I haven’t posted much lately as we haven’t been traveling much this summer. Last time I was on a plane was when we returned from DC in mid-June. I’ve driven to Albany, Georgia (as my wife had a trial there for a couple of weeks) and Columbia, South Carolina (for a Liverpool preseason match), but other than that, I’ve been at home for a couple of months.

That’s about to change as we have quite a bit of travel coming up. Kids are back in school in most places (not ours as they are done with school completely) so hopefully the summer travel chaos is winding down.

First up, we are headed to the Outer Banks of North Carolina next weekend. My wife has been begging me to book a trip there for a couple of years now as the shelling is supposedly excellent. We will fly into Norfolk, Virginia early Friday and drive down to Kitty Hawk, North Carolina for the day. After an early start the next morning, we will drive to Hatteras and take the ferry to Ocracoke Island for the day where there are apparently the best shells. We’ll head back to Kitty Hawk for the night and then spend another day there at the beach before flying home Monday morning. We’re flying nonstop on Delta and staying at the Hilton Garden Inn (using cash as it was too many Hilton points) right on the beach in Kitty Hawk for the weekend. We’ll spend a quick night at a Fairfield Inn by the Norfolk airport (using Bonvoy points) before we fly home early Monday.

In September, I’m going to Boston with a friend to see Pearl Jam at Fenway Park. We’re both flying in Sunday for two shows on Sunday and Tuesday. I’m flying Delta First Class both ways as it was not a huge premium over main cabin and this is one of the few east coast routes from Atlanta that actually has a meal served in First Class. My friend is flying in from Fort Lauderdale and we timed our flights to arrive and depart around the same time. I’ll even guest him into the Sky Club on the return flight with one of my Delta Reserve guest passes. We’re staying at the Hyatt Regency Boston with a combo of cash (Sunday night) and points (Monday & Tuesday nights). As I’m a Hyatt Globalist, we’ll get free breakfast and other perks.

Next up after that is a return to New York City in early October. The main reason for this trip is a mistake by Marriott. When they took over the former Conrad Midtown and re-flagged it as a Luxury Collection property, Marriott loaded the award nights at a crazy 34,000 points per night which is essentially equivalent to $238 per night for a luxury hotel in Midtown. On top of that, suites were also available at that rate. I grabbed three nights in October and three in March at those rates before the hotel got wise and recalibrated (it’s now more than double). We’re actually bringing our oldest daughter as I was able to book a suite and she’s got no issues sleeping on a sofa bed or just a sofa if that’s what there is for her. We’re flying to LaGuardia on Delta on a Friday evening (so we can all get a full day’s work done) and flying back on a Monday evening on JetBlue. I’ll be able to guest our daughter into the SkyClub on the way up and we can all enjoy the Chase Sapphire Lounge on the way back thanks to my wife’s CSR and the two guests allowed by Chase.

In October, we’re bringing both kids and their boyfriends to Florida to see my mom. She is actually having a bat-mitzvah at age 79. We’re flying Delta and staying Friday morning until Sunday evening with our oldest and her boyfriend. The other two are coming from DC on JetBlue and staying from Friday evening until Monday morning. We’re all staying at the Hyatt Place in Plantation, Florida using Hyatt points.

I’ll have a separate longer post about the next trip in November which is my annual visit to Liverpool for a match. I already have a ticket for the match vs. Brighton through my local supporter’s club. I’m flying round-trip in business class on British Airways and considering actually staying in London this time with a day trip to Liverpool on the train for the match only.

Finally, we have a weekend in Marco Island for my wife’s birthday using our Hilton Free Night Certificates at Hilton resort there. We’ll be flying there and back on Delta Friday to Sunday. We’ve been several times and this time, we’re going on a boat trip to an island where, you guessed it, they have even better shells than on Marco.

In summary, that’s all the travel we have planned for the fall so far. I’ll review the hotels and any interesting new airport lounges we are able to visit. I expect one or two more trips to be added as plans get finalized.

If you have questions about this post, let me know in the comments or send me an email at emptynestermiles@gmail.com. If you are thinking about opening a new credit card, please use one of my links.