63. From the UK to Bahrain, Oman, and Qatar on Points with Lindsay Bradley

Welcome to Point Me to First Class, the only show for employed professionals, entrepreneurs, and business owners who are looking to optimize their higher-than-average expenses to travel the world. I’m your host, Devon Gimbel, and I believe that your expenses are your greatest untapped asset if you know how to leverage them. Ready to dive into the world of credit card points and miles so you can travel more, travel better, and travel often? Let’s get started. 

Welcome back to the podcast, everybody. Today, I’m excited to welcome Lindsay Bradley to the podcast to share about a recent trip she took to Bahrain, Oman and Qatar using points. Lindsay started in points and miles in 2011, but didn’t get into extensive travel until meeting her P2. 

In 2018, after marrying her husband, they took off to travel the world doing mini-retirements on points and miles. She has visited 66 countries on all seven continents and has redeemed over $300,000 worth of travel with credit card rewards. 

In this conversation, you’re going to hear about some unique uses of points for premium flights, some of the challenges and opportunities of constructing a multi-country trip itinerary, and how to put perks like hotel free night certificates to use to offset the cost of travel. I hope this conversation gives you some great ideas for your next award trip. Please enjoy. 

Devon: Lindsay, welcome to the podcast. I’m so glad to have you here today. Can you get us started by introducing yourself? Tell us who you are, where you’re from and how long have you been using points and miles to travel? 

Lindsay: Yeah, thanks for having me. I’m glad we could finally coordinate a time. I know it’s complicated with a kid’s schedule, but we made it. Yes, my name is Lindsay Bradley. I have been doing points and miles since 2011. I have been to 77 countries on all seven continents. And last check, I redeemed over $400,000 worth of travel with points and miles. 

We used to do some long-term extended travel, kind of three-month stints at a time. Now since starting a family, we do just kind of sporadic trips here and there and we would like to take some more mini-retirements, as I call them, in the future with my daughter. 

Devon: That’s amazing. And some of the places you’ve been, because you mentioned you have been to quite a few countries. The reason I wanted to invite you on the podcast today was to have a conversation around one of the places you most recently traveled. 

I don’t think at this point that we’re recording that it was actually the most recent place that you traveled, but it was where you were earlier in this year. So can you tell us a little bit more about where specifically that travel took you and how long was that trip? 

Lindsey: Yeah, so I went to the Middle East and the UK for 12 days. I originally booked this entire trip around Qsuites that I booked in August of last year. I took the trip to the Middle East in January, but I knew I wanted to fly Qsuites with my daughter before she turned two because that’s one of the airlines where they don’t release more than two seats at a time. 

So I wanted to squeeze one more of those fun bucket list flights in before she needed to buy her own seat. So I kind of planned the trip around that, which is kind of funny. But I know you can appreciate and understand that. 

And originally, it was supposed to be a trip for my family: my husband, my daughter and myself. And my husband forgot to ask off of work in time, so literally a month before we were supposed to go, he was like, yeah, my boss said I can’t go because the time difference is too vast, so it’s not going to work. I’m like, well, I have the time off, so I’m still going to go. I’m just going to go by myself. 

So I booked our flights there from Austin to London because I wanted the quickest, most direct path to get to a new continent. And in Austin we don’t have a lot of choices, so London it was. And also I do that when I’m flying with my daughter to just break up some of the flying time for everyone’s sanity. So I just kept that flight because I was like, I don’t want to look for other flights to get over there, I’ll just keep this flight. 

And then I also had booked London to Bahrain as a separate segment. And I was like, I’m going to just have a couple days in the UK, and so I wanted to go to Wales. The reason that I wanted to go to Wales is not exactly for any particular reason, but I have a goal in my mind, I kind of want to visit 100 countries before I turn 40. And I’m not a person that’s like, oh, I just got to go count countries and go collect countries and stuff like that because I love to travel. 

I just love being in a new place, experiencing new cultures, new cuisines, just being in a foreign place and enjoying the experience. But I guess I just kind of set this arbitrary goal because I like to set goals for myself. So I was like, okay, what in that region counts as a country? And I was like, well, Wales is separate technically. So I started there. I just took the train from London, it’s pretty quick and easy. 

I did two days there. That was the only time I paid for a hotel. I did the Hilton Cardiff because it was pretty cheap. You know, in the off-season you can get really great rates. It was like $125 a night or something like that for a really nice property. And then, of course, having diamond status with Hilton, I got upgraded to a nice suite. 

And when I travel by myself, I don’t know if you’re similar, but I travel pretty cheaply when I’m by myself. So I take advantage of those executive clubs and the happy hours that they have with hors d’oeuvres and stuff. And I was like, I’ll just make meals out of this instead of going out to eat and take advantage of the breakfast to cut down my cost. Because I’m going to save that money for taxes on my big fun flights that I had planned. 

