A Week in London and Amsterdam

Our weeklong trip to London and Amsterdam was booked with a combination of the signup bonuses from the United MileagePlus Explorer Visa card and Chase Sapphire card. We planned to spend four days in London and then take the train from London to Harwich, England where we would get on an overnight ferry to the Hook of Holland and take a train to Amsterdam.

We started off our trip by heading to Dulles extra early because I wanted to try out both the United Lounge in Terminal D where our flight was taking off as well as the Lufthansa Senator’s lounge in Terminal A. Remember that generally when traveling on a Star Alliance ticket internationally and in a premium class, you will have access to other Star Alliance lounges at the airport. Star Alliance has a great chart that shows which lounges you have access to on your trip.
Flying in United’s BusinessFirst was just like flying while lying down on the couch, I have never been quite that comfortable! We spent two nights at the Radisson Blu Mercer Street in London. The room itself was very modern with bright and vibrant colors on the bedspreads as well as the walls.

From the Radisson we headed out on the Tube for the quick 20-minute trip to the London Bridge Tube stop and our hotel for one night, The Hilton London Tower Bridge. On our last day in London we took advantage of one of the best features of Hilton Gold status, a free continental breakfast. At the Hilton London Tower Bridge the breakfast was offered in the Executive Club. They had an assortment of pastries, cold cuts, cheese, as well as bacon and eggs. The breakfast was very good and saved us some money that we could use for something else later in the day.

We took the overnight ferry from the coast of England to the coast of Holland and stayed one night at the Radisson Blu Amsterdam before flying back to Dulles on Lufthansa’s 747-400 in business class via Frankfurt.

Name:
Chris
[cguizlo on Milepoint]
www.doitforthepoints.com

FFP miles spent:
200,000 miles

Hotel points spent:
200,000 points

Approximate fees:
$400 (taxes and one night at Hilton Tower Bridge)

Airline(s) / Routing:
IAD-LHR-FRA-IAD

How booked:
Over the phone

Type of award(s):
Business class award flights

Hotel(s):
Radisson Blu Mercer Street, Hilton Tower Bridge, Radisson Blu Amsterdam

Month/year of trip:
October 2012