By late morning we were already on the road for the 3-hour road trip from Zurich to Milan. Apparently we had arrived along with the first snowstorm of the season, and driving along the lakes and snow-capped mountains was simply intoxicating. Between the natural landscape and the fun we had observing the differences in architecture of the buildings as we headed south into Italy, we had enough entertainment to make the time fly by.
With under 24 total hours in Zurich spread across two separate visits, we had our work cut out for us if we were going to take full advantage of being in the land of cheese. In fact, I was traveling with two people who’s favorite food is cheese, and they couldn’t stop drooling at the prospect of stuffing their faces with some of Switzerland’s finest.
Within the luxury bespoke tour industry, it appears the the latest offerings from hotel groups like Four Seasons and Aman Resorts are picking up steam, evidenced by the fact that they are consistently selling out. Four Seasons just released its three 2017 itineraries and one of them in particular, the “Culinary Discoveries” tour, caught my attention. This particular tour was put together in conjunction with Noma, consistently ranked as one of the top restaurants in the world, and pretty much includes everything I could ever want in a trip. In other words, this would be my ultimate dream foodie vacation.
Even though we’d be flying in and out of Zurich, we actually weren’t planning to spend much time there. So really we just needed an economical place to crash the night that we arrived, and the night prior to our return, and for both of those nights we settled on the Zurich Marriott.
It seems like Korean Air’s SKYPASS frequent flyer program continues to fly under-the-radar, despite the fact that it is a transfer partner of the Chase Ultimate Rewards program, and a new transfer option for Starwood Preferred Guest points. They’ve also recently addressed one of the major negatives about the program, which was how cumbersome and painful it was to book award tickets. The website has improved dramatically, bringing it closer to the standards that most of us are accustomed to with domestic airlines.
It’s been a rather crazy first few months of the year at work so I was actually thinking of taking a couple days off for a stay-cation and some much needed “me time”. At the same time, I have a ton of miles burning a hole in my pocket, and am getting the travel itch since we don’t have any international trips planned until October. Then the idea dawned on me, why not do something that satisfies both desires? In other words, why I don’t I do a stay-cation where I’m traveling, but at the same time not really traveling.
Between the negative reviews of British Airways’ Business Class product on Flyertalk and the fact that they made me pay to select seats in advance, I didn’t have high expectations for my flights to Zurich. The final verdict after my round-trip? I really, really liked my flights, and it was all because of the seat, which was so comfortable that I was able to sleep like a baby for 7-8 hours each way. That simply does not happen for a light-sleeping insomniac like myself.
Thanksgiving is my favorite time of the year to travel for a couple reasons. Firstly, while other holidays rotate around, there’s no guessing which days you’ll have off for Thanksgiving – it’s a 4-day weekend every single year. Secondly, while domestic travel during Thanksgiving week can be a nightmare, it’s the perfect time to travel internationally. As an added bonus, you can essentially bank on the fact that there will be a premium cabin sales each year which means that you can fly in style, most often to Europe, for a fraction of the normal price.
I’m constantly talking to friends, family, and even strangers about the points and miles hobby. I do understand that it can be a bit intimidating to get started, so I’ve even tried to boil it down into a “how to get started” presentation that I’ve given a few times. But even after spelling things out for people, I’ve noticed that the uptake rate has still been pretty low in terms of those that dive head first into it like I had.
I’m one of the charter members of the “Korean Air Fan Club” and in recent years have been funneling the vast majority of my Chase Ultimate Rewards points into the Korean Air Skypass program. I’m planning a trip to Asia later this year, and decided to finally cash in those Skypass miles. I blocked off an hour of time to go through the incredibly confusing and annoying award booking experience that I remembered from 2014, but to my surprise, I had confirmed tickets in my account in less than 10 minutes.