One April night in 2022, I happened upon a post about a killer deal on business class flights with points that were headed to New Zealand. Chris, already asleep, was rudely (half) woken up by me in my excitement over this post, and agreed we should blow some of our points for this once in a lifetime trip. Thus, our spring break 2023 plans were made, and we were headed to the other side of the world.
I follow several travel pages on social media, and when they post these types of deals, you need to be ready to transfer points at that moment, or you will lose out and regret the hesitation. This particular deal was from a few cities, but Houston was the closest to us. We flew to TX the day before, and got to spend a day and a half with my cousin and her family as they live near Houston.
Aly was stoked as we rented a Tesla (honestly, the second cheapest car on the lot at that time), AND, we went to the Post Food Hall in Houston where we had eaten last year and we all go to repeat the meals we had remembered from our last trip there. Aly ate her body weight in Filipino noodles, and Chris and I split the African bowl. The parking here is not cheap, and there is always traffic driving downtown, but the history of this building is so cool, and the food is so varied and delicious, that I think it is not to be missed!
The next night, we were on the plane for a long, 17+ hour flight to Sydney, and then on to Wellington, but were were so lucky to be flying United Polaris with our Chase points. In Polaris, you each get your own little pod, with the two middle seats separated by a wall that you can put up or down, so Aly and I took the middle two, and Chris got his own space by the window. I’m honestly not sure how I’m going to fly in a regular seat on our way back home, or for an international flight ever again. The lay flat bed and extra space was an amazing upgrade. We all got a solid 8 hours of sleep on our flight over, when typically, Chris and I are getting small, short naps for the duration of the flight.
We were served two full meals, and there was also an option of a grilled cheese and tomato soup midway through the flight that Aly took advantage of. There was also a cart of packaged snacks, and cheese/fruit plates in the galley, that you could grab whenever you wanted. We were all super spoiled by this flight experience, and the hunt is on for the next upgraded flight deal with points. Travel hacking for the win!