How we had a perfect European honeymoon (11D/10N) π₯°πand got some great discounts on our travels using #creditcard reward points
We witnessed the best of Europe at Christmas and the New Years ππ βοΈβοΈβοΈ
Below is the detailed thread about our itinerary and how you could save on your next trip to Europe
Flight from Delhi to Frankfurt for 2 pax DEL-FRA : Vistara - 60k CV points + 3k INR (Economy). Revenue price INR 70,000 ( Value per mile : Rs 1.1 per point)
#ccgeeks #airmiles #France #Netherlands
We witnessed the best of Europe at Christmas and the New Years ππ βοΈβοΈβοΈ
Below is the detailed thread about our itinerary and how you could save on your next trip to Europe
Flight from Delhi to Frankfurt for 2 pax DEL-FRA : Vistara - 60k CV points + 3k INR (Economy). Revenue price INR 70,000 ( Value per mile : Rs 1.1 per point)
#ccgeeks #airmiles #France #Netherlands
Day 1 : Stay in Frankfurt Hotel : Mercure Hotel Frankfurt City Messe. Hotel Chain : Accor Room : Standard double bed Points redeemed: 2000 Accor Points Revenue Rate : ~6000 INR ( Value per point : 1.8) My rating for the hotel and the services : 4/5 βοΈ We were really tired but receptionist told us that there was Christmas market nearby which was about to close so we went and explored that and came back and slept.
Day 2 : Stay in Amsterdam Hotel : XO Couture. Hotel Chain : XO Hotels Room : Superior Double Room . Booked on Revenue, Revenue Rate : 216 EUR for 2 nights, breakfast included. My rating for the hotel and the services : 5/5 βοΈ
We took train from Frankfurt to Amsterdam and reached there early afternoon, so we had the whole day with us to explore. We explored the major areas around Dam Square. There is Festival of light in Amsterdam during winter months. We had pre booked Lover's cruise which took us into the canals that were absolutely lit up in the night. Totally recommended.
Price for 2 : 52 EUR
We used GVB app for public transport and purchased pass for 14 EUR pp. It is actually 48 hour pass which serves better purpose as we could use it till afternoon on third day.
We took train from Frankfurt to Amsterdam and reached there early afternoon, so we had the whole day with us to explore. We explored the major areas around Dam Square. There is Festival of light in Amsterdam during winter months. We had pre booked Lover's cruise which took us into the canals that were absolutely lit up in the night. Totally recommended.
Price for 2 : 52 EUR
We used GVB app for public transport and purchased pass for 14 EUR pp. It is actually 48 hour pass which serves better purpose as we could use it till afternoon on third day.
Day 3 was probably the most beautiful day of our trip. We got to visit the Dutch countryside and it was so mesmerizing.
We had purchased Go City Explorer pass with 3 attractions which costed us around 55 EUR pp.
Option 1 : Volendam, Edam and Windmills tour. Covered in the Go City pass.
Where do I even start ? One of the best, if not the best scenic places I've been to. Pictures can't even do justice to how beautiful and calm the Dutch countryside is. And the tour was definitely the BEST guided tour I had been on. The guide was super interactive and answered each and every question and explained about everything in such detail. He being an Arsenal supporter gave him brownie points.
Option 2 : AMAZE Amsterdam. Lights, laser, art and sound show which was quite fun actually. If you have love for museums you could visit Rijksmuseum as well instead of this or can try Heineken Experience.
We had purchased Go City Explorer pass with 3 attractions which costed us around 55 EUR pp.
Option 1 : Volendam, Edam and Windmills tour. Covered in the Go City pass.
Where do I even start ? One of the best, if not the best scenic places I've been to. Pictures can't even do justice to how beautiful and calm the Dutch countryside is. And the tour was definitely the BEST guided tour I had been on. The guide was super interactive and answered each and every question and explained about everything in such detail. He being an Arsenal supporter gave him brownie points.
Option 2 : AMAZE Amsterdam. Lights, laser, art and sound show which was quite fun actually. If you have love for museums you could visit Rijksmuseum as well instead of this or can try Heineken Experience.
Day 4: Stay in Brussels
Hotel : Ibis Styles Brussels Centre Stephanie
Hotel Chain : Accor Hotels
Room : Standard room with double bed
Points redeemed : 16,000 Accor points + ~ 2k INR
Revenue Rate : 341 EUR for 3 nights (Value per point: 1.8 per point)
My rating for the hotel and the services : 4/5
Amsterdam Go City Pass - Option 3: A'dam Lookout.
We got to get the panoramic view of Amsterdam from observation deck from 100 meters above the ground. Again totally worth it.
We then clicked some pics at the famous spots in Amsterdam, took our bags from hotel and took Flixbus from Amsterdam Sloterdijk to Brussels.
