Studying Abroad and Miles/Points

Studying abroad, during college, is extremely popular among the millennial generation. According to the Institute of International Education, 273,996 students studied abroad in 2010 academic year. Compare that to 10 years earlier where only 154,168 went aboard to study. Europe is still the preferred choice of place to study with Asia quickly gaining ground.

Institute of International Education

In 2005, I made the decision to study abroad in Brussels, Belgium. For me, the decision was easy. I had never left the United States and I wanted to explore the world. My time abroad gave me the opportunity to visit over 15+ countries and gave infected me with the travel bug.

One of the biggest expenses of studying abroad is the plane ticket. There are a few reasons for the high price of the airline ticket. First, the time frame that you have to book the tickets. Typically, you find out that you are studying abroad only about five months prior to the program starting. Second, the fix dates of the program.  Many programs have set times when the program starts and ends. Arrive early or stay late the additional cost of lodging is on the student.

For my semester in Brussels, I had only $2,500 in spending money. I had work all the previous summer and banked every possible dollar. However, I was having a very hard time finding a cheap airline ticket. We had to arrive in Brussels on Labor Day and exit our housing a week before Christmas. Not the easiest times to get cheap tickets. Luckily, I found a $550 roundtrip airfare via StudentUniverse.com. I flew JFK to Zurich to Brussels on American and Swiss Airlines. Coming home, I flew the reverse all on Swiss. However, I spent a little over 20% of my budget to study abroad meaning I had less to spend over there. Saving $300 or $400 on my ticket would have allowed me to take one more weekend trip to another country.

I wish I had miles back then to defray some of the costs of my airline ticket.  The ability to spend 50,000 miles on an economy ticket would have been bank. Yes, I know spending 50,000 miles on a $500 is not always a great value, but $500 was a lot of money for me back then.

If you or your child is studying abroad, spending miles on airfare is a great idea. For instance, you decided to study abroad in London next semester. The program starts on January 13 and ends on May 16th. Currently, the cheapest airfare flying on January 12th and May 17th is $1,013. Ouch!

For me, this would have eaten 40% of my budget. United's cheapest ticket is closer to $1,200.

The same itinerary on United using points would cost you 60,000 or 30,000 miles each way.

Looking at those travel dates, I see over 15+ different itineraries currently available.

                        

 


For the direct flight from Los Angles to London, the price would be 60,000 miles plus $192.20 in taxes.

Is 60,000 miles worth $1,000? That's a personal choice, but I am leaning towards yes!

Now the harder question, how do I get 60,000 miles? Great question!

First, go to my recap on 31 ways to earn United miles. There are tons of points to be earned. Complete a few of these offers and you will make major progress.

Next, talk to your parents. Why? The easiest way to earn a boat load of point is apply for a points earning credit card. However, if you are under 21, the Dodd-Frank act requires you to prove you have sufficient income/assets or have a co-signor. If you are anything like me, when I was in college, your income is limited. I think my annual income was around $5,000 from a summer job and my work study. Most likely not enough income to be approved for a credit card.

Side Note: Getting a credit card is a major responsibility. I believe everyone should have one, if they can make the payments on time. If this will be your first credit card, get one with a small credit limit. Start small. Before you apply, I highly recommend you read my article Young People and The Chains of Credit Card Debt.

Afraid to ask your parents to co-sign a credit card for you. If I was going to have this conversation with my mom, I would start like this:

Me: Mom do you want to help me save $1,000?
Mom: What's the catch?
Me: You know that I am going to London next semester to study abroad.
Mom: Yes
Me: Well, I was searching for airline tickets to get to London and they cost $1,200.
Mom: Wow, that's expensive.
Me: I was thinking of using miles instead of cash to pay for the airline ticket.
Mom: Isn't it going to cost like 100,000 miles for a ticket to London?
Me: No, only 60,000.
Mom: How are you going to earn 60,000 miles?
Me: This is how you can help. If you co-sign for the {United, AA, Us Airways} credit card for me, I can earn 40,000 miles after spending $1,000 within 3 months.
Mom: Do you have a $1,000 to spend?
Me: If you don't trust me, we could make you an authorized user and you could spend the $1,000 and pay it off.

