The Raffles Udaipur Story:
Raffles is one of the most luxury brand of Accor & as both mine and wife’s birthday are in the same month, I wanted to celebrate here.
Raffles is the best property in India to burn your Accor Points
Here’s why
Bookmark now for later ⬇️
FiguringOutEurope:
#4
‘The Zermatt story’: Is it the most beautiful town in Switzerland?
(For people visiting Switzerland for the first time, Zermatt must be in your itinerary & here is why)
Bookmark now for later
Welcome to
#FiguringOutEurope
where I am exploring Europe for the first time, sharing my entire experience & not just Redemptions. Do’s & don’t, internal transfers, hacks to save money, activities to do everyday, cafes nearby & a lot more
So bookmark for later
@deepigoyal
@DUALIPA
Zomato bought the going out from Paytm and have the biggest star in for a concert already, strategic planning & timing really good.
If you are planning to visit Switzerland in the near future and you love coffee.
Get the
@Nespresso
machine from Switzerland.
It was a real steal deal, as everyone in Europe & Switzerland drinks Nespresso got this for only ₹11,000 with complimentary coffee pods
Views just outside my Airbnb in Interlaken.
Switzerland is so beautiful 😍
Every area is different & 15 days is nothing to explore Switzerland
But will be back soon, good enough for the first time ✨
Visiting Europe for the first time.
Paris (4 days) -Amsterdam(3 days)- Switzerland (10 days)
Any Advice /Suggestions / Recommendations ?
Thanks to
@DoBaniye
for the detailed Euro Trip post, got really helpful information.
Welcome to Day 1: Paris
Hotel: Mercure Paris 17 Batignolles
Location: (9/10)
Cost for 3 night: 24000 All points & €22
I chose this area as it was away from the main hustle & bustle of Eiffel tower and mainly locals resides in the vicinity. Eiffel, louvre everything was around
Welcome to ‘Finding Unique Airbnbs’
Location: Jaipur
Cost/night: ₹5000
Airbnb’s name: The Traveller’s Home
It’s beautifully designed 3 BHK Airbnb located in Malviya nagar just 2 km from Airport.
Bookmark for later ⬇️
You can reach majority attractions within half an hour and
A crazy incidence happened with me in Interlaken at my Airbnb: (A good story) ✨
I booked my Airbnb for 5 nights and when I reached Interlaken my host told me that there is a facade created for some repair work which will be removed by your last night because of the thunderstorm
@Kenu73
Yes!
@Kenu73
this is absolutely true.
I own multiple restaurants and been in the industry for more than 7 years. When Zomato/Swiggy initially started onboarding it was at 0% commissions & I remember as we had the master franchise for The Belgian Waffle of my city we gave 0%
Stayed with my family for my parents anniversary at one of the most luxury property in India Fairmont Jaipur with Accor All for only ₹950. Actual amount was ₹40,000 redeemed for 21,000 accor points. Thanks to the OG’s of credit cards, learned so much from you guys (Must follow
My favourite redemption of 2023 ❤️
Got Saregama Carvaan for my mumma and believe me this is the best gift you can take for your parents
Price ₹6381 redeemed from Neu coins (Tata Neu HDFC Credit Card)
Carvaan is the best product for parents, the feel is so old school yet
@kunalb11
That will be very interesting and definitely people will spend a lot more. India is yet to learn how to use credit though and I feel big players should definitely have some awareness programs for the same
@Ishansharma7390
This is true you don’t get any of this in America & Europe too, water bottle are specially priced. And meanwhile look at the crazy out of the world experience they provided at Raffles Udaipur.
The Raffles Udaipur Story:
Raffles is one of the most luxury brand of Accor & as both mine and wife’s birthday are in the same month, I wanted to celebrate here.
Raffles is the best property in India to burn your Accor Points
Here’s why
Bookmark now for later ⬇️
First Card of 2024:
IDFC First Vistara Credit Card.
I had no idea you could get multiple Vistara Cards from different banks on same CV id & number. Thanks to
@Kenu73
&
@grfinvisors
for the information &
@imYadav31
for praising IDFC services so much
I already had Axis Vistara
You all know which hotel I am staying in Paris.