It was Christmas Day and the Grand Place Brussels was lit up. Again we were surprised by an amazing light show on the Grand Place itself. We shopped around bought some Belgian chocolates and made our tummies full with delicious Belgian waffles.
Hotel : Ibis Styles Brussels Centre Stephanie
Hotel Chain : Accor Hotels
Room : Standard room with double bed
Points redeemed : 16,000 Accor points + ~ 2k INR
Revenue Rate : 341 EUR for 3 nights (Value per point: 1.8 per point)
My rating for the hotel and the services : 4/5
Amsterdam Go City Pass - Option 3: A'dam Lookout.
We got to get the panoramic view of Amsterdam from observation deck from 100 meters above the ground. Again totally worth it.
We then clicked some pics at the famous spots in Amsterdam, took our bags from hotel and took Flixbus from Amsterdam Sloterdijk to Brussels.
It was Christmas Day and the Grand Place Brussels was lit up. Again we were surprised by an amazing light show on the Grand Place itself. We shopped around bought some Belgian chocolates and made our tummies full with delicious Belgian waffles.
On Day 5, we had a slow start to the day as we had not a lot planned to do. We had a walking tour booked through Guru Walk. Explored almost whole of the Brussels on foot and ended the day with lots of shopping from the Christmas markets and the area around Grand Place.
We had taken 10 journey public transport pass for around 15 EUR pp, which got almost wasted as we just explored Brussels on foot during walking tour.
We had taken 10 journey public transport pass for around 15 EUR pp, which got almost wasted as we just explored Brussels on foot during walking tour.
On Day 6, we made a day trip to Brugge. We took FlixBus from Brussels to Brugge.
Brugge being one of the most picturesque town of Europe, I was really excited to get there. But my wife had other plans π. We reached Brugge and were exploring markets (shopping for my wife ofc) and before we could know it was already getting dark.
My biggest regret of this trip would not seeing Brugge completely in daylight. But this was turned into something positive as we got to experience the famous Christmas market of Brugge. We enjoyed doing Ice Skating and it was wonderful experience before starting our journey back to Brussels.
Brugge being one of the most picturesque town of Europe, I was really excited to get there. But my wife had other plans π. We reached Brugge and were exploring markets (shopping for my wife ofc) and before we could know it was already getting dark.
My biggest regret of this trip would not seeing Brugge completely in daylight. But this was turned into something positive as we got to experience the famous Christmas market of Brugge. We enjoyed doing Ice Skating and it was wonderful experience before starting our journey back to Brussels.
Day 7 : Stay in Paris
Hotel : Hotel Home Moderne
Booked on Revenue. Revenue Rate : 346 EUR for 4 nights.
My rating for the hotel and services : 3/5. The rooms were really tiny and one could just open bags and there won't be any passage. Apart from the room size (where we barely stayed in), the hotel was actually really good. Set up in a quite neighbourhood of Paris, it surely gave the old Parisian vibes.
Our Day started with an early morning train from Brussels to Paris. We checked into the hotel but couldn't get an early check in. So it was a sign to go and explore Paris.
Bought 4 day Go City Paris All Inclusive Pass which gave us an option to explore 100+ Parisian attractions. The pass costed us around 200 EUR pp.
For public transport we purchased 5 day pass for around 45 EUR pp.
Using the Go City Paris pass, we firstly went to see the Louvre Museum and it was grand. It almost took us 4-5 hours and I think we barely covered half of it. But we did manage to get a glimpse of Mona Lisa π.
Continued our journey and went to Champs elysees and the christmas lights were making me fall in love with Paris.
Using the Paris pass, we went to the top of Arc de Triomphe and got some spectacular views for Paris at night. We just stood there appreciating the beautiful city we were witnessing in front of eyes.
Definitely a day I would never forget in my life.
Hotel : Hotel Home Moderne
Booked on Revenue. Revenue Rate : 346 EUR for 4 nights.
My rating for the hotel and services : 3/5. The rooms were really tiny and one could just open bags and there won't be any passage. Apart from the room size (where we barely stayed in), the hotel was actually really good. Set up in a quite neighbourhood of Paris, it surely gave the old Parisian vibes.
Our Day started with an early morning train from Brussels to Paris. We checked into the hotel but couldn't get an early check in. So it was a sign to go and explore Paris.
Bought 4 day Go City Paris All Inclusive Pass which gave us an option to explore 100+ Parisian attractions. The pass costed us around 200 EUR pp.
For public transport we purchased 5 day pass for around 45 EUR pp.
Using the Go City Paris pass, we firstly went to see the Louvre Museum and it was grand. It almost took us 4-5 hours and I think we barely covered half of it. But we did manage to get a glimpse of Mona Lisa π.
Continued our journey and went to Champs elysees and the christmas lights were making me fall in love with Paris.
