From the Pacific’s Miraflores Locks to the Atlantic’s Agua Clara, experience both sides of the Panama Canal plus a quick visit to Panama City on Day 10 of our trip to América Hispana.

A full day in Santiago featuring the Metropolitan Cathedral, La Moneda Palace, and a ride on the century-old Funicular to the summit of San Cristóbal Hill for Andean views on Day 9 of our trip to América Hispana.

Day 8 of our trip to América Hispana features a sunrise at Ahu Tongariki, a visit to the ceremonial Vinapu and Orongo Village, and a flight from Mataveri Airport to Santiago

Day 7 of our trip to América Hispana features a comprehensive exploration of Rapa Nui, visiting Hanga Te’e Vai Hu, the moai quarry at Rano Raraku, the iconic Ahu Tongariki, and ending with a sunset over the Pacific.

Day 6 of our trip to América Hispana involves flying from Santiago to Easter Island, settling into Cabanas Christophe, and embarking on the ‘Looking at the Stars’ tour with Mahinatur to visit Ana Te Pahu, Ahu Akivi, and the Puna Pau quarry.

Day 5 of our trip to América Hispana features a final exploration of Buenos Aires landmarks like Casa Rosada, Caminito and the Floralis Generica, followed by an evening flight to Santiago and an overnight stay at the airport.

A complete guide to visiting Iguazu Falls from Buenos Aires in a single day, covering flight details (AR1774/AR1793), park entrance fees, luggage storage, and the breathtaking walking circuits on Day 4 of our trip to América Hispana.

A detailed account of a day trip to Ushuaia from Buenos Aires, featuring a navigation of the Beagle Channel, a city bus tour, and the logistics of handling significant airline schedule changes on Day 3 of our trip to América Hispana.

A day spent exploring the heart of Buenos Aires, featuring visits to the Metropolitan Cathedral, a comic book character trail, the Museo del Bicentenario, and the iconic Obelisk on Day 3 of our trip to América Hispana.

A detailed travelogue of the journey to Argentina, including flights ET611 and ET506, a breakfast stop at the Plaza Premium Lounge in Addis Ababa, and practical advice on purchasing a SUBE card for Buenos Aires city buses on Day 1 of our trip to América Hispana.

Follow a one-day itinerary through Andorra la Vella, featuring scenic river walks, unique art installations like “La Noblesse du Temps,” and the historic Casa de la Vall.

A comprehensive day-trip guide to Gibraltar including border crossing tips, the World War II and Great Siege Tunnels, Skywalk views, and a return journey via Málaga Airport

A day-trip guide to Luxembourg City covering free public transit, historic Ville Haute landmarks, the scenic Chemin de la Corniche, and the transit journey from Barcelona to Málaga via Zurich.

A comprehensive guide to visiting San Marino from Rimini, featuring transportation tips, a walking tour of the Three Towers, and the return journey through Federico Fellini International Airport.

A high-speed day trip starting from Barcelona to Rome, covering a self-guided walking tour of major Roman sights after navigating crowds at the Vatican, ending with a train journey to Rimini.

A first-hand account of the Discover Doha Transit Tour, including visa tips, a visit to the Katara Mosque, and a relaxing stop at the Al Mourjan Lounge before flying to Barcelona.

A breakdown of a multi-segment award booking using Lufthansa Miles & More, leveraging low mileage requirements for a high-efficiency itinerary through Zurich, Luxembourg, and Málaga.

I got up early to see the morning light on Mt. Kazbek from our balcony. It was quite dark but the size of Mt. Kazbeg was evident. As the sun rose, the cloud came in and coverered the peak. × < > Once all of us were ready to leave we headed to Gergeti Trinity Church. The road was good and we were able to drive our van up there without any issues. There were not too many people around this early in the morning so it was good. The walk from the parking lot towards the church offered magnificent views of the church with the mountains in the background. ...

We left early in the morning from Kutaisi because we had a long drive ahead of us today. We fueled up the car before joining the main highway heading east. The drive was nice as we passed the Georgian countryside. As we got close to Mtskheta the exits from the highway were tricky and after some to and fro we finally joined the Georgian Military Road. We stopped at a small roadside eatery for a quick breakfast. It had been a couple of hours that we were driving and everyone was hungry. We had three types of khachapuri they had on offer and some coffee (which was from a machine and not great). ...

