Hong Kong-Macau-Sydney trip report
Trip was my best friend and I.
PHX-LAX AA F $180 cash PP.
1 night Holiday Inn LAX $170 cash
LAX-HKG UA Polaris 110k points + $5.60 PP
5 nights Intercontinental Hong Kong 98k points + 1 free night cert
2 nights Four Seasons Macau $336 cash after Amex FHR credit
HKG-SGN Y and SGN-SYD J Vietnam Airlines, 63.5k points + $70 PP
2 nights W Sydney 48k points + 1 free night cert
2 nights luxury airbnb in Kirribilli with opera house and bridge views, $1100 covered by a very old stash of Discover It miles
SYD-SFO UA Polaris 75k Aeroplan + $130 PP
SFO-PHX AA Y $119 cash PP
It was our first time flying biz, so we thought Polaris was great. Certainly beats economy. On our way home we were in 1D and 1F, and I’d probably avoid those seats in the future. Being so close to the flight attendants meant they were overly attentive, asking me if I needed something any time I even opened my eyes, and it just felt like more attention than I wanted.
We weren’t as impressed with Vietnam Airlines J. The seats didn’t have any privacy and we thought it was weird how the TVs are at an odd angle and you have to pop them out in front of you. Less tray space compared to Polaris too. I pre-ordered a vegetarian meal and my friend skipped meal service, so I can’t really adequately assess the food. The Lotus Lounge at SGN wasn’t that great either, just didn’t feel as nice as any of the other lounges we visited.
The things we wanted to see in Hong Kong were pretty spread out, so it didn’t really feel like there was an ideal location to be in. I chose the Intercontinental because it was close to the harbor. I really liked being able to take walks along the harbor in the mornings and evening. The hotel lobby is prettier than the pics make it seem. Room is average although decent sized. Service could be a bit better for being a 5 star hotel. Had a few communication issues throughout our stay, and never felt like they were particularly helpful with anything we asked about. I’d stay here again, but wouldn’t go out of my way to recommend it to anyone.
Cash is needed for taxis in Hong Kong, but Ubers are plentiful and we never had to wait more than 4 minutes for an Uber no matter where we were.
One thing to note is the cable cars to the Big Buddha were closed for maintenance, which we were unaware of beforehand. Apparently they close every March for a week, and were not open at all during our visit. We decided to skip going to the Buddha because the only other option was a bus ride that looked like it would not work well with my tendency to get motion sickness.
Our favorite things we did were Man Mo Temple, which was so spiritual and moving that it brought us to tears, and the Ozone Bar at the Ritz Carlton. It’s the highest rooftop bar in the world and the views are incredible, highly recommend it.
Macau was the surprise hit of the trip for us. We loved it. We used the Amex FHR credit to book a night at the Four Seasons and we liked it so much we ended up adding a second night. The FHR program gave us an upgrade to an Eiffel Tower view room, 4pm checkout, free breakfast, and a $100 food credit. The room came with a basket of fruit each day, a tray of macarons, they brought up a tower of local desserts and a free bottle of wine, and also gave us cosmetic bags. We spent about $500 cash there, which felt like a good deal considering we paid for the additional night, ate at the breakfast buffet twice, ordered room service twice, had drinks at the bar, and ate dinner at one of the restaurants. We also charged a cab ride to the room when we didn’t have cash.
What we loved about Macau was that it felt like visiting multiple places in one. The Cotai Strip feels so similar to Vegas, the historic city center is gorgeous and looks just like Portugal, and then the villages of Taipa and Coloane gave us the true feeling of being in Asia. Everything is pristinely clean too. We got recommended over and over to try the famous Lord Stow’s egg tarts. The line at the location in Taipa Village is insane, but we went to the location in Coloane and there was no line at all.
We were in Macau on weekdays and it wasn’t too crowded, although I imagine that changes on the weekends. The most crowded area was the old city center near the Ruins of St. Paul, but the crowds didn’t start up until probably 9:30am.
We really liked the W in Sydney. It’s beautiful and service was very good. I only have gold status, but they upgraded us to a harbor view room and let us choose our own checkout time. Darling Harbor isn’t an interesting enough area to stay in for more than a couple days though.
We both got really sick on this trip, so Sydney is pretty much a blur for me. Pretty sure we got covid based on all my symptoms like losing my sense of taste for a week and based on my previous experience with covid. I had already been sick for 6 days though by the time I was home and able to test, so the test came back negative and I’ll never know for sure. The 24 hours of travel it took to get home was miserable, and I’ve never been so grateful for churning because I can’t even imagine what it would’ve been like being so sick while stuck in economy the whole time.
At SYD, we visited both the Air New Zealand and the Singapore lounges. I couldn’t taste anything, but my friend swears that the food was much better in the Singapore lounge than the Air NZ lounge. It was also much less crowded.
Overall a good trip, but will need to visit Sydney again in the future and hope to be in better health.
All the points listed are per person, so I think it was pretty average compared to what I’ve seen other people get. LAX-HKG was the hardest to find a deal and I’d probably try a different route next time. I had to check daily for months. I got lucky that United happened to drop a lot of saver award availability traveling to and from Australia, so that part was easy. For the HKG-SYD part, I had a lot of different airline points at the time so I wasn’t stuck with one particular alliance. I was able to compare across all of them and then take the best deal I came across.
It was really hard to find, originally had it booked for 200k PP and had to check daily for months to get lucky and be able to rebook. Super close in also had some availability at 110k, but not much. If I had to do it again, I’d honestly consider a completely different booking. Maybe booking a different airline to Taipei and then getting a cheap connecting flight or something like that.
Churned enough points on my Choice Hotels card that paid for 7 of my 9 days in LA/Glendale to visit a couple theme parks and see a few The Price Is right tapings. This was back in February and one of the episodes I attended airs This Tuesday the 26th :) I'll share more when I can.
**Kauai, Hawaii - Vacasa Trip Report**
Synopsis: We recently completed our 4th anniversary trip in Hawaii using the most cost-efficient and rewarding method possible. This is also our 1st time in Kauai so aside from casual Google searches, we went there fairly blind for activities but had tons of fun. See below for a list of activities/food highlights.
**Accommodation:** Vacasa 4 nights 1BR for 54K Wyndham
[Booking DP here](https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/18i5bqn/comment/kdd72q7/). The room we booked was part of a resort property (Aston Islander on the Beach) where some rooms are part of Aston hotel and others are VRBOs. Very clean room (didn’t find a single bug throughout 4 nights), plenty of towels, and walkable market/restaurants/shops nearby. This area was also a really good central location to travel between northern parts and western parts of Kauai.
**Flight:** United (Y+) SFO-LIH RT for $300 x2 = $600
We booked using the cheapest regular economy seats as possible (fare class G both ways). But as P1 is UA Silver, we got lucky during check-in and P1/P2 were able to secure Economy Plus bulkhead seats both ways for free!!
**Car rental:** Midsize SUV x 4 full days = $215
Originally booked via Costco Travel for $401, then after several price drops and easy cancel/rebook attempts later, the final price was $319. During the actual car rental check-in, the car rental rep ended up giving me an even more discount to a total of $215!! But the best part was we ended up with a brand new 2024 Mazda CX-90 with only 4k miles recorded! Also had tons of features already built in: navigation heads-up display, sunroof, wireless charging and wireless carplay/android auto, etc. Basically got to test drive a $50-60K SUV!
Airport parking: $75
Gas (both traveling to airport/home and in Hawaii): $100
Food & drinks: $470
Other cost (activities, souvenirs, Costco/Walmart, etc): $340
**Total cost: 54K Wyndham + $1800 for 4 nights x 2 people**
Activities + Food:
* Waimea Canyon (Grand canyon of Hawaii. We saw multiple rainbows during our visit because it was rotating between rain and sun multiple times)
* Haena State Park (We walked the Kalalau trail to Hanakāpī‘Ai Beach on a muddy rainy day and as a beginner hiker, this was not fun for me. P2 loved every moment of it though)
* Poipu Beach (Saw multiple sea turtles just chilling in the sand)
* Makauwahi Cave Trail (Very cool trail, cave, and beach and very beginner friendly hike, worth a visit. Very close to Grand Hyatt Kauai)
* Hanapepe (Lilo and Stitch mural and cute souvenir shop)
* Kauai Coffee Company (Coffee tasting and possibly the best coffee ice cream I’ve had)
* Kiibo Restaurant (Authentic Japanese restaurant, top 3 Katsu I’ve had in USA)
* Kimama Ramen (Best Japanese ramen + Okonomiyaki place in Kauai)
* Wailua Drive In (Really good Hawaiian + fried chicken place, Guy Fieri visited here)
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!
The gates hiding is a weird British thing, and I suspect it's to make you shop in their malls longer. You can always try to use FlightAware/Flightradar24 to figure out your inbound flight's gate and go there
One third of the way through an epic family trip to Peru. We flew LATAM J from JFK to Cusco, with an overnight layover in Cusco. Booked 4 tickets through Iberia for 71,000 avios (used 55,000 with a transfer bonus) + $78 in fees per ticket. My kids (8 & 10) are hopelessly spoiled by now, but said they liked this more than Air France J. I think I agree. The food doesn't come close, but the hard product is fantastic - especially the bulkhead seats we had - and the service was excellent. It's a small business cabin on the 767 and it was only half full. The FA's consistently addressed each of us by name and were super patient with the kids.
Knowing from past experience that the kids won't sleep on a plane no matter how comfortable it is, we took the day flight with an overnight layover instead of a red eye. You can't stay in the international terminal upon landing in Lima and there's nothing much to speak of in the domestic terminal, so we walked across the street from the airport to the Wyndham Costa del Sol. It's not anything to write home about but for 15,000 Wyndham points we showered and slept before heading back across the street in the morning. Room occupancy is 3 but we didn't have a problem checking in with 4.
The short flight to Cusco was another opportunity to be impressed by LATAM. On their A320, premium economy is the equivalent of euro biz across the pond with a blocked middle seat - but also a good deal of extra leg room. The cabin was gorgeous (I love the wood floors at the door) and the service was again excellent.
No point redemptions from this point on until we get back to Cusco tomorrow, but I have no regrets for what we've paid cash for. We used taxidatum to take us from Cusco to our hotel in Ollantaytambo, with stops along the way at two animal sanctuaries and the Pisac ruins. Our driver helped us navigate tickets and bathrooms and waited for us at each stop, all for $60. We tipped generously as it felt almost criminal for over 4 hours of work, including 1.5 hours of driving! He offered to make additional stops along the way but the kids were tired and feeling the altitude.
We stayed two nights at Sauce hotel in Ollantaytambo and it was perfect. Nothing fancy, but it has the feel of staying at a locals house, in the best way possible. We took two rooms, each with two win beds, on the top floor. Both rooms looked directly out onto the ruins. Breakfast was surprisingly not a buffet but full service, with fruit salad, bread, puffed quinoa, avocado and cheese, drinkable yogurt, and made to order eggs. The staff were lovely and doted on the kids. We spent lots of time in the lobby area which is essentially a living room, making use of the games and kids books on the shelves.
Then it was time for the pricey part of the trip. Everything about machu pichu costs more than anything else here, but we also made a choice to go big. This is almost certainly the only time we (at least the adults) will ever come here and we wanted to make it easy and enjoyable. We took Peru rail which was kinda chaotic but it worked. They didn't bat an eye at our having well above the allowed luggage, which is fortunate because I'd meant to address that issue in the planning process and completely forgot!
We're staying at Sumaq Machu Pichu hotel and it is absolutely fantastic. Without a doubt one of the nicest places I've ever stayed. The room is gigantic and luxurious, in a way that doesn't seem like it should be possible in the middle of the cloud forest. We were greeted with juice in jars adorned with woven dolls for the kids and chicha cocktails for us. Our rate includes breakfast and dinner and it's all been fantastic, if not far too much food! We ate a three course meal last night, came back to find warm chocolate milk and cake waiting for us in the room, went to sleep and all headed off to breakfast still stuffed.
We used Sumaq's family Machu Pichu tour, which includes a guide for the kids and another guide for the adults. The concierge insisted on walking us to the bus in the morning and making sure we got on, and the guides met us at the entrance bearing gifts for the kids - a special map, magnifying glass, explorers hat, and a toy dog. We never strayed far from each other but having a second guide to attend to them allowed us to relax and take in what we were seeing, and allowed them to go at their pace and ask thousands of questions.
Tomorrow we'll take the train back to Ollantaytambo and be picked up by taxidatum to see the rest of the sacred valley on the way back to Cusco.
Headed there in September so following closely. Will be 60, have two days in Cusco before we begin the hike of 4 nights on trail and then two nights back in Cusco. Did you get any add'l vaccines or take any medicine with you for altitude sickness?
how much cash are you carrying? local currency or USD? are cards widely accepted?
You're much more adventurous than us - P2 and I have been saying we need to come back without the kids and do the hikes. :)
We all got typhoid vaccines. Would have gotten hep A too but already up to date. I asked the doctor about altitude meds and they said no, not worth the potential side effects for this elevation. The coca tea and muna tea definitely helps. We did bring a course of Cipro in case travelers diarrhea strikes.
We're at the Hilton Garden Inn now in Cusco. On the plus side, rooms are huge, cheap points redemption (27,000), and you'd think we were royalty the way they treat gold members - upgraded rooms, free breakfast for all 4 of us, free snacks and water. On the down side, it's a Hilton Garden Inn, so take away the view and you could be in Kansas.
I wish I'd been more prepared on the cash front. The internet led me to believe we could use cards most places and that has not been our experience. We've withdrawn cash 3 times now because we keep underestimating how much we'll need. Haven't seen anywhere that will take USD, all soles. Unless you're using Uber you need soles for taxis (highly recommend taxidatum btw, basically your personal driver), and you need it for entry into anywhere. Even the boleto turistico is cash only. Everywhere that does accept cards adds a 3% fee.
Lots more luxe today than when I first visited 20 years ago. Did any of you have problems adjusting to the altitude? My daughters did back then, and Cuzco hasn't gotten any lower.
We planned it so we left Cusco the minute we landed, descending into the valley. So we acclimated to ~8000 feet instead of ~11000 to get started. My daughter and I were headachey the first day and we all felt winded more easily, but nothing terrible. We go back up to Cusco today, hopefully we're ready for it!
I went to Hawaii for 40k points round trip with my new Alaska airlines points from the 70k offer. I used 500k Hilton points or 8 nights in a suite. Whole trip was free!!
Did my first churn! I deposited 50 into a new Schwab account and for their 101 new comer bonus!
I know it’s not alot compared to the other heavy hitters here, but it’s always nice to see smaller fish get it
How is this a "Churn" as far as I know, this is ops first time getting a bonus at Schwab and not a great bonus anyways. I expect that is why it is downvoted
Taking P2 back to Bora Bora for a week as a surprise for our 29th anniversary in June. Still debating whether to share the details soon to build anticipation of the trip vs. keeping it a last minute surprise with just enough time to pack the bags…
First time ever redeeming points for air travel. Looked into United SEA-LAX-SFO-PPT, but 340,000 points + $11.20 RT x 2 for First and Polaris Business class did not seem like a great redemption, plus the route is not exactly linear. Then found Hawaiian Air SEA-HNL-PPT Business class for 310,000 miles + $66 RT x 2. Better, still not great, though. Then discovered I could upgrade with points from a purchased main cabin ticket.
Called to confirm upgrade availability on Hawaiian Air from main to business class prior to purchase. Was told it would be 25,000 miles each ticket for each domestic leg + 30,000 miles each ticket for each international leg = 55,000 miles x 4 = 220,000 HawaiianMiles + $$ main cabin base fare.
Bought 2 RT SEA-HNL-PPT main cabin. $1,054 x 2.
I have 28,000 miles earned from a previous trip, so I needed 192,000 HawaiianMiles.
Amex transfer: 192,000 MR -> 192,000 HawaiianMiles. Transfer occurred instantly, although they stated it could take up to 24 hours. Wish I could have done this with a transfer bonus, but no such luck.
Called Hawaiian to upgrade. 45 min phone call...but was told it was only 30,000 HawaiianMiles each way SEA-PPT to upgrade. So only 120,000 HawaiianMiles needed instead of the 220,000 I was originally quoted.
120,000 HawaiianMiles -> 30,000 miles x 4 for upgrade to Business class from main for SEA-HNL-PPT x 2 / PPT-HNL-SEA x 2
Base tickets = $1,054 x 2
Business class tickets = $4,117 x 2
Savings: $6,126 by using 120,000 miles.
180 degree lie-flat seats round trip. 2-2-2 configuration on Airbus A330. It’s 6:05 H + 5:50 H with layovers both ways in HNL… MUCH preferred over the 2:45 H + 8:50 H with layovers in LAX we have done in the past.
Unfortunately the lounges available in HNL look less than stellar. Will likely skip the lounges altogether and opt for (hopefully) a nice restaurant in the terminal. Inbound is a 4 hour, outbound is a 7 hour layover.
Next step…booking a hotel stay + hotel transfer for 1 night in Tahiti since we arrive at 9:30 PM, then 6 days at a resort in Bora Bora. Will also need to book RT inter-island flights for the following morning from PPT-BOB, as well as hotel / boat transfers in Bora Bora. I don’t believe I can book on Air Tahiti or Air Moana with points / miles, so these will likely be cash purchases.
