Fancy staying in a century-old palace or fort hotel such as the Dadhikar Fort or Neemrana Fort-Palace? Did I hear you say “Ofcourse yes but it would cost a bomb” Surprise, surprise, it is not! When AirAsia India introduced the launch sale in the Bangalore-Jaipur route, I researched for some interesting stay options around Jaipur. (You can […]
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Travel Opportunity: Fly to Jaipur, Stay in a Palace/Fort @ ~Rs 12,000-Rs 15,000 (EXPIRED)
Origin: Bangalore Destination: Jaipur Travel: AirAsia India Bangalore-Jaipur @ ~Rs 4,000 Stay: In a palace/fort hotel in Alwar @ ~Rs 4,000 Miscellaneous: ~Rs 4,000-Rs 7,000 Window of opportunity: 2014, 25th Jul, 00:30 to 27th Jul, 00:00 (3 days) How To: 1. Book air tickets online on AirAsia 2. Pick a palace/fort hotel & book – […]
10 days in Scandinavia – Trip Itinerary
Little did we dream of a Scandinavia trip this summer. One fine day, a tiny window of opportunity showed up. 3 weeks notice is all we had – tickets, plan, bookings & biggest bottleneck for any India traveler, VISA! As crazy as it may seem, we decided to take it as far as it goes. […]
AirFrance and Emirates miles redemption for a trip to Scandinavia
In the last few years much of my travel has been to France. The preferred airline quiet naturally started with AirFrance with its direct Paris flights. Along the way fares increased and Emirates emerged as the next option. I also got the SCB Emirates Platinum credit card that earns Emirates miles on credit card spends […]
Vacation surprise for the family to The Leela in Kovalam, Kerala
I wanted to surprise my better half with an awesome travel experience. It had to be short, luxurious & relaxing. In summers, coastal India is considered off-season. Hence an ideal time to experience those aspirational resorts at reasonable rates. These go at some insane prices at other times of the year. The Leela, Kovalam turned out […]
Avoiding early-mover’s curse in hotel bookings – How to catch the last-minute deals
Book early, save more. 90/60/30 day advance booking rates. Most of us are familiar with such offers to sweeten our hotel and resort bookings. Strange are the ways of dynamic pricing + occupancy rate targets + unknown factors, one could be a victim of early-mover’s curse i.e a well-planned booking made in advance turns expensive […]
Earn 5000 miles for a one night hotel booking
New avenues to earn frequent flyer miles (and even bitcoins) have emerged with PointsHound & RocketMiles. Both the services are just like the other hotel booking engines with the added benefit of earning miles for the booking. This is in addition to the usual point earnings from the hotel for the stay. RocketMiles has been […]
Getting to & back the Bangalore airport
The Bangalore airport (officially called Kempegowda International Airport, named after the founder of Bangalore) opened in 2005 and located about 40kms from the city centre. It is the only commercial airport of Bangalore. The old city airport is only used for testing & defense purposes (probably also for private planes. When I own one, I […]
How to earn air miles, bitcoins and cash back for booking hotels, not only staying
It is a funny world out there. Besides earning loyalty program points for staying in hotels, it is also possible to earn airline miles, bitcoins or a cash back for just booking a hotel. Here’s how… Earn airline miles for booking a hotel: PointsHound & RocketMiles Both are like any other hotel booking services, just […]
From a low in August 2013 to lifetime high in March 2014: What changed in 6 months?
On 28th August 2013, the Sensex closed below 18000 and the Nifty at 5285. Headlines in popular media went something like this: – Sensex recovers after morning crash, ends 28 points higher, The Hindu – Sensex drops over 500 points, Nifty slips below 5,150, The Economic Times As always, when markets are down, most of […]
Simple pricing: Thumbs UP, Complex pricing: Thumbs DOWN
Summer vacation is just about arriving for the kids. I went about planning a short getaway to Ooty (from Bangalore) for a fairly large group. We shortlisted 2 resorts, around the pristine Avalanche & Emerald lake area of Ooty- Red Hill Nature Resort & Destiny Farmstay. I was intrigued how the pricing could be simple […]
Short take on long distance air travel
Long distance air travel is a mixed bag experience. As much as it confuses the body clock and tires the muscles, it also brings along a few unique thrills, memorable experiences and new ideas An empty next seat :D Free upgrades :O (Those booked in first class have no such hope, sorry guys ;) A […]