Yea, it was a little more than I anticipated, but it's still free miles. Coach was something like 80K AmEx points. I have not flown business/first class internationally before, and am incredibly pumped. Delta One on a 767 looks ridiculous. Will definitely help out with the 11 1/2 hour flight to Rio and the 12 hour flight back from BA
There is a small fee for transferring MR points to an airline, most likely between $50-100 for the amount you would transfer. The best value you will get is waiting for Amex to announce a transfer bonus to an airline and then transferring the MR points and converting to a business class award ticket. Flyertalk is pretty good about tracking when the transfer bonus' will happen. The good thing about MR points is you aren't stuck with any one airline and if you play your cards right, you can land a low level award ticket in first on a premium airline (ie not Delta/United/AA etc). As a reference, you should be able to find first class DL award tix to Europe for 125k miles RT.
Being able to have a flat seat so you can sleep is the biggest thing. Arriving rested and not in pain from being cramped into a tiny seat next to a fat person is the best.
Flew Delta One from Amsterdam to ATL on my return trip from India. It was pretty awesome. PJP3 put it best, the flights become a part of looking forward to the trip rather than dreading it. With that being said I'm looking to use AA miles to get to Rome on business/first class. There are first class awards available for 62k one way, but that includes a layover somewhere which adds roughly 6 hours to my travel time. The alternative is 30k for a direct flight into Rome. I think I'm going to go with the business class/first class option. Would anyone do it differently?
Looking for some guidance for a trip to Europe this Summer for a friend's wedding. He is getting married in the Maiori part of the Amalfi Coast. I'm in the process of going through each page of this thread to gather things to do/eat/stay in each locale, I'm more looking for guidance on the timing of things. Here is the breakdown thus far: Jun 8-12 Italy - Land in Rome on the 8th, make our way to the Amalfi Coast for the wedding on the 10th Flight June 13-14 Portugal - What the consensus best spot in Portugal? I assume it's either Lisbon or Porto Overnight train June 15-17 Barcelona Overnight train June 17-19 Paris The above itinerary is for me, my gf, and buddy from college. My buddy is flying out Sunday, June 19th, and my gf and I will have another week in Europe. How does the timing shape up in your opinion? FYI I've never been to Europe
I'd personally probably do the first class because that's a pretty good redemption rate. Where's the layover? If its on an airline through its major hub, some of those have really nice lounges that you can kill a few hours in easily. If you're going to book do it very soon though. AA is going through a devaluation in late march, so it will likely cost significantly more miles unless its booked before then. EDIT: I just checked, If you book after march 22, your first class redemption will go from 62k to 85k miles, and economy will be from 30k to 47-65k each way. So just book before then, even if you fly after. All these devaluations and changes in mileage earning fucking suck for the consumer.
So some British guy was gored to death the other day in Ko Samui. http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/british-man-gored-trampled-death-7288167
Direct flights from LAX to Hawaii in style starting at $169 each way. Virgin America just announced two new direct flights to Hawaii from LAX and you can grab a seat to the island for quite a steal. The airline is having a “Hot Ticket to Hawaii” fare sale with tickets starting at $169 each way. The direct service to Honolulu, Oahu starts on May 5, 2016 while Kahului, Maui starts on June 14, 2016. For the best fares, you must stay within the sale dates of May 5 – October 5 for Honolulu and August 15 – October 5 for Maui. That's at least a $300 dollars savings round trip from LAX.
just got back from the Virgin Islands. holy fuck at White Bay on Jost. That beach seriously looked like a fairy tale. Contemplating going back for the New Year's Eve bash this year. St Thomas was pretty much shit but our Airbnb was on the north side top of the mountain basically in the jungle which was cool. Two crunchy islander lesbians picked us up in a beat up Rav4 from French Town and took us up there. They were awesome and sold us some weed. St. John was gorgeous and less trashy. I saw a mongoose. Hiked trails and hit up some pretty awesome secluded beaches. Did day boat trip to Virgin Gorda, some snorkeling spot, and Jost. All in all good trip to go on with the lady. Not sure how'd it'd be if I just with dudes and looking to rage.