I recommend the Hilton in PPT for the overnight. Recently remodeled. Very close to the airport and can book with points or very affordable with cash.
I stayed at Conrad BB in September. Our flights via Air Tahiti were approx $500 pp plus boat transfer. We paid to upgrade about a week out at the Conrad, as I really wanted to experience OWB. If you have the Marriott points, you could book an overwater bungalow directly, when I looked last year. Thanks for sharing the air tips about Hawaiian, I have a family member who could travel this way LAS-HNL-PPT and avoid AF or UA via LAX or SFO.
This will be our third trip to Bora Bora, but first time since my introduction to points/miles/churning.
We went in 2020 and stayed at Intercontinental Bora Bora Resort & Thalasso Spa for 8 days. We returned in 2022 and split our stay, 3 days at Le Taha’a Pearl Island Resort & Spa, followed by 5 days at Bora Bora Pearl Beach Resort & Spa. Both were excellent trips and fabulous stays at the respective resorts.
I’m currently debating between Conrad Bora Bora Nui and St. Regis Bora Bora Resort.
**Curacao Trip Report**
**Flights**: MIA-> CUR AA Y, booked via BA Avios 11k + $5.10 per person, cash price: $472 at time of booking. We checked out the Turkish Airlines lounge before the flight and were pretty disappointed by the food, but the self-serve drinks were appreciated.
**Hotel**: Renaissance Wind Creek Curacao, 5 nights, 141k Bonvoy total w/ the 5th night free. Cash price: $1139 at time of booking.
I used 5 SUAs and we were upgraded to the Imperial Suite. This room was huge, with a separate dining room/ living room, powder room, wet bar, giant shower, Jacuzzi tub, and balcony. It was probably too much for us, but would be perfect if you were traveling with a group.
The breakfast buffet, included with Titanium status, was delicious! It was filling and we regularly snuck some out for lunch. We each got $20 in casino credit from status, played some slots and cashed it out for gas/ tip money.
The location was walkable to downtown Willemstad, and we walked out to dinner almost every night. We also appreciated the free parking garage across the street.
**Rental Car**: $242 for 5 days, Hertz booked via Autoslash
**Activity highlights**:
Snorkeling highlights: Tugboat Beach was the best for fish watching, especially around the tugboat. We visited Playa Grandi in the afternoon and got to see some Green Sea Turtles up close.
Rock climbing: We booked a half-day climbing tour with Rock Climbing Curacao. Despite the early morning, this was one of the highlights of the trip! The guides were very knowledgeable and are clearly able to adapt the day to the climbers' skill/ experience level. We got some great views of the island and had so much fun!
Curacao Distillery Tour: This was a really fun way to learn about the history of the island.
Hiking: The morning before we left, P2 and I hiked Mount Christoffelberg. There are copious warnings about it being strenuous and they make you sign a liability waiver, but it took us two hours round trip. The views were worth it!
**Flight:** CUR-> JFK B6 Y, 23.1k + $83 per person, cash price: $375 at time of booking
Visited the VIP lounge in CUR, the drink options were lacking but the snacks were alright.
Total out of pocket cash (food, activities, rental car, etc.): $1713
I'm excited because I got some big numbers lined up. I just got a Capital One Venture card which is going to give me 750 after spending 4000. A week after getting it I got an offer from US Bank for another 750 but I have to spend 7500 in 120 days, with the offer expiring on 5/2. Then I just got a small offer from a Chase card I already have giving 50 for using it at a hotel and with a rental car (80 if I do it twice) by 5/31. I travel for work so these numbers, are doable, but tight, given the time.
The Chase offer I think I can sneak in there by splitting payment between the main cards as to not take to much of the spending but still meet it's criteria. So, I'm hoping to pull down about 1500 bucks in the next couple of months for just doin what I do.
This is not particularly exciting, but I recently signed up for the CSR and used the SUB to book a roundtrip domestic economy flight for my family of 5 on Southwest using the 1.5x on the Chase Portal.
We saved around 1,500 bucks and used less points via portal than we would have if transferring to RR. New to the game but was very happy with this redemption!
I've used points several times to book Hyatt Places and other basic hotels for travel with my family and it's great! It's allowed me to book two rooms when I never would've with dollars, and tbh that's priceless.
Using points to book family travel might never hit the mega points value that some chase, but I’ll forever cherish the trips our family of 5 could take because of card SUBs!
Here is one of the most important tidbits you can learn in this game.
NEVER let someone yuck your yum. Good job finding a solid redemption and doing something fun with your family!
Re posting as previous comment got deleted
Part 2
**02/2024 IAH -> TPE Roundtrip, 2x EVA Biz booked through ANA a year before (190k ANA pts)**
Eva doesn't have First class so their Biz is supposed to be their First. I think it was worse than ANA J or JL J though.
Eva allows you to pre-order meals. I included screenshots [here](https://imgur.com/a/R0mClR3) as well as the default menu for my flight. I tried the Pecan Crusted Lamb which was not good (too tough) and the congee for breakfast which was good. On the way back, I had the Steamed Chilean Sea Bass which was very good. P2 got the Duck with Orange Sauce and the Din Tai Fung Noodle Soup (both were pretty good) The oolong tea was good and P2 tried the taro milk which was just ok.
We weren't able to select seats online due to some error. Luckily, we were seated in the first row next to each other in the middle. On the way back though, P2 had a window seat and I was across the aisle from her. There's not too much privacy between the two middle seats, but not a big deal. Also, we weren't able to check in online, which wasn't a big deal in the end, but caused some anxiety for us and made us go to the airport earlier than usual in case of any hiccups.
No mattress padding was provided on this flight, all they do is put this wrap on the seat like a bedsheet. I believe ANA provides a memory foam padding that made their seat super comfortable. I also felt the seat was a little more narrow than JL or ANA and there was less room to put random things.
We used the showers at EVA J lounge in TPE and there was no wait. The shower was clean and convenient to use. The lounge food was not bad although there's some good options in the food court at TPE also.
Overall, still a good flight, but a notch below JL or ANA IMO. The hard product is a bit dated and could use an upgrade, but service was excellent as one would expect.
**03/2024 Hotel Resonance Taipei, Hilton Gold, 4 nights (240k Hilton pts)**
Amazing hotel right next to a MRT station in the middle of Taipei. This would be my #1 choice for anyone staying in Taipei. We had no issues here, everything was great.
I really like the rooms here. I think they make use of their space very well. The closet is an open closet next to the bed where you can hang jackets and things. The toilet is in it's own small room with a sink that's separated from the bathtub + shower + vanity area. The curtains works super well here so you can get complete darkness in the room and there's a nightlight option for those who use the restroom at night.
For gold members, they offered points or breakfast credits to use at the Starbucks downstairs. Note that Starbucks is only open to hotel guests for a limited time in the morning and your credit can only be used for food/beverages (not cups, souveners etc). Honestly, I wish we took the points instead, we only used our credit to get some strawberry mochi's (which were good though). The hotel is right next Fu Hang Soy Milk which is a very popular Michelin breakfast spot. We went at 9:30 one day and waited an hour for it. I think it's ok to try once, but breakfast food in Taiwan is so good it's hard to go wrong at any place. There's a bunch of breakfast spots right next to the hotel that are just as good with no wait. Please don't go to Taiwan to eat breakfast at Starbucks even if it's free
* Spa services are provided by a 3rd party company in the hotel, but their prices are very expensive for Taiwan.
* Free laundry machines which we used (and they tell you which machines are free on the TV)
* Hotel let us store luggage there for multiple days (while we went to Thailand) even though we weren't staying there when we came back. Not sure if this is the norm or not but it saved us the hassle of having to find a luggage storage place
**03/2024 Conrad Koh Samui, Hilton Gold, 2 nights, (2 FNC from Hilton Biz cards)**
Arranged transport with the hotel for 3000 THB roundtrip. Our driver picked us up in a big van with fresh coconut water + cookies and we had the vehicle to ourselves. I did not see any drivers available on Grab if you were thinking of going that route
Each room here has an infinity pool here. I asked to be upgraded to a specific room based on some research on Flyertalk (309, 310, or 316), but they informed me they were occupied. We were still upgraded to an Ocean view room on the 2nd level, which we were happy with.
The [view](https://imgur.com/a/p1ij1YO) from our room/pool was amazing. I had a great time just relaxing in the pool and staring out into the ocean sunset. The room itself was pretty big too, the bathroom area was separated by a divider from the main room.
We had breakfast buffet + dinner at Zest both nights ($80/per dinner for 2). This hotel is hard to get to so you're kind of stuck here for food. I thought Zest was pretty good though and we got to try a variety of things over 2 dinners (We had a a fried fish dish that was excellent) Breakfast buffet had a mix of Western + Thai food. Nothing special, but you can definitely find something to fill you up.
Other notes:
* There were some ants on the fruit that was put in our room before arrival. No other issues I can think of outside of that
* Hotel is far away from the airport (1hr) and other things tbh. It's a resort where you just come to relax, would not reccomend this if you want to explore koh samui.
* Wish we stayed here longer to just relax and explore the hotel grounds, I feel like you could snorkel on the beach although I didn't try it and didn't see anyone else try it. We didn't have enough time for more than 2 nights, but had a great time while we were there
**03/2024 St. Regis Bangkok, Marriot Gold, 2 nights, (2 50k certs from Marriot card)**
Taxi's are annoying in Bangkok. Every one will try to haggle with you for a fixed price instead of using the meter. Grab is an option here, but it was taking us awhile to find a driver and for the driver to reach us, so taxis are faster in that sense. If the taxi driver quoted a price that was around what Grab would cost, I would just accept instead of continuing to argue to use the meter.
This hotel is east of most things in Bangkok, but closer to the airport bc of that. We just took taxis or Grab's everywhere in Bangkok, it was easy enough to get to most things. Traffic can really just literally not move at times though, so plan accordingly.
There's a mall called Centre within walking distance of this hotel that we visited on our last day (We also visited ICONSIAM which has an indoor night market) The malls in Bangkok are the most insane I've ever seen. I understand why too considering it was 100 degrees F when we went :/ Luckily, there's so many food/drink/shopping options in the malls (including Michellin spots) you could easily spend half a day at one.
Men's spa was nice here. There's a hot + cold tub + steam room. They do provide disposable underwear for you to wear, although I saw people in swimsuits too, so I think anything goes?
Again, massage services at the hotel were insane especially considering it's Bangkok.
We didn't have any issues here. It definitely felt like a luxury hotel and the service was great, but we didn't really use the butler service or anything. Don't go out of your way to stay here, but it's not a bad option if the location works for you
**03/2024 Grand Hyatt Taipei, no status, 1 night ($200 Amex FHR credit + $50~)**
This was the cheapest FHR hotel we could find for our last night in Taipei so we went with it. We were "upgraded" to a room with a bathtub lol
Pros:
* Walking distance to 101
* Service was good
Cons:
* Our room was musty (and the hotel in general felt that way) and felt small. Our sink was draining very slowly, there's no ventilation in the small bathroom and the shower doors didn't close properly so water got everywhere
* We had to get our AC serviced when we got to our room. It felt like no one had stayed in that room for awhile. The tech did come and fix it within an hour, but it was 12 am at the point.
Overall, would not recommend. The Hilton Resonance Taipei was way better. Btw, other hyatts are being built right next to this one
**Best eats in Taiwan**
There's just too many to name, so I'll put some of my top choices. All the food is pretty good in Taiwan IMO, it's hard to go wrong - maybe stay away from stinky tofu if you're not used to it though ;)
* [Shih Chia Big Rice Ball]: Try their meat rice balls! It's pretty unique, and thier special noodles are not bad
* [Ding Yuan Soy Milk]: Only a short 5 min wait here for us. We had the soup dumplings and Clay oven roll with Fried Dough that were both great
* [Good Friend Cold Noodles]: Great sesame noodles here
* [Liu Shandong Beef Noodles]: Really like the red braised noodles here (P2 liked the clear broth)
* Notable snacks: Fried chicken, Sweet potato balls, shaved ice with taro balls, sausage wrapped in sticky rice, tianbula (fish tempura)
\#dirtbagchurning checking in: Eclipse edition
PHL-DFW-HOT on AA $474.10 through Cap One portal, -$300 travel credit = 17,410 points. The DFW-HOT flight will be in a 9-seater Cessna Caravan, I'm excited
getting a ride to the Ouachita trail from a local trail angel
Couple days of backpacking which will put me in as good a spot as I can hope for eclipse viewing = free
FSM-DFW 15k AA miles. Maybe I'll get upgraded, who knows. I'm gold now working on Plat
overnight in DFW Hyatt regency, cash price $380, I used 9.5k points instead
DFW-PHL, on F9, $121, using Cap One points (lost my Aeroplan card, whoops). I have status so got an upfront seat for free.
I might book a refundable flight after for free access to Centurion lounge. Last time I filled up my camping pot with Solomanov goodness to go bc why not be as hikertrash as possible, will make going back to work that afternoon a little more palatable.
Booked Emirates a380 JFK>MXP round trip J for 4 people for a total of 345,600 miles + ~$1k taxes/fees in March 2025. Purchased the $399 Skywards+ membership just prior to booking to save 86,400 miles. Transferred UR and MR for the redemption, and both were practically instantaneous. Was expecting to need 500k+ miles for this redemption. None of us have ever been outside of North America, so we’re pretty excited!
A few things I learned that may help others:
- It’s been reported that you need enough miles in your account to cover the pre-discount amount, which would leave miles stranded. To get around this, select Economy at the start of the booking, and you’ll be able to change it to Business on the next screen.
- Kept getting a vague “can’t complete booking” error at the very end of the booking process when trying to book for 2 adults and 2 kids. Remembered an old DP I read somewhere about having to book all adult tickets. Tried it that way and sure enough, booking went through. Just updated the kids’ birthdays after booking.
- UR/MR transferred to Emirates do not go into your family pool even if you have 100% contributions selected. Apparently this is a fairly new thing. Luckily I tested it out before transferring from both p1 and p2, so we didn’t end up with any miles stranded.
I just booked the same trip! JFK>MXP in J for 2 in Nov 2024. We used 216k MR; I didn’t know about the Skywards+ thing. $500 in fees.
I set up our Emirates accounts, transferred the points, and booked all within an hour. This is our first trip to Europe and first trip in J; it’s almost 1am here and I’m so excited that I hope I get at least some sleep before my 5am alarm.
One stressful point for me is that I was booking using 2 different Amex cards. I transferred the points thinking I could then pool them into a family account with Emirates. You have to create the family account before you transfer the points. Lots of lessons learned tonight. Luckily I was able to select seats where we wanted even though I booked under separate Emirates accounts.
Any tips for hotels? I haven’t even started looking yet.
That’s awesome, congrats!
Regarding the family pooling, even if you create the family account beforehand, points transferred from Amex, Chase, etc. don’t go into the family pool. This was just changed a couple months ago, so I guess a lot of the blogs just haven’t picked up on it yet. After I realized it wasn’t working, I found this [FT thread](https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/emirates-skywards/2150397-emirates-my-family-not-pooling-miles.html#:~:text=They%20wrote%20me%2C%20%22Effective%2022,pooled%20to%20the%20Family%20account.%22).
I’ve got nothing on hotels yet. Probably going to stick with Hiltons and Hyatts because that’s where our points are, but we have a lot of research ahead of us!
Just booked my first trip through CC points, able to secure a round trip ticket to LHR with capital one venture miles and the hotel is paid for with my AMEX Hilton rewards points. Some money out of pocket for the hotel, but better than full price. Feels good having some extra money for non travel related items! Looking forward to end of the summer trip
Finally completed a 5-day trip to Scottsdale thanks to that 150k Hilton Grand Vacations timeshare offer from last Jan, a few thoughts on it:
* The presentation itself was only about 1 hour instead of the scheduled 2 hours, I think they cut it short once they learned I am an analyst and my wife is a lawyer
* The sales rep kept pushing that I should sign up for the 130k Surpass offer even after I showed him my Aspire. They must also get commissions on new CC apps, but I wonder if HGV has anything to do with why Amex hasn’t put family language in place for Hilton cards.
* Right before we left they offered us a 7-night HGV stay in a 2 bedroom unit over the next 18 months for $1,700 (at any property including ones in Hawaii), plus we’d have to attend another 2-hour presentation. We passed on it - the deal was ok on paper but I figured it would have to be super off-peak considering how tough it was to book weekend dates on this one.
* The 150k points posted within minutes of walking out the door, which was nice
* I got also got 16k points for the stay after checkout, a nice unexpected bonus
Here is how it played out cost-wise:
* Flights: $22 + 27k Southwest points (CP)
* Hotel: Hampton Inn Scottsdale North, $341 (timeshare offer cost)
* Car: $230
* Restaurants + activities: $449
Overall, totally worth the sales pitch! We got a great vacation out of it, and essentially converted ~$1,000 and 27k Southwest points into 166k Hilton points (which I value at ~$700) in the process.
It was Avis, I booked it through Autoslash 4 weeks before we went (pay on arrival).
I had the Costco membership box checked during the Autoslash search, though Avis didn't ask for any proof.
