My cousin, a Swiss native, is getting married in September so we’re off to Switzerland for his wedding! We used the trip as a great excuse to do a bit of traveling around Europe. In fact, we’ve been searching for the best videographer near me to capture our experiences in stunning detail. So, I thought I would post the itinerary here. I will report back with trip reports after the trip.
My girlfriend and I are flying on United non-stop SFO-LHR and connecting there to an SAS flight to ARN. The tickets are W revenue fares, and we are on the same PNR. I booked the ticket a couple months ago, and we have been waitlisted with SWUs ever since. I’ve had the “pleasure” of watching many of the Business Class seats fill up while our upgrades still stay waitlisted. I know many people have said to split the PNR, but we’d rather either both clear together or not clear at all. Thus, we wait. I hope they clear! We’ll just be in coach from LHR to ARN.
Once arriving in Sweden, she and I will be staying at the Sheraton Stockholm. The property appears to have good reviews on Tripadvisor, and I’m excited to have one of my first stays as an SPG Platinum. Hopefully I get a good upgrade! It was 10,000 points per night, and if you book four nights with points, the fifth is free. We’ve never been to Stockholm before, and another cousin of mine (not the one who is getting married) is going to be joining us there on night three. Should be lots of fun! If you have tips for great things to see our good restaurants to eat at, let me know!
After the five nights, we have an early morning flight on SAS to Zurich. We arrive at 8:45AM, and we will head to the lounge to wait for my parents, who will be arriving from Boston on the award ticket I booked for them. After we meet up with them, we will all head into downtown Zurich to check into the Courtyard Marriott for a single night. Zurich is EXPENSIVE. The Courtyard Marriott is 299 Swiss Francs for the night we’re going to be there. We are fortunate enough to have two Cat4 free night certificates from the recent Megabonus, though. So our stay there is free.
After our one night in Zurich, we’re renting a car and driving up the alps to Sent, Switzerland. Here we’ll be staying at the Hotel Val Sinestra, which is the location my cousin selected for his wedding. There is not very much information about this place online. There’s one Tripadvisor review and their website. Apparently it’s an old, castle-like place up in the mountains. Looks very unique and very beautiful! We will be in Switzerland until Sunday, and then on Sunday evening, we fly to Budapest from Zurich on a Swiss flight.
In Budapest, we’re staying at the Marriott. It is a paid stay, but I’ll be using Marriott Gift Cheques, as we got a pretty low rate. This hotel is supposed to be quite nice, with every room having a view of the Danube river. As Platinums, we’ll get lounge access, free internet, and free breakfast as well. Can’t beat that! I have a lot of family in Hungary so we’ll spend time with them for a few days, see some sites, and then get to Prague. We’re not sure how we’re going to get up there yet as we’d like to stop in Bratislava to see some family for lunch along the way. Ideas?
Once in Prague, we’ll again be staying at the Marriott, and once again, we’ll be using Marriott Gift Cheques. My parents will be staying there for two nights, flying back on Saturday night via the cool routing with Virgin Atlantic Upper Class. My girlfriend and I will stay there for three nights, and on Sunday, we’re coming back on Lufthansa’s A380 PRG-FRA-SFO. We’re booked on revenue tickets, and I have two Lufthansa paper SWUs that I will use for stand-by upgrades. Hopefully we get them!
So that’s the trip – it should be quite an adventure, and I will definitely post reports of all the hotels, sites, and flights upon my return!