Using the Paris pass, we went to the top of Arc de Triomphe and got some spectacular views for Paris at night. We just stood there appreciating the beautiful city we were witnessing in front of eyes.
Definitely a day I would never forget in my life.
On Day 8 in Paris, we started our day with a visit to Choco Story, a Gourmet chocolate Museum. We then followed it up by a walking tour to the most picturesque neighborhood of Paris, Montmartre & Sacre Coeur. An absolute must visit when in Paris.
We then visited the tallest building in the city of Paris, Tour Montparnasse. Got some spectacular views of the Parisian nightlife from the 56th floor at around 700 ft height.
We then visited the tallest building in the city of Paris, Tour Montparnasse. Got some spectacular views of the Parisian nightlife from the 56th floor at around 700 ft height.
We started our day 9 in Europe with a Parisian breakfast at Cafe Louise which was included in the Paris Pass.
We then availed our 1 day hop on hop off bus and explored the whole of central Paris while sitting in bus as it rained outside.
Took a quick stop at Instagramable spot with perfect view of Eiffel Tower and got some pictures clicked. We then visited Aquarium de Paris.
After spending our afternoon seeing some fishes, we ended up on Champs Elysees again, which meant time for shopping again. We filled our bags to the full as Paris was the last city of our trip. We then took a walking tour around Notre Dame. We went to see the Eiffel Tour up close. Although we had the tour to top of Eiffel Tower included in the pass, but we decided to give it a skip as we had already seen bird's eye view of Paris from Montparnasse. Also, the queues were way too long for us to wait.
We then availed our 1 day hop on hop off bus and explored the whole of central Paris while sitting in bus as it rained outside.
Took a quick stop at Instagramable spot with perfect view of Eiffel Tower and got some pictures clicked. We then visited Aquarium de Paris.
After spending our afternoon seeing some fishes, we ended up on Champs Elysees again, which meant time for shopping again. We filled our bags to the full as Paris was the last city of our trip. We then took a walking tour around Notre Dame. We went to see the Eiffel Tour up close. Although we had the tour to top of Eiffel Tower included in the pass, but we decided to give it a skip as we had already seen bird's eye view of Paris from Montparnasse. Also, the queues were way too long for us to wait.
Day 10 was the eve of New Years and Paris was already starting to get crowded. We started our day with French Crepes at Bistro Marbeuf. We continued to tick off all the hsitoric places in Paris and visited Opera, Pantheon, Concorde and Grand Palais.
We had booked Seine River Cruise in the evening so after all that exploring it was time to get on the cruise and see the Paris through Seine river.
Finally it was time for the biggest event of the day and streets of Paris were already full of crowd. I am an Indian and we have seen crowds, but I haven't seen one like the one at Champs Elysees on New Years Day. started at around 8 pm in the night and just about reached there at exactly 12 midnight just in time to see the fireworks at Arc de Triomphe.
We reached our hotel back at around 3 am in the morning after roaming around in the streets of Paris at night.
Just the sort of stuff I used to dream about !!
We had booked Seine River Cruise in the evening so after all that exploring it was time to get on the cruise and see the Paris through Seine river.
Finally it was time for the biggest event of the day and streets of Paris were already full of crowd. I am an Indian and we have seen crowds, but I haven't seen one like the one at Champs Elysees on New Years Day. started at around 8 pm in the night and just about reached there at exactly 12 midnight just in time to see the fireworks at Arc de Triomphe.
We reached our hotel back at around 3 am in the morning after roaming around in the streets of Paris at night.
Just the sort of stuff I used to dream about !!
Day 11 was the last day in Paris and we packed our bags and started to look for options using our Paris Pass and we found Fly Over Paris - a VR experience that provided us with the views of all the places we've been to in last 4 days and more. Totally worth the effort to reach there.
Flight back home
Paris to Delhi for 2 pax
CDG - DEL Vistara 60k CV points + 12k INR (Economy).
Revenue price for same flight : INR 90,000 (Value per point : Rs 1.3 per point)
Flight back home
Paris to Delhi for 2 pax
CDG - DEL Vistara 60k CV points + 12k INR (Economy).
Revenue price for same flight : INR 90,000 (Value per point : Rs 1.3 per point)
Overall total money saved : INR 1.8L
That's the power of #creditcard miles that we as #ccgeeks know and the general public still isn't aware to that extent.
That's the power of #creditcard miles that we as #ccgeeks know and the general public still isn't aware to that extent.
Absolutely crazy to think how far I have come from that time, writing this post which I never though I would document. Thanks to all of you if you have read so far. Drop a like and retweet if you find it worth a read.
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I know itβs a long read, but it would be great if you find it useful and can share with other β€οΈβ€οΈ
I know itβs a long read, but it would be great if you find it useful and can share with other β€οΈβ€οΈ
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