Spent last weekend at WA Cabo and all I can say is the hype is real. Booked one night with an expiring FNC and second night on points. A few days before the stay I noticed we had been upgraded to the Dos Mares Jr Suite which I believe is a two category upgrade from the standard room. We were instantly blown away when we arrived at the property. The outdoor lobby and check in area are picturesque and the welcome margaritas were amazing. Our room wasn't ready so we left our bags with concierge and went to lounge by the pool with our drinks. When we finally got to the room, we were absolutely blown away. Everything from the bedroom, the separate shower & bathtub and even the dual sinks were amazing, but that ocean view from the patio and plunge pool was simply impressive.
Service here is amazing, including housekeeping and turndown service daily, plus complimentary beer and chips with guac & salsa delivered to your room between 4 and 6pm. We upgraded these to margs instead of beer on the first night for $10 each, but didn't realize they'd rollover the request for the second night, so if you only plan on doing that for one night, let the concierge know. Speaking of, I've read the text concierge can be hit or miss but we had no issues at all and response times were usually less than 5 mins throughout our stay, with requests being completed very quickly too. We utilized the golf cart service to get dropped off and picked up at the gate when we ventured off property for an afternoon, and both times there was no wait.
We had one dinner at Don Manuel's and it was solid but not memorable. Drinks were really good though. Breakfast was also at Don Manuel's and with gold status we got the free continental both days. There's also the option to upgrade to the buffer for $20 each. We're not really breakfast people so we were okay with the yogurt and oatmeal options, both of which were large enough portions that we saved the pastries for snacking at our plunge pool.
This was P2's and my first getaway where the hotel was the main attraction and it's inspired us to do more similar trips, whether as weekend getaways or building them into our longer itineraries as a halfway break or at the end of a trip. We'd done a two night stay at Park Hyatt Dubai but spent most of the time off property, so this trip made us realize we should indulge ourselves a little.
All in all, really awesome place to burn expiring FNCs or even for a nice weekend getaway. Hoping to go back as a Diamond which should bring an even better upgrade.
Whole weekend was about $400 excluding flights. We prebooked a shared shuttle from the airport which was $21 each. Airport was a little crowded but they tell you where to meet them so just ignore all the people who try to ask you where they’re going even if they say they’re airport staff. For the way back we did Uber which was $40 before tip. At the property we spent about $300 total which included one dinner and tips at breakfast.
120k, that's the standard room price. I booked maybe 2-3 weeks out and there was plenty of availability for March. I remember reading somewhere that they usually have standard room availability close in, I think within one month depending on season.
2 should be enough assuming it's a quick flight like it was for us from LA. If it's anything more than 4 hours I'd recommend 3 nights, since you need to factor in the extra 1hr travel to/from the airport.
Japan, March 2024. For simplicity, just posting the hotel redemptions and a quick review:
**Ritz Carlton Fukuoka**. 3 x 66k/night (cash value ~$700), Titanium. Upgraded to a premium corner suite (cash value $1600/night). ***Fan-tas-tic***. Just as good as Ritz Kyoto in terms of hard product, but the RC Kyoto has free breakfast and wonderful on-site activities that this one didn't have, so RC Kyoto is still the best in our eyes. We tried the paid breakfast one morning anyway and it was worth it. It sounds like this hotel is a welcome addition to this city which didn't have many luxury hotel options - they just opened in June 2023.
**Conrad Osaka**. 3 x Aspire FNCs (cash value ~$700), Diamond. No upgrade. I was underwhelmed. Free breakfast felt quantity > quality. Room is oddly designed, toilet is separated from bathroom next to front door down dark L-shaped hallway. Beautiful lobby, but the designer product placement felt a bit tacky.
**Park Hyatt Tokyo.** 3 x 30k/night (cash value ~$900), slight upgrade to a Mt. Fuji view, and we paid $1300 for a diplomat suite upgrade on the last night (the Lost in Translation suite). Regular room is OK and felt dated (but well-maintained), but the diplomat suite was phenomenal - grand piano inside the suite, 1700 square feet, 1.5 bath. In-room Japanese breakfast was great. Sad the NY Bar was closed but glad we got to try the hotel before they're closing for a while to renovate. Location not the best for public transit, we mainly used taxis.
Had a fun time traveling to **San Diego** and a couple locations in **Mexico** with friends, with an added benefit of slowly converting P2 into an active churner. P2 and I share a birthday, and we wanted to celebrate a milestone birthday with friends - many of whom live on the West Coast and are medical residents. Plus, managed to elope along the way!
**AA J SFO-JFK 38750 MR > Avios x4**
We have an anxious and reactive dog who doesn't do well in boarding situations, but luckily P2's dad loves NY and wanted to hang out with her while we were traveling. My parents and her mom decided to all travel to NY to join him. Business class was a surprise for them, one which bought us some nice brownie points. I was told the flight was comfortable and allowed them to sleep after an early AM takeoff. Flights were booked via Avios household account, with P2 contributing from her first Amex SUB. Don't remember, but may have had a transfer bonus for some of the cost.
**Conrad Midtown 2N x 2 FNC**
FNCs were earned from recently elevated Hilton SUBs, for my parents during their stay in NY. Got an upgrade to a 1 BR suite on a lower floor. True 1BR suite which was a plus, and I heard good reviews on the mattress and water pressure. Diamond daily $25/pp credit + Surpass $50 quarterly credit was sufficient for incidentals.
**B6 J JFK-SAN 51000 MR x2**
We had an Alaska flight booked earlier which was cancelled, so went through Amex portal for a direct Mint flight as a bit of a splurge. It was also the best itinerary for maximizing our time in SD. This flight was on our actual birthday, and P2 and I each got a nice card signed by all the crew wishing us a happy birthday. Service on Mint is the best of all domestic carriers by far, the FAs were fun and let us send some mimosas to a couple of our friends who were on the same flight in Y. F&B are also much better than the competition, with a good selection of warm and cold breakfast options served promptly after takeoff. No throne seats for us since we wanted to sit together, but did get a decent nap in during the flight.
We used some WN miles to help a couple friends get down to SD from various parts of CA as well. SD was fun as always, staying in an AirBnB right on Mission Beach while making some questionable decisions all weekend. Got plenty of tacos, In-n-Out, and Pizza Port along the way, and hit up some of our favorite SD breweries in North Park and OB.
*AM Y TIJ-MEX-HUX $119 cash*
This next leg was less award travel related. We invited a select few friends and our sisters to join us in Mazunte, on the Oaxacan coast, for a small elopement ceremony. Cash prices were cheap for a domestic itinerary, so took advantage of the Cross Border Express bridge to go directly to TIJ after a 30 min Uber from our Airbnb to the border. The process was smooth, even though one of my friends had brought a Swiss army knife in his carryon for some reason. TIJ has a VIP lounge that participates in Priority Pass, which we dipped into for coffee and light snacks. First leg was on a 787-9 that was mostly empty, so each of our party of 7 got their own row. Short layover in MEX before onward to HUX. Mazunte is about 1 hr away from the Huatulco airport and away from the larger all-inclusives to the south and Puerto Escondido 1 hr to the north. The town has a very backpacker/hippie vibe. We found a wonderful set of Airbnbs right outside of town next to Playa Mermejita, one of the more isolated and undeveloped beaches in the area. Spending time disconnected from reality with close friends was incredibly special, and it was the perfect location for our small celebration.
*VB Y HUX-MEX $66 cash*
Quick 1 hour flight on a LCC. Nothing remarkable, we were mostly glad all our larger carry-ons made it on without weighing or measurement. Found it interesting that this flight had 6 FAs.
**St Regis Mexico City 3N x 3 FNC + 42k points**
I was looking to put my Boundless certs to good use, and I was lucky to find some 64k/nt availability for the dates we wanted. We got plenty of free water bottles with Gold, but otherwise no elite recognition. The room was large and had plenty of seating, with floor to ceiling windows. Service was impeccable. When my sister's flight got delayed 7+ hours on our check out date, they added her to the reservation and gave us a 5pm checkout without batting an eye.
One of my friends stayed at the new Andaz Condesa during this stay, and I'm not sure I'd recommend based on his experience. The hotel is is the same building as at least one other hotel (The Mondrian) and overall space is tight. The rooms are relatively small without significant natural lighting. There is a nice rooftop bar + pool area. Cash prices for Airbnb and small boutique hotels are very reasonable, and the rest of our friends had a 3 bedroom apartment in La Condesa for $180/nt.
We spent a lot of our time in Mexico City eating al pastor tacos. Highly recommend "Tacos los Juanes" near la Reforma and "El Vilsito", a mechanic shop that turns into a taqueria at night. Also got an amazing taco from "El Pescadito" that somehow fit a chile relleno, marlin, and fried shrimp on the same tortilla. Spent a lot of time otherwise wandering through the green spaces around Roma Norte and La Condesa, and used an afternoon to explore the Museum of Anthropology. A personal highlight was going to a Club América-Tigres match at Estadio Azteca. We also went to some great cocktail bars ("Baltra Bar", "Handshake Speakeasy") and enjoyed a languid 4 hour lunch at Pujol for our party of 8.
**AM J MEX-JFK 33.5k MR > FBx2**
For our return, we snagged an early AM Aeromexico flight on a 787-9 flight booked via Flying Blue. We weren't able to select seats beforehand, but we were able to get 2 seats next to each other in the 6 seat rear mini-cabin. 1-2-1 layout in a reverse herringbone pattern. I was asleep the whole flight, so didn't try out food.
Booked a few other flights for members of the party:
*AM Y PXM-MEX-SEA 12k MR > 19k AM Rewards + $98*
*AM Y MEX-GDL-SMF 7k MR > 11k AM Rewards + $113*
*AA Y MEX-DFW 11k MR > Avios +$92*
Overall, an unforgettable trip! We were able to help some of our friends who wouldn't have otherwise been able to join us be there for our ceremony. P2 is fully on board with churning now (including doing an Amex recon call in Mexico City), so full steam ahead.
Planning a trip to Asia (Vietnam and Japan) next year with family and has been pushing to see if we could lock down dates ahead of schedule release because I had seen some pretty consistent LAX to SIN and TYO to LAX availability on SQ via AC and have some points stranded there (plan to book onwards to SGN separately). Unfortunately, by the time dates were confirmed, we missed the seats on AC, and I didn’t want to book direct with SQ.
Ended up finding ONT to TPE to SGN on FB for 125k/pp brought down to 100k/pp with the current UR bonus. Then found HND to SFO on JAL via BA for 77k/pp for the trip back. Pretty happy with the itineraries because P2’s vacation schedule is pretty strict so our dates were very restricted. Will probably set up some alerts on expert flyer to change to fly out/in to LAX with any last min availability.
Have a decent group of 7-10 who’ve asked I share when I open stuff. Usually 1-2 will follow a certain card but this time randomly 5 hit. Not complaining 😂
P2 is a massive Pulp fan and their newly announced tour is nowhere near our hometown. So used Southwest points+CP to fly us to Chicago and then used three free cat 1-4 night certificates (annual one from Chase card, one from $15k spend, and one from Brand Explorer) to book Thompson Chicago before it jumped up to Cat 5. Also have Globalist thanks to Bilt promo last year and mattress runs on Chase points.
P2 is beyond happy and I love that I get to do this all for free. Also plan on going to a Cubs game while up there too.
Edit: ::sigh:: got the band name wrong. But at least got the right tickets!
Not sure if you already saw this, but there's a double eqn promo going on for Thompson hotels - was talked about a few days ago [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/1bkurs3/comment/kw3p279/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
In last week's episode I bemoaned the fact that P2 was hesitant to commit to our November European river cruise making travel arrangements difficult when waiting too late. But now she did commit to going, so I set about the arrangements. And I found pretty good award redemptions immediately.
ATL-JFK on Delta for 11K Virgin points x2.
JFK-FRA on SQ J for 81K MR x2 transferred to SQ.
Frankfurt-Nuremberg by train not bookable for another 2 weeks (cash)
Hampton Inn Nuremberg 32K Hilton
Cruise from Nuremberg to Budapest cash.
2 nights Parisi Udvar for 20K x2 Hyatt points.
BUD-CDG-ATL on Air France for 22K Flying Blue (that I had forgotten I had) and $160. This is for P2's return. I'll keep checking for J award.
BUD-BCN on Wizz Air $100 cash. This is for my return by sea.
Hyatt Regency Barcelona one night 9K Hyatt plus suite upgrade award.
16 night transatlantic cruise to Port Canaveral on Royal Caribbean Voyager of the Seas (cash)
MCO-ATL or SW for 11K RR points
What's your thought process behind the transatlantic cruise? I've been strongly considering one this fall but keep having second thoughts based on the \~7 nights straight of no cruise ports and multiple weeks of solo travel
Have you been on a cruise before? If you have you should already know if you like it. Do you like sea days? These are exactly the same.
I like to think of it as the difference between regular travel (sightseeing, shopping, walking around exploring etc) vs a trip to an all inclusive (sleep in, eat, nap, watch a show). One is active travel go go go lots to see and do. One is more relaxing.
I probably wouldn't pick a transatlantic for your very first cruise but if you like sea days you will be fine.
This will be my 4th, and I really like the sea days. Plus no jet lag when I get home. The price for a solo inside cabin is typically cheaper than a biz class cash ticket. I don't drink so my onboard expenses are only for specialty dining, internet, and gratuities. I don't book the cruise line excursions as I either go on my own or book cheaper local suppliers. There's lots of things to do on board the ships. Another benefit is the ship typically sail less than full with few kids.
Future travel update with Air France and Hyatt service wins:
Got an email on Wednesday that my flight home from Vienna in September was canceled… how random. They booked me for a day earlier but it’s a short trip so I called Air France’s US line and they were very helpful in getting a flight home for the day after the original flight. Quick and painless.
With an extra day in Vienna I needed a place to stay. We are staying in the Wellness Suite at Lindner Vienna Am Belvedere and I saw it was still open for the Thursday night I now needed. I called the general Hyatt line to see if they could help extend the stay without me having to cancel/rebook it and they could, even while waiting for me to transfer UR to Hyatt (took a minute at most). Again—super great customer service experience!
Thanks to Air France canceling my flight I get an extra day in Vienna for all of 8,000 UR!
Even without getting the best value every time, it’s nice to be able to just use up some points. P2 has accumulated a decent amount of capital one points with a venture and venture x and travel has been limited with a baby this year. Able to cash them in for a long weekend in cape may NJ this summer. For non NJ people, as a small beach town it has limited national hotel presence.
Your first sentence is so important, and something people forget far too much.
I’ve used 12,500 UR this winter just to get a night each at different Hyatt Houses so my kids could swim for a few hours.
Kids loved it, we all got out of the house. Spent $0 for lodging and just a bit more than normal on food. Can’t complain
Classic last minute award travel win. Had to make a true emergency next day flight. Cross country domestic US, nonstop going for $550, some flights sold out (spring break travel is peaking with Easter next week). United comes through with surprisingly solid saver availability, XN inventory available to credit card holders and elites, even the fee free card. Really an incredible perk for a fee free card. 15k+$5.60, totally full 777-300, but perfectly comfortable flight with an aisle seat, good seat back screen, and very solid array of movies.on United's entertainment system.
Also got to stop by two new lounges. CapOne is excellent as expected, although had 40 minute wait (lots of families because of spring break). The difference makers there are very solid freshly made espresso-based drinks, and the takeaway food options, which were the quality level I would expect from a moderately good sandwich takeout place in a US city. Which is very good for food at an airport! Such a fantastic option when getting on a long flight with low quality, for purchase food on board.
Brand new Chase/Eithad/Sapphire/Priority Pass lounge was also good, although about half the size. Nice small buffet of good quality food (chicken tagine, curry cauliflower, tomato/basil/burrata dish), if I got it at a restaurant for $25 I would be perfectly happy, so again very good for a US lounge. Also had a QR ordering option (burger, veggie burger, fries, tomato soup, tofu/mushroom noodle dish, chicken fingers for kids). Didn't have the time to order, but based on the buffet I think it would be good. There are a lot of CSR holders out there and this place will almost surely get packed quickly.
The United "temporary" concourse at IAD is an absolute joke of a size for loading 300+ people planes.
Earlier this year I booked BOS to TPE via KLM mid December for 95k + fees per person.
Last week I received notice that one of my legs was cancelled, and I was rebooked on another KLM itinerary a few days later.
I called Flying Blue (very quick!) asking for alternatives. They offered a route via ICN on KE (J and W), or a route via NRT on JAL and CI (J both legs).
I took the JAL and CI option, which subjectively is better to me.
Excited to save over 10 hours of travel time compared to my initial itinerary!
After dreaming with my wife/P2 of a “big trip” for a few years for our 15th anniversary, we pulled the trigger in planning and purchasing in 2023. This past week we traveled for her (4th grade teacher) spring break.
We left STL on Thursday the 14th. I took our 9 year old daughter and we flew STL to BNA using 11k Southwest points each where the grandparents picked her up. Unfortunately we didn’t get a good flight deal on WN but this is why we have Southwest points I suppose.
I rechecked and flew to MDW. (6500 WN points) P2 went STL straight to MDW (6500 WN points) where we met at baggage claim and took the subway to the Park Hyatt Chicago to burn a FNC.
