by Lufthansa Flyer | Nov 26, 2011 | Uncategorized |
Hello all!
First off, I want to thank ALL OF YOU for your ideas. I was humbled by how many people replied with their great ideas. Your ideas could easily fill a Guide Book!
One obvious realization is that 1 full day in Hong Kong is NO WHERE NEAR ENOUGH! Seems like 5-7 days would just start to scratch the surface of this great city. This being my first trip to HKG, it will serve as an advanced scouting mission for what I’m sure will be a return trip in the not too distant future.
To arrive at the winning ideas, I had to factor in the time that I have available, the locations and travel time, hours of operation, etc. I tend to be a “hit and run” traveler when I go on mileage runs trying to squeeze in as much as possible during the short time that I am at a destination. From the 43 ideas that I received, I chose 3 covering different themes. One for Food, one for Shopping and one for Sightseeing. So without any more rambling, here are the winning ideas for my itinerary:
Shopping Winner: Buy Chinese Porcelain for Mrs. LufthansaFlyer – Mrs. LHFlyer has quite the Asian Antique collection (jade incense burners, silk paintings, authentic porcelain dolls, etc.). Bringing back something to add to her collection will make me a hero! An initial “Google” search suggests antique shops on Hollywood Rd, and “cat” street? We’ll see what I come up with!
Food Winner: Wonton Noodles at Tsim Chai Kee. After watching countless Bourdain and Zimmern episodes showing them eating authentic noodles, I’m grateful that I have a specific place that I can try. I know several of you suggested various noodle shops, but this one just sounded “right”. And after “Googling” it, I found that Mak’s is across the street so I can see why Bourdain liked it so much.
Sightseeing Winner: Nature Walk @ Victoria Peak Garden. This was a tough category to decide. I loved the idea of the NP360 Tram, but with time constraints, I couldn’t see doing it on this trip though its at the top of the list for my return trip. I love to take pictures when I travel (took over 2000 on our recent 9 day trip to Italy) so Victoria Peak Garden sounds like a great idea. I also like the fact that the Peak Tram starts service at 7am so I can get up there early, walk around a bit, take some great pictures, and be back in Kowloon mid-morning for a Tailor appointment. The early weather forecasts are suggesting sunny weather for my visit, so thats encouraging. I know some of you suggested the Peak Tram, but the idea of the additional hike to the Garden was the “tie breaker”
To the winners, I’ll bring back a souvenir from HKG as a thanks for taking the time to help me plan part of my trip to HKG. If you have an idea of what you would like to see as a souvenir, please let me know but please be reasonable!!
Again, thanks to everyone for suggesting their ideas and for reading my new blog project. Please visit often, or subscribe to be kept informed of other contests and travel related news. I’ll put up my trip report shortly after I return. The only thing left for me to do is keep offering sacrifices to the upgrade gods in the hope that my upgrade clears!
by Lufthansa Flyer | Nov 26, 2011 | Trip Reports |
Due to the amount of time we spent in Rome, and the amount of pictures I took on our trip (over 2000) this report will be heavy on the photo side. By the way, if you are looking at DSLR’s I strongly recommend the NIKON D7000….brilliant camera!
This Report is going to cover our Visit to The Colosseum, Palantine Hill and The Roman Forum. These parts of Rome are located adjacent to each other so I figured to focus on this part of Rome first. Most of this trip report will be photographs. I think in this case the pictures tell the story better than I ever could!
Our first full day in Rome, we decided to visit the “Trademark” Roman Sites. So our first stop was The Colosseum. What surprised me was the fact that its in a fairly busy part of the city and has one of Rome’s busiest streets pass right next to it. I’ve only ever seen the Colosseum in Photos or Television, so this put it in a different persective. I was also expecting it to be bigger, but thats just my preconceptions again.
Here is the Exterior:
Walking Uphill Toward The Colosseum
West Side of The Colosseum
We found out that all the “pock” marks in the Facade (the photo above) were mounting points for ornate stone and marble works. Apparently these pieces have been removed and are displayed in Museums throughout Rome. They were removed to safeguard them from theft.
