Biggest juxtaposition between luxury (from points) and budget (from money)?

[alexczarn]

I do the same, for me I see a hotel room as just somewhere to sleep that i will be spending minimal time is; however the flights there are a necessary evil that I am stuck in so may as well do it in as much comfort as possible/

 

[Forg]

When I was in my early twenties, I flew to MLA in EK F. Booked using Qantas points, of course. This was back when Emirates offered the chauffeur drive service on reward tickets.

It was a warm day and I was wearing a t-shirt and jeans. Given my age and attire, I obviously looked out of place for someone flying F.

I've flown F once & only once, on a massive discount between Sydney & Auckland almost 10 years ago. Unsure how long ago your flight was, but on these flights jeans & a t-shirt was the F uniform, about 80% of seats on the EK A380 in F were occupied and only one passenger wasn't dressed similarly to me (she had the appearance/clothing & also spoke like royalty from a Pacific Island nation).

I've never had enough points for an upgrade, apart from one flight for work 16yrs ago any not-Y I've flown were bought with my own $ (and were on special ).

As for luxury accommodation ... it's nice to be somewhere nice, but if you're paying for extra amenities you'll never use then it's not that nice. In a lot of the world, extra cost does mean less fungus around the shower recess & a generally cleaner room; having never been to Japan it wouldn't surprise me if THAT isn't relevant there, but it seems to be in (for example) the UK & also in Aus. But it seems to mostly be around a more fancy foyer, or paying an extra $50/night for unlimited access to coffee & a few croissants for breakfast when you could go to a decent place outside the hotel with better breakfast for less. Dunno if I'm onboard with that.

I'd be lying if I said I was totally over J & F lounges after probably a grand total of 8 international & maybe a couple of dozen domestic visits, although the idea of them doesn't excite me like it used to. But it also weighs heavily on my mind when paying for tickets; there's rarely a lot of value, the only time I've felt I've measurably had my "money's worth" was when Virgin Blue had a short-lived promotion & were charging an extra $20 for access to their fairly-new business-class lounge even for Y fares (is it possible they had a new lounge in SYD in 2010?), I definitely consumed more than $20 in boozahol even at their buy-prices.
I suspect it depends on where you are & what lounge you have access to; SkyTeam at Gatwick wasn't any better than the general airport, whereas by comparison Incheon in general was very unpleasant & the (not so great in & of themselves) China Airlines lounges were a lot less unpleasant.

 

[rbjhan]

Personally I do enjoy some global chain hotels in smaller cities - they tend to be very new and have very large rooms. For instance, the Hyatt Centric Kanazawa or the Hilton Doubletree Nagasaki / Toyama. These are also often <$200/night so I'm happy paying for them (vs. outrageous amounts for one in Tokyo, for instance)

Well yes if you are willing to pay that's anther story.

But here we are talking about cheap hotels.....in Kanazawa and Toyama of all places, my stay there (5 different hotels) would be averaging 70 to 80 per night, I am not happy to pay $200 - I don't even budget that high for Tokyo.
Plus they all have public bath --> very important for me.

 

[Flashback]

Pretty much all of our personal travel is in J/F, but most of our on the ground travels are quite the opposite - largely as we try and travel off the beaten track as much as possible. Average £20-30/night, but sometimes push out to £50/night I care not for large chain hotels, but my stash of points is useful like in PHL in a few weeks where hotel rooms (cheapest cash option was £200/night) so redeemed 50k HH points for a room selling for £515/night. Also a very good deal at just over 1p/point value.

 

[blaz]

I’m a schoolteacher so while I can afford the occasional indulgence, more often than not when I travel I’m on a budget.

A few weeks ago I noticed availability in Emirates first class (using Qantas points) from Singapore to Melbourne, during the upcoming school holidays. I then found one solitary KrisFlyer Saver first class award from Melbourne to Singapore two days earlier. Having never travelled first class before, I jumped at the opportunity.

While I’m in Singapore, I’ll be travelling everywhere either on foot or on public transport, staying at an Ibis, and eating hawker food (though I’ll treat myself to an a-la-carte early evening dinner in The Private Room on arrival!).

This has me wondering — I’d be interested to hear other people’s stories of the biggest differences in their travels between high-end luxury, paid with points, and other parts of the journey paid with (very limited) money. Can anyone beat Emirates and Singapore First Class sandwiching Ibis accommodation, subway travel and street food?

I buy and earn frequent flyer points to ensure that my wife and I fly to and from Europe in Business class because the thought of a night time flight in sardine class just melts my brain. However, once I land in Europe, I budget $150 AUS a night . This often includes a comfortable bed and a breakfast that gets me through daylight hours of exploration. Nights are street food and an early night after 7-8 hours of walking/subway/train trips . That doesn't suit everybody, but for my wife and myself, it's heaven. This year I was able to snag a First class leg from Sydney to Singapore in BA for 50,000 points plus taxes per person (this included 2 leap frog Qantas Business class flights from Adelaide/Melbourne/Sydney) Luxury book ends with modest comfortable beds in between. For me, it is all about being comfortable with a full belly.

 

[Forg]

Pretty much all of our personal travel is in J/F, but most of our on the ground travels are quite the opposite

But surely that's about pain? I mean sleeping in a tent doesn't mean spending your whole time being uncomfortably aware of the need to squeeze your arms to your side so as not to intrude into someone else's space, and sleeping bags don't grind holes in your knees like metal seat-frames ... you can lie down in a tent, and in a tent there's nobody in front reclining into your face & stopping you from trying to entertain yourself while you can't sleep for 30hrs straight ...

