{"id":1658,"date":"2012-01-03T00:01:07","date_gmt":"2012-01-03T07:01:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldwanderlusting.com\/?p=1658"},"modified":"2014-04-14T11:55:33","modified_gmt":"2014-04-14T17:55:33","slug":"from-wanderlust-to-wandering-edinburgh-scotland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldwanderlusting.com\/?p=1658","title":{"rendered":"From Wanderlusting to Wandering – Edinburgh, Scotland"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our readers were kind enough to inundate us with stimulating pictures entered into our\u00a0Facebook Page\u00a0Photo Contest<\/a>\u00a0from their travels, now we’re hoping to pay the favor forward.\u00a0 You’ve seen the photos\u00a0and now you’re wanderlusting, we’d like to show you how to put yourself in these places.<\/p>\n

Thanks to Alise for showing us the beautiful picture of the chimneys of Edinburgh, now…\u00a0let’s do what we do at www.WorldWanderlusting.com and get there by prudently using your good credit to obtain travel reward benefits.<\/p>\n

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Edinburgh Chimneys<\/p><\/div>\n

First things first….The flight<\/strong><\/p>\n

I’ve searched through each of the frequent flyer mile programs and it looks like the best program for getting to Europe will depend on your origin. \u00a0Every once in a while you can get 40k American AAdvantage miles to take you to select places in Europe, but more often than not, you’ll be looking at closer to 60k – and we haven’t been finding offers that will get you that many points all at once here recently.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>We’re finding that your best bet to almost anywhere in Europe, though, may just be to load up some Ultimate Rewards points. The Chase Sapphire PreferredSM<\/span><\/sup> and the Ink Bold\u00ae Business Card will give you 40k and 50k Chase Ultimate Rewards points respectively. These can be used as cash towards airfare at a rate of 1.25 per 100 points.\u00a0By the time you meet the spending requirements<\/a>, you’ll have at least 43k or 55k points (or 108k if you opted for both). Then\u00a0go to Kayak’s Explore Tool<\/a> and see what flights land near\u00a0Edinburgh and when\u00a0they\u00a0might be\u00a0available.<\/p>\n

I did a quick search and saw that $787 will get you into\u00a0Manchester in February. The 53,000 points can be redeemed for $662 in airfare. So\u00a0if you can cough up the\u00a0difference – a measly $125, you’ll be on your way.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This is sounding good, but it’s about to get even better. Because you’re using the Ultimate Rewards points, you’ll also accrue frequent flyer miles.\u00a0According to\u00a0Milecalc’s website<\/a> and found that a flight from SLC\u00a0to Manchester\u00a0would\u00a0rack up \u00a0around 10,660 more miles.\u00a0Do this twice with most programs and you’ll be well on your way to anotherl free flight within the US.<\/p>\n

The best part is that you can apply for a new Chase card every 30 days. \u00a0So you could score the Chase Sapphire PreferredSM<\/span><\/sup> and then wait until you had your spending requirement met, then get the Ink Plus\u00ae Business Card to cover for two people or the entire trip the first time around.\u00a0\u00a0Your\u00a0spouse could apply for both cards too, then you could take your family of four to Europe for $500 ($125 x 4). \u00a0Keep in mind that this excursion would score you 42,640 FF miles as well! (10,660 x 4).\u00a0 I don’t know about you, but I’m sweating.<\/p>\n

Hotel<\/strong><\/p>\n

As a bonus, then, you’ll get to enjoy the drive from Manchester to Edinburgh<\/a>. \u00a0I’m sure that Alise could testify, as the pictures demonstrate,\u00a0there are some breathtaking sights.\u00a0Just remember to drive\u00a0on the left side of the road.\u00a0Staying downtown in a large city will usually require more points or dollars. So, sometimes it is better to look a little outside of downtown.\u00a0I’ve looked up a few hotels and here are a couple of ideas on where to stay.<\/p>\n