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Trip Reports

(Video) Trip Report: Watching African Penguins at Boulders Beach and the Cape of Good Hope

January 10, 2013

This is the fourth post of my South Africa Series. Follow along to read my reviews on several different aspects of my trip. Other posts in this series include: Come Along With Me To South Africa!; Flight Review: South African Airways Business Class JFK-JNB; Hotel Review: Westin Cape Town; Cape Town Dining; Hotel Review: Hilton Cape Town; 10 Things I [...]

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(Video) South Africa Wine Country Highlights

January 9, 2013

For lack of a better word, my trip to South Africa so far has been amazing. I spent the first three days in Cape Town at the Westin, exploring, eating and drinking my way through the seaside cosmopolitan city. I still have another weekend to go in Cape Town, so stay tuned for that blog [...]

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Hotel Review: Westin Cape Town

January 8, 2013

This is the third post of my South Africa Series. Follow along to read my reviews on several different aspects of my trip. Other posts in this series include: Come Along With Me To South Africa!; Flight Review: South African Airways Business Class JFK-JNB; Trip Report: Watching African Penguins at Boulders Beach and the Cape of Good Hope; Cape [...]

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Flight Review: South African Airways Business Class JFK-JNB

January 7, 2013

This is the second post of my South Africa Series. Follow along to read my reviews on several different aspects of my trip. Other posts in this series include: Come Along With Me To South Africa!; Hotel Review: Westin Cape Town; Trip Report: Watching African Penguins at Boulders Beach and the Cape of Good Hope; Cape Town Dining; Hotel [...]

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Hotel Review: Sheraton Edinburgh

January 6, 2013

On my recent trip to Ireland and Scotland, I stayed at the Sheraton Grand Hotel and Spa, Edinburgh (where I hit my SPG 100-night platinum threshold). The hotel  underwent a complete renovation not long ago and features 269 newly renovated guestrooms and suites, a Sheraton Club lounge, fitness center and One Spa. This is a Category [...]

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Come Along With Me To South Africa!

January 4, 2013

This post marks this beginning of my South Africa Series. Follow along to read my reviews on several different aspects of my trip. Other posts in this series include: Flight Review: South African Airways Business Class JFK-JNB; Hotel Review: Westin Cape Town; Trip Report: Watching African Penguins at Boulders Beach and the Cape of Good Hope; [...]

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Help Me Plan My Trip To South Africa

December 31, 2012

I plan on exploring a lot of new destinations this year and want to focus on traveling to amazing places in the Southern Hemisphere, starting with…South Africa, where I’m headed later this week! We ran a Destination of the Week on Cape Town in 2012, and while I know I’ll be going to familiar places [...]

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Flight Review: United Business Class EWR-DUB-EWR and My Thoughts on 757 Service to Europe

December 28, 2012

Yesterday I wrote about my high stakes ticketing debacle with United that resulted in a nice upgrade for my friend. Whether you agree with my approach or not, here is the flight review, not taking into accounte the hair-raising ground customer service experiences. For my pre-Christmas jaunt to Ireland and Scotland, I decided to fly [...]

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A Tale of Playing With Fire and Winding Up Upgraded on United Airlines

December 27, 2012

In September, I had an insane ticketing experience using United miles for a Swiss Airlines business class flight Miami-Zurich-Nice. In the end I was denied boarding due to inexplicable “United ticketing issues,” and since then I’ve contacted United on numerous occasions – formal complaints, emails to senior management, correspondence with their social media team via [...]

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Flight Review: Swiss Business Class ZRH-LAX

December 8, 2012

Although I flew Swiss business class from Zurich to San Francisco with the rest of the Star Megadoers last month, we were all  busy catching up, talking shop and taking stock of the service on the flight (and resting up for the busy week ahead!). But TPG Managing Editor Eric actually took a separate flight [...]

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Flight Review: Korean Air First Class 777-200 ICN-MAD

November 19, 2012

It seems like months ago now thanks to the whirlwind of the Star Megado, but it was just a week or so ago that I was in Seoul, and after a few great days there doing things like touring the DMZ, eating Korean barbecue all over town, and checking out the funky boutiques of Garuso-gil, [...]

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Flight Review: JAL First Class Chicago to Narita, Business Class to Seoul

November 9, 2012

If you’ve been following me on Twitter or Facebook, you’ll know that I’ve spent the last few days hanging out in Seoul. TPG editor Eric flew there over the weekend on Korean Air’s A380 in their latest Prestige Business class cabin, and though I’ve recently become handy at redeeming Ultimate Rewards points for Korean Air [...]

