August 6, 2016

Navigating Istanbul Layover Options

For our upcoming RTW adventure, we're ending up with ~21 hours in Istanbul.  Turkish Airlines has a generous layover policy in that they offer several complimentary choices (requirements vary based on travel class) to enjoy the city between flights.  We've gone back and forth several times on the best option but finally made a decision this week.

Here were are options, logic, and why we chose to pay our own way for our one night stay.

1)  We could stay at the airport and enjoy the amazing Turkish Airlines CIP lounge (now remained the July 15 Heroes of Democracy Lounge).  I am not kidding.  Based on our original plan, this would have made more sense as we only had a 9 hour layover.  The lounge is massive (60,000 square feet) and has plenty of space to relax, (although it does get crowded) eat, drink, and sleep.  With a 21 hour layover, this made a lot less sense.

July 15 Heroes of Democracy Lounge
2)  Turkish Airlines offers a free hotel room (typically by the airport) for economy layovers of 10+ hours and business class layovers of 7+ hours.  They transport you to the hotel and back to the airport.  The layover must be "forced" in that there can't be an earlier Turkish flight to your final designation.  In our case, there's only one flight a day to Male so we qualify.  While this would save us money, it would not save us time and we'd end up in a hotel close to the airport and still have to get into the city.

Turkish Airlines free hotel T's & C's
3)  Turkish Airlines offers free tours of the city!  There are minimal requirements related to layover/travel class - you just need sufficient time for the tour.  The tours vary by day and time and include transportation, an English speaking guide, and meal(s).  We generally aren't the biggest fans of tours (even free ones) as we prefer to explore on our own.  So while this would be a great option for a ~10-12 hour layover, we opted to skip the free tour this trip.

Tour Istanbul with Turkish Airlines


Sample Friday tours
4)  Build our own itinerary.  We'll be landing around 5AM local time and departing at 2AM the next day.  By the time we clear immigration and shower/eat in the arrivals lounge, it will likely by 6:30 AM.  We'll head into the city (in theory traffic should be lighter at that hour) to explore.  We opted to book a hotel room (more details in the planning and booking post) through American Express Fine Hotels & Resorts which should allow us to check into the hotel by noon or earlier.  We'll have a home base to shower, rest, and generally relax while we spend the day exploring the city.

Obviously we chose option # 4.  While we're spending a bit more money with this option, if we didn't book a hotel room, we would be traveling nearly 48 hours without one - way too long.  Given the current state of affairs in Istanbul, we both felt more comfortable staying in an area we are familiar with and at a hotel chain we trust.

Turkish Airlines provides a ton of great options to entice travelers to fly through Istanbul.  So many options, it's challenging to make a decision!  Stay tuned for more details on our trip in upcoming posts.

July 31, 2016

Last Day to Purchase Hyatt Points at 40% Off

As a reminder, today is the last day to purchase Hyatt Gold Passport points at a 40% discount.  This could be a fairly lucrative offer if you also hold the Chase Hyatt Visa card.

You can buy up to 55,000 points (the maximum you can purchase in a calendar year) which will give you a bonus of 22,000 points for a total of 77,000.  Out of pocket cost will be $1,320.  That brings the cost down to 1.71 cents per point.

Hyatt is currently running a 10% off sale on award redemptions for those that hold the Chase Hyatt Visa card.  
Park Hyatt Maldives Overwater Villas

Introduction Part Two: I'm Going Going, Back Back to Maldives, Maldives

Introduction
Introduction Part Two
Planning & Booking
Renaissance Newark Airport Hotel
Turkish Airlines 777-300ER Business Class New York (JFK) to 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 Houston
American Express Centurion Lounge Houston (IAH)

I've updated the post below based on changes made to our itinerary.  I'll post the Planning & Booking section in the next week or so.

I've eluded to our upcoming RTW adventures in posts about the brand new Houston Centurion lounge as well as getting the most out of Hyatt Gold Passport points.  We're leaving next month and the trip is almost complete so figured I'd provide a bit more of a teaser in the form of an introductory post.