View from my balcony 😍
Contrary to the popular belief, I absolutely loved Paris, spend 5 days here but feel like nothing.
So much to explore
Had a really good Meet & Greet experience at Delhi airport International departure T3 for my flight from Delhi to Paris
@airvistara
UK-21
Probably one of the best M&G experiences
@ShivrattanDhil1
Yes definitely, I think most of the people who had Fortuner are upgrading to Defender as that looks the like the best possible upgrade option available.
Just got the ‘Smart bag Tag’ by
@MarriottIntl
@HDFC_Bank
One thing you need to appreciate about HDFC, the way they execute. They thought of reminding everybody about the card by sending these Smart tags and suddenly MB card has organic content.
And this has reached everyone
The curious case of No OTP by Axis Bank:
This is another new Tech Glitch from Axis Bank where somehow the registered Mob No. & Email was delinked from Travel Edge automatically and I was ignoring it thinking as some tech glitch of OTP not coming.
Thanks to
@imYadav31
got to
Zomato’s large order fleet spotted on the streets of Jaipur
It’s crazy the kind of execution
@deepigoyal
does
I have multiple restaurants associated with Zomato for more than 6 years and the way our managers have gone deep into metrics defines why
@zomato
is growing so much.
@tejasghongadi
you were absolutely right when you said ‘I wouldn’t even touch the SBI Air India card’.
The most useless airline loyalty program is
@airindia
Flying Returns
You need to have minimum 1 flight from your FR account to redeem the points and to book for a partner you
The best part of staying in Paris was ‘Pullman Paris’ ❤️
If you have accor points, save some for your Paris trip, it will be worth it.
Amazing views & tried some influencer trends.
One surprising thing was Mini bar was not actually mini 😀 and everything was complimentary and it had a lot of stuff and the Writers bar was my favourite place, just have a look at how perfectly it’s made.
I had burned around 54000 points for the stay with package for 2 nights
View from my balcony in Zermatt, Switzerland. 🇨🇭
Making a thread for people visiting first time in Europe.
It will answer some really stupid questions also (which I had) and figured out here.
@kunalb11
So true, I feel daily habits matters a lot. It’s more about your everyday habits, things you are doing every minute and hour, the choices we are making consciously and unconsciously.
Entrance:
It is all about luxury experience right from the entrance, it is located on a private Island in Udaipur and you are taken to the property by a boat & there you are greeted by the staff they offer you a welcome drink, a in-house gin and will show you around
@ShivrattanDhil1
Yes segment is different but I am talking about those who had Fortuner for a few years.
A lot of my friends who had Fortuner mostly have upgraded to Defender in last few months & others are thinking, there is kind of a FOMO and the new defender looks like a beast 😍
FiguringOutEuope:
#6
‘How can you save money on your first Switzerland trip’?
From Credit Card Points & other hacks
(For people visiting Switzerland for the first time)
Bookmark now for later
Check in process:
This was the smoothest check in ever, they don’t have check in desk and the check in time was 3:00 PM but we reached at around 8:00 AM and still they gave us the room in just 10 minutes and even all the Birthday surprises I have asked them was ready in morning
How to reach?
We went from Zurich - Zermatt via train. It’s a 3 hour journey with 1 or 2 train change depending on the time you leave. We took the 9 am train & reached at 12:14 PM with 1 change of station at visp.
Train cost is $122 for 2 but included with Swiss Pass
Our Stay:
We stayed at ‘Hotel AlpenRoyal’ & it was the most amazing stay of my entire Europe trip. The staff was extremely sweet, property is so beautiful it gives you a feeling that you are living in a Netflix Christmas movies
Because Swiss Pass is expensive but if you don’t take it could get even more expensive.
Let’s understand this with example:
A basic itinerary of Switzerland includes places like Zurich, Interlaken, Zermatt, Lauterbrunnen, Wilderswil, Jungfraujoch
Other than this there were activities planned out during the entire 2 days
- They took us on a private trek from jetty to the other shore and there was a car waiting for us to take us to the base point with a activity instructor who had literally everything in his bag sunscreen
Welcome to one of the best lounges I experienced:
AIR FRANCE
@airfrance
Lounge for Business & First Class at Paris AirPort
This lounge cannot be accessed even via Priority Pass
They had arranged a cake cutting celebration for us at the lobby with all the stuff and everyone celebrated with us & also arranged for a special high tea as a complimentary service in the famous Writer’s bar
I know whenever you ask people about recommendations in Switzerland, Interlaken is probably the most recommended one & a lot of people miss Zermatt for some reason.
