Gateway City: Cape Town, South Africa

Posted on April 6, 2016 by Tara

Cape Town is one of Africa’s most beautiful and fascinating cities and there is plenty here to deserve a few days stay before or after heading off into the bush on safari. This series on Cape Town and the Eastern Cape Province covers a trip we did back in April 2009.

GETTING TO CAPE TOWN

I have a post on getting to South Africa using airline miles with details of the best programs to use. Cape Town is well served by international flights and most people like to fly here and leave from Johannesburg (or vv) so they can see as much of South Africa as possible.

STAR ALLIANCE

South African Airways is a Star Alliance member and the obvious choice to fly here and around South Africa. You can also get here on Ethiopian Airlines, Turkish Airlines & Lufthansa.

ONEWORLD

Comair is part of British Airways and offer good value using Avios to get around South Africa but always check the YQ surcharges as these can be excessive. Qatar Airways and British Airways also offer flights from the Middle East & Europe respectively.

SKYTEAM

Only Europe has direct flights to South Africa on KLM & Air France.

WHERE TO STAY ON HOTEL POINTS

As a world class destination, Cape Town is well supplied with hotels you can redeem with points for all budgets.

IHG REWARDS

Holiday Inn Express Cape Town City Centre – 15,000 points

SPG

Westin Cape Town (This is where we stayed) – 10,000 Starpoints

Since it was so long ago, I am not doing a full review as updated info can be found on Trip Advisor but I must say we LOVED the view!

CLUB CARLSON

They have 4 options in Cape Town:

Radisson Blu Le Vendome – 38,000 points

Radisson Blu Waterfront – 70,000 points

Park Inn by Radisson Cape Town Foreshore – 28,000 points

Park Inn by Radisson Newlands – 28,000 points

HILTON

Hilton Cape Town City Centre – 40,000 points

Doubletree Upper East Side – 20,000 points

MARRIOTT

Since Marriott partners with the South African chain Protea, they have a whopping 14 options in Cape Town ranging in price from 7500 – 20,000 Marriott Rewards points.

Or you can go indie and choose from many hotels on PointsHound or Rocketmiles to earn frequent flyer miles for them.

WHAT TO SEE IN CAPE TOWN

Here are a few suggestions for sight-seeing in Cape Town greater city area. I will make a separate post for our day trip around the Cape of Good Hope.

VICTORIA & ALBERT WATERFRONT

Great for dining, shopping and soaking up the atmosphere.

TABLE MOUNTAIN

Ride the cable car up and enjoy the view!

BOTANICAL GARDENS

Nice place for a stroll around to enjoy the flowers. We didn’t have time on this trip unfortunately but you might!

ROBBEN ISLAND DAY TRIP

The notorious prison island where Nelson Mandela was held prisoner for 18 years. Book tickets online to save time and money.

Chiang Mai As An Eco-tourism Gateway

Posted on June 8, 2015 by Tara

Chiang Mai is one of the most popular cities in one of the world’s most popular countries to travel in and there are 1000’s of blogs that specialize in travel to Thailand. I am only going to cover Chiang Mai as the gateway to several fantastic parks in which you can enjoy Thailand’s best birding. In the map below, you can see just how close you are to Doi Lang, Doi Ang Khang (name not on map, 2nd yellow line) north of Chiang Mai and Doi Inthanon and Mae Ping south of Chiang Mai.

TRANSPORTATION

Arriving at the airport, it is easiest to get one of the flat fare taxis to your hotel. If you fly straight through from Australia with the Bangok connection, you will arrive in Chiang Mai late at night. Whatever you do, don’t rent a car if you are spending any time in the city. It’s very difficult to negotiate the small back streets and you are likely to get lost. Use taxis and tuktuks while in Chiang Mai

Once you are ready to leave the city and get to the parks, you will need a rental car. Most car hire companies are located at the airport. Chiang Mai’s airport also has a variety of fast food places and coffee bars for a quick snack.

We rented from Hertz and were very happy with the service. As usual, I took photos of the car and had no problem when returning it.

