My Travel Plans For 2018 (So Far….)

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Recently I shared a summary of all the trips I took in 2017, what airlines I flew, how those trips broke down into long-haul and short-haul flights , what cabins I flew in and, ultimately what airline and hotel statuses I ended up with to keep me going through 2018.

Now I’m looking forward into 2018 and I thought I share where I’m at with my plans, where I know I’ll be visiting and what my aims are for this year – it will be interesting to compare this post to the summary I’ll write at the end of the year.

Flights I Have Booked

I’ve already started my flying in 2018 by traveling from Los Angeles to London in Business Class on a British Airways 787 Dreamliner – this was my first time in a BA Dreamliner and my first trip in Club World for some time so I’ll be publishing a review in the next few weeks.

British Airways 787-9 Dreamliner Business Class

So far this is what I’ve booked flight-wise for the rest of 2018:

• Finnair A321 Business Class between London and Helsinki
• Qatar Airways A330 Business Class between Helsinki and Doha
• Qatar Airways A380 Business Class between Doha and Bangkok
• American Airlines Business Class between Los Angeles and London (assuming my upgrade clears)
• American Airlines Economy Class between Los Angeles and London
• American Airlines Economy Class to/from the Hawaiian Islands
• Hawaiian Airlines intra-island First Class
• British Airways Economy Class between London and Los Angeles
• Eurowings Economy Class between Düsseldorf and London
• British Airways Economy Class between London and Budapest
• Qatar Airways Business Class A350 Business Class between Stockholm and Doha
• Qatar Airways Business Class A350 Business Class between Doha and Singapore
• Multiple short-haul British Airways economy class flights intra-Europe on A319/A320/A321 aircraft

My American Airlines flights have been booked to allow me to use up (or at least try to use up) the 4 systemwide upgrades I received after qualifying for Executive Platinum status for 2018.

Why I’ve Booked What I Have

I have mostly booked British Airways flights for my short-haul trips around Europe because:

1. The BA fares were competitive with what other airlines were offering on the routes I wanted to fly
2. My oneworld status allows me to book seats in advance (I book exit rows to avoid the horrendous 30″ of pitch in BA Economy Class)
3. My oneworld status gives me access to the BA First Class lounge at Heathrow

British Airways A320 – I’ll probably find myself on quite a few of these 2018

The Qatar Airways Business Class flights were booked because:

1. They are superb value – I’ll disclose how much I paid when I write the reviews
2. I get to review the Qatar Airways A380 Business Class cabin (I’ve only reviewed the A380 First Class cabin to date)
3. I get to review the Qatar Airways A330 Business Class cabin (which may well now have newer seats than in the past)
4. I get to review the Qatar Airways A350-900 Business Class cabin
5. There’s a chance that Qatar Airways will schedule one of its new A350-1000 aircraft on the routes I’m flying and that will allow me to review the QSuites product.

I’d love to get a chance to try out the Qatar Airways QSuite at some point in 2018

What I’d Like To Book

I’d really like to try Norwegian’s long-haul Premium cabin but the airline is in the process of changing their offering so I’m holding off until I’m sure I can book the new cabin rather than wasting a trip on a cabin that’s soon going to be obsolete.

I’d also like to mix in a few full service, non-oneworld airlines into my flights this year so I’ll be on the lookout for good deals from the likes of Delta, United, ANA, Thai, Etihad, and Emirates to round off my year.

Hotels/Properties I’ll Be Staying At

I’m making a concerted effort to earn Marriott Platinum Lifetime status before the Marriott Rewards and Starwood SPG programs merge in 2019….so my stays are very Marriott heavy so far.

I’ll be staying at….

• An Airbnb apartment in Los Angeles
• Marriott Residence Inn at LAX (newly refurbished)
• Marriott London West India Quay (my favorite London Marriott)
• Bangkok Marriott Hotel Sukhumvit (yes, I finally settled on this property after a long deliberation)
• The Conrad Singapore
• Marriott’s Maui Ocean Club (property page here)
• Marriott’s Waiohai Beach Club (property page here)
• Marriott’s Executive Apartments in Budapest (property page here)
• I’ll have a number of nights at various airport hotels but not all of these have yet been booked

You’ll probably notice that there are quite a few apartment-style properties in that list and that’s because I’m finding that I enjoy having a kitchen when I travel.

I’m really looking forward to heading back to Hawaii this year

One of the biggest expenses when traveling (especially as a family) is the cost of eating out 3 times a day. Even if you have a snack of sorts for lunch (after a good breakfast) the costs can still really get out of hand.

Having a kitchen allows us to have the sort of breakfast we would otherwise have at home (rather than the exceedingly unhealthy full breakfast that resorts tempt you into every morning) and we can drop by our unit in the afternoon for a snack before going out for a nice meal in the evening.

This may not suit everyone’s needs but it seems to work for us quite well.

Other Places I’d Like To Visit

Siem Reap in Cambodia (where you’ll find the Angkor Wat temple complex) is currently at the very top of the list of places I want to visit as soon as possible and, closely behind, is Chiang Mai in Thailand. I’ll be looking out for good deals to both destinations and jumping on them if they appear.

At some point I’d like to head to South Africa and a return to either Brazil or Argentina would be nice too….but none of those are as pressing in my mind as Angkor Wat.

Joanna and I will be putting my free night from the IHG Rewards credit card and my free weekend night from my InterContinental Ambassador membership to good use this year and I hope to use those at an InterContinental property that I have yet to visit (Paris, Los Angeles and Cannes are the current front runners).

Lastly, I’ll happily return to China, Japan or Australia if the airlines see fit to offer some good deals and, if Qantas opens up Business Class award inventory, I can see me heading down to Perth to try out the new Dreamliner route to London.

Status

I don’t expect anything to change with regards my hotel statuses in 2018 so Marriott Platinum will be wrapped up by Fall this year and I’ll be keeping all my other statuses that come courtesy of credit cards too.

The big change in 2018 is that I’m no longer crediting my oneworld flights to American Airlines so this is my last year of Executive Platinum status (for the foreseeable future). I’m now crediting my flights to the British Airways Executive Club and I expect to hit Gold status some time in September.

Bottom Line

From a trip point of view I’m really looking forward to visiting Bangkok for the fist time, going back to Singapore and getting some relaxing done in Hawaii – I can hear the Ono Fish Tacos calling me already 🙂

I’m not loving the fact that the main airline rewards currency I’ll be collecting is Avios but, as I’ve explained in a separate post, the minimum spend criteria that American Airlines now imposes on elite qualification makes reaching BA Gold considerably cheaper – so I’m just going to have to learn to live with Avios and make sure I collect more useful currencies through credit card spend.

That’s about all for now but if you guys have any cool trips planned or if there’s something in particular you think I should try out then please share in the comment section below.