So after I did Wales, I went back to London and I booked London to Bahrain on Emirates Business Class initially. And it was 87,000 points for that. And it’s 87,000 points if you book London to Dubai or London to Bahrain, which is nice. The only difference is the tax was a little bit higher, obviously, to fly to Bahrain. 

But the good thing about Emirates that’s really cool, and I really love using them, is when you book your flights with them, on points or on cash, you can upgrade one class fare up if it’s available. So you can do that online and in advance. So sometimes you can do it, if a seat is available in advance, they’ll be like, hey, a seat is available. This is how many points it is. You transfer your points and it’s done, it’s booked. 

So I booked like, I call it the world’s cheapest first class flight because it was 11,700 miles to fly from Dubai to Bahrain in first class. So I was like, well, yeah, I’m going to do that. That seems like a good deal to me. And then I ended up upgrading to first class in London from the London to Dubai portion that was on the A380. 

I actually upgraded at the business class lounge in Heathrow, which was great because I was nervous because I had already transferred my points into Emirates because I was like, okay, I’m going to go to the airport and I know there are seats available because I checked online, made fake dummy bookings, I know there are seats. But then the gate agent was like, oh, I can’t do it right now, but I think you’ll have a good chance of upgrading to first, just check at the lounge. 

And I was like, well, I already moved my points there, so I really hope it’s available. And then I get to the lounge and she’s like, oh, yeah, yeah, it’s totally fine. Here’s your seat and stuff. And I did the whole shower in the sky and all that. 

And then Dubai to Bahrain was really interesting because there was only one other person in first class. And it’s on the A380, it’s just like, you know, the one that everybody loves to take with the shower, but that one just didn’t have a shower. But the layout was the same, you know, enclosed suites in first class. 

The service was a little bit different just because it was like an hour and 10 minute flight. So you couldn’t just pick everything off the menu and graze for the hour. They had kind of a preset menu, but the service was still fantastic even for that short flight. And I was like, well, where else in the world can you find a first class flight for under 12,000 points? 

So yeah. So then I ended up in Bahrain and I didn’t know much about it, to be honest. I looked up some stuff before I went, but it’s a really, really small country. So you can see pretty much the whole country in a couple of days. 

I had some free night certificates from the Marriott boundless card, the 50K free night certificates. And I knew I didn’t want to use them domestically because I just don’t really, there’s not a ton of places where I feel like there’s really good value or really cool resorts that you can use them at. 

So I knew I wanted to use them abroad. And in the Middle East, you can use them at a lot of the Ritz hotels, which if you try to use them domestically, you’re looking at a lot more than 50,000 points a night. So I used those for two nights in Bahrain and got upgraded to a suite there with my lowly gold status. So the suite ended up being like a thousand dollars a night. Like it was ridiculous. It was super kind of stereotypical Middle Eastern, like gold everywhere, just very decadent, kind of over the top. 

But it was a really, really nice resort on the water. And it’s low season, so there weren’t a lot of people around, which was nice. It was fun just walking around and just like experiencing being immersed in a place that’s just so different from your home. And that’s why I love traveling, because it’s like, you know, when people ask you why you love traveling, I’m like because I feel alive. When I’m traveling I just feel like I’m being pushed out of my comfort zone and I love to be challenged in that kind of way. 

So, yeah. So after Bahrain, I did five days, six days in Oman, and I had the Alila Jabal Akhdar on my hotel bucket list because I had seen pictures before and it just looks so beautiful. Like it just, for people who don’t know, it looks like the Grand Canyon, basically. It’s up really high in the mountains. It’s a little tricky to get to, but the property is just stunning. It’s so stunning and it’s so peaceful and relaxing. I did some stargazing because it’s kind of in the middle of nowhere, so you can just see all the stars at night. 

The service was fantastic. And when I booked it, it was only 25,000 points a night with Hyatt, which is a screaming deal because it is such a great property. It has since gone up with the devaluation to 30,000. But that’s still, honestly, you’re getting a great value for what they have there. And it’s not all inclusive, but they do offer a ton of activities. And I think they make it that way because it is so remote that they want you to stay and enjoy the surrounding areas because there’s not a lot around otherwise. 

But you can do tons of outdoor stuff like horseback riding, rock wall climbing, and they do traditional tea service and they do cooking classes. They have a lot of different stuff there. And they actually have a kids club there and I really want to take my daughter back because it’s just like a great place for solo, couple, or family travel. Like it was just amazing. The breakfast was ordered straight off the menu, whatever you want. And I love places like that where you can just kind of like take your time enjoying the meal and enjoying the view. 

So it definitely, for me, is a top five hotel that I’ve ever stayed at, for sure. Now, the tricky part is it’s not easy to get to. And I didn’t know that until a couple of days before I arrived the hotel emailed me and they’re like, hey, just so you know, you need four wheel drive to get to our property. So if you don’t have that, we can arrange transportation for you from the airport or there’s a checkpoint at the bottom of the mountain that they can come and pick you up at. 

