London Day One: Raddison Blu Edwardian Mercer Street

Dulles Lounges and United Washington Dulles - London Heathrow
London Day One
London Day Two
London Day Three
London Day Four
Overnight Ferry London - Amsterdam
Amsterdam Day One
Amsterdam Day Two
Lufthansa Amsterdam-Frankfurt/Senator's Lounge Frankfurt/Lufthansa Frankfurt - Dulles

After exiting the plane we took the long walk from the arrivals gates at Heathrow to Customs and Immigration. Luckily United had given us a pass for their "Fast Lane" at Immigration and we were quickly through the line, grabbed up our bags and we were out into the main terminal about 15 min from when we stepped off the plane.

We exited into the main arrivals hall in Terminal 1 and saw the sign for the Arrivals Lounges. When you exit out of Immigration it is directly to the right all the way at the end of the hall. You then have to take the elevator on the right hand side to the second floor. From there you can enter the Star Alliance Arrivals Lounge. I apologize for not having any pictures...all I really wanted to do was take a shower to wake myself up a bit.

The lounge had a small seating area with tables. There was a light breakfast set up with coffee, tea and juice on offer. I requested a shower room and was given access to one of the twelve or so rooms they have. The room was just a big bathroom with a shower that flooded the entire bathroom when you had the water on...but it did the job for a quick 2 min shower.

Refreshed and ready to go again we headed toward the Heathrow Express Train. The Heathrow Express and The Tube are really the most cost effective ways to get into downtown London. A cab will easily run you in the 50-70 pound range from Heathrow. The Tube will cost you around 5 pounds, but will take 45 min - 1 hour. The Heathrow Express costs 19 pounds one way or 34 pounds for a "return" (read: round trip) ticket and takes 15 min.

We quickly boarded a train and 15 min. later we were at Paddington Station and headed toward the Tube. I can't say enough about public transportation in London. Living in DC we used to have a great public transit system in the Metro...but the Tube puts it all to shame. It is fast, efficient and almost always on time.

We decided to maximize our trip it was the most cost effective for us to buy 7-day travel cards for the Tube, even though we would only be there for four days. The cost of the 7-day travel card is 29 pounds. It includes all you can ride on all stations within Zones 1 and 2 (Which is most of the stations in central London) and the best part is that it also includes all bus routes! This is in comparison to 2 pounds for every bus ride and around 2 pounds per trip on the Tube. You want the travel card to be put on an "Oyster" Card which is a hard plastic card that you touch to a reader on the fare gates at the entrance/exit of every station or on the bus when you get on. This will save you time at the fare gates and you don't have to worry about losing a paper ticket.

The great part about the Tube stops in central London is that quite a few of them are close together. So we took the Bakerloo Line from Paddington Station to Piccadilly Circus and then took the quick 10 min walk to Covent Garden and Seven Dials where our hotel, The Raddison Blu Edwardian Mercer Street was located.

The lobby was modern and chic with a small check-in desk that was managed by two agents. But there was a bit of a wait as a few people checked out and others tried to check in. We were informed that our room would not be available until around 3 pm (It was 9 am by this time) so we checked our bags and decided to head out to do a bit of shopping.

This was something that Kelsey had been looking forward to the whole ride over. She made us hit up Harrods, the luxury department store in Knightsbridge West London, where we saw 2,000 puppies and million dollar diamonds. From there we headed to Tottenham Court Road so she could pop into British designer Dorothy Perkins' store. Then both of us headed to Primark, which I as someone who hates shopping was actually excited for. Primark is a brilliant discount British clothing retailer. I was able to find two pairs of dress pants for $16!!!! It is a must hit if you need some cheap shopping while in London.

After our shopping spree we were exhausted. We headed back to the hotel around 1 pm with the hopes that we could get into a room....any room. The front desk told us that they did have a room ready for us, a standard double room. We could have asked for an upgrade as Gold Members in Club Carlson...but we were so tired we were happy for any room.

