This trip was not exactly well-planed. You could say it was spur of the moment. I booked a trip to Tenerife, Canary Islands with two 24-hr layovers in Berlin and Madrid. Can you really see a huge metropolitan city in one day? No. But you surely can have fun trying.
My trip brought me to Berlin first, and it happened for three reasons. First, I haven’t seen my best college buddy in the last 14 years. He lives in Moscow, my hometown, and he vacations on the Spanish island of Tenerife every spring. For the last 14 years, every winter, year after year, we’ve made plans to meet halfway and those plans had never materialized. Up until now.
What does it have to do with Berlin? Patience, we’re getting there.
Aside from meeting my buddy, there was another reason to take a trip this time of the year, and that’s AA’s incredibly generous 40K award ticket to Europe that you can utilize before May 15. Complain about American all you want (I know I do) but such generosity can’t be beat!
The third reason is I can’t help but squeeze every possible opportunity out of an award ticket. If I can spend a 23:59 layover in foreign land on the way to my final destination, I sure as heck will take that opportunity, thank you very much!
The fourth reason is… Wait, did I promise three reasons? Well, here is one more. I’ve been eying a trip to Europe for a very long time. For the last 15 years, I’ve traveled the Americas exclusively, putting Europe off for the time when I’m able to roam the roads of Europe for months at a time. Time was short, so a 23:59 hour layover seemed like a good compromise.
Yes, my trip had to be short, just like all my trips are, unfortunately. It lasted eight days, and I’m writing this in an aisle exit seat of an AA 757—best seat in the house (in coach, it is). Besides, I’m sitting next to two cute and chatty Spanish girls. What’s not to like, besides having to go back home into the daily grind? Ugh!
Here is what my 40K Award itinerary looked like.
Mar 11th: SAN-JFK. While I am from New York, the reason I started this trip in SAN was that I needed a free one-way ticket home from my leftover Latin America Star award trip. That trip looked like this:
JFK-LIM (STAR)
LIM-IPC-LIM (ONE WORLD)
LIM-JFK (STAR)
JFK-SAN (STAR: an additional one way booked for no charge)
AAdvantage Award
Mar 25th: JFK-TXL with a 23-hr layover in Berlin. My actual trip begins.
Mar 27th: TXL-TFS (via NRG). Six days on Tenerife.
Apr 2nd: TFS-MAD with a 24-hr layover in Madrid.
Apr 3rd: MAD-JFK. That’s the end of my actual trip.
Aug 24th: JFK-SAN. (and additional one-way booked for no charge) What can I say? I love San Diego. Besides, it’s a great base for exploring the West Coast and the Mexican wine country. I will have one year to use this one-way ticket, and I’ll be very surprised if I won’t be able to find time to get my butt over there. But even if I don’t, It’s free anyway.
Yes, I have been criticized by other flyertalkers for trying to squeeze too many places into one voyage. While their reasoning is solid, my reasoning trumps theirs. Too many fascinating places, too little freaking time! If I fly to another continent, I want to see as much as I can. Call it greedy if you want. I don’t care.
To be continued…
Andy Shuman is an avid traveler and author of books on Frequent Flyer and Hotel Loyalty programs. You can find his books on Amazon and connect with him on Facebook or Twitter.
Photo credit: Juska Wendland / Foter.com / CC BY-NC
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