On a ten-hour layover, too many cocktails, a 700ml bottle of sake, and possibly the most ridiculous flight upgrade I’ve ever made.

There’s a first time for everything.

Your first solo trip. Your first Michelin-starred restaurant. Your first business-class flight.

Mine happened because I was drunk and refused to abandon a bottle of Japanese sake.

Yes.

You read that correctly.

And no, this wasn’t exactly how I’d imagined my first business-class experience.

But here we are.

It all started with a ten-hour layover in Hong Kong on my way back to Bali from Japan. I’d flown out of Kansai Airport with a 700ml bottle of sake purchased at duty-free, which I fully intended to bring home.

A perfectly reasonable souvenir.

The plan was simple: land in Hong Kong, store my belongings at the airport, spend a few hours exploring the city, meet my friends, retrieve my luggage, and catch my 1 a.m. flight to Bali.

What could possibly go wrong?

Apparently, quite a lot.

Ten Hours in Hong Kong. Challenge Accepted.

There’s no such thing as a proper Hong Kong visit without seeing my Homekong family.

The SJs, the Probowos, Luke, Josh, and Mady.

My people.

And if there’s one thing about this group, it’s that nobody believes in wasting a perfectly good opportunity to eat and drink.

Luke kicked things off by taking me for some seriously good dan dan noodles at Jus.

A sensible beginning.

Noodles. Conversation. Catching up.

Then someone suggested cocktails.

And naturally, cocktails became dessert.

Because why order cake when you can have something shaken, stirred, or served in a beautiful glass?

Somewhere along the way, we ended up at Montana and Bar Leone.

And can we talk about the food for a moment?

The mortadella sandwich.

The meatballs.

The smoked olives.

Insane.

I love it when a bar takes its food as seriously as its drinks. Not just a few uninspired snacks to keep people drinking, but proper food that makes you consider ordering another round simply because you want to stay longer.

Thankfully, there were six of us, which meant we could order more dishes without pretending we weren’t hungry.

A very important advantage of group dining.

And then came Bar Leone’s frozen espresso martini.

With Biscoff on the side for dipping.

Whoever came up with that combination deserves a standing ovation.

Coffee, booze, something frozen, and a biscuit?

Honestly, what more could a woman ask for?

As if the evening wasn’t already lovely enough, my friends surprised me with a belated birthday celebration and tiramisu.

Good food.

Great cocktails.

People I adore.

Hong Kong was doing what Hong Kong does best.

Making me forget that I had a flight to catch.

And Then Came Penicillin.

Now, there’s one place I simply cannot skip whenever I’m in Hong Kong.

Penicillin.

It feels like coming home, except home happens to serve some of the most interesting cocktails I’ve ever tasted.

And this time, Mama Laura and Papa Agung were there.

Which could only mean one thing.

Partyyyyyy.

The even better news?

Penicillin had a new menu.

And I got to try ALL of it.

Every. Single. Cocktail.

The complexity. The layers. The textures. The way each drink revealed something different as you tasted it.

I was completely fascinated.

I have always appreciated cocktails that go beyond mixing spirits and adding beautiful garnishes. The ones that make you stop and wonder how someone managed to turn an idea into something you can actually taste.

And Penicillin delivered exactly that.

Honestly, it raised my cocktail standards to an entirely different level.

Possibly an inconvenient level, considering how much I enjoy drinking.

But there was one tiny problem.

My flight was at 1 a.m.

And I was getting progressively less qualified to make sensible decisions.

The Airport Situation

At some point, I remembered that I was supposed to be a responsible adult with an international flight to catch.

I asked my friends to help arrange a taxi for 11 p.m.

A perfectly reasonable departure time.

Except everyone was having such a wonderful time that the taxi didn’t arrive until 11:30 p.m.

Thirty minutes later, I was on my way to the airport.

Still slightly drunk.

Still very happy.

And still completely convinced that everything would work out.

I arrived, collected my belongings from storage, reunited with my precious bottle of sake, and headed toward check-in.

This was when reality finally decided to participate in the evening.

My 700ml bottle of sake couldn’t simply go into my carry-on luggage after I’d taken it out of the airport and broken the original duty-free transit arrangement.

I was given two choices.

Leave the sake behind.

Or return to the check-in counter and find another way to transport it.

Now, a sensible person would probably have abandoned the bottle.

After all, it was just sake.

But apparently, I wasn’t feeling particularly sensible.

And I’d already become emotionally attached to the idea of bringing it home.

So back to the counter I went.

The staff explained that I had already used my checked baggage allowance from Japan, and the option they offered was to upgrade my ticket to business class.

The price?

IDR 3.9 million.

For a bottle of sake that suddenly needed a very expensive travel companion.

I looked at the staff.

Looked at my sake.

And said the three most financially questionable words of the evening.

“Sign me up.”

Just like that.

My first business-class ticket.

Not because I’d saved up for a luxurious flying experience.

Not because I was celebrating a milestone.

Not even because I particularly wanted to fly business class.

But because I refused to throw away a bottle of Japanese sake.

If there’s an award for the most absurd reason to upgrade a flight, I’d like to nominate myself.

Business Class, But Make It a Marathon

You’d think upgrading to business class would be the end of the drama.

Of course not.

Because my departure gate happened to be one of the farthest gates at Hong Kong International Airport.

The kind that requires an additional shuttle bus.

Wonderful.

So there I was.

Running through the airport.

Carrying my belongings.

Questioning my life choices.

And trying not to look like someone who’d just spent the evening drinking her way through Hong Kong’s cocktail scene.

I finally reached the gate with about ten minutes to spare before boarding.

Out of breath.

Slightly sweaty.

But victorious.

My sake was safe.

My flight was still there.

And somehow, I was now a business-class passenger.

I boarded, found my seat, stretched my legs, pulled up the blanket, and settled in.

And then?

I slept.

For five glorious, uninterrupted hours.

No struggling to find a comfortable position.

No knees pressed against the seat in front of me.

No waking up every twenty minutes to rearrange my neck.

Just sleep.

Beautiful, luxurious, horizontal-ish sleep.

I woke up in Bali feeling remarkably refreshed for someone who had made several questionable decisions only hours earlier.

And suddenly, I understood the appeal of business class.

Not the champagne.

Not the fancy meal.

Not even the priority boarding.

The sleep.

Oh, the sleep.

Now I get it.

So, What Did I Learn?

First, never underestimate what can happen during a ten-hour layover.

Second, Hong Kong remains one of my favorite cities for eating, drinking, and reconnecting with people who make even the shortest visit feel like a proper holiday.

Third, when traveling internationally with duty-free alcohol, always check the rules before leaving the airport. Especially if you plan to transit, clear immigration, and re-enter security.

A lesson that would have saved me IDR 3.9 million.

And finally, I’ve learned that sometimes the most memorable travel stories aren’t the ones you’ve carefully planned.

They’re the ones that happen somewhere between the original itinerary and a series of increasingly questionable decisions.

Would I recommend spending millions of rupiah to rescue a bottle of sake?

Absolutely not.

Would I do it again?

I’d like to think I’ve learned my lesson.

Although, knowing myself, that probably depends on how good the sake is.

Some people upgrade their flights for comfort. I upgraded mine for a bottle of sake.

And accidentally discovered that business class is a rather wonderful place to sleep off a night in Hong Kong.

Cheers to that.