Our room was on the fifth floor and as we got to the door I wasn't quite sure we were in the right place. The door featured a huge step up to it...a feature that none of the other rooms had. I opened the door and was faced with a matching step on the other side down into our room. Certainly one of the strangest features I have ever seen in a hotel room. I have a picture of the step down into the room below.

"Step" down into our room" 

 The room its self was very modern with bright and vibrant colors on the bed spreads as well as the walls. The bed was a standard full bed with lots of pillows and comfortable sheets. To the left of the bed was a nice sitting area with a bottle of water waiting for us, which was a welcome sight. The bathroom was stone all around with a full tub and a glass shower as well. My favorite feature was the heated towel rack. :)

Bed

Sitting Area 

Shower

Bathroom

Bathtub

After unpacking and taking a well needed nap we headed out to explore Covent Garden and to get genuine British fish and chips. My favorite "chip shop" is in Covent Garden, Rock & Sole Palice. You head inside the small eatery and either grab one of the five tables, or you can also sit outside on their covered sidewalk tables, or you can always carry out if you are feeling a meal on the go. The great thing is it is actually cheaper if you carry out your meal.

Kelsey isn't a fan of fish so she ordered the chicken tenders and chips while I went with the cod and chips along with the ever so delicious British dish....mushy peas. If you have never experienced mushy peas...you have to give them a go. Yes I know you must be saying...isn't it just a pea version of mashed potatoes, whats so special about that? WELL LET ME TELL YOU....mushy peas absolutely make a great plate of fish and chips...it's like peanut butter and jelly...you can't have one without the other. 

After dinner we walked around Covent Garden a bit more to burn off some of the calories and with the jet lag setting in we called it a night.

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?

Eat through Chicago: Carnivale

This past weekend Kelsey and I headed to Chicago to meet her parents and celebrate her birthday, which was officially yesterday but she insists on a whole week of celebration. :)

On Saturday night her parents were kind enough to take us out to dinner. They had been in town much earlier than us and had scouted out some locations that had been suggested by the hotel concierge, the Hyatt Magnificent Mile. They wanted it to be a surprise so we had no idea where we were going when we hopped on a CTA bus headed toward the river.

We finally got off at at West Lake Street and Fulton Market and saw Carnivale:

View from the outside 

The restaurant describes its self as a place "Featuring energetic colors, glamor, photography and wild design,Carnivale engages all of the senses with global flavors, Latin music, savory aromas and luxurious comfort. 

When you first enter you go into a large bar space that would be a great area to hang out and grab a cocktail and an appetizer.

Bar Area

Then you pass through a curtain into a HUGE open space that is the main dining room. On the ceiling (as you will see below) are really cool and funky colored lamps and stained glass. The areas to the sides of the dining rooms and above the dining room contain more private areas that can be reserved for private parties.

Main Dining Room

Their menu is truly a mixture of tons of latin flavors. I love latin food and was really eager to try just about everything on the menu. We started off with drinks and I got a raspberry mojito, Kelsey got the frozen white wine sangria, her dad got the coconut mojito and her mom ordered the Carnivale martini. The drinks were very fresh and tasted great. Kelsey's frozen white wine sangria packed a huge punch, but was delicious. 

The waiter was great about walking us through the menu and explaining ingredients we did not recognize and helping us pick what we wanted. 

We ordered two appetizers, the Arepas which features Maple Creek Farm pork belly, corn cheese cakes, plantains, black beans, jicama, avocado, aji limo puree; and Garlic Shrimp which features Sautéed shrimp, sourdough croutons, pepper escabeche, garlic lemon butter minus the garlic as Kelsey's mom is allergic (more on that later).

Arepas 

The Arepas were AMAZING...I mean it's pork belly, so it has to be amazing. But this dish was brilliant. The pork belly was so good and the corn cheese cake blended the flavors so well. The jicama had been infused with the aji limo puree and was tart but also a little spicy. Just an overall brilliant dish.

