Update on my partially travel hacked trip planning for
ABD.
Originally, I intended to fly Qsuites over to Cairo but award seats opened up while I was in the Galapagos and I was still trying to decide if a pre or post trip to Petra was do-able. That hesitation cost me Plan A. Plan B was use UA miles to fly on Egypt air on the way over but I really didn't want to waste pre trip time at home or have the pre trip be in Egypt and there wasn't enough time to do justice to Petra. Plan C was book a night at Giraffe Manor, which I did before looking at logistics of getting there from Egypt since it books out so quickly. That would have involved 60 hours of travel, 4 flights and and 2 hotel stays for a one night experience. Cancelled the Giraffe Manor stay.
On to plan D British Airways on Avios and their ridiculous taxes and fees to fly to London, stop over for 2 nights and spend New Year's Eve there and see the fireworks. I wanted a hotel with a fireworks view in case we aren't in the mood to brave crowds and cold weather. The hotels with the best views are insanely priced from 3,000 GBP and up to 12,000 GBP a night and some require a 3 night stay. Nope. I found one that was 847 GBP per night and probably doesn't have as spectacular a view as the aforementioned but it's a guaranteed fireworks view, comes with a bottle of champagne and canapes just before midnight delivered to the room. That will go on whatever MSR with no FTF we are working on later this year.
I decided while we are in London, we should go see ABBA Voyage even though I was planning to see it when we return in 2024. So we booked tickets to see that and one of our friends on the ABD trip is also doing her pre-stay in London and joining us. We put the cost of the tickets towards an Amex business Plat MSR. I am now equally excited about the pre trip and the ABD in Egypt.
Finally booked return flights SSH-CAI-JFK this morning on Egypt Air using United miles transferred from UR points in business class. The seats are angle flat and the plane is not very noteworthy. The plane from there to IAD is nicer but the times didn't work for me and I didn't want to hop on another plane to fly to NY after 15 hours of travel. The next plan is to book somewhere to stay using FN certs and maybe catch a show while we are there. However, if Qatar drop award flights back home between now and then, I will happily cancel the Egypt Air flights to fly Qsuites with a stop over in Doha. Therefore, I will hold off on show tickets for a bit.
The Egypt ABD is being paid with a new CIC via Disney gift cards purchased at office supply stores for 5x. So, while I am not paying the ABD with points, it is definitely earning me some UR points with the MSR and 5x.
Those of you who have been on this board since the beginning will already know I am a strong advocate of having a Plan A, B, C, D and E when it comes to flights, especially if you plan to book seats up front. So this is for the newer peeps on the thread. In addition to multiple plans, try to plan 2 years out, with one year to accumulate your points and miles and ability to pull the trigger the moment flights drop. The best laid plans can go sideways. As it happens, I checked United a moment ago and see that all award availability in business from Egypt air on United out of Cairo to both JFK and IAD are gone. Up until today there was consistently 4 seats in business open on each flight. I must not be the only travel hacker on this ABD.