And I was like, I don’t know how to drive stick shift. So what I should do is I should arrange transportation with them. However, I am traveling by myself and I like to just go and do and see all the things because as a mom your solo time is very precious. So you want to do the things you want to do, right? And I like to go exploring. So I didn’t want to be kind of relegated to just staying at the resort. 

So I was like, okay, I’m going to rent a car and I’m going to make sure it’s all wheel drive when I go to the rental car place, that I’m good to go. And so I get up the mountain and I’d say like probably 90% of the mountain you don’t need, I mean, just a regular automatic is fine. It’s going down the mountain that’s tricky. And there are signs everywhere saying like hazardous driving conditions and there’s like runaway lanes for the trucks. And it’s very intimidating. 

But once I got to the top of the mountain, I had the workers there teach me how to drive it in, I guess, manual. It wasn’t a stick shift. It was an automatic that you can obviously change the gears yourself. But they’re usually like second, third, fourth is good for the mountain. Like just watch your RPMs and you’ll be fine. So they taught me how to get down the mountain. And I did. And it was fine. 

Were my palms sweating and my hands shaking the whole time? Yeah, but I made it down and it was fine. And then I was able to do some exploring. But if you don’t want to be up for that much of an adventure, they will pick you up and drop you off. So you don’t have to worry about that. But it is a great property nonetheless. 

And then after that, I stayed a few nights in Muscat and at the Ritz Carlton there. And that was a really interesting property because it used to be a palace for the royalty, the royal family. And then they renovated it to become a hotel. And it sits on a really beautiful stretch of private beach. The infinity pool is so gorgeous. The breakfast, again, was like one of the best breakfast buffets I’ve seen. Like the pastries were insanity. Like they looked like a Michelin star pastry place. It was really good. 

And then where did I go after that? Then I just did a quick Qatar Airways over to Doha. I did that on points. It was like 7,000 Avios, which is amazing to think about because you can fly between countries over there for 7,000 Avios and you can’t even fly across country here for that. So yeah, I did a 24 hour stint in Doha. I had a free night certificate. 

Actually, it was my husband’s free night certificate. And I learned that Hyatt is actually really good about letting you use your partner’s free night certificate. So initially I had him book it and then put him or put my name on it. But I have globalist status and he doesn’t. And so I wanted to make sure that my status was recognized. 

And so he ended up calling them back and they’re like, oh, we’ll just transfer it to her profile. And so it actually was on my profile, which was great because I did not know that about Hyatt. But I did end up, I stayed at the Grand Hyatt in Doha there. And they upgraded me to a really beautiful suite there as well. It was like going for like $500 a night when I was there. 

And I just did like just a big sprint of seeing everything I could in Doha while I was there. It was just like 24 hours. So I spent all day running around, seeing as much of the city as I could. And you can see a lot of the city in 24 hours, which is great. And then the grand finale was the Qsuites all the way back to JFK. 

And the only thing that was painful about that is I was up all day. I mean, I got up early because I was like, I’m going to see the city. So I got up early and my flight wasn’t until 2 am. So I’m trying to stay awake in the lounge. And they have little sleeping pods in the lounge that you can use. But of course, it was full when I went. And so I was trying to just take a nap in the chair before. And I was like, I can’t. I’m not comfortable with sleeping in a public space by myself. So I was like, okay, I’ll just wait till I get on the plane and I just passed out. 

So it was a whirlwind of a trip, but it was so much fun, especially like I haven’t solo traveled in a while. And I forgot how much I love to travel by myself and just go explore. And I’m very much more of a go getter than most people. Well, not most people, but some people like to just take it slow and easy and relax. And I’m not relaxed. I’m like, I want to go see as much of this place as I can. 

So it was fun to do that. And my husband was like, well, as long as you’re happy. 

Devon: And you mentioned that sort of the inspiration behind this whole trip initially began as wanting to fly on Qsuites and securing that as your first flight. I’m really curious to hear, what did you think about the Qsuites experience and how did that compare to the other airline products that you flew on this trip, especially the other ones that were long haul business class products? 

Lindsay: Yeah. Oh, I didn’t mention. So from Austin to London, I flew Virgin in the coffin seats, the 787-9. Oh my gosh. I feel bad about dogging that business class because it’s like, oh, you’re complaining about business class. I’m going to humble myself, like I know I’m still in business class and I’m still grateful for the experience. But I do not know who designed that layout.  

Devon: So wait, can you just explain a little bit for people who maybe haven’t even seen pictures of what that specific aircraft looks like? Can you explain what the business class sort of layout is like and the experience of being in it and why that’s such a different experience than some other airline products? 

Lindsay: Yeah. So they’re laid out like a, what do they call it? Like a herringbone pattern. So they’re like at an angle, right? And if you’re on the, I guess, right side of the plane, you’re angled completely away from the window. So you’re not, I mean, I had to literally turn like almost one hundred and eighty degrees to look out the window behind me, which is so odd. 