Kelsey's parents said that the shrimp dish was also very good (sorry forgot to take a picture...was too busy eating the pork belly and having a moment....droolllll...sorry sorry) 

Next we ordered our mains. Kelsey went for the Pollo which was Peruvian style chicken, potatoes, olives, queso fresco, escabeche, aji amarillo sauce. Her dad went with the Costilla de Res which featured Braised short rib, Three Sisters Farm cheese polenta, carrot escabeche, candied pepitas. I went with the Pernil which was Braised Maple Creek Farm braised pork shoulder, aji panca garlic potato puree, roasted carrots, snap peas. Finally, her mom went with the Pappardelle which featured Wide pasta noodles, poached tomatoes, sweet corn puree, sofrito, parmigiano, lemon basil, capers.

The problems started when our meals arrived. Kelsey, her dad and my meal all arrived without any problems. But her moms meal arrived and it was simply just plain pasta noodles. When we finally flagged the waiter he indicated that all of the ingredients in the dish were pre mixed and contained garlic so Kelsey's mom could not eat it. Kelsey's mom was a little shocked to see just plain noodles and asked if anything else could be done to add to the dish a little bit and the waiter brought out some butter to add to the dish. Finally after a little more prodding he said he could get a mix of vegetables to add to it. 

When the veggies came out we were all able to enjoy our meals. The food was excellent, the chefs did a brilliant job of blending the flavors together to create a symphony in your mouth (Yeah I went there). My braised pork shoulder was tender and full of flavor. The potatoes and veggies were perfectly seasoned and I was stuffed by the end of the meal! 

Pernil 

Pollo 

After dinner was cleared the waiter brought out a special surprise for Kelsey to help her celebrate her birthday. It was a dessert flan with caramel popcorn and whipped cream. The flan was so so good, not flat in flavor like most flans, but think with hints of cinnamon and caramel.

Birthday girl with her dessert 

But then when the check came another problem arose. The waiter had charged Kelsey's mom $6 for the vegetable plate and $18 for the plain noodles. After talking to him the vegetable charge was removed and he felt really bad about the whole ordeal and apologize profusely. 

We headed out into the beautiful Chicago night and walked along the river to work off some of the calories. 

Despite the few hiccups I would definitely recommend Carnivale if you are in Chicago and looking for a fun place to eat.

Denver Food Tour Part 2: Microbrews at Wynkoop Brewing Company

After stuffing ourselves at Snooze we toured around Denver and ended up famished and looking for a good place to go eat. I also had heard great things about the amazing amount of microbrews that Denver has available so I wanted to try a bunch for y'all  and report back (It's a rough job, but someone has to do it). 

We walked around the "LoDo" district in downtown Denver and landed at Wynkoop Brewing Company which according to their website was the first brewpub in Denver. As we are DC folks at heart we of course had to go to a place that had a political element: current John Hickenlooper, the current governor of Colorado, was one of the partners that started the brewery. 

We saddled up at the bar and looked at their display which lists all of the beers they have on tap (Current List Here). Kelsey decided to try the "Rail Yard Ale" which is their classic amber beer. I decided to give em all a try (For science, yeah...that's it) and do a flight of their beers. 

Wynkoop has three different flights of beers divided into the "A Train, B Train and C Train" a nod to their location near the Union Station rail yard. 

I tried the "A Train and the B Train" which included: 

Rail Yard Ale, Orchard Ale, Light Rail Ale, B K 3 Schwarbier, Silverback Pilsner, London Calling IPA, Cowtown Milk Stout, and their Red Ale Seasonal (Sorry I don't remember the name)

They were all gerat but I was partial to their Orchard Ale and their London Calling IPA. I really wanted to try their "Patty's Chile Beer" which apparently has the flavor of chilies, but none of the heat. Guess that just means we have to go back again soon. :) 

Breakfast: The Most Important Meal - Denver Edition

I already knew that Denver was becoming a good food city, but I was surprised at how awesome it actually was. Here in DC lots of restaurants have "local food" or food that is "organic" but they use that as an excuse to charge you double. In Denver every restaurant we stumbled upon truly was a "local" restaurant and the taste of the food showed that local element with every bite.