We left early in the morning from Kutaisi to visit the Gelati Monastery. The drive there was nice through winding roads and green hills. Unfortunately Gelati Monastery was undergoing restoration work and we were not able to see it from the inside. After spending some time, we started our drive back to Kutaisi. ...

We left early in the morning from our Airbnb in Tbilisi. The roads leading out of the city were quite crowded. Being the wrong lane led us to take an unexpected exit and we somehow ended up seeing the Former Archaeology Museum and the Saint Nino Monument. There were nice views of the cityscape from this point. We joined the highway again and continued our drive. Our first stop was the city of Gori. We parked the car near Stalin Park (3 GEL) and walked across to see it. We saw the Stalin wagon and the Stalin monument. ...

We started the day by walking down towards Liberty square and saw the Doves of Peace on the way. Liberty square was impressive and it was nice to see the central column and all the buildings around. We decided to hire one of the sightseeing cars for taking us around town for about an hour and see the major sights. Our first stop was the Opera and Ballet Theater of Tbilisi which was built in a unique, neo-Moorish style of architecture. ...

The plan for today was to drive back to Tbilisi and see Lake Sevan and Sevanavank on the way there. We picked up some breakfast from one of the kiosks below our building. As the day got brighter, the view of Mt. Ararat got more blurry. We packed and left from our Airbnb and drove north out of Yerevan a little after 10:30 AM. The drive north was comfortable and we reached Sevanavank around noon. We parked at one of the paid parking spots and then started the climb towards the monastery. ...

We got up and enjoyed the morning tea / coffee with nice views of Mt. Ararat from our apartment. We headed out to visit our first stop of the day, Khor Virap. This was a monastery and pilgrimage site with nice views of Mt. Ararat and Turkey. ...

We had breakfast freshly prepared omelettes and coffee and left for Armenia. We stopped for fuel before the Sadakhlo-Bagratashen border crossing. Our rental company had arranged for all the paperwork for crossing into Armenia and back in our van. As per the protocol, the driver had to stay with the vehicle and the rest of the passengers had to go through the pedestrian way. I stayed in the van with my passport. The officers checked the vehicle’s papers as well. By the time I got through, the others were done and waiting for me at the end of the building. We then crossed the bridge over the Debed river and arrived at the Armenian checkpost. we had applied for e-Visa for Armenia in advance. After clearing all the formalities, we stopped by at the roundabout and purchased additional insurance required for Armenia. ...

We boarded our flight from Mumbai to Almaty in the early hours of the morning while it was still dark. After sunrise, we were able to see outside our windows: parts of the world that we would otherwise never get to see. We were flying over the Hindu Kush mountain range in Pakistan. The flight was comfortable and the service onboard was good. There was a meal served inflight, and the journey was smooth. We had a long layover at Almaty before our flight to Tbilisi later in the day, so we decided to head into the city and do some sightseeing. Immigration was quick; they didn’t ask us too much since we were going to fly out again later that day. ...

I got up early so went for a walk to Jambiani beach. It was very cloudy and there was also a spell of rain when I was there. We had a nice breakfast at the hotel and then started our drive to the airport and fly back home. There was rain on the way to the airport, and it got heavier as we got closer. We were lucky that the previous few days were mostly sunny and cloudy, otherwise this whole trip would have been a washout. ...

We began our day with a nice breakfast at the hotel. We started with fresh fruits and Poached Eggs with the set menu for the day, which was a Hot sandwich with Mozzarella cheese, Visheti (local cake), Banana milkshake, Olives, and Avocado. We had booked the Private Dhow Snorkeling Tour from Jambiani on https://www.getyourguide.com/. We left from our hotel and drove south across the countryside to Jambiani. ...

We started our day with a nice breakfast at the hotel. We started with fresh fruits and that was followed by the set menu for the day which was Omlette with vegetables, Potato Pancakes, Roll with White Cheese, Toast with Butter and Jam and Avocado. × < > We had booked the Mnemba Snorkeling And Dolphin Tour from Nungwi on https://www.getyourguide.com/. We walked from our hotel to the meeting point for the tour which was opposite the Nungwi Inn Beach Restaurant. Someone figured out who were were and took us to one of the shops to try out fins as per our foot size. We had bought our own snorkeling masks so didn’t need those. We were then asked us to sit there till the rest of the people who had booked the tour showed up. ...

