Tag: Sydney

What It’s Like To Travel Around The World On The Four Seasons Private Jet

In February 2015, Four Seasons started their World Tour Packages that featured travel on their own luxury private jet. This was no normal Boeing 757-200; this plane was specially designed for Four Seasons and included 52 lie-flat seats and meals prepared onboard by an executive chef.

This plane would whisk travelers on around-the-world itineraries, visiting iconic landmarks and staying at world-class Four Seasons hotels along the way. The initial response from bloggers like Ben from One Mile at a Time was skepticism about who this plane and these trips were for:

And to some degree I have to wonder how much of a market there is for this. Millionaires probably couldn’t reasonably afford this, while billionaires would presumably want a more tailored experience than a month-long journey with 50 other people and no flexibility — they can just get their own jet. Maybe they’re going after “poor” hundred millionaires?

A year later, Ben wrote another article asking if the Four Seasons plane was overrated and questioning its long term viability:

But personally I’d be surprised if this business model works long term or is expanded. I’m guessing some high end travelers are trying it once out of curiosity, but long term do you really want to drop that kind of cash on such a “rigid” trip, when you could ultimately fly better airline products and have a more customized experience for less?

Well, here we are in 2019 and Four Seasons has announced they’re getting a new plane, an Airbus A321-LR, which will go into service for the trips in 2021. So I guess they’re doing OK. But how?

I was lucky enough to get to talk to someone who’s been on a Four Seasons trip. They were nice enough to share with me the pictures from their trip and even let me read the personal journal they wrote while away (yes, people still write in notebooks, and this leather-bound book was specially provided to guests by Four Seasons for just that reason).

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Adventures By Disney: Bringing Disney Magic Around The World

The Walt Disney Company has always been trying to expand the Disney brand experience outside of their theme parks. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Disney unsuccessfully tried to build different types of theme parks with the unrealized Disney’s America concept and the Port Disney project, which eventually morphed into Tokyo DisneySea. After these missteps and the eventual failure of the DisneyQuest concept, (which eventually lead to the closing of the final location at Walt Disney World), the company smartly changed course. Instead of trying to build Disney around the world, why not take people around the world “the Disney Way?”

The first step of this initiative was Disney’s launch into the cruise business in 1998, with Disney Cruise Line. The executives noticed the success of the cruise division and looked for a way to replicate the model, but somewhere they didn’t have to build multi-million dollar cruise ships. There are iconic places around the world that people want to visit, why can’t Disney take them there. IRL.

That’s how I imagine Adventures By Disney was born. Continue reading “Adventures By Disney: Bringing Disney Magic Around The World”

This Was Easily The Best Name For A Ferry, EVER! Until…

I grew up in Staten Island, NY and so, of course, the Staten Island Ferry is near and dear to my heart. Most of the ferries are named after famous Staten Island people or towns, or those who served political office  such as Alice Austen (a photographer who also introduced tennis to the United States.), John F. Kennedy and Samuel I. Newhouse (the Staten Island Advance’s [S.I.’s daily newspaper] publisher from 1922 to 1979). But other vessels around the world are sometimes named a different way.

Continue reading “This Was Easily The Best Name For A Ferry, EVER! Until…”

Free Flights To Australia, “Leaked” 2018 Starwood Promotions, & Other Posts We Liked

From getting the OK to steal something from the plane, to how Uber & Lyft are cutting into airport profits, to some of the coolest lazy rivers anywhere, here are some stories we saw this week that we thought were interesting. We hope you will, too:

  • If you want to “steal” the salt and pepper shakers from Virgin Atlantic, The Points Guy is reporting that this week they say it’s OK. Happy holiday season!
  • View From The Wing wrote that if your name is Sydney or Houston, United may fly you to Australia for free.
  • Protect your valuables when traveling, especially in South America, because Loyalty Lobby reports that your phone could be stolen from right out of your hand.
  • Sharon and I love lazy river rides. Here’s a list of Hyatt resorts, compiled by Mommy Points, that have some great ones (and some even have Flowriders!).
  • The New York Times is reporting that ridesharing services such as Uber and Lyft are cutting into airport profits by reducing the number of people parking at the airport (apparently they haven’t checked out the parking situation at MCO recently).
  • Some details of the Starwood promotion for 2018 “leaked” this week, as per One Mile At A Time.
  • Pizza In Motion wrote about a new Google Maps enhancement that will be awesome for travelers. Problem for me is I might be a little too OCD to trust it. 😉
  • I know of friends who have MoviePass and love it. Frequent Miler wrote about a great deal on a MoviePass membership from Costco.
  • I never got into collecting Plenti points but as per Travel Codex, it looks as if the program’s days are numbered.
  • Traveling the world sounds exciting, but remember that you may be caught on a remote tropical island when the once-a-week plane is cancelled. It happened to Rapid Travel Chai.

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Act Now If You Want Two Free Nights at a Swanky Hyatt Hotel

NOTE: The offer for two free nights is no longer available. Clicking on the link will take you to the current public offer.

News started to filter out this week that Chase was going to change the sign up bonus for the Hyatt Credit Card. The current offer is:

Earn 2 free nights at any Hyatt hotel or resort worldwide after you spend $2,000 on purchases with the Hyatt Credit Card in the first 3 months from account opening.

Before applying, remember the following disclaimer:

This product is not available to either (i) current cardmembers of this credit card, or (ii) previous cardmembers of this credit card who received a new cardmember bonus for this credit card within the last 24 months.

This sign up bonus is extremely valuable because it’s good at any Hyatt. You can read posts online of how people have stayed at the Park Hyatt in Sydney (it overlooks the Sydney Opera House), or the Park Hyatt Tokyo (it was featured in the film “Lost in Translation”) or the mega-Instagrammable Park Hyatt Maldives. You know, that place with those bungalows that stretch out into the never-ending blue sea.

If you were dreaming of a trip like that, you need to act NOW!!!!

Continue reading “Act Now If You Want Two Free Nights at a Swanky Hyatt Hotel”