Our favorit restaurant of the trip was Snooze, an A.M. Eatery  a breakfast/lunch joint that got rave reviews online as a locals favorite destination, so I knew we had to go.

We arrived around 9 a.m. and there were already dozens of people waiting outside. We went inside and found out the wait was 50 minutes to an hour...but the restaurant was packed so I knew we had to wait to try it.

The restaurant its self is designed as a classic 50s diner type setting. Lots of funky looking chairs and booths with memorabilia all over the walls. The restaurant infuses their own alcohol for their bloody mary and other morning style mixed drinks.

Bar Area with the infused liquor for breakfast mixes 

We decided against an alcoholic drink and I went with just straight coffee while Kelsey went with a vanilla latte, which were very delicious. 

Next it was time to tackle the menu....

The menu is primarily split between sweet and savory...now when I am at breakfast I always have trouble deciding between the two so Kelsey and I decided to split our entrees so we could get the best of both worlds. 

Kelsey decided on the "pancake flight" which like a beer or wine flight allowed you to choose three separate pancakes. She choose the "The Vermonter" which is a buttermilk pancake with blueberries, crumbled streusel, blueberry maple syrup and lavender butter; the "Pancake of the Day" which was a Pina Colada pancake with pineapple topping; and the "Coffee and Donuts Pancake" which was a buttermilk pancake glazed with maple icing and topped with crushed pecans and a cup o' espresso cream. 

I went the savory route and got the "Snooze Spuds Delux" which was hash browns, cheddar & jack cheese, scallions and I added bacon, eggs and poblano peppers. 

Awesome coffee cups 

"Snooze Spuds Deluxe"

"Pancake Flight" 

Everything was AMAZING!!! Seriously....we at all of this and didn't eat for the rest of the day because everything was so delicious and filling. The spuds deluxe was amazing and the poblano peppers added that needed zip to complement the rest of the scramble. The pancake flight was out of this world delicious with Kelsey loving "The Vermonter" and my coffee crazy self of course loving the "Coffee and Donuts." 

The atmosphere, food and the staff which were awesome made this an amazing experience that beat the hotel breakfast three times over and cost half as much. 

Time to start planning for next year?

Since this fall will mark my first official year as a miles and points collector I have not been able to make a real play at gaining status with one airline. But, I have been kicking around the idea of trying for status as soon as 2013 rolls around.

That got me thinking...when should you start planning for the next year? I did a little bit of research on ITA and found some great fares in the Jan-Feb time frame out of the WAS area so I am debating on pulling the trigger and starting the new year planning early.

What do y'all think? When do you start planning? Am I already behind?

Who am I reading: Part 2 Electric Boogaloo

Since JD gave great list of who he reads on a regular basis yesterday , I figured that it was my turn to do the same thing!

One of the hardest parts of being in the points and miles game is just keeping track of the sheer number things that are going on at one time. Today there was a huge fare war  for flights to Hawaii that was almost at mileage run levels, 500 free Hilton points for watching a video and  U.S. Airways offering double EQMs for just flying. 

The easiest way I have found to keep up with all of the amazing blogs out there is to run an RSS feed with every blog I follow on a regular basis. I really like Google Reader and think it works for my "regular" news as well as my points and miles news. (I hope you will consider adding us to your RSS feed). 

Now, JD put together a great list of bloggers, and I have to say that you should read each and every one of them because they are all great at what they do. But, I wanted to put together a different list of people that I enjoy reading on a regular basis. 

