Planes, trains, and automobiles ...
In my last blog post, I shared some suggestions around how to choose an international travel destination and considerations for timing. In this one, I’ll describe my approach to the next part of my planning process, transportation – specifically getting to your destination and getting around. Let’s start with some general information and then dive into specific examples for two trips I am planning – Southwest England and Greece.
I have done a lot of traveling in my professional life and through that have developed an affinity for airline and hotel loyalty programs (particularly oneworld airline alliance and Marriott Hotels) so you will see I have a heavy bias towards them. There are other airline (Star Alliance and Sky Team) and hotel programs worth exploring (Hilton, Hyatt, Wyndham, Choice Hotels, InterContinental Hotels, Accor Hotels, and Best Western Hotels are the most widespread). I will cover suggestions for lodging options in an upcoming blog post but wanted to include some information about their affinity programs here. Of course, there are many airlines and hotels that do not participate in any programs, are part of smaller programs, or are completely independent or unique. There are three main reasons I tend to stick with these companies and their affinity programs: consistency and availability, ability to accrue and redeem benefits, and status perks. In some ways you can lose a bit of the local flavor by staying in a chain hotel but the benefits and convenience outweigh that in my view. If there aren’t these lodging options available, particularly in more rural areas, or I’m on a long trip or with a larger group, I will happily stay in an independent hotel or Airbnb or other options (for example the incredible Villa St. Maxime in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France).
Let’s explore this a little further. The three airline alliances include almost all of the major U.S. airlines directly or through other partnerships. The alliances also include a wide coverage of European, Asian, South American, and Middle Eastern airlines too, which make travel relatively seamless. Booking your travel all on one alliance makes luggage transfers and connections more integrated onto one “ticket” so there’s less to worry about. Because the airlines are in a partnership, there will be minimum standards across them so you will also have a more consistent experience and a similar level of quality. Hotel chains also have an advantage in that the experience will be the same around the world. Most hotel chains have a variety of brands (for example, Ritz Carlton and Courtyard are both in the Marriott family) so there is a large number of options to choose from with differing amenities and price points. The chains I listed above have hotels in the hundreds of thousands around the world in almost every country.
For all the reasons noted above and more, I think using airline alliances and hotel chains make good sense whether or not you participate in the loyalty programs, but the loyalty programs bring additional benefits. There are many websites dedicated to maximizing travel loyalty programs so I won’t attempt to replicate all of that detail (two of my favorite are One Mile At A Time and The Points Guy). If you are a points junkie (like me) or plan to become one, these sites are absolutely essential. As an added benefit there are often “trip reviews” on these sites which provide fantastic insights about specific hotel properties or things to do as well as reviews of seating and services on a wide variety of airlines. The benefits of belonging to a loyalty program are twofold – earning and redeeming benefits and status perks. Earning and redeeming benefits is relatively straightforward – each time you fly or stay, you earn “points or miles” and once you reach a certain number of points or miles you can redeem them for “free” flights or hotel stays. I have taken many, many trips using points and miles and it can be a useful tool to allow you to focus your travel budget elsewhere. Now, there are lots of rules, caveats, promotions, tricks, etc. to these programs so checking out the sites I mentioned above will help you a lot. If you are not a frequent traveler and not likely to rack up a lot of points and miles through your own flights and stays, there are other ways that you can accrue them, usually through targeted credit cards associated with the airlines and hotel chains.
The loyalty programs also offer various levels of membership status based on how many “eligible” points and miles you accrue. They may also include a spending qualification as well, for example you may need to spend $3,000 with the brand per year to achieve a specific status. Status levels are tiered (i.e., Gold, Silver, Platinum, Executive Platinum) and are usually good for a calendar year (i.e., in 2020 you earn status for 2021). The primary benefit of status is the perks that you may receive based on the level and the higher the level, the better the perks. Perks will usually include things like dedicated customer service lines, reduce or waived fees, opportunities or upgrades to better seats or rooms, welcome gifts, access to airport or hotel lounges with free food and drinks, etc. Obtaining and maintaining status can be challenging depending on how frequently you travel (and for status levels the opportunity to achieve them is tied to how much you travel and spend). The benefits can be substantial – I’ve gotten great use out of airport and hotel lounges (like the amazing Qatar Airways Business Class Lounge in Doha) and many, many airline seating and hotel room upgrades – but you really need to participate at the highest levels to fully realize them. Usually, the entry or mid-level tiers’ opportunity for benefits are not worth the effort to achieve the levels year after year (for example, upgrades are based on level so the entry levels rarely get upgraded).
