USA-2017 Review: Emirates Business / First Lounge LAX Virgin Australia doesn't currently have a lounge at Los Angles airport despite running several flights in and out to Australia. What is fascinating is that Virgin have now partnered with both Etihad and Emirates to use their lounges in TBIT
USA-2017 Review: Encore Las Vegas We had 4 nights in Las Vegas and as I had posted about previously, I booked Encore which is part of the Wynn Hotel. I got a reasonable deal and could book it through Virgin Holiday’s so scored quite a few bonus points as well.
USA-2017 Travel: Braving The Summer Heat in Death Valley When we were planning this trip, our original plan was to drive the coast road between San Francisco and Los Angles, mainly due to travelling in early August and being worried about the heat.
Travel Travel: Exploring Yosemite National Park & Lone Pine As I mentioned in my previous post about Half Dome Village, Yosemite National park is simply breath taking. The scenery is just surreal, with lush green forests set to a backdrop of sheer granite cliffs, it is certainly not like anything I have seen in Australia before.
USA-2017 Review: Half Dome Village Yosemite National Park Being located directly in Yosemite valley Half Dome village is a great location to base yourself from. The campground has 403 canvas pre-fabricated tents that have a mix of a double bed or bunks. The tents are quite basic and contain a Bed, Chair, Safe and a small rack for storage.
Travel Travel: San Francisco to Yosemite San Francisco is an amazing city, in a lot of ways it reminds me of Sydney. I have visited a few times over the years and was looking forward to visiting again.
USA-2017 Review: JetBlue Mint New York to San Francisco Due to the fact that I couldn't redeem Velocity points on Etihad for Syndey to San Francisco as it exceeded 15,000 miles we had to reposition from New York back west to San Francisco. I decided this would be a great opportunity to review JetBlue Mint.
USA-2017 Review: Etihad Apartments Abu Dhabi to New York One flight down and one more to go, can't say I am usually this excited for a 14-hour plane ride, but Apartments is just fantastic. Flying from Abu Dhabi to the United States is interesting in that Abu Dhabi airport has a US Customs Pre-Clearance facility, so you actually clear
USA-2017 Review: Abu Dahbi Etihad Flagship First Class Lounge Etihad opened their flagship First Class Lounge in Terminal 3 last year in August. The lounge took many years to build and includes a dedicated Spa and Salon for first class passengers. The entrance to the lounge is directly after you exit security, once you enter you head up a
USA-2017 Review: Etihad Apartments Sydney to Abu Dhabi I have been counting down the days till this flight, whilst I have been lucky enough to try a few First Class products, I had not yet experienced Etihad Apartments, so I was understandably very excited! Boarding was scheduled for 7:50 pm and the lounge attendant had told us
USA-2017 Review: Sydney Etihad Business/First Lounge Our next trip report kicks off with a chauffeured ride to Sydney airport followed by some (underwhelming) time in the Etihad Business lounge. At T-48 I was contacted by the chauffeur company to confirm the pickup details, for some reason Etihad were suggesting a 4:45 pm pickup which I
USA-2017 The Long Way To Vegas... This trip came a little out of nowhere. Usually when we plan a holiday (especially if it involves award flights) we have locked the basic plan, including flights 12 months in advance.
Travel Virgin Australia UpgradeMe Bid Experience So purely for the purposes of creating blog content I decided it would be a good idea to put an upgradeMe bid in for an upcoming trip I had from Sydney to Brisbane, it had nothing to do with the fact it was a day trip and the thought of
Reviews Review: Virgin Premium Entry Brisbane Airport Arguably one of the best benefits of holding status with Virgin is getting access to the priority entry at Sydney and Brisbane airport (which also happens to be a route that I travel fairly frequently). As with almost all airlines, once you hold status with Virgin Australia you get access
Travel DHS Release New Security Guidelines, Potentially rolling Back Electronics Ban Overnight the US Department of Homeland Security have issues an update regarding airline security for flights entering the US. One can only assume that this comes off the back of the most recent electronics ban that affected flights to the US from several middle east airports and was rumours to
Travel Why I don't horde and save frequent flyer miles I often find myself talking to friends or extended family about frequent flyer miles. This usually comes up in conversation as people have heard about one of our holidays or we are talking about an upcoming trip. This naturally leads to people quizzing me about all things miles and points.
Travel Qantas Epiqure currently offering 15,000 bonus points! Qantas Epiqure is an online shop for wine and fine foods and routinely offers great bonus deals on certain wine bundles. This is a great way to top-up Qantas points and get some nice wine at the same time. Usually the bonuses on offer at between 5,000 and 10,
Travel Review: Aukey iPhone / Smartphone Lens Set I think I have mentioned a few times now but we have a trip coming up that I am super excited for. We are heading to the US for 2 weeks and going the absolute longest way possible to try out the infamous Etihad Apartments from SYD-AUH-NYC. I am really
Travel Overlooked Emirates A380 Sydney - Bangkok I have to say I feel like an idiot! Until recently I had no idea that Emirates flew an A380 from Sydney to Bangkok and then on to Dubai. I really don't know how I overlooked this. So why am I so excited about this little discovery. Well, it gives
Travel Lifemiles are running a follow up promotion As mentioned I recently managed to score return business class flights to Japan for our upcoming ski holiday for the grand sum of ~$1,600 by purchasing Lifemiles under their current promotion. Well shortly after purchasing 160,000 points required for that flight I received the following email from Lifemiles.
Travel Virgin Australia Inflight WiFi Experience Back in July last year Virgin Australia announced that they would begin implementation of WiFi on its domestic fleet. This announcement was a great step forward as domestic travel in Australia has long been lacking in-flight internet something that most US carriers have had for a long time. Well, earlier
Travel Featured How I Purchased Return Business Class Flights to Japan for $1,600aud We have an upcoming ski trip in January 2018 with our group of University friends to Niseko in Japan. The accommodation has been locked in for awhile (we rent a massive house for the entire group) but I have been holding off on flights to keep an eye out for
Travel My Experience with VISA Platinum Concierge Part II After my initial experience with the VISA Platinum Concierge I was eagerly awaiting the response from them after attempting to book my Bruno Mars tickets. Well, sure enough about 20mins after ticket sales opened on Tuesday I received the following email from the VISA concierge. I have to say I
Travel My experience with VISA Platinum Concierge Despite having many premium credit cards over the years that have offered concierge services, I can't say that I have every actually tried one, until yesterday. Mrs Bwhouse noted a month or so ago that Bruno Mars was comming to Sydney and thought it would be great to go to
Travel Brainstorming our next trip Probably the biggest downside to using miles for travel is the need to book way in advance (or alternatively, very last minute). This can be challenging as you need to be formulating a plan 12 months before you want to actually go on a holiday. Unless you are in the
