Award Travel

Introduction: Late Summer in Scandinavia

Posted on November 18, 2024 by 2btravel

Welcome to my next trip report! This year’s big international trip was to Scandinavia, which was the choice of one of my two main traveling companions. We spent about a week in Copenhagen, Denmark and in southern & central Sweden before going to Stockholm where we were joined by our German friend. We spent a few days there before winding up our trip in Oslo, Norway.

We were gone for two weeks and covered a lot of ground so I have lots to share! It was also a lesson in trip planning and how to adjust on the fly.

Introduction: Late Summer in Scandinavia
Flight Review: American Airlines B737-800 First Class, MEM-DFW
Flight Review: Finnair A350-900 Business Class, DFW-HEL
Flight Review: Finnair E190 Business Class, HEL-CPH
Lodging Review: Fairfield by Marriott Copenhagen Nordhavn
Our Time in Copenhagen
Lodging Review: Best Western Hotel Hebron, Copenhagen
Lodging Review: Next House, Copenhagen
Lodging Review: Story Hotel Studio Malmö
Our Time in Malmö and Ystad, Sweden
Lodging Review: IKEA Hotell, Älmhult, Sweden
Our Time in Älmhult, Sweden and High-Speed Train to Stockholm
Lodging Review: Motel L Älvsjö, Stockholm
Our Time in Stockholm
Flight Review: SAS A320neo Economy Class, ARN-OSL
Lodging Review: Comfort Hotel Grand Central, Oslo
Our Time in Oslo
Lounge Review: SAS Lounge, Oslo airport
Flight Review: Lufthansa A320-200 Business Class, OSL-FRA
Flight Review: Lufthansa 787-9 Business Class, FRA-MSP
Flight Review: Delta B737-800 First Class, MSP-MEM

On this trip I only got to try one new-to-me airline but stayed at several new-to-me hotel brands. I had two positioning flights in US domestic first class, two two-segment international flights in business class and one short international segment in economy.

I’ll review Finnair’s A350-900 long-haul business class as well as their Embraer 190 short-haul business class along with Lufthansa’s A320-200 short-haul business class and long-haul B787-9 business class. I’ll also review a short SAS A320neo economy flight.

As far as hotels, we were all over the place on this one. We ended up using points for some hotels and paying cash for others due to various factors.

I had intended to review five lounges on this trip but that did not work out as expected and I’ll have just one lounge review.

Why Scandinavia?

I have a couple of friends I often travel with and we have a deal that whoever has a birthday ending with a “0” or a “5” gets to pick the destination for that year’s big trip. This year’s birthday girl picked Scandinavia as the destination. Our next task was to narrow down the things we could reasonably see in a two-week period. We realized that we wouldn’t be able to see all of the region so unfortunately we’ll have to save Finland for another trip. As we plotted things out we realized that Copenhagen and Oslo would be our starting and ending points, we just had to figure out which direction to travel. And that was based on finding award space. Continue reading →

Categories: Award Travel, Denmark, Europe, Trip Report | Tags: Denmark, Europe, Norway, Scandinavia, Sweden, Trip Report | Leave a comment

Lodging Review: Hyatt Place Salt Lake City Airport

Posted on January 17, 2024 by 2btravel

I came to Utah a day ahead of my ski club as I have friends in the area and we met up for dinner. I needed an airport-area hotel with a free shuttle. Since I had several free-night certificates to burn based on the credit cards I hold, I chose the Hyatt Place SLC Airport. I had stayed here once before, though it was over 10 years ago and I didn’t remember much about it.

Hyatt Place Salt Lake City Airport

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Categories: Award Travel, Chase, Credit Cards, Hotel, Hyatt, Lodging Review, North America, United States, Utah, World of Hyatt Card | Tags: Hyatt Place, Lodging Review, SLC Airport, Utah | Leave a comment

