As is often the case, this trip started simple, and spiralled into something quite ridiculous – probably my most convoluted travel itinerary, and easily my furthest and most time-consuming. At its core was the need to do something about my oversized stash of avios before new redemption rates came into effect in April. To my mind, there were two particular bargains to be had under the old regime, and they had long motivated me in my crazy point-chasing schemes.
First is the BA1: a 32 seat business-only service from London to New York, via a quick bounce through Shannon in Ireland to make use of US pre-clearance whilst re-fuelling. This could be had for 40,000 avios (plus BA’s substantial carrier surcharge) one-way; a particularly appealing redemption now that I’m an employee as staff travel can’t be used on the CWLCY flights. Second was Cathay Pacific’s service from New York to Vancouver – an absolute steal at 25,000 avios in full-on international business class, as the plane is a 777 with an eventual destination of Hong Kong.
I couldn’t find a day where I could chain these together, but given the relative timings – and the need to wind the clock back first five then three more hours – I’m rather glad I didn’t attempt it. However, I was able to find a week in June with a Monday arrival into JFK followed by a Tuesday departure. That meant I’d get a night in New York, and _that_ meant I could throw in one of the standout uses of IHG points too: redeeming for the Intercontinental Times Square. Sure, it’d eat half my balance, but with $500/night rates I’m never going to get to stay somewhere like that with cash, and it would be a satisfying coda to the mattress run I took back in 2013 to build that balance.
So these would get me very comfortably to Canada. But the available redemptions out of Vancouver would give me only one full day of sightseeing, and whilst I was happy to bounce through New York I wanted to spend rather more time on the west coast. I tried Seattle, but that had no availability at all. Fortunately I have the staff travel option too, but that got me thinking – if I’m not tied to redemptions, I’m not tied to the northwest either. I’d probably have a much greater chance at a seat on one of our twice-daily A380 services out of LAX…. And that would let me grab another item from my North American bucketlist too. Not least because of various reports on this forum, I’d long daydreamed of taking a long distance Amtrak train, and now I was in a position to take two: first the Amtrak Cascades down to Seattle; then after a quick overnight stop, the full 36 hour run of the Coast Starlight down to Los Angeles.
For this I had no clever tricks to cut down the substantial cost of a business/first class ticket, but I did get a conveniently-timed annual bonus that came close to the £600 asking price, and I am adept at convincing myself that savings through redemption flights/nights justify some higher spend elsewhere on the itinerary. Nonetheless, I didn’t want to rack up too long a stay, not least because I might not make my chosen flight date home (and then take a hit on a last minute airport hotel room), plus I tend to need a few days to recover from eastbound timezone jumps. With train pricing not varying much by date, I therefore settled on a notionally nine night itinerary.
All that remained was to find accommodation for the others without too much further damage to the wallet. I couldn’t find any good point burning options in Vancouver, so I looked to maximise my earning instead. Club Carlson seemed to be most generous: they were offering both triple base points and (provided you used their rather clunky app) a 1000 point per booking bonus. Although I’d lapsed from gold to silver, this would still get me another 15%, and having been impressed with my first Radisson stay last year was already planning to send my Amex MR points their way. After emailing to confirm that they’d be fine with an approximately 1am arrival time, I secured a night at the Vancouver airport Radisson. From there I’d decamp closer to the city, unable to resist a ‘view’ room at the Park Inn & Suites overlooking downtown Vancouver (although this meant taking a double double instead of a king room).
The US stops were mostly just for break of journey – I wouldn’t spend more than 12 hours in either. In both cities cash prices seemed high for anywhere within convenient walking distance of the station, given that all I really needed was a bed, so again it was into the points accounts. I still had plenty with IHG to grab the Crowne Plaza Seattle Downtown; whilst I topped off an otherwise-useless HHonors balance in a promotion to claim a night at the Doubletree Los Angeles Downtown.
5 (hotels), 4 (cities), 3 (flights), 2 (countries), 1 (very long train ride) – let’s go!
(As usual, I’m splitting the content between here and my blog; I strive to make both versions standalone, but catering to different audiences. Here I’ll delve into the minutiae – 15,000 words worth! - of travel arrangements and the miles and points angle; over there I can more easily share larger collections of photos, interactive elements, and comments on particular tourist attractions. So I hope you find at least one version compelling!)