2013 Travel Year In Review

Well, it's the last day of 2013, and wow, I've had an amazing year. Since my father's an Asian math nerd, according to his excel spreadsheet, I have:

1. Flown approximately 84,860 miles this year.
2. Taken 48 flight segments (14 of which were 5-13 hours long).
3. Flown out of 32 airports.
4. On 12 different airlines.
5. Traveled to 10 foreign countries.
6. Earned 0 frequent flyer miles!

Of course, our #1 airline this year was United Airlines (14 flight segments), and we flew through Newark and JFK Airports most often (9 times each). My father earned United Gold Status and Aegean Airlines Blue Status for 2014, while my mother earned Aegean Airlines Gold Status and United Silver Status through 2014.

Most of our flights were paid for with out of pocket cash, though we did:

1. Save on my fare since I flew as a lap child for most of 2013;
2. Save $1,721 by using our Citi Thank You points for free flights to LA, Memphis and Phoenix;
3. Save another $1,348 by using British Airways Avios miles for our recent trip to Puerto Rico;
4. Taking advantage of mistake fares, such as the time we flew to Argentina on TAM for just $400/person (vs. $1,200/person normally); and 
5. Capitalize on United MileagePlus Awards for some of our long haul international business class flights (Thailand, Germany/France and Israel).

On the hotel side, we have:

1. Stayed 129 nights in hotels this year
2. Across 34 different cities
3. In 21 unique hotel brands

The hotel brands with the most stays was a tie between #1T Sheraton and #1T Hyatt Place (15 nights each) followed by #3 Westin (14 nights) and the #4T W Hotels (12 nights) and #4T Park Hyatt (12 nights, including the amazing Palacio Duhau Park Hyatt Buenos Aires seen here). This year we earned Starwood Platinum Status (50 nights) for 2014 and benefited from Hyatt Diamond Status (ending Feb 2014), Hilton Gold Status and Marriott Gold Status.

Now, while many of you may just assume we're millionaires, let me be clear - we are not! Because of the crafty use of hotel branded credit cards, sign up bonuses and seasonal promotions, we've been able limit the out of pocket cash expenditures. From the 129 nights spent in hotels this year, 28 of those nights were for work related travel and reimbursed ($5,060 spent for an average of $181/night). The remaining 101 nights were for "leisure" travel and cost us an average of $83/night in out of pocket cash from using free night awards and Cash & Point discounted rates.

A quick recap of some of our favorite photos from 2013.

 

  

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bangkok Layover & Showering At the Airport

Flight #37 - Asiana Airlines 742 
Bangkok (BKK) – Seoul (ICN) 
Thursday, Mar 7, 2013 
Depart: 11:40PM / Arrive: 6:50AM (+1 Day)
Duration: 5hr 10min 
Aircraft: Boeing 777-200 
Seat: 5E and 5F (Business) 
Earned: 0 miles (2,281 miles flown)
Cost: 60,000 United miles + $50 / person Redemption Value: 6.6 cents / mile
Lifetime Miles: 74,413 miles

So it's Friday afternoon for me here in Seoul, South Korea. Earlier this morning, we landed at Seoul Incheon Airport (Flight #2 of 4 to get back to New York City) after narrowly getting out of Thailand despite overstaying our 30 day visa waiver. And now we're waiting for Flight #3 of 4 to start boarding.  Here's our itinerary for the long return home.

1.  Mar 7: Thai Smiles 748, Krabi to Bangkok, 4:50PM – 6:10PM, Economy Plus (1hr 20min)

5 hour 30 min layover at BKK Airport

2.  Mar 7: Asiana 742, Bangkok to Seoul, 11:40PM – 6:50AM (+1), Business (5hr 10min)

9 hour 40 min layover in Seoul/Incheon

3.  Mar 8: Asiana 202, Seoul to LA, 4:30PM – 10:10AM (+1), Business (10hr 40min)

3 day stopover in California

4.  Mar 10: United 912, LA to New York, 10:45PM – 6:59AM (+1), Business (5hr 14min)

Yesterday (Thurs), we flew from Krabi (KBV) to Bangkok (BKK) on Thai Smile, the failed attempt of Thai Airways to replicate (cheaper) European short-haul flights (no full service business class, but just an "economy plus" offering up front).

My father would have preferred the regular Thai Airways, but it was only a 1 hour 20 min flight so we didn't make a fuss. Plus, we used 60,000 United miles for Flights #1-3, so you can't really complain about paying only $50 USD / person for 17+ hours in business class (regular price $4,000/person).

The first flight into Bangkok arrived around 6:10PM, but as you can see above, our connecting flight didn't depart until 5.5 hours later at 11:40PM.  The layover isn't enough time to really leave the airport and head into Bangkok. Plus, my parents and I had already spent 5 full days in Thailand's capital city, so there wasn't much more we wanted to do/see. And frankly, I was getting sick of Thai food after eating it consistently for 4 weeks.

So we took advantage of the multiple passenger lounges within BKK airport. My father earned Platinum status on United Airlines last year, so he also had Star Alliance Gold status. Remember, many airlines all over the world are partnered with each other in 3 major alliances:

• Star Alliance (United, Thai, Asiana, Lufthansa, etc)
• OneWorld (American, British, Cathay Pacific, LAN, etc)
• SkyTeam (Delta, AirFrance, Alitalia, KoreanAir, etc)

So having Star Alliance Gold status meant that my father could go into any Star Alliance carrier's business class lounge at any airport as long as he was flying on a Star Alliance flight that day, even if he was flying coach or on another Star Alliance airline. Obviously, we could also go into the business class lounge because we were flying in business class, but that's besides the point.

So we were flying out on Asiana 742, but we've spent the past few hours in Singapore Airlines' SilverKris Lounge (best for food and quiet) and several of Thai Airway's Royal Silk Lounges in Concourses C and D.

What's so special about an airport lounge? Well, I'm glad you asked.

First, they have free snacks and drinks (soft and hard).

Second, they have free WiFi and computers/printers.

Third, they have comfortable seats and televisions.

Fourth, they have more experienced airline staff at the front desk who can rebook your flight if there's a delay or cancellation. 

Fifth, they have better (cleaner) bathrooms.

And finally, some lounges have special amenities like family/kids rooms for passengers with children, massage chairs, beds to rest/sleep in, and even showers.

So with an hour left before we were scheduled to board our 5 hour redeye flight, my father made a visit to the Thai Airways lounge Royal Silk Lounge in Concourse C and booked a reservation for one of the lounge showers and cleaned himself up before Flight #2 - the 5 hour redeye to Seoul.