Flight Review: Iberia A330-300 Madrid-Chicago

Posted on January 6, 2024 by 2btravel

Trip Report: Athens and a Mediterranean Cruise
Lounge Reviews: The Club CLT and Centurion Lounge Charlotte Airport
Flight Review: Lufthansa A340-600 Charlotte-Munich
Lodging Review: Academias Hotel, Autograph Collection, Athens
Our Time in Athens, Part I (Acropolis and Museum)
Our Time in Athens, Part II (Roman Agora, Hadrian’s Library, Ancient Agora)
Our Time in Athens, Part III (Kerameikos, Temple of Zeus, Panathenaic Stadium)
Our Time in Athens, Part IV (Restaurants and Observations)
Ship Review: Viking Neptune
Our Time in Ancient Olympia (Katakalon, Greece)
Our Time in Corfu, Greece
Our Time in Kotor, Montenegro
Our Time in Dubrovnik, Croatia
Our Time in Zadar, Croatia
Our Time in Venice, Italy
Flight Review: Iberia A330-300 Madrid-Chicago

Booking the Flights

While I have preferred airlines and like to try ones I’ve never flown before, often I find that the best airline to fly is the one with award space for what I consider to be a reasonable price. To that end I booked an early morning flight from Venice to Chicago via Madrid on Iberia for just 49K British Airways Avios + $181.65 in taxes and fees. It’s possible I could have transferred the Avios from BA to Iberia and saved a little on the taxes and fees but I was lazy and didn’t even consider it.

Ordinarily it would have made sense to try to connect with an American Airlines flight to get me from Chicago to Memphis but often there’s no award space on that leg except for the first flight of the day. As United is generally my airline of choice I decided just to purchase a cash ticket for the final leg and I won’t be reviewing that here.

Iberia 3249 VCE-MAD A330-300
October 28, 2023
Boarded at 0540 for a flight at 0625
Registration: EC-NTO
Seat: 3A (Business Class)

Venice to Madrid

My return trip started very early in the morning with a 2 AM wake-up call as Viking wanted to deliver us to the airport by 4:30 AM for my 6:30 AM flight from Venice to Madrid and we were docked in Chioggia, which was about an hour by motorcoach from the airport. I was a little confused when we arrived at the airport as our luggage was unloaded from the bus but was then loaded on to a smaller van. From what I could piece together, the large buses are not allowed up close to the terminal. To make it easier for us, Viking arranged to have our luggage put in some vans and brought right up to the curb across from the terminal, where we picked it up after a 3-4 minute walk. I’m not sure it was entirely necessary but given the average age of Viking cruisers it was probably a good idea.

The day started very early…

Continue reading →

Categories: Award Travel, Flight Review, Iberia, OneWorld, Trip Report | Tags: Award Travel, Flight Review, Iberia, OneWorld, Trip Report | Leave a comment

2023: The Year in Travel

Posted on December 31, 2023 by 2btravel

Another year has passed and I’m just thankful I got through this one without injury. I cracked my tibial plateau while on my European trip in 2022 which meant I didn’t get to ski but for a few hours this year but I still went on the trips I had planned and had a very good time anyway.

The Year in Travel – 2023

January

My first trip of the year was a visit to Winter Park, Colorado, a place I hadn’t visited in nearly 30 years. I was so looking forward to it because I really couldn’t remember much about it and had only been skiing a year when I visited last time. Sadly I spent an hour each day rehabbing my knee instead of skiing though I did get to go tubing one day.

I enjoyed a quick non-stop flight from Memphis to Denver on United and we took a bus right to the lodge. We stayed slopeside at the Zephyr Mountain Lodge where the location of your room can make a big difference.

Zephyr Mountain Lodge Slopeside Building
photo from Planet of Hotels.com

Continue reading →

Categories: American Airlines, Autograph Collection, Award Travel, California, Colorado, Condos, Croatia, Cruises, Europe, Greece, Hotel, Iberia, Italy, Lufthansa, Mammoth, Marriott, Montenegro, North America, OneWorld, Ship Review, Star Alliance, Tours, UNESCO World Heritage Site, United, United States, Viking, Winter Park, Year in Review | Tags: Autograph Collection, Award Travel, California, Colorado, Croatia, Greece, Iberia, Italy, Lufthansa, Mammoth, Marriott, Montenegro, OneWorld, Ship Review, Star Alliance, UNESCO World Heritage Site, Viking, Viking Neptune, Winter Park, Year In Review | Leave a comment