Do you see how I started the conversation on how to save money, then went into the ask, and then moved to addressing her apprehensions? If you explain it in such a way that they or you will be saving money by opening the credit card and completing the small spend, you are more likely for them to agree.

Opening the credit card will only earn you 41,000 miles (40,000 for the sign-up and 1,000 for the spending $1,000 to earn the bonus). However, you need 60,000 for the round trip.

To earn the last 19,000 mile, you need to be strategic. My first recommendation is to see what frequent flyer accounts do you have miles in already. Have 10,000 miles in AA, then you should focus your time/effort only on earning AA miles. My next recommendation is to see how many miles you need to earn the ticket and work backwards. Need 15,000, come up with a strategy to earn those miles (1,000 from dining rewards, 2,000 from eRewards, 500 from eMile etc.) Coming up with a strategy will make the goal seem within reach.

What happens if you can't earn more than 40,000 miles from the credit card? That still works. Some airlines allow you to purchase one way award tickets at half the price of a round-trip award ticket. In the United Airlines situation, you could use miles for the flight to London and purchase the return in cash. Even in this situation, you will save money.

Looking back, I wish I would have found the miles/points community before I studied abroad. It would have save me a ton of money. If you or your child are studying abroad in the near future, think about using miles to help reduce the cost.

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European Holiday - Hyatt Regency London - The Churchill

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 our night at the DoubleTree Westminster we checked out and hopped on a bus over to the Hyatt Regency London - The Churchill which is located right off of Oxford Street and just a few blocks from the Marble Arch Tube stop. This is a GREAT location to tour London from. You are just a block or two from Hyde Park and right on the main shopping street in central London. The great thing about Oxford Street is also the sheer amount of bus routes that are accessible. You can get to almost any point in London from Oxford Street and I would argue it will be better and even faster on some routes than taking the Tube.

The lobby of The Churchill is very visually impressive and it was also very very busy when we checked in. It was New Year's Eve so the city was packed with revelers ready to bring in 2013. The lobby is adorned with marble floors and columns and was still decorated beautifully for the holidays. On one end is the restaurant (which we didn't get a chance to try) and to the right is the check in desk. Above the check in desk is a beautiful picture of the Queen that is so striking I just had to keep looking at it every time we walked by the desk.

The staff was absolutely swamped with people checking in and out, but they were beyond apologetic for the wait and were so so kind and welcoming that we didn't mind at all. We were quickly checked in and confirmed that we were using one of our free nights from the Hyatt Chase Visa sign up and welcomed as Platinum members. With our keys in hand we headed up to the eighth floor and to our room.

Check In Desk

Lobby

Lobby

We were given a king room just off one of the corners of the hotel. The room is smaller, but the hotel has made great use of the space. There is a build in closet on one side of the bed and a set of drawers on either side of the bathroom wall that has a tv on top. The room is adorned with classic pictures of London and there is a very comfortable sitting area by the window. Sadly the hotel is surrounded by buildings so there isn't much of a view, but that's alright because the service of the hotel and the kindness of the employees is worth not having a view.

Bed

Bathroom

Sitting area and dresser

This is one of those hotels that just impresses overall. Nothing specifically stands out as amazing, but it was just a great overall hotel. I felt like we were getting the service level of a Park Hyatt and it would be my first choice hotel the next time we go to London.

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European Holiday: Is it a Queen or a Double Bed? The DoubleTree Westminster

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 an eventful trip to the Geneva airport where our cab was almost driven off the road by someone merging without looking and an EasyJet flight where no one on the plane abided by the seat belt sign, electronics off during take-off or seat backs and tray tables up we finally landed at London Gatwick.

After clearing immigration and customs we followed the signs for the Gatwick Express we boarded the train for the 45 minute trip into London. The trip ended up being around an hour because of track work that was being conducted near London Victoria where the train terminates. We then hopped on the Victoria Line of the London Underground and got off at Pimlico and walked to our hotel for the night, The DoubleTree Westminster.

The hotel is just a short 10 minute walk to Parliament and about a 20 minute walk to the West End of London so it is a great location if you want to be close to the action but not pay the ridiculously expensive prices of a West End hotel. We were able to get the £40 a night because of a half off promotion that Hilton was running at the time.