Heels First Travel 

The ladies of Heels First Travel are all kinds of awesome. They are also in the DC area, so I know that I can count on their knowledge if I have a question about their experiences flying out of DC. They also have the best primer on different ways to get to elite status that I have seen. It's really cool to see how they did it and the awesome mileage runs they have been on to just go to the beach for a couple of hours. 

The Wandering Aramean 

The Wandering Aramean is someone that I love reading on their blog,  following on Twitter and interacting with on Milepoint. He has some great advice on points and miles, but also covers the airline industry some along with some trips to really cool places. He also has a really cool section of "travel tools" where you can set up seat alerts for different alliances and find airport information for lounges around the world. 

Frequent Flying 

Another great Boarding Area blog...those guys know how to do it! What I especially love about Frequent Flying is his daily wrap up post for the best deals of the day. I also really enjoy Vintage Airline Seat Maps he does. It's so cool to see the old seat arrangements and trying to imagine what it was like to fly in "Clipper Class" on PanAm. 

Travel By Points 

I have written previously how Travel By Points got me inspired to make it to London on points and miles. He has been an awesome sounding board for my questions and his trip report from Machu Pechu is really awesome to look at. He is also great at finding the little deals that others miss. 

Who did I miss? Who should I be reading? Do you have a blog? Send me the info because I would love to give it a read! 

We need your travel suggestions: Denver and Chicago

I figured this would be a good post to talk about the travel that I have for the rest of the year since you have heard about JD's last minute trip to San Diego coming up.

Once I got Kelsey hooked on trips using miles and points it was hard to slow her down enough to build in a pause for our fall travel schedule so September and October finds us just having one weekend actually at home.

This month we will be heading to Denver and Chicago and we need your help!

What should we do in Denver and Chicago?

I used to go Denver ever summer on the way to my grandparent's cabin in beautiful Estes Park, but I haven't been back in 5 or 6 years.

What places should we visit? What restaurants should we try? What bars should we head to?

As for Chicago we will be meeting up with Kelsey's family and a few of her friends...what's a good local place to try downtown?

We need you to pitch in and let us know what things we should try and where we can't miss!

PS - I've been meaning to add this in...but if you are heading to DC anytime soon...let me know and if I am free I would love to meet other points and miles fanatics and show you my city!

Status Matching at Hotels

When I first started earning miles and points I looked at some of the award charts for major hotels and thought that just with my personal travel there was no way I was going to ever make it to elite status with a hotel.

But once I did a little more investigating I discovered that hotel elite status is easier to get than you would think. For many hotel chains you can simply get it by having their affiliated credit card. For example, I have the Hyatt Visa Card and it gives me Platinum status with Hyatt as long as I have the card. The benefits of Hyatt Platinum are:

- Achieve rewards faster with a 15% point bonus when choosing points

-Enjoy a preferred room including rooms on higher floors or larger rooms, based on availability upon arrival

-Receive the confirmed bed type at check-in

-Stay connected with complimentary in-room Internet access

-Expedite check-in at a dedicated are for elite members

-Ensure a room is always available with our 72-hour guarantee

-Extend your stay until 2:00 p.m. with a late check out request

-Book reservations through an exclusive Platinum line

But before I had the Hyatt Visa Card I had no status with any hotel. Luckily for a time Hyatt was offering free Platinum status if you had a Visa Signature card. I signed up for this offer and received instant approval to Platinum status. I then leveraged that into a status match with Club Carlson at their  during their "Radisson Big Night Giveaway" promotion. This not only allowed me to get the offered 50,000 bonus points with one stay that Radisson was offering, but it also offered the following benefits: 

• Complimentary room upgrades as available
• 25% point bonus on every eligible stay
• 2,000 point online booking bonus at clubcarlson.com or any Carlson Rezidor hotel website
• Early check-ins and late checkouts as available upon request
• Roll Over Nights (unused elite-qualifying nights count again next year toward elite status)
• Elite Customer Service Line

When I went on my mattress run with Club Carlson to earn the 50,000 points it helped me get an upgrade to a king suite both times and late check-out when I requested it. 