Lodging Review: Academias Hotel, Autograph Collection, Athens

Posted on December 21, 2023 by 2btravel

For our three-night stay in Athens we chose the Academias Athens, Marriott Autograph Collection due to its location and the fact that we could get a twin room using points. While I didn’t check to see the going rate in cash at the time we booked, I believe it to be around 364 EUR per night before taxes. Instead we opted to pay 45,000 Bonvoy points per night. Using a valuation of 0.7 cents per point (based on the figures provided by One Mile At A Time) that means we spent about $315 in points per night, which was a better deal than paying cash. We booked a 2 Twin/Single Beds, Deluxe Guest room as that was the only type of room with two beds that was available on points. The view didn’t matter a whole lot to us as we planned to be out and about most of the day.

Getting to the hotel

We took the Metro from the airport to Syntagma Square for 9 EUR. If you have heavy luggage, even if it’s on rollers, be aware that you can take an elevator and avoid one set of steps up from the train level to the square but there is another giant set of steps required to get up to Vasilissis Sofias Avenue unless you take the long way around. It is then about a 650 meter walk to the hotel. Under normal conditions Google Maps thinks that’s about a 9-minute walk but let me tell you that when you’re lugging a 45-pound suitcase and a backpack and the temperature is over 70 degrees with humidity, it sure feels a lot longer. Were I doing this trip again, I’d take the Metro from the airport to Syntagma station but then change from the blue line to the red line and go on to the Panepistimio station, which is only 270 meters away, or a 4-minute walk without luggage. There is an elevator in Korai Square which is across the street from the main Panepistimio station entrances that will take you down to the train level. While I would certainly be fine with taking the Metro from the airport again, if I was returning to the airport I would only take the Metro if the temperature was cooler. We worked up quite the sweat hauling our large luggage around in the Athens heat, even in mid-to-late October and I would not want to be that sticky and then have to get on a plane.

Hotel Exterior

The hotel is at the corner of Akadimias and Omirou Streets. As we wheeled our luggage up, the bellman, who was standing outside, jumped to attention and took our large bags while holding the door open for us.

Academias Hotel, Autograph Collection, Athens

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Categories: Autograph Collection, Award Travel, Europe, Greece, Hotel, Lodging Review, Marriott, Trip Report | Tags: Academias, Athens, Autograph Collection, Award Travel, Bonvoy, Greece, Hotel Review, Lodging Review, Marriott, Trip Report | Leave a comment

Flight Review: Lufthansa A340-600 Charlotte-Munich

Posted on December 20, 2023 by 2btravel

Booking the flight

I had originally booked my flight to Athens as a 1-stop from Memphis to Newark and on to Athens in United Airlines economy for just 33,000 United miles. It was a deal that was hard to beat! But I really wanted to fly business class and United never made any saver award space available on the longhaul leg. I kept searching, utilizing award search tools like PointsYeah!, Roame.travel and Seats.aero and eventually found space out of Charlotte via Munich for 70,000 Air Canada Aeroplan miles. I was going to transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards Points (UR) to my Aeroplan account as there was a transfer bonus going on and it would have only cost me about 58,000 UR points but I hit a snag.

For years my Chase cards had all been in my “called by” first name rather than my legal first name. Years ago I was able to successfully connect my UR and United accounts but now I was unable to connect my new Aeroplan account. I’d had a similar issue with Amex Membership Rewards awhile back and ended up getting all my Amex cards changed just by uploading a photo of my ID and filling out an online form. No such luck with Chase. They had to snail mail me a form. About a week later I saw in my daily USPS Informed Delivery email that the mail piece was to be delivered soon but a week later I still had not received it, so I contacted Chase to send yet another form. That one I did receive but it was at least two weeks after that before the name was changed on my account. So, word of caution, make sure the name on your credit card matches the name on your frequent flyer account!

A few days before my flight, Lufthansa made first class award space available to partners. I have never flown Lufthansa First and seriously considered doing the upgrade for an additional 30,000 Aeroplan miles but I decided to conserve my points and stick with business class.