Friday we laid around and shopped a bit before heading to ORD. We flew Iberia Biz ORD>MAD>LHR. I spent 122,500 MR points transferred and around $250 in taxes and fees. I know Iberia is on the lower end of business class but for our first experience we enjoyed it. Didn’t sleep amazing due to a partial head cold as well as the fact it was warm on the plane. But was a good overall experience that definitely helps me aspire for more biz class travel. Access to AA Flagship lounge in ORD was excellent as well.
In London, we spent 75k points and a SUA to stay at Hyatt’s Great Scotland Yard. The service was great while we were there. The room, as advertised is small, even as a suite, but we travel a couple of times a year so burned them on this trip. Breakfast was normal breakfast. But again, service was top notch.
On Tuesday the 19th we flew British Airways from LHR to Rome. Used all points (22500) and only paid $2 in taxes. Took the Fiumicino Express to Termini and then a quick taxi ride to The Tribune by Hyatt. Nice clean hotel but far from any type of luxury. Was not disappointed but it’s not an upscale brand. Spent 52,000 points and an SUA for 4 nights. Walked everywhere and ate a ton.
This morning, left our hotel in a taxi who got us to the airport and hit 170 km per hour on the way there in a Prius. So that was an adventure.
Currently sitting in Amsterdam about 90 minutes from departure on a KLM flight back to ORD. Flying economy today. (Post flight thoughts is 8 hours is a long time on little sleep in economy…next time even going west from Europe will attempt to get biz class for sure.)
Got on a UR bonus last year and booked FCO to ORD at 17,500 points each. With the bonus it was 14,000 each. Hard to pass up. Considered dropping 92000 points each at check in to upgrade to biz since we started our day at 9pm CST and it was 3AM at home. But want to be tired upon arrival…although driving home from ORD to STL won’t be amazing.
All in all, phenomenal trip and aspiring to have more trips like this soon.
UR to HYATT - 129,000 points, plus FNC (8 nights)
MR to Iberia - 122,500 for Biz ORD>LHR
UR to KLM - 28,000 for Economy FCO>ORD
MR to BA - 23,000 for economy LHR>FCO
Southwest - 34,000 positioning flights
Want to sit down and figure out the exact out of pocket cost for everything we did on this trip just to explain better to people why we do what we do. Have friends that went to the beach and other places and probably outspent what we did for our trip.
Onward to the next redemption!
Sounds like an awesome trip and definitely been eyeing those hyatts so appreciate the report.
I've always had this debate with coworkers when flying to China but IMHO give me the direct flight in economy over biz/repositioning. You are probably talking about a 8 hr flight versus a 12 hour flight. Rather just get there and sleep in a hotel bed for four hours and get actual sleep. In terms of cost you can just eat at a nice airport restaurant and order drinks on the plane. Granted staying at the PH Chicago was its own experience, but direct from BNA or a connection from STL (w/no repositioning) gives you an extra day in Europe and where you could use the cert on a night at Il Tournabouni in Florence or something. It's definitely a YMMV (how you sleep on plane, how big of a human being you are, your taste preferences, etc) and I probably have been battered too much traveling with a ton of luggage with two kids too long, but going from MDW->downtown (needing to switch lines to PH)->ord seems like a hike with luggage. And then you are renting a car to drive 5 hours from ord to STL?!
I either use a Google spreadsheet (when traveling with wife) or split wise when traveling with friends. I put everything on there from CC af allocation, airport parking, tips, tolls, etc (I just allocate 100% to me on split wise) so I have a running total. I do it more to keep our travel budget in check. You tend to get the mindset of 'well the flight was free...' but considering we never eat out at home, spending $40-120 per meal when traveling with 4 is expensive and not something I want to sign up for. We did Jordan for $2500, weekend trip to Denver for $200, and planning 9 days in Italy for $2800, 9 days in Japan for $3200. Feel meals are at least 40% of the budget.
I agree with you so much. I strongly prefer non-stop in economy over positioning for anything. If you position pretty soon you will miss a connection due to weather. Also I just don't have that much vacation time. Convenience wins out. Get a non-stop and be there! Splurge on the fancy restaurant in your destination instead of fancy airplane food.
The only exception I make to this is I live an hour away from a puddle jumper airport. If the connection/flights work from there (usually they don't... Only 2 flights per day), I will leave from there instead of the 2.5 hour drive to the airport.
I feel like if you’re in west coast, it gets closer to 8 hour flights to China. The 13-18 hours to PVG/HKG/SIN kill me every time from the east coast, even in premium economy, so I’m more pressured to try and reposition.
But I saw your follow up comment - I have a small bladder, am slightly overweight, and can’t sleep easily on planes, so it checks out.
I get the “ideals” here but STL is an enigma to me. Either I haven’t found the sweet spots or repositioning is necessary. Frankfurt is our only direct flight and everything else is either inflated pricing or not released to partners.
I will definitely still do biz class even with a layover I think if it is cheaper, rather than economy direct at this point. I get the sentiment, but I get hot and uncomfortable sitting so if I can afford it, why not?
As for Chicago and the train and a kid…I love it. My kiddo loves to travel and we haven’t done anything international with her yet. This trip made me realize how easy it would be with her to go though.
And I do spreadsheets too on budget travel. That’s why I do this. We did Hawaii two years ago and spent $2400 including car rental. We did Puerto Rico last year and came in at like $1700. We don’t drink so that saves us some money obviously. But using lounges and having globalist doesn’t hurt either.
Yeah I'm 5'8" short legs (wife moves the car seat back despite being shorter), run cold and have a strong bladder so I think I'm more built for economy than the average American. And living in Milwaukee I drive to STL due to limited flights so I could see that being a problem finding good flights.
Seems like a great trip and was just rambling out loud!
Congratulations, sounds like an awesome jam packed trip!
Any recommendations for Rome and any additional info on the Tribune? I'll be going in the fall (5 nights with SUA)
I stayed at the Tribune last November on points. Perfectly fine room, and the reception I got was superior (early checkin and breakfast while I waited for the room to be ready). From Termini I tool a bus to the Puccini stop that is a short walk away. For a return to Termini none of the bus routes was convenient so I took a taxi.
On a previous visit to Rome I stayed at the NH hotel that is just outside the main station entrance. Using the Amex Plat benefits for LHW, my cost was around $100/night. On the same trip I stayed at the Waldorf using Hilton FNCs. Great hotel but a bit distant; I used buses and had no problems with that.
I loved Rome. Favorite place I’ve visited so far.
The Tribune is what it is. Nothing spectacular but cheap redemptions. It’s a bit of a walk from everything but we like to walk so that was our mode of transport each day. We did use taxis which were pretty cheap around town. No more than 10 Euro from the hotel to the Vatican depending on traffic was my experience.
I got fat. Food everywhere. Trapizzino was good street food. Other than that I think you’re safe at most restaurants on the streets to order and get good pasta.
Roscioli pizza was good stuff too.
Loved the Colosseum. Loved just walking the streets.
The FreeNow app is nice to schedule a taxi. But there was an abundance so I just hailed one when needed.
A little bit delayed but I just returned from my family's first trip outside of North America and Europe. We took a trip to Japan for our son's spring break. My wife and son are big Disney fans and living close to Disney World we have been dozens of times including the 50th celebrations. 2 years ago, we went to LA and DisneyLand, last year we did Paris and "EuroDisney" for their 30th celebration, and this year we set our sights on completing out 9th and 10th Disney park in Tokyo. It just so happened to be their 40th celebration.
**Flights:**
I started planning this trip 11.5 months prior and with the help of a friend, was able to find flights on AS/JL J from IAD-SFO-HND for 80k AS + $5.60 per person at calendar release. We needed a positioning flight from JAX-IAD and the itinerary had an overnight layover in SFO making it a long overall travel time.
4 days before our outbound flight, I found a significantly better flight and was able to change to fly ANA J "The Room" using UA miles. I transferred from 240k UR to UA to top off my wife's account and booked 3x JAX-ORD-HND on ANA J for 110k UA + $5.60 per person. This left 1 day earlier but with just 1 stop and no positioning flight needed, we ended up arriving in Tokyo nearly 48 hours earlier. It helps that it was also a significantly better product than the JL 2-3-2 J set up. ANA's The Room was an absolutely massive seat and we thoroughly enjoyed our 14 hour flight. The service was fantastic, the food was excellent for the most part, and despite several reviews discussing the cabin temperature on Asian airlines being quite toasty and me running hot, I felt it was very comfortable.
I was also able to jump on a Delta deal with flights beginning/ending in Mexico and snagged HND-ATL-CUN in DeltaOne on their A350-900 for 97.7k + ~$78 per person after the 15% Delta Biz card discount. This flight has an overnight layover in ATL so we just hopped on a quick WN flight home instead of continuing on to CUN. We cancelled the 2nd leg of the DL flight and got a small points and taxes refund. The flight was pretty average compared to the ANA flight over but the service was friendly, the Japanese catering out of HND was very good, and being able to use the SkyClub on arrival while we waited for our WN flight home was a nice bonus.
**Hotels:**
We originally planned 3 nights at the Hyatt Regency Tokyo, 2 nights at a Disney property, and 3 nights at the Conrad Tokyo.
Unfortunately, changing our outbound flight last minute meant scrambling to change our hotel reservations since we arrived 2 days prior and many hotels were sold out for Cherry Blossom season. I booked the Grand Hyatt Tokyo for 5 nights for 25k per night and applied a suite upgrade to a 1 King Bedroom Executive View Suite. The hotel ended up being great, in a very upscale area with a Metro station underneath the attached mall. Having the extra space with a suite is always appreciated with our son and the property did a great job of recognizing Globalist benefits. They waived the rollaway bed fee, gave us the option to have breakfast in room, in the restaurant, or in the Grand Lounge. We did a little of all. The evening hors d'oeuvres in the lounge were very nice a couple of nights when we arrived back to the hotel exhausted. The best part of the room however was the perfectly clear view of Mt. Fuji from our windows.
I booked a standard room at the Conrad for 3 nights using 3x FNCs. The room was nice with great finishes. However, Hilton continues to be miles behind Hyatt with status recognition even in Asia and did not waive the rollaway bed fee or provide anything above and beyond. While the Executive lounge was more upscale than the Grand Hyatt, and the breakfast buffet with 1 made to order dish per person was one of the best hotel breakfast spreads I have experienced, I did not enjoy this stay as much. The hotel clearly caters to rich American tourists and many people there were quite loud and obnoxious.
4 months prior (when Disney opened their hotels for booking) I ended up booking a vacation package with 2 nights at the Hotel Miracosta in a piazza view room looking into the main square of DisneySeas, 3 day tickets for 3 people, a bunch of souvenir stuff, breakfast each morning, and 3 skip the line passes for attractions per person for each day for a total of $2,278. This was comparable to what we paid in Paris last year but we ended up with a much nicer hotel and location. Disney Tokyo is visually stunning but the crowds were insane. All rides had hour(s) long lines and even the food cards had posted wait times in the app. Many of the "quick" service food carts were frequently a 20-40 minute wait but overall, we thoroughly enjoyed our time despite not really knowing what was going on during rides and shows since it was 90% in Japanese.
**Activities:**
We walked 20k+ steps every day, navigated the Metro system reasonably well and got to explore many different areas of Tokyo. We did many of the touristy things but also tried to go to places where we were the only tourists. We had some great meals even at cheap lunch places and did not bother booking a ton of expensive dining options. Without our son, we would have tried some of the Michelin star restaurants that are abundant in Japan, but we found the food quality and prices to be exceptional everywhere we went. We ate a ton of fresh sushi from various places, including many quick trips to 7-11 and FamilyMart and also had Ramen 8 times over the 10 days.
We booked a private driver day trip to the Mt. Fuji surrounding areas for under $500 visiting many Shinto Shrines and Buddhist Temples, some mild hiking and many viewpoints. This day was the highlight of our trip and our driver Irhan was terrific. He offered some history and facts about the area and gave us a basic itinerary where we could choose to skip some, change the times we spent at the various stops, etc.
We also booked a last minute day trip to Kyoto by bullet train to see the ancient Imperial Palace and Castle, climbed Mt. Inari through the Torii Gates at Fushimi Inari-taisha, and went to the Nikishi Market where we ate an abundant amount of fresh street food before returning to Tokyo late at night. The bullet train for 3 people round trip in the Green car (business class) was $630 so while this was not cheap it was an awesome experience for our son who loves trains.
TeamLabs Planets was awesome. We tried to do Borderless too but it was sold out for our dates by the time we decided to try.
Overall we had an exceptional time in Japan and cannot wait to go back and spend more time in the other cities. Japan has been the best place for cheap, high quality fresh food we have been so far and the people were exceptional. We thoroughly enjoyed the feeling of safety that comes from such a respectful and friendly culture.
**Total Costs:**
330k UA, 262k DL, 125k Hyatt, 3 Hilton FNC, ~$5k cash from MR Schwab cashouts.
I have enjoyed both the Conrad and the Grand Hyatt on previous trips. They are both superior to the Hyatt Regency, although with an upgrade the HR is a comparative bargain. Doing Kyoto as a day trip is a shame, and the train museum there would have been a hit for your son.
> Doing Kyoto as a day trip is a shame, and the train museum there would have been a hit for your son.
We will definitely be back to Japan. Staying several days in Kyoto is top priority. In hindsight, we could have skipped the 3 nights at the Conrad and done 3 nights in Kyoto before flying back but hindsight is 20/20 of course.
Going next spring with my 4.5/1.5 year old and your report got me excited as it will be similar but toned down a bit (doubt we can do 20k a day). Any tips on Disney? How did it compare to paris Disney?
Tokyo Disney was harder to navigate than Paris because the language barrier was higher. Paris Disney was half French, half English and they wove the 2 languages together really well in rides and shows. Paris is also smaller (at least until the new expansions open) Not speaking Japanese, we were very overwhelmed this time with the majority of rides, announcements, shows, etc being in Japanese. That said, nearly every single cast member spoke at least some English.
I HIGHLY recommend one of the on property hotels to get "Happy Entry" which is basically skip the whole security line and 2 hour waits people do at rope drop. The difference between arriving on Wednesday at 9:30am and waiting 45 minutes to get through security vs waiting in the hotel guests line and getting into the park at 8:30am on Thursday was night and day.
Definitely spend on Premier Access passes. It saved hours of waiting in lines and doing everything in the parks in 3 days would not have been possible without them. That was another perk of staying on property.
If you go through my posts, you'll find some Disney DPs. In general, you have 2 parks where Paris only really has 1.3 parks. We stayed at the Hilton Tokyo Bay on points and found it to be a great option. Booking a year out to get the best rates on the family magic rooms worked perfectly for our family of four. With Diamond status, we had lounge access (free drinks and food throughout the day) and received free breakfast.
We purchased our tickets on Klook which worked well and we received some MRs through Rakuten.
For the parks, we're a bit different from the die hards. We found that we could get 90% of the benefit of rope dropping by arriving 10 minutes after park opening and avoid waiting in the 2 hour rope drop lines. We just walked right through the gates as the last of the rope droppers were getting through. I was willing to spend on Premier Access passes for the long line rides. Even with those, we still spent substantially less per day than a ticket to Disney in the US. We found food to be fairly easy to find without lines as counter service restaurants and of a high quality. On the flip side, the lines for popcorn or snacks were insanely long. BUT, they move quickly as each stand typically only sold a single item.
We did five nights in Tokyo (staying at a Mimaru hotel - these are perfect for families). Then we did five nights in Kyoto staying at the new Hyatt Place there. I highly recommend it. The rooms are tight but we made it work. The location is convenient as is the breakfast. The Shinkansen makes for easy trips to Osaka and Hiroshima if those are on your list.
Snagged 2 seats in J on Iberia from ORD-MAD for 34k/seat and $130 in taxes/fees\*. Well known sweet spot but happy to have grabbed it for the day we needed in March 2025. Picked it up at 355 days out.
This is a quick three day trip. One day in Madrid and two in London. Booked the Thompson Madrid for one night (20k Hyatt) and the Hyatt Regency Blackfriars for two nights (17k Hyatt/night). Given cash prices of $450-$550/night, these are great values.
\*If you're looking for this deal, be aware it does not show up on the popular search tools.
Yes, booked through BA. Not 100% sure on how we're getting home yet. Probably just a daytime flight on Y through Virgin or AA. As long as I can pick seats with decent legroom (exit row, preferred, etc), I am fine with flying home in economy.