So now, getting back to flights, almost all airlines operate using a hub and spoke model. They have various hub cities where the majority of their flights depart from and you will need to get to the closest hub to your final destination. For example, major American Airlines hubs include Dallas, Charlotte, and Chicago among others. International airlines operate the same way, Air France’s primary hub is Paris, Emirates’ is Dubai, British Airways’ is London, etc. Depending on where your flight originates, you will generally fly to a hub city and then connect on to another hub city that is closest to your destination and then on a regional flight to your final destination. Staying within the same airline alliance (as described above) will help minimize transfers. For example, let’s say you want to go from Detroit to Lyon, France – if you stick with Delta and their SkyTeam Alliance, you can fly from Detroit to Paris and then on to Lyon (Detroit is a Delta hub and Delta and Air France are in the same alliance). If you prefer American or United, you’d need possibly to fly from Detroit to Chicago or New York (their hubs) and then on to London or Frankfurt (their alliance partner hubs) and then to Lyon from there, adding one more flight to your itinerary – and more time from your vacation and more exhaustion when you finally arrive. An excellent website to help you navigate point to point travel options is Rome To Rio and Google Flights is also a good source for exploring flight options. Once you get an idea of your various options and what you prefer, I recommend booking directly on the airline websites, you often can get hotel and car rental packages there as well. An added benefit of booking directly with the airline is that you can better manage what class of service you want to fly in as well as select the best seating options that work for you. In my option, besides price, important factors when booking flights are 1) amount of time spent connecting and in the air, 2) comfort/class of service, and 3) preferred airlines. If you are traveling internationally, chances are good you will have an overnight flight. If possible, I recommend booking the night flight in business/first or upgraded economy if the airline has that option. The ability to get some decent sleep and be more refreshed when you arrive is pretty important in my book. It also can help you start the vacation in a celebratory mood if it’s your originating flight.
Consider investing in TSA-PreCheck or Clear as a way to avoid long wait times in the US. Make sure that you enter your “trusted traveler” number in the airline ticket locator so that it will be tied to your ticket. I would also highly recommend Global Entry if you plan to do even a moderate number of international trips. The convenience of skipping long Immigration lines when you return to the US is definitely worth it!
Once you arrive, you need to get to your lodging and then be able to get around locally. When you land you may be tired from the travel or a lack of sleep if you had an overnight flight, you will have luggage to manage, and you may be unfamiliar with the layout of your destination or the language. For all of these reasons, I almost always rely on a taxi, ride share or car service to get me from the airport. While it may be more expensive than taking an airport/airline provided bus or public transportation (or driving yourself with a rental car), the ease of it and the lack of stress makes it a far better choice in my book. Options for booking taxis vary from place to place but the airport should be set up to make this easy for visitors. You should be sure to book with a licensed taxi company to minimize chances of being scammed, a good blog with information about using taxis in other countries can be found here. Ride sharing (such as Uber) is also another good option to take you from the airport to your lodging as well as get around locally at your destination. Many countries have their own ride-sharing companies (like Ola in India) and Uber operates in about 70 countries.
If the trip is all city based, I would not recommend getting a rental car. They can be expensive, driving in the city can be very challenging, and parking will likely also be very expensive. On trips that are a mix of city and country destinations, depending on the country, I would recommend a rental car but I would get it as you depart the city and then return it before returning to a city. For example, if I am going to Berlin then into the German countryside and then to Frankfurt, I’d rent the car as I’m leaving Berlin and then return it as soon as I got to Frankfurt, in other words, I would not have the rental car for the periods in the cities. This will save you money and a lot of city driving frustrations. Most US-based rental agencies (Hertz, Avis, etc.) also rent internationally and there are of course many local car rental companies in most every country. I think it pays to do some searching around for prices, size of car, options like GPS or automatic transmission, and locations and hours of rental offices. Most rental car companies will have offices at airports or train stations as well as some city-based offices. Be aware too that if your pick up and drop off locations are in different cities or countries, the rental price will likely be much more expensive. You will need to be aware of local driving laws and you should get an International Driving Permit (you can get these at AAA offices in the US). You will also want to make sure you will be comfortable driving in the countries you are visiting. Do they drive on the left or the right, are drivers rule followers or not, are they generally very fast drivers, what are the road conditions like in general, etc.? There are some places I would never drive – like India for example - and some internet searching will help you understand what to expect and make choices. I also like TripAdvisor traveler forums for help with subjects like this, you can post a question with the hope of getting feedback or find existing threads on your topic of interest. If you are visiting rural areas and choose not to drive, your best bet will be hiring local cars with drivers. As an added benefit to this, you often can hire drivers who will also give you guided tours as part of the package.
