I would normally give more of a heads-up to any trips that I’m planning, but these two trips were a little last-minute (for my standards), so I’m ‘announcing’ them only now. As always, I will give a brief rundown of the trips, describing what I booked and how, and also what reviews you can expect from me. Now, let’s get into it!

1. Impromptu trip 1: 22 Hours in Washington DC
   1. What I booked
   2. What reviews you can expect from this trip
2. Impromptu trip 2: Hometown Calmdown
   1. What I booked
   2. What reviews you can expect from this trip
3. Summary

Impromptu trip 1: 22 Hours in Washington DC

The first trip is already over: we got back from Washington DC yesterday. The reason for this was a quick trip to the Dutch embassy to get some materials in order that unfortunately would have too long of a waitlist in the New York Dutch Consulate.

What I booked

This visit was planned over the course of about a month for an appointment on September 19th, but because confirmation of the appointment took a while, by the time we were able to book anything, things got expensive: train tickets were on the order of $300 round trip per person and even the bus would be $80 round trip per person. So I had to get a little creative. After all, I didn’t want to spend on $500 basic economy return tickets for the two of us…

I checked Seats.Aero and found some attractive fares to fly to Washington DC (DCA) with American Airlines, through Alaska Atmos: 4500 Atmos Rewards points and $18.10 in taxes and fees per person, one way in economy. This is an area where Atmos Rewards generally has some great pricing, and is fundamentally one of the most useful ways to spend Atmos Rewards points. This is not a sexy redemption, but definitely a useful one!

The return trip was a little more complicated, and for this we paid cash: $153.50 per person in basic economy, which is horrendously expensive. BUT, there is a twist. My husband got the Citibank Strata Elite recently, which includes a $200 ‘splurge’ credit: you pick two of five merchants, and then you use your card at that merchant and will be automatically reimbursed up to $200. One of these merchants is American Airlines, so we were able to get $200 back: as such we ended up paying only $53.50 per person.

What reviews you can expect from this trip

I will not review any of the flights, given that they were entirely unremarkable 45-minute hops in economy. However, the Citibank Strata Elite comes with yet another useful perk: 4 American Airlines Admirals Club passes.

There’s a few things to know about these passes:

• You have to activate 1 pass for each person that the credit card holder wants to take into the lounge, including themselves.
• Once a pass is active, you can enter any Admirals Club for the next 24 hours after activation.
• I confirmed this at the Club: you truly can enter any Admirals Club, as long as there is capacity. Even if day passes are suspended, your Strata Elite-bound pass will still allow you to enter.

So, because the Strata Elite gave my husband 4 Admirals Club passes, we were able to enter the Admirals Club at New York-JFK Terminal 8, and then again the next day at Washington DC’s Reagan National (DCA), given that it was within the 24 hour limit.

And so that’s what you can expect review about:

• The Admirals Club at New York JFK Terminal 8, and then also the…
• …DCA Admirals Club at the E concourse, which is the newest Club at the airport, designed as per American’s new lounge style – and boy is it a huge improvement over the old!

Impromptu trip 2: Hometown Calmdown

The second trip I will be undertaking shortly, and this is all about me taking a little break from work to be with my mother back home, in the Netherlands. I’m not planning anything but relaxing at the side of canals, sipping quality Belgian beers. Though it seems like I will have to do some work, but so be it.

What I booked

I booked a return ticket in basic economy with Air France-KLM for $659.21, which is more than I’d like to pay for basic economy. Specifically, I will be flying KLM from New York-JFK to Amsterdam, and then for the return flight I’ll fly from Amsterdam Schiphol via Paris CDG with Air France.

The truth is I could have paid less if I’d chosen to book an itinerary with Iceland Air or TAP Air Portugal. This would have saved me $100, but ultimately I decided against that:

• I prefer to fly direct to Amsterdam, and all the cheaper itineraries had at least 1 stop. I will only be in Amsterdam for 4 days, so I want to maximize my time there, and so I’d rather not have additional stops that lengthen my journey.
• Because I have Flying Blue Gold status, I get a slew of perks and benefits that will much increase the comfort of my journey. So, even if I spend $100 more on the flight, ultimately I’d get an experience worth $200 more than what I’m paying for. Some of the perks I’m getting is lounge access, priority services, free checked luggage and free seat selection. This already provided me $358 worth of perks on a trip I’ll take to Stockholm at the end of the year!

So there is a bit of an oppertunity cost here, but I think it will be well worth it.

What reviews you can expect from this trip

Like with the DC trip, don’t expect review of the actual flights, given that they will all be in economy. However, my Flying Blue Gold status grants me SkyTeam Elite Plus status, which allows me to get into various lounges during my trip, and these I will be reviewing:

• At New York-JFK, KLM (still) departs from Terminal 4 (once the new Terminal One is finished, KLM will reportedly move over there, which makes sense given that this is where Air France already is operating from). At Terminal 4, SkyTeam Elite Plus passengers booked in any cabin on an international (or connecting to domestic) SkyTeam member airlines that are not Delta, can enter the Delta SkyClub. Strangely, Delta is barring its own members booked into basic economy from entry – but I should be able to bypass that, as stated on Delta’s very own website:

• Then on the way back, things are a little simpler. At Amsterdam Schiphol I should be able to access the KLM Crown Lounge in the Shengen part of the airport. I have previously already reviewed the KLM Crown Lounge 52 in the non-Shengen part of the airport, which was quite nice.
• Then in Paris CDG is the lounge I’m looking forward to the most: every concourse of CDG’s non-Shengen Terminal 2E (which are K, L and M… coincidence?) has its own Air France lounge, and I’m very eager to see these lounges. My layover is only 2:40 hours, so I won’t have time to visit all of them. I’m planning to pick one or two and visit these, and then on the next trip to Paris (early next year) look at the remaining one(s). I adored the Air France Lounge at CDG Terminal 2F thanks to the high-quality food and stunning design.

Summary

In this post a present a quick preview of reviews to come, spread over two trips, One of these was a 22-hour trip to visit the Dutch embassy in Washington DC, and we returned from this yesterday night. Expect reviews of Admirals Club lounges at JFK and DCA. Then, I’ll shortly leave for a quick trip to my hometown in the Netherlands for some R&R. Expect reviews of the Delta SkyClub at New York JFK terminal 4, the Shengen zone KLM Crown Lounge at Amsterdam Schiphol, and then reviews of 1 or 2 Air France lounges at Paris’ CDG Terminal 2E.