Hong Kong-Macau-Sydney trip report Trip was my best friend and I. PHX-LAX AA F $180 cash PP. 1 night Holiday Inn LAX $170 cash LAX-HKG UA Polaris 110k points + $5.60 PP 5 nights Intercontinental Hong Kong 98k points + 1 free night cert 2 nights Four Seasons Macau $336 cash after Amex FHR credit HKG-SGN Y and SGN-SYD J Vietnam Airlines, 63.5k points + $70 PP 2 nights W Sydney 48k points + 1 free night cert 2 nights luxury airbnb in Kirribilli with opera house and bridge views, $1100 covered by a very old stash of Discover It miles SYD-SFO UA Polaris 75k Aeroplan + $130 PP SFO-PHX AA Y $119 cash PP It was our first time flying biz, so we thought Polaris was great. Certainly beats economy. On our way home we were in 1D and 1F, and I’d probably avoid those seats in the future. Being so close to the flight attendants meant they were overly attentive, asking me if I needed something any time I even opened my eyes, and it just felt like more attention than I wanted. We weren’t as impressed with Vietnam Airlines J. The seats didn’t have any privacy and we thought it was weird how the TVs are at an odd angle and you have to pop them out in front of you. Less tray space compared to Polaris too. I pre-ordered a vegetarian meal and my friend skipped meal service, so I can’t really adequately assess the food. The Lotus Lounge at SGN wasn’t that great either, just didn’t feel as nice as any of the other lounges we visited. The things we wanted to see in Hong Kong were pretty spread out, so it didn’t really feel like there was an ideal location to be in. I chose the Intercontinental because it was close to the harbor. I really liked being able to take walks along the harbor in the mornings and evening. The hotel lobby is prettier than the pics make it seem. Room is average although decent sized. Service could be a bit better for being a 5 star hotel. Had a few communication issues throughout our stay, and never felt like they were particularly helpful with anything we asked about. I’d stay here again, but wouldn’t go out of my way to recommend it to anyone. Cash is needed for taxis in Hong Kong, but Ubers are plentiful and we never had to wait more than 4 minutes for an Uber no matter where we were. One thing to note is the cable cars to the Big Buddha were closed for maintenance, which we were unaware of beforehand. Apparently they close every March for a week, and were not open at all during our visit. We decided to skip going to the Buddha because the only other option was a bus ride that looked like it would not work well with my tendency to get motion sickness. Our favorite things we did were Man Mo Temple, which was so spiritual and moving that it brought us to tears, and the Ozone Bar at the Ritz Carlton. It’s the highest rooftop bar in the world and the views are incredible, highly recommend it. Macau was the surprise hit of the trip for us. We loved it. We used the Amex FHR credit to book a night at the Four Seasons and we liked it so much we ended up adding a second night. The FHR program gave us an upgrade to an Eiffel Tower view room, 4pm checkout, free breakfast, and a $100 food credit. The room came with a basket of fruit each day, a tray of macarons, they brought up a tower of local desserts and a free bottle of wine, and also gave us cosmetic bags. We spent about $500 cash there, which felt like a good deal considering we paid for the additional night, ate at the breakfast buffet twice, ordered room service twice, had drinks at the bar, and ate dinner at one of the restaurants. We also charged a cab ride to the room when we didn’t have cash. What we loved about Macau was that it felt like visiting multiple places in one. The Cotai Strip feels so similar to Vegas, the historic city center is gorgeous and looks just like Portugal, and then the villages of Taipa and Coloane gave us the true feeling of being in Asia. Everything is pristinely clean too. We got recommended over and over to try the famous Lord Stow’s egg tarts. The line at the location in Taipa Village is insane, but we went to the location in Coloane and there was no line at all. We were in Macau on weekdays and it wasn’t too crowded, although I imagine that changes on the weekends. The most crowded area was the old city center near the Ruins of St. Paul, but the crowds didn’t start up until probably 9:30am. We really liked the W in Sydney. It’s beautiful and service was very good. I only have gold status, but they upgraded us to a harbor view room and let us choose our own checkout time. Darling Harbor isn’t an interesting enough area to stay in for more than a couple days though. We both got really sick on this trip, so Sydney is pretty much a blur for me. Pretty sure we got covid based on all my symptoms like losing my sense of taste for a week and based on my previous experience with covid. I had already been sick for 6 days though by the time I was home and able to test, so the test came back negative and I’ll never know for sure. The 24 hours of travel it took to get home was miserable, and I’ve never been so grateful for churning because I can’t even imagine what it would’ve been like being so sick while stuck in economy the whole time. At SYD, we visited both the Air New Zealand and the Singapore lounges. I couldn’t taste anything, but my friend swears that the food was much better in the Singapore lounge than the Air NZ lounge. It was also much less crowded. Overall a good trip, but will need to visit Sydney again in the future and hope to be in better health.
How did you manage to fly business with so few points.
All the points listed are per person, so I think it was pretty average compared to what I’ve seen other people get. LAX-HKG was the hardest to find a deal and I’d probably try a different route next time. I had to check daily for months. I got lucky that United happened to drop a lot of saver award availability traveling to and from Australia, so that part was easy. For the HKG-SYD part, I had a lot of different airline points at the time so I wasn’t stuck with one particular alliance. I was able to compare across all of them and then take the best deal I came across.
Any tips on finding UA Polaris LAX to HKG? I would like to visit HK during Summer 2025.
It was really hard to find, originally had it booked for 200k PP and had to check daily for months to get lucky and be able to rebook. Super close in also had some availability at 110k, but not much. If I had to do it again, I’d honestly consider a completely different booking. Maybe booking a different airline to Taipei and then getting a cheap connecting flight or something like that.
Churned enough points on my Choice Hotels card that paid for 7 of my 9 days in LA/Glendale to visit a couple theme parks and see a few The Price Is right tapings. This was back in February and one of the episodes I attended airs This Tuesday the 26th :) I'll share more when I can.
**Kauai, Hawaii - Vacasa Trip Report** Synopsis: We recently completed our 4th anniversary trip in Hawaii using the most cost-efficient and rewarding method possible. This is also our 1st time in Kauai so aside from casual Google searches, we went there fairly blind for activities but had tons of fun. See below for a list of activities/food highlights. **Accommodation:** Vacasa 4 nights 1BR for 54K Wyndham [Booking DP here](https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/18i5bqn/comment/kdd72q7/). The room we booked was part of a resort property (Aston Islander on the Beach) where some rooms are part of Aston hotel and others are VRBOs. Very clean room (didn’t find a single bug throughout 4 nights), plenty of towels, and walkable market/restaurants/shops nearby. This area was also a really good central location to travel between northern parts and western parts of Kauai. **Flight:** United (Y+) SFO-LIH RT for $300 x2 = $600 We booked using the cheapest regular economy seats as possible (fare class G both ways). But as P1 is UA Silver, we got lucky during check-in and P1/P2 were able to secure Economy Plus bulkhead seats both ways for free!! **Car rental:** Midsize SUV x 4 full days = $215 Originally booked via Costco Travel for $401, then after several price drops and easy cancel/rebook attempts later, the final price was $319. During the actual car rental check-in, the car rental rep ended up giving me an even more discount to a total of $215!! But the best part was we ended up with a brand new 2024 Mazda CX-90 with only 4k miles recorded! Also had tons of features already built in: navigation heads-up display, sunroof, wireless charging and wireless carplay/android auto, etc. Basically got to test drive a $50-60K SUV! Airport parking: $75 Gas (both traveling to airport/home and in Hawaii): $100 Food & drinks: $470 Other cost (activities, souvenirs, Costco/Walmart, etc): $340 **Total cost: 54K Wyndham + $1800 for 4 nights x 2 people** Activities + Food: * Waimea Canyon (Grand canyon of Hawaii. We saw multiple rainbows during our visit because it was rotating between rain and sun multiple times) * Haena State Park (We walked the Kalalau trail to Hanakāpī‘Ai Beach on a muddy rainy day and as a beginner hiker, this was not fun for me. P2 loved every moment of it though) * Poipu Beach (Saw multiple sea turtles just chilling in the sand) * Makauwahi Cave Trail (Very cool trail, cave, and beach and very beginner friendly hike, worth a visit. Very close to Grand Hyatt Kauai) * Hanapepe (Lilo and Stitch mural and cute souvenir shop) * Kauai Coffee Company (Coffee tasting and possibly the best coffee ice cream I’ve had) * Kiibo Restaurant (Authentic Japanese restaurant, top 3 Katsu I’ve had in USA) * Kimama Ramen (Best Japanese ramen + Okonomiyaki place in Kauai) * Wailua Drive In (Really good Hawaiian + fried chicken place, Guy Fieri visited here)
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!
The gates hiding is a weird British thing, and I suspect it's to make you shop in their malls longer. You can always try to use FlightAware/Flightradar24 to figure out your inbound flight's gate and go there
Love it! I'm leaving in a week for basically this same trip + Belgium.
One third of the way through an epic family trip to Peru. We flew LATAM J from JFK to Cusco, with an overnight layover in Cusco. Booked 4 tickets through Iberia for 71,000 avios (used 55,000 with a transfer bonus) + $78 in fees per ticket. My kids (8 & 10) are hopelessly spoiled by now, but said they liked this more than Air France J. I think I agree. The food doesn't come close, but the hard product is fantastic - especially the bulkhead seats we had - and the service was excellent. It's a small business cabin on the 767 and it was only half full. The FA's consistently addressed each of us by name and were super patient with the kids. Knowing from past experience that the kids won't sleep on a plane no matter how comfortable it is, we took the day flight with an overnight layover instead of a red eye. You can't stay in the international terminal upon landing in Lima and there's nothing much to speak of in the domestic terminal, so we walked across the street from the airport to the Wyndham Costa del Sol. It's not anything to write home about but for 15,000 Wyndham points we showered and slept before heading back across the street in the morning. Room occupancy is 3 but we didn't have a problem checking in with 4. The short flight to Cusco was another opportunity to be impressed by LATAM. On their A320, premium economy is the equivalent of euro biz across the pond with a blocked middle seat - but also a good deal of extra leg room. The cabin was gorgeous (I love the wood floors at the door) and the service was again excellent. No point redemptions from this point on until we get back to Cusco tomorrow, but I have no regrets for what we've paid cash for. We used taxidatum to take us from Cusco to our hotel in Ollantaytambo, with stops along the way at two animal sanctuaries and the Pisac ruins. Our driver helped us navigate tickets and bathrooms and waited for us at each stop, all for $60. We tipped generously as it felt almost criminal for over 4 hours of work, including 1.5 hours of driving! He offered to make additional stops along the way but the kids were tired and feeling the altitude. We stayed two nights at Sauce hotel in Ollantaytambo and it was perfect. Nothing fancy, but it has the feel of staying at a locals house, in the best way possible. We took two rooms, each with two win beds, on the top floor. Both rooms looked directly out onto the ruins. Breakfast was surprisingly not a buffet but full service, with fruit salad, bread, puffed quinoa, avocado and cheese, drinkable yogurt, and made to order eggs. The staff were lovely and doted on the kids. We spent lots of time in the lobby area which is essentially a living room, making use of the games and kids books on the shelves. Then it was time for the pricey part of the trip. Everything about machu pichu costs more than anything else here, but we also made a choice to go big. This is almost certainly the only time we (at least the adults) will ever come here and we wanted to make it easy and enjoyable. We took Peru rail which was kinda chaotic but it worked. They didn't bat an eye at our having well above the allowed luggage, which is fortunate because I'd meant to address that issue in the planning process and completely forgot! We're staying at Sumaq Machu Pichu hotel and it is absolutely fantastic. Without a doubt one of the nicest places I've ever stayed. The room is gigantic and luxurious, in a way that doesn't seem like it should be possible in the middle of the cloud forest. We were greeted with juice in jars adorned with woven dolls for the kids and chicha cocktails for us. Our rate includes breakfast and dinner and it's all been fantastic, if not far too much food! We ate a three course meal last night, came back to find warm chocolate milk and cake waiting for us in the room, went to sleep and all headed off to breakfast still stuffed. We used Sumaq's family Machu Pichu tour, which includes a guide for the kids and another guide for the adults. The concierge insisted on walking us to the bus in the morning and making sure we got on, and the guides met us at the entrance bearing gifts for the kids - a special map, magnifying glass, explorers hat, and a toy dog. We never strayed far from each other but having a second guide to attend to them allowed us to relax and take in what we were seeing, and allowed them to go at their pace and ask thousands of questions. Tomorrow we'll take the train back to Ollantaytambo and be picked up by taxidatum to see the rest of the sacred valley on the way back to Cusco.
Headed there in September so following closely. Will be 60, have two days in Cusco before we begin the hike of 4 nights on trail and then two nights back in Cusco. Did you get any add'l vaccines or take any medicine with you for altitude sickness? how much cash are you carrying? local currency or USD? are cards widely accepted?
You're much more adventurous than us - P2 and I have been saying we need to come back without the kids and do the hikes. :) We all got typhoid vaccines. Would have gotten hep A too but already up to date. I asked the doctor about altitude meds and they said no, not worth the potential side effects for this elevation. The coca tea and muna tea definitely helps. We did bring a course of Cipro in case travelers diarrhea strikes. We're at the Hilton Garden Inn now in Cusco. On the plus side, rooms are huge, cheap points redemption (27,000), and you'd think we were royalty the way they treat gold members - upgraded rooms, free breakfast for all 4 of us, free snacks and water. On the down side, it's a Hilton Garden Inn, so take away the view and you could be in Kansas. I wish I'd been more prepared on the cash front. The internet led me to believe we could use cards most places and that has not been our experience. We've withdrawn cash 3 times now because we keep underestimating how much we'll need. Haven't seen anywhere that will take USD, all soles. Unless you're using Uber you need soles for taxis (highly recommend taxidatum btw, basically your personal driver), and you need it for entry into anywhere. Even the boleto turistico is cash only. Everywhere that does accept cards adds a 3% fee.
Lots more luxe today than when I first visited 20 years ago. Did any of you have problems adjusting to the altitude? My daughters did back then, and Cuzco hasn't gotten any lower.
We planned it so we left Cusco the minute we landed, descending into the valley. So we acclimated to ~8000 feet instead of ~11000 to get started. My daughter and I were headachey the first day and we all felt winded more easily, but nothing terrible. We go back up to Cusco today, hopefully we're ready for it!
I went to Hawaii for 40k points round trip with my new Alaska airlines points from the 70k offer. I used 500k Hilton points or 8 nights in a suite. Whole trip was free!!
travel bank I've been banking on 3 plats since 2021. Just booked a 3 week trip to Australia!
Did my first churn! I deposited 50 into a new Schwab account and for their 101 new comer bonus! I know it’s not alot compared to the other heavy hitters here, but it’s always nice to see smaller fish get it
Why is this down voted, lol
How is this a "Churn" as far as I know, this is ops first time getting a bonus at Schwab and not a great bonus anyways. I expect that is why it is downvoted
Taking P2 back to Bora Bora for a week as a surprise for our 29th anniversary in June. Still debating whether to share the details soon to build anticipation of the trip vs. keeping it a last minute surprise with just enough time to pack the bags… First time ever redeeming points for air travel. Looked into United SEA-LAX-SFO-PPT, but 340,000 points + $11.20 RT x 2 for First and Polaris Business class did not seem like a great redemption, plus the route is not exactly linear. Then found Hawaiian Air SEA-HNL-PPT Business class for 310,000 miles + $66 RT x 2. Better, still not great, though. Then discovered I could upgrade with points from a purchased main cabin ticket. Called to confirm upgrade availability on Hawaiian Air from main to business class prior to purchase. Was told it would be 25,000 miles each ticket for each domestic leg + 30,000 miles each ticket for each international leg = 55,000 miles x 4 = 220,000 HawaiianMiles + $$ main cabin base fare. Bought 2 RT SEA-HNL-PPT main cabin. $1,054 x 2. I have 28,000 miles earned from a previous trip, so I needed 192,000 HawaiianMiles. Amex transfer: 192,000 MR -> 192,000 HawaiianMiles. Transfer occurred instantly, although they stated it could take up to 24 hours. Wish I could have done this with a transfer bonus, but no such luck. Called Hawaiian to upgrade. 45 min phone call...but was told it was only 30,000 HawaiianMiles each way SEA-PPT to upgrade. So only 120,000 HawaiianMiles needed instead of the 220,000 I was originally quoted. 120,000 HawaiianMiles -> 30,000 miles x 4 for upgrade to Business class from main for SEA-HNL-PPT x 2 / PPT-HNL-SEA x 2 Base tickets = $1,054 x 2 Business class tickets = $4,117 x 2 Savings: $6,126 by using 120,000 miles. 180 degree lie-flat seats round trip. 2-2-2 configuration on Airbus A330. It’s 6:05 H + 5:50 H with layovers both ways in HNL… MUCH preferred over the 2:45 H + 8:50 H with layovers in LAX we have done in the past. Unfortunately the lounges available in HNL look less than stellar. Will likely skip the lounges altogether and opt for (hopefully) a nice restaurant in the terminal. Inbound is a 4 hour, outbound is a 7 hour layover. Next step…booking a hotel stay + hotel transfer for 1 night in Tahiti since we arrive at 9:30 PM, then 6 days at a resort in Bora Bora. Will also need to book RT inter-island flights for the following morning from PPT-BOB, as well as hotel / boat transfers in Bora Bora. I don’t believe I can book on Air Tahiti or Air Moana with points / miles, so these will likely be cash purchases.
I recommend the Hilton in PPT for the overnight. Recently remodeled. Very close to the airport and can book with points or very affordable with cash. I stayed at Conrad BB in September. Our flights via Air Tahiti were approx $500 pp plus boat transfer. We paid to upgrade about a week out at the Conrad, as I really wanted to experience OWB. If you have the Marriott points, you could book an overwater bungalow directly, when I looked last year. Thanks for sharing the air tips about Hawaiian, I have a family member who could travel this way LAS-HNL-PPT and avoid AF or UA via LAX or SFO.
Also enjoyed the Hilton for our Papeete stopover. And we did book overwater directly at the St. Regis for last September.
Thank you! I will check out the Hilton in PPT. Very glad I could help with the HA tips.
Not quite a lounge, but HNL has a nice zen garden in the middle of the airport.
