The NoNames have just returned from Italy and it would be remiss of me not to report back to the forum. And so......
So the trip was a bit more localised and a bit less Griswald-ish than the first part of the title would indicate but as we all know, drawing a crowd of gawkers to ensure maximum likes is the most important part of any trip report and a catchy (sic) report title is the key first step in achieving this. Well, that’s the story I will go with anyway.
We begin in September 2016 and after giving up her destination preference to make way for The United States Of Eating, Mrs NoName wasn’t missing out – and neither was NoName Jnr! 2018 is a significant birthday for her and Italy was her present of choice. Despite a somewhat depleted points balance, her instructions were to make it happen. After 6 months of scrambling we had managed to scrape together what we needed and when May 2017 rolled around it was time to book.
After searching around for suitable award availability at various European arrival/departure points we ended up with the following:
BNE-HKG-CDG CX J (NoName taking one for the team in Y+ for the 1st sector)
CDG-NAP AF Y (using AMEX travel credit)
FCO-ZRH LX Y (using AMEX travel credit + approx $100 cash)
ZRH-HKG CX J
HKG-CNS-BNE CX J
With flights sorted the 11 month game of itinerary planning and associated arguments began. Fast forward through all of that and we came up with:
Paris – 3nts
Naples – 1nt
Positano – 3nts
Rome – 1nt
Cinque Terre (Riomaggiore) – 4nts
Lucca (Tuscany) – 3nts
Florence – 2nts
Venice – 3nts
Rome – 4nts
Zurich – 2nts
Hong Kong – 12hr transit
Flights sorted. Itinerary sorted. Still some trepidation about dragging a 4 year old to the other side of the world for a month. Oh well. And off we go!
So the trip was a bit more localised and a bit less Griswald-ish than the first part of the title would indicate but as we all know, drawing a crowd of gawkers to ensure maximum likes is the most important part of any trip report and a catchy (sic) report title is the key first step in achieving this. Well, that’s the story I will go with anyway.
We begin in September 2016 and after giving up her destination preference to make way for The United States Of Eating, Mrs NoName wasn’t missing out – and neither was NoName Jnr! 2018 is a significant birthday for her and Italy was her present of choice. Despite a somewhat depleted points balance, her instructions were to make it happen. After 6 months of scrambling we had managed to scrape together what we needed and when May 2017 rolled around it was time to book.
After searching around for suitable award availability at various European arrival/departure points we ended up with the following:
BNE-HKG-CDG CX J (NoName taking one for the team in Y+ for the 1st sector)
CDG-NAP AF Y (using AMEX travel credit)
FCO-ZRH LX Y (using AMEX travel credit + approx $100 cash)
ZRH-HKG CX J
HKG-CNS-BNE CX J
With flights sorted the 11 month game of itinerary planning and associated arguments began. Fast forward through all of that and we came up with:
Paris – 3nts
Naples – 1nt
Positano – 3nts
Rome – 1nt
Cinque Terre (Riomaggiore) – 4nts
Lucca (Tuscany) – 3nts
Florence – 2nts
Venice – 3nts
Rome – 4nts
Zurich – 2nts
Hong Kong – 12hr transit
Flights sorted. Itinerary sorted. Still some trepidation about dragging a 4 year old to the other side of the world for a month. Oh well. And off we go!
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