Alan 
At the time of this post, there are some great fares from the US to Europe. Some of these dates are even over the high summer months of travel. The best part (for me) is that some of the fares are valid departing Seattle. Seattle (and elsewhere in the Pacific … Read more
Virgin America Mileage Run Up until recently, Virgin America allowed for VERY creative routing for travel between Portland, OR (PDX) and Los Angeles (LAX). Depending on the dates, you could fly from PDX-LAX with stops in San Francisco, Florida, New York, Boston, and/or DC for under $100. Virgin America has … Read more
What is it with me and hotels in Chicago? Back in September Virgin Hotels ran a contest called “Chamber Games” where you had to watch a webcam and then tweet when you saw the video that corresponded with a clue given out on Twitter. I was notified on September 28 … Read more
Singapore Airlines The Private Room Singapore Airlines has a nice network of their KrisFlyer lounges around the world like the one I visited in Sydney. When departing from Singapore flying in Singapore Airlines First Class or Suites Class, you have access to exclusive Singapore Airlines The Private Room located in Terminal … Read more
Grand Hyatt Singapore After spending New Years Eve at the InterContinental, it was time to move to the Grand Hyatt Singapore. A Category 5 property, I booked my stay on Points + Cash. I wanted to use a Diamond Suite Upgrade but it was not available. Location: The Grand Hyatt Singapore is located just … Read more
The W Lakeshore Chicago recently had a great sale on rooms starting at $67 per night. I read reviews and it sounded like a decent hotel; not the best but not bad. I decided I would book two weekends in February, one for my birthday and one for Presidents Day. The … Read more
InterContinental Singapore Review My first night in Singapore turned out to be New Years Eve. I already had two nights reserved at the Grand Hyatt but had some IHG points I wanted to use up. The InterContinental Singapore had award nights available. It is located a few blocks from Marina Bay where … Read more
Much conversation over the past 24 hours has focused on a mysterious 10,000 Alaska Mileage Plan mile bonus showing up in members accounts. Well, here is what I was able to learn directly from a staff member at Alaska: We understand that many Mileage Plan members have questions about a … Read more
Singapore Airlines A380 Suite Class SYD-SIN I booked my Singapore Airlines A380 Suite Class SYD-SIN back in April by first transferring Membership Rewards (Amex) points to Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer program. The 7 hour and 20 minute flight from Sydney to Singapore (with an additional Suite Class flight SIN-HKG) cost 63,750 points … Read more
Grand Hyatt Melbourne Review The Grand Hyatt Melbourne is a Category 4 property, meaning it costs 15,000 points for an award night stay. Since it is a Category 4, you may also use your Chase Hyatt Visa anniversary night for a free night stay at the Grand Hyatt Melbourne. As my annual … Read more
Singapore Airlines First Class Lounge Sydney is located in Terminal 1, the International Terminal, by gate 58. It is located on the second floor; over what is soon to be a Starbucks Coffee. Next to it is the Air New Zealand lounge and below it is the Emirates lounge. When … Read more
The Park Hyatt Sydney is one of only eight Category 7 Hyatt properties. To redeem an award night at the Park Hyatt Sydney will cost you 30,000 points. My visit was during the week between Christmas and New Years. Cash prices were starting around $1100 Australian dollars. It is quite an expensive property. … Read more
2016 Year In Miles I traveled more in 2016 than any other year year by far. And it will likely be a long time before I travel as much in one calendar year again. I started grad school this past summer — time and money will be in short supply … Read more
Qantas 747-400 Business Class YVR-SYD Qantas doesn’t fly out of Seattle, so my options to fly to Sydney from the west coast were out of San Francisco, Los Angles, or Vancouver. I was unable to find premium award seats with Alaska miles out of LAX or SFO, but there was … Read more
Hyatt Regency Sydney Review Last month the Four Points at Darling Harbour was rebranded as the Hyatt Regency Sydney. This is good news as it adds a second Hyatt property to Sydney. Once the tower section opens the Hyatt Regency Sydney will be the largest hotel in the city with … Read more