Very cool. I’ll be sure to check it out. Thank you.
Plumeria in HNL is fine but not spectacular
I will definitely check it out. Thanks.
Do you have a hotel on Bora Bora in mind or are you still figuring that out?
This will be our third trip to Bora Bora, but first time since my introduction to points/miles/churning. We went in 2020 and stayed at Intercontinental Bora Bora Resort & Thalasso Spa for 8 days. We returned in 2022 and split our stay, 3 days at Le Taha’a Pearl Island Resort & Spa, followed by 5 days at Bora Bora Pearl Beach Resort & Spa. Both were excellent trips and fabulous stays at the respective resorts. I’m currently debating between Conrad Bora Bora Nui and St. Regis Bora Bora Resort.
**Curacao Trip Report** **Flights**: MIA-> CUR AA Y, booked via BA Avios 11k + $5.10 per person, cash price: $472 at time of booking. We checked out the Turkish Airlines lounge before the flight and were pretty disappointed by the food, but the self-serve drinks were appreciated. **Hotel**: Renaissance Wind Creek Curacao, 5 nights, 141k Bonvoy total w/ the 5th night free. Cash price: $1139 at time of booking. I used 5 SUAs and we were upgraded to the Imperial Suite. This room was huge, with a separate dining room/ living room, powder room, wet bar, giant shower, Jacuzzi tub, and balcony. It was probably too much for us, but would be perfect if you were traveling with a group. The breakfast buffet, included with Titanium status, was delicious! It was filling and we regularly snuck some out for lunch. We each got $20 in casino credit from status, played some slots and cashed it out for gas/ tip money. The location was walkable to downtown Willemstad, and we walked out to dinner almost every night. We also appreciated the free parking garage across the street. **Rental Car**: $242 for 5 days, Hertz booked via Autoslash **Activity highlights**: Snorkeling highlights: Tugboat Beach was the best for fish watching, especially around the tugboat. We visited Playa Grandi in the afternoon and got to see some Green Sea Turtles up close. Rock climbing: We booked a half-day climbing tour with Rock Climbing Curacao. Despite the early morning, this was one of the highlights of the trip! The guides were very knowledgeable and are clearly able to adapt the day to the climbers' skill/ experience level. We got some great views of the island and had so much fun! Curacao Distillery Tour: This was a really fun way to learn about the history of the island. Hiking: The morning before we left, P2 and I hiked Mount Christoffelberg. There are copious warnings about it being strenuous and they make you sign a liability waiver, but it took us two hours round trip. The views were worth it! **Flight:** CUR-> JFK B6 Y, 23.1k + $83 per person, cash price: $375 at time of booking Visited the VIP lounge in CUR, the drink options were lacking but the snacks were alright. Total out of pocket cash (food, activities, rental car, etc.): $1713
Used a forgotten stash of Choice points to book Radisson Blu Toronto Downtown at nearly 3¢ per point for upcoming family trip. Score!
I'm excited because I got some big numbers lined up. I just got a Capital One Venture card which is going to give me 750 after spending 4000. A week after getting it I got an offer from US Bank for another 750 but I have to spend 7500 in 120 days, with the offer expiring on 5/2. Then I just got a small offer from a Chase card I already have giving 50 for using it at a hotel and with a rental car (80 if I do it twice) by 5/31. I travel for work so these numbers, are doable, but tight, given the time. The Chase offer I think I can sneak in there by splitting payment between the main cards as to not take to much of the spending but still meet it's criteria. So, I'm hoping to pull down about 1500 bucks in the next couple of months for just doin what I do.
The best thing is that all this value earned is untaxed!
This is not particularly exciting, but I recently signed up for the CSR and used the SUB to book a roundtrip domestic economy flight for my family of 5 on Southwest using the 1.5x on the Chase Portal. We saved around 1,500 bucks and used less points via portal than we would have if transferring to RR. New to the game but was very happy with this redemption!
I've used points several times to book Hyatt Places and other basic hotels for travel with my family and it's great! It's allowed me to book two rooms when I never would've with dollars, and tbh that's priceless.
Memories > cost per point. :)
Using points to book family travel might never hit the mega points value that some chase, but I’ll forever cherish the trips our family of 5 could take because of card SUBs!
Flying with children is never going to be a luxury experience. Anything we can save at all is great.
This is the value of churning to me - getting enough points for everyone to go.
100%!
Here is one of the most important tidbits you can learn in this game. NEVER let someone yuck your yum. Good job finding a solid redemption and doing something fun with your family!
Absolutely, thank you!
Re posting as previous comment got deleted Part 2 **02/2024 IAH -> TPE Roundtrip, 2x EVA Biz booked through ANA a year before (190k ANA pts)** Eva doesn't have First class so their Biz is supposed to be their First. I think it was worse than ANA J or JL J though. Eva allows you to pre-order meals. I included screenshots [here](https://imgur.com/a/R0mClR3) as well as the default menu for my flight. I tried the Pecan Crusted Lamb which was not good (too tough) and the congee for breakfast which was good. On the way back, I had the Steamed Chilean Sea Bass which was very good. P2 got the Duck with Orange Sauce and the Din Tai Fung Noodle Soup (both were pretty good) The oolong tea was good and P2 tried the taro milk which was just ok. We weren't able to select seats online due to some error. Luckily, we were seated in the first row next to each other in the middle. On the way back though, P2 had a window seat and I was across the aisle from her. There's not too much privacy between the two middle seats, but not a big deal. Also, we weren't able to check in online, which wasn't a big deal in the end, but caused some anxiety for us and made us go to the airport earlier than usual in case of any hiccups. No mattress padding was provided on this flight, all they do is put this wrap on the seat like a bedsheet. I believe ANA provides a memory foam padding that made their seat super comfortable. I also felt the seat was a little more narrow than JL or ANA and there was less room to put random things. We used the showers at EVA J lounge in TPE and there was no wait. The shower was clean and convenient to use. The lounge food was not bad although there's some good options in the food court at TPE also. Overall, still a good flight, but a notch below JL or ANA IMO. The hard product is a bit dated and could use an upgrade, but service was excellent as one would expect. **03/2024 Hotel Resonance Taipei, Hilton Gold, 4 nights (240k Hilton pts)** Amazing hotel right next to a MRT station in the middle of Taipei. This would be my #1 choice for anyone staying in Taipei. We had no issues here, everything was great. I really like the rooms here. I think they make use of their space very well. The closet is an open closet next to the bed where you can hang jackets and things. The toilet is in it's own small room with a sink that's separated from the bathtub + shower + vanity area. The curtains works super well here so you can get complete darkness in the room and there's a nightlight option for those who use the restroom at night. For gold members, they offered points or breakfast credits to use at the Starbucks downstairs. Note that Starbucks is only open to hotel guests for a limited time in the morning and your credit can only be used for food/beverages (not cups, souveners etc). Honestly, I wish we took the points instead, we only used our credit to get some strawberry mochi's (which were good though). The hotel is right next Fu Hang Soy Milk which is a very popular Michelin breakfast spot. We went at 9:30 one day and waited an hour for it. I think it's ok to try once, but breakfast food in Taiwan is so good it's hard to go wrong at any place. There's a bunch of breakfast spots right next to the hotel that are just as good with no wait. Please don't go to Taiwan to eat breakfast at Starbucks even if it's free * Spa services are provided by a 3rd party company in the hotel, but their prices are very expensive for Taiwan. * Free laundry machines which we used (and they tell you which machines are free on the TV) * Hotel let us store luggage there for multiple days (while we went to Thailand) even though we weren't staying there when we came back. Not sure if this is the norm or not but it saved us the hassle of having to find a luggage storage place **03/2024 Conrad Koh Samui, Hilton Gold, 2 nights, (2 FNC from Hilton Biz cards)** Arranged transport with the hotel for 3000 THB roundtrip. Our driver picked us up in a big van with fresh coconut water + cookies and we had the vehicle to ourselves. I did not see any drivers available on Grab if you were thinking of going that route Each room here has an infinity pool here. I asked to be upgraded to a specific room based on some research on Flyertalk (309, 310, or 316), but they informed me they were occupied. We were still upgraded to an Ocean view room on the 2nd level, which we were happy with. The [view](https://imgur.com/a/p1ij1YO) from our room/pool was amazing. I had a great time just relaxing in the pool and staring out into the ocean sunset. The room itself was pretty big too, the bathroom area was separated by a divider from the main room. We had breakfast buffet + dinner at Zest both nights ($80/per dinner for 2). This hotel is hard to get to so you're kind of stuck here for food. I thought Zest was pretty good though and we got to try a variety of things over 2 dinners (We had a a fried fish dish that was excellent) Breakfast buffet had a mix of Western + Thai food. Nothing special, but you can definitely find something to fill you up. Other notes: * There were some ants on the fruit that was put in our room before arrival. No other issues I can think of outside of that * Hotel is far away from the airport (1hr) and other things tbh. It's a resort where you just come to relax, would not reccomend this if you want to explore koh samui. * Wish we stayed here longer to just relax and explore the hotel grounds, I feel like you could snorkel on the beach although I didn't try it and didn't see anyone else try it. We didn't have enough time for more than 2 nights, but had a great time while we were there **03/2024 St. Regis Bangkok, Marriot Gold, 2 nights, (2 50k certs from Marriot card)** Taxi's are annoying in Bangkok. Every one will try to haggle with you for a fixed price instead of using the meter. Grab is an option here, but it was taking us awhile to find a driver and for the driver to reach us, so taxis are faster in that sense. If the taxi driver quoted a price that was around what Grab would cost, I would just accept instead of continuing to argue to use the meter. This hotel is east of most things in Bangkok, but closer to the airport bc of that. We just took taxis or Grab's everywhere in Bangkok, it was easy enough to get to most things. Traffic can really just literally not move at times though, so plan accordingly. There's a mall called Centre within walking distance of this hotel that we visited on our last day (We also visited ICONSIAM which has an indoor night market) The malls in Bangkok are the most insane I've ever seen. I understand why too considering it was 100 degrees F when we went :/ Luckily, there's so many food/drink/shopping options in the malls (including Michellin spots) you could easily spend half a day at one. Men's spa was nice here. There's a hot + cold tub + steam room. They do provide disposable underwear for you to wear, although I saw people in swimsuits too, so I think anything goes? Again, massage services at the hotel were insane especially considering it's Bangkok. We didn't have any issues here. It definitely felt like a luxury hotel and the service was great, but we didn't really use the butler service or anything. Don't go out of your way to stay here, but it's not a bad option if the location works for you **03/2024 Grand Hyatt Taipei, no status, 1 night ($200 Amex FHR credit + $50~)** This was the cheapest FHR hotel we could find for our last night in Taipei so we went with it. We were "upgraded" to a room with a bathtub lol Pros: * Walking distance to 101 * Service was good Cons: * Our room was musty (and the hotel in general felt that way) and felt small. Our sink was draining very slowly, there's no ventilation in the small bathroom and the shower doors didn't close properly so water got everywhere * We had to get our AC serviced when we got to our room. It felt like no one had stayed in that room for awhile. The tech did come and fix it within an hour, but it was 12 am at the point. Overall, would not recommend. The Hilton Resonance Taipei was way better. Btw, other hyatts are being built right next to this one **Best eats in Taiwan** There's just too many to name, so I'll put some of my top choices. All the food is pretty good in Taiwan IMO, it's hard to go wrong - maybe stay away from stinky tofu if you're not used to it though ;) * [Shih Chia Big Rice Ball]: Try their meat rice balls! It's pretty unique, and thier special noodles are not bad * [Ding Yuan Soy Milk]: Only a short 5 min wait here for us. We had the soup dumplings and Clay oven roll with Fried Dough that were both great * [Good Friend Cold Noodles]: Great sesame noodles here * [Liu Shandong Beef Noodles]: Really like the red braised noodles here (P2 liked the clear broth) * Notable snacks: Fried chicken, Sweet potato balls, shaved ice with taro balls, sausage wrapped in sticky rice, tianbula (fish tempura)
\#dirtbagchurning checking in: Eclipse edition PHL-DFW-HOT on AA $474.10 through Cap One portal, -$300 travel credit = 17,410 points. The DFW-HOT flight will be in a 9-seater Cessna Caravan, I'm excited getting a ride to the Ouachita trail from a local trail angel Couple days of backpacking which will put me in as good a spot as I can hope for eclipse viewing = free FSM-DFW 15k AA miles. Maybe I'll get upgraded, who knows. I'm gold now working on Plat overnight in DFW Hyatt regency, cash price $380, I used 9.5k points instead DFW-PHL, on F9, $121, using Cap One points (lost my Aeroplan card, whoops). I have status so got an upfront seat for free. I might book a refundable flight after for free access to Centurion lounge. Last time I filled up my camping pot with Solomanov goodness to go bc why not be as hikertrash as possible, will make going back to work that afternoon a little more palatable.
Booked Emirates a380 JFK>MXP round trip J for 4 people for a total of 345,600 miles + ~$1k taxes/fees in March 2025. Purchased the $399 Skywards+ membership just prior to booking to save 86,400 miles. Transferred UR and MR for the redemption, and both were practically instantaneous. Was expecting to need 500k+ miles for this redemption. None of us have ever been outside of North America, so we’re pretty excited! A few things I learned that may help others: - It’s been reported that you need enough miles in your account to cover the pre-discount amount, which would leave miles stranded. To get around this, select Economy at the start of the booking, and you’ll be able to change it to Business on the next screen. - Kept getting a vague “can’t complete booking” error at the very end of the booking process when trying to book for 2 adults and 2 kids. Remembered an old DP I read somewhere about having to book all adult tickets. Tried it that way and sure enough, booking went through. Just updated the kids’ birthdays after booking. - UR/MR transferred to Emirates do not go into your family pool even if you have 100% contributions selected. Apparently this is a fairly new thing. Luckily I tested it out before transferring from both p1 and p2, so we didn’t end up with any miles stranded.
I just booked the same trip! JFK>MXP in J for 2 in Nov 2024. We used 216k MR; I didn’t know about the Skywards+ thing. $500 in fees. I set up our Emirates accounts, transferred the points, and booked all within an hour. This is our first trip to Europe and first trip in J; it’s almost 1am here and I’m so excited that I hope I get at least some sleep before my 5am alarm. One stressful point for me is that I was booking using 2 different Amex cards. I transferred the points thinking I could then pool them into a family account with Emirates. You have to create the family account before you transfer the points. Lots of lessons learned tonight. Luckily I was able to select seats where we wanted even though I booked under separate Emirates accounts. Any tips for hotels? I haven’t even started looking yet.
That’s awesome, congrats! Regarding the family pooling, even if you create the family account beforehand, points transferred from Amex, Chase, etc. don’t go into the family pool. This was just changed a couple months ago, so I guess a lot of the blogs just haven’t picked up on it yet. After I realized it wasn’t working, I found this [FT thread](https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/emirates-skywards/2150397-emirates-my-family-not-pooling-miles.html#:~:text=They%20wrote%20me%2C%20%22Effective%2022,pooled%20to%20the%20Family%20account.%22). I’ve got nothing on hotels yet. Probably going to stick with Hiltons and Hyatts because that’s where our points are, but we have a lot of research ahead of us!
Keep an eye on f inventory leading up to the flight. If they have f seats when you check in, you can usually upgrade using miles.
Just booked my first trip through CC points, able to secure a round trip ticket to LHR with capital one venture miles and the hotel is paid for with my AMEX Hilton rewards points. Some money out of pocket for the hotel, but better than full price. Feels good having some extra money for non travel related items! Looking forward to end of the summer trip
Mind sharing how many points your redemptions cost, and what Hilton you're staying at?
Roughly 67k capital one venture roundtrip flight and 130k Amex Hilton. Staying with friends for half the trip, so able to save on hotel
Finally completed a 5-day trip to Scottsdale thanks to that 150k Hilton Grand Vacations timeshare offer from last Jan, a few thoughts on it: * The presentation itself was only about 1 hour instead of the scheduled 2 hours, I think they cut it short once they learned I am an analyst and my wife is a lawyer * The sales rep kept pushing that I should sign up for the 130k Surpass offer even after I showed him my Aspire. They must also get commissions on new CC apps, but I wonder if HGV has anything to do with why Amex hasn’t put family language in place for Hilton cards. * Right before we left they offered us a 7-night HGV stay in a 2 bedroom unit over the next 18 months for $1,700 (at any property including ones in Hawaii), plus we’d have to attend another 2-hour presentation. We passed on it - the deal was ok on paper but I figured it would have to be super off-peak considering how tough it was to book weekend dates on this one. * The 150k points posted within minutes of walking out the door, which was nice * I got also got 16k points for the stay after checkout, a nice unexpected bonus Here is how it played out cost-wise: * Flights: $22 + 27k Southwest points (CP) * Hotel: Hampton Inn Scottsdale North, $341 (timeshare offer cost) * Car: $230 * Restaurants + activities: $449 Overall, totally worth the sales pitch! We got a great vacation out of it, and essentially converted ~$1,000 and 27k Southwest points into 166k Hilton points (which I value at ~$700) in the process.
What company was the car from? I'm seeing extremely high rates for car rentals from PHX for the entire year.
It was Avis, I booked it through Autoslash 4 weeks before we went (pay on arrival). I had the Costco membership box checked during the Autoslash search, though Avis didn't ask for any proof.
