Trip Reports

Honestly still pretty upset thinking about this. My family flew Buffalo to Chicago yesterday on the way to San Diego for my daughter’s spring break. My job is extremely stressful and my husband rarely gets time off, so this trip meant a lot to us. The first leg started going...

Just flew Frankfurt → Dubai → Bangkok with Emirates and the trip was surprisingly normal despite all the recent news. Check-in in Frankfurt opened about 4 hours before departure, no special procedures and no real queues. The Frankfurt to Dubai flight was very empty, maybe around...

Just got back from 10 days in Kyushu (8 full days there, 2 in Tokyo for flights). Mid 30s female, third time in Japan. Went north to south: Fukuoka → Nagasaki → Kumamoto → Kagoshima. Overall, way less stressful than Tokyo/Kyoto/Osaka. Fewer foreign tourists and I went off peak....

I went in a little nervous because of all the usual talk about rude locals, pickpockets everywhere, crazy expensive food. Honestly, my experience was the complete opposite. Everyone I interacted with was polite and helpful. One woman even offered to take my photo when I was...

Flew the new A321XLR last month JFK to LAX. I’ve done the old A321T a bunch and was pretty excited to try the Flagship Suite, but honestly it left me a bit meh. The cabin feels tight. The aisle is super narrow and it’s awkward when people are walking through with bags. I...

Just boarded and wow… Southwest does not seem ready for assigned seats. Boarding took way longer than usual. I paid $65 on a 45 minute flight to sit in row 3 and got Group 2. Fine. But there’s clearly not enough overhead bin space for the front rows now that people can lock in...

Just wrapped up about 35 days traveling solo almost entirely by Amtrak. Started and ended in the Midwest, hit the Northeast, Pacific Northwest, and the Rockies along the way. Roughly 8,200 rail miles total with surprisingly minimal delays. Routes included Hiawatha, Floridian,...

Just flew Toronto to Delhi in Air India business class today and wanted to share a different perspective. No major complaints. Food was excellent, which has always been a strong point for Air India in my experience. Crew were genuinely nice and friendly. Seats fully reclined and...

Snowstorm in Philly canceled our original AA flight to Punta Cana. Rebooked for the next morning, which felt hopeful for about five minutes. Got to the airport early only to find our concourse check-in closed. Had to go outside, in the snow, to another terminal just to get...

Showed up at the gate at DFW thinking my AA flight was on time. Right then they tell us they’re short two flight attendants and delay us three hours. That three hours turned into 12. Every 30 minutes the departure time slipped again, with no sign that a crew was actually coming....

Stayed 2 nights at Alila Ventana in January and figured I’d add a fresh data point since other trip reports helped a ton when planning. Booked 45k per night a couple weeks out and somehow snagged a Fri/Sat on a long weekend. Seems like weekends drop with 2 night minimums and...

EP here and I picked the two SWUs at 175k last year, even though I don’t usually fly super long routes. Just got back from a trip to Kilimanjaro and this one absolutely worked out. Flew AA metal to Doha instead of Qatar specifically so I could use the SWUs. Applied them both...

Flew CLT to MIA last night and on approach the captain did the usual descent announcement, then signed off with “thank you for defying gravity with us today.” Caught me off guard in a good way. Thought it was awesome and honestly kind of refreshing. Never heard a captain say...

Was at LAX today and overheard a guy at the counter arguing with a Delta agent about his own booking. He was flying LAX to JFK to NBO and didn’t realize his layover in JFK was overnight. Kept asking why Delta would let him book a flight like that. The agent calmly just kept...

Currently on the Quark World Explorer heading back across the Drake after Antarctica. First cruise ever for me, so no real baseline, but figured I’d share while it’s fresh. We paid about $16.2k per person for a suite on deck 6, which also included camping. Added a paddle board...

Not today but two days ago. My partner and I were exhausted after hosting family all week, so we decided to get takeaway. She wanted Turkish, but the order came to £70+. I said KFC would be way cheaper, which turned out to be a big mistake. I picked up the food, ate a bit in the...