Wow, it’s hard to believe we’re exactly half way through 2018. I’m honestly in shock as to where I am today. The past 6 months have been among the best of my life and I hope that trend continues through the end of the year. Today, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on the first six months of the year and provide some insights into my plans for the remainder of 2018.
Let me start off by saying I’m sorry. I’m sorry because going into 2018 I had plans to post at least 3 times a week. I’m not sure if I ever put that quota out there, but it was definitely an internal goal that I haven’t stuck to. The reason that I haven’t been posting as much is that I’ve had several big changes in my life within the first six months of this year. The changes are all positive, but have caused me to post less that I had originally planned. With that being said, I hope to make this blog more of a priority in the later half of the year. However, it’s hard to sit inside in write while it’s summertime in Chicago!
Where Have I Been In The First Half Of 2018?
Wow! Sitting here writing this post I honestly can’t believe that I’ve done this much. It all seems like a distant dream today.
A Long Weekend In Hong Kong
I started off the year by flying Cathay Pacific Premium Economy to and from Hong Kong. I spent two nights in Hong Kong and was lucky enough to spend one of those nights at the incredible Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong. During the day I got outside and explored and the weather was nearly perfect.
Before leaving Hong Kong I spent several hours at the airport exploring various lounges. I began with a stop at Cathay Pacific The Pier First Class lounge before making a second stop at The Wing.
Hong Kong is a city that I can’t wait to go back to. It was fun to spend a few nights in the city, but I can see myself spending much much more time there in years to come. Not to mention the airport has two of my favorite lounge in the entire world!
A Few Trips To Oslo
After Hong Kong I took two trips to Oslo, Norway. For both trips I used an American Airlines Systemwide Upgrade to upgrade to Business Class from Chicago to London. During the first trip I spent a single night in Norway before returning home. On the second trip I spent a few days visiting friends who live in London.
While passing through London Heathrow I was lucky enough to visit several lounges thanks to my OneWorld Emerald elite status. While at LHR I visited lounges by Cathay Pacific, Qantas, and British Airways.
While in Oslo I also was fortunate enough to head outside and explore the city for a few hours before flying home.
I quite liked Oslo and thankfully it’s the origin of several cheap international premium cabin flights.
An Amazing Family Trip To South America
While I wan’t happy to fly Delta to South America I did end up having an amazing trip to South America. We spent a few days in Rio, a few days in Buzios, and a few days in Buenos Aires. Each stop more fun than the last.
The trip began at an incredible hotel which overlooked the famous Ipanema Beach. After a few days there we convoyed to Buzios, a small beach town about 3 hours from Rio by car.
The small city of Buzios was a truly magical place and our hotel was simply stunning.
After a few days at the above hotel, which looked fake, we ventured back to Rio and flew to Buenos Aires on Emirates. I’d never flown Emirates before and couldn’t believe how great the flight was. Even better than the flight was our AirBnB in Buenos Aires!
The AirBnB was incredible and I hope to eventually make my way back to Buenos Aires as it’s now among my favorite cities in the world. Plus, in Argentina there is no such thing as too much meat!
A Weekend In Stockholm
After South American I took another long weekend trip to Stockholm. To get to Stockholm I flew Lufthansa First Class and it was every bit as amazing as I expected.
Eventually, I made my way to Stockholm where I spent a night near the old city.
Stockholm was so fun! I loved my stay there and again hope to visit soon.
A Weekend In Helsinki
Finally, my last whirlwind trip took me to Helsinki for a night. Getting to Helsinki was a major struggle. I ended up missing my connection to JFK so instead flew to LGA and took a cab. That meant I missed the chance to review the Flagship Lounge in JFK which wasn’t idea. With that trip I decided to Live Blog the experience. I enjoyed live blogging and plan on doing it at least once more this year. I feel as though live blogging allows me to share details about how I think when traveling, especially during sticky situations.
Helsinki ended up being a fun trip and one that was totally necessary as it began my final planned trip of the year. The trip began in Helsinki with a Finniar Business Class flight back to Chicago. My return leg takes me to Oktoberfest in Munich in late September on British Airways Business Class.
