UK + Ireland Travel Logistics

Last year, we asked my sister if she could travel outside the U.S., where would she go? Her answer was London and Ireland. So, to celebrate her college graduation, the three of us crossed the pond over her spring break (she's now a high school English teacher). 

Cue the Friends quotes.

It was Karissa's first time out of the country, so we were hoping it would be a good experience. Not to mention, we haven't lived in the same state in the last ten years, and it had been just as long since we had traveled together. But she put up with me as tour guide for an entire week, and Matt and I enjoyed spending time with her. 

Guys, hurry up! The flight leaves in four hours. It could take time to get a taxi. There could be traffic. The plane could leave early. When we get to London, there could be a line at customs. Come on!!

Six-hour trip to London. That's a lot of Monica Amanda. 

Season 4 // The One with Ross's Wedding

With the euro near an all time low, there's never been a better time to travel across the pond. However, the British pound sterling used in the United Kingdom is still high. In the next couple of posts, we'll cover the places we visited mostly in snapshots, but for now, it's all travel logistics. 

Flights There

We flew over using American Airlines (AA) miles on an AA operated flight. It cost 20,000 miles + $5.60 for taxes per person to fly in economy into London Heathrow (LHR) on a one-stop itinerary through Chicago (ORD). As Matt mentioned before, 20k miles U.S. to Europe is a saver sweet spot on AA's award chart. Matt and I actually started the trip with a two hour mechanical delay in MSP which resulted in a tight ten minute connection at ORD. To be quite honest, we were very thankful that we all made it on the same flight the day of travel. 

ORD-LHR on American Airlines for 20,000 AA miles and $5.60.

One of the things we learned on this trip was the importance of having a backup plan in any given scenario. When we knew the connection would be near impossible, I immediately hopped on Twitter, while Matt called AA directly to figure out an alternative. Our backup plan if we couldn't make the original flight was to get on a later British Airways flight from ORD-LHR. This of course meant that my sister would be traveling alone on the original flight, have to go through border security by herself, and we would have to meet up somewhere at LHR since each of the flights (the original and the backup plan) flew into different terminals. LHR is not a small airport by any means, so we were hoping it wouldn't come to that. But just in case, we were ready to turn on her international phone data if needed.

Fortunately, we landed at ORD only five gates from the gate of the big bird we would be flying to London on (when does that happen at O'Hare?!). The original ORD-LHR segment was running a little late as well, and we were ever so happy to reunite with my sweet sister on the plane. I think she was just as relieved as we were.

Lodging in London

London hotels are expensive, regardless if paying in a cash or points currency. Not only that, but a lot of hotels in Europe do not accommodate more than two people per room which left our group of three with only a few point options available. We decided to stay at The Park Lane, an SPG property across from Hyde Park and Buckingham Palace for 12,000 points. The room was nothing special, but decent-sized for London standards and fairly quiet, so it worked. After all, we didn't come all the way to London to hang out in our hotel room.

Our hotel room at The Park Lane.

To get around the city, we used Oyster cards on the Tube and walked mostly. But when we learned that Karissa had never used Uber before, she got a little lesson and this experience as well.

London is easy to navigate via the Underground, and the Oyster card tops out at £12 after so many rides in a 24 hour period.

Uber training session.

When the London portion of the trip had come to an end, we had planned to take the Tube directly to Heathrow. Well, we got halfway there, and suddenly the train came to a complete stop. The driver announced that there was a broken switch and had everyone had to get off at this stop because the trains were being diverted. Literally. Train after train stacked up. You could see them one after another on the tracks, and all of the other passengers plus their luggage piled out. We knew we had to act quick before the mad rush. So up to the street we went to request Uber (whenever we travel internationally, we add Verizon's $25 for 100 mb international data for emergency purposes). Our driver was great, and we made it to the airport with time to spare. As for the Tube... well it was down for at least an hour or more. Again, we cannot stress the importance of having travel backup plans because things can just go plain wrong sometimes.

Thanks to Uber we made it the rest of the way for the 6:50 p.m. LHR-DUB flight!

Flight to Dublin

We flew on British Airways (BA) by transferring Ultimate Rewards (earned by our Chase credit cards) to British "Avios". It cost 4,500 Avios + $27.50 for taxes per person to fly in economy from LHR to DUB. Matt was pretty pumped to fly his very first BA flight, doing so out of Terminal 5 at their home hub, and we touched down in Dublin just after dark.

Plane spotting..."No Amanda, that is a 747 as you can see it isn't a full 2 level double decker like the A380."

Matt was glued to the LHR Terminal 5 British Airway's departure board.

