European Holiday: Zurich (Uetilberg Look Out and Lake Zurich Cruise)

Introduction 
DCA - JFK
Radisson Martinique on Broadway 

JFK - Milan Maplensa 

Lake Como and Dinner in Milan

Park Hyatt Zurich

Zurich (Uetilberg Look Out and Lake Zurich Cruise)

Intercontinental Geneva  

Is it a Queen or a Double Bed? The DoubleTree Westminster  

The Hyatt Regency - The Churchill

First Time in First: AA LHR - JFK

After settling in to the Park Hyatt we asked for a traditional Swiss restaurant for dinner and the hotel happily made a reservation for us at the Swiss Chuchi which served fondue and raclette which both involved melting cheese and eating it...so I was totally on board!

To get to the restaurant it was a short 10-15 minute walk over to the old part of Zurich which is full of shops on tiny winding streets that seem to turn into a completely new world at every cross street. I could get lost here, with pleasure, for days on end just searching for cool shops and looking at the awesome architecture. The streets were still decorated for the holidays so there were glowing lights everywhere. Our reservation time came up so we headed over to the restaurant.

The restaurant had many options but we figured we had to go with the classics so Kelsey went with the cheese fondue that was made with sparkling wine and I went with the traditional raclette with chicken. The food was absolutely delicious and the waiter was very very funny and made the experience lots of fun. He kept joking that only in Switzerland would they charge you more to cook your own food. Maybe he just saw us coming from a mile away and had to "joke" with us about it, but it was worth it for me.

After eating we had to walk off our delicious meal and we wandered around old town Zurich some more and walked along the river that leads in to Lake Zurich that divides the new and old parts of town. Along the river are many of the famous churches of the city, including the Grossmunster with its double steeple. The city is stunningly beautiful at night and remarkably quiet when walking around.

Looking toward Lake Zurich

Grossmuster

We walked back to the Park Hyatt and turned in for the night, but I took a few pictures of the outside of the hotel, which was still beautifully decorated for the holidays.

Park Hyatt

The next day I woke up with one of the worst head colds I have every had. To spare you all of the details I was up most of the night coughing and nose running so I was not able to get moving at our early wake up call. So Kelsey went out and explored the shopping on the main Bahnhofstrasse shopping street. Here she learned a valuable lesson when you are shopping in Zurich, buy your chocolate in the grocery store. Along the street you will be distracted by beautiful chocolate shops that will be selling things for WAYYYY too much money. Yes it's delicious, but we had to stick to our budget. So she wandered in to a "Coop" store and was able to find many of the famous Swiss chocolate brands for around one to two francs per bar, rather than per 100 grams that you will find in the stores.

After sleeping for a bit I was feeling alright, but not great but I didn't want to miss out on our only full day so we headed back to the train station to catch the local S10 train to Uetilberg, a look out over the city. After getting off the train it is a short walk up to the look out which is 2850 feet over Zurich and you can see beautiful views of Zurich, Lake Zurich and the Alps off in the distance. It was a stunningly beautiful view that was included in our Zurich Card.

After taking the train back down to the train station we boarded a tram to Burkliplatz and boarded the "short trip" ferry which would take us on a hour and a half cruise around Lake Zurich, which was actually my favorite part of the trip, to see the city from the water. The boat was PACKED full of people so we didn't get a seat for most of the ride, but toward the end people were frozen and didn't want to sit on the back deck so we bundled up and watched the lake go by from the back of the boat.

We headed back to the old part of town and had dinner at a great kabob shop near where we ate dinner the night before. It was nothing fancy, but it was absolutely delicious and not too expensive, which was nice after looking at most Zurich prices. There is no denying that the city is very expensive and you will notice it all around you. But the town is absolutely beautiful and it was well worth braving my cold to explore. Next it's on to Geneva!

European Holiday: Park Hyatt Zurich

Introduction 

DCA - JFK
Radisson Martinique on Broadway 

JFK - Milan Maplensa 

Lake Como and Dinner in Milan

Park Hyatt Zurich

Zurich (Uetilberg Look Out and Lake Zurich Cruise)

Intercontinental Geneva  

Is it a Queen or a Double Bed? The DoubleTree Westminster  

The Hyatt Regency - The Churchill

First Time in First: AA LHR - JFK

I am very sorry for the delay in continuing this trip report. I now see why it's so hard to finish a complex trip when real life gets in the way sometimes.

