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Mendoza is an excellent small town for a self-guided walking tour and just about everything can be explored within a day on foot. We would, of course, recommend a few more days than that to explore the vineyards and, depending on the season, another day or two to check out the ski slopes that aren’t too far away.
Here’s a map of the route that has a lot of the highlights you’ll want to check out as well as practical info, such as the bus station, airport, grocery stores (to stock up on cheap Mendoza wine!), etc:
StayWe stayed at the Park Hyatt Mendoza and would highly recommend it. It is in the perfect location and quite luxurious. Find our [...]
Vietnam Airlines Flight # VN 602 Bangkok-BKK to Ho Chi Minh-SGN Dept: 7:35 pm Arr: 9:05 pm Duration: 1 hr 30 min 445 miles (716 km) Airbus A321 Economy Class: Seats 36E and 36G
Here’s a map of our route:
Taxi and takeoff from runway 19R at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport
BOOKINGWe booked our flight as part of a multi-city itinerary that included the following flights:
ANA Flight NH1011 – Chicago-ORD to Tokyo-NRT – B777-300ER ANA Flight NH 913 – Tokyo-NRT to Yangon-RGN – B767-300It was a bit bizarre that we were flying Vietnam Airlines to begin with as we booked our ticket via [...]
On our way to Australia, we spent our first few days in Dubai. It was my first trip to the UAE and Jeffrey’s second, and it was fun to split up our trip with a stop in Dubai- especially to get a taste of non-Western culture since our final destination of Australia was about as Western-feeling as you can get!
After flying Etihad Airlines into Abu Dhabi, we decided to spend our entire time in Dubai. Originally, we planned to spend a day or two in both Abu Dhabi and Dubai, but ultimately decided to spend all 3 days in Dubai to get a better feel for the city and try to stop over in Abu Dhabi in the future. Looking back, we’re glad we made that decision as any shorter [...]
Singapore Airlines Flight # SQ 953 Jakarta-CGK to Singapore-SIN Dept: 8:25 am Arr: 11:00 am Duration: 1 hr 35 min 546 miles (879 km) Boeing 777-200 First Class: Seats 1E and 1F
Our trip continued with an early morning departure from the Keraton at The Plaza Hotel in Jakarta to the Soekarno–Hatta International Airport. The departure time was 8:25 am so we found ourselves up and out of the door at a dreadfully early hour. The good news is that we were in the car on the way out by 5:15 am and made it to the airport in record time since there was no traffic!
Our driver was waiting for us by 5 am!
After a quick but fun and action-packed 48 Hours in Bangkok, it was time to head to our next destination: Vietnam.
We were booked on Vietnam Airlines flight VN 602 from Bangkok-BKK to Ho Chi Minh-SGN out of Gate F3 and decided we had a bit of time to try out one of Bangkok’s Priority Pass Lounges: Louis’ Tavern CIP Business Class Lounge – Bangkok-BKK Concourse G.
First off, Louis’ Tavern has a total of 6 lounges at Bangkok-BKK airport, all of which are accessible with a Priority Pass membership. Here’s a map of all of their offerings:
Artwork at [...]
Our first night in Göreme was quite different than our time in Istanbul. We try our best to visit more than one city in a country because only then can you truly grasp any sense of the people, their culture, and their history. While Istanbul is a bustling, international city, the town of Göreme is much slower paced and its history is practically oozing out of each rock and cave.
Watching the sun rise from way up high
I knew I wanted to go hot air ballooning in Cappadocia the minute we booked our flights to Istanbul, so our sole purpose of going to Göreme was for this activity. We did some research before leaving on [...]
After checking in for our flight at Jakarta’s Soekarno–Hatta International Airport on Singapore Airlines, we headed through security and off to the lounge.
There are 3 options all in the same area: Pura Indah, Executive and Esplanade. The designated Singapore Airlines lounge for First and Business Class passengers was the Esplanade Lounge, so that’s where we headed.
Additionally, this lounge appears to the be the only lounge that is exclusively for Singapore Airlines premium cabin passengers. There didn’t appear to be any other way to enter, i.e. no other airlines use the lounge and it’s not possible to purchase [...]
The Park Hyatt Dubai is a Hyatt Category 5 property, meaning award nights will cost you 20,000 points or 10,000 + $125. Booking with points didn’t make much sense, though, as we were able to book a special 3-night minimum Ramadan rate of about ~$150 US/night + tax. Best of all, when booking with cash or Points + Cash, you can apply a Diamond Suite Upgrade which will land you in a suite and get you access to the minibar for free. More on that later.
CHECK-INWe arrived at the Park Hyatt Dubai around 9:30 pm on a Thursday night during Ramadan after a very long travel day from the US (see Etihad B787 “Business Studio” EY 130 Washington-IAD to Abu [...]
After leaving Istanbul, we headed to Göreme, in the Cappadocia region of central Turkey. The Cappadocia area is known for its unique geography and rich history. Our main reason for visiting the area was to see the famous caves and “fairy chimneys” and take a world-famous hot air balloon ride.
Trying to cram a lot into a small amount of time, our first 24 hours in Göreme involved lots of activities with little sleep: we got to the hotel (which was partly built into the volcanic rock) around 8pm, dropped our stuff, and headed to dinner at this cool restaurant we found within walking distance, Topdeck Cave Restaurant.
After landing in Abu Dhabi-AUH from our flight from Washington, D.C., we popped into the Etihad Arrivals Lounge after going through passport control/customs. We had our chauffeur already scheduled, so we really only had the time to head to the lounge for some water. We couldn’t stop ourselves from trying a quick snack, too — pita and hummus and a few bite-sized sandwiches.
At around, the lounge was mostly empty. Interestingly, it looked very similar to the Etihad lounge at IAD, with the same decor: dark wood with bright white and light blue leather upholstery.
In the lounge, there’s also a shower area and Jeffrey almost [...]