What Did All This Flying Get Me?
In 2017 I realized a goal I’ve had for a few years; to reach American AAdvantage Executive Platinum. For 2018 I wanted to once again reach that goal, but do it without flying 61,000 miles in two weeks. Instead, I planned on earning the status gradually throughout the year. Well, it seems I started out 2018 a bit more aggressive than I had planned. Through June 30, 2018 I’ve earned $7,410 EQD, 69,374 EQM, and just 29 EQS.
So, as it stands I’m about 70% of the way to Executive Platinum. I have one leg left to fly to Munich in which I’ll earn another 7,500 EQM so I still have about 30,000 EQM to earn in order to qualify again. Personally, I think that’s a great position to be in. With other organic travel I think I only need to take one more “Mileage Run” in 2018 and I suspect I’ll earn that with a trip to Australia.
What Are My Travel Plans For The Rest Of 2018?
Well, I hinted at it above, but I really would like to go to Australia this year! I’m not sure if that will happen or not, but I want it to.
However, I do still have one more trip planned to Munich in September. Originally I planned on visiting Munich during Oktoberfest, but I’ve noticed hotel prices are insane. I personally don’t feel like paying $500 a night to stay at a budge hotel in Munich so I think I’m going to audible. Instead, I’m think the plan is to fly to Munich and continue on to Dubai or Abu Dhabi. Once there I plan to spend at least 4 nights in the UAE before flying back to the Untied States. To get home I suspect I’ll book Etihad First Class (The Apartment) with AA miles. However, that is still up in the air.
Additionally, I need to plan at least one more long-haul flight to somewhere. I’m really hoping to find another Qatar Airways premium fare deal this year to do so in Qatar Business. Qatar Business is so much fun and I would love to fly my remaining 20,000 miles in the comfort of a lie-flat bed. If I can’t find another Qatar Airways deal I will most likely try to book either JAL or Cathay Premium Economy from the US to either Hong Kong or Singapore. I’d love to visit Singapore or spend more time in Hong Kong so I’d be happy with either option.
I’m open to going back to Europe again this year if the price is right, but as of writing I’ve crossed the Atlantic 8 times already and would like to avoid doing it again if possible.
What Is My Vision For This Blog?
Writing this blog is among my favorite thing in the world to do. I truly love writing. However, as other aspects of my life begin taking up more and more of my time I find myself writing less. As a result, I’ve had to really think about what I actually want to write about. From that reflection I’ve found that I most enjoy writing airline and airline lounge reviews.
Hotel reviews are fun, but I don’t think I do a great job at taking pictures of the property or using the on site amenities. Additionally, websites like trip advisor provide much better reviews from several guests than I could ever write. For that reason I’ll continue writing about hotels I find special or unique, but will avoid writing about every run of the mill hotel I stay in around the world.
Likewise, I’ve found myself writing less and less about credit cards. Don’t get me wrong I absolutely love credit cards and will continue writing about cards I carry or would like to carry, but I’m going to avoid writing about cards just to write about cards. The reason for this is twofold. The first reason being that there are other blogs or websites out there which provide more detail about cards than I could ever imagine. The second is that not every card that I value lines up to the values of the reader. For those reasons I’m going to focus on writing airline and airline lounge reviews.
Final Thoughts
Again, wow! What a year it’s been. I’ve had so much fun exploring various parts of the world and visiting cities I never dreamed of visiting. With each stop I get a chance to see a place and decide if it’s worth going back or not. More often than not I find myself wanting to go back.
Most importantly taking these trips have provided more and more content for this blog. As I travel and write my blog readership continues to grow. When I started the blog I only had about 10 readers a month. Even then I couldn’t believe that people were taking time out of their days to read what I had to write.
Today the blog gets 100s of views a day (mom, stop refreshing the page to help, I’m fine!) and again I’m so thankful that you all are willing to take time out of your days to read these words. I hope that my writings have helped you make decisions about which airline to fly, which lounge to visit, or which credit cards to use. I hope to continue providing valuable content for the remainder of the year and for years to come. Lastly, I can’t wait to see where the rest of this year takes me.
Again, Thank You for reading!
