Europe

Booking Flights To Turkey

Posted on November 4, 2014 by 2btravel

Turkey Trip Overview
Booking Flights To Turkey
British Airways First Class Lounge IAH
British Airways 777 First Class IAH-LHR
Transiting Heathrow and British Airways A320 Business Class LHR-IST
Marriott Courtyard Istanbul Airport
Pegasus Airlines Istanbul to Izmir and Back
Ephesus, Mary’s House and Basilica of St. John
Swissotel Efes
Pamukkale Bus and Preiene
Ritz-Carlton Istanbul
Major Sites to see in Istanbul
Radisson Blu Bosphorus
Turkish Airlines Lounge Istanbul
Turkish Airlines 777 Business Class IST-IAH

I live in Memphis and my two traveling companions live in the Chicago area and in Southern California. With access to large, hub airports it’s easy for them to be able to get flights anywhere. Flying from my midsize airport sometimes means an extra stop along the way.

Though I’ve only been in the miles and points “game” for a couple of years, already I’d heard about the wonders of the Turkish Airlines lounge in Istanbul and put it on my mental list of places I wanted to check out. When my friend announced he was taking the apartment in Turkey in August and September I realized here was my chance. I’d saved up a bunch of United Airlines miles and planned to use them to fly Turkish Airlines. But last winter we started hearing about how United was devaluing their miles and how many more miles it was going to cost to fly on partner airlines. So on the very last weekend before the devaluation hit, my friends and I got together on the phone and got our dates in order.

My original plan had been to fly to Turkey on Turkish and back on another airline. But as I got to thinking about it, I realized that if I wanted to enjoy the lounge at the Istanbul airport, I’d need to fly back on Turkish. This actually worked out very well because we really wanted to arrive at the same time and go through Customs together. While I’d had a couple of ports of call in Turkey while on a cruise several years ago, my friends had never visited. So I was aware of how western much of Turkey is – though it certainly has a much more Islamic influence than what we’re accustomed to here – but my friends were being a little more cautious and wanted to be sure we were all on the same flight into Istanbul.

As it turned out I’d recently acquired one of the American Airlines Executive MasterCards when they were giving out the 100,000 mile bonuses, so I had plenty of miles to spare. I was able to find two premium award tickets, a business class seat on American from Chicago and a first class seat on British Airways from Houston. Since my Chicago friend was also using miles, she took the business class seat and I flew to Houston (via Dallas) on American and then to London. My friend in SoCal purchased an economy ticket on BA/AA non-stop to London.

I used 62,500 American AAdvantage miles and just over $500 cash for my first class ticket. This is because both my flight from Houston to London and the flight from London to Istanbul were on British Airways and BA passes along fuel surcharges (which are distance-based). Still, for a first class seat that retails for over $11000, I’m ok with the fuel surcharges. My friend from Chicago flew her trans-Atlantic segment on AA metal and thus her fuel surcharges were only about $250.

In the end, here is our flight map as we all met up at Heathrow:

Map drawn with gcmap.com

Categories: American Airlines, Award Travel, British Airways, Turkey | Leave a comment

Turkey Trip Overview

Posted on October 13, 2014 by 2btravel

I have a friend who was renting an apartment for a couple of months in Turkey. Since he was going to be there for awhile, I asked if he’d mind having my two friends and me come for a visit. It turned out his apartment was too small for so many visitors so we’d need to get a hotel. He was staying in the resort town of Kusadasi, which is about 45 minutes outside of Izmir, so we decided to use Izmir for our base in the area. Since most international flights fly into and out of Istanbul, we’d spend time there after leaving Izmir.

While we were in Izmir I knew we’d want to take a tour of the ancient city of Ephesus and we wouldn’t have a car so I did something that’s a bit of an anathema in the points & miles game: I contacted a travel agent. I have a friend here in town who is a Virtuoso agent yet knows my preference to plan as much as possible myself and she put me in touch with a Turkish Virtuoso agent who helped us greatly. I’ll have more on how they helped us but it’s not always a bad thing to pay for travel.

We flew from three different US cities and met up in London before continuing on to Istanbul. We spent a night there before flying to Izmir, where we spent four nights. We then flew back to Istanbul for five nights before returning home.

Stay tuned for the trip highlights as well as details on booking the flights.

