- AA American Airlines - Short Haul First
- AI Air India - Long Haul Business, Short Haul Business
- Alaska Airlines - Short Haul First
- BA British Airways - Long Haul Business
- CX Cathay Pacific - Long Haul First, Short Haul Business
- DL Delta Airlines - Short Haul First, Transcontinental Lie-Flat First
- EK Emirates - Long Haul Business, Short Haul Business
- EY Etihad - Long Haul First, Short Haul Business
- IB Iberia Airlines - Long Haul Business
- JL Japan Airlines - Long Haul Business
- LA LATAM Airlines - Long Haul Business
- LH Lufthansa - Long Haul First, Long Haul Business, Short Haul Business
- LX Swiss Air - Long Haul Business
- MS Egypt Air - Short Haul Business
- NH ANA - Long Haul Business
- QR Qatar Airways - Long Haul Business, Short Haul Business
- SQ Singapore Airlines - Long Haul Business
- TG Thai Airways - Long Haul Business, Short Haul Business
- TK Turkish Airlines - Short Haul Business
- UA United Airlines - Long Haul Business, Short Haul First
- UK Vistara - Short Haul Business
- VN Vietnam Airlines - Short Haul Business
- WY Oman Air - Long Haul Business, Short Haul Business
Here are a few reasons why I'm grateful for my Hyatt Globalist status:
- Upgrades to suites - As a Globalist member, I have a better chance of being upgraded to a suite when I book a standard room. This is a huge perk, especially when I'm traveling for an extended period or need more space to work or relax.
- Complimentary breakfast - One of the things I love about staying at Hyatt properties is the complimentary breakfast offered to Globalist members. This saves me money and allows me to start my day with a delicious meal without having to leave the hotel.
- Lounge access - Many Hyatt properties have lounges that are exclusive to Globalist members. These lounges offer complimentary drinks and snacks throughout the day, as well as a quiet place to work or relax.
- Dedicated customer service - Hyatt Globalist members have access to a dedicated customer service team that can help with any questions or issues that arise during their stay. This level of personalized service is invaluable, especially when traveling to new or unfamiliar destinations.
- Bonus points and elite nights - Globalist members earn bonus points and elite nights for their stays, which can help them achieve even higher status levels and earn more rewards.
Overall, I'm incredibly grateful for my Hyatt Globalist status. It has made a noticeable difference in the quality of my travel experiences and has allowed me to enjoy some of the best hotels and amenities around the world. If you're a frequent traveler, I highly recommend exploring loyalty programs and working towards elite status. The perks and benefits are well worth it.
Newzealand opened for tourist visa in Jul 2022 after COVID-19. So the processing times were shooting up and showing 51 days P90. I wasn't having hopes of receiving a visa for my potential trip in later in the year. I decided to give it a go anyway. Took me around 3 hours to figure all the documentation and apply for the visa. I made a tentative itinerary with potential trip to Fiji from Auckland.
Timeline
- Applied on Friday. Paid ~140 USD visa fee. Fortunately they changed the process to not require sending passport due to influx of applications and speed up the processing. They will only ask passport if required. If I had to send passport, it would have costed additional $100 for VFS + Return Courier in US. The same was around 1000 INR if applying in India.
- Received e-visa on next Wednesday. Pleasantly surprised. Not sure if my US visa helped with the quick processing.
Visa Information
- Multiple entry for 1 year from date of issue, max 6 months per stay.
- Total processing time - 6 days.
- Total cost - USD 140.
While returning from my India trip in Nov 2021, I was able to fly in Qatar Business class. I booked with 70k American Airlines AAdvantage points and USD 53.13 in taxes. It was also available to book with Alaska Airlines for 85k Alaska MileagePlan points and taxes. I booked it a month ahead of the travel date.
I flew in A350-800 in lie-flat seat from Hyderabad to Doha and then B777-200LR in individual suite from Doha to Seattle.
The regular check-in line at Hyderabad was so long it would require to arrive at airport at-least 3 hours before. The Business class line had only 1 person ahead of me.
The short layover in Doha was spent at the fantastic Al Mourjan business class lounge.
Here are a few pictures from the trip.
I've been wanting to go Patagonia for so long after I saw pictures of El Calafate rugged peaks in one of my friend's instagram. Also, just the fact that it is so far and relatively less travelled intrigued me. Perfect opportunity to check off South America and Chile from my bucket list. Ideally I would have wanted to combine a few other countries like Argentina or Brazil in this trip. But with COVID restrictions, Visa wait times and potential uncertainty, I choose just to relax in a single country. Chile doesn't require Visa for Indian Passport with a Valid Visa from US, Canada, Schengen and few other.
The entire trip planning to the finish of the trip has been a whole movie with lot of suspense (read - stress) on whether it is going to happen or not due to hurdles. I went with 2 of my friends who are a couple. Sharing the planning, logistics and the stress definitely made it easier. There were times where I was going to give up and chill in San Francisco for the year end break.