And then the seats, they’re very narrow and straight. So they call them, in the industry they call them the coffin seats because it does feel like that. And the barriers are very short. So you can just be sitting in your seat and see everyone around you, which is awkward because there’s not a lot of privacy. 

And then the TV kind of like you got to swing it out from the side. It’s just very awkward. You just feel very awkward in the seat the whole time. The footwell is kind of separate from the seat. It’s just kind of like a little stump. So when you’re walking down the aisle to go to the bathroom, if somebody is tall, their feet are kind of hanging over. And you don’t want to hit people as you’re trying to go to the bathroom, so it’s a very odd experience, I’ll say. 

It was an experience. And it’s interesting because we flew the A350 on Virgin last summer, which is a way better experience and layout than that one. And I know that this, I think it’s a 787-9, I know that that’s not a common carrier. I think Air New Zealand also has a couple of planes with that layout. But I’m like, man, they need to ditch it. 

They need to ditch it, especially because of the price, and granted I think the pricing is skewed because I live in Austin, so we don’t have competition. There’s not a lot of major carriers taking people to Europe from Austin. But the cost was like $5700 a person to sit in the coffin seat. I’m like, there’s no way, you know, just one way. I’m like, there’s no way that this costs this much. So it’s a little awkward. It’s a little awkward. But that’s how my trip started, was on that. 

And then the A380 on Emirates with the shower, it’s just like that’s like a bucket list flight that a lot of people want to do. The shower is good. It’s five minutes, but the water was hot the whole time. The issue is you have to schedule your shower time because they want to coordinate people being in the bathroom and such like that. 

So I didn’t have very many options when I scheduled my shower time, it was like the middle of sleep. I was like, man, I really want to sleep, but I also really want to check out the shower because I have to, right? So I did my shower. I don’t know that it’s necessary, but I’m really glad that I got to experience it. It was definitely a cool product. 

And then the A380 from Dubai to Bahrain is the same thing minus the shower. So obviously, Emirates is just really great service. And when you fly first class, you feel like I am getting the special treatment. And they took like little Polaroids of me in the flight from Dubai to Bahrain and wrote little notes from the flight attendants like, hope you have a good trip. Thanks for flying with us. So I thought that was really cute. That was a nice touch. 

I did love the Qsuites. I love ordering on demand. You know, you usually only see that in first class settings. It’s really nice to see that in business class. The food was really good. I did sit in the seat that faces backwards when you take off, just kind of like unique to the Qsuites. It didn’t bother me at all, though, like it was fine. I know to some people, it kind of might seem weird for them, but no, it was really good. I don’t know if it’s my favorite business class flight ever. I don’t know. 

Devon: Well, tell us what competes with it. If you don’t know for sure that Qsuites – And it doesn’t have to be anybody’s favorite, but since it’s not obviously your favorite, what else is a potential competitor? 

Lindsay: I’m just a Singapore Airlines fan. I just love them so much. They weren’t our first business class flight, but it was like our first really long business class flight. We flew from San Francisco to Singapore several years ago and I just thought the service was incredible and the food was good. Maybe not like the best food in business class. 

But we did end up flying them again last year in Singapore Suites with our daughter. And they just went above and beyond for us. And they even sterilized my daughter’s bottles for us. I mean, they had a separate baby food that they served her on a silver platter. I was like, this is so extra and amazing. But I really appreciate that they actually acknowledge her and are trying to take care of her as well, because most other airlines when they have a lap infant, they don’t even really care, honestly. So it was nice that they treated her as a separate passenger. 

And I know that’s like first class versus business class, but I think it’s just because I’ve had an overall such a great experience with Singapore, I just love flying with them. So I think that’s why I just love them so much. 

Devon: One of the things that I was curious about, on an itinerary that’s a little bit more complicated like this one where you’re not just starting where you live and then flying to one destination and turning around and coming home. But you’re actually going to multiple different countries, you’re booking on multiple different airlines. Once you decide sort of that starting point, that anchor of booking that first Qsuites flight that for you was the inspiration of the trip. But from there you’ve got to get from, like you said, Austin over to Doha and then build a trip around that. 

When you have a little bit more of a complicated itinerary, I’m just really curious for you, like how do you go about building out an itinerary where you are going to have multiple different award flights and different hotel stays? And were there any unique challenges that you encountered when you were trying to build out this particular itinerary or have tips for other people who want to build out more than just a standard going to a single destination type of trip? 

Lindsay: Yeah, it initially was supposed to be a family trip. I really wanted to do Oman Air business class from London to Muscat. That was the original plan, but it is essentially impossible to book it on points. There used to be a kind of you could book through Etihad if you called them. Anyway, it was super convoluted. I looked up so many blogs to try to figure it out and it didn’t seem like the ways that were possible in the past were possible as of recently until they join Oneworld, which I heard got pushed back to like next year. 

But that was like my goal, because I really heard amazing things about their business class. I did fly their business class from Bahrain to Muscat, but it wasn’t the same as the big airliners that fly between Europe and the Middle East. 

