Seeing the World

I’ve got flights booked to Slovakia, Iceland, USA, Milan for Chile, Chile and Australia.

Sometimes these trips can merge into one, or I jump from organising the final detail of one trip to setting up another.  Forgetting exactly where I was upto!

I’m trying to recap to myself what’s still outstanding.  I left it all alone yesterday and today I have other priorities.  Sunday might bring a little more focus!

Slovakia:  I’ve booked a hotel and transfers from the airport.  I need to print out the walking route from hotel to station for my day trip to Vienna.  Google Maps won’t print from my iPad so I might be daring and use Apple Maps.  I’ll decide whether to do a day in Budapest once I’ve assessed how good Bratislava is.  Other than that, sorted!

Iceland:  This is pretty much done.  Hotel booked.  Car hire booked.  Blue Lagoon booked.  Golden Circle planned in.  Key landmarks in Reykjavik identified.  A couple of options for a spare day being bounced about.

New England:  I touched on my night one hotel conundrum yesterday.  Somebody has mentioned a boat trip from airport to city.  I need to investigate this further as it could be quite impressive late at night – I won’t be throwing tea bags in the harbour though.   The car hire is set up from airport and there’s a fee to change it.  Hotel savings won’t be particularly big and a return boat trip has to be factored in.  The rest of the two weeks drive has nothing more than an outline route sketched out.  I’m very close to deciding to wing it on accommodation.  But the instinctive planner in me is a little nervous.

Milan:  I’ve booked the flights from Manchester to Milan that will connect us, eventually to Chile.  I think I’ve booked a hotel in Milan on the way out but can’t remember.  Trains run to and from the airport, so that’s sorted.  Taxi as a backup if somebody’s on strike.  On the way home we’re staying at Malpensa airport for a night.  I’ve not booked that yet!  Or have I?  I definitely need to check my paperwork!

Chile:  We start this trip with a couple of days in Santiago.  Doing what?  No idea!  A walking tour seems like a plan.  Book that on arrival I think.  Flights up to the Atacama desert booked.  Hire car or local transport?  Don’t know!    Hotel booked.  Possible trips identified.  Which company to travel with on those trips?  Don’t know!  Easter Island car hire – needed but not booked!  My hotel has offered to arrange it but I’ve not researched other options yet.  Overnight bus or flight down south?  Not decided!  Car hire, not arranged.  Hotels in the Chilean Lake District not arranged.  Route only an outline.  Do it north to south or the other way around?  Don’t know!  Flight back to Santiago to catch our journey home – not booked as I’m not sure which airport to use!

Australia:  I need to get several days of cricket tickets but they’re not on sale yet.  I’m registered with the Barmy Army web site and never realised its a travel agent, so will get prompted from there.  I’ve no idea what I’ll be doing for three days in Melbourne.  I don’t think Kylie hangs out on Ramsay Street these days.  But accommodation is all sorted.  My numerous internal flights, paid for with Avios, are also all sorted.  I do need to  arrange 20 hours in Doha waiting for a connecting flight on the way home.  Qatar Airways supposedly provide free visa, free city tour and free hotel.  Finding specific information on their web site and getting hold of them by telephone has proved challenging so far.

After thirty years working for one of the nation’s esteemed financial institutions I should know better.

I’m off to Boston for a New England driving holiday with my son Chris in June.  It seemed like a fantastic time to cash in the Avios so we’re heading there in first class.  A real treat.

Our previous USA driving holidays have usually involved picking up the hire car as soon as the airport has been negotiated.  This time it crossed my mind that I’m intending to enjoy the on board hospitality to the full.  And I’ve no desire to face a DUI charge in a Massachusetts court.  Although I do love Boston Legal and Ally McBeal.

Anyway, a search online revealed that there’s only one on site hotel at Boston’s Logan airport and as it’ll be approaching midnight it seemed like the obvious option to book in to.

I didn’t realise Boston is home to the planet’s most extortionate hotel rates.  $395 a night in the Hilton there.  I booked the room on a cancellable basis, but had a cunning plan.

That plan involved heading to TopCashback, searching for “Hilton Credit Card” and clicking through to apply for the card (earning £20 cashback in the process).  I did this knowing that a £750 spend over three months guaranteed me a free night at any Hilton worldwide.  A smug glint came to my eye as I was accepted, and I started salivating at the thought of saving $395.

Sure enough the card arrived.  I spent the £750 (hotels for a week elsewhere!) and a few days later an email arrived with details on how to redeem the voucher.

