Oh...Vancouver

I had a chance to visit Vancouver, BC, Canada from October 23rd to October 25th, and all I can say is that I had a lot of fun. As usual, I had a bit of perception of what Canada is supposed to be like from a viewpoint of a person who lives in the US for almost 10 years, so undoubtedly, reality is not exactly what I thought it would be.

The purpose for my trip is to go for a Nexus card interview. The Nexus program is a joint program between the Canadian government and the US government to establish expedited immigration for prescreened travelers. It's $50 cheaper than Global Entry (the same kind of program, but it's a US only program), but the caveat is that the initial interview must be done either in a US state next to Canada, or in Canada. Guess what? I chose to do an interview in Canada because the next open schedule is in October rather than some distant month in 2016 (I checked the Seattle interview center), and I also got to travel to Canada!

Read More
Trip ReportsPaween ItthipalkulCanada, TravelComment
Kern County Fair & Bakersfield

Bakersfield is one of the cities that I've heard my friends talk about, but I never really had a chance to visit. The closest I get to Bakersfield is seeing the sign when driving on I-5 from Los Angeles.

But I got lucky! My friend who was from Bakersfield mentioned to me that there would be a county fair in Bakersfield, and as I've never been to any country fairs, nor have I been to Bakersfield, I decided that it's a good time to visit.

Read More
Trip ReportsPaween ItthipalkulTravel, FoodComment
Japan Trip Report: ANA First Class SFO-NRT

It's the end of the year again, and it's time for my to fly back home to visit my family in Thailand. However, this time is different because on the way to Thailand from San Francisco, I decided to stop over in Japan for 7 days, so I'll be posting more about my trip in Japan and in Thailand here. My itinerary looks something like this:

  • Dec 19th -- Leave San Francisco
  • Dec 20th -- Arrive at Tokyo Narita Airport
  • Dec 27th -- Leave Narita and arrive in Bangkok
  • Jan 11th 2015 -- Leave Bangkok to San Francisco

We'll get started by talking about my flight to Tokyo Narita. I originally bought a round trip ticket from SFO-NRT-BKK in Business class from All Nippon Airways (ANA) since they are in Star Alliance and I can collect miles for my next trip. However, I also had some American Express credit card points (so called "Membership Rewards" points) that I can transfer to ANA to request an upgrade for my flight from Business class to First class. It takes 40,000 points for a segment from San Francisco to Narita. I decided to take a chance so I transferred the points from American Express to ANA, and request an upgrade. I requested the upgrade on September 24th and had been on the waitlist. My upgrade was cleared just on November 30th. This is my first time on any first class flight and I've been very excited about this flight!

Read More
Review, Food, Trip ReportsPaween ItthipalkulJapan, Flight, Food, Tokyo, San FranciscoComment
5A5: Wagyu steak experience in San Francisco

My first experience with 5A5 was when I got a referral bonus from referring Kevin to Amazon, and so we went out to celebrate. That was the first time I tried Wagyu steak, seeing Erik being so happy that he could cry, and had one of the best meals of my life.

We've been there a couple more times, but it's time to visit our favorite steakhouse again. Two days ago, my friend Kevin had been quite stressed out with work, so he asked me and another friend of ours (Erik) to go out and get 5A5. 

After we arrived at 5A5, we were greeted by a familiar waiter who remembers Kevin (and even his dad) who have been to the restaurants and had had this waiter waiting at their table. After ordering, we were served freshly baked signature bacon bread, and sourdough bread.

Read More
Paween Itthipalkul Comment
Hotel Review: Hyatt Regency Embarcadero Center (San Francisco)

Around mid-May 2014, as I was trying to get the number of nights for the Hyatt Diamond Challenge (I got the information about the challenge from One Mile at a Time), I ended up staying at the Hyatt Embarcadero Center in San Francisco to check out the Diamond member's benefits and to fulfill the number of nights requirements for the Hyatt Diamond Challenge. Here's my impression on the hotel. 

Read More
ReviewPaween ItthipalkulHotel, Review, HyattComment
Bistro Central Parc: Local French Favorite

At the corner of Central and Grove, there lies a local French restaurant that is very busy over the weekend. I've had a chance to eat there a couple of times, and every time I went there, the food was perfect!

After sitting down and ordering some food, we were served a piece of warm French bread with a knob of room temperature butter for the best spreadability. I despise restaurants that serve warm bread with cold butter. It's impossible to spread the butter on to the nice warm bread. Bistro Central Parc did it right! The crust was crispy and the inside was warm and chewy (but not too chewy).

Read More
FoodPaween ItthipalkulFood, French Comment