Welcome to my subsequent journey report collection, which can cowl a latest spring journey to Dubai and Florence (a bizarre mixture, I do know!). You’ll be able to count on opinions of Etihad’s A350 enterprise class, a number of luxurious accommodations, and extra. As soon as I’m carried out with this report, I’ll be publishing the total collection for my latest shock around the world journey with my dad.
Why we took this journey
A majority of the journey experiences that I’ve revealed this 12 months have been “pure” assessment journeys, which is to say that I traveled completely to have the ability to assessment sure airline merchandise, with some resort opinions thrown in as nicely. This consists of my whirlwind Aeroplan journey, my 4 journeys throughout the Atlantic, and my new period of German enterprise class journey.
On this case, Ford and I have been planning on simply going to Florence for a fast weekend, as neither of us had visited since we have been children. Nevertheless, I’m at all times on the lookout for an fascinating assessment angle on the subject of these sorts of journeys, and I wasn’t seeing any thrilling transatlantic premium cabin flight award choices for our dates.
Most likely the only airline product I most needed to assessment was the brand new Etihad Airbus 350 enterprise class, particularly with the brand new Armani / Casa facilities. So I talked Ford into touring to Italy through the United Arab Emirates, which admittedly isn’t precisely essentially the most direct strategy to get there. 😉
Since we have been within the neighborhood of Dubai anyway, we determined to take a look at a few accommodations there as nicely. Whereas the journey was finally a bit extra advanced than I initially deliberate, we had an superior time.
The airways we flew on this journey
The outbound portion of this journey was positively essentially the most fascinating by way of airways I might assessment.
For the outbound, I managed to redeem miles for Etihad enterprise class. I booked the next for 70,000 American AAdvantage miles plus $5.60 in taxes and costs per individual:
4/24 EY150 Chicago to Abu Dhabi departing 12:35PM arriving 11:00AM (+1 day)
Then to get from the United Arab Emirates to Tuscany, I redeemed for Emirates first-class by Emirates Skywards. I booked the next for 102,000 Emirates Skywards miles plus $432 in taxes and costs per individual:
4/28 EK93 Dubai to Bologna departing 9:20AM arriving 1:40PM
Admittedly this was a fairly poor worth in comparison with the primary flight, but it surely was a direct possibility, and for that matter, we had the primary class cabin all to ourselves, which is hard to beat. It’s additionally a lot simpler to justify and recoup any gasoline surcharges with Emirates’ limitless caviar and Dom Perignon. 😉
Lastly, to return again dwelling, I redeemed for Lufthansa first-class by Air Canada Aeroplan. I booked the next for 100,000 Air Canada Aeroplan factors plus $110.54 in taxes and costs per individual:
5/01 EN8193 Florence to Munich departing 9:50AM arriving 11:00AM
5/01 LH434 Munich to Chicago departing 3:25PM arriving 6:15PM
Along with flight opinions, you possibly can count on opinions of some lounges, together with:
- The Etihad Arrivals Lounge Abu Dhabi Airport (AUH)
- The Masaccio Lounge Florence Airport (FLR)
- The Lufthansa First Lounge Satellite tv for pc Munich Airport (MUC)
Whereas I’ll be absolutely reviewing the Etihad flight, I’ll be doing barely unconventional opinions of Emirates’ 777 first-class and Lufthansa’s A340 first-class, since I’ve reviewed each of these merchandise intimately lately.
The accommodations we stayed at on this journey
Throughout this journey we stayed at three totally different accommodations, all of which have been new to us. Let me begin by saying that none of them have been factors accommodations, however I feel all of them make for fascinating opinions (and fear not, for my around the world journey with my dad, we completely stayed at factors accommodations, and I’ve heaps extra factors resort opinions deliberate within the coming months).
We determined to spend our time within the United Arab Emirates in Dubai, and for our first evening we checked out a resort that has been on our radar endlessly, and that I feel may simply be the world’s most iconic resort. Particularly, we spent an evening on the Burj Al Arab, sometimes called the world’s seven-star resort (in fact that’s not truly a factor, although). I used to be anticipating that the property can be all type over substance, however was truly extremely impressed.
We then determined to take a look at a resort we had heard loads of good issues about. Particularly, we visited the Bulgari Dubai. Bulgari is a Marriott resort model, however frustratingly, doesn’t take part in Marriott Bonvoy. This turned out to be a fairly nice resort as nicely, although in a completely totally different method than the Burj Al Arab.
Lastly, in Florence we spent a number of nights on the 4 Seasons Florence, which needs to be one of the crucial spectacular metropolis accommodations anyplace in Europe.
Within the particular person assessment installments I’ll discuss how we booked every of those accommodations.
Backside line
My subsequent journey report collection will cowl a latest spring journey to Dubai and Florence, and can embrace a assessment of Etihad’s A350 enterprise class, in addition to opinions of the Burj Al Arab Dubai, Bulgari Dubai, and the 4 Seasons Florence. Thanks for studying, and keep tuned!