ACCOMMODATION

Just about every hotel chain (except Club Carlson) is represented here. I chose to go indie because hotels are so cheap here I didn’t think it was a good use of hotel points and prefer to save them for expensive countries. I booked the Lannathai Guesthouse on Hotels.com because it was cheap, well located and counted as one of 10 bookings to get a free night in Welcome Rewards. This place cost around $12 and was fine for one night pre-birding and 2 nights post birding. It’s right in the middle of the night bazaar and there are lots of small spas to get a massage. In a later post, I will go into how we spent our 2 post-birding days.

Our first birds in Thailand, these little bulbuls on the Spirit House.

Having a suit tailor made is a good idea while in Chiang Mai. Order your suit before you go birding, then go back for fittings afterwards. This Armani shop was the cheapest in the night bazaar and did a good job on my suit.

After ordering my suit, we took a tuktuk to the airport to get the car and headed off to Doi Inthanon.

Hotel Review: Intercontinental Resort Tahiti

Posted on September 2, 2014 by Tara

Sadly our trip to French Polynesia was over. We had seen some amazing birds on Ua Huka and Rimatara and now we were heading home. Our flight left at 7:30am so we needed a hotel near the airport and preferably available on points. The Intercontinental Tahiti Resort fit the bill perfectly. Rooms cost 40,000 points which is a decent value and this is a pretty spectacular “airport hotel”!

It is easily reachable from downtown or the airport on any Outamaoro bus. They drop you right at the driveway and you just walk down to the entrance.

My platinum status (courtesy Chase IHG Mastercard) got us upgraded to an ocean view room!

Small turtle pond in the garden

Overwater bungalows. I didn’t seek an upgrade to these as it was only an overnight stay with check out at 4:30am.

Lagoon and overwater bungalows

Watching the sunset by the swimming pool

Happy hour!

Planes coming in to land

Cabana boy with conch shell

The next morning we were up at 4:00am and checked out around 4:30-ish. The one thing I don’t like about visiting French Polynesia is the uber-early morning flights! We walked out to the main road, prepared to walk with our backpacks to the airport. A bus came along and we flagged it down. No need to pay $25 for a taxi to go a couple kilometers! Check-in wasn’t too crowded so we quickly checked in and passed security.

We were in economy so no lounge for us, the main terminal is pretty comfortable anyway. Goodbye French Polynesia and keep looking after your birds!

Motel Review: Tahiti Airport Motel

Posted on July 15, 2014 by Tara

Tahiti Airport Motel isn’t an eco-lodge by any sense of the word, however unless you have enough IHG, SPG or Club Carlson points, you will will probably find yourself staying here in between flights to the amazing Polynesian islands where you find the rare birds.

This is how close it is to the airport – literally right across the street and up a short hill. I have to admit giggling over the Trip Advisor reviews where people say they paid over $20 for a taxi to come here! In this photo, we have just come out of the terminal and there it is, you can’t miss it!

Follow this little side street (note the mural) up the hill to the reception.

Since I always want to earn more miles if possible, I used Rocketmiles to book this hotel. There was a promo running last month and I got 3000 bonus miles which posted very promptly so I am am very impressed with the service! If you join using my links (the 3000 mile bonus one may not be working when you read this), then you and I both get 1000 miles bonus!

Prompt point posting from Rocketmiles!

The rooms were in nice bright colours, clean and had free wifi so I quickly caught up my emails. I was so paranoid about missing our expensive flight to Ua Huka, I set 4 alarms – my phone, my husband’s phone, the clock in the room and the wake up call from reception! All went well, actually my iPhone woke me but I can confirm that the reception was within 5 minutes of the time I requested the wake up call.

Breakfast officially starts at 6am but they will let you have it early if you have to check in very early to your flight. Our flight to Ua Huka left at 0630 am! It’s a simple continental breakfast but fills the spot!

Gateway City: Bangalore, India

Posted on February 6, 2014 by Tara

I briefly touched upon Bangalore as a gateway to Coorg but this will be a more comprehensive guide. Bangalore is India’s third most populous city and is known as the Silicon Valley of India because of its role as the nation’s leading Information Technology (IT) exporter. But once you get out of the urban jungle into the lush Western Ghats a far more beautiful jungle awaits you!

BANGALORE AIRPORT

Kempegowda International Airport Bengaluru is a large modern structure.

But nothing wrong with starting your birding a bit early at the food court! These photos were taken in the domestic terminal.