I will tell you why Zermatt became my favourite destination on my Switzerland trip
Let’s start with
Our room:
I had booked the pool Villa & full aboard package, under this all our meals were included and this was amazing as it was my first time full aboard package you can get anything from Buffet or ala cart and nothing was charged additional
If you are coming from any other part of Europe and you don’t have a Euro Pass. Pre book the tickets in advance as Euro train tickets are dynamic and they will be costly if you book them last moment.
Let me know in the comments if you have any other doubts?
Bookmark for later
🚨10 things you must know for planning a trip to Switzerland. It is heaven with AQI less than 50 in most places
A detailed guide on your most common questions that I received & also some hacks to save money with credit cards & more 💴
Bookmark now for later
Food was extraordinary & the hospitality as I mentioned was 11/10, everything was available within 2 minutes as requested they had even arranged for a Yoga session on our last morning and also got us wake up call so we don’t miss it
But for some reason they could not remove it. Now the way they work in Switzerland it was completely noise free, no cluttered material & only during after noon and there were no trouble to us
A technique to communicate with guides: Before you speak or act, if you are not clear on your intention, ask yourself ‘what is my intention?’ - and you won’t be alone in the answer. Answer will come in the appropriate time.
.
Listening to
@gary_zukav
@mindvalley
We checked out smoothly & I didn’t even complain about anything and I received a text from him,’ I apologise for the inconvenience that might have happened because of the repair work & would like to refund you the money for last night because I told you it will be removed but we
From Visp- Zermatt the route is extremely scenic.
Zermatt has a different vibe to it from other Switzerland town’s & I think it was the most expensive one too.
As most of the hotels are Ski resorts the prices are on the higher side
👋 My top 5 picks & easy to get Credit Cards if your focus is just to get perks for Travel
1. AMEX Platinum Travel Credit Card
2. Axis Atlas
3. Axis Vistara Infinite
4. SBI Air India Signature Credit Card
5. HDFC Marriott Bonvoy Credit card
➡️ Bookmark for later
Welcome to
#FiguringOutEurope
where I am exploring Europe for the first time, sharing my entire experience & not just redemptions. Do’s & Don’t, internal transfers, hacks to save money, activities to do everyday, cafes & a lot more
So bookmark for later
➡️ Amsterdam: 3 days
The best part was:
They had a heated Pool, a Jacuzzi and probably the best Swimming Pool water I have ever experienced.
I experienced heated pool for the first time and man what an experience when it is snowing outside and you are in the pool.
The most beautiful Airbnb of Goa ❤️ I have ever stayed.
Private Pool ✅
Location: 10/10 ✅
Privacy: 10/10 with security guard 24*7 ✅
Services: Top notch ✅
Daily cleaning of pool, utensils and entire room and even multiple times if you want
Bookmark for later ➡️
DM for link
Most of the properties in Zermatt are located at height
One of the craziest thing for me was when I got to know that they have elevators inside of the mountain which take you directly at the top & bottom to the town in within minutes. So you don’t have to walk all the way
One thing that surprised me was they have given a card closure option very openly visible on the app. For all other banks it is so hard to find in all other banks
Bonus: I am a silver member, got 5 free welcome drinks including alcoholic and non alcoholic both beverage for free. I will recommend reserving through accor app and at the time of check out pay through points so you can get maximum output.