When you arrive you can tell that the hotel is relatively new, it had a very modern feel to it and modern furniture to match. We went to check-in but as it was around 9:00 AM we fully planned on dropping our bags and heading out to explore till a room was available. The woman checking us in was wonderful and so kind. She indicated that we had been upgraded because of our Hilton Gold status to one of her favorite rooms in the hotel on the executive floor, but it was not ready yet. We asked about possibly having a room with a view of the Thames as the hotel was only a half block or so away. The woman said she would put a room on hold for us, but she didn't know if we would actually want to switch since the room we had was a very nice room. So we told her not to bother and we would take the original room...more on that later.

So we dropped our bags and headed out for a nice walk until our room was ready. We headed down Milbank Street until we reached the Houses of Parliament and then walked down Whitehall to St. James' Park up to Buckingham Palace and then to Green Park to hop on a number nine bus to Hyde Park to visit my absolute favorite pub, The Queens Arms (Which I've Written About Previously).

Elizabeth Tower and The London Eye

Sir Winston keeping watch

Aspall Cider...The Best

Beef Burger and Chips 

Classic Fish and Chips with Mushy Peas 

After taking the tube back to the hotel we were checked in by another person, who was not nearly as nice as the woman before and didn't seem to have time for us. But she indicated that we were going to be on the "Executive Floor" in a Executive Queen room which is what we had originally booked. We heded up to the 10th floor and all the way to the end of the hall and into our room. The room its self was very nice. The bathroom was a bit small and to the right when you entered. It only had a small shower and no tub, but no big deal for us. The bedroom its self had a built in closet and mini bar area against the far wall and a desk with a brand new Mac that is present in ever room in the place of an actual television. I actually liked this because it made for a big computer to surf the internet on. The one thing that I quickly noticed that the bed was not a queen bed, but instead a full bed or a double bed as it is often called. I was sure I booked a queen and looked again on my reservation to confirm. So I went down to the desk to confirm that we had not been put in the wrong room.

This is where the fun started....the man who I enquired to at the Hilton HHonors desk could not have been more rude. He didn't even look up to say hello or ask what I needed when I approached the desk. When I told him the problem he typed into his computer and said, "Nope it's a queen bed" to which I responded "I understand the computer says that, but we have a double at home and it is clearly the same size" and he responded with, "Well the computer says its a queen." and left it at that. I figured it wasn't worth my time so I headed off and tweeted at DoubleTree and Hilton's twitter accounts and got very quick responses from both of them that they could look into the problem. About 10 minutes later I had an email from someone at DoubleTree in Dallas offering to help out. We went back and forth a couple of times and he indicated that the hotel markets doubles as queens and that it was just a difference in size between the US and the UK. I can totally understand this, but when I booked online I was offered a double or a queen and I booked the queen to get a larger bed. The DoubleTree rep said the only thing they could do was put us in a king room for the night, but it would be the same sized room so it would mean less room to move around. By this point it was dinner time and I didn't feel like sitting around in the hotel and wasting the night so I thanked him and said we would just stay. Before signing off I had one final email where he indicated he would follow up with the hotel and me after our stay to figure out what went wrong with the man at the front desk.....from there I never heard from him again even after emailing him two weeks and four weeks after our stay. I didn't actually get a resolution to the situation till I mailed in the survey that Hilton sent me after the fact and they were very apologetic and offered up 30,000 Hilton HHonors points to apologize. This was WAYYYYY beyond anything I expected, but that's just another reason why I love Hilton, they always want to make it right.

"Queen" double bed

Sitting Area and Closet

Mac Computer/TV

Bathroom

Overall the hotel was a very nice hotel and I would stay there again, but this time I would know to expect a double bed. The only downside was their staff which, besides the one woman who first checked us in, were not very nice. But the location of the hotel and its proximity to some of the best attractions make it a good place to consider if you only have one or two nights.

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. :) 

Delta Interested in Singapore's 49 Percent Stake in Virgin Atlantic?

In this morning's Wall Street Journal is an interesting report that Delta is currently in talks with Singapore Airlines to buy their 49 percent stake in Virgin Atlantic. Singapore first purchased their stake in Virgin Atlantic in 1999 and the investment has failed to pan out for their bottom line, so it's not really a surprise that they are trying to get rid of it.