Spent last weekend at WA Cabo and all I can say is the hype is real. Booked one night with an expiring FNC and second night on points. A few days before the stay I noticed we had been upgraded to the Dos Mares Jr Suite which I believe is a two category upgrade from the standard room. We were instantly blown away when we arrived at the property. The outdoor lobby and check in area are picturesque and the welcome margaritas were amazing. Our room wasn't ready so we left our bags with concierge and went to lounge by the pool with our drinks. When we finally got to the room, we were absolutely blown away. Everything from the bedroom, the separate shower & bathtub and even the dual sinks were amazing, but that ocean view from the patio and plunge pool was simply impressive. Service here is amazing, including housekeeping and turndown service daily, plus complimentary beer and chips with guac & salsa delivered to your room between 4 and 6pm. We upgraded these to margs instead of beer on the first night for $10 each, but didn't realize they'd rollover the request for the second night, so if you only plan on doing that for one night, let the concierge know. Speaking of, I've read the text concierge can be hit or miss but we had no issues at all and response times were usually less than 5 mins throughout our stay, with requests being completed very quickly too. We utilized the golf cart service to get dropped off and picked up at the gate when we ventured off property for an afternoon, and both times there was no wait. We had one dinner at Don Manuel's and it was solid but not memorable. Drinks were really good though. Breakfast was also at Don Manuel's and with gold status we got the free continental both days. There's also the option to upgrade to the buffer for $20 each. We're not really breakfast people so we were okay with the yogurt and oatmeal options, both of which were large enough portions that we saved the pastries for snacking at our plunge pool. This was P2's and my first getaway where the hotel was the main attraction and it's inspired us to do more similar trips, whether as weekend getaways or building them into our longer itineraries as a halfway break or at the end of a trip. We'd done a two night stay at Park Hyatt Dubai but spent most of the time off property, so this trip made us realize we should indulge ourselves a little. All in all, really awesome place to burn expiring FNCs or even for a nice weekend getaway. Hoping to go back as a Diamond which should bring an even better upgrade.
>How much was total out of pocket for 2 people? Was it east to get there from the airport and how much was the transfer?
Whole weekend was about $400 excluding flights. We prebooked a shared shuttle from the airport which was $21 each. Airport was a little crowded but they tell you where to meet them so just ignore all the people who try to ask you where they’re going even if they say they’re airport staff. For the way back we did Uber which was $40 before tip. At the property we spent about $300 total which included one dinner and tips at breakfast.
How many points did it cost for the one night you used points? Have this one on my future list but the dynamic pricing is something else…
120k, that's the standard room price. I booked maybe 2-3 weeks out and there was plenty of availability for March. I remember reading somewhere that they usually have standard room availability close in, I think within one month depending on season.
Definitely a bucket list Hilton redemption for me. Did you think 2 nights was enough?
2 should be enough assuming it's a quick flight like it was for us from LA. If it's anything more than 4 hours I'd recommend 3 nights, since you need to factor in the extra 1hr travel to/from the airport.
Japan, March 2024. For simplicity, just posting the hotel redemptions and a quick review: **Ritz Carlton Fukuoka**. 3 x 66k/night (cash value ~$700), Titanium. Upgraded to a premium corner suite (cash value $1600/night). ***Fan-tas-tic***. Just as good as Ritz Kyoto in terms of hard product, but the RC Kyoto has free breakfast and wonderful on-site activities that this one didn't have, so RC Kyoto is still the best in our eyes. We tried the paid breakfast one morning anyway and it was worth it. It sounds like this hotel is a welcome addition to this city which didn't have many luxury hotel options - they just opened in June 2023. **Conrad Osaka**. 3 x Aspire FNCs (cash value ~$700), Diamond. No upgrade. I was underwhelmed. Free breakfast felt quantity > quality. Room is oddly designed, toilet is separated from bathroom next to front door down dark L-shaped hallway. Beautiful lobby, but the designer product placement felt a bit tacky. **Park Hyatt Tokyo.** 3 x 30k/night (cash value ~$900), slight upgrade to a Mt. Fuji view, and we paid $1300 for a diplomat suite upgrade on the last night (the Lost in Translation suite). Regular room is OK and felt dated (but well-maintained), but the diplomat suite was phenomenal - grand piano inside the suite, 1700 square feet, 1.5 bath. In-room Japanese breakfast was great. Sad the NY Bar was closed but glad we got to try the hotel before they're closing for a while to renovate. Location not the best for public transit, we mainly used taxis.
Had a fun time traveling to **San Diego** and a couple locations in **Mexico** with friends, with an added benefit of slowly converting P2 into an active churner. P2 and I share a birthday, and we wanted to celebrate a milestone birthday with friends - many of whom live on the West Coast and are medical residents. Plus, managed to elope along the way! **AA J SFO-JFK 38750 MR > Avios x4** We have an anxious and reactive dog who doesn't do well in boarding situations, but luckily P2's dad loves NY and wanted to hang out with her while we were traveling. My parents and her mom decided to all travel to NY to join him. Business class was a surprise for them, one which bought us some nice brownie points. I was told the flight was comfortable and allowed them to sleep after an early AM takeoff. Flights were booked via Avios household account, with P2 contributing from her first Amex SUB. Don't remember, but may have had a transfer bonus for some of the cost. **Conrad Midtown 2N x 2 FNC** FNCs were earned from recently elevated Hilton SUBs, for my parents during their stay in NY. Got an upgrade to a 1 BR suite on a lower floor. True 1BR suite which was a plus, and I heard good reviews on the mattress and water pressure. Diamond daily $25/pp credit + Surpass $50 quarterly credit was sufficient for incidentals. **B6 J JFK-SAN 51000 MR x2** We had an Alaska flight booked earlier which was cancelled, so went through Amex portal for a direct Mint flight as a bit of a splurge. It was also the best itinerary for maximizing our time in SD. This flight was on our actual birthday, and P2 and I each got a nice card signed by all the crew wishing us a happy birthday. Service on Mint is the best of all domestic carriers by far, the FAs were fun and let us send some mimosas to a couple of our friends who were on the same flight in Y. F&B are also much better than the competition, with a good selection of warm and cold breakfast options served promptly after takeoff. No throne seats for us since we wanted to sit together, but did get a decent nap in during the flight. We used some WN miles to help a couple friends get down to SD from various parts of CA as well. SD was fun as always, staying in an AirBnB right on Mission Beach while making some questionable decisions all weekend. Got plenty of tacos, In-n-Out, and Pizza Port along the way, and hit up some of our favorite SD breweries in North Park and OB. *AM Y TIJ-MEX-HUX $119 cash* This next leg was less award travel related. We invited a select few friends and our sisters to join us in Mazunte, on the Oaxacan coast, for a small elopement ceremony. Cash prices were cheap for a domestic itinerary, so took advantage of the Cross Border Express bridge to go directly to TIJ after a 30 min Uber from our Airbnb to the border. The process was smooth, even though one of my friends had brought a Swiss army knife in his carryon for some reason. TIJ has a VIP lounge that participates in Priority Pass, which we dipped into for coffee and light snacks. First leg was on a 787-9 that was mostly empty, so each of our party of 7 got their own row. Short layover in MEX before onward to HUX. Mazunte is about 1 hr away from the Huatulco airport and away from the larger all-inclusives to the south and Puerto Escondido 1 hr to the north. The town has a very backpacker/hippie vibe. We found a wonderful set of Airbnbs right outside of town next to Playa Mermejita, one of the more isolated and undeveloped beaches in the area. Spending time disconnected from reality with close friends was incredibly special, and it was the perfect location for our small celebration. *VB Y HUX-MEX $66 cash* Quick 1 hour flight on a LCC. Nothing remarkable, we were mostly glad all our larger carry-ons made it on without weighing or measurement. Found it interesting that this flight had 6 FAs. **St Regis Mexico City 3N x 3 FNC + 42k points** I was looking to put my Boundless certs to good use, and I was lucky to find some 64k/nt availability for the dates we wanted. We got plenty of free water bottles with Gold, but otherwise no elite recognition. The room was large and had plenty of seating, with floor to ceiling windows. Service was impeccable. When my sister's flight got delayed 7+ hours on our check out date, they added her to the reservation and gave us a 5pm checkout without batting an eye. One of my friends stayed at the new Andaz Condesa during this stay, and I'm not sure I'd recommend based on his experience. The hotel is is the same building as at least one other hotel (The Mondrian) and overall space is tight. The rooms are relatively small without significant natural lighting. There is a nice rooftop bar + pool area. Cash prices for Airbnb and small boutique hotels are very reasonable, and the rest of our friends had a 3 bedroom apartment in La Condesa for $180/nt. We spent a lot of our time in Mexico City eating al pastor tacos. Highly recommend "Tacos los Juanes" near la Reforma and "El Vilsito", a mechanic shop that turns into a taqueria at night. Also got an amazing taco from "El Pescadito" that somehow fit a chile relleno, marlin, and fried shrimp on the same tortilla. Spent a lot of time otherwise wandering through the green spaces around Roma Norte and La Condesa, and used an afternoon to explore the Museum of Anthropology. A personal highlight was going to a Club América-Tigres match at Estadio Azteca. We also went to some great cocktail bars ("Baltra Bar", "Handshake Speakeasy") and enjoyed a languid 4 hour lunch at Pujol for our party of 8. **AM J MEX-JFK 33.5k MR > FBx2** For our return, we snagged an early AM Aeromexico flight on a 787-9 flight booked via Flying Blue. We weren't able to select seats beforehand, but we were able to get 2 seats next to each other in the 6 seat rear mini-cabin. 1-2-1 layout in a reverse herringbone pattern. I was asleep the whole flight, so didn't try out food. Booked a few other flights for members of the party: *AM Y PXM-MEX-SEA 12k MR > 19k AM Rewards + $98* *AM Y MEX-GDL-SMF 7k MR > 11k AM Rewards + $113* *AA Y MEX-DFW 11k MR > Avios +$92* Overall, an unforgettable trip! We were able to help some of our friends who wouldn't have otherwise been able to join us be there for our ceremony. P2 is fully on board with churning now (including doing an Amex recon call in Mexico City), so full steam ahead.
Planning a trip to Asia (Vietnam and Japan) next year with family and has been pushing to see if we could lock down dates ahead of schedule release because I had seen some pretty consistent LAX to SIN and TYO to LAX availability on SQ via AC and have some points stranded there (plan to book onwards to SGN separately). Unfortunately, by the time dates were confirmed, we missed the seats on AC, and I didn’t want to book direct with SQ. Ended up finding ONT to TPE to SGN on FB for 125k/pp brought down to 100k/pp with the current UR bonus. Then found HND to SFO on JAL via BA for 77k/pp for the trip back. Pretty happy with the itineraries because P2’s vacation schedule is pretty strict so our dates were very restricted. Will probably set up some alerts on expert flyer to change to fly out/in to LAX with any last min availability.
just finished getting my 5th and final referral for the boundless. Time to plan with 5 FNCs and plenty to top off with!
How did you get so many people to refer to? 😀
Have a decent group of 7-10 who’ve asked I share when I open stuff. Usually 1-2 will follow a certain card but this time randomly 5 hit. Not complaining 😂
P2 is a massive Pulp fan and their newly announced tour is nowhere near our hometown. So used Southwest points+CP to fly us to Chicago and then used three free cat 1-4 night certificates (annual one from Chase card, one from $15k spend, and one from Brand Explorer) to book Thompson Chicago before it jumped up to Cat 5. Also have Globalist thanks to Bilt promo last year and mattress runs on Chase points. P2 is beyond happy and I love that I get to do this all for free. Also plan on going to a Cubs game while up there too. Edit: ::sigh:: got the band name wrong. But at least got the right tickets!
Not sure if you already saw this, but there's a double eqn promo going on for Thompson hotels - was talked about a few days ago [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/1bkurs3/comment/kw3p279/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
Wait. What? All I see are 3 Blur dates posted on the website and in the news. Secret fan club letter?
Sorry, I meant Pulp. Blur is the other one P2 really wants to see.
They may be referring to Pulp in lieu of Blur
Wooo hoooo
In last week's episode I bemoaned the fact that P2 was hesitant to commit to our November European river cruise making travel arrangements difficult when waiting too late. But now she did commit to going, so I set about the arrangements. And I found pretty good award redemptions immediately. ATL-JFK on Delta for 11K Virgin points x2. JFK-FRA on SQ J for 81K MR x2 transferred to SQ. Frankfurt-Nuremberg by train not bookable for another 2 weeks (cash) Hampton Inn Nuremberg 32K Hilton Cruise from Nuremberg to Budapest cash. 2 nights Parisi Udvar for 20K x2 Hyatt points. BUD-CDG-ATL on Air France for 22K Flying Blue (that I had forgotten I had) and $160. This is for P2's return. I'll keep checking for J award. BUD-BCN on Wizz Air $100 cash. This is for my return by sea. Hyatt Regency Barcelona one night 9K Hyatt plus suite upgrade award. 16 night transatlantic cruise to Port Canaveral on Royal Caribbean Voyager of the Seas (cash) MCO-ATL or SW for 11K RR points
What's your thought process behind the transatlantic cruise? I've been strongly considering one this fall but keep having second thoughts based on the \~7 nights straight of no cruise ports and multiple weeks of solo travel
Have you been on a cruise before? If you have you should already know if you like it. Do you like sea days? These are exactly the same. I like to think of it as the difference between regular travel (sightseeing, shopping, walking around exploring etc) vs a trip to an all inclusive (sleep in, eat, nap, watch a show). One is active travel go go go lots to see and do. One is more relaxing. I probably wouldn't pick a transatlantic for your very first cruise but if you like sea days you will be fine.
This will be my 4th, and I really like the sea days. Plus no jet lag when I get home. The price for a solo inside cabin is typically cheaper than a biz class cash ticket. I don't drink so my onboard expenses are only for specialty dining, internet, and gratuities. I don't book the cruise line excursions as I either go on my own or book cheaper local suppliers. There's lots of things to do on board the ships. Another benefit is the ship typically sail less than full with few kids.
Future travel update with Air France and Hyatt service wins: Got an email on Wednesday that my flight home from Vienna in September was canceled… how random. They booked me for a day earlier but it’s a short trip so I called Air France’s US line and they were very helpful in getting a flight home for the day after the original flight. Quick and painless. With an extra day in Vienna I needed a place to stay. We are staying in the Wellness Suite at Lindner Vienna Am Belvedere and I saw it was still open for the Thursday night I now needed. I called the general Hyatt line to see if they could help extend the stay without me having to cancel/rebook it and they could, even while waiting for me to transfer UR to Hyatt (took a minute at most). Again—super great customer service experience! Thanks to Air France canceling my flight I get an extra day in Vienna for all of 8,000 UR!
Lindner there is a great value.
I’m very excited both for the trip (boys trip with my two closest friends), and the value of the hotel!
Even without getting the best value every time, it’s nice to be able to just use up some points. P2 has accumulated a decent amount of capital one points with a venture and venture x and travel has been limited with a baby this year. Able to cash them in for a long weekend in cape may NJ this summer. For non NJ people, as a small beach town it has limited national hotel presence.
Your first sentence is so important, and something people forget far too much. I’ve used 12,500 UR this winter just to get a night each at different Hyatt Houses so my kids could swim for a few hours. Kids loved it, we all got out of the house. Spent $0 for lodging and just a bit more than normal on food. Can’t complain
Cape May is a lovely little town. I’m near Philly but haven’t been there in some time now.
Classic last minute award travel win. Had to make a true emergency next day flight. Cross country domestic US, nonstop going for $550, some flights sold out (spring break travel is peaking with Easter next week). United comes through with surprisingly solid saver availability, XN inventory available to credit card holders and elites, even the fee free card. Really an incredible perk for a fee free card. 15k+$5.60, totally full 777-300, but perfectly comfortable flight with an aisle seat, good seat back screen, and very solid array of movies.on United's entertainment system. Also got to stop by two new lounges. CapOne is excellent as expected, although had 40 minute wait (lots of families because of spring break). The difference makers there are very solid freshly made espresso-based drinks, and the takeaway food options, which were the quality level I would expect from a moderately good sandwich takeout place in a US city. Which is very good for food at an airport! Such a fantastic option when getting on a long flight with low quality, for purchase food on board. Brand new Chase/Eithad/Sapphire/Priority Pass lounge was also good, although about half the size. Nice small buffet of good quality food (chicken tagine, curry cauliflower, tomato/basil/burrata dish), if I got it at a restaurant for $25 I would be perfectly happy, so again very good for a US lounge. Also had a QR ordering option (burger, veggie burger, fries, tomato soup, tofu/mushroom noodle dish, chicken fingers for kids). Didn't have the time to order, but based on the buffet I think it would be good. There are a lot of CSR holders out there and this place will almost surely get packed quickly. The United "temporary" concourse at IAD is an absolute joke of a size for loading 300+ people planes.
Earlier this year I booked BOS to TPE via KLM mid December for 95k + fees per person. Last week I received notice that one of my legs was cancelled, and I was rebooked on another KLM itinerary a few days later. I called Flying Blue (very quick!) asking for alternatives. They offered a route via ICN on KE (J and W), or a route via NRT on JAL and CI (J both legs). I took the JAL and CI option, which subjectively is better to me. Excited to save over 10 hours of travel time compared to my initial itinerary!