Though these are the lowest levels of status in both of these hotel chains, the little benefits that come with it are enough that it makes the stay a bit better. 

If you are interested in other chains View from the Wing has a great post about the status challenge that Marriott will offer you to reach their top Platinum tier with 9 stays. I suggest you check this great article out. 

Trip Report: Cancun

I've never been a beach person. I grew up in Kansas, so I never had trips to the beach during the summer and I never understood why people would go and just sit on hot sand all day long. That was until Kelsey took me to Cancun for the first time last summer. She had to drag me down the first time, but this year when she asked if I wanted to go back, I couldn't wait to book the trip.

We had previously been to an all-inclusive resort in Cancun and it was amazing. The resort was beautiful, the food delicious and the staff so hospitable. So we knew that we wanted to do the same this time.

The benefits of an all-inclusive is that you don't have to worry about a thing! You can lock your wallet, phone and worries away in the room safe and be on your way. The hotel takes care of everything and you can drink your cares away with a little umbrella and a drink that looks like the sun you're sitting under.

To get to Cancun we wanted to try and find a direct flight from the Washington, D.C. area to avoid a connection and to avoid our experience last time when we had a 6 hour layover in the Spirit Airlines terminal in Ft. Lauderdale. We did our research and discovered that there was a direct flight from BWI to Cancun on AirTran that was just over 3 hours, and it left early enough that we would be on the beach by 2 pm.

What was even better was Kelsey had recently been voluntarily bumped off an AirTran flight and had a voucher for a free roundtrip ticket in Business Class!!!  She also had enough Southwest Rapid Rewards points to get a round-trip ticket for me. Since AirTran and Southwest recently merged, we were able to transfer the award ticket between the programs. I then paid $200 to upgrade to Business Class so we could sit together.

For a hotel, we had recently both purchased 50,000 Wyndham Rewards points as a part of the "Weekly Getaway" promotion for $143 each. We applied those points for three free nights at the all-inclusive Viva Wyndham Maya in Playa del Carmen in a "Garden View Room." We purchased the last night at a rate of $180.

Our trip down went swimmingly. The AirTran "Business Class" was nothing to write home about. It was very nice to get the Premium Access at the airport and in the security line, but the crew aboard the plane couldn't be bothered to do anything. Anytime you asked them for a drink or a snack they did not seem happy to oblige.

We were the first off the plane and one of the first through customs. If you have never been to Cancun you want to make sure you have a ride from the airport taken care of. Your hotel can usually set you up with a transfer for around $70-100. It is important to set something up in advance because as soon as you get out of the doors through the airport you are bombarded by people offering you a ride and claiming they know exactly where you need to go. Some also pretended to be affiliated with the company scheduled to pick us up, even though they did not have a sign with our name on it. Fortunately we knew to avoid these people. We found our driver, and he quickly took us toward Playa del Carmen, which is about a 40 min drive from the Cancun Airport.

We arrived at the resort and our bags were quickly taken and put with the other guests who had just arrived. We went to the check-in desk and were informed that we had been upgraded to an "Ocean View Room." The woman at the front desk assured us, "You're going to like this room!" We got our room key as well as two towel keys to be used to get beach towels for the pool or beach.

The resort is situated in a V formation with a line of rooms on either side. Each room has a balcony with most overlooking the gardens around the resort. When you travel all the way to Cancun, you really want to be able to see the water, so I think we would have been pretty disappointed if we were in one of these rooms. We got lucky, though!

