I Earned How Many Points at the Conrad Maldives?

Hilton's HHonors program seems to be especially lucrative on the surface.  When you consider that as a base member, you're earning 10x points (vs. 2x at Starwood) per dollar spent on rooms, you can earn a lot of points quickly.

Earning HHonors Points

On top of that you can earn an additional 5x points if you choose "Points and Points" as your "My Way" option.  Gold status (easily obtained with several credit cards) will add another 25% on top.  Frequent bonuses (like the current 2x bonus) add to the bounty.

Conrad Maldives Rangali Island

I knew that we'd be earning a ton of points in the Maldives.  I was planning to put all of our incidental spend on the Hilton Reserve card which earns an additional 10x points on Hilton portfolio spend.  I had read mixed reports that the seaplane journey (1120 USD) would earn points but was hopeful.

We've returned from our trip (review forthcoming) and points have posted to my HHonors account.  I expected that I would earn 40x in total on $2,100 in total spend.  It was WAY more than that.  I earned 140,516 points during my stay.

HHonors Earnings

I've yet to receive the points from the spend on my Reserve card but expect that to be 21,000 points.  Add that to the 140,000+ points earned and I nearly earned enough points to return to the property for a couple of nights (190,000).  I still can't quite figure out the math but I can confirm that I earned points (at least from HHonors) for the seaplane expenditure.  That's a nice return on what is a mandatory (and very expensive) 30 minute ride to the resort.

I value Hilton Honors points at around .7 cents per point meaning the total rebate I received was around $1,130.  On $2,100 in spend.  Maybe I should consider a full time move to the Conrad?

Anker Portable Chargers On Sale at Amazon

Keeping devices powered while walking around an airport, city, or on a plane without modern power capabilities can be challenging.  Fortunately, portable travel chargers are getting better and better.

We picked up a new Anker branded version for our recent trip and it worked flawlessly.  The charger is about the size of a candy bar, fits in pretty much any pocket, and charged both of our iPhones (6S models) from <20% to fully charged and still had room to spare.

Amazon is having a 30% off sale today on Anker products and while the version we have isn't part of the 30% off sale, there are others on sale at a deep discount.

This one will charge an iPhone six times.  And this one four times.

You can also pick-up an Anker branded high-speed, red 1ft cord (which we have as well) and worked very well in combination with the portable charger.

Whether you are headed on a whirlwind, round the world trip or just a road warrior, I'd highly recommend picking up an Anker portable battery charger.  

Istanbul Taxi Scam

We spent an awesome day in Istanbul last month on the way to the Conrad Maldives.  We walked from the St. Regis down to the Bosphorus, across the Galata bridge, and up to the Grand Bazaar.

On the way back to the hotel, we were tired and hot after all the walking.  We decided to grab a cab from the base of the Galata bridge to the St. Regis.  We hopped in a cab and I showed the driver the address of the hotel and location on a map.  While he didn't speak much English, he nodded and seemed to know where he was going.

The ride started off fine until we made a right instead of a left (Pro tip:  Google Maps in offline mode is a huge help in these situations).  We were headed in the complete wrong direction.  He turned around and we seemed to be back on track.  We crossed the bridge and we were essentially retracing the steps from our walk earlier in the day.  He pulled over and said "this hotel?" as if to insinuate that we had arrived at our destination.  Nope...we were still 2+ miles away.

I showed him our hotel on the map with directions and he sped off in frustration.  Until we arrived at the Ritz Carlton across the park from the St. Regis.  "This hotel?" he said.

Nope.  "This hotel" both Emily and I pointed to on the map.  "Ahhhhh" was the next response from the driver.  We pulled up to the Hilton still a mile away from our hotel.

We had finally had enough and asked him to pull over so we could get out.  But first we had to sit at a red light...all the while, the meter was running.  The light finally turned green.  We paid the driver and  got out of the cab for the mile walk back to our actual hotel.

All in, the cab cost us $7 USD.  While we certainly could have hopped out of the cab earlier, we honestly weren't sure we were being hustled.  We initially thought the driver was just confused as this is a new hotel but started to become concerned once we headed in the wrong direction a couple of times.  I'm not sure we would have realized what was going on without watching our progress on our phones.

It was a memorable return to the hotel and one we've laughed at more than a handful of times.  I'm glad we made it back to the hotel in one piece (especially in Istanbul).  This is why I prefer trains.

Updates on the Chase Sapphire Reserve

The Chase Sapphire Reserve launched a couple weeks ago after several months of frenzied speculation.  There's been so much written about the card (which launched during our trip) and it's been hard to keep track of all of the developments.

