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We redeemed 120,000 Chase Flexible Rewards points for 100,000 frequent-flyer miles on United Airlines recently. Since 100,000 miles per year was the limit for any one frequent-flyer number, we put 50,000 on my wife’s number and 50,000 on mine.
by Thomas Flannigan, Chicago, IL
Tell ITN about the funniest thing that ever happened to you while traveling in a foreign country. There are no restrictions on length. (ITN prints no info on destinations in the US, Canada, Mexico or the Caribbean.) The ITN staff will choose each month’s winner, who will receive a free one-year subscription to ITN. Entries not chosen cannot be acknowledged.
This month’s winner is ROGER ATLAS of Seattle, Washington:
I was visiting my aunt in the hospital in Tel Aviv, Israel, in September ’08 and encountered an interesting elevator setup.
Judy Puckett requested comments from readers as to how they’ve located suitable travel partners (Oct. ’08, pg. 18). I am very glad that she asked for this information. I have a related request.
My wife, Eva, and I took the 4-day/3-night “Queen Charlotte Track” tour from Marlborough Sounds Adventure Company (London Quay, Picton, New Zealand; phone +64 3 573 6078, fax 573 8827, www.marlboroughsounds.co.nz), and we highly recommend this company.
They offer hiking, biking and sea kayaking trips a half day to five days long — great service, organization, guides and facilities. Our hiking trip, Dec. 27-30, 2007, cost US$1,000 each, all-inclusive.
My wife, Paula, and I traveled on a shuttle bus from Milan’s Malpensa Airport in Italy to Lugano, Switzerland, in May ’08, and one of our fellow passengers was an engaging American college undergraduate returning from her home in Arizona to her school, Franklin College (www.fc.edu), an American college in Lugano. After she explained to us what an American college was doing in Lugano, we took advantage of our good fortune by picking her brain for sightseeing and restaurant tips.
Istanbul, Turkey, is a wonderful city with many beautiful mosques. When our family disembarked from a cruise ship at Istanbul in July ’08, in a large lot at the base of the gangway there was a sea of taxi cabs. Drivers approached those of us who had not purchased the ship’s bus trip to the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia and offered to show us the city’s tourist attractions for €l00-€125 (near $139-$173).
My wife, Nenko, and I took a 3-week trip to Romania, Moldova and Ukraine in September-October ’08. We hired excellent private guides in Romania and Moldova and enjoyed a 12-day cruise down the Dnieper River in Ukraine, which we booked through Value World Tours (800/795-1633, www.rivercruises.net).
The weakened dollar certainly affects our US friends who visit us here in Outer London (Wimbledon), but a bit of research and knowledge can reveal good deals and plenty of freebies.