We started our journey for a quick trip to Zanzibar today. Our first flight would be on Ethiopian Airlines from Mumbai to Addis Ababa. I had booked a window seat for myself and an aisle seat for the wife in the last row of economy with the hope that the middle seat would remain empty. But the flight was completely full and we had a co-passenger who was assigned the middle seat. He would have agreed to take the window or aisle in exchange for his middle seat but we just decided to continue with our assinged window and aisle seats where both of us were individually comfortable. The flight was uneventful and I slept most of the time. There was breakfast service before we landed. ...

After confirming our award tickets to South America 🔗, I started looking at what else we could do. My brother-in-law had been collecting miles on Alaska Mileage Plan as well. The miles do not expire as long as the account is active. If there is no activity for 24 months, the account is locked, but the miles can still be retrieved for up to one year after that. Not knowing how many more miles he would collect and when, it made sense to use them at the right time. ...

My brother-in-law and family had been collecting miles on Lufthansa Miles & More, at my behest, or maybe coercion. The miles expire 36 months after the date you earn them and a big batch of miles was now close to expiry. I checked with them if they had any plans of using them, but they didn’t, so they asked me to use them if I wanted. Redemption on Lufthansa Miles & More was a little different than on United MileagePlus. The number of cross airline combinations which come up in the result is limited. Also, Lufthansa Miles & More passes on fuel surcharges for award tickets, unlike United MileagePlus. ...

We checked out of our Airbnb and left most of our luggage there, as we planned to return the following day. Our goal for today was to spend the day and stay overnight at Eneko Island. We started our morning with a hearty breakfast at the Tide Table Restaurant & Lounge at Hotel Robert Reimers. Bookings for visiting or staying at Eneko Island must be made through Hotel Robert Reimers. Our Airbnb host had kindly made the booking for us in advance; we settled the payment yesterday and collected our vouchers for the transport and stay. We departed from the Uliga Pier. ...

The boats to and from Arno run on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday every week. We could have gone today and come back on Friday, but since we were flying out on Saturday, I wanted to keep a buffer day in between. If the Friday boat had been cancelled for some reason, we would not have made it to our return flights. So, we decided to make a day trip today and see a little bit of Arno. ...

This was part of Pacific Islands - Day 3 🇲🇭 🔗. The Alele Museum and Public Library had many sections and exhibits and loads of information to peruse. The Marshallese are world-renowned for their “Meto” (navigation) skills, which allowed them to cross vast distances without modern instruments. There were Rebbelip (large charts covering major portions of both island chains) and Wappepe (smaller charts depicting wave patterns common to all atolls) on display. ...

After a long day of travel yesterday, we had a lazy start to the morning. Since we were five hours ahead of our home time zone, our body clocks were still catching up. We planned to explore Majuro today. We set out after lunchtime, and our first stop was the Alele Museum and Public Library. We reached it by shared taxi; the fare was USD 2 per person to go anywhere in Majuro. The taxis drive continuously along the only main road on the island, and you can flag one down going in your desired direction. ...

Our flight UA184 landed in Guam very early in the morning, around 4:15 AM. Guam is a territory of the United States. So we even for transit, we had to clear immigration and were granted entry with our B1/B2 visa for USA. Contrary to previous experiences of always having to collect bags at the first point of entry into the USA, we were told that our bags would be directly transferred to the next flight so we would not have to collect and re-check them here. ...

We left from Mumbai on TG318 for Bangkok at 11:35 PM, a little before midnight. There was a meal service onboard and the rest of the flight was comfortable. We landed on time around 5:35 AM. During transit at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport, we visited the Miracle Lounge near Gate D5 for a quick breakfast. ...

My brother-in-law and family had been collecting miles on Lufthansa Miles & More, at my behest, or maybe coercion. The miles expire 36 months after the date you earn them and some miles in two of their account were close to expiry. I checked with them if they had any plans of using them, but they didn’t, so they asked me to use them if I wanted. Looking at the number of miles close to expiry, I zeroed in on redemption to Zanzibar 🔗. We would have to book separate round-trip tickets for each of us from each account or book two one-way tickets for us together from each account. Considering that it would be better if we’re on the same PNR is there was any disruption, we decided with the latter approach. ...

I had always wanted to do the Pacific Island Hopper after reading about it many years ago. It was operated by Continental Micronesia, and after the merger, by United Airlines. One of the best and probably the only practical way to experience this was with an award redemption ticket using miles. I have been collecting miles on United MileagePlus for quite some time and this was one of the best ways to use them. ...

