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Author Archives: Tara
5 Hours Left For Big Savings On Club Carlson Panama & India
The lucrative BOGO award night that comes with the Club Carlson Visa will be gone in 6 hours. However there is an overlap with a new promo to save 25% on Latin American hotels that you can take advantage of if you are quick. Two nights at the Radisson Summit for 11,250 points!
Most Club Carlson hotels in India went down as of 1 June so there is a small window of opportunity for a BOGO award there too!
Satin Bowerbird “Liked It So He Put A Ring On It”
I’ll be blogging about these guys when I get to the Queensland section of my trip in March 2014, but for now, enjoy the courtship of these Satin Bowerbirds.
Club Carlson – Good While It Lasted
There are very few hotel programs useful to people who like to get off the beaten path and out into the bush where the birds are. After a major mass burning of points last year, I was down to 2 useful programs – Club Carlson and IHG. One day remains on the lucrative benefit of the Club Carlson Visa in which you could redeem one free night for one award night. Club Carlson did have a few properties that were well located for eco-tourists such as the Summit in Panama, the Radisson Blu Port Elizabeth and the now defunct Radisson in Tahiti. I also burned quite a few points to visit Tel Aviv and Nice using the free night benefit while we were in Europe attending the World Parrot Conference in Loro Parque.
I still had ample points for the radisson in San Juan where it would have made a nice base for visits to El Yunque Rainforest but that property has since left the Club Carlson chain. I managed to use the last few points I had for 2 free nights in Bogota where we can make a day trip to Chingaza NP and 2 free nights in Minneapolis to visit family next year. The last few points I have will probably get sent to an airline when I need to bump up the miles. I’ll be cancelling my Club Carlson Visa when it next comes due. If they had more properties in places where we will be traveling, I might have kept it but there are just too few Club Carlson hotels in exotic places!
So goodbye Club Carlson, it was nice knowing you for the last few years!
I still have the annual IHG free nights from the Chase card and enough points for some redemptions at airport hotels as required. IHG is larger and has hotels in more locations I can use. Otherwise, I will be booking independent hotels and earning airline miles using Pointshound and Rocketmiles from now on!
The 10 Sexiest Male Birds
The BBC brings us this list of stunning birds who really know how to impress the chicks! I’ve only seen one in person, the Satin Bowerbird in Girraween NP. He was quite happy to take a blue bottle cap to impress his paramour! With those brilliant purple eyes, he’s pretty impressive already!
Check out the full list and see how many YOU have seen!
Premium Travel – Been There, Done That, Got Selfies – Now What?
Conde-Nast Traveler does some interesting articles as do some miles & points bloggers who specialize in luxury travel. In this slideshow, they show the first class cabins of several airlines – Singapore, Etihad, Air France, Qantas, All Nippon, Asiana & Emirates. Sure they look fancy but do we really need all this luxury for a mere 8-15 hours of your life? Redeeming miles for first class could be anywhere from double to triple the miles for an economy flight.
Yeah, I know economy sucks but at the end of the day, you get to your destination the same time as everyone else and at worst you have to wait for them to disembark first. But then once off the plane, even a middle-aged backpacker like me can outrun someone dragging a rollaboard!
I’ve had my fair share of flights in business class which in recent years could be had for around 25-50% extra miles over the economy redemption. I’ve never flown first class but on our last trip to Europe, we had one segment BKK-IST in a wet-leased Jet Airways plane (they are no longer doing wet-leases). These trips were booked using US Airways miles obtained from lucrative promos such as Grand Slam that are now obsolete.
Thai Airways Business Class BNE-BKK
Turkish Airways wetleased Jet Airways first class suite (sold as business class) BKK-IST
Normal Turkish Airways Business Class Seat (as comparison), still pretty nice!
Swiss Euro-business Class BCN-ZRH-FCO, I would never redeem an intra-Europe award in J but this was part of a longer route back to Australia.
Air China Business Class FCO-PEK
Singapore Airlines A380 Business Class PEK-SIN, these seats were huge!
Singapore Airlines Business Class SIN-BNE, not an A380 but still nice and plenty of free Singapore Slings!
SO NOW WHAT?