But that was the biggest challenge, was trying to figure out how to get from Europe to the Middle East, because I knew I wanted to fly one of the fun carriers that’s over there. But with Oman Air not really being a points deal, I was like, well, I don’t want to pay cash. And then if we run the risk of booking an economy and trying to upgrade business at the gate, like that may work, that may not work. I don’t know if it’s going to be worth it to do it that way. 

So that was the biggest challenge. So I actually didn’t even have a flight booked from Europe to the Middle East until I think like two weeks before the trip because Emirates is really great about opening up their last minute award space. So I was like, well, now that I’m not booking for my family, it’s just me, it’s so much easier. 

And I think that’s one of the things that for somebody who’s looking on the outside and they’re looking at people in the points and miles world and they see them on Instagram and stuff like that, a lot of the people in points and miles are solo travelers. Or they may not be single, they may be married or have a family, but a lot of times they’re traveling by themselves. 

And the thing that people need to realize is it is immensely easier to book one flight, one seat than it is to book two, and then three and four plus you’re getting to be in difficult mode, right? I think that’s something that just people need to be aware of, that if you want to book these real big aspirational flights but you have a family of five, it is going to be challenging. And on some airlines, it’s not going to be possible on points just because they don’t release that many seats, award seats. 

But it’s not anything to be discouraged because there are the little caveats like Emirates where you can book a last minute upgrade with points. Like I did that with my husband last year. We ended up booking him in economy because I waited too long to book the seats because I was wanting to fly the game changer. And every single day that I had been scoping it, and I had been scoping it for months, they were releasing two seats. 

And I was like, okay, I know we’re going to get these seats. And I told my husband, I was like, don’t worry, we’re going to get the seats. And then, of course, the day comes that we need to book the flight and there’s only one seat available. And I was like, oh man, he is not going to be happy with this. So we ended up booking him in economy on cash, me in first class. And then the day of, there were seats in business so we upgraded him for like 50,000 points with my daughter. 

And so, yeah, there’s a lot of challenges. I know a lot of people don’t like to travel or plan the way that I do. They like to plan in advance. And it’s funny because I am really type A otherwise, but when it comes to traveling, especially like this and especially post Covid, I didn’t used to be this lax or do last minute traveling kind of thing. But basically since Covid it’s like I don’t like to plan that far in advance unless it’s a place where you have to. 

Like if I’m booking cherry blossoms for next year, I know I’m booking those a year in advance, right? But for stuff like this, I was like, okay, first of all, it’s January. It’s the off-season everywhere I’m going. So I know there’s going to be availability and I just need to be patient and wait for those like last minute things to kind of open up. 

I also am flexible with travel, I think, too, because I’ve been very fortunate to have traveled a lot in the past. So if things don’t go right or if I don’t get to go to a certain place, it’s like, well, I’ll go there at some point, you know, it’ll just be saved for another trip. And so I try to be flexible with kind of going where the deals are. You got to go where the deals are and kind of make it happen. 

Devon: Yeah, I think that’s such great advice. And I’m thinking about for people who are listening to this episode and are really interested in at some point trying to do a similar type of trip where they are visiting maybe two or three or four different countries and they’re going to be trying to arrange an itinerary that might include award flights on multiple different carriers. 

Because you have so much experience in award travel, are there certain airlines, and they can be ones that you flew on this trip or just from your other trips that you’ve taken, that you think are more user friendly? Let’s say the airlines that you think are easier to just search for award flights on their platforms, book the award flights that you think are really, really great sort of starter airlines to begin your searches with for people who don’t yet have the experience of having booked 20 or 30 different award flights before. 

Lindsay: Yeah. I mean, Air France comes to mind. The whole Flying Blue program is just, I feel like, really user friendly. And I hesitate to say they’re family friendly because they do have a 25% discount for kids aged 2 to 11, which is fantastic because anywhere you can get savings. You know, they don’t have to give you any discount for a kid, but that’s great that they do. 

I hesitate to say that they’re family friendly because we flew La Premiere last year, and that’s such a bucket list flight for a lot of people because it’s pretty much out of reach for people on points unless you have top tier status with Air France. And so when I had the opportunity to upgrade at check-in, I was like, okay, I might not get this chance to fly it again, so let’s do it. 

And I told them that I was flying with my daughter and they’re like, oh, we can’t add her onto your ticket as a lap infant, but she can sit in the back. Not the back, in business class with your husband. And you guys can share parent responsibilities. So everything was fine. 

And then we get on the plane and we have dinner service and it’s time to go to sleep and I go get my daughter from my husband and I bring her into first with me and we go try to lay down. And the flight attendant comes right in there and she’s like, she can’t be in here. I’m like, what? I was told it was fine. There’s nowhere in the airline policy that says babies can’t be in first class. 

So I was like, well, I don’t have anywhere else to go because this is my seat. So I had to walk up and down the aisles holding her for like an hour. And we’re both exhausted. And finally, the flight attendant was like, she could just see I was just drained, and she’s like, okay, fine, she can go up with you in first class as long as she doesn’t make any noise. 