After walking through the resort, we finally got to our room which was at the very end of the building. We opened the door and both said "WHOA" at the same time. The room was amazing. When you walked in there was a king bed and a bathroom with marble counters and a rain head shower. But the real attraction was the two (yes TWO) balconies on either side of the room. The first balcony was smaller and had two lawn chairs that overlooked the pool area and was covered from the sun. The second balcony was much bigger with two deck chairs and a private hot/cold tub that overlooked the ocean. We quickly realized that there were only six rooms like this in the whole resort and felt really really lucky that we would get to enjoy this room for five days.

 

The resort itself was nice. It had three full service bars that would make us whatever drink we wanted, including alcoholic drinks. For dining we could go to the main "all you can eat" buffet style restaurant as much as we wanted and could also visit the pool side snack bar for a quick snack. We also received one reservation at one of the four a la carte restaurants at the resort. This dining policy was a little different than other all-inclusives, which usually let you go to the a la carte restaurants as many times as you want. While we prefer not having a limit, the buffet was okay for us.

The food itself was pretty basic, a mixture of different cuisines with a different "international cuisine" every night. My favorite was the fresh fruit and fruit juice you could get at every meal. I have never had mango juice that tasted like it had just been squeezed. Overall, though, the food didn't live up to the variety and quality of our trip last year.

We spent most of our days lounging around on the balcony and switching from the deck chairs to the hot tub. We also enjoyed the resort's two pools. The main pool has a swim up bar, and the second is an "adults only" pool that also has a bar on site. The only problem was on our second to last day the main pool was closed all afternoon due to an "accident" in the pool and the kids were allowed to swim in the "adults only" pool. But....in that case, what can you really do? :)

We also took a day trip to visit Xel-Ha which as they put it so well on their website is....

"Xel-Ha, one of the amazing attractions in Cancun, Riviera Maya, Mexico, a natural aquarium park considered the largest aquarium in the world, the perfect place to perform activities in Riviera Maya. If you love nature, there is no better place than Xel-Ha to practice snorkeling and water activities like swimming with dolphins, Snuba® (combination of snorkeling and diving) or Sea Trek® (walking under water)."

The trip to Xel-Ha with transportation and all you can eat/drink at the four on-site restaurants was $99 per person for a full day from 9 AM-6 PM adventure. It was one of the highlights of our trip, and we had a great time snorkeling and exploring the huge park. We saw hundreds of fish right in front of us, as well as dolphins and manatees in separate areas and lots of wildlife. I highly recommend it to anyone visiting Rivera Maya!

So...what was our final cost for this trip....

Airfare
2 Business Class Seats on AirTran
Total Cost: $200 for the upgrade to business class 

Hotel
4 Nights at the Viva Wyndham Maya
Total Cost: $180 for the fourth night 

Transfer from the Airport 
$94 for two passengers

Xel-Ha Park 

Total Cost: $198

Total Cost: $672

Chris' Travel Goal: London

As JD stated in his last post, it is very important to have a travel goal when you are first starting out getting points and miles. For me, the goal was to travel back to one of my favorite cities in the world, London!

I had the great opportunity to study abroad in London during my junior year of college. It was an amazing experience! I fell in love with the city and I vowed when I left that I would go back as soon as possible. But, when I graduated the next year I went straight into graduate school and figured that I wouldn't be returning to London anytime soon. I resigned myself to look at my pictures and wish.

Then JD finally said...why don't you just go, you can do it! So after a little convincing and my introduction to the world of points and miles, which I've written about previously, I thought that it might actually be possible. So I told the GF that we might be able to make this happen (she visited London when she studied in Rome and wanted to go back as well)...but if we did, I wanted to go in business class!!!

Understandably, she looked at me like I was crazy and just passed it off as another one of the crazy ideas that JD and I come up with on a regular basis. She just wasn't sure how we could pull off trans-Atlantic business class tickets when we only had 5,000 miles or so each. But once I sat her down again and showed her how we could make it happen she was cautiously on board.

So the plan was launched....a trip to London it is.

Look for my next post on the strategy approach for London next week.

What's your travel goal? What was your first trip using points and miles?