No better way to close out #asianwinterbreak25 than with one last flight in Korean Air Prestige Class, this time on the upper deck of their A380.

A wonderful start to 2026, eating and drinking my way through Seoul.

Seoul, as seen on my walkabouts around town.

Plenty of cocktails were had over two visits to ZEST SEOUL | @zest.seoul. Many thanks to Danny | @danny_youngmin_park for getting me a spot at the bar on my last afternoon in town.

Lunch at ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Mingles | @mingles_restaurant which was most assuredly one of the best lunches I’ve ever had. The food was phenomenal, the plating impeccable, and the service overwhelming (in a good way) even if did they mispell my name on the menu.

For the cost of 42,000 World of Hyatt points (entirely transferred over from Chase Ultimate Rewards), I was able to spend two nights in the very swell Park Hyatt Seoul | @parkhyattseoul. Category 5 is pretty low for the Park Hyatt brand but I won’t complain as this was a very solid redemption.

The cocktails at Bar Cham | @bar.cham are categorized by regions in South Korea; five in total. That meant I had to have one from each, right? Right.

On our way back to Seoul from the DMZ, we stopped at the Majang Lake Suspension Bridge, the longest towerless suspension bridge in South Korea.

I’m gonna acknowledge from the jump that this tour of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) is told from a South Korean perspective and, try as they might, there are inherent biases in their descriptions/depictions.

With that out of the way, I’d definitely recommend doing this tour if you have a morning and afternoon to kill as it’s the only legit way you’ll be able to catch a glimpse of North Korea, a place that’s almost suspended in time.

For my first night in Seoul, I stayed at the Courtyard Seoul Namdaemun | @courtyard_namdaemun, for its convenient location and to burn my last FNA. As Courtyards go, this was a standout amongst the brand (definitely nicer than the one I stayed at in Osaka) - decidedly not fancy but more than adequate and a decent-sized room, which is also an indication I was no longer in Japan. I arrived on New Year’s Eve and went to sleep before 11 pm as it’d been a long day but was “treated” to fireworks at midnight to ring in the New Year.

Seoul, as seen on the coldest run of this trip.

The experience in Korean Air Prestige Class from Tokyo to Seoul which was… fine, I guess? Nothing spectacular but a meal on a short regional flight is always welcome.

Before my flight to Seoul, I stopped in at the American Express Centurion Lounge | @americanexpress which I was able to access with my Platinum Card. It would be an understatement to say that this lounge at Haneda was, by far, the best in the Centurion Lounge portfolio. Food was great with made-to-order onigiri on offer when I was there during breakfast hours and some standout cocktails, made all the better with the choice of what Japanese whisky I wanted in it.

I had a noon-ish flight out of Haneda on my last day in Tokyo and I recalled seeing the Hotel Villa Fontaine Grand Haneda Airport | @hotelvillafontaine_village while passing through the airport during my last trip to Japan in 2023/24. With its direct connection to Terminal 3 where my flight would be departing the next day, it was a no-brainer to do a stay here so I could avoid having to make my way there in the morning from Shinjuku.

For my first-ever stay at a hotel in Tokyo that wasn’t the Hyatt Regency Tokyo or the Conrad Tokyo, I opted for the former’s neighborhood of Shinjuku with the Keio Plaza Hotel Tokyo | @keioplazahotel. Much like the Hyatt Regency across the way, this hotel was a very standard, albeit nice, Japanese Western-style hotel - no frills but it was lovely. Also, the view from my 26th floor room was excellent.

All the drinks I had over the course of four nights at SPIRITS BAR Sunface SHINJUKU. As always, Koji | @koji.esashi absolutely killed it - there’s a reason this has become a mainstay of any trip to Tokyo since stumbling upon this one in 2019.

A wonderful final couple of days eating and drinking my way through Tokyo.

Tokyo, as seen on one last run, going old school with one of my favourite routes.