Stop One on our honeymoon was Bali, Indonesia and stop one of our Bali trip was a few days’ stay at the W Retreat & Spa Bali Seminyak. Prior to our arrival, we had flown from Charleston – NYC, NYC – Frankfurt, Germany, Frankfurt-Bangkok, then finally Bangkok-Denpasar, Bali — arriving in Bali two days after departure. Tired doesn’t even begin to describe us.
But, upon arrival at the W, our excitement quickly took over and we couldn’t wait to explore the grounds and get to our private pool villa (say what?!) ASAP. I have always loved the fun, quirky atmosphere at W Hotels, but this W blew the others away by a long shot. Everything was done [...]
To me, one of the most fun parts of planning a nice trip is researching really awesome First Class cabins and nice resorts that we can fly on/stay in for cheap or free.
Before planning our honeymoon, I strategically signed up for 2x Chase cards a few months prior to booking that yielded me 100,000 bonus points so, those points (combined with the other points we had been patiently earning and hoarding over the last few years) came out to just enough for two round-trip tickets in First Class using United MileagePlus miles. The total points we used to book were 280,000 miles, 140k each. As a side note, United has massively devalued their currency and now the same trip would cost [...]
Just a few short days until our honeymoon! Here’s a brief overview of where we’re headed and how we’re getting there:
Our 24,606 mile trip will take us to 10 countries (including connections) over 16 days:
Part 1 -New York
We’ll fly from Charleston-JFK to New York-JFK on Delta…
…and spend 1 night in the city to get our fill of the Christmas spirit.
Part 2 – Bali, Indonesia
Our award ticket starts in New York as we fly out of New York-LGA and, appx 33 hours later, land in Denpasar, [...]
Bali is one of the top honeymoon destinations in the world with literally hundreds of hotels in dozens of regions to choose from–so which one do you choose? I’ve narrowed my choice by *trying* to stay at Starwood or Hyatt properties using points or cash & points. And, if it doesn’t make sense to use points, then I’d still prefer to stay at one of these properties so that I might have a better chance for an upgrade and, at the very least, earn more points while staying. At the end of the day, however, it might be cheaper and a better experience to stay at a local property.
View Starwood in Bali in a larger map
Starwood Bali hotels by category [...]