St. Thomas probably wouldn't be that tight for a rage-fest, but Jost for NYE would be for sure. Would absolutely recommend hitting that up for NYE. Agree re: Jost. Every beach I saw was better than a post card. It's just silly. Did yall stay the night on Jost or just do a day trip? Everybody who I met that lives on St. Thomas referred to it as the "Detroit of the Virgin Islands." Pretty accurate, imo.
They made a big deal about the tigers in phuket not being drugged up. When I went they were running around and playing with each other and the trainers, even the adults.
Also, not sure about Amex points but my mom was gonna transfer me about 30k delta miles so I could fly first class to Rome. Was going to cost somewhere asking 4-500 to transfer those miles. Not sure how much Amex will charge though.
My only vacation this year is gonna have to be state side. Thinking about seeing family in San Diego or DC. I've been to San Diego but never DC.
Big fan of DC. One of my favorite cities. Sister in-law lives there so get up there at least a couple times a year.
My plan is wait for my vacation days to revamp in late June... Use them all. Find new job in August with new vacation days. Boom.
Has anyone gone from Vancouver to Victoria? Thinking of flying (about $180 RT) as it looks like a total cluster fuck trying to get from downtown Vancouver there by ferry but perhaps the reality isn't as awful.
Looking like state side vacations for me this year. So far looking like possibilities are: -Vegas late June with group I grew up with. Our first big Vegas trip. This has been booked. -Bonnaroo. This ones 50/50. Will see how things play out. -Denver late July for Avett Brothers and Gary Clark Jr at Red Rocks. 2 of my favorite artists and I've never been to Denver so it's a good enough excuse for me to do a weekend there. This literally came up today for first time, but I'm sold on going if I can find a person or people to go with.
Rome, Amalfi, Portugal, Barcelona, and Paris in 12 days? That's a lot, man. From your write-up it sounds like you really have no real need to go to Portugal, you just kind of want to. It's a real headache and commitment to pick up, and move spots, and you may feel like you're constantly moving. Personally, I would skip Portugal and stay in Southern Italy the 13th and 14th and fly to Barcelona from Naples on June 15th. There is plenty to see on the Amalfi coast after your wedding (Positano, Sorrento, Pompeii, Mt. Vesuvius, Naples, island of Capri, etc etc) that I feel you would be really short changing it to leave after 2-3 days just to see Portugal when you don't really need to.
Thanks for the info. My gf and I are staying another week on top of the itinerary I posted above. I'm leaning towards pushing Paris into the following week so we have a good ratio of leisure time to travel time. I didn't know the Amalfi Coast had so many enticing spots to uncover, will take that into consideration. I had no desire to go to Portugal until I started reading through this thread again. Both Porto and Lisbon seem to be consensus top 10 TMB Europe destinations. Regarding the travel within Europe, I've never done it so I don't know, but I keep hearing about the ease of travel, trains, cheap flights, etc within Europe. I kind of took it for granted that it would be easy peezy. I'll keep in mind that even though it may be easier relative to the states, in the end it's still traveling. Lastly, I'm doing Rome basically by myself since my gf and my buddy both have been numerous times. Hoping I can knock it out in a day or two.
In Rome, I think two days by yourself is pushing it but should be fine. Whether or not you are religious I would see St. Paul's and the Vatican. Also try to see the Colosseum and the Roman Forum and Pantheon. You should be able to do that in a full day and half day, and I'd try to book your reservations in advance to make time easier. I put an Amalfi Coast post together that I re-linked a few pages back for user Walt Disney. Short summary is I was there for 9-10 days last year and it's incredible. Positano is amazing, day trip to Capri is awesome, Pompeii is fantastic, Naples is super underrated - just so much to do there. I like the thought of pushing Paris to being just you and your girl and either fitting Portugal in or just doing Barcelona / Amalfi.
Think I may try and squeeze in a state side trip over Memorial Day weekend. Probably not West Coast, don't want to spend too much time traveling. -Chicago---never been, probably the leader in the clubhouse at the moment -Austin---never been either
Yeah, Charlotte to madrid is non stop and was like 730 bucks. just used chase points and got it for free The plan as it stands now, is to fly in to madrid, land at 7 am, hop the train to sevilla. I have two cousins studying abroad there right now, so meet up with them. Hang out in sevilla for 4-5 days, i'd like to go down to cadiz. Train back up to Madrid, good friend lives there, and stay for 4-5 days before flying home. the nonstop 8.5 hour flight is clutch as fuck