Taking advantage of the excellent weather in Southern California in July (as opposed to Scottsdale’s scorching heat), we retreated to the old stomping grounds of Orange County to best enjoy America’s birthday at the Westin South Coast Plaza.
After my ridiculous Cairo to Hong Kong itinerary was planned, I actually had to add in a conference in New York City the day after I returned. I wasn’t excited about the prospect of that, but after my Business Extra upgrade certificate cleared on the outbound, and the fact that my company was footing the bill, I got excited to check out the Sheraton New York Times Square.
I previously stayed at the well-located Aloft Scottsdale when it was a Hotel Indigo (using my free IHG award night at the time). In three short years, the property has now been turned into an Aloft property, and I was excited to check out the differences!
After arriving in London, I wanted to check out the Arrivals lounge, which I qualified to enter because I arrived in Club World.
I was excited to try out British Airways’ Club World on a plane that featured different seats than normal. The seats are holdovers from BMI, which British Airways bought a short time ago.
I had an overnight layover in Amman, with a very early fight the next morning. It didn’t make sense to pay the visa fee, so I instead stayed in the airport’s transit hotel.
Since I didn’t want to chance missing my connection in London to make it home in time for a business conference, I changed my plans for a direct flight from Cairo to London in economy on British Airways, to instead get in earlier the next day, and in business class on Royal Jordanian and British Airways. For only 40,000 American miles, I secured the itinerary, which I felt was a good use.
I again was on board a business class Emirates flight, this time TO Cairo rather than from.
After checking out the ultimately mediocre IMG Worlds of Adventure theme park, I took a taxi from there to the Dubai airport once more. Check out how the business class lounge stacks up against the first class lounge below.
After landing once again in Dubai, I headed straight to one of my favorite hotels, the Park Hyatt Dubai!