have a very high maintenance friend that just left Uganda and is now in Nairobi. checking her location on iphone is crazy.
Headed to Tuscany this summer. Staying three nights in Florence and then about a week in a house in Montepulciano. Any recs on food, winery, must dos?
I am quite the amateur when it comes to transferring chase points to airlines. What is the benefit (if there is one) to transferring points to Virgin/Delta/British before booking your flight with them instead of going through the portal?
There’s usually not unless the prices in the portal are higher than on the airlines website. Chase portal points are worth 1.5x
Well, you can't transfer to Delta. So that's one. In the chase portal, it is a set $/point ratio. Some times airlines will have a better $/point ratio than what chase offers. Points is usually better deal for Business/First.
any idea which airlines have the best ratios? And ya, I was combining Delta and Virgin in my mind since you can book delta thru virgin
You can also book Delta through British and there are plenty of articles out there that list the point differences between Delta/British/Virgin. No idea which is better
Did the Grape Escape Winery tour in Florence with my fiancé last summer. Large group tour, but we had a great experience. Still buy bottles from one of the vineyards that we visited. Have to watch the sunset from Piazza del Micheangelo. Grab a beer or bottle of wine at the steps and just kick back and relax. Regarding food, what we found to work best is to simply find the local spots that are crowded. Not as large of restaurants, but they take more pride in their food/service than the restaurants that are there to just turn the table.
We were just there in November/December. Watch the sunset from Piazza Michaelangelo (when we were there a folksy minstrel woman was strumming and crooning Sweet Child o' Mine into a microphone at the base of the steps), but also hike up the hill a little further to the church of San Miniato. It's an older church, and at 5:30pm they have Gregorian chants. We didn't stay for the chants, and it's the thing that I most regret not seeing on our trip. The view is nice from up there, too. This may sound a bit silly, but one of the best meals we had in all of Italy was from a place right next to the Uffizi called Auditore Ristorante, for the Assassin's Creed character. Nobody in the family plays any of the games, but my kids were aware of the game and characters, so we said what the hell, we'll give it a shot for lunch. One kid had the best seafood pizza he'd ever had, another had an awesome pasta with wild boar sauce (I had it too). A couple next to us ordered the steak for two, and they brought out a HUGE slab of meat for them to approve before cooking it. Good food, nice decor, absolutely awesome staff, great location. Down past where Via de Neri turns into Corso dei Tintori there's a Beer House Club, which surprisingly had a lot of good beers in a kind of sports bar setting. Wife had a hankering for goulash one evening, even though it's got nothing to do with Italian cuisine, so we went there and watched soccer on the big screens while sipping a variety of beers. If you're into that, it's a nice place. We also had dinner at Benvenuto just off the Via de Neri, but it wasn't anything special. There's a sandwich shop on the same street that we didn't eat at because the lines were always too long, but the locals seemed to all rave about it. I think it's the Osteria All'antico Vinaio, but I'm not sure. There's actually two of them right across the street from each other. As for sights, we hit the Accademia, Uffizi, Duomo, and Santa Croce. Liked them all. Makes sense to get reservations for the Uffizi and Accademia. Every moment standing in line unnecessarily on a trip is a wasted moment.
It depends on the flight For example I just booked a Hyatt last night on a busy night that's $232/nt. It would've spent 15,000+ UR per night to book a $232 room through the portal. But it's only 8,000 Hyatt points per night. So I transferred 8,000 UR to Hyatt and saved nearly 50% But on a normal weekend it's $75 so the portal would only cost me about 5,000 UR making the portal a better value (not including the loss of status)
Of the chase partners, I've found United to have the best mileage rates, at least for premium cabins, which is what I generally save my miles for. Have had some good deals with BA and Singapore as well. Southwest or Jetblue I believe both charge miles based off of the price of the ticket, so you'll always be better booking through the chase portal. Air France and Virgin I have almost never been able to find availability and if so, the rates are so crazily overpriced its not worth it.
Transferring points becomes most valuable when you want to book one ways in and out of different places usually
Really craving a Zanzibar Pizza right now... Thought that shit was delicious and I think it's somewhat replicable. I am not a huge fan linking this guy, but he made the best video about the pizza itself. Dude, it's pizza, we expect it to be unhealthy.