And first of all, she just wanted to sleep. And I knew she wasn’t going to make any noise. And secondly, I have an extremely low threshold for removing my daughter if she’s being disruptive at all. I don’t care what class I’m in, economy, business, first. Like I don’t want to interrupt the other passengers that are around me. 

Anyway, she didn’t make a peep. She just slept, as I suspected. But the kicker in the situation is there’s only four seats in La Premiere. I was on the very end. And the other person on the very end was the only other paying customer. The two seats in the middle were airline pilots that were, that was their like jump seat, which is amazing that they let them have that. But they were non-rev passengers. So I was like, wow, this is an interesting data point. 

That being said, Air France, tons of availability, lots of availability for multiple seats. So I will fly them again. I’ll give them another chance. And I can’t turn down a discount like, you know, a deal’s a deal, right? So, yeah, they’re good. 

I’m going to be flying KLM this summer. And I was actually able to find three seats for a really good deal. And especially with all the transfer promos, between all the banks it feels like there’s almost always a transfer bonus to Flying Blue. So, yeah, I feel like that’s a really easy one. 

What’s another one? Iberia releases a lot of seats as well, like more than just two at a time. I mean, even Emirates, if you like to plan last minute like that, like I did, you’re still able. I mean, if I was traveling with my family, I could have booked them all and upgraded them for points on the day of. 

So those are the ones that come to mind as far as ease to use. I can’t think, I know there’s other ones, but I can’t think off the top of my head that are like, you know, that has like multiple seats available. Sometimes Singapore does, but not often. But those are the ones that come to mind. 

Devon: Yeah, thank you for sharing that. Of the countries that you visited on this trip, specifically I know that you started in the UK, but when you’re thinking about Bahrain and Oman and Qatar, really curious to hear, what was your favorite aspect of each of those countries that you visited? 

Lindsay: Oh, that’s a good question. For Wales, I mean, just the history. Oh my gosh, it’s just – Well, I should say the history, but then I went to Bahrain and then that is like way even older than that. But Wales, I just loved exploring the castles, especially because you can just tell those are such really beautiful, great sites. And I know that if I would have come in the summer they would have been crazy busy. So it was nice to enjoy them without the crowds. 

And then for Bahrain, I guess I just didn’t realize how ancient it is. Like I knew it was old, of course, being where it is geographically. But we went to a fort that was 4500 years old. Like that’s just insane to me. And a lot of it was still intact. So that was really, really cool. 

And I think the thing that I loved about Bahrain is just that it was just so foreign. Like I said earlier, I really felt like I was really getting an experience because there weren’t any tourists. There weren’t any tourists around hardly at all. So it’s just fun to be really immersed in a place and you feel like, yes, you are an outsider looking in, but you can really feel like, okay, this is how life is here, right? This isn’t built for tourists, this is built for locals. 

And then Oman, it’s really beautiful. It’s really got a lot of natural beauty. Like there are a lot of what they call wadis, which are like desert oasis, oasi. I don’t know if that’s the plural. But just like crystal clear blue waters in the middle of this kind of desert landscape. Just like watering holes that people just kind of come to. It’s like a community, right? Because it’s hot there, especially in the summer. So it’s nice to just like, it’s like a little gathering place for people to go. 

Yeah, lots of natural beauty, waterfalls, beaches. I don’t know how to pronounce it, it’s like Dimaniyat Islands that are off of Muscat. They’re like 45 minutes away. I mean, the water looks like the Maldives. It’s crystal clear blue water. We’re snorkeling with turtles. And I think for somebody who doesn’t really know much about the Middle East or they haven’t heard much about Oman, they would be surprised to learn that the waters are that beautiful and the beaches are beautiful and the natural beauty of it as well. 

And then Doha, I mean, that place was like they’re living in 3060. I mean, it just felt so futuristic and clean and very easy to get around. And the hotels are just amazing. So there’s a couple of hotels that I didn’t stay at but I visited. One of them is the Mondrian. If you haven’t seen it, look it up on Instagram. But it looks like Alice in Wonderland. It’s one of the most beautiful hotel pools I’ve ever swam in. I mean, it’s just like glass everywhere. It’s just, I can’t even explain it. It’s so beautiful. 

And then the new hotel, the Raffles Doha. It’s like half of it’s Raffles, the other half is the Fairmont. And the outside building is really unique, it’s kind of like a horseshoe shaped hotel. But the lobby is next level. I mean, it’s just the most beautiful grand lobby hotel entrance I’ve ever seen. There’s chandeliers everywhere. And then the whole ceiling is like a dome and it’s mirrored all around. And then there’s a projection of clouds from the top. So all you can see is like this mirrored cloud, like it feels like you’re walking into a clouded heaven or something. It’s really next level. 