But...if you will dive back in with me we are heading out of Milan on a EuroRail train to Zurich. The train ride taked about 4 hours total and stops seven or eight times along the route. The total cost for reserved seats for each of us was about 65 Swiss Francs. But the views from the train were worth every penny. We went from rainy Milan through the Alps where it was dumping buckets of snow and pulled into a cold Zurich around 2:00 pm.

First View of the Alps 

First view of snow! 

 After hopping off the train we headed to the tourism office for Zurich which was located inside the train station before you exit to the trams. Here you can buy a 24-hour transit pass for all of the trams and local trains. You can also buy the Zurich Card which costs 24 Francs for 24 hours or 48 Francs for 72 hours. The Zurich Card gets you a transit card for the trams and trains while you are in town (including to/from the airport), a cruise on Lake Zurich, entrance to most of the popular museums in town, discounts on shopping and dining and a discount on a few guided tours.

We were not as interested in the museums since we only had a short amount of time in the city so we ended up buying a 24-hour transit pass and a 24-hour Zurich Card for our second day in the city. That way we could explore on our own for the first day and on the second day we could take the cruise on Lake Zurich and go to a look out point above the city on a local train.

After purchasing our Zurich Card we headed on the trams to the Park Hyatt Zurich. From the train station you can take the 2, 7 or 13 tram and get off after 4 our 5 stops at Stockerstrasse from there you turn left and the Park Hyatt will be two blocks on the right side.

I know many of you have seen the reviews that those on the SMD4 posted from this beautiful hotel, but let me tell you, pictures don't do it justice. The lobby is absolutely elegant and beautiful. The colors of the lobby are all a dark brown/black wood that just screams warm and welcoming. But that could be the cold temps and the inviting fire talking to me from the lobby sitting area as well.

We were quickly escorted to the check-in desk and offered the opportunity to finish checking-in inside our room, but we decided to just check-in at the desk. That was a good thing because we had some trouble with our reservation since we had booked them with free nights from the Hyatt Visa Card that each of us had. Hyatt Reservations had combined the reservations into one, but the computer wasn't showing it that way so we had to wait a bit for them to make the computer behave. They finally got it taken care of and the very nice check-in agent escorted us to our King Room on the 4th floor and showed us around the room and explained all the features of the room (including the very important "how to turn on the lights" and put the "do not disturb" light on).

The room its self was very beautiful and simple. When you walk in the bathroom is to your right and next to that is a large walk-in closet which included two "Park Hyatt Zurich" bathrobes, which were very comfortable. In the entry way was a dresser which had a few drawers for storage but was the main location for the mini-bar and safe. But on top was a beautiful fruit plate as a welcome gift that was put out again on our second day. This served as the perfect afternoon snack.

Entry Way 

Welcome Fruit Plate 

When you head past the dresser you enter into the main part of the room. On the right was the king bed which featured a night stand on either side with knobs and buttons that adjusted the lighting all over the room. Which I never quite was able to figure out...so most of the time I just repeatedly pushed buttons to find the right setting.

Across from the bed was the larger dresser and television which had a good selection of channels, but had BBC Radio, which is my absolute favorite thing and was on for most of our stay. To the left of the tv and dresser was a large glass desk and an arm chair next to the window which looked out over the street in front of the hotel. One of the craziest things was the retractable shade on the outside of the window that was used instead of a shade on the inside of the window. You could press a button and the shade would automatically go down or up on the outside of the room.

King Bed

Desk and Chair 

Accent Lighting Piece 

Turning back to the front of the room there was a sliding set of doors that opened up into the beautiful marble bathroom and tub. The tub was right on the edge of the set of doors and just beyond that was the shower which had both a hand shower AND a rain head shower. I love rain head showers and will take any excuse to use one so I was pretty happy about that. The room also featured a warming rack for the towels and a beautiful marble sink with a selection of high end cosmetics which Kelsey was excited about.

Sliding Doors to the Bathroom 

Marble Vanity 

Soaker Tub

Rain Head Shower 

The room and the hotel were very beautiful and I can see why people love the Park Hyatt brand. The simple touches that the put with every bit of service in the hotel was so welcome. The constant questions of if we need anything and if we needed directions, suggestions or reservations was so great and the awesome Park Hyatt umbrella they let me use in the rain was wonderful. I don't know that I would ever pay the full rate for a night in the hotel (that's my penny pinching ways) but if I win the lottery or get more free night certificates I would not hesitate to spend it at the Park Hyatt Zurich again!