What is surprising is that Delta is the other airline that is interested in purchasing the stake. Analysts believe that the  reason Delta is angling to invest in Virgin Atlantic is to increase their gate options at London Heathrow so they can offer more flights to LHR and use Virgin Atlantic gates as a parking spot.

UPDATE: A more in-depth article is over at Marketplace that explains why Delta can only buy 49 percent, but European based Air France-KLM could take a controlling stake.

UPDATE 2 Tuesday Dec. 4: In this mornings WSJ was a great article on how more slots for Delta at Heathrow would fill a hole for the airline. 

The Value of Mattress Running: A Case Study

I forgot to talk more about this while chronicling our trip to London and Amsterdam but got side tracked with trying to find all of my pictures and make it sound semi-coherent. But this trip really showed me the value of mattress running.

For those of you that don't know, mattress running is when you stay at a hotel for the sole purpose of earning hotel points that push you toward the next level of elite status, or you stay to take advantage of a promotion a hotel is running.

My first encounter with mattress running happened in May when Club Carlson was running a special for their Radisson and Country Inn and Suites brands where a one night stay would earn you 50,000 and 40,000 points respectively. Both Kelsey and myself stayed a night at one of each to earn the 90,000 Club Carlson points and after the actual points for the stay posted we both had a points balance of around 112,000.

We paid an average of $90 a night for the two night stays so all in we were at about $180 a person or $360 total. We then used the points that we each earned to stay two nights at the Radisson Blu Edwardian Mercer Street and the Radisson Blu Amsterdam. These properties both cost 50,000 per night, which is the highest cost per night Club Carlson has.

Right before we left I looked at the paid rates for the hotels that we were staying at found out that the Edwardian Mercer Street in London was going for $400 a night and the Blu Amsterdam was going for $250 a night. So, if we would have booked our hotels online (Yes yes yes, I realize that these rates might be inflated a bit since they were so close to arrival) we would have paid $1100 for four nights. Instead we only paid $360. By taking a two nights to stay at hotels that were 10 minutes and one hour from our house we saved ourselves almost $750.

This hobby may seem a bit weird and strange at times...but if you are willing to put in the time to explore how you can maximize your potential earnings it can pay off in dividends.

Overnight Ferry: London to Amsterdam

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

First off, I would like to apologize for missing a few days. I was on a work trip and I thought that I would be able to stay on schedule...but alas the real world calls. :p

When we first booked our trip we routed ourselves back to DC from Amsterdam because it was much cheaper than flying from London. I have been to Amsterdam and was not that impressed, but I wanted to give it another try and Kelsey said she was interested in seeing the city. So, we added it as the second half our adventure. We had many different ways to get to Amsterdam, flying being the obvious one, but we were trying to not spend too much on a night in a hotel in either city if we could afford it because they were all pretty expensive. After doing a bit of research it turns out that you can actually kill two birds with one stone in this case. You can take an overnight ferry from the coast of England to the coast of Holland via the Stena Line Ferry system.

The ferry route leaves from Harwich and arrives 8 hours later at the Hook of Holland. When you purchase your ticket you purchase a "rail and sail" option that allows you to take any train operated by the Greater Anglia train company in the UK and any NS Rail Company train. If you are in London you  traditionally leave from London's Liverpool Station and take a train direct to Harwich. Then from the Hook of Holland you can travel to any city in Holland with your "rail and sail" ticket. For our purposes we would have to take a train to Rotterdam and then change to Amsterdam.

The Stena Line also operates two ferries on the England-Holland crossing, one that leaves in the morning and arrives mid-afternoon or the overnight option. During the day you can just purchase a general ticket. But, for the night crossing you have to purchase an actual room with a bed (which we did not complain about). So, for us the "rail and sail" package with an outside view cabin (they have inside views for a bit less) was £56 each. Much cheaper than a plane ticket and another night in a hotel.

So after touring on our last day in London we headed to London's Liverpool Street Station. We looked on the board for our 7:15 pm train that would get us into Harwich around 9:30 pm so we could have about an hour and a half to settle in before the ferry left at 11:00 pm. But, when we arrived at the train station we couldn't find our train listed....so we headed to the information desk and they searched around for a bit and told us that since it was Sunday our train was not running and that we would have to take a bus instead. They pointed us toward the taxi stand next to platform 10 and said a bus would be waiting. We walked down toward the taxi stand and found a queue of people waiting next to a bus. We asked those in front of us if they were heading to Harwich and everyone said yes...but they didn't really know if we were actually in the correct line. So we decided to just get in line and take the bus wherever it was going, which our feeling were basically summed up in this picture below:

I think this is the right bus....