I'm catching up this weekend and here's the high level overview:

• $450 annual fee
• $300 travel credit per calendar year
• 3x Ultimate Rewards points earned on travel and dining
• Same point transfer partners as Chase Sapphire and Ink
• Priority pass with guest privaleges
• $100 PreCheck/Global Entry credit
• No Foreign Transaction Fees

The card's been in such high demand, that Chase ran out of metal cards.  We also found out that JP Morgan is offering the JP Morgan Reserve card which seems to be an identical card offering specifically for JP Morgan Private Bank (and potentially others) customers.  

Some have even been successful in getting approved for both products.

Top 7 Pictures From a Day in Istanbul

Upon returning from any trip, there are pictures.  Pictures from phones, picture from camera, pictures from the GoPro.  All in, we took almost 1,500 pictures this last round the world jaunt.  That's a record for us.  We try to have a system of "you take this picture with the camera" and "I'll take this picture with my phone."  We try to delete on the fly but it's a futile exercise.  Device space is at a premium and yesterday, I spent several hours uploading, editing, deleting, uploading, deleting, etc...pictures from the trip.

Side note:  if anyone has a complete picture management process/routine, please comment below.  There has to be a better way.

I've focused ATRP on tips and tricks to acquire and redeem miles and points.  Ultimately, that is a means to an end to be able to meet your travel goals for pennies not the dollar...whether that means flying to Florida to visit family or a trip around the world.  While I'm not changing the focus of the blog, I do want to start sharing a bit more about the places we visit.  Part reward for my photo management process, part inspiration for all of you.  Enjoy!

Making Itinerary Changes on the Fly

We were originally scheduled to fly home from Tokyo on ANA through Houston.  This meant an early (11:15AM) departure from Tokyo's Narita airport which is a long haul from the city.  We were also booked on United economy (no big deal) from Houston to Denver.  But with more stuff coming home than when we left, it's always nice to board first and have guaranteed overhead bin space.

I'll usually spend a few minutes here and there while traveling to see if I can come up with anything "better" in terms of flights home.  Airlines often release last minute award seats and we've had good luck "upgrading" our flights home on both Cathay Pacific and Etihad.

I was up early one morning in the Maldives catching up on email and checking out flights home.  We were so excited about our time in Tokyo and really wanted more time on the ground to explore.  I found a MUCH better option home that would give us 6 more hours in Tokyo and first class on the domestic leg home.  The only issue was that the tickets were booked separately.  Emily's via United MileagePlus and mine via Air Canada's Aeroplan.  Air Canada's call centre is only open until midnight ET and it was already 1AM when I found the space.

Tokyo

Emily and I discussed and decided this would be a better option.  United's change fee was $100 while Air Canada's was 90 CAD (~$70 USD).  We both have leftover Barclays Arrival points that would offset part of the cash outlay.  Later that afternoon, I called Air Canada via Skype and sat on hold for 45 minutes.  While annoying, at this point we were planning what to do in Tokyo with the extra 6 hours so really wanted to make the change.

I finally got through and had the change made in about 5 minutes.  The record locator number remained the same and I was able to select seats on ANA's website without any issue.  One down, one to go.

I called United and was through to an agent on the premier line in a couple of minutes.  Same thing...change was done in about five minutes...record locator number remained the same and the ticket issued without any issues.

ANA First Class

All in, I spent a little over an hour making the change.  In exchange for more time on the ground in an amazing city and a more direct routing home.  Flexibility is key in this game.  I generally want to plan as far ahead as possible so "locking" something in is important to me.  I know that I'll likely be able to improve an itinerary later with some cost (in dollars and time) and that works just fine for me.

Review: Lufthansa Business Class Lounge JFK

Introduction
Introduction Part Two
Planning & Booking
Sheraton JFK Airport
Lufthansa Business Class Lounge JFK
Turkish Airlines 777-300ER Business Class New York (JFK) to Istanbul
Turkish Airlines Istanbul Arrivals Lounge
St. Regis Istanbul
Turkish Airlines CIP Lounge Istanbul
Turkish Airlines A330-300 Business Class Istanbul to Male
Transfer from Male to Conrad Maldives
Conrad Maldives
Transfer from Conrad Maldives to Male
Singapore Airlines 777-200 Business Class Male to Singapore
Crowne Plaza Changi Airport Singapore
Singapore Airlines SilverKris Business Class Lounge to Singapore
Singapore Airlines 777-300ER Business Class Singapore to Tokyo (HND)
Andaz Tokyo
ANA Suite Lounge Tokyo (NRT)
ANA 777-300ER First Class Tokyo (NRT) to San Francisco

We took the 9AM shuttle from the Sheraton JFK to the JFK airport arriving at Terminal 1 around 9:15 for our 12:05PM departure.

JFK Terminal 1

Check-in desks were right in front of us as we entered the terminal. There was a bit of confusion after we asked to check our bags to Istanbul vs. our final destination of Male but that was cleared up in a few minutes after speaking with a supervisor.  Boarding passes in hand, we waited in the security line given the lack of pre-check on international airlines (although that is about to change).