This was the first time I was traveling only with my husband without our kids since they were born. We planned a big nine day long trip. The plan was to fly from San Francisco to Beijing, from Beijing to Istanbul and from Istanbul to through London back to San Francisco.
How We Choose These Cities
We first asked my in-laws to take care of the kids which was a little bit complicated because they are living in Hungary. After that we thought it would be very nice if they could have some vacation at in the American Southwest and visit the Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon and Monument Valley... So we had to buy the plane tickets using our miles for dates which matched their and our schedule. We chose the destinations for our trip such that we will visit interesting places and where our miles can be used in an optimal manner.We ended up using US Airways miles to book all four business class tickets for 400,000 miles. We flew from San Francisco to Istanbul with a stop over in Beijing, a mini round the world itinerary. Since US Airways allows a stop-over on a return ticket we could essentially go to two destinations on one trip. You can stay up to year from ticketing in the stop over location. Also, because Turkish Airlines flies direct from Beijing to Istanbul on a very well timed red-eye flight (leaves Beijing at midnight, arrives at 5:30AM and is about 10 hours long) we could essentially get to Istanbul without requiring an additional day of travel. I think we made a right decision.
About The Flights
All the flights were in business class which I definitely love. How can I not, right?
We flew with Air China, Turkish Airlines (twice) and United Airlines. The seats on every plane were very comfortable and could be reclined to a fully flat position.
Turkish Airlines is the best airline that I've flown so far. We flew with them from Beijing to Istanbul and from Istanbul to London. The first flight was during the night and our flight took off from Beijing at 12AM and it took 10 hours to get to Istanbul. The food was excellent and there was a chef on the plane too which I've never seen before. They were super nice and helpful. The Business lounge was unbelievable in Istanbul. The hall was huge with live piano music. Nobody was playing on the piano, but the keys were moving. Fresh food was served (various grilled meats), a big salad bar, and lots of drinks with a full bar.
In the next two posts you can read about Beijing and Istanbul and how I found these two totally different cities.
We flew with Air China, Turkish Airlines (twice) and United Airlines. The seats on every plane were very comfortable and could be reclined to a fully flat position.
Turkish Airlines is the best airline that I've flown so far. We flew with them from Beijing to Istanbul and from Istanbul to London. The first flight was during the night and our flight took off from Beijing at 12AM and it took 10 hours to get to Istanbul. The food was excellent and there was a chef on the plane too which I've never seen before. They were super nice and helpful. The Business lounge was unbelievable in Istanbul. The hall was huge with live piano music. Nobody was playing on the piano, but the keys were moving. Fresh food was served (various grilled meats), a big salad bar, and lots of drinks with a full bar.
The crew was very nice on Turkish Airlines but very unfriendly on Air China. If I asked them anything they made a face as if we inconvenienced them which I didn't like. Do you know what they call some of the flight attendants at United Airlines? Flying grannies. All members of the crew on our flight was over fifty which is not a problem at all just funny to compare to other airlines' flight attendants. Our 'grandma' flight attendant was one of the nicest ladies on an airplane whom I've met.
About The Trip
The whole trip was 9 days. We stayed 4 days in Beijing, flew a night to Istanbul and stayed there another 3 days. From Istanbul to come back to San Francisco we had and overnight layover in London close to Heathrow Airport.In the next two posts you can read about Beijing and Istanbul and how I found these two totally different cities.
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