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Parking Ticket Blunder – Our Mistake Story
Introduction Renting a car during overseas travels is one of our favourite ways of exploring a country at our own pace. It allows us to stop and wander without sticking to a set path. While this gives you immense flexibility, you do need to be very careful about rules and regulations. This mistake of ours was a complete surprise to us and we hope our readers can learn from it and avoid such a costly mistake. Let’s get started Our Travel Route We were traveling in the beautiful country of Germany and were on the last day of our super road trip. We had rented a Mercedes Benz E Class…
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HDFC Bank Diners 10x Partners & Smartbuy Update
Introduction HDFC Bank has renewed both the 10x Partners and 10x Smartbuy reward program for another month. Both the 10x programs offer an incredible 33% reward rate on eligible spends and this is the best credit card in terms of cash back in India right now. While it is great to see the offer being extended, it is again only for a month compared to the 3 months we used to see earlier. Lets have a look at the details Smartbuy HDFC has been beefing up its Smartbuy offering in recent months and has constantly been adding various ways for us to earn those valuable points. It makes sense as…
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JW Marriott Phu Quoc – The Best Island Resort in Vietnam
Introduction The JW Marriott Phu Quoc Emerald Bay Resort & Spa is a category 5 Marriott Property located on the Phu Quoc Island in Vietnam. It is an amazing Island Resort which is ranked amongst the Top Resorts in the Asia Pacific region and for good reason. Let’s find out. Getting Here JW Phu Quoc is located on the picturesque Khem beach which is located on the southern end of the Phu Quoc Island. The Phu Quoc international airport has direct flights from Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Kuala Lumpur & Bangkok all of which are under 2 hours. The cheapest way to reach here from India would probably be…
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HDFC Bank Diners 10x Partner & Smartbuy Update
Introduction HDFC Bank has renewed their 10x Reward program for both their 10x Partner Brands and for Smartbuy. While it is a great start to the new year it is a bit disappointing that the program has been extended only for a month compared to the 3 months last September. Lets have a look at the details Smartbuy There are no changes in the Smartbuy program with the DIners Black continuing to have a 15,000 points peak for every calendar month on the 9x bonus points. HDFC has been quietly adding more offerings in Smartbuy like Gift Cards, Train tickets etc. HDFC has also started quietly working to manage customer complaints, most…
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Faroe Islands – Our Best New Year Ever!
Introduction The new year is almost upon us and we wanted to share the best new year experience we have ever had. Faroe islands is one of the best places to visit on the planet. But while most people travel there during the summers, you should definitely consider traveling there in the winters especially during the New Year. We came here and were simply left spellbound. The Location The Faroe Islands are located between Iceland, Norway and Northern Scotland. It is an autonomous territory of the Kindgom of Denmark. Reasons to Visit While we will let the pictures speak for themselves here are some things that you will love about…
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Flight Review – Swiss First Class A330 Zurich to Mumbai
Introduction Swiss Airlines is a part of the Star Alliance network and is one of the few European airlines which runs a full service first class product to India. Swiss & Lufthansa were running a great companion fare to India from London and we booked a return trip for 2 passengers for around INR 270,000 (GBP 3,000) which is an incredible fare. We had heard great reviews about Swiss First Class and we were super pumped for this incredible journey. So let’s get started. Flight Details Route – Zurich to Mumbai Flight Number – LX 154 Aircraft Type – Airbus A330-300 Flight Time – 09:45 to 22:30 Flight Duration –…
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Malaysian Airlines Business Class A330 Jakarta to Kuala Lumpur
Introduction We recently had a chance to experience the Malaysian Airlines Business Class offering on our trip to Indonesia. The Journey from Jakarta to Kuala Lumpur is just a shade over 2 hours and we were pleasantly surprised to travel on an Airbus A330-200 with lie flat seats. It was a considerable upgrade compared to our travel from Kuala Lumpur to Jakarta which was on a Boeing 737-800 which had a 2-2 configuration with only angled seats. Flight Details Route – Jakarta, Indonesia (CGK) to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (KUL) Flight Number – MH720 Aircraft Type – Airbus A330-200 Flight Time – 15:45 to 18:50 Flight Duration – 2 Hours 5…
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HDFC Bank SmartBuy Update – 33% Cashback on Train Tickets
Introduction HDFC Bank has been on a roll recently adding up multiple ways of maximizing your earnings via the SmartBuy Program. In the past few months they have added Instant Vouchers with vendors like Uber, Bill Payments via Gyftr all of which earn 10x reward points. For those with an Infinia or Diners Black that’s equivalent to earning 33% cash back with a limit of INR 25,000 or INR 15,000 respectively. HDFC has quietly launched a new offering which is rail tickets via IRCTC The New Partner – IRCTC IRCTC is the central ticketing agency for all railway travel in India. If all the offerings till now had a limited…
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Svalbard – The Northernmost Permanent Settlement on the Planet
Introduction This year marks the 10th anniversary of our International Travel. In the beginning, we traveled to the usual tourist destinations like Singapore, Hong Kong, Paris, London etc. Over the years, we started developing an affinity to offbeat destinations. Lesser crowds give you more time to enjoy your vacation and not feel like you are coming back from a busy market or something that resembles like work(Looking at you Anaheim Disney). This year we returned to one of our favourite destinations. Svalbard is simply an incredible hidden gem. The Location Before we get into specifics lets clarify a few details. There are a few more settlements norther than Svalbard in…
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HDFC Bank Diners Club – Major Updates announced
Introduction HDFC Bank has made some major changes to the Diners Club Reward Program. Diners club is already the best credit card reward program in India which offered an incredible 33% reward rate on spends with 10x partners and Smartbuy Over the last 12 months HDFC Bank has been constantly tweaking the reward program but the current set of changes are actually positive. Lets have a look Diners Black The Diners Black card is the crown jewel of this program offering an incredible 33% reward rate. The new set of benefits are additional on top of 10x partners and Smartbuy which is a welcome change. There are 3 major additions to the program…
