Dear SAS, Challenge Accepted: 18 Countries, 39,000 Miles, 10 Days

Over the next 10 days, I’ll be taking 26 flights, visiting 18 countries, and flying 39,000 miles. In other words, I’ll be traveling, on average, just over 150 miles per hour, every hour, for the next week and a half–and I’ll be reviewing every flight I take.

The Route

When SAS published its insane EuroBonus Millionaire promotion, I knew I had to do it. The trouble was that due to other commitments, the window of time in which I could complete the challenge was around just 10 days.

At long last, I’ve built, booked, and departed on an itinerary that seems to work. 

It’s an admittedly grueling journey–mostly in economy class and with several tight connections– but, if all goes to plan, I’ll be one million SAS EuroBonus miles richer by mid-November.

Here’s a short peak at where I’ll be going.

Leg 1: North America to the Middle East

After departing from Chicago, I’ll touch down briefly in New York before heading to Abu Dhabi and then Jeddah, courtesy of Delta, Etihad, and Saudia.

Leg 2: Southeast Asia

The heart of the trip takes me through hubs in Southeast Asia. I’ll fly through Singapore, Jakarta, Ho Chi Minh City, Guangzhou, and Bangkok.

Leg 3: East Asia and Back to Europe

A quick sojourn to East Asia includes stops in Shanghai and Xiamen before moving westward to Taiwan and Korea. I’ll be flying with Korean Air, China Airlines, China Eastern, and EVA.

Leg 4: Europe

In under 48 hours, I’ll pass through Barcelona, Madrid, Bucharest, Zurich, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, and Paris, covering airlines like SWISS, SAS, Air Europa, Tarom, Air France, and KLM.

Final Leg: Homeward Bound

The journey concludes with flights from Paris to Mexico City and finally back to Chicago, completing my SkyTeam circuit with the goal of 15 different airlines successfully logged.

My Considerations

Price was not my main consideration in booking this itinerary. Instead, I optimized for three other factors. In order of importance, these were:

1. Speed: Due to other commitments, I needed to complete this trip in as short a period as possible.
2. Cool flights: I wanted to use this opportunity to fly products I haven’t had a chance to fly. As such, I’ll be flying Etihad’s stunning A380 first class “apartments” and Air France’s newish A350 business class, as well as business class on EVA’s and Saudia’s 787s.
3. Comfort: Wherever possible, I tried to avoid longhaul flights in economy class. On four longhauls, that meant using points to snag business class award tickets, and on one it meant paying cash.

The Cost

The cost for all my flights and hotels was $2,947.08, 257,301 Chase Ultimate Reward Points, and 220,000 Citi ThankYou Points. The vast majority of this was for flights; I only spent 76,656 Chase Ultimate Reward Points of the total cost on hotels.

This may sound like a lot to spend, but consider this: I’m flying Etihad’s first class apartments, Air France’s A350 business class, EVA Airway’s 787 business class, staying at a handful of luxury hotels like the Four Seasons, and earning a million miles in the process. Given that I find all these experiences immensely enjoyable, $3,000 and 500,000 points isn’t such an exorbitant sum.

Let’s GO

This journey is the Ironman Triathlon of air travel. While it won’t provide the same cardiovascular benefits, it will be exhausting and, at some point, cause me to question the life choices that led me here. Nevertheless, I’m thrilled I have the chance to do this, and I can’t wait to share the experience with all of you.

Let’s get this started.