We have been talking about this since November but weren't seriously researching until I came back from my India trip in Nov 2021. I was reading about the visa restrictions but did not realize Chile requires a Mobility Pass until my friend told me about it. I immediately applied for it the same day. My friends applied for it as well on the next day. The application portal was looking different for me and my friends and thats where all the suspense started. My friends created their account before me but applied after me. They got their pass approved in a week. We have been watching the flight prices go up but could not book because of the uncertainty. We read in TripAdvisor, it took more than a month for few people. I finally got mine after 10 days. We have decided to make the trip whatever the ticket prices be, because TIME IS MONEY.
My friend has been tracking the camping/hostel accommodations required for the 5-day W-Trek. The Torres Del Paine national park requires accommodations to be booked in advance for the days spent on the trek. The reservations for places in the park are handled by different companies with different reservation systems. We have to manually find availability in multiple systems and make sure our route in the trek and the days we want to travel all fall together. We were able to book our accommodations like we wanted. Except for one of the days we decided to book separately. I booked minutes after my friends and I did not find availability in the same location. The next available location is like a 3 hour trek away after a 10 hour trek on the same day. After some grief, I made peace with it because it is what it is. Just being about to find any accommodation was supposedly good thing. Usually they are all sold out 6 months in advance if not for COVID. The park website wasn't allowing single bed reservations in their website due to COVID. You pay for the capacity of the room which is 6, regardless of up-to 6 people stay or not. Not sure if they stick to the rules, but I contacted after a few days and luckily was able to upgrade with a fare difference, from camping to a hostel bed in the same location as my friends.
As much as I love flying and trying new products on lie-flat Business using points, it was difficult to find availability during the holidays and the fixed schedule with the park reservations. I decided to go a day early than my friends because its a day off anyway. I booked a pricey USD 660 one-way Delta Economy from San Francisco (SFO) to Punta Arenas (PUQ) via Atlanta (ATL), Santiago (SCL). I managed to get a Delta Platinum Medallion status which free upgraded me to lie-flat business class from SFO to ATL and Comfort+ from ATL to SCL. Not bad at all. The last leg from SCL to PUQ was on LATAM metal and not eligible for upgrade. I can ride it, its only 3-ish hours. Everything going well. Until my flight got cancelled the day before! The ATL-SCL leg got cancelled. They put me on a SFO - JFK - SCL - PUQ route for the next day of my original schedule. I was pretty annoyed about losing a day, flying through JFK because its just a long route and also the the JFK - SCL is on LATAM metal which means I cannot get any upgrades. I was in long chats with the airline and they put me back on same date as original but the JFK route. At this point, being able to go Chile is winning over everything else.
My friends found their mobility pass was showing some incorrect information. I checked mine and the same issue but different from theirs. There is no time to contact or make fixes and mess it up more. We said we will ignore it like we never knew it :D but I was stressed about it the whole time until I passed through immigration in Chile.
I waited until the evening before the flight to pack up my Kelty Redwing 44 backpack I bought for an Europe urban backpacking trip years ago. After I made the first attempt at packing, it was so heavy to lift at home that I realized I cannot carry it on my back as is for 5 days of walking with elevation gain over 80 kms. I started removing items leaving space only for essentials. What did it contain?
- Water Pack and Snacks - bars, chocolates, nuts, crepes etc
- 2 pair of clothes (dry-fit t-shirts and dry-fit water repellant trekking pants) for the trek and 1 pair of clothes for changing in the hostels during the nights.
- 2 pairs of base layers both shirt and pant.
- 3 pairs of socks, 2 pairs of gloves, scarf, small microfiber towel, cap, sandals, foldable day pack, toiletries and hair brush.
- Laptop, Cables and Chargers
- My go-to Eddie Bauer super lightweight down jacket serving me for 7 years and the newly bought REI raincoat which would also act as windbreaker. The indecisive me took it until exiting home to airport, to decide between using the Costco Kirkland Soft Shell ($20), REI Jacket ($200), Arc'teryx ($330) in the trip.
I recently flew from Washington Dulles to Hyderabad via Abu Dhabi. I redeemed 130k Aeroplan points and paid CAD 59.90 for taxes. When I redeemed, there was availability for all of the week in both first class and business class. Business class was 30k points lesser but decided to splurge considering Etihad has been discontinuing first class in many routes recently. May be this is the only time I'll be able to fly Etihad First. The same itinerary was also available through American Airlines for 70k AAdvantage points in Business class or 110k points in First class.
The Etihad First class lounge in Washington Dulles airport was closed. I was told to use the Turkish lounge. It is probably the best lounge in IAD. Gate was 5-min walk from the lounge. Boarding had single line for premium and priority passengers. I arrived after boarding started and there was quite a line.
Here are few pictures during the flight.
About Me
San Francisco is Home. Globe Trotter, Traveled 50 US states, 41 countries and counting. Read More
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