I’m back in Chicago to celebrate Thanksgiving with my darling and her family.

I wanted to give an update to let everyone know I’m alive and well. I’ll update more later when I have time!

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Joe and I are waiting out the rain in our small but quite perfect room, which we booked in person yesterday evening. The rain decided to join us this morning and has decided to stick around longer than we would like. What really gets me is that nothing opens here until around 10 a.m., so we don’t even have a coffee shop to pop into while we wait. It isn’t the end of the world, though, as it has finally given me a chance to write something in my journal (this post).

November 23-26: Taiwandering Taipei

Joe and I have been doing a good job running amok around Taipei. I’ll share a lot more when I get some time.

Departed Towards Jiufen

Yesterday, the 25th, Joe and I left Taipei toward Jiufen. A place I was recommended to go for the A-Mei Teahouse, which was described as a place that looks like the bathhouse in Miyazaki’s Spirited Away.

Previous Journal Entries

November 18-20: Leaving Chicago To Travel The World, Walk to the Blue Line, Made it to my first class AA seat, Met up with my buddy I’m doing this adventure with, Enjoyed lounges before flying, Boarded Singapore’s A350-900, Next stop is Singapore in 19 hours

Leaving Chicago To Travel The World

I’m starting and ending my journey around the world in Chicago. Starting today, November 18th, and finishing on the 27th, right before having Thanksgiving in Illinois.

Walking To The Blue Line

I left to catch the bus towards the Blue Line, but just missed it by a few as the bus came early. I even tried running for it, but just took off as I made it to the back of the bus. Boo!

I decided to just walk twenty minutes to the Blue Line. Once there, I waited about ten minutes for the Blue Line to O’Hare.

Everything else went smoothly. Security didn’t take long using TSA Pre, though I have noticed it taking longer as more people are joining.

I remember back in 2012 when I first got Global Entry. I was able to sleep through the security lines!

Not long after getting to my gate, I was onboard in seat 2A that I booked using Alaska for only 15,000 miles and $18.10!

Met up with my buddy, Joe, with whom I’m doing this adventure

After an easy going, and quite brief flight to JFK, I was greeted by my friend Joe, whom I’m going on this wild adventure with to travel the globe in 9 days.

His route is a bit different than mine, but mostly the same. I’m pretty much starting in Chicago for my journey around the world, whereas he started in Portland and will end back there on the 27th. He’s flying Delta home from Taipei, and I’ll be flying EVA Air’s Hello Kitty plane back to Chicago for Thanksgiving.

It was great to have him meet me at my gate when I got off my plane.

We then made our way from Terminal 8 to Terminal 4 via the AirTrain.

Enjoyed lounges before flying to Singapore

Joe and I both have access to the American Express Centurion and the Chase Sapphire lounges because we both have credit cards that provide access, so we went to both!

We started in the Centurion Lounge as it was the first we knew about. I was dealing with some issues with my TSA Pre number not showing on my boarding pass I had to deal with, so Joe went on his way to the lounge.

The Centurion Lounge was nice, though we only saw one floor of the two that we were told they had. It was pretty basic compared to others I’ve seen. Perhaps the other floor would have impressed us. I grabbed some dinner as they only provided some basic snacks on my first class flight here.

After that we made our way to the Chase Sapphire Lounge since we still had over an hour before we had to board.

This was quite a nice lounge. I thought the lighting, the food, and the bar were much more impressive than the Centurion Lounge. Also nice that as a Sapphire Reserve card holder, I get two guests, however, to now have a guest in the Centurion lounges, I need to spend $75,000 in a calendar year. Not very practical.

We mainly used the time to download what we could on our devices before our long flight to Singapore.

After the lounges, we made our way to our departure gate that was only five minutes away.

Boarded Singapore’s A350-900

Next stop, Singapore, in 19 hours

I will eventually add my flight report for the longest flight in the world, which was 10,500+ miles from JFK to Singapore!