GETTING THERE

Bangalore (as well as all Indian cities) requires a Central Asian award. There are no direct flights from the USA, Canada or Australia so you will have to travel via Europe or South-east Asia.

STAR ALLIANCE

Thai flies from Bangkok

Lufthansa flies from Frankfurt

Singapore Airlines flies from Singapore

ONE WORLD

Sri Lankan flies from Colombo

Qatar Airways flies from Doha

Malaysian flies from Kuala Lumpur

Dragonair (Cathay Pacific affiliate) flies from Hong Kong

British Airways flies from London

SKYTEAM

Air France flies from Paris

Saudia flies from Damman, Jeddah, Riyadh

NON-ALLIANCE BOOKABLE WITH MILES

Etihad flies from Abu Dhabi (AA partner)

Emirates flies from Dubai (Qantas partner)

Air Mauritius flies from Mauritius (Air France partner)

DOMESTIC

Air India (future Star Alliance), IndiGo, SpiceJet, Jet Airways, Jet Lite

WHERE TO STAY WITH HOTEL POINTS

As one may expect, India’s 3rd largest city is well supplied with chain hotels you can book with points. Pay close attention to the location as you can get stuck in traffic for hours!

Best Western – 3 hotels ranging from 12,000 – 16,000 points

Choice – 2 hotels ranging from 8000 – 12,000 points

Club Carlson – Park Plaza – 38,000 points My review

Hilton – Double Tree Suites – 40,000 points

Hyatt – Hyatt Bangalore MG Road – 12,000 points

IHG – Crowne Plaza – 30,000 points

Marriott – 4 hotels ranging from 7500 – 30,000 points

Starwood – 5 hotels ranging from 4000 – 10,000 points

GROUND TRANSPORT

Booking buses and trains in advance can be a challenge for foreign tourists as bot Indian Rail and most bus companies require a mobile phone to set up an account. I have a more detailed post on my experiences with buying bus tickets during my recent trip. Back in 2011, I was able to book trains online with Cleartrip. It seems they changed the procedure so you now have to get an account with IRCTC.

TO & FROM THE AIRPORT

There will be prepaid taxis available at any time your flight comes in. See more information and approximate fares here. You’d be looking at 600-800ish rupees.

There are also Vayu Vajra airport buses but only a very few run through the wee hours when flights tend to come in. See the website for schedules and fares which are very cheap. We ended up jumping on the first one that was going downtown (just after midnight), then getting an auto-rickshaw to our hotel. Local people know the approximate fares for taxis and auto-rickshaws but for tourists it is best to ask someone what they would pay to go someplace and bargain to the best of your ability!

WHAT TO DO & SEE IN BANGALORE

Bannerghatta Wildlife Sanctuary – detailed report coming tomorrow. Located in Bannerghatta National Park.

Lal Bagh

Government Museum

Karnataka Folk Museum

Kempegowda Museum

Shopping areas – Chickpet & MG Road

Gateway City: Las Vegas

Posted on December 23, 2013 by Tara

Yes, you read that right. Sin City is more than a place to gamble away your life savings (hopefully not) and see Elvis impersonators. Vegas is an ideal gateway airport, especially after returning from Central or South America on Copa Airline’s direct flight from Panama, especially if you are a US citizen.

We were in economy and the majority of the passengers seemed to not be (USA) Americans. Since I had booked these flights so far in advance, I had selected seats as far to the front as I could, row 9. Having only carry-on backpacks meant that we were off and running. When we reached immigration, I told them we had 1 American and 1 Australian with an ESTA and we were directed to the US Citizens line and were through in minutes. There is a shuttle to the rental car building in which all car rental companies are housed.

Las Vegas (LAS) has very few international flights landing so you don’t find the congestion you do at larger airports with lots of international flights such as LAX, JFK, IAH, MIA. Most of the other international flights originate in Canada so they will usually have done pre-clearance in Canada. There are several flights from Mexico, Condor flies from Frankfurt, Korean Airlines has one from Seoul, British Airways & Virgin Atlantic fly from LHR (possible use of Ultimate Rewards points).

Since our final destination was my Mom’s place in central California, I also thought the driving would be easier than taking the heavily trafficked 405 to 101 from LAX. Having a stopover in Vegas opens up some nice opportunities for free accommodation and oddly enough the best choice isn’t using standard hotel points unless you are chasing status on Hyatt with their MLife partnership.