So I’ve been there, done that and got the selfies. Now what? Airlines are tightening up on business class award availability. They are also devaluing their miles making premium seats much more expensive. It can come down to a question of do you want to travel in a larger seat, eat fancy food and drink champagne or do you want to have two trips instead of one?
Sure it was nice to have the lie-flat seats and get a good night’s sleep but we did have to take some very convoluted routes to do that. BCN-ZRH-FCO-PEK-SIN-BNE That’s 4 changes with security screening and lines at each stage which kind of negates the relaxation from the larger seat. The first 2 flights were delayed. Yes SWISS was delayed, who’d of thunk it? We could have been home a day earlier if we had done BCN-SIN-BNE but it wasn’t available at time of booking. We aren’t fans of fancy-schmancy food, I actually prefer the simplicity of economy food. The big seats that lie flat do make a big difference in arriving somewhere well-rested and I love having lounge access to surf the net on layovers and have free snacks.
Now that I have had the experience of luxury travel, it’s made me rethink what is important. OK, so I’m a destination based traveler so I know what’s important to me. Definitely not the food. Some airports have free wifi, otherwise I can just read or watch something I downloaded. Free snacks and drinks are nice but not a deal-breaker. Economy seats suck but my DR helped me out with sleeping pills and my husband can already sleep anywhere at the drop of a hat. The journey is basically what gets you to the destination. Some bloggers will have you believe that you shouldn’t leave home if it’s not in a premium cabin, but what’s the real point of travel? You need to GET some place first and if economy is the only affordable way to do it than so be it!
I’ve been blogging a series about a trip to Africa which was the last trip we did in business class using United Mileage Plus. Our most recent trip in April 2015 was Thailand, Malaysia & the Cook Islands all in economy. I’d blown my stash of UA miles and that’s all we could afford. Thankfully we survived! I’ll be blogging about this trip starting in June.
Now I am looking towards next year – 2016. This will be a major trip to Ecuador, Colombia, some Caribbean islands to see some amazing birds and a visit to family in the USA.. Looks like we are in for economy tickets again. If you are using AA miles, it’s almost impossible to get business class between Australia and South America or the USA and Australia as Qantas members have earlier access and snap them up. While I do participate in Qantas’ program, I am not about to pay their hefty fuel surcharges. I don’t have enough QFF points anyway. So once again, it will be the back of the plane but to some pretty amazing destinations!
A “Godmother” Of All African Adventures?
Now that the Mother of all African Adventures is behind us, it seems my fascination with Africa isn’t over yet! So what would I do for an encore? If you’ve been reading this blog for the past several months, hopefully you enjoyed hearing how I planned the travel to South Africa, Mauritius, Madagascar, Ghana & Tanzania and saw most of my target birds. But there is still so much more to see!
So what would be on my list if I do a “Godmother” of all African Adventures? Here are a few places on my radar.
- Namibia – Peach-faced Lovebirds, Ruppells Parrots & more. This would be a self-drive trip.
- Zambia/Botswana/Zimbabwe/Malawi – would choose the best of these for Brown-necked Parrots, Lillian’s Lovebirds, Black-cheeked Lovebirds, Meyers Parrots & more. Most of these places might require using the car/driver option which is not my preferred method so I would be looking hard for national parks I can get to with public transport & taxis. So far, these are looking like the most expensive for lodges so I need to do the most research here.
- Ethiopia – the layover wasn’t enough, I’d like to get to Menagesha NP for Yellow-faced Parrots, Black-winged Lovebirds & more. Easy day trip from Addis Ababa or spend one night there.
- Uganda – I think my odds for African Grey Parrots are better here than in Ghana. I’d use public transport to Fort Portal, then a taxi to Kibale.
WHAT DO I NEED?
Short answer – United miles as Star Alliance is by far the best alliance for Africa. I could supplement with some Avios to get from Namibia to Livingstone, Zambia via JNB. So looks like Chase will be my best friend for a while longer!
A Couple Good IHG Pointbreaks For Eco-tourists
The latest IHG Pointbreaks list which offers specified hotels for a bargain 5000 points was less than inspiring. Oceana & Africa missed out completely. The complete list can be found here. The best options are for people doing USA road trips. This list is valid for bookings through 31 July.