Categories: Turkey | Leave a comment

Rhine Runaway – Park Hyatt Zurich

Posted on July 30, 2014 by 2btravel

Other parts of this series so far:

Rhine Runaway – Booking Process
Rhine Runaway – Houston to Amsterdam
Rhine Runaway – A Short Visit to Amsterdam
Rhine Runaway – River Cruise Part I
Rhine Runaway – River Cruise Part II
Rhine Runaway – Zurich Part I
Rhine Runaway – Zurich Part II
Rhine Runaway – Zurich to Munich

I just realized that I failed to include a review of our hotel! So before I describe the last legs of my flight home, here’s the scoop on the Park Hyatt:

For our two nights in Zurich I transferred 44,000 Ultimate Reward points to the Hyatt Gold Passport program. The points have since devalued and it now costs 30,000 points per night for the Park Twin room we had.

We were greeted promptly and assisted immediately at the desk. The desk clerk then escorted us to our room and showed us how to work the lights and the thermostat. It sounded basic enough as she explained it but we did have to play around with it a bit to get the hang of things!

Park Hyatt Zurich Park Twin

The room was pretty spacious at 387 sq. ft. (36 sq. m.). In addition to our large twin beds we had a desk with chair, a small credenza with a flat panel TV on top, a small vanity with a lighted mirror as well as a small bar area with the safe.

Park Hyatt Zurich Park Twin Desk

As is typical in many hotel rooms, the bathroom was immediately accessible when coming in from the hallway. The toilet had a small room to itself with an opaque, textured, sliding glass door. The bathroom vanity was large and had a small TV embedded in the mirror over the sink. There was no door between the vanity area and the tub & shower area but the showerhead was far enough away from the door that water splashing into the vanity area wasn’t really an issue. The tub was quite large and the wall beside it was actually wooden, sliding panels that opened up into the bedroom. A little awkward if you’re staying with a friend and not a romantic partner! Fortunately the panels fit together snugly so there were no embarrassing moments between friends. The large showerhead was not over the tub but in the far corner of the room. It wasn’t directly overhead but on the wall. I know a lot of people love overhead rainforest showers but personally I prefer ones that pound down on me like a constant mini-massage. This shower didn’t do that but neither was it so soft that I had a hard time getting the shampoo out of my hair.

Park Hyatt Zurich Park Twin Bathtub

Park Hyatt Zurich Park Twin Bathroom Vanity

Park Hyatt Zurich Park Twin Bathroom

The bath products were Laura Tonatto and the scents were made especially for the hotel. I really enjoyed the hair products and brought them home to finish off the bottles. I wasn’t crazy about the scents of either the hair or bath products. Just a bit too “perfumey” for my personal taste.

Park Hyatt Zurich Toiletries

Two bathrobes were provided. I’m somewhat tall for a woman and these fit me fine. A larger person would have trouble with the robe but I’m told that larger sizes are available for the asking at the desk.

A couple of things I almost always have trouble with in other countries are the bedding and the thermostat. At home I like a sheet, a light blanket and a comforter. I can sleep with that setup all year-round and throw covers on or off as needed during the night. Here (and on the river cruise as well) there was a fitted sheet and a duvet. It’s great that the duvet cover can be easily changed between guests but a top sheet would have been most welcome. Since we couldn’t turn the thermostat down as low as we wanted we were constantly throwing the duvet off and then pulling it back on. Really, hotel designers, let middle-aged women tell you how cool the room needs to be at night! Most people I know prefer to sleep in a cool room and then they don’t mind the heavier covers – but nobody likes to wake up in a pool of sweat in the middle of the night.

On our last night we walked back from our Italian dinner and felt we’d walked off enough calories to indulge in one last dessert for the trip. We went to the cafe area in the lobby and browsed the menu. Naturally we were hoping for chocolate melting cake again but did not see it on the menu. However our excellent waiter started describing a chocolate dish to us and soon we knew he was describing exactly what we wanted. One last round of cake and ice cream for the trip!

The staff was fantastic and the location made it easily accessible. It was in a very quiet neighborhood and inside was peaceful as well. I wouldn’t hesitate to return on my next trip to Zurich.