GETTING FREE ROOMS IN VEGAS

If you are a high roller, you have other means of getting free rooms and probably already know about them. This is meant for the casual visitor who is just getting back from an eco-tourism trip and wants to chill for a day or two.

The major hotel chains do have properties in Vegas but this is one time I don’t advise you to use them as they are in most cases inconveniently located off the Strip. I did have a Chase free night certificate to spend and since we were there on Labor Day weekend, I couldn’t get the Venetian or Palazzo so we ended up at the Holiday Inn Desert Club Resort. The rooms were nice, like 1 bedroom apartments but the location was terrible! They supposedly have a shuttle to the Strip but we couldn’t make it work with the show (Ka) and buffets we had planned and I didn’t want to drive since I knew I would be drinking so we got stuck using taxis.

Not to worry, free hotel rooms, buffets & shows on the Strip can still be had for free if you don’t mind Facebook games!

There is a silly Facebook game called MyVegas that I found out about over a year ago. It’s free and fairly painless to play. Every few hours you can refill your chips and gold coins. You can see by the Santa on the left that I took this screenshot around Christmas time. They have sub-games that vary by time of the year. See their fan page for free chips and updates. You should also join the MyVegas Guides group to learn more details about rules, strategy, free chips and game play.

You increase your chips, levels & gold coins by playing slot machines. Contrary to what you read on Facebook, you do NOT need to add strangers as friends. My husband and I got our awards (buffets, KA tickets, free drinks) with only each other as friends.

Since we won’t be back in Vegas for a while, I just cruise by daily to get my free daily spin. When they have double XP days, I play the game in the background while I am otherwise occupied online or watching tv so it isn’t wasting my time.

If I had known about this in advance, I would have planned our quickie visit during the week, as it was we were there over Labor Day weekend so did the best we could. Since I do plan to go back to Central & South America (Peru & Bolivia in 2016) and will do the same thing, enter the USA via that Copa flight to Vegas, I am still collecting more chips. Next time, we will use them on free hotels & buffets. More money in our pockets means more to spend on eco-tours!

Hotel Review: Courtyard Panama At Metromall Mall

Posted on December 20, 2013 by Tara

Courtyard Panama at Metromall Mall is a good place to stay if you have an early morning flight as it’s a straight shoot down Av Domingo Diaz to the airport.

Since Panama City (PTY) is the hub airport for COPA and a solid Star Alliance connection, many people will find themselves in need of an overnight near the airport. It’s a decent 3 star hotel and a bargain using 10,000 Marriott Reward points. Since I had points from a Facebook game in 2012, I thought this was a good use of them.

Beware of taxis which can be a rip-off $15 or even more coming from the airport. You can get a bus from the bus stop across the street from the hotel (use the bridge over the highway) for $1. Normally you need a bus pass which would bring the ride down to .40-.50 cents but it’s hard to find them so we just offered locals who had bus passes $1 each to get us on board. It would be really nice if this hotel would offer a free airport shuttle but they don’t.

The hotel is next door to a large modern shopping centre with a supermarket if you need to stock up on drinks. There is a food court with all kinds of cuisines on offer at reasonable prices. It has a swimming pool which we didn’t have time to use and free wifi with an average speed.

I would only recommend this hotel as a pre-flight stay as there are much nice places in Panama City, let alone the Radisson Summit near Soberania National Park! But since many flights do leave early in the morning, it may come in handy. Trip Advisor reviews seem to also agree the hotel serves it’s purpose as an airport hotel but nothing to get excited about.

If you are on a points stay, breakfast won’t be included. We used United Club passes to get into the Copa Club for continental breakfast.

If you don’t have Marriott points and are looking for a reasonably priced cash stay, also consider the Riande Aeropuerto Hotel which is a bit closer to the airport, has a free shuttle and has more attractive grounds (that look like they may attract birds)!

Gateway: San Jose, Costa Rica

Posted on December 9, 2013 by Tara

San Jose, Costa Rica is a pleasant enough city but it pales in comparison to the many delights to be found elsewhere in the country. There are lots of hotel chains here so good opportunities to use your points but please don’t hang around the city just because there are some good Pointbreaks! Get out there and see Costa Rica!