After waiting for a bit someone from the train/bus company came over and started to load the bus up and indicated that it was indeed the bus to Harwich and that we were in the correct place. So we loaded up on one of the two busses and got the last two seats next to each other only to realize that our bus was going to leave full while the other bus was going to leave with about eight people on it. The hour and 45 min ride was as comfortable as could be expected, though when we were leaving London we did drive by the Olympic Park and I was able to grab some exquisite blurry photos which you can enjoy below:

Told you they were blurry...that's the Olympic Stadium I think

A tiny bit better 

We finally arrived at Harwich and it was easy to see which boat was ours. The ship was massive...or at least as massive as you would expect for a simple eight hour ferry crossing. Kelsey said it reminded her of a smaller version of a ship she was on for a Mediterranean cruise. The bus drivers directed us to the boarding area someone checked our tickets and we passed through a security area and to a check-in desk that gave us our tickets and the keys to our rooms on the ship. You then walked up the long long long gangway to the ship and boarded on the 7th floor which is the car deck. There is a small lift that will take you to the 9th floor which is the main deck, or you can lug your luggage up the stairs. The passenger cabins are on the 10th or 11th floor and again you can wait for the lift with everyone or hoof it up the stairs. I dragged Kelsey up the stairs to the 11th floor and found our outside cabin.

The quarters were pretty tight, but it was a very nice room. There were two beds that during the day can be folded away and made into a sitting area, but were made up for the night for us. There is also a small private bathroom with a shower for your use as well. The best feature was the huge port-hole style window to see outside.

Outside cabin beds

Door to the Bathroom

Bathroom 

Shower 

We were very tired so we took a quick lap around the boat and found that on the passenger deck there were big seating areas that you could meet up with others if you wanted along with three bars and a big all you can eat buffet style restaurant. You can buy tickets ahead of time for the restaurant if you want, but we decided to eat beforehand and didn't take advantage of it since it was such a late departure.

This was my first time sleeping on a ship and the water was rough from a huge storm over the sea so I slept kind of on and off due to the rocking and rolling. But the bed and cabin were very comfortable and the staff we encountered were very nice. The best part had to be taking a shower while the ship pitched and rolled and watching the water slosh from side to side in the bathroom. 

Overall the ship was a great experience. We left on time at 11:00 pm and at 6:00 am we were headed off the boat at the Hook of Holland with a decent nights sleep and ready to tackle Amsterdam. But first we had to not piss off every commuter on the Netherlands train system....

London Day Four: Afternoon Tea, Free Breakfast, Cookie Stops and The British Museum

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


To start out our last day in London we took advantage of one of the best features of Hilton Gold Status, a free continental breakfast. At the Hilton London Tower Bridge the breakfast was offered in the Executive Club which was located on the 9th floor of the hotel. The breakfast turned out to be a continental breakfast plus a little more. They had an assortment of pastries, cold cuts, cheese as well as bacon and eggs. For drinks there was an espresso machine along with tea and juice. The breakfast was very good for a free breakfast and saved us spending some money that we could use for something else later in the day.

As I mentioned in the last post the Executive Lounge in the Hilton London Tower Bridge is open from 7 am - 11 pm every day and offers internet acces and computers if you didn't bring along your internet connected device. The concierge in the lounge will also help you with basic needs like reservations and directions. The best part about the lounge is the afternoon tea and snacks in the afternoon/evening. Hotels and restaurants around London offer "afternoon teas" where you can take part in traditional English eat, but also pay out the ears for it. The afternoon tea in the executive lounge had loose leaf tea (of course) along with an assortment of sandwiches and pastries. The best kind of pastry to try is a scone along with clotted cream and jam. The scones are delicious biscuit like pastries with red currents baked in. The clotted cream is a buttery cream and it is best to pair it with raspberry jam. The real question is...what do you put on first...cream or jam. There is a great debate about the order that you put cream and jam on your scone so I hope you will try them and let me know your preference. But, save your money and take advantage of the free afternoon tea in the Executive Lounge if you can.