View from our Park Twin room at the Park Hyatt Zurich

Categories: Lodging Review, Switzerland | Leave a comment

Rhine Runaway – Zurich Part II

Posted on July 19, 2014 by 2btravel

Other parts of this series so far:

We’d pre-purchased a Viator half-day city tour for the next morning. The meeting location was very convenient, just around the corner from the main train station. We took the tram to the train station and walked the couple of blocks from there. We’d hoped to find a place to eat breakfast in the train station but didn’t find anything to strike our fancy.

There are a couple of small kiosks there that sell tours and we went to the one that indicated they were a Viator supplier. But it turned out that it was the other kiosk offering our particular tour. With tickets in hand we went across the street to Starbucks for breakfast. Starbucks is usually kind of wasted on the two of us as neither of us are coffee drinkers but we found museli, fruit and hot chocolate, plenty to start the day off right.

Our tour actually started off at the park beside Lake Zurich and it was just as beautiful as it had been the day before. We were really very fortunate with the weather on this trip! Our motorcoach then dropped us off at the Dolderbahn, a rack railway that runs up the side of the Adlisberg mountain. (If you’re familiar with the Incline Railway in Chattanooga, TN, it’s similar, though not nearly as steep.) Once atop the mountain we had lovely views of the region including both the lake and the city. The Dolder Grand Hotel is atop the mountain and there’s a large park/recreation area up there as well, though we didn’t spend time at either place.

While we’d been riding up on the Dolderbahn, our motorcoach had been wending its way up the mountain so we were able to ride it back down. Kudos to the driver because some of those roads were very narrow and lined with parked cars!

Back in town we stopped at Fraumünster, one of the three main churches of Zurich, which is known for its five large stained glass windows designed by the artist Marc Chagall. They were just lovely but unfortunately no photos are allowed. That was the end of our tour and we were left to explore Aldstadt (Old Town) on our own.

Fraumünster

One thing our tour guide had mentioned was that each spring there is a holiday that celebrates the end of winter. Called Sechseläuten, it’s usually held on the third Monday of April but apparently was a week later this year. The high point of the holiday is the burning of Winter in effigy in the form of Böögg, a snowman figure filled with explosives. In preparation for the festival a large pyre had been built and we could see the back of the Böögg figure. There were lots of folks willing to pay the charge and climb up to see him up close however! It had been a tough winter in many regions and apparently the good folks of Zurich were ready for it to be over.

The Böögg figure that will be burned to celebrate the end of winter

Aldstadt Waterfront in Zürich

We spent the afternoon and evening wandering through Aldstadt and collecting a couple of souvenirs. We ended up dining at Ristorante Toscano, a small Italian place. The meal was excellent and it felt more like a locals place than a tourist place though they spoke English very well.

It’s worth noting that everywhere we went in Zurich we had no problems with people not speaking English. Although my friend’s parents are from Germany and so she does speak and understand some German, it was nice that it wasn’t a struggle.

We were quite full from dinner and decided to walk back to the hotel to get in a little exercise since we knew we’d be sitting for hours during the flights home the next day. By the time we reached the Park Hyatt we were ready for dessert so we stopped in at the cafe there. As we perused the menu we didn’t see our favorite but found other options that would suit us. As the waiter answered our questions about one of the menu items he described something that sounded supiciously familiar. With a bit of clarification we realized one of items we’d overlooked was, in fact, chocolate melting cake! It was the perfect end to the trip.

Categories: Europe, Switzerland, Viator | Leave a comment

Rhine Runaway – Zurich Part I

Posted on July 18, 2014 by 2btravel

Other parts of this series so far:

Rhine Runaway – Booking Process
Rhine Runaway – Houston to Amsterdam
Rhine Runaway – A Short Visit to Amsterdam
Rhine Runaway – River Cruise Part I
Rhine Runaway – River Cruise Part II

The Viking cruise officially ended in Basel, Switzerland on a Thursday. I wasn’t in any hurry to get back just to save a vacation day, so my cruise roomie and I decided to extend the trip through Saturday. We took the train from Basel to Zurich, which is about an hour away.

The Viking concierge arranged a taxi for us and one was waiting for us at their terminal at the appointed time. I don’t recall the price but it was very reasonable. Inside the station we didn’t try to use the automated ticket machines but the man at the ticket window was quite helpful and got us the correct ticket we needed. Fortunately there was a train leaving in about 15-20 minutes so we hopped aboard. I finally pulled out some reading material I’d brought for the trip. It was the first time I’d seen it since I packed it up on the plane! This was a terrific choice for getting to Zurich. The ticket cost 32 Swiss Francs or just over $35 USD.