I love the city. It’s very well put together. And we did the souks. I did the souks and ate at some good places. And I feel like even if you only have 24 hours, just go do it. A lot of people overlook Doha because it’s just a layover in a place to somewhere else. You know, people going to the Maldives, Seychelles, they’re like, I just got a layover in Doha. It’s like I really suggest you do a stopover. 

And I know Qatar Airways does the stopover program if your layover is long enough. And I think it’s definitely worth it. I don’t think people should overlook visiting Doha. I think it’s definitely worth stopping and spending some time in. 

Devon: Yeah, that’s all such amazing things to hear. I’m curious if there was anything that you didn’t get a chance to do in any of those countries that you really wish that you would have been able to. 

Lindsay: Yeah, for sure. Southern Oman looks really, really, really incredible. I mean, there’s even more beautiful beaches down there. And then the Alila Hinu Bay, that property looks gorgeous. And my original itinerary was not going to be Bahrain, it was just going to be Oman and I was going to do the whole country. I did not realize how big Oman is. I was like, oh, I’ll just do it in my five days. Like, no, there’s a lot of driving involved. So I didn’t get to go south. And I definitely would and hopefully will come back and do that. 

And then another fun property that I want to check out is the Six Senses Zighy Bay. So it’s like if you look on the map, the very tippy top of Oman, it’s just like a little tip. And it’s by itself and the rest is surrounded by the UAE. So most people get there from Dubai. You can take a car, it’s like two hours to get there. So you go from the UAE into Oman, but then it’s all surrounded by Emirates. So it’s really interesting. But the property looks super stunning and I would love to go back and stay there. 

Devon: That sounds really incredible. But I know that you got some amazing use out of your points. And you mentioned some hotel certificates as well for this trip. What do you think were some of the best uses of your points or those hotel certificates in terms of just the value of money that they saved you or the experiences that you liked the most that other people might want to have on their radar if they’re considering taking a trip like this? 

Lindsay: Yeah, definitely the best value, the two that pop out are the Ritz Carlton in Bahrain and the Alila Jabal Akhdar. The Alila I ended up being upgraded to like a double terrace room. And that was going for $1500 a night. And I only paid 25,000 points for a $1500 value, which is incredible. And the property itself is just stunning. 

And then the Ritz Bahrain, that was a 50,000 free night certificate. I think I topped it up with like 8,000 points for that and upgraded to the executive suite. And that was going for $1,000 a night. And I know that they are redoing that hotel, so some of it is renovated. Part of it is renovated, part of it’s not. I actually stayed in the part that was not renovated. But the suite was so massive. So I was like, yeah, I will take this gold encrusted everything because I think it’s great. I like that style because it’s just kind of fun and cool to me. 

But yeah, those two are the ones that stick out the most to me. And then if you’re looking for value, honestly, the Grand Hyatt Doha. Now, I know I talked about visiting the really amazing bougie hotels in Doha, and if you want to do that, I think you should do that. But I’m glad I just visited them instead of spending the money or the points to stay there because the Grand Hyatt Doha, I just used a category one through four certificate that comes with my Hyatt card, it was actually my husband’s. 

And the club lounge there might be one of the best ones I’ve been at because the food, the dinner service was actually like meals. It was a buffet, but they had a ton of food options and like really good food options. It wasn’t just like finger foods and hors d’oeuvres. They were like actual entrees. 

And so I was like, if you’re looking to save money, this is a winner for sure, because the breakfast is included for globalists. And then the happy hour is basically a meal. So you could feed your family if you go and stay there for cheap because you would only need to cover your lunch expenses. 

And if I recall, it was in a pretty good location as well to get access to other things in Doha. So for value, that was easily a really good value for your cat one through four certs. 

Devon: And actually, just a follow up question on that for people who are not as familiar with the idea of these hotel specific certificates, so maybe they have a couple of points earning credit cards and they’re really used to earning Chase points or American Express points and kind of understand the philosophy behind transferring those to an airline partner, but are less familiar with hotel certificates. Can you just briefly explain what is a hotel certificate and how did you actually get multiple different hotel certificates for different hotel chains? 

Lindsay: Yeah, so like most cards come with a free night certificate and that’s all dependent, of course, on which hotel chain it is. 

So for Hyatt, for example, you get a category one through four. The categories go up through eight being like super high-end bougie places. So you’re looking at a kind of medium mid tier that you can get covered. You know, you get one per year, which for me, I’m like this easily justifies my $95 annual fee because no hotel is ninety five dollars a night anymore. Everything costs a lot more. So I get my money’s worth out of it every year easily. 

And then I typically do, depending on the year and depending on my strategy for globalist, I’ll spend the 15,000 to get the free night certificate as well, another category one through four. 

And then for the Marriott’s, for the Ritz, Bonvoy does an elevated offer of five 50K free night certificates after I think it’s like 3K spend or 4K spend in three months. And you can top those off, which is one of the nice hacks, not hacks. I guess it’s a hack. You can top them off for up to 15,000 points for each certificate. So you’re looking at properties that are a maximum of 65,000 points a night and that can get you some really nice places. 

