I was going to post this on VacationHackrs, but figured it might deserve a topic of its own!
In a week, I’ll be going on a bucket list type of trip, visiting Germany, Italy, and Croatia in search of great food and automotive destinations. In this post, I’ll share how I booked with points, tips I’ve learned along the way, and points of interest for those who want to follow along. Haven’t been out of the country for years, so really excited for it!
General Itinerary:
- Munich, Germany
- Walk around the city, doing and eating touristy things
- Visit BMW Welt, BMW Museum, BMW Group Plant Tour, and/or BMW Group Classic Tour (depending if I can score tickets for the latter)
- Stuttgart, Germany
- Day trip (by train) to visit Porsche Museum, Porsche Factory Tour, and/or Mercedes Museum
- Bormio, Italy
- Drive from the autobahn to the Stelvio Pass, which Top Gear described as the world’s best driving road in 2007, in the Italian Alps
- Emilia-Romagna, Italy
- Museo Ferrari, Museo Enzo Ferrari, and/or Lamborghini MUDATEC Museum
- Visit and walk Imola (F1 track), hopefully
- Parmigiano reggiano, prosciutto di parma, tortellini, and other food things in Bologna, Parma, and Modena
- Venice, Italy
- Istria, Croatia
Flight:
About a year ago, I signed up for an American Express Gold card (currently 60,000 point welcome offer; $250 annual fee, $10/month Uber credit, $10/month select restaurants credit). The great thing about Amex points is that you can transfer them 1:1 to numerous airline partners.
I transferred my points to Air Canada Aeroplan (Star Alliance), and used those points to book Lufthansa flights (fixed redemption rate at 40,000 points economy, or 70,000 points business class, one-way to Europe). I really wanted to experience business class, but it was looking increasingly likely that Lufthansa wouldn’t make those reward seats available, so I ended up booking economy. I used ExpertFlyer to create alerts for available reward seats.
Lodging:
I’ve had a Marriott Bonvoy Amex for a few years and accumulated points and free nights over time (up until recently, they had a 100,000 point welcome offer, but now it’s 3 free nights; $450 annual fee with $300 Marriott credit and annual free night).
Most of the hotels I booked were around 20,000 points a night, although for the free night certificates (up to 50,000 points each), I went with the fanciest option. I was surprised by how reasonable hotel accommodation rates are right now in Europe; it would be difficult to find any decent 20,000-point hotel in a major US city.
I also signed up for a Chase Sapphire Preferred Card (currently, 80,000 point welcome offer, $95 annual fee). The card comes with a $50 credit for hotels booked through their Ultimate Rewards portal, so I made sure to book use that. With the Preferred card, 80,000 points is worth $1,000 in travel when booking through Ultimate Rewards. Chase Sapphire points can also be transferred 1:1 to participating airline partners, such as Air Canada.
Car Rental:
Sixt offers a M340i Touring “guaranteed model” booking in Munich, which seems ideal for a grand tour like this. (Plus, car enthusiasts from the US love wagons.) Unfortunately, Sixt still hasn’t confirmed the reservation I made for that vehicle, so as a back up, I also booked a generic premium roadster rental (could be a Z4 sDrive20i, a TT Roadster, or worse, an SLC 200 or Fiat 124 Spider).
Not many suggestions here, other than that Sixt has the most vehicle options of the major car rental companies in Europe (Avis, Hertz, Enterprise, Europcar, etc). I found a 15% off rates online ad from Sixt, which was automatically applied to the rental.
More to come as trip planning progresses. Will post updates here and on the LH IG as well. Feel free to share your Europe travel experiences or suggestions as well!