We were in the Maldives last year and just loved it.  There is something completely magical about the remoteness of it all.  There's no denying the fact that it's an incredibly challenging to get there.  Especially from the US.  But once you are there, it's the most beautiful place on earth (at least that I've seen).  So we set out to return later this summer.  While we loved the Park Hyattgetting there is more of a challenge than other resorts.
Our 23,000+ mile RTW itinerary (courtesy of the Great Circle Mapper)

Free United Club Membership

I've been an United Club (fka The Red Carpet Club) member off and on for years.  When I was traveling each week for work, it made sense to purchase a membership outright.  I spent time in an airport almost daily and having a quiet place to work, recharge batteries, and get something eat made a ton of sense.


Today, I'm either traveling on an award ticket in a premium cabin (which is likely going to provide some sort of lounge access) or using one of the five credit cards I have that provide some sort of lounge access.  So purchasing an United Club membership makes little sense.
 The United MileagePlus Club Card typically has a $450 annual fee and provides Club access as well as 1.5x United miles on all spend. which can be very lucrative for non-bonused spending  I've had the card before when the annual fee was reduced for Premier 1K members.


I received an offer a few weeks ago (expires today and definitely targeted) for the card with the annual fee waived for the first year.  I won't be taking advantage for the reasons outlined above but all of you should check your email for this offer.

It could be that Chase is preparing to launch another premium card (as rumored) and they're pushing for signups prior to that rumored launch in August.  If you have a family, travel for business, or live in a United hub city (like Denver) this would be a great pickup with no annual fee.

July 30, 2016

Getting a Turkey e-Visa

In preparation for a day in Turkey, we needed to obtain an e-Visa.  During our last trip to Turkey, you could easily purchase a visa on the ground.  While there was a line, it was short and there was no issue in getting the visa and then heading through passport control.  Since our last trip, Turkey has launched an e-Visa program where you can apply online, pay for the visa, and download it as a PDF to bring along with you.  Essentially, you have to go through this process as (at least from what I understand) Turkey is no longer offering visa on arrival (VOA) to US Citizens.

I found purchasing the visa to be really straightforward and the entire process took me less than five minutes.


SPG Amex Bonus Points Posted

Earlier in the week, I posted about the 2,500 bonus point offer for adding an authorized user to a SPG Amex card.


Good news - the points have already posted to my account.  I added Emily as an authorized user on Saturday (7/23).  The points were in my account on 7/26.


This is a no-brainer promotion.  While the offer is supposed to be targeted, I didn't receive any direct communication from Starwood or American Express and the points still posted to my account.  So definitely worth giving it a shot for 2,500 SPG points.

Best Newark Airport Hotel?

We're headed back to the Maldives next month and I've been playing around with our outbound flights a bit to try and get the most out of our time away.  Originally we had been scheduled to leave in the morning and arrive the next afternoon in Istanbul.

I've since adjusted our itinerary (updated info in the next trip report segment coming soon) to fly to the east coast after work, overnight, and then take an early afternoon flight from JFK to Istanbul.  This will give us a bit more time on the ground (more on this related to the security/political situation coming) to enjoy what is one of our favorite cities in the world.

So we'll be flying into Newark arriving late and then departing the early the next morning out of JFK.  Flying in and out of different airport isn't ideal but also not that big of a deal either.  It will add a bit of expense (really just the Uber between airports since the hotel will be paid for with points) but also adds a bit of logistical adventure which I enjoy.

To that end, we need an airport hotel.  From what I've read, the JFK airport hotel situation isn't great and the idea of sitting in a car for 45 minutes after a 4 hour flight and a full day of work doesn't sound that appealing.  So we're likely going to overnight at Newark and Uber to JFK in the morning.

Does anyone have a favorite Newark airport hotel?  I know the Marriott property is closest to the terminal (seems like you could walk) and has been recently remodeled but have read great things about the Renaissance.  We stayed at the Hilton a couple years ago and it was serviceable but seemed far from the terminal.

At this point, I'm leaning towards the Renaissance (25,000 points or $225) but wanted to see what you guys think.

Anyone have any experience overnighting at Newark?