Some links to products and partners on this website will earn an affiliate commission.

So, Saturday 22 April was D-day, the day I finally left on my “Trip of a Lifetime”! This trip has genuinely taken months of planning, and so I wanted to write a brief introduction article to give you an idea of what you can expect from me here on InsideFlyer in the coming weeks.

Creating and planning this trip took great effort – if you want to get an idea on how I booked all flights, you might want to read this article. It will show you how I was able to save a lot of money by collecting air miles and then using these to get great deals on award tickets for my trip. I have to admit that some people will consider it quite a lot of money, but when you see what I get in return it’s all worth it!

So – what does my trip look like?

Well on Saturday I boarded a train from Antwerp (where I reside) to Brussels, where I will continue my journey on the TGV that goes straight to the Charles de Gaulle airport. Why take the train all the way to Paris? Well, because award tickets with Qatar Airways were only available from there at the time of making the booking!

From CDG I will fly on Qatar Airways in their A380 in first class to Doha, this will be completely new for me as I have never flown in that specific aircraft, nor have I ever flown in first class! After a short layover I will continue in Qatar Airways business class to Bali.

I will spend a week in Bali where I will celebrate my birthday together with my mum and brother. I managed to book 2 very nice hotels, of which one is the InterContinental hotel. By using the Ambassador voucher I was able to get a Balinese suite for myself and a club duplex suite for my mom and brother. Maybe it’s all a bit over the top, but this will be a great way to celebrate my 40th birthday.

At the end of the week, I will fly by myself through Thailand, Australia and New Zealand to the Cook Islands, where I will spend a week on the island of Aitutaki. This island is remotely located in the South Pacific Ocean, far away from everything and it will be a great place to completely switch off from the world and enjoy life.

The journey home will be one big flight adventure (just see my list of flight reviews to come below, which actually does not include all the flights I’m taking!), and one which I will certainly enjoy as a hardened travel-lover. Any normal person would probably not want to fly quite so much, but frankly I really enjoy just being on a plane.

What to expect from this trip?

So what can you as a reader expect from my trip over the coming weeks? A whole lot! I will mostly be writing reviews of the various flights and the different hotels in Bali (and Abu Dhabi, where I will have a stopover on the way home).

Here is a short list of what is to come:

• Qatar Airways First Class review
• InterContinental Bali review
• Qantas Business Class Review
• Air New Zealand Business Class review
• Asiana Business Class review
• Etihad Business Class review
• InterContinental Abu Dhabi review
• Etihad First Class Apartment review

As you can see there will be a lot to write about – I do hope you enjoy joining me for the ride!