We started our day with a nice breakfast at the Long Hostel. The banana pancake was especially good, as was, of course, the Vietnamese iced coffee. We had booked the Mekong River Day Tour from Ho Chi Minh on klook.com. They contacted us via WhatsApp and picked us up on the main road right outside our hostel. There were a couple of other stops to pick up more people before we started driving out of the city and into the countryside. ...

After our fourth day in Bali yesterday, we had a relaxed morning and went to Aeni Spa Wana for a Balinese massage. It was nice and refreshing after the 4 days of sightseeing and activities. Coming back to the hotel, we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast. We got ready and walked to the airport for our flight to Ho Chi Minh City. It was the first time we were flying VietJet Air. The line for check-in was quite long and it took a while for us to get to the counter. ...

We got up early and walked to the beach for our “swimming with dolphins” and snorkeling tour. We had booked it with Saraswati Lovina Dolphin for IDR 500,000. We met our boat operator and we were off. At first, there seemed to be a plethora of boats all heading out to sea, but as we went further out, everyone dispersed in different directions. Soon after, we started seeing dolphins around us. ...

We got up early and checked out of the hotel; we would be coming back here after a day. Our driver arrived at the hotel at 7:00 am, and we were on our way. We picked up some breakfast and coffee to go from a Mini Mart nearby and continued to drive on. Our first stop was Tanah Lot. This is a traditional Balinese temple located on a small, rocky island. It can be accessed on foot during low tide. Again, we had the advantage of being there relatively early and avoiding the crowds. The entrance fee for the two of us and parking was around IDR 120,000 and IDR 5,000. We were able to visit a small shrine at the base, but the main shrine at the top was closed to visitors. The tide started coming in while we were there, and we could see the water level slowly rising. We also saw the Enjung Galuh Temple nearby. ...

We got up early and got ready for our second day here. We booked a car and driver for the remainder of our stay in Bali. Our driver arrived at the hotel at 6:30 am, and we were on our way. We picked up some breakfast and coffee to go from Circle K and continued to drive on. Our first stop was the Besakih Great Temple. It is the most important, largest, and holiest temple of Balinese Hinduism. The entrance fee, including the sarong rental for both of us, was IDR 180,000. Having left from Kuta very early in the morning, we had the advantage of being one of the very few visitors there. It was a huge site with multiple temple complexes to explore as we climbed higher. We got to see everything at our own pace and then headed back down. As we were leaving, we could see more and more people coming in. ...

After arriving from Singapore yesterday, we got up early for the visit to Nusa Penida today. We booked a ride to Sanur Port using the Gojek app, and it cost IDR 141,500 to get there. We reached and located the Sanur Port building and were told that we had to go to the Semabu Hills Fast Boat counter to exchange the voucher for the ferry ticket. There was a long line at the counter. The looked at the reservation details from Klook and gave us each a badge with lanyard and also a voucher for the return trip. We walked back to the Sanur Port building and then proceeded to board our ferry to Nusa Penida. ...

Our flight, SQ 423, left from Mumbai a little before midnight. We had exit row seats towards the end of the lower deck and we were able to get priority boarding thanks to my United Premier Gold status. The meal service was dinner, more than an hour after take-off. We were able to catch a little sleep and before long we were starting our descent into Singapore. ...

KrisFlyer miles generally follow a fixed-expiry policy where they remain valid for 36 months (3 years) from the month they were earned. Unlike many other loyalty programs, this expiry is not extended by account activity; even if you earn or redeem miles regularly, the old miles still expire on their original schedule. My parents-in-law had some miles on Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer from their earlier travel to the USA. These miles were now close to expiry. They had no plans to use them, so that gave me an opportunity to look at what I could do with them before they expired. ...

We got up early to get ready to pass through immigration and customs to join the transit tour from the airport. I had a great day in Istanbul 🔗 with touristanbul the last time I was here in transit. We had a quick breakfast of scrambled eggs, cheese, pastries and Turkish coffee. There were, of course, many other things to choose from, like sandwiches, a live omelette station, fresh juices, etc. But we were rushed and didn’t have the time to enjoy a leisurely breakfast. The day long tour was scheduled to depart at 8:30 AM, so we left the Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles lounge at around 7:00 AM to find a way to exit the departure level. ...

Wrapping up our last day in Iceland, we boarded our flight LH 869 to Frankfurt a little after midnight. This was a red-eye flight so we tried to get as much rest as we could as we flew south east overnight. We landed about 40 minutes late but we didn’t have a tight connection so it was fine. After landing, we headed to the Lufthansa Senator Lounge A (Schengen) for a quick breakfast. ...