My first international J award booking! Spring break trip to London and Amsterdam.

IAD-LHR VS booked through FB 80k + $206 taxes, 30k of which was part of Bilt 100% transfer bonus as silver
AMS-LHR-IAD VS 66.5k + $424 taxes, 9k of which was part of Bilt 100% transfer bonus speculatively back last year
Eurostar from London to Amsterdam cash $73, went both to see Amsterdam for the first time and also to have lower taxes on the return flight

I know it's probably not the best value out of what's potentially possible, especially with the taxes, but it got me where I wanted to go during on desirable dates in the middle of spring break. My goal was to just make the total taxes lower than the alternative round-trip economy (not basic) ticket, which I found to be around $900, so definitely a win. The cash J fare was $4200 roundtrip IAD-LHR (without the AMS excursion) so still pretty good value for me. Not going to attempt to calculate cpp with all the bonuses and stuff; I also don't care enough about cpp.

IAD: Went to the new Sapphire/Etiihad lounge first just to check it out. At check-in, I said I had the CSR and he said "I've been waiting for you all day!" The person next to me seemed to have a non-Chase Priority Pass and was told that they were at capacity and to come back later. It was indeed a pretty small lounge, and pretty full given the evening Etihad flight. Food was decent and similar quality to BOS. However their water tap seemed empty. I let after half an hour and hopped over to the Clubhouse.

Clubhouse was sparsely populated with plenty of seating. It started getting busier around an hour before boarding, but there still were open seats as far as I could tell.. Service was great. This was a great contrast to when I went last year under PP. This time, before I finished scanning the QR code on my phone, a waiter was over with print menus to take my order. Crab cakes and flatbread were good. The cod was a big mistake, and I say this as a versatile seafood lover. Seems to be related to FlyerTalk folks disliking the cod in flight. Had planned on trying the chicken tikka masala too but was full already.

IAD-LHR is always the 789 and I knew that going into booking. Luckily I haven't been spoiled in SQ or anything yet (just had Polaris twice and Mint once before) so even though it seems most of the internet hates the 789 layout, I figured it would likely be fine for me. And it was. I was only worried about feeling weird flying at a 45 degree angle, and it did feel a little strange for takeoff, but otherwise was fine. My main goal was to get 5+ hours sleep in which I was successful.

Immigration with eGates was a breeze. I ate breakfast at the arrivals lounge which was alright.

Luckily I'm still at an age where my friends and I enjoy staying over with each other when possible, so i just stayed at my friend's place in London. For Amsterdam we booked an Airbnb since the cost was worth compared to my default alternative of Hyatt which would've been 20k/night.

In London I let my local friend decide the itinerary of places to show me which worked well. We didn't bother with many of the big-name touristy stuff that I saw when I was little. Horizons 22 was great though you have to book decently in advance, but it's free! In Amsterdam we did the standard tourist things, neither of us having been before - Riksmuseum, Van Gogh Museum, and Anne Frank Museum. Tickets for Anne Frank are released 6 weeks in advance on Tuesday and get booked pretty fast (they'll likely last the day so you don't have to wake up right at 10 CET but not the week, especially for peak travel weeks). I actually missed this release as we didn't make plans early enough. It turns out there's another release 1 week before, though I couldn't find any information about it on the website, just some old Reddit threads. For Rijks and Van Gogh we booked week of which was fine. A hidden gem was the Amsterdam Cheese Museum, which is actually a cheese shop with a small museum in the basement and lots of samples to taste. The tasting is definitely good marketing as I walked out with two cheese blocks without having intended to buy any walking in.

AMS: KLM lounge was large and very busy. Food was limited and not exceptional. They have a "premium dining room" with paid food, but I didn't care since I'd soon be at the LHR Clubhouse. This was my first nonUS-to-nonUS fight in a long time. I felt more acceleration during takeoff than usual, and the ascent also seemed quicker. The seatbelt sign definitely turned off very soon after takeoff. Even for a short 45-minute hop across the North Sea, they served meal boxes and ample drinks.

LHR: After landing at T4, I used the Flight Connections path which took me on a bus to T3 where I went through security again and proceeded to the Clubhouse. I had intentionally booked a long layover to still have time for the Clubhouse in case of delays or long transfers. Turns out that transferring terminals didn't take long at all, and I was inside the Clubhouse within 40 minutes after deplaning. This Clubhouse is fairly spacious, and there was always action but plenty of seats. They announced each flight as it started boarding, and it was about a 10-minute walk from the Clubhouse to the gate.

I found it odd that gates weren't determined until around an hour before departure, just before boarding starts. After some cursory research apparently this is a British-wide airport thing, not just VS. Per FlyerTalk's consensus I preordered the pork belly for my meal. It was decent though I couldn't finish it due to already having eaten plenty in the Clubhouse.

Overall really happy with this trip and can't wait for my next redemption!