Zurich’s main train station is very convenient for tourists. The local trams (on-street trains) are super-convenient and the whole area is very walkable. We picked up tram tickets at the tourist information office in the train station and only had to just walk outside to pick up the tram that would take us near our hotel, the Park Hyatt. We didn’t have to wait long and even lugging/rolling our suitcases (one large case apiece) it was easy enough to get them on/off the tram. Our tram stop was about two blocks away from the hotel. It was an easy enough walk with the suitcases though there was some construction in the area. (We have a running joke that we’re going to invest in a scaffolding company in Europe because it seems everywhere we go some building or tourist site is covered up with it!) We walked a couple of blocks and then couldn’t find street numbers though we knew we were close to the hotel. As we chatted about it on the street corner, a local asked what we were looking for and then indicated we were right across the street from it! The signage was so subtle that it was easy to miss during the daytime. At night the sign was lit and easier to see. More on the hotel itself in the next installment.

After getting settled in the hotel we got out and started exploring. We first walked around the immediate area of the hotel, looking for a place to eat. We eventually wandered into an Italian place and both ended up ordering pizza. If we’d only known how big they were we’d have split one! We ended up spending way too much on food – and because we hadn’t checked the tipping rules, we overtipped like crazy too. (At the hotel later we did check the tipping rules and realized our faux pas. That didn’t happen again but I’m sure the pizza guy loved us!)

Flower clock overlooking Lake Zurich

It was a gorgeous day and we ended up near Lake Zurich. We enjoyed just walking through the park there and sat for a bit enjoying the sunshine and the water. There’s a small aviary there and we looked at the various birds housed there. We passed through the souvenir stands and wandered around looking at the architecture and some of the older buildings. After awhile we decided it was nap time and headed back to the hotel. While we never felt we had to rush while on the ship, we were glad to have some extra rest time.

The dancing fountains of Lake Zurich

That evening we wandered out again for dinner. We took the tram down to the train station and then meandered around the city from there. It was a lovely evening and we found a delightful cafe, Cafe Kranzlin. The food was quite good and the dessert…well.

Our one “complaint” (and it wasn’t a serious one) about the food on the river cruise was that there was no chocolate melting cake available. We even talked to Chef Imre and he said that while that dessert was offered on some of the longer cruises, it was not offered on ours. We’d had it before on a Mediterranean cruise and just loved the chocolate cake with the warm melted chocolate center. We’d had it several times during that earlier cruise and were looking forward to it again so we were disappointed when it wasn’t available. But Cafe Kranzlin had it! It was called by a different name but it was just as good. It was so good we had to send a photo back to our friends who had just landed back in the States. They were jealous!

Mmmm…chocolate melting cake!

One thing we’d read about, and found to be absolutely true, was that Zurich is a pretty expensive town. Dinner with dessert, regular water to drink, no alcohol plus tip (a reasonable one this time!) – this came out to over $50 USD. Just something to keep in mind if you plan on visiting.

But it was the perfect way to top off our first day in Zurich. We headed back to the hotel prepared for a good night’s rest.

Categories: Europe, Switzerland | Leave a comment

Rhine Runaway – River Cruise Part II

Posted on July 15, 2014 by 2btravel

Other parts of this series so far:

Rhine Runaway – Booking Process
Rhine Runaway – Houston to Amsterdam
Rhine Runaway – A Short Visit to Amsterdam
Rhine Runaway – River Cruise Part I

The next day we visited Heidelberg Castle followed by a visit to the town of Heidelberg. The castle was very interesting as it had once been left idle for decades but had since had a lot of restoration work, some of which was still on-going. It houses the world’s largest wine cask – large enough to have once had dance parties on top of it! – though it hasn’t held wine in many years.

World’s Largest Wine Cask

The university town of Heidelberg was a study in contrasts as it had the youth of the university surrounded by buildings dating back five centuries.

Later that afternoon we docked in Speyer and took a stroll into town where we got to visit the incredible Kaiserdom, an 11th century cathedral that’s another UNESCO World Heritage Site. Sadly, many of the other sites in town were closed since it was Easter Monday, which is part of the holiday weekend in Europe.

