Trip Reports

Category Archives for Trip Reports.

Hotel Review: Hyatt Regency Pune

by Ajay 2 Comments

a building with a sign in the background

After a nice stay at Hyatt Pune, I decided to hop across to Hyatt Regency Pune, the older and bigger brother in the Hyatt family in Pune, which is 1 kilometer away across the road for the second day of my Pune stay. As a Hyatt Diamond, they offer free airport transfers, and I asked them if they could replace it with a ride from Hyatt Pune. They were okay with it and sent a car along at the appointed time. I pulled into Hyatt Regency Pune, and it was every bit a five star hotel, in terms of size and facilities. However, in the end, it turned out that they went as much as the distance they had to…

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Hotel Review: Hyatt Pune

by Ajay 2 Comments

a pool in a garden

A few weeks ago, Hyatt launched a Monsoon promotion in India, where they offered a flat 50% off on room rates. This forced me to do some advance planning for some of my future travel plans, and I gladly gave them away to Hyatt since it gave me an opportunity to try out properties at significantly less than publicly available prices. One of the places I headed up to was Pune, for some quick rest & recuperation and meeting my brother who currently lives in Pune. Me and my fiancée got into Pune about mid-day from Mumbai, and we checked into the hotel straight away, after trying out Uber for the first time in Pune. Hyatt Hotels is a full…

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Flight Review: AI191 Mumbai–Newark, Air India, First Class

by Ajay 13 Comments

a plate of food on a tray

A friend and regular reader of the blog, Parag Mehta, recently took a First Class flight on Air India recently to travel between Mumbai and Newark, and I requested him for a Guest Post for the blog, since long haul Air India is not on my radar in the coming days. He came back flying Etihad First Class, booked on 9W miles, but try getting two trip reports from a busy investment professional You can read my review of EY F here. Over to you, Parag! I was planning a trip to New York for the longest time, and when the time came I looked at my pile of miles, and decided to try Air India and Etihad for the…

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Hotel Review: Hyatt Place Amsterdam Airport

by Ajay 1 Comment

a bed with white sheets and a wood headboard

I recently found myself on an extra night layover in the Netherlands, and while I usually stay put at the Manhattan Hotel, Rotterdam, in this case, I decided to head to a hotel closer to the airport, since I had a very early morning flight to catch and I wasn’t sure if the railway service would be up and running at that hour. The choice boiled down to Hyatt Place since the Sheraton across the airport was quoting at 269 Euros that night, and that is expensive just to sleep a few hours. To get to Schipol Airport from Rotterdam Central, I used the train since the distances are large enough for a Euro 100 cab ride at least, and…

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Hotel Review: Four Points by Sheraton, Jaipur

by Ajay 1 Comment

a room with a couch and chairs

Flight Review: Indigo, BOM – JAI, 6E 207, Economy My trip was going to be just an overnight one, because I had other commitments back in Mumbai on Sunday. Hotels in Jaipur, even the chain ones, are pretty cheap I’d say, and at the time of making this reservation, Four Points was working out to a very cheap deal of about INR 3000 inclusive of breakfast. While it is not all the way in the centre of the city, one could easily get conveyance from here to the old Jaipur areas. We arrived into Jaipur pretty early, and had requested early check-in ahead of arrival. The hotel was not very full, so I did get a confirmation that early check-in…

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Flight Review: Indigo, Economy. Mumbai – Jaipur,

by Ajay 10 Comments

Indigo economy review

Everyone who reads this blog knows I am a Jet Airways loyalist on the domestic sectors, and I do fly Air India from time to time as well. I just see more value out of flying a full-service carrier, as long as reliability is not in question. For a flyer with erratic schedules like me, it is important to be able to use the lounge to get some work done pre-flight if possible, and sometimes the only meals I eat are on the plane, so yes, they are important. I recently decided to get back on Indigo after a very long time, maybe about 3 years or so. I just wanted to see what’s new and what is consistent in…

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Lounge Review: Plaza Premium Lounge (Domestic), Bangalore Airport

by Ajay 15 Comments

a purple sign with white text

There have been two major issues I’ve had with the Bangalore BIAL Airport for as long as I remember. Having used the airport based inside the city, I find the current airport too far away, and one can’t predict travel times to the airport since you can only go by the road. The other one was, the lack of a lounge for most airlines, except for Kingfisher Airlines. Then, they rebranded the Kingfisher Airlines lounge as the Pause Lounge. However, it looks like the troubles for accessing lounges in Bangalore Airports may now be over. As of March this year, Plaza Premium opened up a couple of lounges at Bangalore, one at the Domestic side of the terminal, and one…

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Planning the Perfect Proposal Trip to Paris!

by Ajay 10 Comments

Proposal trip to Paris

If you haven’t heard, last week, I was over to Paris along with my girlfriend where I proposed. Don’t worry, unlike Tom Cruise, this was not covered by network news, it was only on my blog and Facebook page. Since I am pretty much kicked about this trip, I am taking the liberty to cover this trip report ahead of some of the others I would have done, and bring up some hopefully interesting reviews and experiences for you around Paris. To kick it off, let me admit, if you can keep your lips sealed, planning a surprise trip can be a lot of fun for both sides. For me, it was essential to map out all the little details,…

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Flight Review: 9W 572 Mumbai to Kuwait, Jet Airways, Economy

by Ajay 2 Comments

a row of seats on an airplane

Last month, I was on my way to a meeting to Kuwait, and I did my standard drill. I usually arrive there on one of the two evening flights with Jet Airways, stay the night at a hotel, do the meeting, and wait for the flight back which only happens the next evening. Perhaps I need to optimize these a bit, but anyhow, this time I was back on my old warhorse, Jet Airways, which was going to take me from Mumbai to Kuwait International Airport on the early departure flight. For the 17:55 flight, I arrived at the new Mumbai Terminal 2 at about 15:00, which was an early arrival by all standards. I was joined by a colleague,…

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Flight AI 682: Cochin – Mumbai, Air India, Economy

by Ajay 2 Comments

a plane with a ladder and people on it

Mumbai Airport Terminal 2 Clipper Lounge, Mumbai Terminal 2 Courtyard by Marriott Hotel, Kochi Airport Clipper Lounge Cochin If I haven’t mentioned this before, the Cochin Airport is made to look more like arriving at a red-brick palace than arriving at an airport. Here is what it looked from outside. We spent a brief moment pre-security at the dead Clipper Lounge, and then proceeded to clear security check, where I realised my palatial analogy was going to fit even better. This airport missed anything that was modern, and was full of wooden chairs (more like side pieces from couches) from another generation. My first time there and I sure was surprised. The wait was prolonged, because like it always happens,…

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Ever had 3 flights board simultaneously from the same gate?

by Ajay 4 Comments

Last week, I was in Kuwait for a quick trip, and this trip was filled with a lot of confusion. First it was the hotel which claimed to have given me a suite but turning out it was a room and so on, but the best was saved for the end. I’ve been to Kuwait enough number of times to know how the airport functions there. You are supposed to go through a security check at every step with your belongings (check-in, passport control and boarding gates). At the boarding gates, usually my flights usually are from an aerobridge, so there is a big holding area. Since most of the travellers in this region are not frequent flyers, they usually…

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