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Flight Review: Korean Air A380 Prestige Business Class LAX-ICN

November 7, 2012

As you know, I’m headed to Seoul this week and I’ve recently become adept at redeeming Korean SkyPass miles, so I got TPG editor Eric a one-way ticket on Korean’s A380 in their most up-to-date lie-flat Prestige business class to join me for 62,500 miles, which I transferred from Chase Ultimate Rewards. Here’s his review [...]

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Inside Look At Space Shuttle Endeavour Exhibit Opening at California Science Center

October 30, 2012

Although you can’t earn frequent flyer miles on it, TPG editor Eric couldn’t resist the chance to attend a media preview of the Space Shuttle Endeavour at the California Science Center last night. Here are his photos from the event and info on the exhibit itself. On September 21, it seemed like all the eyes [...]

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Help Me Plan My Trip To Seoul, South Korea

October 25, 2012

As I mentioned in this post, I have a one-way JFK to Hong Kong first class ticket on Cathay Pacific that I booked with 75,000 pre-Avios British Airways miles; and now that I’m adept at booking Korean Air awards using Ultimate Rewards, I figured I’d have TPG editor Eric meet me in Seoul for some [...]

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Flight Review: Air China 777-300ER Business Class Beijing-Los Angeles

October 11, 2012

Over the summer, TPG Managing Editor Eric winged his way from Beijing to Los Angeles in business class aboard Air China’s 777-300ER. Here’s his review of the experience. I ended a summer trip to China in Beijing, and courtesy of the folks who brought me over for a consulting job, I was given a ticket [...]

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My Trip to Provence: Four Seasons Review

October 3, 2012

Last week I spent 4 days at the Four Seasons Provence thanks to TPG reader Andrew who had won the trip in a contest but wasn’t able to go himself. I’ve been to Paris a number of times, but never the south of France, so I was excited to check out the resort and some [...]

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Help Me Plan My Upcoming Trip to Provence and Monte Carlo

September 20, 2012

As a member of the frequent flyer community, I’m always amazed at how much the community gives back to each other. I’ve had the great fortune to be able to give away some fun things like trips on the last Star Alliance and Oneworld Mega Dos and even got to take TPG reader Daniel to [...]

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Flight Review: American Airlines First Class Miami-LAX

August 10, 2012

As I wrote last week, I used 37,500 British Airways Avios + $2.50 to fly American Airlines first class at the last minute (no last-minute booking fees with BA!) from Miami to Los Angeles when even coach tickets were going for over $500 one-way. I thought that was well worth the points price since I’d [...]

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Hotel Review: W London Leicester Square & Petrus Tasting Menu

August 8, 2012

With all the excitement over the current 30,000-point bonus for the Starwood American Express card – I thought I’d share my review of a recent stay at the W Leicester Square in London. A couple weeks ago, I took a trip to Scandinavia, but as I mentioned in my review of Lufthansa’s new first class, [...]

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Flight Review: China Eastern Business Class LAX-Shanghai

July 19, 2012

Earlier this week, TPG Managing Editor Eric winged his way from LAX to Shanghai aboard China Eastern Airlines business class. Here’s his review of the experience. Before flying them on Monday, the only thing I knew about China Eastern Airlines was that it is a member of SkyTeam, and that it’s based in Shanghai. I [...]

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Hotel Review: W Austin Cool Corner Suite

June 11, 2012

When I traveled to Austin a couple weeks ago, I decided to stay in the W Austin since I’d heard good things about it, and had already experienced some of the city’s other upscale properties like the Driskill and the Four Seasons. I also wanted to get elite stay credit as I work my way [...]

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Eric’s Month in France Part 2: Eating My Way Through Paris by Arrondissement

June 6, 2012

After spending the first half of the month in a très bohemian little apartment off rue Montorgueil, I spend the rest of May hotel-hopping both in Paris and beyond, and exploring the city’s other quartiers. Les Arrondisements 1st As I mentioned, I stayed in the tony first arrondissement near the Louvre and the Tuileries while [...]

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Hotel Review: Westin Paris Vendome on Cash & Points

May 29, 2012

TPG Managing Editor Eric spends some of his hard-earned Starwood Preferred Guest points on a Cash & Points redemption at the Westin Paris Vendome and gives us the inside scoop on his experience. I’ve had the Starwood Amex for a couple years now, and I think it’s a great card for racking up valuable Starwood [...]

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