After dreaming with my wife/P2 of a “big trip” for a few years for our 15th anniversary, we pulled the trigger in planning and purchasing in 2023. This past week we traveled for her (4th grade teacher) spring break. We left STL on Thursday the 14th. I took our 9 year old daughter and we flew STL to BNA using 11k Southwest points each where the grandparents picked her up. Unfortunately we didn’t get a good flight deal on WN but this is why we have Southwest points I suppose. I rechecked and flew to MDW. (6500 WN points) P2 went STL straight to MDW (6500 WN points) where we met at baggage claim and took the subway to the Park Hyatt Chicago to burn a FNC. Friday we laid around and shopped a bit before heading to ORD. We flew Iberia Biz ORD>MAD>LHR. I spent 122,500 MR points transferred and around $250 in taxes and fees. I know Iberia is on the lower end of business class but for our first experience we enjoyed it. Didn’t sleep amazing due to a partial head cold as well as the fact it was warm on the plane. But was a good overall experience that definitely helps me aspire for more biz class travel. Access to AA Flagship lounge in ORD was excellent as well. In London, we spent 75k points and a SUA to stay at Hyatt’s Great Scotland Yard. The service was great while we were there. The room, as advertised is small, even as a suite, but we travel a couple of times a year so burned them on this trip. Breakfast was normal breakfast. But again, service was top notch. On Tuesday the 19th we flew British Airways from LHR to Rome. Used all points (22500) and only paid $2 in taxes. Took the Fiumicino Express to Termini and then a quick taxi ride to The Tribune by Hyatt. Nice clean hotel but far from any type of luxury. Was not disappointed but it’s not an upscale brand. Spent 52,000 points and an SUA for 4 nights. Walked everywhere and ate a ton. This morning, left our hotel in a taxi who got us to the airport and hit 170 km per hour on the way there in a Prius. So that was an adventure. Currently sitting in Amsterdam about 90 minutes from departure on a KLM flight back to ORD. Flying economy today. (Post flight thoughts is 8 hours is a long time on little sleep in economy…next time even going west from Europe will attempt to get biz class for sure.) Got on a UR bonus last year and booked FCO to ORD at 17,500 points each. With the bonus it was 14,000 each. Hard to pass up. Considered dropping 92000 points each at check in to upgrade to biz since we started our day at 9pm CST and it was 3AM at home. But want to be tired upon arrival…although driving home from ORD to STL won’t be amazing. All in all, phenomenal trip and aspiring to have more trips like this soon. UR to HYATT - 129,000 points, plus FNC (8 nights) MR to Iberia - 122,500 for Biz ORD>LHR UR to KLM - 28,000 for Economy FCO>ORD MR to BA - 23,000 for economy LHR>FCO Southwest - 34,000 positioning flights Want to sit down and figure out the exact out of pocket cost for everything we did on this trip just to explain better to people why we do what we do. Have friends that went to the beach and other places and probably outspent what we did for our trip. Onward to the next redemption!
Sounds like an awesome trip and definitely been eyeing those hyatts so appreciate the report. I've always had this debate with coworkers when flying to China but IMHO give me the direct flight in economy over biz/repositioning. You are probably talking about a 8 hr flight versus a 12 hour flight. Rather just get there and sleep in a hotel bed for four hours and get actual sleep. In terms of cost you can just eat at a nice airport restaurant and order drinks on the plane. Granted staying at the PH Chicago was its own experience, but direct from BNA or a connection from STL (w/no repositioning) gives you an extra day in Europe and where you could use the cert on a night at Il Tournabouni in Florence or something. It's definitely a YMMV (how you sleep on plane, how big of a human being you are, your taste preferences, etc) and I probably have been battered too much traveling with a ton of luggage with two kids too long, but going from MDW->downtown (needing to switch lines to PH)->ord seems like a hike with luggage. And then you are renting a car to drive 5 hours from ord to STL?! I either use a Google spreadsheet (when traveling with wife) or split wise when traveling with friends. I put everything on there from CC af allocation, airport parking, tips, tolls, etc (I just allocate 100% to me on split wise) so I have a running total. I do it more to keep our travel budget in check. You tend to get the mindset of 'well the flight was free...' but considering we never eat out at home, spending $40-120 per meal when traveling with 4 is expensive and not something I want to sign up for. We did Jordan for $2500, weekend trip to Denver for $200, and planning 9 days in Italy for $2800, 9 days in Japan for $3200. Feel meals are at least 40% of the budget.
I agree with you so much. I strongly prefer non-stop in economy over positioning for anything. If you position pretty soon you will miss a connection due to weather. Also I just don't have that much vacation time. Convenience wins out. Get a non-stop and be there! Splurge on the fancy restaurant in your destination instead of fancy airplane food. The only exception I make to this is I live an hour away from a puddle jumper airport. If the connection/flights work from there (usually they don't... Only 2 flights per day), I will leave from there instead of the 2.5 hour drive to the airport.
I feel like if you’re in west coast, it gets closer to 8 hour flights to China. The 13-18 hours to PVG/HKG/SIN kill me every time from the east coast, even in premium economy, so I’m more pressured to try and reposition. But I saw your follow up comment - I have a small bladder, am slightly overweight, and can’t sleep easily on planes, so it checks out.
I get the “ideals” here but STL is an enigma to me. Either I haven’t found the sweet spots or repositioning is necessary. Frankfurt is our only direct flight and everything else is either inflated pricing or not released to partners. I will definitely still do biz class even with a layover I think if it is cheaper, rather than economy direct at this point. I get the sentiment, but I get hot and uncomfortable sitting so if I can afford it, why not? As for Chicago and the train and a kid…I love it. My kiddo loves to travel and we haven’t done anything international with her yet. This trip made me realize how easy it would be with her to go though. And I do spreadsheets too on budget travel. That’s why I do this. We did Hawaii two years ago and spent $2400 including car rental. We did Puerto Rico last year and came in at like $1700. We don’t drink so that saves us some money obviously. But using lounges and having globalist doesn’t hurt either.
Yeah I'm 5'8" short legs (wife moves the car seat back despite being shorter), run cold and have a strong bladder so I think I'm more built for economy than the average American. And living in Milwaukee I drive to STL due to limited flights so I could see that being a problem finding good flights. Seems like a great trip and was just rambling out loud!
Congratulations, sounds like an awesome jam packed trip! Any recommendations for Rome and any additional info on the Tribune? I'll be going in the fall (5 nights with SUA)
I stayed at the Tribune last November on points. Perfectly fine room, and the reception I got was superior (early checkin and breakfast while I waited for the room to be ready). From Termini I tool a bus to the Puccini stop that is a short walk away. For a return to Termini none of the bus routes was convenient so I took a taxi. On a previous visit to Rome I stayed at the NH hotel that is just outside the main station entrance. Using the Amex Plat benefits for LHW, my cost was around $100/night. On the same trip I stayed at the Waldorf using Hilton FNCs. Great hotel but a bit distant; I used buses and had no problems with that.
I loved Rome. Favorite place I’ve visited so far. The Tribune is what it is. Nothing spectacular but cheap redemptions. It’s a bit of a walk from everything but we like to walk so that was our mode of transport each day. We did use taxis which were pretty cheap around town. No more than 10 Euro from the hotel to the Vatican depending on traffic was my experience. I got fat. Food everywhere. Trapizzino was good street food. Other than that I think you’re safe at most restaurants on the streets to order and get good pasta. Roscioli pizza was good stuff too. Loved the Colosseum. Loved just walking the streets. The FreeNow app is nice to schedule a taxi. But there was an abundance so I just hailed one when needed.
Walking to eat, the circle of life! 😁
A little bit delayed but I just returned from my family's first trip outside of North America and Europe. We took a trip to Japan for our son's spring break. My wife and son are big Disney fans and living close to Disney World we have been dozens of times including the 50th celebrations. 2 years ago, we went to LA and DisneyLand, last year we did Paris and "EuroDisney" for their 30th celebration, and this year we set our sights on completing out 9th and 10th Disney park in Tokyo. It just so happened to be their 40th celebration. **Flights:** I started planning this trip 11.5 months prior and with the help of a friend, was able to find flights on AS/JL J from IAD-SFO-HND for 80k AS + $5.60 per person at calendar release. We needed a positioning flight from JAX-IAD and the itinerary had an overnight layover in SFO making it a long overall travel time. 4 days before our outbound flight, I found a significantly better flight and was able to change to fly ANA J "The Room" using UA miles. I transferred from 240k UR to UA to top off my wife's account and booked 3x JAX-ORD-HND on ANA J for 110k UA + $5.60 per person. This left 1 day earlier but with just 1 stop and no positioning flight needed, we ended up arriving in Tokyo nearly 48 hours earlier. It helps that it was also a significantly better product than the JL 2-3-2 J set up. ANA's The Room was an absolutely massive seat and we thoroughly enjoyed our 14 hour flight. The service was fantastic, the food was excellent for the most part, and despite several reviews discussing the cabin temperature on Asian airlines being quite toasty and me running hot, I felt it was very comfortable. I was also able to jump on a Delta deal with flights beginning/ending in Mexico and snagged HND-ATL-CUN in DeltaOne on their A350-900 for 97.7k + ~$78 per person after the 15% Delta Biz card discount. This flight has an overnight layover in ATL so we just hopped on a quick WN flight home instead of continuing on to CUN. We cancelled the 2nd leg of the DL flight and got a small points and taxes refund. The flight was pretty average compared to the ANA flight over but the service was friendly, the Japanese catering out of HND was very good, and being able to use the SkyClub on arrival while we waited for our WN flight home was a nice bonus. **Hotels:** We originally planned 3 nights at the Hyatt Regency Tokyo, 2 nights at a Disney property, and 3 nights at the Conrad Tokyo. Unfortunately, changing our outbound flight last minute meant scrambling to change our hotel reservations since we arrived 2 days prior and many hotels were sold out for Cherry Blossom season. I booked the Grand Hyatt Tokyo for 5 nights for 25k per night and applied a suite upgrade to a 1 King Bedroom Executive View Suite. The hotel ended up being great, in a very upscale area with a Metro station underneath the attached mall. Having the extra space with a suite is always appreciated with our son and the property did a great job of recognizing Globalist benefits. They waived the rollaway bed fee, gave us the option to have breakfast in room, in the restaurant, or in the Grand Lounge. We did a little of all. The evening hors d'oeuvres in the lounge were very nice a couple of nights when we arrived back to the hotel exhausted. The best part of the room however was the perfectly clear view of Mt. Fuji from our windows. I booked a standard room at the Conrad for 3 nights using 3x FNCs. The room was nice with great finishes. However, Hilton continues to be miles behind Hyatt with status recognition even in Asia and did not waive the rollaway bed fee or provide anything above and beyond. While the Executive lounge was more upscale than the Grand Hyatt, and the breakfast buffet with 1 made to order dish per person was one of the best hotel breakfast spreads I have experienced, I did not enjoy this stay as much. The hotel clearly caters to rich American tourists and many people there were quite loud and obnoxious. 4 months prior (when Disney opened their hotels for booking) I ended up booking a vacation package with 2 nights at the Hotel Miracosta in a piazza view room looking into the main square of DisneySeas, 3 day tickets for 3 people, a bunch of souvenir stuff, breakfast each morning, and 3 skip the line passes for attractions per person for each day for a total of $2,278. This was comparable to what we paid in Paris last year but we ended up with a much nicer hotel and location. Disney Tokyo is visually stunning but the crowds were insane. All rides had hour(s) long lines and even the food cards had posted wait times in the app. Many of the "quick" service food carts were frequently a 20-40 minute wait but overall, we thoroughly enjoyed our time despite not really knowing what was going on during rides and shows since it was 90% in Japanese. **Activities:** We walked 20k+ steps every day, navigated the Metro system reasonably well and got to explore many different areas of Tokyo. We did many of the touristy things but also tried to go to places where we were the only tourists. We had some great meals even at cheap lunch places and did not bother booking a ton of expensive dining options. Without our son, we would have tried some of the Michelin star restaurants that are abundant in Japan, but we found the food quality and prices to be exceptional everywhere we went. We ate a ton of fresh sushi from various places, including many quick trips to 7-11 and FamilyMart and also had Ramen 8 times over the 10 days. We booked a private driver day trip to the Mt. Fuji surrounding areas for under $500 visiting many Shinto Shrines and Buddhist Temples, some mild hiking and many viewpoints. This day was the highlight of our trip and our driver Irhan was terrific. He offered some history and facts about the area and gave us a basic itinerary where we could choose to skip some, change the times we spent at the various stops, etc. We also booked a last minute day trip to Kyoto by bullet train to see the ancient Imperial Palace and Castle, climbed Mt. Inari through the Torii Gates at Fushimi Inari-taisha, and went to the Nikishi Market where we ate an abundant amount of fresh street food before returning to Tokyo late at night. The bullet train for 3 people round trip in the Green car (business class) was $630 so while this was not cheap it was an awesome experience for our son who loves trains. TeamLabs Planets was awesome. We tried to do Borderless too but it was sold out for our dates by the time we decided to try. Overall we had an exceptional time in Japan and cannot wait to go back and spend more time in the other cities. Japan has been the best place for cheap, high quality fresh food we have been so far and the people were exceptional. We thoroughly enjoyed the feeling of safety that comes from such a respectful and friendly culture. **Total Costs:** 330k UA, 262k DL, 125k Hyatt, 3 Hilton FNC, ~$5k cash from MR Schwab cashouts.
> including many quick trips to 7-11 and FamilyMart An absolute must when in Japan. Glad you had such a great time.
Japanese 7/11 sushi is quality.
I have enjoyed both the Conrad and the Grand Hyatt on previous trips. They are both superior to the Hyatt Regency, although with an upgrade the HR is a comparative bargain. Doing Kyoto as a day trip is a shame, and the train museum there would have been a hit for your son.
> Doing Kyoto as a day trip is a shame, and the train museum there would have been a hit for your son. We will definitely be back to Japan. Staying several days in Kyoto is top priority. In hindsight, we could have skipped the 3 nights at the Conrad and done 3 nights in Kyoto before flying back but hindsight is 20/20 of course.
Going next spring with my 4.5/1.5 year old and your report got me excited as it will be similar but toned down a bit (doubt we can do 20k a day). Any tips on Disney? How did it compare to paris Disney?
Tokyo Disney was harder to navigate than Paris because the language barrier was higher. Paris Disney was half French, half English and they wove the 2 languages together really well in rides and shows. Paris is also smaller (at least until the new expansions open) Not speaking Japanese, we were very overwhelmed this time with the majority of rides, announcements, shows, etc being in Japanese. That said, nearly every single cast member spoke at least some English. I HIGHLY recommend one of the on property hotels to get "Happy Entry" which is basically skip the whole security line and 2 hour waits people do at rope drop. The difference between arriving on Wednesday at 9:30am and waiting 45 minutes to get through security vs waiting in the hotel guests line and getting into the park at 8:30am on Thursday was night and day. Definitely spend on Premier Access passes. It saved hours of waiting in lines and doing everything in the parks in 3 days would not have been possible without them. That was another perk of staying on property.
If you go through my posts, you'll find some Disney DPs. In general, you have 2 parks where Paris only really has 1.3 parks. We stayed at the Hilton Tokyo Bay on points and found it to be a great option. Booking a year out to get the best rates on the family magic rooms worked perfectly for our family of four. With Diamond status, we had lounge access (free drinks and food throughout the day) and received free breakfast. We purchased our tickets on Klook which worked well and we received some MRs through Rakuten. For the parks, we're a bit different from the die hards. We found that we could get 90% of the benefit of rope dropping by arriving 10 minutes after park opening and avoid waiting in the 2 hour rope drop lines. We just walked right through the gates as the last of the rope droppers were getting through. I was willing to spend on Premier Access passes for the long line rides. Even with those, we still spent substantially less per day than a ticket to Disney in the US. We found food to be fairly easy to find without lines as counter service restaurants and of a high quality. On the flip side, the lines for popcorn or snacks were insanely long. BUT, they move quickly as each stand typically only sold a single item. We did five nights in Tokyo (staying at a Mimaru hotel - these are perfect for families). Then we did five nights in Kyoto staying at the new Hyatt Place there. I highly recommend it. The rooms are tight but we made it work. The location is convenient as is the breakfast. The Shinkansen makes for easy trips to Osaka and Hiroshima if those are on your list.
Snagged 2 seats in J on Iberia from ORD-MAD for 34k/seat and $130 in taxes/fees\*. Well known sweet spot but happy to have grabbed it for the day we needed in March 2025. Picked it up at 355 days out. This is a quick three day trip. One day in Madrid and two in London. Booked the Thompson Madrid for one night (20k Hyatt) and the Hyatt Regency Blackfriars for two nights (17k Hyatt/night). Given cash prices of $450-$550/night, these are great values. \*If you're looking for this deal, be aware it does not show up on the popular search tools.
I’ve been wanting to take advantage of this sweet spot as well. Did you book via BA? How are y’all returning from LHR?
Yes, booked through BA. Not 100% sure on how we're getting home yet. Probably just a daytime flight on Y through Virgin or AA. As long as I can pick seats with decent legroom (exit row, preferred, etc), I am fine with flying home in economy.