Like I said, the Ritz abroad, I know some places in Asia where you can stay at properties like the Ritz as well for the similar price using the 50K certificates. So there’s a ton of value there. Unfortunately, that doesn’t continue, you don’t continue to get 50K certs, it drops back down to 35K on the anniversary. 

But I still have, I think, an Amex Marriott card that gives me the yearly 35K certificates. And we use those a lot for domestic stuff. Like if you want to do a quick vacation, go to Dallas or go to San Antonio for the weekend, you can find a lot of those kinds of mid tier hotels for easy use of a 35K certificate. And you’re looking at like $200 to $300 value just for holding the card for another year, which is great. 

And then I recently used my free night certificate with Hilton for the Aspire. Which Hilton by far has the best free night certificates that they offer annually with their cards, because you can use them at any property as long as a standard room rate is available. So I used my free night certificates with Hilton to stay at the Conrad Bora Bora for free. I believe the room was like $1700 a night when we were there recently. 

So just by having my card, I got $1700 worth of value. And yes, that card is a high annual fee card. I think it’s, what is it, 450 or 550 now? But I use it at a place where I’m going to get $1700 worth of value. So for me, I’m going to keep the card like it’s a no brainer. As long as I can continue to get the value from the card, I’m going to keep it. 

I also just don’t churn those cards as frequently because I’m focused more on the transferable currency cards. And then when you’re getting into like 524 status and you’re watching your numbers and you’re like, do I want to fill another spot to pick up a Hyatt card again? And you’re like, eh, no, I’d rather use it for churning my Chase Sapphire Preferred because it’s been four years, so I’d rather do that instead of picking up the Hyatt card again and stuff like that. 

So for me, that’s the cards that I keep the most frequently opened, I guess. 

Devon: Thank you so much for sharing that. I think that we talk somewhat less about utilizing perks like free night certificates at hotels than just, again, using transferable points currencies. But I think it’s really wonderful to highlight some of the incredible value that you can get when you’re using some of these hotel certificates, like you mentioned, especially in other parts of the world where sometimes you can get a lot more value out of a 50,000 night certificate than you can sometimes for domestic property. 

So it’s wonderful for people to kind of keep that on their radar in terms of the value that you can get from a lot of these cards. The points are obviously amazing, but having additional benefits like free night certificates can really come into play and have a big impact on a trip. 

Now, I really want to thank you for joining me today. And before we wrap up, I just as a last question was wondering for anyone who’s listening to this episode and is now really interested in exploring one of these countries or the area of the world that may not have been on their idea or their wish list beforehand, do you have any additional advice for someone who’s looking to maximize their credit card points to get over to Bahrain or Oman or Qatar or just anything that you can think of that would be a great first step for someone looking to recreate part of this trip? 

Lindsay: Yeah, I mean, I always emphasize obviously going for the transferable currency cards because you get the most flexibility with those points. And the good news is like Emirates is a transfer partner of most of the banks. And so even if you have like, oh, I only have 40,000 points, but I have points in Amex, too. Well, you can combine those points to book your Emirates flights, for example. 

I think as far as strategy, that would have been a strategy. There’s not really a particular card or bank program that I would focus on because all the places I went to had a really good selection of the different hotel chains. You know, the big four, Hyatt, Hilton, Marriott and IHG. Like they all had really good footprints there, so it’s not like you’re limited in that aspect. 

So I don’t know if there’s any particular strategy other than just getting the most transferable points that you can just to be flexible with where you want to stay. I don’t think there’s any other things that I would focus on. 

I mean, if you wanted to sign up for the Bonvoy when it’s got that other elevated offer of the five 50K free night certs, because when it’s not elevated, it’s just three. Not that you can’t get value out of three nights, of course you can. But the five free night certs, they usually come around like twice a year. Historically it’s been in the fall because I’ve picked that card up in the fall. So hopefully that will be back around. And that’s a great value abroad. I like using those certificates abroad. So that could be another part of the strategy. 

But otherwise, just be flexible because you’ve got a lot of options in that part of the world. 

Devon: Thank you so much for sharing that. And thank you for coming on today to just tell us all more about this incredible trip that you took recently. 

For people who are interested in learning more about you or following your work and what you do, where is a good place for people to find you? 

Lindsay: Yeah, I’m on Instagram. My handle is Lindsay_Taylor3. And I don’t post as much to the feed, but I post a lot on my stories and I save them in the highlights. So all my highlights from the Middle East trips and other trips I’ve taken are on my Instagram. 

Devon: All right. And we’ll include that information in the episode description and in the show notes so it’s easy for people to find. Lindsay, again, thank you so much for joining me here today. It was a real pleasure to have you on and to share your story with everybody. 

Lindsay: Thank you for having me. 

Devon: All right, everyone, have a fantastic week and I will see you again same time, same place next week. 

Thank you for joining me for this week’s episode of Point Me to First Class. If you want more tips on turning your expenses into travel, visit pointmetofirstclass.com to learn more. See you next week.