Consider these possibilities if you are headed to South America. Cuiaba is the gateway to the Pantanal. The hotel is pretty nice although not the best location if you are going for an early start. We did this trip in 2012 before I started this blog so I don’t have posts yet but I will be blogging my past trips as soon as I finish the current trips.
BRAZIL
HOLIDAY INN CUIABA
Although this hotel is a city property, Panama City’s small size means it’s not such a long drive to Soberania National Park. Get yourself an award ticket to PTY, a rental car and book a few nights for a long weekend of birding!
PANAMA
CROWNE PLAZA PANAMA
New E-Book To Support Golden Conure Conservation!
As regular readers know, I am passionate about birds and the Golden Conure is one of my all-time favourite species. In 2012, I was lucky enough to see them in the wild in their natural habitat in Brazil. Recently, I was invited by Pompom – the leader of the Golden Conures International Facebook group to contribute an article about my trip to this wonderful project. She assembled a dedicated group of writers from all over the world – all of whom donated their chapters so that all the proceeds from this book could go to the World Parrot Trust’s Golden Conure Survival Fund. Mine is Chapter 16: Goldens at the End of the Rainbow.
The e-book is being sold by Pocketmags which goes by several other names depending on where in the world you are located.
You will need to create an account with Pocketmags before ordering. Once you pay for the book via credit card or Paypal, the book will be stored in your account and you will need to access it via the account. This protects the copyright of the book.
Don’t be confused by the Avizandrum 12 issues per year thing. The book is being published by the same folks in South Africa who publish this monthly avicultural magazine. You will only get one e-book, it’s not a monthly thing. The currency will probably default to your home country’s currency, I was charged in AUD.
HOW TO ACCESS YOUR E-BOOK
This was the confusing part as I was not familiar with this online publishing company. In some ways, it is kind of like the Kindle for PC app.
The book will appear in your account. When you click on the “READ” button, you can choose which online e-reader you want to use. They have a Silverlight or a Flash reader but you must be online to use them.
If you are using an iPad or other tablet, there are several apps available.
Lastly, most people will want to be able to read the book offline. This works similar to Kindle for PC. You download their reader here.
Once you install the program, you log into it with your Pocketmags details and it will prompt you to download the e-book. This will take awhile as it’s a large file. You will then be able to read the book offline at your convenience.
Enjoy the book and please tell your friends. You can learn more about Golden Conures and support them in the wild at the same time!
A Bittersweet Farewell To Thai’s Business Class
The last few years have been great not only for the places we have been but the way we got there. Although in normal circumstances, we would never aspire to business class the US Airways promos and Chase credit cards meant that we had plenty of miles. This luxury will soon be coming to an end for several reasons. I’m running out of credit cards to churn. US Airways is gone. And airlines are getting stingier about releasing premium award seats. So knowing that these would likely be our last business class flights for several years at least I wanted to really enjoy them.
THAI AIRWAYS BRISBANE BNE TO BANGKOK BKK
This was the first of a complicated USDM award to Israel returning from Barcelona. We settled in, got comfortable and had champagne.
This flight leaves at 2pm and arrives at 8pm Thai time so it really isn’t necessary to sleep. I watched Bollywood films with English subtitles through dinner, then lay down for a nap just because I could!
The onward flight was on Turkish Airlines so we couldn’t use the Thai Airways Spa. We used the public spa upstairs for a half hour massage, then went to the lounge to relax, check emails and have some snacks before the next flight left.
THAI AIRWAYS BANGKOK BKK TO BRISBANE BNE
I’ve blogged about this route before so I’ll just supplement it a bit here. There was no way we were going to pass up one last massage in the spa, even though it was a tight squeeze before our flight.
Purple is one of my favourite colours so I love the TG cabin decor. The smiling crew were lovely as usual.
I had to have my champagne!
We were pretty tired so we rushed through dinner so we could get some sleep. The lie-flat beds were very comfortable and had some fancy controls. I love the quilts they use, so soft and comfy!
I slept like a log and didn’t even have time to see a full movie before arriving at BNE. I don’t know if the future holds more mileage earning activities that would get us in business class again so we are on economy for at least the next 3 trips. But this one sure was nice while it lasted!