On Tuesday we visited Strasbourg, wandering its streets and visiting yet another gorgeous, massive cathedral. Some of our group took an optional tour of an Alsatian winery and brought back a few bottles to share.

Notre Dame Cathedral, Strasbourg, France

Our final day of the cruise took us into the Black Forest where we saw rolling hills and stopped in a tiny town that had once been a place where carriages stopped. The inn there was painted with a mural of Marie Antoinette, one of the more famous guests. There was a cuckoo clock shop as well as a shop selling blown glass items. In the afternoon there was an optional tour of the medieval city of Colmar, France. We had a delightful guide and enjoyed the architecture differences that he pointed out from various eras.

It was a lovely tour and I would definitely not hesitate to sign up for another Viking tour. In fact, a couple of us have our eyes on a tour in 2016…

Categories: Europe, France, Germany, River Cruise, UNESCO World Heritage Site | Tags: Europe, France, Germany, River Cruise, UNESCO World Heritage Site, Viking | Leave a comment

Rhine Runaway – River Cruise Part I

Posted on July 14, 2014 by 2btravel

Other parts of this series so far:

Rhine Runaway – Booking Process
Rhine Runaway – Houston to Amsterdam
Rhine Runaway – A Short Visit to Amsterdam

I must say that Viking knows what they’re doing. Our rooms were on the lower level, below the waterline and very compact, but had what we needed. A lot of forethought had been put into the design of the rooms. There were quite a few US 110-volt plugs as well as the standard European ones. That was great as it allowed us to use all of them since we’d brought adapters along.

Guided tours are included with the price of the cruise and there are optional tours available for purchase. Our longship could carry approximately 190 passengers but we weren’t quite full on this trip so they could divide us into relatively small groups which made our tours much easier. Each cabin has radios that will tune to the guide’s transmitter so they don’t have to shout. That’s great because the average age of passengers on this particular ship was probably early-to-mid 60s so I felt like a young ‘un! There’s also usually a “leisurely tour” group for folks with mobility issues so that they don’t slow down one of the other groups. I thought this was great planning on Viking’s part.

On Friday we were in Kinderdijk, Netherlands, a UNESCO World Heritage Site for the numerous windmills found there. When we arrived, we thought all the windmills looked the same but our guide soon pointed out differences in the ones on our side of the canal vs. the ones opposite. There was one windmill restored for touring and I was struck again at how compact everything was and how difficult that must have been for a family to live in.

Kinderdijk Windmills

Saturday we stopped in Cologne and docked right next to the city. We had a walking tour in the morning and then had the afternoon to ourselves. The cathedral there is the most-visited tourist site in Germany and it’s easy to see why. It’s a huge building with gorgeous stained-glass windows and fantastic architecture. Some of us also toured the German-Roman museum and viewed a number of mosaics that had been uncovered on the site (right next to the cathedral).

Cologne Cathedral

Just about every place we stopped had a magnificent church or cathedral that was several hundred years old. It just reinforced to me how young the US is! It was amazing to think how these huge buildings could have been built 300-500 years ago!

Easter Sunday found us at the port in Koblenz where we boarded motor coaches for the drive up to Marksburg Castle. It was never invaded due to its perch high on a river bend and it’s not close enough to a major city to have been damaged during the World Wars so it’s everything you might imagine a castle to be. They’ve done a great job preserving this castle and it has lovely views out over the river.

Marksburg Castle

Later that day was one of the highlights, cruising down the Middle Rhine. Fortunately the weather was great and we sat up on the sun deck in lounge chairs beneath an awning and watched a number of castles and towns as we cruised past. The cruise director provided narration as we passed. It made for great photos and was a wonderful change of pace.

In the evening, there was an optional excursion to a local restaurant in Rudesheim. We boarded a small tram (made up to look like a train) that wound us through the streets of the town and dropped us off near the restaurant. It’s a quaint town and I wish I’d taken the time available before our outing to walk through it.

The dinner was quite good, served by friendly staff. We were serenaded by a live oompah band and after dinner there were several audience participation activities. From a half-dozen people downing shots off the same paddle at the same time to audience members being recruited to play bass drum & cymbals as the band marched through the restaurant, the staff did their utmost to be sure everyone had a good time. All in all it was worth the extra charge for the visit.

