Introduction: End of Year - Tokyo Trip

My end of the year trip to Tokyo was born out of boredom. Yes, boredom. But I need to take a step back before we move forward.

2012 was year of change for me. After five years, I left my first real job at a local community bank to move to a "to big to fail" bank. After three months, I learned quickly that I did not fit well with this bank and quickly signed up with a local mortgage company. 2012 = 3 different jobs. My horoscope for 2013 says that the winds of change are finally calming down. Looking back, 2012 was one big tornado.

Back to the story, one night in November, I was at work late and had enough of this refinance "from hell" (On a side note, not telling your loan officer, you just leased a car, in the middle of your refinance, is not a good thing.) I need something to look forward to. I was having hard time justifying my work. I was the one who said "he works to travel." My last major trip was February. I needed to change my travel drought quickly. That night I put together the trip.

I knew I wanted to go to Asia, as it would knock another continent off my bucket list. Tokyo was the only destination available. My dream destination was an Asia country with warm weather and a beach, but with less than 30 days before the trip, one can't be to picky. It was either Tokyo or Connecticut for the holidays and the decision became a no brainer.

The entire trip was booked using online portals except for the Hyatt stays that had to be booked via the phone. I did not use a booking service (thought about it). I used the United website to book the outward bound flight and American Airline's website for the return flight. Therefore, anyone can recreate this trip.

As I detailed here, I used United miles for my trip from Washington, DC to Frankfurt in  United First and then onward to Tokyo on ANA in their Dreamliner. While in Tokyo, I used my free nights from the Chase Hyatt Visa to stay at the Park Hyatt for two nights. My last three nights were at the Tokyo Hilton using points for two nights and cash for the remaining night.To get home, all that was available was American First from Tokyo to Washington, DC with an overnight in Chicago. My night in Chicago was spent at the W Lakeshore.

I will breakdown my trip into 9 parts:

Introduction
Tale of Two Lounges - Dulles Airport
Onward to Tokyo - First Class United & ANA Dreamliner
Castle in the Clouds - Park Hyatt Tokyo
Day Trip to Kamakura
Tokyo Hilton
A Blast From the Past - American First Class
Tale of Two Lounges - Narita Airport
The Joan Rivers Hotel - W Chicago Lakeside
Wrap-Up of Trip

I hope this trip report gives you the inspiration to start your own amazing trip. For many months, I would read other people's trip reports, wondering one day I could have my own trip. Yes, this is my second international trip paid for by points, (my first being Niger - trip report to come soon) but my first international trip for less than $500 out of pocket. Again, I hope this brings you the inspiration to start planning your own trip, because the first step in your own dream trip is the dream.