Thrilled to fly British Airways.

View from the wing over England.

Beautiful sunset while waiting for air traffic to clear in Dublin. 

Lodging in Ireland

Hotels in Dublin were more reasonable, but just like the rest of Europe there is a similar issue in finding rooms that accommodate more than two guests. Being that we had two nights in the city, we wanted to make use of Club Carlson because Matt has the co-branded credit card which gives a BOGO whenever booking on points (Club Carlson is halting the BOGO perk effective 6/1/15). We stayed at the Radisson Blu Dublin for 44,000 points the first night with the second night free. 

This was our favorite chain hotel night(s) of the trip, even though check-in was a bit confusing. They tried to charge us $50 a night for a third person in the room, but then they ended up upgrading us with no additional charges for the third person. Woohoo! The hotel was gorgeous and very modern. The room was very spacious with the beds and pull-out couch being super comfortable. There was a Nespresso maker, which Matt and Karissa definitely took advantage of. Plus the breakfast here. Don't even get me started. I have never seen a spread quite like this at a hotel that was included in our business class room "rate."

Lobby seating area.

Our hotel room at the Radisson Blu.

The breakfast spread was incredible.

On the Dingle Peninsula, we stayed in a cozy room at Dunlavin B&B using Barclays Arrival credits to offset the cost. It had a beautiful view of the harbor and Dingle town.

My sister flew back a day earlier. We redeemed 30,000 United Airline (UA) miles with a one hop through Chicago on a UA partner airline, Aer Lingus. Departing Europe on a transatlantic flight has high tax fees, but Dublin is a low tax airport, so it cost only about $50 in taxes to return to the states (compared to London's tax fee which is somewhere in the $150-$200 range). 

We stayed at the Carlton Hotel Dublin Airport the night before her departure. This night was booked as an Orbitz Cyber Monday deal. Back in November, Orbitz was offering $100 off hotel reservations of $100 or more at select hotels for the first 10,000 bookings on Cyber Monday. This hotel was originally $117.79, so it came to $17.79 out-of-pocket with this sale.

Our last night was another Cyber Monday deal at the Maldron Belfast for $30.30 out-of-pocket.

Flights Home

To end the trip, we flew out of Dublin. This airport has U.S. Preclearance which is quite convenient to take care of this on the front end before arriving stateside.

After getting that out of the way (we were bummed the Global Entry kiosks were under repair), we paid a visit to the DAA Executive Lounge while waiting in anticipation for our flight.

Late breakfast at the DAA Executive Lounge.

We get excited anytime we fly, but this was a special flight as it was our very first business class flight. Using 50,000 AA miles + $49.10 for taxes per person, Matt had booked seats 1F and 1H on a U.S. Airways operated A330 that flew from DUB-PHL. Since the merger, the flight we took was actually the first time it had been operated as an official American flight, sporting its new AA livery. Quite exciting for my aviation-loving husband.

Our transatlantic big bird sporting its new AA livery.

We were going to fly home in economy, but we had two reasons for booking these more luxurious seats. First, I would have been 20 weeks pregnant at the time of the flight, and Matt wanted me to be as comfortable as possible. Second, U.S. Airways sports reverse herringbone lie-flat seats, and this particular plane had pretty good reviews, so he wanted to try it out as a good start to his growing list of aspirational award redemptions. It was very enjoyable; the best flight I've ever taken. My favorite part of the meal was the ice cream sundae, and I had a nice long nap after meal service. Those lie-flat beds, I tell you. We were a bit spoiled.

Reverse herringbone lie-flat seat.

Pre-departure beverage.

The flight attendant asked if we wanted a picture after Matt's 100th pre-departure picture.

In addition to the amenity kit, blanket, and pillow, we were provided with Bose noise-cancelling headphones. 

Four course menu.

Plane spotting in Dublin.

More plane spotting before departure: Swiss Airlines, Aer Lingus, and Lufthansa way in back.

Drink and warmed mixed nuts as a snack.

Along with Dumb and Dumber, Matt enjoyed Baileys with coffee and a cappuccino later in the flight.

Strawberry gorgonzola walnut salad with balsamic vinaigrette, prosciutto and fresh mozzarella starter, and a pretzel bun.

Pasta for the main course.

A hot fudge sundae for dessert. Matt went for the cannoli instead.

Pre-arrival meal.

Dinner on the last segment, first class PHL-MSP.

I think it's safe to say that the more we travel, the more we enjoy putting the pieces of the travel puzzle together, the actual travel process, and the destination(s) as a whole. But the very best part about this trip was experiencing London and Ireland with my sister.