Thanksgiving 2019: Zermatt

Zermatt has been on my list to visit for many years.  It's not the easiest place to get to via train and takes some time with changes - don't let that stop you!  Using a train pass is by far the preferred way to save $.

We chose another Airbnb that had a special view of the Matterhorn:

Skiing was just getting started and walking the town was pretty fun (heli-skiing possible!):

For dinner we chose to eat at Restaurant Julen - was excellent:

There are no cars in Zermatt, only electric vehicles - they're trying to preserve their special environment and location.

For more information about Zermatt, you can visit this link.

Thanksgiving 2019: Bellinzona

I always look forward to visiting one my favorite vineyards and regions in Switzerland - the area around Bellinzona is so peaceful.

We had no issues with the trains in transit.  I must say that being able to use the train system and not have to worry about rental cars is such a time and money saver.   Plus you don't have to worry about parking or insurance considerations.

Dinner was excellent with Carato the preferred wine selection.  Tagliolini al Ragu di Maialino brava!

Thanksgiving 2019: Geneva

Once again we were very blessed to have otherwise excellent weather during our stay in Geneva.  The Airbnb we stayed at was one the best for location and amenities:

We were able to visit a number of sites including the UN and the Cathedrale Saint-Pierre:

And of course the food was excellent - fondue!

Restaurants visited during our stay:

Auberge de Saviese - https://www.aubergedesaviese.com/en/
Restaurant Edelweiss - https://www.hoteledelweissgeneva.com/en/restaurant/

Discover 1st Quarter 2020 bonus categories

For those of you who make use of Discover rewards/points/cashback, the 1st Quarter 2020 categories have now been confirmed:

These are great choices in categories that are widely used!

Thanksgiving trip starting soon!

It's almost time to depart!  Really looking forward to some vacation time away over Thanksgiving again this year - the trek will follow a path all around Switzerland from Geneva to Zurich. 

Hoping for some snow at the Christmas markets!

ASU Smart Campus Innovation Day

I'm on the road today to join higher education technology leaders at Arizona State University for a Smart Campus Innovation Day - this will be my first time attending and representing Princeton and OIT.  I'll also be presenting on the work we've accomplished so far with our classroom renovations.

The intent for the event is peer sharing about technology innovation and collaboration with other campus groups - tracks include:

·         Building Management + GIS, Maintenance & Security

·         Parking, Transit, Autonomous Vehicles & Mobility Solutions

·         Student Success, Learning & Classroom Spaces

·         Student Services & Dining Solutions

I'm looking forward to sharing information about our new Learning Space Initiative and the work we're doing to upgrade spaces across campus.

More Hyatt properties available!

Hyatt continues to grow its portfolio of properties; the addition of SLH and others have really opened up the points use possibilities.

They've announced another round of new additions: (link)

Overall I'm pretty impressed by the expanded footprint and hope to visit some of these soon!

A catch up weekend

I was grateful to have the chance to travel for most of October for a variety of professional and person reasons, though I'm excited about the fact I can be home this weekend.  There are plenty of catch up things to do on my list along with preparing for a few trips later this month.  My next departure will be in a few weeks to represent OIT at an Innovation Summit at ASU followed by the yearly Thanksgiving vacation as typically planned.

Fall is here!

ILA in Ottawa

I'm currently in Ottawa attending the International Leadership Association conference - it's another city on my travel map and I must say that I'm very impressed with the city (I shouldn't be surprised, right?).

You can find the conference program here: https://convention2.allacademic.com/one/ila/ila19/

Today I also chaired a Concurrent session on Inclusive Leadership highlighting studies from a variety of institutions.  Overall this research space is expanding and I was impressed with the level of detail and focus on student engagement within organizations and institutions.

Air New Zealand Starting Nonstop Service to Newark in Fall 2020

While flying out of Newark can be frustrating, I'm always interested in reading about new service options where I can leverage points and miles.  The news today is pretty exciting: Air New Zealand will being nonstop service to Newark in October of 2020.  

You can read the press release here: https://bit.ly/360xxS6

Air New Zealand will fly between Auckland and its alliance partner United Airlines' New York hub Newark Liberty International Airport three times weekly, year-round, using its latest configuration Boeing 787-9 aircraft.

Redemption options using United miles tend to be sparse until the last minute though occasional deals can be found.  Looking forward to this next option next year!

Weekend in PQI

More like Fort Fairfield to be exact. 

Perfect Fall weekend.

Mid-Year (fall) 2019 Travel Check-in

I'm a bit late with this post since I've been busy with end of summer construction/start of semester activities.  I feel that we've been busier than usual at work given the amount of projects we're working on including planning for FY20 learning space work.  My travel pattern really picked up in late spring as well which is nice though was unexpected from my assessment early in the year.