Categories: Europe, Germany, Netherlands, River Cruise, UNESCO World Heritage Site | Tags: Europe, France, Germany, River Cruise, UNESCO World Heritage Site, Viking | Leave a comment

Rhine Runaway – A Short Visit to Amsterdam

Posted on July 12, 2014 by 2btravel

Other parts of this series so far:

Rhine Runaway – Booking Process
Rhine Runaway – Houston to Amsterdam

I’ll be the first to say we did not do Amsterdam justice. A combination of a few things factored into that but at the end of the day we decided we’d just have to return with Amsterdam as a destination.

I finally made it to the ship around 9:30-10:00 am and was warmly greeted. It turned out this was the maiden voyage of the Viking Bestla so all our cabins were ready. I was traveling with a group of 12 people, 10 of whom had traveled together and had already arrived. My roommate for the trip and I live in different cities from each other and from the rest of the group so we were on different flights. She was due to land a couple of hours after me so I decided to just wait for her on the boat.

Once she arrived and got settled in our cabin, it was lunch time. Since our meals were included we decided just to eat on the boat before venturing out. Amsterdam has canal tours with several companies operating them. We’d bought one online from Viator so we set out to trade our vouchers for tickets. We’d gotten some general directions as to the location of the ticket booth but they all involved walking through the Centraal Station and we came to find out that’s not possible without a ticket. (Or if it is, we couldn’t figure it out!) After a good bit of walking we finally found the ticket booth and waited about 10 minutes to pick up our tickets. Then we got in line for the boat and that killed another 45 minutes or so. At least the sun was out and the temperature was pleasant!

Centraal Station in Amsterdam with a tour boat

We finally got our turn on the boat and it was interesting. However the lack of sleep on our flights combined with the same narration in three languages (Dutch, German and English) meant we were not as alert as we’d have liked to have been. We’d hoped to go see the Anne Frank house while in Amsterdam but by that point we were just too tired and thought we’d run out of time before meeting the rest of the group for dinner.

So we saw a bit of architecture and learned a bit of history but have now added Amsterdam to the list of places to spend a few days.

Categories: Netherlands | Leave a comment

Rhine Runaway – Houston to Amsterdam

Posted on June 29, 2014 by 2btravel

Other parts of this series so far:

Rhine Runaway – Booking Process

My trip from Memphis to Houston was on a regional jet with no first class, so nothing special to write about.

It was my first time to transit IAH so I was most concerned about getting to where I needed to be. I got to Terminal E in plenty of time and had a chance to visit the United Club.

It was quite large and quite busy. Still less hectic than the terminal, obviously, but not a quiet oasis. I found some empty high top tables to the right of the bar and set up shop there. After picking through the measly food offerings (basically cookies and a bit of carrots/celery & dip) and getting some water I went back to the tables. I then realized why nobody was sitting at these tables despite their being next to electrical outlets – the outlets didn’t work. I tried two or three different outlets and had the same result with all of them. I finished up my cookies & carrots and moved to the business area, where at least I was able to recharge my phone and plug in my laptop. I don’t recall hearing any gate announcements so I left of my own accord.

I arrived at the gate about 5 minutes before boarding started and was promptly allowed on once boarding commenced. The business class cabin is divided into two sections. I’d selected 10B, an aisle seat in the second cabin. When I was checking the seat map in the club there were still tons of empty seats in my section and I naively thought I might get an empty seat next to me. Of course that was before they’d processed all the upgrades and there wasn’t a single empty seat in the cabin by the time we took off. We boarded via door 2L which meant I turned right for my seat – and all the folks in economy streamed past me. Next time I’d either go for the forward cabin or at least for a seat on the other side of the plane.

UA 58 IAH-AMS
Departs: 15:40
Arrives: 08:20 + 1
Boeing 777-200
Seat: 10B (Business Class)

Knowing it never hurts to stay on the good side of the flight crew. I’d brought a rather large baggie filled with chocolate & candy for the flight attendants. I had several of them thank me for it and was always treated with great courtesy at every interaction. To be fair they seemed to treat everyone that way. They seemed to enjoy their jobs and working together. I don’t know for sure but imagine this was an ex-Continental crew and if they’re typical I’ll be happy to fly with them any time.

Seat 10 B

On the seat were a pillow, a blanket and the amenity kit. Headphones were conveniently stored up over my left shoulder (between the two seats) next to the headphone jack. I liked that by storing them up there the cord was out of the way.

