Topic Wiki

Points Used:

UR: 133K
MR: 40K
SPG: 90K
AA: 148K
UA: 95K
Hyatt: 4 free nights
Marriott: 146K and 2 free nights (still waiting for some points to post and then change cash res. to points)
IHG: ~130K (still haven't decided which hotel in Belgium to stay at)
Melia: 22K
BA: 4.5K
And 1 BRG :)

Desired Locations: (Strikethrough means booked)

Israel
London
Paris
Zurich

Rome (Car rental booked FCO-FLR-PSA-VCE)
Florence
Pisa
Venice
Madrid (RT train booked to Toledo)
Barcelona
Seville
(Car rental booked SVQ-GIB-SVQ)
Gibraltar
Bruges/Ghent (Belgium) (Have to book trains within Belgium and RT to AMS.)
Amsterdam

Days Scheduled in Each Location
In no order in particular...

Rome 3.5
Florence .5
Pisa .5
Venice 4.5 including Shabbos (although others said it can be done in less time)
Israel 12
Amsterdam 2
Paris 4 including Shabbos
Dublin 1.5
London 4 including Shabbos (although others said it can be done in less time)
Zurich 1 (b/c it's the United <24 hour stopover, but I'm sure there's more than 1 day's worth of activities there)
Belgium 1
(Amount of days in the different Spain cities are short and were very calculated based on suggestions, as I wanted to save any "extra" days I had for other countries.)
Madrid 1
Seville .5
Gibraltar 1.5 including Shabbos
Barcelona 1.5
« Last edited by @Yehuda on June 08, 2014, 06:26:36 PM »

Author Topic: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon  (Read 108034 times)

Offline @Yehuda

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon
« Reply #440 on: May 07, 2014, 07:05:14 PM »
On that matter what are you doing about phones during your trip?
Been discussing that here http://forums.dansdeals.com/index.php?topic=2051.400 and here http://forums.dansdeals.com/index.php?topic=33621.100
In summary: looking at TMobile $50/month unlimited data and texts in every country I'll be in except GIB (which is mostly just a Shabbos). Calls are .20/min. Looking into Google Hangouts to make calls over data/wifi for free to American and .02/min to most European landlines and .10/min to most European cell phones.

Offline shimino1

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon
« Reply #441 on: May 07, 2014, 07:53:15 PM »
Been discussing that here http://forums.dansdeals.com/index.php?topic=2051.400 and here http://forums.dansdeals.com/index.php?topic=33621.100
In summary: looking at TMobile $50/month unlimited data and texts in every country I'll be in except GIB (which is mostly just a Shabbos). Calls are .20/min. Looking into Google Hangouts to make calls over data/wifi for free to American and .02/min to most European landlines and .10/min to most European cell phones.
Go Golan

Offline @Yehuda

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon
« Reply #442 on: May 07, 2014, 07:55:06 PM »
Go Golan
That's only good for Israel correct?

Offline chucksterace

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon
« Reply #443 on: May 07, 2014, 07:58:56 PM »

That's only good for Israel correct?

Yes
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Offline Ergel

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon
« Reply #444 on: May 07, 2014, 08:00:48 PM »
Don't get a phone disconnect from the world
Life isn't about checking the boxes. Nobody cares.

Offline CS1

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon
« Reply #445 on: May 07, 2014, 08:04:25 PM »
Don't get a phone disconnect from the world
+1

( I think that he'll need to somehow confirm the next city's destination, timing, flights, and hotel rooms....)
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Offline Ergel

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon
« Reply #446 on: May 07, 2014, 08:09:31 PM »
( I think that he'll need to somehow confirm the next city's destination, timing, flights, and hotel rooms....)
Internet in the hotel?
Life isn't about checking the boxes. Nobody cares.

Offline Joe4007

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon
« Reply #447 on: May 07, 2014, 08:11:11 PM »
Don't get a phone disconnect from the world
Hey, we planned on getting a TR while he's traveling. Don't take that away from us... :)

Offline sky121

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon
« Reply #448 on: May 07, 2014, 08:12:59 PM »
Hey, we planned on getting a TR while he's traveling. Don't take that away from us... :)

Nah, I'm with Ergel. Writing down your own thoughts to remember later is great but disconnecting and just letting yourself really be and enjoy is the way to go!
"Not all who wander are lost"

Offline @Yehuda

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon
« Reply #449 on: May 07, 2014, 08:28:12 PM »
I made the nomadic suggestion to my wife. Her instant response was, "I've seen Taken."

