Little did I know, however, that this flight was going to leave me speechless (and not in a good way), at least for a couple of hours. I’ve always enjoyed flying Air France, too, thanks to its typically solid food and friendly (in my experience) service. Air France typically flies its Airbus A350 between Detroit and its hub in Paris, a plane that features a modern and competitive product in business class. I didn’t feel like I was settling, by any means, either. At this point, I was only about 6 weeks from the start of my trip, so I ended my search once and for all and booked the flight. I decided to broaden my parameters again, and I finally got lucky when I found a one-way ticket from Detroit (DTW) to Istanbul (IST) via Paris (CDG) through the Air France-KLM Flying Blue program. I then broadened my search horizon, hoping that I’d find a 1-stop itinerary on a Star Alliance carrier right into India. After months of nonstop award searches, I threw in the towel, as I couldn’t find any availability on dates that worked for my trip. Originally, I was holding out hope for business class availability through Air Canada Aeroplan on any of Etihad’s nonstop flights operated by its new Airbus A350 from North America to Abu Dhabi (AUH). I had known about the wedding for well over a year, which led me to constantly check award availability on practically any flight bookable with American Express Membership Rewards points from North America to, well, anywhere not in the Americas. The primary reason behind the trip was a friend’s wedding in Jaipur, India, but I figured that I might as well make it a proper journey if I were traveling all that way anyway.

I recently embarked on a monthlong journey across the world that will bring me to the United Arab Emirates, India, Indonesia, Thailand, and Taiwan.

Airline: Air France (AF) Aircraft: Boeing 777-300ER (F-GSQE) Flight #: AF377 Route: Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County International Airport (DTW) to Paris Charles de Gaulle International Airport (CDG) Date: NovemDuration: 7 hours, 2 minutes Cabin and Layout: Business class, 42 seats, 2-3-2 configuration Seat: 5L Cost: 56,500 Air France-KLM Flying Blue miles or from $3,412 cash

Air canada boeing 777 300er seating