This involved ringing a USA telephone number and being transferred several times.  I have a track record of struggling talking to Americans by phone, made worse here by my Bell’s palsy imposed lisp.  Twenty minutes into the call a bombshell.  “The voucher is only valid at weekends Sir”.  We land on a Tuesday night.  Gutted isn’t the word.  You’d have thought that email would have mentioned it!

Straight to the card application site again thinking I’ve been misled, but a Friday to Sunday rule is clear as day in the paragraph highlighting the free night.

So I’ve still got a free one night voucher for a Hilton somewhere between now and the end of July.  I’m not quite sure where I’ll be able to utilise it for £300+ in value though.

In the meantime, I need to review hotel arrangements in Boston that night.  A nearby cheap motel could be an option.  It lacks convenience and a bit of class though.

Always check the terms and conditions folks!  But if you’re a couple and fancy a free weekend away you can both apply for cards, both spend £750 within three months, both get a voucher each and then redeem them together.  Earn £40 in the process from TopCashback.  Let me know if you want a link to the latter – there’s a couple of quid innit for me!

Well there’s nothing particularly lucky about having a terminal illness, but putting a few things in to context has helped me see the brighter side of life.

Back in November I wasn’t allowed to drive. The medics suspected my Bell’s palsy might be brain cancer and stopped me getting behind the wheel. Part of me was determined to cope alone. Public transport would have to do the job.

A conversation with my ex-wife of all people helped me to realise that those close to me felt helpless. They wanted to do something but there was nothing they could do. By rejecting any offers of help I was making my diagnosis even more difficult for others to handle.

My stepson came through first, making a three hour round trip to ferry me to a hospital appointment. My sister has attended a number of appointments with me and is now Britain’s number one expert on lung cancer treatments and might actually be my best hope for getting onto some life saving trial in the future. My step-daughter and her wife gave up several hours of a Saturday to transport me from my home to see my son – and back again. My ex-wife repeated the journey the following week.

These were all significant time commitments from people with other things going on in their lives. They came through for me. I got the all clear to drive again soon after and have been self sufficient since, but I feel confident that as and when I decline I’ll be supported. That’s massive for me and, I think, helpful to them as well. It’s not just me dealing with my cancer, it’s a big thing for other people too – that wasn’t obvious to me at first.

Work colleagues have been amazingly supportive too, even though I’ve been signed off sick since the end of October. I’m amazingly lucky that a redundancy due in May that I feared pre-diagnosis has now given me the opportunity to fund travel that I may never quite have got around to doing had I been healthy. And my employer has been supportive too in a way that has gone well beyond what the rule book requires them to do.

Friends have been great too. Keeping in touch, meeting up and more. Offers of accommodation in Australia. And free airport parking! Not to mention the stranger off a football message board who lives in Brisbane and will be attending the first test with me.

I’ve got insurance policies paying out. I’ve got some savings. I’ve got a sizeable redundancy cheque due. I understand enough about my pension scheme to mean I don’t have to do a Walter White to support my kids.

I mentioned context before. I know a guy with three young children and a similar prognosis to me. Putting myself in his shoes would damage me. Another friend I met for lunch told me about a guy who lost his 14 year old son to cancer. That’s a situation I don’t think I could ever come to terms with. And it’s a list that goes on.

I’m in a good place. I’ve got things to look forward to. I’ve got the finances in place to support those plans. I’ve got great family and friends. My kids are doing well for themselves. And there are others out there fighting their own battles who might somehow be coping with a little less than I have.  They’re amazing.

And there are new treatments coming through which might just give me more life than even the experts thought possible a couple of months back.

Sometimes I can dither a little. Not today though.

Flights from Leeds to Bratislava booked. Although it’s four nights, it’s very much a three day trip as its afternoon outbound and morning inbound. Other than iPad and afatinib tablets I’ve packed! Another hand luggage only excursion.

One day in Bratislava. One day in Vienna – hopefully getting there by boat, but they might not be running so train is the backup plan. Final day either in Bratislava or possibly Budapest.

The idea of squeezing three new countries into this trip really appeals. But I do need to be careful not to overload myself, so I’ll decide at the last minute.

Hotel booked. I do need to sort out airport parking again. And I should probably research my walking route from hotel to railway station.

Am I allowed to be excited?  I do hope so!

There’s a window of opportunity the week after next. Utilising Skyscanner search “Leeds to Everywhere” throws up a list of interesting cheap fares. Bratislava is somewhere I’ve never been and, if I can use it as a base to get to Vienna, I can tick off two new countries in one trip.

When I have a little more time later on today I’ll research airport to city links and also city to Vienna links.

I did spend a little time looking at doing two nights in Bratislava and then jetting off to somewhere like Berlin or Brussels before getting back to Leeds. The final leg is proving to be difficult or expensive so, at the moment, I’m thinking two full days in Slovakia either side of a rail trip to Vienna.

