Spring Trip to Italy, Part V: MXP-EWR-DFW-IAH-DFW-SFO

With my desktop dead and not having a good way to access my photos, I’ll go ahead and wrap this up with a short, text-only post.

At MXP, there was a contract lounge, but it was a bit disappointing for an international lounge. There was limited food and drinks, it was pretty small, and there were no windows at all. The MXP-EWR flight was delayed by about an hour but I had a three hour layover scheduled in EWR so I was not worried at all. I also had the “mini-cabin” bulkhead (row 16 on a Continental 767), and as the flight was a day flight, it wasn’t all that bad. I was upgraded on EWR-DFW to first class, so that was pretty nice as it was my first experience with CO first class with DirecTV.

I stayed overnight at the Holiday Inn Dallas-Fort Worth Airport South, where they put my on one of the upper floors. The next morning I was back at DFW, using standby to get on a flight to IAH 2.5 hours earlier. As a Platinum, I was the first person on the standby list and cleared easily. I headed to the Crowne Plaza River Oaks in Houston, where my friend had already checked in, so it looked like I didn’t get any of my Priority Club Platinum benefits, but I let it go since the room was paid for by the conference I was attending. Weather in Houston in late March is just about perfect, and although I didn’t get to see much of the city, the area around Rice was pretty nice.

Three days later I was back at IAH flying to DFW on Continental upgraded to first class, then onwards to SFO on United where I was in row 6 on an A319, which is among the best economy seats on United’s fleet. This part of the trip was uneventful, and I was glad to be back home, at least for a few days.

Priority Club $75 Prepaid Gift Card for 2 Weekend Night Stay

Stay 2 consecutive weekend nights at an Intercontinental Hotel Group property between now and August 31 and receive a $75 prepaid card. You must register before your stay at http://www.ihg.com/get75.

This makes an interesting value proposition for me since I have two nights booked at the Holiday Inn Milwaukee Airport for May 28-30 on Pointbreak nights, which comes out to 9000 points for both days once I factor in my 10% rebate for having the Priority Club Visa. The going rate is $76.99+tax per night, and with Platinum status and the PC Visa bonus, I get 18 PC points per dollar. If I value PC points at 0.6 cents per point, that makes the Pointbreak option and paying for the nights almost even (the paid nights will be about $20 more). Not that an upgrade is guaranteed, but on a reward night, I can be assured that it won’t happen. So do I cancel the Pointbreak stay and go with the advance purchase rate? I don’t have any other stays before August 31 planned, so I won’t be losing out on a potential future rebate.

Spring Trip to Italy, Part III: Venice

I was able to book a ridiculously cheap train fare from Milan to Venice on Trenitalia Eurostar City equipment (24 Euro round-trip) departing a morning after I arrived in Milan. The trip took about two and a half hours and the seats were okay but paled in comparison to say Deutsche Bahn or Japan Railway seats, having no recline and so-so cushioning. At that price though, I’m certainly not complaining.

Milano Centrale

After arriving at Venezia-Santa Lucia station, I dropped of my luggage then started walking, intending to make my way to San Marco Square. I got extremely lost and it ended up taking me almost two hours to get there, but it was a pleasant walk getting lost in all of the narrow alleys and crossing dozens of bridges all over the islands.

Canals of Venice

San Marco Square

After resting for a bit from the long walk, I purchased a Rolling Venice Card for four euro, and with it, I bought a three day Actv pass for 18 euros, allowing me unlimited use of the water buses. In addition, the Rolling Venice Card gave me a few discounts at various attractions around the city. For those who are young enough to qualify for it, I would recommend it. I rode around the water buses for the rest of the day to take in the views, then took the train back to the mainland to get to the Crowne Plaza Venice East in Quarto D’altino. Quarto D’altino is a small, quiet town, and the hotel is pretty nice although I didn’t manage to get an upgrade. But, they did give me a bottle of Prosecco as a welcome gift.

Crowne Plaza Venice East – Quarto D’altino

Complimentary Prosecco

Rialto Bridge

Over the next two days, I hit many of the main attractions including the majority of the museums by San Marco and a few smaller ones around the island. The view from the bell tower Campanile di San Marco was phenomenal. I utilized the Actv pass quite a bit, but I also found it pleasant to walk around the island.

Palazzo Ducale

Looking south from Campanile di San Marco

Looking east from Campanile di San Marco

San Giorgio Maggiore

One of the few Venetian foods I had a chance to try was the cuttlefish with ink served with polenta (corn meal). The ink looks intimidating, but I actually found it pretty bland and had a hard time finishing it because it wasn’t all that tasty.

Cuttlefish with ink

Near the end of my time in Venice, I took a short trip to Murano to take a look at the glass museum, which housed a number of beautiful glass sculptures. There are also a handful of larger sculptures on display scattered across the island, and I looked around in a few shops for something to take home. Unfortunately, things were a bit out of my price range and I was afraid that I would break anything I bought as I had to swing back to by Milano and then Dallas and Houston before heading home.