Now that I had a longhaul flight, I needed to get to Charlotte. As CLT is not a Star Alliance hub, if I could have found award space on United to include with my longhaul flight, I’d have had to connect via Chicago, Houston or Denver. I decided the easier path was to take the American Airlines non-stop. Unlike when I try to get to Chicago or DFW on American, there always seems to be plenty of award space on flights to Charlotte. So I spent just 15,000 British Airways Avios on the non-stop flight in domestic first class. Did I really need to fly in first? Of course not but this is my big international vacation of the year and I like to make it special. I won’t review this flight except to say it was on time and my luggage made it, which were the important parts. There were three flights that would have gotten me to Charlotte in time to make my flight though the first one was extremely early. I decided to take the middle flight which would put me in Charlotte six hours ahead of my Lufthansa flight. Even though that was a long layover for a domestic flight, it left plenty of time in case of irregular operations or lost luggage as there was another flight after that. What didn’t occur to me until about a week before the flight was that the Lufthansa counter would not be open when I landed. Fortunately there was one pre-security restaurant open amidst all the construction in the lobby and baggage claim areas of the Charlotte airport and I was able to have a leisurely lunch until the Lufthansa counter opened at 2:30 PM, 4 hours before the flight.

Lufthansa 429 CLT-MUC A340-600
October 17, 2023
Boarding – due: 1755 actual: 1805
Departure – due: 1830 actual: 1851 – takeoff 1952
Arrival – due: 0915+1 actual: 0856+1
Seat: 6G (Business Class) Continue reading →

Categories: Award Travel, Flight Review, Lufthansa, Star Alliance, Trip Report | Tags: A340, Award Travel, Business Class, Flight Review, Lufthansa, Trip Report | Leave a comment

Trip Report: Athens and a Mediterranean Cruise

Posted on December 18, 2023 by 2btravel

When we returned home from our October 2022 European trip that included a Viking River Cruise on the Seine, I received the standard follow-up phone call from our sales rep to ask how the trip had gone. Of course the other part of his job was to try to get us to sign up for another cruise. My travel companion and I discussed it and tried to get some other friends to come along on a 2023 cruise but it just wasn’t working out. So instead of taking another river cruise, we thought we’d try one of Viking’s ocean-going vessels for a Mediterranean cruise. By completing our payment before the end of 2022 we were eligible for $200 of shipboard credit that could be applied to anything from spa treatments to shore excursions. That sounded like a good deal to us so we booked a tour on the Viking Neptune, which was only put into service in November 2022. While we had done a western Mediterranean cruise in 2008, only two ports of call overlapped with the Neptune’s itinerary.

Even though the cruise began in Athens, it did not include any time in the city itself unless you paid for the $599 pre-trip extension. I had spent time in Athens in 2007 on a Greek islands cruise but my friend had never been there and we knew we could do it more cheaply thanks to hotel points. So we left the US on a Tuesday, arriving in Athens on Wednesday and had two full days in the city before boarding the cruise ship on Saturday.

Booking the flights

As usual, we booked our own airfare using our airline miles. While we typically leave from Chicago, where my traveling companion lives, in November 2022 we found connecting airfare on United through Newark directly to Athens for just 33K miles in economy. While my friend had a number of ORD-EWR flights to choose from, the only MEM-EWR flight available at this price left Memphis at 6 AM and then had an 8+ hour layover in Newark. You can imagine I was not excited about that! It also broke the promise I’d made to myself not to cross oceans in economy. My friend was ok with it as she’s retired and trying to conserve her miles. We went ahead and booked the flights because they were so cheap and I could not find any business class flights on our travel day for what I considered a reasonable price.

Fast forward to July 2023 and I found flights on Lufthansa out of Charlotte for 70K Aeroplan miles. I transferred 70K American Express Membership Rewards points to Aeroplan and paid taxes and fees of $74.66 USD/$98.30 CAD.

Now my problem was getting to Charlotte. There is no non-stop United flight (a Star Alliance partner of Air Canada and Lufthansa) between Memphis and Charlotte so trying to get to Charlotte on the same ticket would have meant changing planes – assuming I could even find domestic award space. But there is an American Airlines non-stop and while I often cannot find saver award space between Memphis and DFW or Chicago, I had multiple saver-level options to Charlotte. But rather than using 25K American AAdvantage miles I opted to use just 15K British Airways Avios + $5.60 to get me to Charlotte in domestic first class. I also made sure that there was another MEM-CLT flight after mine, just in case of delays, and I’d still have time to get my bag checked in for my Lufthansa flight.