Street View
Other Exterior Images:
One Of My Favorite Photo's I've Ever Taken.......
Of Course The Ducks Wanted A Picture Taken......
After standing in queue for 15 minutes and spending a few Euros, we were inside The Colosseum. The Interior was interesting. I was expecting to see more of an arena in the middle, the kind where you see Gladiators battling it out with Lions, etc. Fortunately it was not very busy, so the photo’s aren’t full of other tourists.
After finishing up at the Colosseum, we went to visit the Palantine Hill Area. Palantine Hill is next to the Colosseum, and its main entrance is approximate 300-400 yards/metres from the Colosseum. Palantine over looks the Roman Forum on one side, and Circus Maximus on the other side.
Palantine Hill is though to have been the original home of the first Romans. Excavations at the site suggest that it had been inhabited as early as 1000 B.C. During the peak of the Roman Empire, Palantine served as a home for the most affleunt and powerful Romans. For more information on the history of Palantine Hill, you can click HERE to be taken to the Wikipedia site.
Here are a few pictures from Palantine. Some of the views were fantastic!!
View of the Forum from Palantine Hill
Another view from the top of Palantine Hill
Typical structure found on Palantine Hill
The last part of this trip report covers the Roman Forum. The Forum is placed in between Palantine Hill and The Colosseum and was home to ancient Rome’s most important government buildings during the years of the Roman Empire. Most of the ruins have been left in place, with many pillars, marble blocks, etc scattered throughout. Some temples and arches had survived, but most lay in ruin.
Visiting these 3 parts of Rome is easy, and you can easily do it within a half day. Since their proximity to each other is so close, there’s no problem in getting around. The Forum was in my opinion the most interesting part since you were able to touch and feel the ruins. It was no problem to sit on a fallen column or other fragment from the ruin.
In my next “installment” I’ll cover more of what we did in Rome which included the Trevi Fountain, The Palladium and Trastevere (where we stayed) and a few other stops along the way.
by Lufthansa Flyer | Nov 25, 2011 | Uncategorized |
Was reading up on some changes to SuperFly.com and thought the changes are worth sharing with you. I discovered most of this today, so apologies if some of this information is not new.
Superfly was launched about a year ago, designed as a basic airline fare search engine. Now, it has the ability to break down your fare to show you what your miles are worth based on the fare you are paying. The site takes into account your elite status so it automatically calculates the value, per mile, of the fare that you searched for. For example, I searched for a fare from GRR to SNA and the search engine returned the following information and fare breakdown:
GRR-SNA was quoted at $388 R/T. It broke down the value of the fare into the fare’s “value proposition”.
Quoted from fare search: (this is just a copy/paste of text, the site is far more grapichs rich)
The price of this ticket is $338. The cost includes most taxes in fees. This is the amount your credit card will be charged. You will have the opportunity to confirm this payment on the checkout page of the booking site.
The value of the rewards is $107. This is the personal value of the rewards you would receive from purchasing this ticket. We calculate it by multiplying the distance you fly and the your personal base value of a mile or point and adding in any class of ticket bonus, elite status multiplier and any minimum miles per leg.
The total value of the ticket is $231. This is the value of the ticket for you. It combines the cost of the ticket and the value of the rewards. Remember, the cheapest ticket, rarely offers the best value.
I love how the breakdown takes into consideration your Elite Status. It also returns the search results sorted by your Frequent Flyer Program so its less sorting on your part.
When you first sign up for Superfly.com (it’s free!), you can select your Airline and Hotel Loyalty programs, and Superfly will log into those programs on your behalf to determine how to breakdown your fare’s value.
I thought this is a great way to look at what you get as an Elite Flyer in your Loyalty Program. Until now, I have been a big fan of Kayak.com, but after playing with SuperFly.com, I think its time for a change.