Glass sculpture at Murano

Quarto D’altino didn’t have much, but a couple blocks away from the Crowne Plaza is a small pizzeria with cheap and tasty pizzas. I ate there two out of three nights and would definitely go back if I were staying at that particular Crowne Plaza again. With some knowledge of Spanish, I was able to pick up enough Italian to communicate an order.

Pizza from Stop… Pizza

Spring Trip to Italy, Part II: Milan (Day 1)

Arrival at MXP was smooth, and I took the Malpensa Express to Milano Centrale. Crowne Plaza Milan City was located right above Sondrio subway station, which was one stop away from Milano, so I took the short walk there and checked in in the morning. They were able to give me early check-in, and I was about to settle in to take a quick nap before exploring the city, the concierge came up to my room to give me a welcome letter and drink voucher to use at the bar as a Platinum member. They also provided me with free internet access.

Crowne Plaza Milan City

At around noon, I headed out to the Duomo, an impressive cathedral at the heart of the old city, and I went up to the top. Not only are there great views from the top, but the top of the cathedral itself is worth seeing up close.

Duomo

Milan with Alps in the background from atop the Duomo

From there, I walked around the plaza and visited the Piazza della Scala where the Scala theater can be found along with a statue of Leonardo da Vinci. I then proceeded by subway to Castello Sforzesco, which has a number of museums including a special exhibit on Michaelangelo’s architectural work.

Castello Sforzesco

I then took a stroll in the park behind the Castello Sforzesco. There were carnival rides and booths set up all around. As Milan was celebrating the 150th anniversary of the formation of Italy, I assume that’s what they were there for. The park was pretty big and despite the activities, there were some nice and quiet areas to sit down and take a rest.

Arco della Pace

I then took the subway back to find some food and wound up at Fashion Pizza close to Milano Centrale. It was pretty tasty!

Pizza from Fashion Pizza

My First Continental VDB

I’m sitting now at the Four Points by Sheraton at Detroit Metro Airport. My DTW-IAH flight on Continental was oversold, so I volunteered even though they were only offering $200 and first class to Houston tomorrow morning. I had already cleared my upgrades to first class on both DTW-IAH and IAH-SJC tonight, so I lost my upgrade on the longer segment and will need to stay overnight. I tried to see if they could get me to SFO instead tonight, but they were unable/unwilling to. I took the bump anyway and they increased the compensation to $300 and gave me three meal vouchers for $26 total. At the Four Points, I tried to get my SPG number with my Gold status added to the reservation, but they didn’t do it initially so I received no gold benefits, but Wifi here is free, so I’m not too upset.

First class on IAH-SJC is booked full tomorrow, but I did get rebooked into full fare Y, so I am at the very top of the upgrade list. I won’t arrive until 11:20 am tomorrow, but at $300, I don’t feel too bad.

100 Free SPG Points for Participating in Earth Hour

Register and pledge to participate in Earth hour to receive 100 SPG points. Earth hour is 8:30 PM to 9:30 PM local time on Saturday, March 26, 2011.

Spring Break in Italy

I finalized my plans for my spring break trip, booking my hotel nights. The total length of the trip is roughly 10 days, with nights in Miami, Milan, Venice, Dallas/Fort Worth, and Houston. Through a combination of United e-certificates, a cheap fare, and free nights, I will be able to do this trip on minimal spend. So far, my cash outlay is on the order of $600-700.

My trip begins with SFO-IAD-MIA on United booked as part of an itinerary with an e-certificate. Both legs have already upgraded to first class using a Confirmed Regional Upgrade (CRU). I will then stay one night at Holiday Inn Express Miami Airport Doral Area on a Priority Club points stay.

The main part of my trip is on Continental, with the outbound MIA-EWR-MXP to Milan. I used a free night from the Sweet Dilemma promotion for a room at Crowne Plaza Milan City, which is right next to the main train station. My flight arrives in the morning, so that gives me a full day to explore the city before moving on to Venice. I booked train tickets on an advance fare for 24 Euro round trip, Milan-Venice-Milan. I then ponied up for three nights at the Crowne Plaza Venice East – Quarto D’Altino, which will also get me some bonus points from currently running promotions.

I then return in the morning to Milan by train, spend another day in the city, then head to the Holiday Inn Express Milan-Malpensa Airport near MXP for my  flight in the morning. The stay is paid for with PC points. I fly Continental MXP-EWR-DFW and spend the night at Holiday Inn Dallas-Fort Worth Airport on another points stay. The next morning, I head to Houston, flying DFW-IAH on Continental, staying three nights in Houston at the Crowne Plaza River Oaks, and then I fly IAH-DFW-SFO on Continental and United.

I’m very excited about this trip, especially given how little I paid for it. Italy will be a little cold at this time of the year, but it should still be great.