American

No status presently on American even though I took advantage of a brief status match in late spring.  I was able to leverage some new CC spend and have increased my miles balance ahead of some fun travel hopefully next fall.

United

United is still primary for me as I travel given the close proximity to Newark (not my favorite by any stretch).  My travel for work so far this year combined with personal travel has positioned me to get back to 1K if all holds steady.  I have one additional November trip to confirm as well.  My upgrade pattern has been about 60-70% with no real complaints as planes are typically full.  Looking forward to a full month of travel ahead plus trips through the New Year.  And I'm still leveraging MP Dining and CC use for miles regularly.

Hyatt

I've easily matched Explorist status again for the year, though there is an outside chance I may be able to get to Globalist.  I'll need to make a decision on that in a few weeks otherwise the window will close completely for next year.  CC spend for nights plus the extra 4x on stays has been helpful for future trip planning. 

I'm pretty satisfied overall on how much I've travelled this year.  Strategic use of CC's along with regular spend patterns has helped with overall points accrual as well.  Normal daily CC spend is still one of the best strategies for the points and travel game.

To SD

Greetings from over western TX!  I'm enroute to San Diego for the weekend - should be a great trip catching up with friends and enjoying the sun.  Winds might be a bit gusty during my stay too - always fun to be back. 

Adding a new airport

I always look forward to adding a new airport to my 'traveled' list.  I'll have the opportunity this weekend to increase my count with a trip to Cornell for Ivy+ Director's meetings. 

The trip to ITH is not long and involves an RJ145.  No problem!

Chase Q4 2019 Freedom Categories

I always look forward to the start of a new quarter - it means new 5x bonus categories for the Chase Freedom card.

Just announced, these will be: Department Stores, Paypal, and Chase Pay

Personally I find these disappointing.  It means you have to structure your spend around mobile devices which is something I don't generally do for security reasons.  Paypal seems hard to use in general for most day to day purchases.

Southwest Network changes 2020

From Airline Route - Southwest is making significant changes to their network.  These include:

Following service to be discontinued from 06JAN20:
Atlanta – Boston
Austin – San Francisco
Boston – Kansas City
Boston – Milwaukee
Columbus OH – Oakland
Dallas Love Field – Jacksonville FL
Dallas Love Field – Oklahoma City
Dallas Love Field – San Francisco
Fort Lauderdale – Jacksonville FL
Los Angeles – Cancun
Los Angeles – Omaha
Los Angeles – Pittsburgh
Los Angeles – Puerto Vallarta
Orlando – New York LaGuardia

New Hyatt Fall Promo 2019

Word is out that Hyatt has a new promo for the fall called Bonus Journeys:

• Earn Triple Points at nearly 350 Hyatt Place hotels in cities like New York, London, Tokyo and more.
• Earn Double Points at over 550 other Hyatt hotels worldwide and participating M life Rewards destinations and Small Luxury Hotels of the World hotels.

Register here.

Semester start!

The new semester is here, and we will kick things off this weekend ahead of first day of classes Wednesday.  Hard to believe the summer months have come and gone already; where did the time go?

New Chase Ultimate Rewards partner: Emirates

Chase has one of most valuable points programs for travel; it's part of my main strategy for points accrual and credit card redemptions.

I was excited to hear today that Chase has added a new airline partner to Ultimate Rewards: Emirates

Before transferring miles, make sure to check out the award calculator since redemptions are dynamic to certain areas.   I like the option of having another way to visit/transit via the Middle East to get to Doha or the Maldives.

Next up: Singapore

I depart later today for Singapore and the Next Gen Learning Spaces conference. I'm excited to be participating as a speaker and conference Chair.  You can find more information about the topics and speakers here:

5th Annual NGLS Asia

I've scheduled the flights so that I get a bit of a break midstream traveling east - hoping to see how this compares to past trips via SFO with the major time change.

Place of the Day: Carcassonne

It's more than just a game!

Medieval walls and history of the same have really been focus points for me when traveling.  I had a blast visiting Dubrovnik and walking the city walls, and Hadrian's wall is on my list yet to visit.  So I'm also adding this as a "must" place to go:

Carcassonne

Located in the southern part of France, Carcassonne is the one best-preserved medieval/Roman cities with existing ramparts and citadel.  It dates back to early BC time and didn't suffer the same fate as other ruined locations.  It contains 53 towers and two outer walls for exploration.

A good idea of a visit/tour can be found here.

Hopefully I'll get the chance to visit soon!

Dubrovnik/Tallinn Trip: Recap

It's always tough to do recaps since the trip must be over!  It was another amazing trip overall; the weather was perfect in each location and we were able to walk or use public transportation with little difficulty.  Climbing the walls is special in Dubrovnik (and if you're a Game of Thrones fan it's fun to find film spots).  I still believe there is nothing like a tiered, walled city to take you back in time.

