Tag Archives: Chase Ultimate Rewards Points

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California Zephyr Part 3: Amtrak Lounge Car, Snack Bar & Stunning Views

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Good morning everyone, here is the last part of my California Zephyr Amtrak trip.  I will put together a summary post with links to all previous parts in a few minutes.  In this post, I will show you pictures of the lounge car, the snack bar, and some stunning views of Mother Nature from the train.

The lounge car is the place to be.  If you enjoy staring out the window at the beauty of nature, then you will definitely want to get to the lounge car early to secure a table.  The tables comfortable seat 4 adults, but I saw a few tables with a few more people squished together.  The tables are open to all passengers on the train, including coach, roomette, and bedroom passengers.  Like I said, get there early before all the tables fill up.

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California Zephyr Part 1: Planning an Amtrak Trip from Denver to Emeryville (San Francisco)

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Good morning everyone.  A few months ago, I wrote about my experience taking the Coast Starlight Amtrak from Seattle down to Los Angeles.  I am very excited for my next (and probably last) “premium” long-distance train ride from Denver to Emeryville (near Oakland and San Francisco) on the California Zephyr Amtrak.  I have a few friends in Denver/Boulder that wanted to experience a “premium” Amtrak experience before the January 24, 2016, Amtrak devaluation, so we planned to go on Presidents’ Day Weekend / Valentine’s Day / NBA All-Star Weekend (shout out to the BBVA NBA Credit Card).

Long before the Amtrak devaluation, Chase lost Amtrak as a transfer partner of Chase Ultimate Reward Points on December 7, 2015.  Since I was 99% sure I was going to use the Amtrak Points before the Amtrak devaluation, I transferred 25,000 Chase Ultimate Reward Points to Amtrak Points.  With 25,000 Amtrak Points, you can get a Superliner Bedroom for 1 zone on any long-distance Amtrak route.  Denver is right on the border of zone 1 and zone 2, so you can go in a Superliner Bedroom from Denver to anywhere in the Western Zone or anywhere in the Central Zone for 25,000 Amtrak Points.  Since my friends are in Denver and I live in San Francisco (easy access to Emeryville), we looked at routes between those cities.  After coordinating schedules and checking availability on the Amtrak website, we decided to go from Denver to Emeryville during Presidents’ Day Weekend (only Presidents’ Day on Monday was blacked out, but the weekend was fine).

Amtrak Zone Map

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PSA: Check Existing Southwest Airlines Flights for Price Drops, then Rebook

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Good morning everyone, greetings from rainy/windy Super Bowl City (San Francisco).  I just got an email from Southwest Airlines regarding their current flight sales.  In most cases, Southwest Airlines flight sales would not be newsworthy, but if you are an experienced/savvy Southwest Airlines flier, you know that Southwest Airlines lets you make free changes and cancellations to existing reservations.  I keep a spreadsheet on my computer (saved to OneDrive and available on my iPhone) that shows all my upcoming flights.  I book a lot of flights and sometimes I forget when I book flights (and I accidentally booked 2 trips for the same weekend #facepalm).

SWA Last Call Email

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Hotel Review: Hotel Indigo Paris (Located near Opera & Vendome)

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Good evening everyone, greetings from Nice, France (Nice is pronounced “niece”).  I always seem to be a day late and a city behind in my trip reporting.  Before reviewing the Radisson Blu Nice and my day trip to Monaco, I want to share my thoughts on my recent 2 night stay at the Hotel Indigo Paris.  I used 2 anniversary night certificates from my Chase IHG Credit Card to book the stay.  In essence, I “paid” $49 for each night since that is what the annual fee is for the Chase IHG Credit Card.

Getting from CDG Airport to Paris is easy.  For €10 per person, you can go from CDG Airport to Châtelet Les Halles station (I have no idea how to properly pronounce this station) on the RER B (blue line) and connect to Opéra/Auber on the RER A (red line).  From Opéra/Auber station, the hotel is a short 5 minute walk.  Just make sure you know which street to turn on to so you don’t wheel your suitcase around Paris aimlessly like I did.

Getting around Paris can be kind of tricky since there are 2 overlapping train networks (RER and Metro) that share most of the stations. When in doubt, ask the information booth for assistance and they will be happy to help.

Paris Metro Map CDG to Opera Station

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Hotel & Flight Bookings for LHR, CDG, NCE, MUC, VCE, and DUB

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Good morning everyone, happy TGI Friday!  First, I wanted to thank everyone for voting in my poll (Reader Feedback Needed: Which Blog Posts Should I Write First?).  I was busy this week with 2 free movie screenings in SF (13 Hours and Pride & Prejudice & Zombies) and the SF Travel Hackers Meetup, but I’m finally getting around to writing about my upcoming trip to Europe.  That was the overwhelming winner and since my trip starts tomorrow (1/16), I better write about it before I fly out of town.

Blog Topic Poll 1-14-2016

I will share my thought process and booking experience with my flights and then about my hotels.  Since I planned most of this trip back in March/April/May 2015, I was able to find award space to/from SFO very easily.  Here is an overview of my paid and award flights:

  • SFO-LAX (AA First) and LAX-LHR (AA Business) = 50,000 AA miles + $5.60 in taxes/fees
  • LHR-CDG (British Airways economy) = 2,500 BA Avios + $57.50 in taxes/fees
  • CDG-NCE (Air France economy) = $56.76
  • NCE-MUC / MUC-VCE (Lufthansa economy) = $99.99
  • VCE-LGW-DUB (British Airways / Aer Lingus economy) = $138.60
  • DUB-SFO (Aer Lingus economy) = 25,000 BA Avios + $106.76 in taxes/fees

GCM Eurotrip 2016

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