November 16: Upgraded to First, Finalized Packing, Metro to PDX, Denver Centurion Lounge, and Empty Row to Chicago

Today, I begin my Jason Gets Around the World journey. Starting at my house in Portland, taking the bus to the airport, eventually getting through security, and then being the last person to board my first flight to Denver. I was happy to get the notification this morning that my seat to Denver was upgraded to first class. I love it when that happens!

Free upgrade to first from Portland to Denver on Alaska Airlines

I was excited to see this morning that my Alaska flight to Denver had been upgraded to first class!

Finished Packing With Time To Spare

I’ve never been a person who packs early for a trip. Not even one where I’m gone for a couple of weeks to travel the world.

I started packing yesterday evening and eventually, I got tired and decided I would finish up in the morning.

I woke up at 4am and finished packing an hour or so after leaving me with plenty of time to get to the airport.

Bus and Metro to PDX

I decided to take the bus and metro which cost me a couple dollars vs Uber or Lyft as either of those would have cost over $40. I had the time for taking the bus, so why not!

American Express Centurion Lounge During My Layover

I had the intention of going from Terminal C to Terminal A to go to the Capital One Venture X lounge. However, since I was already at C and the Centurion Lounge was nearby, I figured I would see if it was packed like usual. It was actually a short line, so I stayed in C as my departing flight is also here. I also checked the Capital One app and saw that the lounge was at capacity, so, Centurion Lounge it is!

Free cocktails and food works for me during my almost 2 hour layover.

They even had a Mac and Cheese station.

Empty row flying to Chicago!

I was already pretty excited to get upgraded to first class flying to Denver. I then checked the AA app to see if any better seats opened up. I was excited to see an empty row of seats a few rows in front of the exit row where I was sitting. So, I grabbed the window and was glad to see the rest of the row stayed empty!

Arriving Early to Chicago

My flight from Denver to Chicago was quite painless! I laid out on my row and took a nap. Then I heard the word we’re landing early. That’s great! We landed almost an hour early!

Now to get my bags that I checked.

Though I’m flying as a carry-on during my trip around the world, I knew Chicago would be cold and since I’m celebrating Thanksgiving, I figured I would bring an extra bag of cold weather and nice clothing.

That led me to checking both bags and only having my backpack with me.

Potentially Useful Stuff

• Instagram for more content: https://instagram.com/jasongetsaround

Jason Gets Around the World Trip

Back in December of 2023, I got a notification about Singapore having award space to fly the longest flight in the world, and so I decided to book it as I had a bunch of Singapore Airline miles sitting around from a transfer bonus I took advantage of a while back. 111,500 miles and $5.60 later and I was booked.

I told my buddy Joe that I was doing this and he decided to join me on the journey!

Almost a year later and we’re soon to be off on the adventure!

I’ve decided to use this as a journal to keep track of my journey. I’ll do my best to fill this out and keep folks updated.

More Details

Soon I begin my journey of eventually traveling around the entire world! Chicago to Chicago on 11/18-27, I’ll go around the entire world, pretty much on two flights over 9 days! I’ll be going even further as I’ll actually be starting and ending in Portland.

JFK-SIN will be 10,500 miles and 19 hours.
TPE-ORD will be 7,885 miles and 14 hours.

My buddy Joe and I are flying in business class to Singapore, so that’ll help with this very long flight!

The return to Chicago will be in the Hello Kitty Besties Jet in business class as well!

Taiwan 🇹🇼 will be my 45th new country, and this will be my first time flying around the entire globe in one trip 🌎🌍!

11/16: PDX-DEN-ORD
11/18: ORD-JFK-SIN (landing 11/20)
11/20: SIN-BKK
11/21: BKK-CNX
11/23: CNX-TPE
11/27: TPE-ORD (landing 11/27)
12/2: ORD-PDX

#jasongetsaroundtheworld
#jasongetsaroundtaiwan
#jasongetsaroundwithfriends
#jasongetsaround