GETTING THERE

You will need a Central American award ticket and all the major alliances have flights to SJO.

STAR ALLIANCE

United Airlines has flights from Chicago, Houston, New York & Washington

US Airways (due to merge with AA in early 2014) has flights from Charlotte

Air Canada has flights from Toronto

Copa has flights from Guatemala City, Managua, Panama City, San Pedro Sula & Tegucigalpa.

Avianca-Taca (incl Lacsa) has flights from Bogota, Caracas, Guatemala City, Lima, Managua, Mexico City, Miami, Panama City, San Pedro Sula, San Salvador & Tegucigalpa.

ONE WORLD

American Airlines has flights from Dallas New York & Miami

Iberia has flights from Madrid

SKYTEAM

Delta has flights from Atlanta & Los Angeles

Aeromexico has flights from Mexico City

GETTING TO & FROM THE AIRPORT & AROUND TOWN

Of course taxis are always an option and once you are in town they are reasonably cheap, around $3-5 in Colones. You can also use the Alajuela bus to get from the airport to the Alajuela terminal for around $1, then use a taxi to your final destination. If you have arrived from elsewhere in Costa Rica, all bus lines will finish here. You may need to change terminals to go elsewhere in Costa Rica.

When leaving Costa Rica, be sure to save enough cash to pay the departure tax. You could use a credit card but it will post as a cash advance. Be careful with the ATMs as some of them have low maximum withdrawals of $400 so if you need more than that you have to do multiple transactions.

The duty free & shopping area in the airport as you depart have a nice variety of shops selling the usual duty free booze, cigarettes, perfumes and some nice handicrafts. There were some sales on the jewelry, buy 2 get 1 free. I was a good customer here!

WHERE TO STAY ON POINTS

As you may expect with a large capital city, San Jose is well supplied with chain hotels at reasonable prices. Unless you get a really good deal on a city hotel, I would stay near the airport for convenience.

CLUB CARLSON

Park Inn – 38,000 points

Country Inn & Suites – 9000 points

HILTON

Hampton Inn & Suites by Hilton San Jose-Airport – 30-40,000 points

DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Cariari San Jose – Costa Rica – 20-30,000 points

HYATT

Hyatt Place San Jose/Pinares – 8000 points

IHG

6 options including a Holiday Inn Express near the airport for 15,000 points and an Intercontinental for 30,000 points.

MARRIOTT

Courtyard San Jose Airport – 15,000 points

STARWOOD

Aloft San Jose – 7000 points

Sheraton San Jose – 7000 points

We only spend one night here at the Park Inn because there was a mistake rate posted on FlyerTalk for 5000 points. Otherwise, we would have stayed at either the HIX or Hampton Inn near the airport.

WHAT TO DO IN SAN JOSE

(Emphasis on things of interest to birders)

Visit the Ara Project at Alajuela if they haven’t moved to Punta Islita yet.

Visit parks to see Crimson-fronted Conures frolicking in the trees.

Wet parrots near the Hampton Inn

The next morning was nice and sunny so we saw dry Crimson-fronted Conures & a few pigeons near the Alajuela bus station.

Gateway: Flores, Guatemala

Posted on October 18, 2013 by Tara

Flores is a very attractive little town and if it weren’t for the fact that Tikal is so amazing, we probably would have spent a night here. The good news for Star Alliance (especially Lifemiles) members is that Taca has flights to/from Guatemala City twice daily making it very easy to access this charming town. Use the Central America award chart to see how many miles you need. The alternative is an overnight bus to Guatemala City and while I have done this in my younger days (and even last year in Brazil) I would really prefer a good night’s sleep! Linea Dorada and Autobuses del Norte operate this route for around $25-ish.

There are no chain hotels here so you can’t stay here on points. There are all kinds of small, local hotels that looked pretty nice and would do just fine if you can’t/don’t want to stay in the Tikal park. Trip Advisor has the best list, unfortunately I didn’t stay at any of them to make a personal recommendation.

When we checked out of the Tikal Inn, we used their free shuttle that lets people off at either the airport or at the edge of the town. We loved the cobblestone streets, Guatemalan architecture and poking around the craft shops!