Top 5 mistakes that I did being in the restaurant industry since last 4 years:
#1
If you are not able to get your fixed costs out on the 8th day of the month, there are very rare chances that model is going to survive
That’s why I feel Zermatt must be in your list if you are planning to go to Switzerland
If you have any confusion related to the itinerary, do let me know in the comments
Bookmark for later
Saw this tweet by
@aviralbhat
today and it got me thinking, how advanced the machine learning has become, the algorithm can now understand which tweet is funny/ sad. Imagine what could be done with the kind of audio data being circulated now? Imagine the possibilities
I have been using the SBI Air India Signature card for more than a year now & the launch of new Air India Loyalty program has just made this card more lucrative. However there are some crazy T&C’s associated with this card. If you are thinking to get this card read below for all
Here is an overview of everything I will be covering
- Paris : 3 days
- Amsterdam: 2 days turned into 3
- Zurich: 1 day
- Zermatt: 2 days
- Interlaken: 4 days
- Coming Back:
Paris Pullman Experience
+ International M&G experience for the first time
Now if you don’t take
Swiss Pass, you need to buy internal transfers for each one of them.
Here is a cost structure for 2 (One way) :
- Zurich- Interlaken: ₹10,144
- Interlaken- Lauterbrunnen: ₹2500
- Zurich- Zermatt: ₹10,144
And along with this you might have to pay
Should you take a Swiss Pass or which class Swiss pass should you take? Depends on a these 3 factors
1. No. of days you are in Switzerland
2. Internal Itinerary
3. Cost that you want to spend
Let me explain
What a beautifully written article by
@thetrickytrade
on the current Life-miles sale. It covers everything, all questions, how to plan the trip, any confusion that you might have.
So glad that I subscribed to the lifetime deal.
If you are starting out in your credit card
Something amazing I noticed as soon as I reached the station was most of the hotel’s have the electric car at the station for pick up & drop at the property. It is completely free of cost.
@Kenu73
I remember one story in a Botique hotel in Zermatt, Switzerland where the people at reception had break time from 1:00-3:00 PM and at exact 1:00 they left the counter finished lunch by 1:30 and they watching Netflix, whole staff was sitting together & chilling and it was just so
@amitbhawani
One good thing which they can actually do is letting people convert CRED coins into account balance at a 1% rate
Rest I think let’s assume it can replace UPI & we can pay for milk and bread with
@CRED_club
coin’s 🤪
What’s not included?
- Harder Kulum in Interlaken
- Train to Jungfraujoch
- Train to Matterhorn
- Train to Gornergrat
- Grinderwald First
For all of this you will get upto 50% off if you have swiss pass but it’s not inclusive. And even these activities are expensive
@rajshamani
This is so true that is why it very important to talk to yourself in silence & just observe life as it. How certain people/ things around you are making you feel? If you feel heavy from inside that’s your body telling you to take some action.
One of the ways to articulate own
@warikoo
That’s so true, and a simple exercise of writing a daily journal for about 10-15 minutes could be a great start towards spending time with yourself, I started with writing small thing like things I am grateful for, it always starts small.
@imYadav31
@X
Bhai O-General & Mitsubishi are best. i have been using for many years at my both home & my restaurants, no complaints in all these years.
Last year I ordered a
@myvoltas
on a friend’s recommendation & I am surprised by the way it has performed, worked so well & there is a
@IDFCFIRSTBank
looks way more professional during the entire onboarding process, it was instantly approved and I could see the Card in my app so I could start using it instantly. The app is so flawless and UX/UI is way better than Axis. Everything is so intuitive
Before we see tweets after tweets of email communication from Amex on Marriott Bonvoy Transfer Bonus
A Reminder:
Transfer only if u have a plan to utilise in next few months! 🙏
MB Redemptions are now fully dynamic. Points requirement today may differ hugely 6 months down the
Wow! I can’t believe
@X
is a crazy platform.
Just started sharing my experiences and look at that crazy reach
Only 222 followers away from my first 1k followers.
Thank you everyone 😍
After Louvre, we decided to go for some Shopping. Now there are 4 famous streets where you can go to shop in Paris:
1. Champs Elysees: (All luxury brands main stores)
2. Galeries Lafayette: (All luxury brands but cheaper). They have multiple stores
3. Village outlet: You can
A genuine doubt:
Will we still call any crypto coin decentralised if more than 51% of holdings are with 1 person (or specific institutional investors) . If yes, how?
#bitcoin
#Crypto
#Dogecoin
It also includes admission to River cruise in Zurich, Interlaken & upto 50% off on major activities.
Free travel in tram & buses during your entire journey (you will need to travel a lot in these)
Now, don’t think if you have taken the swiss pass all your expenses are covered