95F and felt like 100F with the humidity
- In HKG, it was a frigid 50-60F. It was also 80% humidity so it felt colder than it was. Great for running, however.
Luckily, with a US Passport, none of these countries needed entry visas. Customs and Immigration were a breeze with relatively short lines at all of these airports.