Thursday, January 11, 2018

Hong Kong - Entry 006

Greetings from Hong Kong! I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year and I hope the holidays were well. For the new year, I want to be consistent in sharing my experiences and give more tips and walkthroughs on my trips. As per usual, I shall preface if this is something abnormally wild, or something I would recommend people partaking. As stated before, any links provided are direct links to websites, social media accounts, and so on. It would be quite the dream to be sponsored by an entity I would be proud to represent, but until that fateful day, I can promise no links that incentivize me for personal gain [unless stated otherwise] and no ads!


Fashion: Grooming
Destination: Hong Kong


This trip, I partook in a usual activity I have done strictly in the United States, as absurd as it seems - getting a haircut. There are certain things we feel comfortable doing and conveying in our home countries respectively. Then again…it is just hair! It grows back, rather quickly for me…for now. I was recommended by a friend's husband's colleague to RAW Hair Salon on the Hong Kong Island side. I read a couple of reviews on Google and it seemed rather consistent, especially for those that do not speak Cantonese. 

For those unfamiliar with Hong Kong, most locals split the small Special Administrative Region [SAR] to three parts: Kowloon [north of the bay] and Hong Kong Island [south of the bay], and New Territories. On the island side, there are a lot stairs and the occasional escalator to assist with the steepness, so watch out! Upon arriving, there was sadly a massive delivery truck blocking the storefront. It was still there after I had left!


Sign hanging on the upper left-hand corner

Upon entry one can see the venue is small. There is a sofa to the right, and the cash register is to the left. I wanted to capture the center upon entry, since it reflects what one would see initially.

RAW Hair Salon

I had Andrew, who is actually depicted right in front above! He is off on Tuesday's. He spoke English, which was great. He asked what I wanted and of course, I had no idea. He basically cut it shorter such that the top of my hair was sufficiently long to still style with wax. My cut included shampoo, cut, rinse, and wax - All for 258$ HKD [≈ 30$ USD]. Not too shabby and hell of a lot less than what I pay in the city. Check out on Instagram for the actual haircut!


Travel: I booked this deal per FlyerTalk member olouie on Premium Economy on Cathay Pacific to assist me to re-qualify for the 2018 calendar year for American Airlines’s top status: Executive Platinum. It is also the first time I completed two transpacific flights return tickets in the same week. I alluded earlier on Facebook the benefits of having the top tier status publicly available for any given airline, and it paid off. As of typing this report [I am still in the middle of the first return ticket in Vancouver], I was upgraded to business class on the outbound from JFK to HKG on both itineraries! How did this happen? In short, I had a few things going for me:

  • Top tier status with a partnering airline with Cathay Pacific, American Airline's Executive Platinum;
  • Open availability in business class;
  • Loading [capacity] status for other cabins; and
  • A little luck
There has only been one significant time where I booked a flight intended to fly in the cabin I paid for, and got upgraded. It was a one-way Emirates Business class ticket from Dubai to Bangkok, and they upgraded me to First Class without any notice. That was December 2016. Actually, it happened when I was flying economy with Japan Airlines, and was upgraded to Premium Economy back in April 2016.

Luck, or specifically, "it depends" as I was told by the desk agent, plays a factor here. Only after all the Cathay Pacific member upgrades were exhausted [the usual instruments to upgrade are status, voucher, miles, or purchase], and there are open business seats remaining, then there would be the opportunity for any remaining partnered members could be upgraded. And that is with the knowledge I currently have learned, who knows what other variables come into play!

In any event, I am about to catch the second return itinerary. For all the trips I missed to post last calendar year, I may use them as content for throwback or the uniqueness aspect of the post. I want to thank everyone for their support as I progress in this entrepreneurial journey and here is to the next year.