Waiheke New Zealand, Ocean Side of Bora Bora and Skymiles Transatlantic - My Week in Travel for September 7

Last updated on November 26th, 2016 at 12:34 am

This weekend I made the executive decision to separate the Podcast from the weekly recap. Why? Because they both take a decent amount of time to produce, and have separate intentions. The podcast is going to be just that – exclusive audio content that I deliver talking about whatever travel topic is on my mind. It is free form and free flowing, opinionated and topical to our travels.

The weekly recap is more concrete and fact driven. These are simply the facts about what we have done over the week when it comes to travel. Breaking the two out will allow me to give each their own focus, rather than trying to cram everything into one post on Saturday morning and then doing each of them half-arsed before going out and enjoying our travels.

That is really the issue I am facing here: to keep this blog updated, while also enjoying our surroundings.

As I mentioned yesterday, we are currently on Waiheke Island in New Zealand. This island has a year-round population of 12,000 people, but swells to 70,000+ people during the New Zealand summer (December/January). Right now the island is fairly empty, and we have our run of the tasting rooms at each winery we visit.

The exchange rate between NZD and USD is tremendous right now. 1 NZD = $0.62, yet everything is priced like what you might see in America. I love it when exchange rates work to my favor. I remember visiting New Zealand in 2011 and thinking that it was expensive. In 2015? We are living quite comfortably, but staying within budget.

Not sure that I see anyone talking about it, but the favorable exchange rate of the US Dollar is the best thing going in travel right now. In Europe, New Zealand and surely other countries, you can get so much more bang for your buck!

Now is the time to travel. Not just because of exchange rates, of course. Now is the time to travel, because you never know what the future could hold.

So start traveling now!

If you are still looking at inspiration, check out all that we have accomplished in the past two weeks.

Contents show

Flight Research

We looked at creating a world tour for Mrs. Jeffsetter in November (LHR to YYZ to IAD to MYR to MDW to JAX), but plans fell through at the last minute. There may be a few of these flights coming into play, but as it stands, we only booked one flight for each of us the past two weeks.

Flight Bookings

After my two speeches in London in October, there was supposed to be another talk in Glasgow early November. But that fell through. So I needed to book tickets back to the US for November. November is when I will be teaching in Minnesota, and Mrs. Jeffsetter will be hanging with family on the east coast. We will spend a few weeks apart from each other as we take care of business, and then will join up for Thanksgiving in Arizona.

To get us back to the US, I booked separate award tickets. Mine was quite easy. I wanted to get from Heathrow to Minneapolis the fastest way possible. So I booked the only direct flight on Delta for 30k Skymiles. There was also an exorbitant departure tax + BS Delta fee that made this ticket over $300. Normally I would refuse to pay this amount, but as of now I am looking at it as a business expense. This is still cheaper than paying full price. A one-way is nearly $2k in coach.

The alternative option is a round trip ticket with a return back to LHR in the future. This would be closer to $1k and would earn miles. At this point it comes down to my need for cash. Right now I would rather pay $300 for the segment that I need vs. adding another $700 for something I may need in the future.

Since I can cancel the award ticket for a full refund, the decision may come down to re-qualifying for status with Delta in 2016. I won’t even make Silver as it stands today. That will be a hard fall from my current Platinum Medallion status.

We booked Mrs. Jeffsetter direct from LHR to IAD on Virgin Atlantic using Delta Skymiles. Fees were just about the same for the trip.

Flights Taken

Hawaiian Plumeria Lounge Review-8 — Hawaiian Airlines Plumeria Business Lounge (International Flights Only)

Since our last update, we have had several flights:

Hawaiian Business Class from HNL to PPT – Solid product, but not quite as good as Air Tahiti Nui
Air Tahiti from PPT to BOB and BOB to MOZ – Basic island transport
Air Tahiti Nui Business Class from PPT to AKL – We really enjoyed this one

Reviews of all to come, once I get a chance to upload pictures.