The amenity kit contained a pen, a comb, an eyemask, lotion, a cleansing pad, tissue, compression socks, toothbrush & toothpaste and a flosser. The kit bag itself wasn’t particularly noteworthy but I can forsee it having great use as a place to store electronic cords, adapters, etc. while traveling.

Business Class Amenity Kit

We were served beverages while on the ground. I just had some ice water. I don’t drink alcohol so can’t report on any of the offerings there though I will include the wine pages from the menu.

Not long after takeoff we were served dinner. The menu (click any photo to enlarge):

United 58 Menu Starters

United 58 Main Course

United 58 Dessert & Breakfast

United 58 Beverage & Bar Service

United 58 Featured Champagnes

United 58 Featured White Wines

United 58 Featured Red Wines

United 58 Regional Selections 1

United 58 Regional Selections 2

I had the short ribs and they were quite good! I didn’t take photos (hey, I’m still new at this whole blogging thing) but finished off the meal with ice cream & chocolate sauce. That’s one of my favorite desserts anytime, anywhere.

I’ll admit to hurrying through dinner as I wanted to get as much sleep as possible. There’s only a seven hour time difference between Houston and Amsterdam and the flight was only a bit over 9.5 hours. Discounting the time for dinner and breakfast that only left about 6 hours for sleeping. I felt fortunate to get about 4 hours of sleep. It wasn’t great quality sleep but that flat bed was terrific in comparison to sleeping in coach!

I woke up in time to get cleaned up and awake before the breakfast service started. I had the Swiss Cheese Omelette with broccoli-potato gratin and turkey sausage. I’m not much of a sausage person, except when it’s on pizza, so I skipped that but the rest of it was pretty good, if not especially memorable.

Upon arrival in Amsterdam I stopped at an ATM to get some Euros. I used my Charles Schwab account which meant I didn’t have to pay any ATM or foreign transaction fees. I highly recommend their product!

Not knowing when I might have a chance, I stopped to use the facilities while still airside so by the time I arrived at Customs there was a bit of a line. But my bag arrived fairly quickly and soon I was moving through the final checks and into the arrivals area.

I’d booked my transport to the ship via Viator. I’d booked a group transport but I was the only one. Though I could have checked two bags free on my business class flight, the Viator terms & conditions state that only one bag + one carry-on per person is allowed. Not that I needed two checked bags or more carry-ons but I was glad I had noticed this before I packed! I met up with the driver and we walked out to my ride – a pretty black Mercedes. I’m not a car geek so I’m just happy to remember what brand it was. He was quite courteous and answered my questions about things we passed along the way.

Since it was after 9 am at this point, traffic was not bad at all and we pulled up to a building in the port area about 40-45 minutes later. It was awfully quiet – even the driver thought so – so he offered to go inside with me. Sure enough, we were at some sort of administration building for the port area and not where we were supposed to be. He had a chat (in Dutch) with the person at the front desk. There was much gesturing and pointing and finally we went back to the car, turned down a side street and across the bridge until we saw a Viking longship. The river cruise boats were actually stacked about 3-4 deep but the one closest to the parking lot was a Viking so I felt sure we were in the right place. I sent the driver on his way and approached the ship, which had several staff members standing around as passengers were disembarking. I asked how to get to my ship, the Bestla, only to find it was not docked here – and I’d already let my driver go.

In various reviews I’d read to be sure not to let the driver go until you’re sure you’ve found your ship so I’ve no one to blame but myself. However I admit I was disappointed that the driver (or his company) hadn’t done further research ahead of time to find where the ship was docked. The cruise company cannot tell us in advance as it’s up to the harbormaster on any given day to determine where ships will dock. I had assumed (my mistake) that the car company would have done that. I didn’t save that much money over buying my ground transport through the cruise line and I think that next time I will book through the ship, because they will definitely know where to find the boat!

The cruise director of the other Viking ship did call a taxi for me and direct him to where my ship was docked. I was so glad I’d grabbed some cash from the ATM as I exited the airport – because it didn’t appear he took credit cards. All in all, several lessons learned from this experience!

The Bestla’s cruise director was waiting at the drop-off point and warmly greeted me and other arriving passengers. I was glad there were porters for my luggage as we had to get to our boat by boarding another boat, climbing up and down stairs before finally arriving at what would be our home for the next week. It was going to be a beautiful, cool day in Amsterdam and I couldn’t wait to get started.