Offline Ergel

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon
« Reply #450 on: May 07, 2014, 09:16:59 PM »
I made the nomadic suggestion to my wife. Her instant response was, "I've seen Taken."
::)
Life isn't about checking the boxes. Nobody cares.

Offline @Yehuda

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon
« Reply #451 on: May 07, 2014, 10:53:19 PM »
::)
I've seen it too. That only compounds the problem.

Although, I don't think we both need to pay for data, if companies even still sell plans w/o it.

Offline @Yehuda

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon
« Reply #452 on: May 07, 2014, 11:24:00 PM »
Also, just wanted to post here that I got the 2 car rentals I needed. I booked with SamKey from the forums who works with Chaikel. He was great to work with, put up with a million back and forth emails making changes as needed. Figured out the right way to get the cheapest price for the days I needed + a one-direction rental + underage (24) + automatic transmission.

For the Seville-Gibraltar Shabbos, I got a 3-day rental to take it on Friday and bring it back Sunday. He made the reservation for a pickup at Hertz's downtown office (about a 10 minute cab ride from my hotel) and the dropoff at the airport, which means we won't have to waste money for a cab to get to the airport Sunday morning. 3-day rental came out cheaper than a 2-day, so just hoping that when I return it a day early, they don't charge me any fees. Will obviously iy"h include that update in the TR.
Cost: $145

For the Italy excursion, I again have to thank Ergel for the idea to drive up Italy instead of training. We'll have so much more flexibility in our travels and will hopefully even get to visit the Tivoli Gardens - Villa de Este on the way out! FYI I approximately calculated the costs of trains for 2 pax Rome-Florence-Pisa-Venice + the cost of cabs to/from hotels and train stations and it really wasn't much cheaper than the rental. Should iy"h definitely be worth it for the car. This is also a 3 day rental, although we plan to use all 3 days.
Cost: $230

Total cost of the trip at this point per person: $1116.80
« Last Edit: May 08, 2014, 09:31:05 AM by jj1000 »

Offline @Yehuda

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon
« Reply #453 on: May 08, 2014, 08:12:06 AM »
Btw you can book with them at Chaikel.com/rentalcar.

Offline Yehoshua

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon
« Reply #454 on: May 08, 2014, 01:39:28 PM »
Also, just wanted to post here that I got the 2 car rentals I needed. I booked with SamKey from the forums who works with Chaikel. He was great to work with, put up with a million back and forth emails making changes as needed. Figured out the right way to get the cheapest price for the days I needed + a one-direction rental + underage (24) + automatic transmission.

For the Seville-Gibraltar Shabbos, I got a 3-day rental to take it on Friday and bring it back Sunday. He made the reservation for a pickup at Hertz's downtown office (about a 10 minute cab ride from my hotel) and the dropoff at the airport, which means we won't have to waste money for a cab to get to the airport Sunday morning. 3-day rental came out cheaper than a 2-day, so just hoping that when I return it a day early, they don't charge me any fees. Will obviously iy"h include that update in the TR.
Cost: $145

For the Italy excursion, I again have to thank Ergel for the idea to drive up Italy instead of training. We'll have so much more flexibility in our travels and will hopefully even get to visit the Tivoli Gardens - Villa de Este on the way out! FYI I approximately calculated the costs of trains for 2 pax Rome-Florence-Pisa-Venice + the cost of cabs to/from hotels and train stations and it really wasn't much cheaper than the rental. Should iy"h definitely be worth it for the car. This is also a 3 day rental, although we plan to use all 3 days.
Cost: $230

Total cost of the trip at this point per person: $1116.80
Is you cost PP only cash costs or also taking into account the value of points/miles used?

Offline @Yehuda

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon
« Reply #455 on: May 08, 2014, 01:40:09 PM »
Is you cost PP only cash costs or also taking into account the value of points/miles used?
Only cash. You can see how many miles I used in the wiki.

Offline Yehoshua

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon
« Reply #456 on: May 08, 2014, 01:56:13 PM »
Only cash. You can see how many miles I used in the wiki.
That's what I assumed.

Offline @Yehuda

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon
« Reply #457 on: May 08, 2014, 02:21:42 PM »
That's what I assumed.
Yep. 5 nights at PHP is $5000 alone. :)

Offline stbaum

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon
« Reply #458 on: May 08, 2014, 03:29:48 PM »
Only cash. You can see how many miles I used in the wiki.
but if you pay with sp you should get bonus points for that as well, no?
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Offline @Yehuda

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon
« Reply #459 on: May 08, 2014, 03:32:39 PM »
but if you pay with sp you should get bonus points for that as well, no?
I did pay with my SP for everything, so yes technically I got ~4000 points from these purchases.