I love travel by train, especially in Europe with its vast, modern interconnected system. Traveling by train is an easy and relaxing way to get from city to city and many small towns as well. Most big cities have main train stations which are centrally located and there is much less advance time needed as compared to airports. The major disadvantage of train travel is hauling all of your luggage for the duration of the trip and often trains don’t have tons of space for luggage storage. But being able to sit and enjoy the countryside on a pleasant journey is really relaxing and a convenient way to get from place to place. An excellent source of train-related advice and information is The Man In Seat Sixty-One.
And lastly related to transportation is using public transportation, which I would consider primarily subway/metro systems, buses and light rail. I feel that these options are primarily best for city-based use, though buses can be viable options in rural areas. Personally, I find traveling by bus confusing for some reason and it’s not an option I would choose very often. Subway or metro systems and light rail are fantastic ways to get around quickly and most large cities have pretty robust networks. It’s also a pretty economical way to navigate a city. Besides walking, I have found myself most often using subway/metro or taxi/ride sharing for my inner-city travel.
This was A LOT of information so let’s quickly recap:
· Getting to your destination and returning – When booking flights, keep your flights in one airline alliance and look to avoid connections where you can.
· Transportation to your lodging – Using a taxi or ride share program is the most hassle-free way.
· Getting around town – Taking the local public transport will give you many options and will likely be quickest. Taxi or ride share is a good second choice.
· Traveling between towns or in the country – Renting a car will give you the most freedom if you are comfortable driving. Train travel is a stress-free way to get from city center to city center.
My Trips This Year
For the two trips that I am planning for later in 2021, a general outline of my transportation planning is as follows:
Southwest England – Since I am based in Washington, DC. I am lucky to have a large international airport near me (Dulles International). Three airlines currently offer non-stop flights to London – United Airlines, British Airways, and Virgin Atlantic. United is part of the STAR alliance, British is a member of the oneworld alliance, and Virgin is not a member of an alliance but has a separate partnership with Delta. I found these options using Google Flights and will book British Airways due to its oneworld alliance partnership with American Airlines. I can earn points for the flight and/or use my exiting points (I currently have over a million American Airlines points) to book the flight and/or upgrade. Upon arrival in Heathrow, I’ll rent a car to explore the English countryside. Playing around with a two-week schedule, starting at the airport and returning at the train station in Penzance and booking an automatic, the price looks to be about $1000 using Europcar. You pay a little more by requesting an automatic and returning at a different location from where you picked up and two weeks is a long rental. Finally, to return to the airport, I’ll book a train ride from Penzance to Heathrow. There are a variety of booking sites as different rail companies operate in the UK, but there seem to be about 8 or 10 daily trains, taking about 6 hours and starting costs of roughly $100.
Greece – There are currently no direct flights from Washington to Greece (Athens specifically) so I would have to do at least one connection somewhere. United Airlines will be starting a Washington Dulles to Athens direct flight in July 2021. I would consider that given that my travel will be later in the fall. But I also would consider sticking to my preferred airline alliance and would likely book British Airways to London and then London to Athens. An alternative could be American Airlines to New York, Philadelphia or Chicago and then on to Athens. Within Greece, I would primarily be using taxis in Athens and other cities and the Greek train system to get around on the mainland (a prime destination is Kalabaka to see the Meteora monastery). For the Greek islands (Paros, Naxos, Santorini and Crete), Hellenic Seaways offers numerous options to get from the mainland and then from island to island. Some of the islands do have small regional airports which are served by Aegean Air. I’ve not yet fully decided on which islands to visit so once I do that, I will review sea vs air options and compare timings and price.
Comentários