Next up: Amsterdam and cruise highlights

Categories: Europe, Star Alliance, United, Viator | Tags: Star Alliance, United Airlines | Leave a comment

Rhine Runaway – Booking Process

Posted on June 23, 2014 by 2btravel

Back in April 2013 some friends contacted me about joining them for a cruise down the Rhine river. They were considering a cruise with Viking Cruises which was running a special deal: if we signed up for a 2014 cruise before 30 April 2013, we got 2-for-1 pricing. Having never been to that part of Europe before I was on board immediately.

As I was flying from a different city from the rest of the group, I handled my own airfare. It just so happened that in the fall of 2012 US Airways was running one of its targeted sales that offered a 100% bonus on purchased miles. I had made two purchases of 25,000 miles (+ 25,000 bonus miles) during that sale. I was able to buy both at the beginning and the end of the sale which split the charge over two credit card cycles for me. The total for both purchases with taxes was ~$1800 and left me with a 100K US Airways Dividend miles balance.

Since the time I purchased those miles I’ve learned not to buy miles speculatively (without a pre-planned purpose). But it was great to have those miles in reserve when I needed them! I would not typically use these miles on a domestic fare (unless it was really expensive) but $1800 is a great price for a business-class ticket to Europe.

At the time I used these miles US Airways was part of the Star Alliance. That gave me a great number of choices to get to Europe. Our cruise departed from Amsterdam (AMS) and ended in Basel, Switzerland on a Thursday. Not really wanting to fly back to the States for one work day, one of my friends and I decided to take an extra couple of days and take the train to Zurich (ZRH), spend a couple of days and fly home from there.

US Airways allowed one stopover of more than 24 hours OR one open jaw on an award ticket. (An open jaw is where you fly into one city and out of another.) My ticket would be an open jaw since I was flying into AMS and out of ZRH.

Even though I had US Airways miles, I knew that the United Airlines award search tool was MUCH better. At the time, the US Airways search tool did not display any Star Alliance partner award flights, which made it useless if US Airways did not fly into that city.

Using the United search tool I found a one-stop flight to Amsterdam from my home in Memphis via Houston on United. Sadly, United only flies one-cabin regional jets out of Memphis so no business class for me on the MEM-IAH leg. But that was the only one! In Houston I connected to a United flight that took me non-stop to Amsterdam in a flat-bed business seat.

For the return trip I had to make a couple of stops. I originally looked only for flights with flat-bed seats. This led to a complicated itinerary with two stops in Europe before landing in Chicago where I would have taken another one-cabin regional jet home – and I didn’t land until quite late. After I booked this ticket I began to think more about the route I was taking and started looking for alternatives. I eventually settled on a Lufthansa flight to Munich (MUC), connecting to another Lufthansa flight to Charlotte and then a US Airways flight back to Memphis that got me home several hours earlier than the trip I’d originally booked.

I called US Airways and changed the flights. There was a $150 fee because I’m not an elite US Airways member but I’d decided it was worth it.

My flight from ZRH to MUC was on one of Lufthana’s CityLine planes, meaning a short flight in a regional jet. But since I had a business class ticket, I had an empty seat beside me and that was fine for the short flight.

I connected to one of Lufthansa’s Airbus A340-600s for the flight to Charlotte. I’d originally avoided this plane since it only has angle-flat seats in business class but I later realized that since this was a daytime flight, I probably wouldn’t be sleeping much anyway – and indeed I did not.

My flight from Charlotte to Memphis was also on a Canadair regional jet that featured a first class section.

Flights for this route.
Map courtesy of gcmap.com

So that’s the “how” I booked the trip. Next up: the actual flight to Amsterdam.

Categories: Award Travel, Europe, Lufthansa, Star Alliance, United, US Airways | Leave a comment

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Europe

Booking Flights To Turkey

Turkey Trip Overview

Rhine Runaway – Park Hyatt Zurich

Rhine Runaway – Zurich Part II

Rhine Runaway – Zurich Part I

Rhine Runaway – River Cruise Part II

Rhine Runaway – River Cruise Part I

Rhine Runaway – A Short Visit to Amsterdam

Rhine Runaway – Houston to Amsterdam

Rhine Runaway – Booking Process

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