Flying over Taha'a Island in French Polynesia — Flying over Taha’a Island in French Polynesia

Funny observation on flying during our travels: the experience of flying has pretty much lost all of the excitement for me at this point. I am no longer giddy to fly in business class, or excited for the flights. It has become just a way to get from point A to point B. I am not sure if this is because we are flying so often, or if it’s something else. But the anticipation and excitement is not quite there at the moment.

It probably stems from carrying so much baggage and just making sure the logistics happen properly to get to our next location.

Of course, I am still extremely excited to fly Etihad Apartments in October. That is going to be amazing (and will probably ruin all other air travel for me at the same time).

We will have to see if the excitement returns once some new experiences come forward?

Hotel Research

We have booked nearly all of our hotel stays through the end of October, so not a lot of research is happening right now. Actually, we have our stays planned through early January. Planning stays in South America will be fun, and I will probably start to get serious about those bookings later this month.

Hotel Stays

We have stayed at so many hotels since the last update that the best I will do now is a bulleted list:

Intercontinental Tahiti Resort – TREMENDOUS room upgrade to brand new Overwater bungalow. Nicest hotel room I’ve ever had.
Intercontinental Le Moana Bora Bora – Aging resort, but nice Overwater bungalow upgrade. Food was expensive, facilities rather densely packed, and on the windy side of the island. Liked the hotel enough, but not worth the trip to Bora Bora to stay here.
Le Crusoe Bora Bora – One night stay when we couldn’t get a room at either IC in Tahiti on points. One room bungalow on the ocean side of Bora Bora. Extremely unique experience. Mostly positive thoughts on the property.
Intercontinental Bora Bora Thalasso Resort – This place was awesome and what you expect from Bora Bora. If we could have booked 7 nights here, it would have been all-positive for Bora Bora. You can hear a bit about my thoughts on this hotel (2 beers into it) on Episode 3 of the podcast.
Intercontinental Moorea Resort – I don’t know if I would call this place a “dump” – but compared to the service at the other 3 Intercontinental resorts in French Polynesia, this place was a dump. I would recommend that others avoid and stay at the Hilton instead.
Intercontinental Tahiti Resort – Second stay here for about 12 hours before an early morning flight to NZ. Staff here is excellent. No upgrade to overwater bungalow this time, but not expected for a short award stay. Still recommend.
Crowne Plaza Auckland – Solid city hotel in the heart of Auckland. Staying here again to bookend our Waiheke Island stay.
VRBO on Waiheke Island – Great place for the price. Comes with free use of a car to visit the wineries. Would recommend to others.

Hotel Bookings

No hotels booked, except for the Le Crusoe mentioned above.

Points Earning

We burned 105,000 IHG Points + 6 Free Night Certificates + 1 Ambassador weekend certificate for our stays in Tahiti. Almost everything was acquired via Q4 2014 and Q1 2015 promotions.

Needless to say, we did not earn many points during the past two weeks (other than hotel spend bonuses on our IHG credit card).

My 50k Membership Rewards bonus from our July applications posted, and now we are over 200k Membership rewards points.

Fun activities of the week

The past few weeks we had a lot of time in the sun, swimming, walking and snorkeling. My favorite activity was walking along the coral beaches on the ocean side of Bora Bora. That was awesome.

While in New Zealand, we have visited a fair share of wineries as well. It feels a lot like California here, for sure.

Articles that caught my interest

Where I “wasted” my 2 IHG free night certificates – I read this while sitting in my overwater bungalow in Bora Bora… found that pretty funny!

American Express Platinum $200 Airline Incidental Reimbursement – No Longer Being Triggered By Gift Cards? – Still determining if I should be worried or not.

Totals for our One-Way Neverending Trip

Map generated from Great Circle Map.

Total committed flight cost (2 people): $3,263.10 ($34,958.99 saved over retail)

Total flight cost in miles: 644,164

Average redemption value per mile: $.054 cents per mile

Total flight segments/person: 24 (3 first, 2 business, 19 economy)

Total nights booked in hotels, home stays and vacation rentals: 158

Total committed per night for lodging: $58.95

Total hotel points/flexible points used: 354,508 + 6 free night certificates + 1 IHG Ambassador Weekend Certificate