Trip Time! Milan, Zurich, Geneva and London - Introduction

Introduction 

DCA - JFK
Radisson Martinique on Broadway 

JFK - Milan Maplensa 

Lake Como and Dinner in Milan

Park Hyatt Zurich

Zurich (Uetilberg Look Out and Lake Zurich Cruise)

Intercontinental Geneva  

Is it a Queen or a Double Bed? The DoubleTree Westminster  

The Hyatt Regency - The Churchill

First Time in First: AA LHR - JFK

Tuesday's the big day....Kelsey and I leave on our second big trip funded completely for the most part on miles and points. If you will remember back to October I was struggling to find open award space on AA or any of its partners to be had over the Christmas holiday time. I quickly learned my lesson to book as early as you can if you know you want to take a trip on points over the holidays.

The itinerary we finally ended up with wasn't ideal on its face, DCA-JFK and JFK-Milan in AA coach on Christmas and then London to JFK in AA First on New Year's Day, but when it's just about the only availability you can find...you go for it. 

Our original path to get from Milan to London was to take the train to Zurich, Paris and London to hit a few extra sites along the way. For hotel stays we were going to use the four free nights we earned with the Hyatt Visa Card and a mixture of Chase Ultimate Rewards points and Priority Club points that we had on hand. But once we started booking our hotels we hit a brick wall. The famed and many times reviewed Hyatt Paris Vendome was not available for the dates we wanted so we quickly crossed Paris off the list and shifted our itinerary over to Milan, Zurich, Geneva and then flying to London. 

We were able to book nights at the Park Hyatt Milan, Park Hyatt Zurich, Intercontinental Geneva and the Hyatt London Churchill and that was the plan until earlier this week when many blogs began finding the Hyatt 50% off sale that JD mentioned saved him a few bucks on his trip to Tokyo coming up. I decided to do some digging to see if it would help us at all as well. What I found was totally unexpected....for about $150 I could book rooms at the Hilton Milan (which is right next to the train station for our train from Milan's airport and our train to Zurich) and the DoubleTree by Hilton Westminister in London. In return I could pull back one of my free nights from Hyatt and 22,000 Hyatt  points I had used to book another night...thus opening the door to more stays at luxury Hyatt locations in the spring. I saw this as a great investment because as a Hilton Gold member I will get free wifi and free breakfast so that $150 starts shrinking even more when you think of saved costs. It also was great to save back a few Hyatt nights that I can use again in the future for even better bookings and trips. 

I think this shows that no matter how set you are in your reward booking, always keep your eyes and ears open to other possibilities and weigh your options. Though I will end up paying for a few more nights at a hotel than I thought I would, it will still work out in the end. I'm excited for this trip and I can't wait to visit new places that I have never been before. I hope you will follow along and will read the trip report once it's all done. :) 

I finally found oneworld space!!

As you may recall  I have been looking for a trip to take over the week between Christmas and New Years on oneworld. Kelsey and I each have 112,000 AA miles thanks to two flights we have taken on AA as well as the 100,000 points bonus with the two Citi AAdvantage cards.

But, the trick was finding the award space to use these miles! I felt a little like Fry in Futurama when he says "Just Shut-up and Take My (Miles) Money!"

After fruitless searches on trips to Australia and Asia I started looking in Europe. The AA website was showing only BA availability and HUGGGEEE fuel surcharges as usual so I decided to try a bit of a different tactic.

I went to the AA website and pulled up their "where we fly" map. I then took a look at all of their gateway cities (Los Angeles, Dallas, Miami, New York JFK and Chicago) to see what international destinations they flew to direct. I then used that list to look on Expert Flyer for award space. (If you haven't tried Expert Flyer it is worth every penny).

Finally after searching for hours on end I found one itinerary that worked with our schedule. We found two tickets from DC to Milan via JFK in coach and then a return from London to DC via JFK in first. The total damage at the end was 82,500 miles and around $250 in taxes. I called AA and told the agent what I wanted and she was able to see the space and put it on hold instantly.

Our plan is to stay in Milan, Zurich, Paris and London during the trip. So far we have hotels booked (thank you Hyatt) in Milan, Zurich and London...but the Park Hyatt Paris that everyone raves over was booked solid.

So...anyone know of a good hotel in Paris?