I wasn’t expecting much from the Finnair Schengen region lounge at Helsinki, but I was very pleasantly surprised by this lounge. First, I loved the design of the lounge. It felt airy and open with lots of cool furniture and lighting fixtures. There were large windows, so there was natural light. The lounge was pretty…
Costs: $850 for airfare $30 for public transportation $160 for food and incidentals 44k points for two nights at the Radisson Blu Plaza Hotel Helsinki (let’s say this was about $40, considering that the annual fee for the credit card is $75) Total: $1080 (Tangible) Benefits: 26,812 American Airline miles (13,406 flown miles plus 100% bonus…
The Almost@Home Lounge is located near Gate 32 in the non-Schengen area of Helsinki airport. It’s accessible via Priority Pass, and it’s one of the nicest Priority Pass lounges that I’ve been to. When I checked in, the lounge agent was nice and welcoming, and she asked if I had ever been to the lounge….
My second and final day in Helsinki, I did something rather stupid and let myself fall asleep at 4pm. I was exhausted and jetlagged (I find it harder to travel east than west) and ended up sleeping for 8+ hours and thus woke up past midnight without having eaten dinner. There is not much to…
Eating out in Helsinki is generally expensive, and I hate spending money on mediocre food, so I figured that I might as well just splurge a little bit and get significantly nicer food. One of my new year’s resolutions was to eat 12 new Michelin stars this year, and Helsinki features 5 starred restaurants, so…
The first redemption that I made with the Club Carlson points acquired from my credit card sign-up bonus (or rather, using my friend’s Club Carlson points since mine didn’t post quickly enough, but that’s another story) was at the Radisson Blu Plaza Hotel in Helsinki. For 44k points, I got a 2-night redemption, since the…
I have my second and final mileage run to get to American Airlines Executive Platinum status coming up this weekend (leaving less than 3 days after coming back from my round-the-world trip). I’m headed to Helsinki, flying AA to JFK and then Finnair to HEL. My ticket was ~$850, and the routing provides about 13,400…