If the weather is nice the Executive Lounge is nice there is a patio to enjoy with bar tables. The weather was a little cold when we were there, but we stepped out on the patio to enjoy the beautiful views of London.

Patio for the Executive Lounge

"The Shard" a new building near London Bridge 

The "Gherkin" building 

 After checking out of our hotel and storing our bags with the concierge we headed out for our last day in London. Kelsey really wanted to get on a London Double-Decker Bus and take a long ride to enjoy the view from the top level. So we headed to the Tube and took it to the Gloucester Road Tube Stop and then walked up to Kensington High Street to wait for the number 9 bus which goes from Hammersmith to Aldwich in central London. But, before we got on the bus we had to make a detour for one reason....cookies.

When I was studying in London I lived near Kensington High Street and in the shopping center next to the Tube stop there is an amazing cookie shop called Ben's Cookies. These cookies are the freshest cookies you can find. The chocolate chunk, their specialty, is cooked in an oven on-site with huge chunks of chocolate in the middle. The best part is that they undercook the cookies and then warm them up when you order them which means that they are always just warm out of the oven and a little underdone in the middle which makes them nice and chewy. My mouth is watering just thinking about them...

Mmmmm cookies 

 After dropping into a cookie stupor we hopped on the number 9 bus and enjoyed the ride on the top level of the second deck. The bus heads from High Street Kensington past Hyde Park through Hyde Park Corner and Green Park. Then it curves down to Trafalgar Square and ends at Aldwich. We got off the bus at Trafalgar Square and walked to the Piccadilly Circus Tube stop and took the Piccadilly line to Holborn and walked to the British Museum.

The British Museum is a free museum with over eight MILLION separate artifacts from human history and culture. If you are a history buff...plan to spend a whole day here. The museum is massive and you can spend hours just wandering from room to room. The most famous artifacts in the museum include the Rosetta Stone, sculptures from the Parthenon and a really interesting exhibit on the evolution of coins and money through history. The museum also features a beautiful atrium lobby with cafes to grab a quick bite to eat or a coffee to rest for a bit after spending hours wandering through the building. It is a must visit for your trip to London.

British Museum Atrium 

Beautiful Ceiling in the Atrium 

 After visitin the British Museum we headed back to the hotel and picked up our luggage to head to Liverpool Street Station to pick up our train to Harwich, England and the overnight ferry to Holland....or so we thought...

London Day Three: Hilton London Tower Bridge, Borough Market, The Tower of London and The London Eye

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

On our third day in London we woke up early to say goodbye to the Raddison Blue Edwardian Mercer Street. We only had two nights reserved on points and did not wish to pay the 200£ a night price for the third night.

Bye Bye Raddison! 

 From the Raddison we headed out on the Tube for the quick 20 min trip to the London Bridge Tube stop and our hotel for one night, The Hilton London Tower Bridge. When you walk into the Hilton London Tower Bridge you are struck with how modern and chic the lobby looks. It is a tiered lobby with 8 little sitting areas for guests to relax. They also had a sushi counter and a full service bar in the back. The restaurant for the hotel was also located in the back of the lobby area, though we did not end up eating there.

We were quickly greeted at the front desk by Michael who pulled up our reservation and thanked us at least five times for being Hilton Gold members and for staying at Hilton hotels. This was a very welcome change from the Raddison which did not recognize the status we had with Club Carlson or even say thanks for staying. I know this is a little nitpicky, but it is always nice to be recognized for your status without asking, it starts your visit off on the right foot. It was only around 10 am and we had planned to just dump our bags with the concierge and then head out for the day but Michael told us that our room was ready for us and that we had been upgraded to an Executive King Room on the 10th floor with access to the Executive Lounge which served breakfast, and afternoon tea and cocktails from 7 am - 11 pm.

Giddy with excitement we headed to the elevators and found our room on the 10th floor. It was twice the size of our room in the Raddison (which I am sure is just because of the relative size of the buildings) and had a huge bathroom with a tub and a separate shower. The living room featured a king bed, a desk and a small seat to lounge on. There was a bureau with a safe to store belongings. The room also featured a mini-bar, which we did not indulge in.

