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Travel · Flight routing guide · HNL origin · September 2026

The Pacific
Circuit

Honolulu to Japan, China, Thailand, Vietnam, Bali and South Korea, and home again. Eight one-way tickets, booked separately, for about $1,060 a person.

VTGS Approach

Scope 01 · 8 tracks

HNL --:--:--

UTC --:--:--

Acquiring signal…
Booked track Selected Rejected · DPS→HNL direct

Flight strips

Per person, one-way · ×2 travelers

6
countries
8
flights
17,380
miles flown
$2,120
flights, 2 travelers

Routing insight · The red line on the scope

Why the return goes through Seoul

Bali straight back to Honolulu is a thin market — no nonstop, few carriers, little competition, and the fare shows it. Break the same crossing at Seoul and it lands on two fought-over routes instead: several Asian carriers compete for Bali–Seoul, and Seoul–Honolulu is an established daily nonstop. The detour is the cheaper way to make the same crossing, and it adds a sixth country.

Direct-ish

$450

DPS → HNL, per person

Via Seoul

$400

DPS → ICN → HNL, per person

Field guide

The seven stops

Thirty-two suggested nights. How to get in, get to town, and what not to miss.

Stop 01 · NRT · Japan

Tokyo

The soft landing. Everything works, everything is on time.

Stay

5 nights

Per day, two

$170–240

Entry
Visa-free, 90 days. Pre-fill Visit Japan Web for a QR code at immigration and customs.
Airport → city
Narita: Keisei Skyliner to Ueno, ~41 min, about ¥2,600. Haneda: Keikyu line or monorail, ~20–30 min, under ¥700.
Money
Yen. Load a Suica or PASMO into Apple Wallet before you land — it pays for trains, konbini and vending machines.

Do this

  • Senso-ji at dawn, before the tour buses, then Kappabashi kitchen street
  • teamLab Planets or Borderless — book the slot a few weeks out
  • Shimokitazawa and Koenji for vintage, vinyl and tiny live houses
  • Day trip: Nikko or Kamakura on a regular train, no tour needed

Eat this

Standing soba, depachika basement food halls near closing time when the discount stickers come out, and one proper sushi counter lunch — lunch sets run a third of dinner.

Watch outCherry blossom (late March – early April) and Golden Week (late April – early May) double hotel prices.

Stop 02 · PVG · China

Shanghai

Ten visa-free days in the future.

Stay

4 nights

Per day, two

$130–200

Entry
240-hour visa-free transit. Arrive from Japan, leave to Thailand — a third country, not back where you came from — with the confirmed onward ticket in hand. Ask for the transit permit at the dedicated immigration lane.
Airport → city
Pudong: the Maglev to Longyang Road, 8 minutes at up to 300 km/h, ¥50, then Metro Line 2. Or Line 2 all the way, ~70 min.
Money
Yuan, and nearly cashless. Set up Alipay or WeChat Pay with your US card before you fly; both now accept foreign cards.

Do this

  • The Bund at blue hour, then the ferry across to Lujiazui for ¥2
  • Former French Concession on foot — Wukang Road, Anfu Road, plane trees
  • Yu Garden early, then Tianzifang lanes
  • Day trip: Suzhou gardens or Zhujiajiao water town, both inside the transit zone

Eat this

Xiaolongbao and shengjianbao for breakfast, hairy crab if you land in autumn, and scallion oil noodles anywhere with a queue.

Watch outGoogle, Instagram and WhatsApp are blocked. Buy a travel eSIM that roams outside the firewall before arrival. Avoid October 1–7, the Golden Week holiday.

Stop 03 · BKK · Thailand

Bangkok

Heat, chaos and the best street food on the circuit.

Stay

5 nights

Per day, two

$90–150

Entry
Visa-free, 30 days — cut from 60 on September 15, 2026. One 30-day extension is available at immigration for about 1,900 THB. The TDAC digital arrival card is mandatory, filed within three days before arrival.
Airport → city
Suvarnabhumi: Airport Rail Link to Phaya Thai, 26 min, 45 THB, then BTS. Metered taxi to Sukhumvit about 350–450 THB with tolls.
Money
Baht. Cash for street food and markets; ATMs charge foreign cards ~220 THB a pull, so withdraw big.