 

[Flashback]

But surely that's about pain? I mean sleeping in a tent doesn't mean spending your whole time being uncomfortably aware of the need to squeeze your arms to your side so as not to intrude into someone else's space, and sleeping bags don't grind holes in your knees like metal seat-frames ... you can lie down in a tent, and in a tent there's nobody in front reclining into your face & stopping you from trying to entertain yourself while you don't sleep ...

Absolutely! That's exactly my point, just because you travel in J/F, doesn't mean you have to do the same with your on the ground arrangements. Give me a 13 hour €5 bus from the Saharan desert to Fez any day over an airconditioned, comfortable coach transfer ......

 

[Forg]

^ Note that my main take-away from that poast is the fact that "they" named a place after John Rhys-Davies' hat!

 

[Townsend]

I really wanted to go to Noma in Copenhagen when it was the best, and most interesting, restaurant in the world. We were the only guests there that night who were staying in the Youth Hostel!

 

[Forg]

I really wanted to go to Noma in Copenhagen when it was the best, and most interesting, restaurant in the world. We were the only guests there that night who were staying in the Youth Hostel!

Do you rememember when it was the best & most interesting restaurant in the world, or is this just a Tribute?

 

[Townsend]

Do you rememember when it was the best & most interesting restaurant in the world, or is this just a Tribute?

It was great. We sat down and after ordering drinks etc we were told that the first course was on the table. We were a little stunned there was only a flower pot with green things growing. It turns out that everything except for the terracotta pot was edible Including the dirt! We then ate the same type of moss that reindeers ate. Everything was harvested by the actual chefs,

It really was very interesting.

 

[Chicken]

Went to San Francisco back in October. Flew there on SQ business, flew back on China Airlines (that's Taiwan not China) business.

While in San Francisco, had dinner at Saison.

But, I did not train to International Airport station in Sydney. There was no way I was gonna pay the gate fee. I took the bus.

And from SFO airport into downtown, I took the SamTrans bus 292 , paid with Clipper card, which only costed me $2.05 one way. No way I'm gonna waste money on taxi Uber Lyft!

Always public bus or normal train to and from airports, never stupid things like Heathrow Express!!!

 

[SYD]

Went to San Francisco back in October. Flew there on SQ business, flew back on China Airlines (that's Taiwan not China) business.

While in San Francisco, had dinner at Saison.

But, I did not train to International Airport station in Sydney. There was no way I was gonna pay the gate fee. I took the bus.

And from SFO airport into downtown, I took the SamTrans bus 292 , paid with Clipper card, which only costed me $2.05 one way. No way I'm gonna waste money on taxi Uber Lyft!

Always public bus or normal train to and from airports, never stupid things like Heathrow Express!!!

The BART is a good option in SFO (if you don’t mind sharing a carriage with homeless people).

 

[n7of9]

My 'comfort' clothes are almost exclusively from KMart. I have a picture in an SQ F Suite that i don't show anyone because i look like a hobo

 

[Chicken]

The BART is a good option in SFO (if you don’t mind sharing a carriage with homeless people).

BART costs more than $2.05.

I don't care that my dinner costed me $400, I am not gonna pay more than $2.05 to go into town!!!

 

[JackMiles]

While in San Francisco, had dinner at Saison.

Holy moly, that wine list! What did you drink?

 

[fly2earth]

The BART is a good option in SFO (if you don’t mind sharing a carriage with homeless people).

Sharing a carriage with panhandlers...D'oh!

 

[Happy Dude]

Pretty much did what you're doing @Human. After budget hotelling in Jordan, did EK F from AMM to SIN, then a night in the Hilton Garden Inn and then SQ R to SYD.

My all-time favourite meals have been at street vendors. I reckon the food in the hawker centres was as good as anything I ate in TPR. The beverages on the other hand......

 

[Chicken]

Holy moly, that wine list! What did you drink?

I had a coughtail, plus a Samuel Louis Smith pinot 2021. To be honest, I didn't order matching wine, because I didn't want to end up having to stay back at the restaurant to wash their dishes (get this lame joke?)
My friend and I (2 people) total spent there was USD$796.5

The BART is a good option in SFO (if you don’t mind sharing a carriage with homeless people).

Sharing a carriage with panhandlers...D'oh!

Well, I spent a week there in San Francisco, and I never ever took taxi / Lyft, not once. Everyday was taking bus and streetcar. When public transport is $5 max cap per day (OMG cheaper than Sydney and Melbourne !!!), why take taxi???!!! I left The Independent after a gig one night, stood at a bus stop for 20 minutes after midnight waiting for the bus. Like I said, I'm not gonna pay $20 for a Lyft when I can wait 20 minutes for a free bus ride!

Pretty much did what you're doing @Human. After budget hotelling in Jordan, did EK F from AMM to SIN, then a night in the Hilton Garden Inn and then SQ R to SYD.

My all-time favourite meals have been at street vendors. I reckon the food in the hawker centres was as good as anything I ate in TPR. The beverages on the other hand......

If in Singapore, I would rather drink bubble tea than wine: cheaper and more kick in the hot weather!

 

[fly2earth]

I left The Independent after a gig one night, stood at a bus stop for 20 minutes after midnight waiting for the bus.

Some have compared the streets of SF to 18th century Paris before the advent of the toilet. How did you make it out alive without getting pissed or shat on? Enlighten me oh venerable teacher!