We had dinner at this restaurant and the food was excellent! I went for the pork tacos, my less adventurous husband stuck with a hamburger.

After dinner, we hopped in a “tuk-tuk” to get back to the airport. It cost less than $5 and took less than 10 minutes.

Security was making everyone open their bags for a manual inspection so be sure to allow enough time in case there is a line. We only had these little carry-on backpacks.

I love that they had a conservation charity box to help wild birds in the departure area! I put in most of our left-over cash, just keeping enough for a taxi to the Radisson in Guatemala City in case the shuttle didn’t show up.

Perth – Gateway To Western Australia

Posted on June 12, 2013 by Tara

It’s no wonder that Australia is high on the wish list of eco-tourists, especially those who wish to see lots of parrot species and many other birds too. And don’t forget Australia’s amazing mammals such as kangaroos, koalas and wallabies (not the rugby playing ones)! Australia is a huge country and you won’t be able to see it all in one go if you have the usual 2-4 weeks annual leave so you need to break it up into separate trips. In this series, we will be looking at Western Australia and some of it’s best eco-tourism hotspots. Perth is a great place to start your birding/eco-travel adventure and if you have miles and points you can save a bundle!

GETTING TO PERTH

Perth is the only international airport serving Western Australia. There are several options for using your miles to get from your home country to Australia. Perth specifically is served by:

STAR ALLIANCE

Air New Zealand – Auckland

Singapore Airlines – Singapore

South African – Johannesburg

Thai Airways – Bangkok

ONE WORLD

Qantas (home carrier) – Singapore,

Jetstar (Qantas affiliate) – Jakarta, Denpasar

Cathay Pacific – Hong Kong

Malaysian – Kuala Lumpur, Kota Kinabalu

Qatar Airways (future One World) – Doha

SKYTEAM

China Southern – Guangzhou

Garuda (future Skyteam) – Jakarta, Denpasar

NON-ALLIANCE AIRLINES

Virgin Australia – Phuket

Emirates – Dubai

Air Mauritius – Mauritius

DOMESTIC ROUTES

The only two airlines you are likely to be able to redeem miles on are Qantas and Virgin Australia. Here are their route maps with their domestic connections.

QANTAS

Qantas routes to Perth

VIRGIN AUSTRALIA

Virgin Australia routes to Perth

WHERE TO STAY ON POINTS

Parmelia Hilton – 60,000 and up, varies by season and room

Hyatt Regency Perth – 12,000

Four Points by Sheraton (SPG) – 12,000

Holiday Inn Perth City Centre (IHG) – 35,000

Crowne Plaza Perth (IHG) – 40,000

Comfort Hotel Perth City (Choice) – 30,000

Comfort Hotel Wentworth Plaza (Choice) – 20,000

BEST OPTIONS IF YOU ARE PAYING CASH

Accor Hotels – Quite a few but unless you use these properties a lot you would be better off using Pointshound to book these or any other independent hotel of your choice. All else being equal, I would choose a hotel based on location and proximity to public transportation.

Miles To The Wild

Create unforgettable eco-tourism and birding adventures using miles & points!

Tag Archives: gateway city

Gateway City: Cape Town, South Africa

GETTING TO CAPE TOWN

WHERE TO STAY ON HOTEL POINTS

SPG

CLUB CARLSON

HILTON

MARRIOTT

WHAT TO SEE IN CAPE TOWN

Chiang Mai As An Eco-tourism Gateway

TRANSPORTATION

ACCOMMODATION

Hotel Review: Intercontinental Resort Tahiti

Motel Review: Tahiti Airport Motel

Gateway City: Bangalore, India

BANGALORE AIRPORT

GETTING THERE

WHERE TO STAY WITH HOTEL POINTS

GROUND TRANSPORT

TO & FROM THE AIRPORT

WHAT TO DO & SEE IN BANGALORE

Gateway City: Las Vegas

GETTING FREE ROOMS IN VEGAS

Hotel Review: Courtyard Panama At Metromall Mall

Gateway: San Jose, Costa Rica

GETTING THERE

GETTING TO & FROM THE AIRPORT & AROUND TOWN

WHAT TO DO IN SAN JOSE

Gateway: Flores, Guatemala

Perth – Gateway To Western Australia

GETTING TO PERTH

WHERE TO STAY ON POINTS