Do this

  • Wat Pho and Wat Arun by river boat — the orange-flag Chao Phraya express is ~16 THB
  • Chatuchak weekend market, then Or Tor Kor for fruit
  • Chinatown (Yaowarat) after dark, entirely for eating
  • Day trip: Ayutthaya by train from Krung Thep Aphiwat, under 100 THB

Eat this

Boat noodles at Victory Monument, khao man gai, som tam with grilled chicken, mango sticky rice in season (March–June).

Watch outTemple dress code is enforced: shoulders and knees covered. Songkran (April 13–15) is a city-wide water fight — glorious or unbearable, plan accordingly.

Stop 04 · HAN · Vietnam

Hanoi

Old Quarter mornings, a thousand motorbikes, coffee with egg in it.

Stay

4 nights

Per day, two

$70–120

Entry
E-visa required before you fly: official portal only, ~$25 single entry, up to 90 days. Allow two weeks. Print it; list Noi Bai as entry and Tan Son Nhat as exit.
Airport → city
Noi Bai: bus 86 to the Old Quarter, ~50 min, 45,000 VND. Grab car ~300,000 VND.
Money
Dong — you will be a millionaire at the first ATM. Cash rules outside hotels.

Do this

  • Walk the Old Quarter guild streets at 6 AM, lap Hoan Kiem Lake with the tai chi crowd
  • Temple of Literature, then the Vietnamese Women’s Museum
  • Train Street from a cafe, legally, with a drink in hand
  • Two days out: Ninh Binh karsts by boat, or an overnight on Lan Ha Bay

Eat this

Bun cha for lunch, pho bo for breakfast, banh mi any time, egg coffee at a cafe that has been making it since the 1940s.

Watch outDecember–February is genuinely cold and grey in the north. Pack a layer. Crossing the street: walk slowly and steadily, never stop, never run.

Stop 05 · SGN · Vietnam

Ho Chi Minh City

The south: hotter, faster, louder, later.

Stay

3 nights

Per day, two

$70–120

Entry
Same e-visa as Hanoi — the domestic flight needs only your passport.
Airport → city
Tan Son Nhat sits 7 km from District 1. Grab car ~150,000 VND; bus 109 for 15,000 VND.
Money
Dong. Grab handles cars, bikes and food with a linked card.

Do this

  • War Remnants Museum — heavy, essential, go in the morning
  • Cu Chi tunnels by speedboat up the Saigon River
  • Cholon: Binh Tay market and the Thien Hau temple
  • Rooftop beer at sunset, then Bui Vien once, for science

Eat this

Com tam broken rice, banh xeo, hu tieu, and ca phe sua da on a plastic stool.

Watch outMay–October is the wet season: a hard downpour most afternoons, then clear. Phone-snatching from motorbikes is the one real street crime — keep it off the kerb side.

Stop 06 · DPS · Indonesia

Bali

The long exhale in the middle of the trip.

Stay

7 nights

Per day, two

$80–160

Entry
Visa on arrival: IDR 500,000 (~$32), 30 days, extendable once. Buy the e-VOA online ahead, file the All Indonesia arrival declaration, and pay the IDR 150,000 Bali tourist levy.
Airport → city
Ngurah Rai: Grab and Gojek pick up from the official lounge. Canggu or Seminyak 45–75 min, Ubud ~90 min, Uluwatu ~60 min. Traffic is the variable.
Money
Rupiah. Use bank-branch ATMs, not standalone kiosks; skimmers are a known problem.

Do this

  • Split the week: Ubud for rice terraces and temples, then Uluwatu or Canggu for the coast
  • Sunrise on Mount Batur, or skip the crowd and do Campuhan Ridge at 6 AM
  • Uluwatu temple kecak fire dance at sunset
  • Nusa Penida by fast boat for the cliffs — one long day

Eat this

Nasi campur from a warung, babi guling, sate lilit, and whatever the smoothie-bowl economy is doing this year.

Watch outNyepi, the day of silence in March, shuts the whole island including the airport for 24 hours. A scooter needs an international permit with a motorcycle endorsement, or your travel insurance will not pay.

Stop 07 · ICN · South Korea

Seoul

One last city, and the cheap door home.

Stay

4 nights

Per day, two

$140–210

Entry
Visa-free, 90 days. K-ETA is waived for US passports through December 31, 2026 — file the free e-Arrival card instead. Flying in 2027, check whether K-ETA (₩10,000) is back.
Airport → city
Incheon: AREX express to Seoul Station, 43 min, about ₩11,000. All-stop train to Hongdae ~55 min for half that.
Money
Won. Cards everywhere; get a T-money or Climate Card for transit. Google Maps is weak here — use Naver Map or KakaoMap.