So our outbound flights were as follows:

10/17 1151 ORD – 1510 EWR on UA 2471 in economy
10/17 1750 EWR – 1010+1 ATH on UA 124 in economy for 30K United miles + $5.60 (a bargain!)
These flights are shown in red on the map.

10/17 0925 MEM – 1209 CLT on AA 1790 in domestic first class using 15K Avios + $5.60
10/17 1830 CLT – 0915+1 MUC on LH 429 in business class
10/18 1110 MUC – 1435 ATH on LH 1752 in intra-Europe business class for 70K Aeroplan miles + $74.66
These flights are shown in green on the map.

As you can see, my friend was due to get to Athens 4+ hours ahead of me. Before changing my booking I double-checked with her that she didn’t mind hanging out at the airport and she said she didn’t so I went ahead and changed my flights.

Our flights included travel on United Airlines, American Airlines, Lufthansa and Iberia Airlines

Continue reading →

Categories: Autograph Collection, Award Travel, Croatia, Cruises, Europe, Greece, Hotel, Iberia, Italy, Lufthansa, Marriott, Montenegro, OneWorld, Star Alliance, Tours, Trip Report, Viking | Tags: Ancient Olympia, Athens, Autograph Collection, Award Travel, Corfu, Croatia, Dubrovnik, Greece, Italy, Katakalo, Kotor, Marriott, Montenegro, Murano, Ocean Cruise, Olympia, Trip Report, Venice, Viking, Zadar | Leave a comment

Points and miles are not always about value

Posted on June 27, 2023 by 2btravel

Those of us who play this game of points and miles love to redeem those currencies for flights or hotels where we can experience luxury in a style that we’d never pay cash for. But one thing that’s great about having points and miles on hand is that they’re available when you need them which can save you from having to unexpectedly shell out cash.

I live in Memphis, Tennessee and on this past Sunday evening we had a series of straight-line winds blow through town. There were over 120,000 people in our county without power shortly thereafter as trees fell on power lines and even utility poles were knocked over. And at least a couple of folks whose private planes were not properly tied down found those planes upside down!

I was one of the unlucky ones without power. Temperatures had reached the mid-90s that day but when my power went out just after 7 PM the storm had dropped them to about 77F. But, as is typical in this area in the summer, the humidity was about 83%. I propped open the back door, hoping the lights would come on soon but at about 8 PM my dog, who was napping, started panting and I knew that we would both be miserable if we had to spend the night without air conditioning.

I have several free night certificates from the credit cards I hold and would have liked to have used some of them that would expire sooner but the closest hotels either didn’t accept pets at all or only pets that are smaller than my dog. So I was able to use my Hilton free night certificate at the Homewood Suites closest to me. This is the same hotel where I lived for four months in early 2020 while my house was being repaired from a fire. I knew the rooms were larger than typical hotel rooms and we’d have a sofa as well as the bed so it was a great fit. The room was quite warm when we arrived but still cooler than my house and we spent the night in comfort.

Just for holding the American Express Hilton Aspire Card I have Hilton Diamond status. And while late checkout is a benefit, it’s not guaranteed. I asked for 4 PM checkout and was told there was no way I could get that but I could get 1 PM checkout. By noon my power was not back on so I went ahead and used points for that night. And naturally, my power was turned back on shortly after 1 PM. But I was out 30K points instead of over $200. That’s a lot easier to swallow! It wasn’t a sexy, luxurious redemption but it was so nice to be able not to have to think about whether or not I could afford a hotel.

There are some who think that chasing points and miles is a loser’s game. And you can certainly get yourself into trouble if you’re not careful. But at times like this it’s wonderful to have those points in your back pocket.

