I have been traveling every week as a business consultant for a little over four years now. I average around 4 nights per month in my Chicago apartment but I am OK with that. At the beginning of 2012 I made the (mighty difficult) decision that I value my personal relationships and community over a…
Trip Reports
Category Archives for Trip Reports.
First Flight Success For Baby Weekly Flyer
Baby Weekly Flyer’s first long flight was a success. I learned a ton and our fear of taking Baby Weekly Flyer on longer flights has been removed. But we learned a lot from the experience. No matter how much planning we did for Baby Weekly Flyer’s first trip, we learned you have to be prepared…
W Union Square New York City
The W Union Square in New York at the corner of 17th and Park Avenue East is located in the old 1911 beaux arts Guardian Life building. The location makes for a convenient business hotel during a visit to the city and a quick taxi ride to both mid-town and lower Manhattan. This hotel is…
Quiet Lunch In World’s Busiest Airport – Cafe Intermezzo
In the center of terminal B in the World’s Busiest International Airport, is a quiet cafe called Cafe Intermezzo. It’s a great choice for a quiet lunch or coffee. The cafe has a small book store, offers free wifi and has a nice little menu. Cafe Intermezzo Location You’ll find Cafe Intermezzo in the center of…
First long-haul 787 and a KFC breakfast
As I wrote about last month, Japan Airlines recently launched nonstop service between Tokyo Narita and San Diego. New routes are always exciting to me because they generally offer an excellent opportunity for a lot of open award space. The schedule is set well before the airline can understand the true demand on the route…
British Airways Re-Books Business Class Award Flight – Tyranny Ends
Happy to report back with some good news regarding our cancelled and rebooked British Airways Business Class award tickets next year. Last week I shared a frustrating award booking story. Our return flight from the Ultimate Golf Trip To Where Golf Began was, sadly, cancelled and rebooked to a completely different day. If we didn’t…
Beautiful sight at the Park Hyatt Tokyo
I consider the Park Hyatt Tokyo one of the most iconic hotel points redemptions. I have been extremely fortunate to spend five award nights at the hotel this year spread across two different trips. For all five nights I have been assigned a Mount Fuji view room though I had never actually seen the mountain…
Andaz Suite At The Hyatt Andaz 5th Ave New York
The Hyatt Andaz 5th Avenue has 182 rooms of which 42 of them are suites. During my quest to maximize Hyatt promotions through the 65,000 imagination bonus or 44,000 possibilities bonus promotions, I was upgraded to both the Splash Suite and the Andaz Suite in addition to a number of stays in a regular king room. I have to…
Cancellation Without Representation – British Airways Cancels Business Class Award Flight
Earlier this year we booked an ultimate award trip with British Airways and American Airlines. The ultimate golf trip, a once in a lifetime trip for the Weekly Flyer family gents to where the game of golf began. We’ve been very excited and busy tweaking the flights as availability opens up until today, when everything…
Marriott New York East Side Hotel
The Marriott New York East Side is located on the Lexington between 49th and 48th street, just north of the Hyatt 48 Lex. While just next door, the Marriott is worlds away from the Hyatt 48 Lex. It’s 629 rooms is gives the opposite feel from the small loft style of the Hyatt. At a…
Splash Suite At The Hyatt Andaz 5th Avenue In New York City
I found myself visiting New York often in 2012 and this meant I had quite the choice of hotels for my stays. Whether it was enjoying one of the great rooms at the Hyatt 48 Lex (corner suite, terrace studio) or one of the great rooms at the Hyatt Andaz 5th Avenue (Splash Suite, Andaz…
Terrace Studio At The Hyatt 48 Lex In New York City
The Hyatt 48 Lex in New York City is a more intimate hotel with only 116 rooms. At 15,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points for a one-night stay, this hotel offers a great product for a midtown hotel stay. The first few times we stayed here we received an upgrade to a corner suite with 435…
Calculating A Road Warrior’s Rent – One Day Home Per Month
I love my cozy Lincoln Park apartment situated a few miles North of downtown Chicago. As I wrote out my rent check for November and December I couldn’t help but feel like I wasn’t doing a very good job justifying my big city rent. Over the last two months, exciting opportunity after exciting opportunity opened…
Delta’s 757 First Class Service From Seat 1A
On a recent trip out west, I got to experience Delta’s seat 1A onboard one of their domestically configured 757. While the experience was much different than my Holiday travel experience on Delta’s Business Elite configured 757, the flight up front was still a pleasant one. There are a few benefits and drawbacks to riding…
A Thanksgiving family travel tradition
My family does not have too many family traditions but one we continue to maintain is called the annual pick-a-completely-random-location-and-meet-there on Thanksgiving. The tradition is simple. Each Thanksgiving, we select a new location that has dirt cheap airfare and deep discounts at fancy resorts. Once we find a location that meets that criteria, we make…
Aloft To Asia – Singapore Fullerton Bay Rooftop Happy Hour
The Fullerton Bay hotel in Singapore sits on Singapore’s Marina Bay waterfront. With the city skyline behind it and the bay in front of it, the views from the rooftop bar are surreal for any first time visitor to Singapore. The hotel was ranked as the third best new business hotel in Singapore in 2012…
Crystal Clearwater – Gulf Front Suite At Hyatt Regency
Our first trip with Baby Flyer was a success. Not because we were upgraded to a two bedroom Gulf Front suite on a points reservation, but because we were able to spend time with family and reconnect. But the two bedroom Gulf Frontsuite, complimentary Diamond breakfasts and great weather certainly helped. From before we arrived to…
Crystal Clearwater – Best Beach Margarita Only 1 Mile From Hyatt
After our big day on the beach as a result of the awesome Hyatt Diamond breakfast and lunch, we set out in search of Clearwater Beach Florida’s best Margarita. We limited our search to restaurants and bars within 2 miles of the resort. The short radius limited our options but we found a gem of…
Crystal Clearwater – Hyatt Diamond Breakfast And Lunch
The night before we visited an amazing wedding at the Sandpearl. So it was nice to relax with family and enjoy a full breakfast with a view of the beach. As most loyal readers know, we here at Points, Miles & Martinis like Hyatt Diamond breakfast options. Hyatt provides their top tier elite members with…
Who said flight diversions aren’t fun?!
For most rational people, flight diversions are a terrible inconvenience that can jeopardize an entire business trip or vacation. On the contrary, a strange few including myself actually enjoy flight diversions because they often create unique routes that would never make a real flight schedule. This morning I was unfortunate fortunate enough to be on…