Ryanair will be the airline again, although the fare is more than double what I paid to get to Malta! I wonder if their constant in flight sales pitch is any softer if you pay more for the ticket?

One minor concern is my eye. I met up with some work colleagues up from London and Cardiff last night and the near freezing temperatures and associated wind gave it real grief. I suspect Slovakia won’t be much warmer!

I really enjoyed my final full day on Malta. The weather has been atrocious with power, and more shockingly, Internet outages affecting the island throughout the day.

After a big breakfast I drove a few miles to the Popeye Village – the set for a movie that’s now a tourist attraction. The journey opened my eyes to a more pleasing Malta, with craggy coastline, views out to sea and an end the urbanisation I’d seen from the bus.

I didn’t pay to visit Popeye as a force 10 was blowing and the promise of a boat trip around the bay didn’t seem like a good idea, but it’s visible from the road. It’s certainly a picturesque place set into the cliff side. Any thoughts of Gozo went at this point as there’s no way I’m getting on a ferry in this weather when I have a choice.

Instead I drove to Mdina. It’s an amazing walled city that’s seen the Phoenicians and the Romans playing there and later the Order of St John. It now houses a Cathedral within the walls as well as 300 genuine residents. I’m more a fan of natural beauty than the things man has created but this is a special place and one not to miss. A swine to find anywhere to park though. Take the bus!

The afternoon saw me head off to Marsaxlokk in the south east of the island. It’s got quaint fishing village on one side and desalination plant with new development on the other. I knocked back a huge pizza here for just €5!

And that’s going to be about it for me and Malta. It’s an island packed with history recent and ancient and I have to say I’ve really enjoyed it. Ideally I’d have booked an extra day. It’s surprised me with its urban ugliness at times and the number of cars, particularly on a Sunday, were a huge shock. But there is more to it than that and I’m really glad I’ve paid it a visit.

Chasing airline status can be quite a fun game, although perhaps not the natural terrain of the terminally ill. It’s a different game to earning Avios (air miles) because it tends to rely on actually flying. I’ve earned more Avios from spending money at Tesco than I’ve ever earned from stepping foot on a plane.

Status relies on you flying. And flying quite a lot in the cheap seats or a bit less if you go business class. I’ve pretty much decided that status with British Airways is the one to pursue if I’m going to go for it. Despite their annoying start points, which invariably require a trip to Heathrow or Gatwick – their nickname “London Airways” is well earned, BA status is recognised by a host of other operators such as American, Qatar, Iberia, Finnair, Malaysian, Qantas and several others.

Indeed, the Chile trip involving Milan, Madrid, Santiago and Easter Island will accrue 590 BA tier points each for me and Chris. 600 tier points is where things get interesting at silver status because it gets us into the lounge when flying cattle class. And free food and unlimited drink in a comfy armchair pre flight appeals more than buying overpriced sandwiches on board.

Of course that lounge access only applies if I’m flying with BA or their One World mates. I can’t book an Easyjet flight, wave my silver card and end up in a lounge. But I can book Finnair, wave the card and get slaughtered for free pre-flight.

At present, last year’s USA holiday affords us both bronze status. This allows us to queue jump at bag drop, be among the first to board (this enables us to keep hand luggage close to our seats) and an extra 25% Avios reward on the flight. Silver adds lounge access and 50% more Avios. Gold doubles the Avios, but needs an eye watering 1,500 tier points.

Chasing silver status is pretty much my goal. But flying from Leeds to Malta for £40 return on Ryanair is better than driving to Gatwick and paying BA £175 for the same destination and the tier points that will get me to silver. So at some point between now and July I need to find a dirt cheap return flight (minimum earning is 5 tier points each way) to a place I’ve never been before on a One World airline from a northern airport. Ideally at a time that Chris can come with me!

I’d have preferred to use the trip from Santiago to the Chile Lake District to trigger this, but LATAM charge three times the fare of their main competitor. If I’d thought about it previously, I’d have routed us from Manchester to Milan via Heathrow on BA instead of using direct Flybe flights. But the latter is less hassle!

Indeed, if you like time in the air there are often ways to achieve silver status in one trip. January 2016 saw a BA sale that could get you from Dublin to Philadelphia to LA to Honolulu and back for £900 return in business class. With each leg accruing 140 points you hit the mythical silver status as you hit the tarmac in Philly on the way home. Somebody flying 20 flights between Edinburgh and London on business each year is almost duty bound to book such a holiday to make his or her work related trips more bearable!

Me? I reckon I’ll be off to Bremen when the price is right!