Categories: Advice, Award Travel | Tags: Advice | Leave a comment

Review: Air France A350 CDG-ORD

Posted on April 1, 2023 by 2btravel

Return to International Travel – Introduction
Review: SWISS A340-300 ORD-ZRH and Marhaba Lounge ZRH
Lodging Review: Sina Villa Medici, Florence, Italy
Our Time In Florence, Part 1
Our Time In Florence, Part 2
Lodging Review: Park Hyatt Vendome, Paris, France
Our Time In Paris, Part 1 (Louvre, Sainte-Chappelle, Arc, Eiffel Tower)
Our Time In Paris, Part 2 (Versailles)
Our Time In Paris, Part 3 (Catacombs, Musee d’Orsay)
Viking Kari and an Afternoon in Montmartre
Our Time in La Roche-Guyon and Vernon/Giverny
Our Time on the Normandy Beaches
Our Time in Les Andelys and Le Pecq
Lodging Review: Renaissance Republique, Paris, France
Review: Air France A350 CDG-ORD

Since I had never flown Air France, I figured this was my best shot to do that. I looked for a flight that would connect in the US and fly me all the way back to Memphis on the same ticket but for whatever reason Delta was not making any saver-level award space available. We had originally planned on returning to the US on a Wednesday, the day our cruise ended, but I found business class award tickets that day were (if I remember correctly) about 95K miles. Then I noticed that by returning on Thursday to Chicago, which is not a Delta/SkyTeam hub, the cost was only 58K miles. Sold! I then bought a separate cash ticket on United back to Memphis.

Air France 136
CDG-ORD
Aircraft: A350-900
Depart: 13:35, actual 13:59
Arrive: 15:25, actual 15:15
Seat: 2A (Business Class)

It was my first time at CDG airport so I was thrilled to find a luggage cart right where the taxi let me out. With my bum knee everything was taking longer to do so I was glad we had arrived quite early. Not being familiar with the airport’s layout I had hoped to reconnect with my friend, who was flying AA, once we went through security but I later realized that wasn’t practical. After checking my luggage I hobbled through the airport, on to the train and disembarked at Concourse M.

As I had plenty of time I visited the Air France lounge in Concourse M and would have liked to have reviewed it but thought it better to rest my knee. I did sample the chocolate mousse and loved it.

I left myself plenty of time to walk to the gate, though it wasn’t that far from the lounge, but I was moving slowly. Even while at the gate I had difficulty understanding the gate announcements as the acoustics in that building are such that the sound bounces all over the place but eventually we began the boarding process.

Air France A350

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Categories: Air France, Award Travel, Flight Review, SkyTeam, Trip Report | Tags: A350, Air France, Award Travel, Flight Review, SkyTeam, Trip Report | Leave a comment

Lodging Review: Renaissance Republique, Paris, France

Posted on March 29, 2023 by 2btravel

While we could have flown home after the final morning of our cruise, I found I could use significantly few Air France miles if I returned the day after. So we decided to stay one extra day and booked a hotel in a different part of the city. The Park Hyatt Vendome is in the 2nd arrondissement so we booked the Renaissance Republique, a Marriott property in the 3rd arrondissement which cost us 70K points for the night. While the two hotels are only about 5 miles apart their neighborhoods have an entirely different feel.

Renaissance Paris Republique Hotel

The area around the Renaissance Republique has much more of a local feel, with many small restaurants, grocery stores, laundromats and other types of stores that you’d need if you lived in the apartments above some of the shops.

Continue reading →

Categories: Award Travel, Europe, France, Hotel, Lodging Review, Marriott, Renaissance, Trip Report | Tags: France, Hotel, Hotel Review, Lodging Review, Marriott, Paris, Renaissance Hotels, Trip Report | Leave a comment

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Award Travel

Introduction: Late Summer in Scandinavia

Why Scandinavia?

Lodging Review: Hyatt Place Salt Lake City Airport

Flight Review: Iberia A330-300 Madrid-Chicago

Booking the Flights

Venice to Madrid

2023: The Year in Travel

January

Lodging Review: Academias Hotel, Autograph Collection, Athens

Getting to the hotel

Hotel Exterior

Flight Review: Lufthansa A340-600 Charlotte-Munich

Booking the flight

Trip Report: Athens and a Mediterranean Cruise

Booking the flights

Points and miles are not always about value

Review: Air France A350 CDG-ORD

Lodging Review: Renaissance Republique, Paris, France

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