...constantly searching to find the best travel deals and places to visit. A never-ending quest for adventure!

Sunday, June 25, 2017

Hyatt Credit Card Signup bonus changing 6/29/17

One of the better credit card signup bonuses available for the last number of years has been the Hyatt Card from Chase.  By signing up and meeting the spend requirement you receive two free nights that can be used at any Hyatt worldwide.  This includes Category 7 properties such as the Paris Vendome or my preferred hotel in Europe, the Park Hyatt Zurich.

It appears this bonus is changing 6/29/17 - per CC Guide.

Changing to points will mean less value since the point value to redeem for Category 7 rooms will be more than the bonus change.

Take advantage now and sign up before the two free nights deal is gone!

Thursday, June 22, 2017

Breaking News: Qatar to buy stake in American?

Just reported, Qatar Airways has expressed interest in buying up to a 10% stake in American Airlines.

More to come...

Update: An excellent article providing more analysis of this news is available here.

Wednesday, June 21, 2017

Castles and Scotland

One of my still to do items in the UK is to visit Hadrian's wall - while I've shared this in a prior post, I also enjoy finding and visiting castles.  I've never been to Scotland though recently found an excellent resource if you're looking for castles to visit in northern England:

From the Culture Trip: Castles

Flying into Heathrow for these is still a bit expensive for both miles and/or regular tickets. It may be easier to find a deal to get you into Manchester or Edinburgh and then drive to many of the locations. 

Sunday, June 18, 2017

Place of the Day: Montenegro

There are quite a few European countries I still want to visit, and one of them is Montenegro.  In a prior posting I talked about visiting the Bay of Kotor, though I recently found a property that is certainly a place not to miss:



Yes, that "island" is the place to stay.  It is a former fortified village dating back to the 15th century.

My previous post details possible avenues to arrive, including via Dubrovnik. Since I wouldn't mind visiting the walled city one more time this wouldn't be too bad of an itinerary.

Monday, June 5, 2017

Travel Update: Qatar

It pains me to report on this, since Qatar is a special place for me and one where I spent time doing research for my dissertation working with students and Qataris at Education City.  In the last 24 hours relations between Qatar and many other nations in the Middle East have soured - so much so that diplomatic relations have been suspended.

In addition, many of the airlines in the region have also suspended flights.  From Doha News:

Dubai-based Emirates, Abu Dhabi’s Etihad, Air Arabia and the low-cost airline Fly Dubai all confirmed this morning that they will cease routes to Doha from tomorrow (June 6) until further notice.
Saudi’s Jeddah-based national flag carrier Saudia also joined, announcing in Arabic on Twitter this morning that it too is stopping flights to Qatar.
Stay tuned for more information. I'm holding out hope that this is a temporary halt based on recent hacking that took place on several Qatari websites and not related to anything else.