The food options we explored were also excellent - I highly recommend both Leib and Farm if you're visiting Tallinn.  Each city had a wide selection of choices and I believe they have expanded in the last few years.

For 2020 I'm still doing research on points required, and am hopeful that a return trip to the Maldives might be in store.  It's a bit of a jaunt though worth it if you have the points to fly in business.  If everything works out, a stopover or two may also be possible.  Next trip up: Singapore!

Dubrovnik/Tallinn Trip: Daytrip to Helsinki

On my first trip to Tallinn I had some regrets about not taking advantage of the excellent cruise/ferry options to visit nearby cities.  The Tallink/Silja Lines operate a variety of connection opportunities including Stockholm, Helsinki, and Turku.  We were in luck to find that a day trip to Helsinki would only cost 64 euro for two...not bad!  From D-Terminal in Tallinn, it's only a 2 hour trip to get to Finland.

We got up early and took an Uber down to the Terminal and boarding started shortly after we walked in.  The main sitting area of the boat is open for anyone with no reserved seating; we found a table by a window that also had outlets.

Helsinki is a very easy city to visit.  The city tram line runs right to the arrival terminal and in about 20 minutes you're in the central city - use the app and purchase a day pass for only 8 euro.  Our first stop was Helsinki Cathedral - statues of Martin Luther and Melancton are inside:

The City Museum is just a short walk away from the Cathedral though was not very impressive.  Turning left down the street, though, we came to the Market Square with many outdoor vendors and food choices.

After lunch we decided to take a tram ride northeast of the square to find the Sibelius Monument.  Created with some controversy, this was an interesting creation in a nearby park:

We also chose to stop and see another well-known landmark, the Temppeliaukion Church. Built into the surrounding rockface, the acoustics in the sanctuary are impressive and we were lucky to have a pianist playing when we stopped.

Soon it was time to head back to the ship and transit back.  Our ferry back was uneventful and the main seating area was fairly full. Arriving back in Tallinn, we stopped in at Restauran Contravento just off of the Pile Gate for dinner.  Excellent wine and entrees!

Dubrovnik/Tallinn Trip: First Day in Tallinn

Exploring Tallinn is very easy.  There is a tram service that takes you around the Old City and much if not all of the area is walkable.  I would encourage the use of public transportation and walking to anyone visiting to get a complete picture and flavor of the culture:

We were able to visit the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral along with St. Mary's Cathedral a short distance away.  Plus walking the wall sections is really special (and similar to Dubrovnik in stature).  Our walk also took us to the main Town Hall Square where we stopped in at numerous market shops.

For lunch I was excited we could visit Leib Restaurant - it boasts a specialized Estonian menu with many organic ingredients.  Make a reservation if you can in advance to secure a seat.

My Star Alliance Goal: one new airline!

Back in 2014, I challenged myself to see how many Star Alliance carriers I could fly.  While my international travel pattern has stayed steady, this is a challenge for some regions.  I'm pleased that I was able to fly Turkish on my most recent vacation and so another check on the board!

Here's my list (red is flown):

• Adria Airways JP
• Aegean Airlines A3
• Air Canada AC
• Air China CA
• Air India
• Air New Zealand NZ
• ANA NH
• Asiana Airlines OZ
• Austrian OS
• Avianca AV, TACA Airlines TA
• Brussels Airlines 
• Copa Airlines CM
• Croatia Airlines OU
• EGYPTAIR MS
• Ethiopian Airlines ET
• EVA Air
• LOT Polish Airlines LO
• Lufthansa LH
• Scandinavian Airlines SK
• Shenzhen Airlines ZH
• Singapore Airlines SQ
• South African Airways SA
• Swiss LX
• TAP Portugal TP
• THAI TG
• Turkish Airlines TK
• United UA

Still quite a few to go...

Dubrovnik/Tallinn Trip: Transit via Istanbul to Tallinn

Our departure was an 8am scheduled flight via Turkish Airlines through the new Istanbul Airport to Tallinn.  The sun was already shining when we departed Rooms Megi and caught an Uber from the Buza Gate to Dubrovnik Airport.

The new Istanbul airport is located quite a distance outside of the city though boasts infrastructure to accommodate a significant increase in passenger traffic.  We landed early and a 20+ minute taxi time gave us an ontime arrival.  Why the airport planners built the runways only to one side of the property is a mystery.

No passport control was required after deplaning - the terminal layout means you may have a bit of a walk to get to your connection so allowing for plenty of time is essential.  We had enough time to visit the Turkish Airlines Star Alliance Lounge for lunch.  They spared no expense with the layout, food options, and amenities:

We had an on-time departure and landing into Tallinn was smooth.  After checking into the Hilton Tallinn Park (points for the stay) we made our way into the city for dinner at Farm.  Can't recommend this place enough for Estonian cuisine (and rhubarb wine!).