Bed and Sitting Area 

TV and Desk Area

Bureau 

Bathtub (Sorry it's a bit blurry)

Sink and Bathtub

Shower 

 After enjoying the room for a bit we headed out of our hotel for the day. From the hotel we took the short 3 min walk to the London Bridge Tube stop and got off at Waterloo to pick up tickets for the London Eye for that evening. The gigantic Ferris wheel is right on the banks of the river Thames and overlooks the Palace of Westminister and gets you a great view of London from 443 feet up in the air. The ride its self takes around 45 min - 1 hour in a spacious capsule with around 30 other people enjoying the view. There are two different ticket types for the Eye that you can choose from. The standard ticket allows you to use it at anytime of the day and costs 17£. Or you can pay 25£ and get a Fast Track ticket which also allows you to come at any time, but puts you at the front of the line via the Fast Track line...basically think of it as the Priority Line for you elite flyers out there ;). We opted for the Fast Track ticket and planned on heading back around 20 min before sunset for the day to see London at twilight.

From the Eye, if it is a nice day, I would recommend walking along the Thames to enjoy the river and views of the city if affords. We walked for about 20 min until we reached Millenium Bridge which is a pedestrian footbridge (Destroyed by "He Who Must Not Be Named" for the Harry Potter Fans) that goes from the Tate Modern Art Gallery to St. Paul's Cathedral on the other side. Just past the Tate is the reconstructed Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. The Theatre still runs productions of Shakespeare's works and you can enjoy it in the old style by purchasing tickets for the floor in front of the stage to stand for the whole performance, only 5£. You can also purchase reserved seats for a higher price.

River Thames 

St. Paul's Cathedral and Millenium Bridget 

From the Globe continue to walk down the Thames until you reach Borough Market. From Monday-Wednesday the market is open for lunch with any cuisine option you can imagine. It swells in size from Thursday to Saturday when the full market features a farmers style market with fresh fish, meat, produce and cheese. It is packed on the weekends, but it is worth it to walk around and try samples of everything you can get your hands on! This was my absolute favorite place when I was studying in London because of the food options and the atmosphere. People are just happy as can be strolling through the market and finding odds and ends to make a perfect lunch in the market. My favorite is a German sausage stand that makes the best sausage and sauerkraut ever. If you are at the market...make a straight line for this stand and get your fill!

Sorry...forgot to take a picture before it was almost gone. :) 

From Borough Market we crossed London Bridge (The reports of it falling down are very exaggerated) and caught our first view of Tower Bridge.  It's important to remember that they are indeed separate bridges.

Tower Bridge from London Bridge 

We boarded the Tube at the Embankment stop and took the short journey to Tower Hill for the can't miss Tower of London. The tower features a beautiful medieval fortress that acted as a royal palace for many years. Some of the towers date back to the thirteen-hundreds and were the home of some of England's most famous characters. If you go to the Tower wait until you can be a part of a guided tour by one of the Yeoman Warders (also known as "Beefeaters"). They are the Royal Bodyguard of the Queen and live in the Tower full time. They are military members with at least 22 years of distinguished military service and are just all around brilliant and hilarious guys. Their tours focus on the history of the tower, including the bloody history of executions and strange disappearances, but they also focus on the beautiful architecture of the Tower and the historical significance for London. That and they are absolutely some of the funniest people on the planet. We were laughing the whole tour and it just made the experience that much better to have such an amazing guide. 

The "White Tower" in the Tower of London

View of Tower Bridge from the Tower of London

After enjoying our time at the Tower of London we walked to Tower Bridge and crossed to head back to our hotel to get ready for the trip back to the London Eye for our evening "flight" as they call it.

We returned to the London Eye around 5:45 just as the sun was setting and quickly got to the front of the line and boarded our pod for the 45 min flight around the Eye. The views were spectacular, despite a light rain coming down. The setting sun made the perfect backdrop over London and we just sat quietly in awe of the beauty that the city of London presents. Below are some of the pictures of Westminster Palace I was able to capture as the ride went on.

After our trip on the Eye we headed back to our the area around our hotel and grabbed a quick dinner before retiring for the night in preparation of our last day in London and to get ready for our night ferry to Holland!