I am going through the thread and did not see a follow-up on this. Any suggestions from your friend? Any recollection on the hikes? We are looking to do some hiking while there. Currently planning some sort of hike in Caringorms Natl Park on our drive from Edinburgh to Inverness and something in Loch Lomond and Trossachs Natl Park on our day of driving from Isle of Skye back to Manchester. Obviously want to do some hiking while we are in Isle of Skye. I think we are staying in Portree, but not entirely sure on that yet. Any other suggestions would be welcomed. Any other guidance you guys have on Scotland? I am going into this pretty blind so things to skip or things to make sure to do would be awesome. As of now things we are planning: Edinburgh- Royal Mile, Arthur's Seat - Stirling Castle and hiking in Caringorms NP Inverness- the GF is in charge of this so I am deferring to her calls but any suggestions would be welcomed Isle of Skye- any particular hikes or other items to do while here? We do plan to do plenty of driving around while there. - Hiking in Loch Lomond and Trossachs Natl Park then late lunch or dinner in Glasgow
I texted stuhly at the time but I don't remember what I texted him and I lost the phone with the notes I took in it. So I'll follow up with him again this week
I'll speak mostly on Skye as that's where we spent almost all of our time. Fairy Pools was our favorite hike there. It's a super easy hike if you just go to the pools but the trail continues out into the mountains that surround it and you can continue on as far as you'd like before turning around. We loved it because the walk out we had no one else on the trail. We got out there by about 7:30 and when walking back there were more people but still not too crowded. The most popular hike on Skye is Old Man of Storr. It's a longer hike and more difficult but still nothing really challenging at all. Of the popular ones this was my least favorite just because of how many people were there. The Quirang is an area on the northernmost part of the island that you can drive up into and is one of the highest elevation points so you get some great views of the island and back to the mainland. Neist Point provides a gorgeous spot for sunsets as it's the western most point and is not the easiest to get to. It sounds like you're taking the same route we did so on your way from Inverness to Skye make sure to take the route along Loch Ness and stop at some of the castle ruins and viewpoints for the Loch. Also for sure stop and tour Eilan Donan castle. Instead of Loch Lomond I'd recommend hiking in Glencoe personally. Or at least stop off and do one of the short trails like the Lost Valley trail that'll give you a taste of it.
crossposting from the CC thread: My rental vehicle was broken into (and hundreds of dollars of personal items stolen). Should I file claim with Chase Sapphire Reserve, since I have that benefit or with my existing auto insurance?
If you don’t have to pay a deductible use ur chase sapphire versus paying ur comprehensive deductible with ur own insurance
You texted me you were with a Scottish guy and about to give me notes.... .. Then never texted me back
Yeah I took the notes and was going to type it up for you on here. Then I lost my phone... So here we are
If you're into golf at all take a day to get up to St. Andrews. Even if you're not, it's an awesome little town but it really revolves around golf. The Old Course is closed on Sundays and it becomes a public park so I was able to walk the whole thing and see it all without playing. It's a 45 minute train ride from Edinburgh and an easy day trip. Also, if you feel like nerding out over Harry Potter, The Elephant House is where JKR wrote the books. There's also a really old cemetery nearby with gravestones dating back to the 15-16th-ish centuries where she got several names for characters, pretty sure I still have the picture somewhere of Tom Riddle's grave.
Think about going to Vinci just outside of Florence. This year is the 500th anniversary of Leonardo’s death. Will be all kinds of special events in his honor. The museum in Vinci is doing some special things. I’ll be spending 3 days in Tuscany in October. Please share your recommendations when you get back this summer.
Any of you with USB ports on your luggage get stopped or have any issues with TSA? My carry-on rollaboard was stolen and they no longer sell my model. The newer model has a USB port (obv no built in power) on the side, which I don't really want.
Bought plane and train tickets for first trip out of the US this past weekend. July 1-23 4 days in each of London, Paris, Amsterdam, and Berlin, then a couple days in Chisinau. Pretty excited.
IMHV, good call to hit a bunch of major spots on your first trip. Have a great time. Plenty of input and expertise ITT regarding those cities. To kick start it, i'd like to hear people's opinions on how to best go about eating good in London.
I stayed at Sant Jordi Alberg a few years ago and it was one of my favourites I’ve stayed at. I’m staying at the same chain but different hostel this summer - Sant Jordi Gracia - just to try out a different hostel and neighbourhood.
I don't rent cars much besides work. Anyone face experience with Payless? Would I rather spend $120 more for Avis?
I've used Budget because it was far cheaper than Avis/National and didn't have any issues. Seems about on the same level ad Payless
I consider them to basically be interchangeable. If your CC (such as CSR) gives you status, you can be more likely to get upgraded to a better vehicle. I have a dedicated line at Avis, but tbh, there is never more than 1 person in regular or expedited, so practically no meaning in my experience.
This is completely anecdotal but I think as long as you have a good insurance company, the brand of rental car company doesn’t matter.
I do have the ability to pick my own vehicle from the app, assuming the location has "plugged in" to that feature, but hasn't worked for me yet w/ DEN, SFO, YVR, DCA bookings complete. I have been upgraded though.
There are companies that are notorious for providing shitty vehicles as well as straight up lying about additional fees.
Seoul is incredible I also get rationally upset at how seamless and easy the mass transit is compared to literally everywhere I've been in the US.
If it's for work you might not be able to use Turo but if it's personal then I definitely suggest it. Used it twice now and haven't had good experiences both time.
Loved it - we just did 1 night but we packed it in. We did a guided tour of the old town and the traboules which was really cool. Amazing food and wine of course. Stay in old town if u can.
Very different, loved both. Marseille feels a lot bigger, but its also more multicultural. The northern African influence is very cool. We stayed at the Intercontinental in Marseille, which was a large property but super nice and centrally located. In Lyon we stayed in a boutique hotel right in the heart of old town. Hard to choose one or the other, depends on where else in France you want to visit and how much time you have to dedicate to travel.
Obviously with France, everyone will have their own opinions, but Marseille is very "tourist trap" heavy, which is what leads to a lot of people saying it is a bad city for French food. Lyon is definitely the better food city, but there are plenty of good spots in Marseille and the port area is really interesting. As another poster mentioned the port of Marseille was pretty much the filter point of all african influence in France so there is a lot of history there worth checking out.