For our six night stay in Bora Bora, we spent the entire time at the Intercontinental Thalasso – all with points earned from credit card bonuses and purchased points (detailed here). Considering our room was retailing for over $1000/night the week we were there, we ended up saving a boat load of money. After checking in, it was time to see our Emerald Overwater suite. We were not disappointed.
The DIY Guide to Booking Award Tickets – Part VI: Using ANA to Search for Star Alliance Space
People have different opinions when it comes to booking award tickets with frequent flyer miles. I, for one, love booking award tickets and enjoy the challenge that comes with doing so. Booking award tickets are like puzzles to me and I love solving them. Other people hate booking award tickets, consider them too much of a hassle, or even go so far as to believing their frequent flyer miles are completely worthless. I’ve decided to put a guide together for those of you who fall in between – people who want to book award tickets themselves but feel like they need some pointers. This guide will assume some basic knowledge, namely, that you know how to log in to your frequent flyer account and check your mileage balance. Other than that, the guide is here to help you through the process – hope you find it useful! Feel free to refer to the index at the bottom of the page for other entries.
In Part VI, we’ll take a look at the best indicator of Star Alliance award space – the ANA Mileage Club award search tool. It’s a little bit cumbersome to use; that’s why in general I use united.com to search for Star Alliance award space. But United’s website doesn’t show all partners and sometimes displays phantom award space, so when I need to be 100% sure an award seat exists, or whenever I am double checking space, I turn to ANA.
Babyless in Bora Bora – Air Tahiti Inter-island Flights and Transfer to the Intercontinental Thalasso
So, once you arrive in Tahiti (Papeete, to be exact), you still aren’t in Bora Bora yet. Most people don’t stay on the island of Tahiti, instead they go to one of the neighboring islands where the water is more picturesque, though I hear Tahiti has some nice cultural aspects to explore. With the exception of Moorea which you can reach by ferry and island cruises, you need to fly Air Tahiti, not to be confused with Air Tahiti Nui which we took from LAX, to get from island to island. It’s not cheap: the cost was $400 round trip per person to and from Bora Bora. Air Tahiti definitely has the monopoly thing down pat. This post will discuss our Air Tahiti flights and getting into and checking in at the Intercontinental Thalasso.
Some Lessons Learned from Travel in Europe
I was talking to some friends about an upcoming trip they have to Europe and got super excited for them. In talking to them, I was kinda flooded with a bunch of memories and experiences that Jess and I have had that I’ve never really written about on the blog. The reality is, I’d say at least 50% of our travel has been to Europe, but I’ve blogged very little about it because most of it was pre-blog and pre-miles obsession. But in honor of my friends’ pending trip, here are some things we learned on each of our Europe trips. And of course, I know people have different views on travel, so if you disagree or have thoughts contrary to my own, I’d love to hear them! These are just my own silly thoughts.
Babyless in Bora Bora – Air Tahiti Nui Old Business Class
The only way to get directly from North America to Tahiti is via Air Tahiti Nui – an airline that has a fleet of five Airbus 340s. Three of the five planes have remodeled cabins with new seats in both business class and economy – but it’s pretty much luck of the draw which cabin you get. After three totally kind of annoying domestic connections on US Airways and an hour at the new Tom Bradley International Terminal in LAX, Jess and I were ready for our flight to the South Pacific. Unfortunately, we drew the short straw and ended up on one of Air Tahiti Nui’s old business class – better than coach but a far cry from some of the newer international business class cabins out there. Apologies in advance, I didn’t take too many pictures – I was so exhausted by that point I just needed to relax!
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