Do this

  • Gyeongbokgung in rented hanbok (free entry if you wear one), then Bukchon alleys
  • Gwangjang Market for mung-bean pancakes and knife-cut noodles
  • Hongdae and Seongsu at night — buskers, flow-friendly plazas, late everything
  • A jjimjilbang bathhouse for the full scrub before the long flight

Eat this

Korean barbecue with soju, dakgalbi, convenience-store ramyeon by the Han River, and fried chicken with beer.

Watch outChuseok and Lunar New Year empty the city and close half of it. July–August is monsoon-humid.

Daily budgets are mid-range estimates for two people sharing a room — lodging, food, local transport and entry fees, flights excluded.

Weather window

When to go

No month is perfect everywhere. Late October through November comes closest.

JFMAMJJASOND
Tokyo
Seoul
Shanghai
Bangkok
Hanoi
Saigon
Bali
Avoid Workable Prime

US passports · Checked September 2026

Paperwork

Four of six countries want something filed before you board.

  • Japan

    Visa-free · 90 days

    $0

    Visit Japan Web (optional, faster)

  • China

    240-hour visa-free transit

    $0

    Before you flyOnward ticket to a third country, printed

  • Thailand

    Visa-free · 30 days

    $0

    Before you flyTDAC arrival card, within 3 days of landing

  • Vietnam

    E-visa · up to 90 days

    ~$25 pp

    Before you flyOfficial e-visa portal, ~2 weeks ahead

  • Indonesia

    Visa on arrival · 30 days

    ~$32 pp + ~$10 levy

    Before you flye-VOA, All Indonesia declaration, Bali levy

  • South Korea

    Visa-free · 90 days

    $0

    e-Arrival card (K-ETA waived through 2026)

About $135 in fees for two. Passports need six months of validity past each entry date and a couple of blank pages. Rules change — Thailand’s did this month — so reconfirm each on the country’s official immigration site before booking.

Thailand side quest

Tiger encounters

Three enclosure operators, priced per person by the size of the cat.

  • Tiger Park Pattaya

    Bang Lamung, Chon Buri · ~1.5h drive from BKK

    Supervised enclosure visits; price scales with the size of the animal. The only one reachable as a day trip from this route.

    900–1,800 THB

    4.3 / 5 · 16,800+ reviews

  • Tiger Kingdom Chiang Mai

    Mae Rim, Chiang Mai · domestic flight from BKK

    Newborn, smallest, small, medium and giant tiers — you pick which enclosure you enter.

    750–3,000 THB

    4.0 / 5 · 6,200+ reviews

  • Tiger Kingdom Phuket

    Kathu, Phuket · domestic flight from BKK

    Close contact and photos across age groups, including white tigers.

    800–2,500 THB

    3.9 / 5 · 15,500+ reviews

Captive-tiger contact venues draw steady criticism from wildlife-welfare groups over breeding, training and housing. Worth weighing next to the price and the reviews. Prices and ratings as listed by each venue’s booking pages — reconfirm before you go.

Running it

Booking tactics

01

Buy leg by leg, never as one ticket

No carrier or alliance flies this path cheaply. Round-the-world alliance fares run $3,600–4,400 per person; this loop is about $1,060. Book each leg on its own as dates firm up — six to ten weeks out catches most Asian low-cost sales. Watch the two ocean crossings further ahead.

02

One buffer night between every leg

Separate tickets mean no rebooking protection and no bag transfer if a flight runs late. A night’s cushion before each departure removes nearly all of that risk, and it is another evening somewhere good.

03

Price the bag before you price the seat

AirAsia, VietJet and Spring sell the seat and nothing else. A 20 kg checked bag bought at booking is $15–30; at the counter it is triple. Two carry-ons under 7 kg each makes every fare on this page real.

04

The China stop is free if the geometry is right

In from Japan, out to Thailand, inside 240 hours, through Pudong or Hongqiao. The rule is A → China → C. A round trip back to Tokyo would not qualify.

05

Aim for late October – November

It is the one window where almost everything lines up: autumn colour in Tokyo, Seoul and Shanghai, Hanoi at its best, Bangkok and Saigon turning dry. Bali is the compromise — shoulder season, short warm showers. March–April is the runner-up.

06

These are budgets, not quotes

Every fare here is a low-season one-way seen on aggregators in September 2026. Real prices move with dates, exchange rates and how far out you book. Re-check each leg two to three months before you fly it.