May 2017

 

Travelers:

Orlando, Emily and the toddler.

How did we pay for this trip:

Emily and I had 70,000 miles each through Delta. Emily also had the equivalent to $500 dollars worth of points through Chase. We started looking up destinations in Europe where we could use 70,000 miles. Our only options were Amsterdam and Paris. Both cities were cold during May so we looked into flights within Europe. To our surprise, flying in Europe is pretty cheap! It’s actually cheaper to go from Amsterdam to Athens than to go from Chicago to Miami; this may be due to our limited airline choices in America compared to the number of airlines in Europe. We ended up paying about $100 per person for flights going to Amsterdam, Athens, Santorini, Lisbon and Paris. We stayed at 4-star hotels at an average of $150 per night (with breakfast frequently included).

Delta is not paying me for this, but if you are interested in the Delta American Express card, you can apply using this link: http://refer.amex.us/ORLANHVbco?xl=cp53. You will get 70,000 miles and I will get 10,000 bonus miles, not bad for a credit card.

What Airline(s) did we fly on:

We flew economy on Delta Arlines getting there and Delta comfort+ coming back. Out of all the domestic airlines, we like Delta the best. Service is good and they are kid friendly. Do yourself a favor and upgrade to Comfort+, basic economy seats are really tight for long flights.

Comfort: 5/10 – We were pretty tight and uncomfortable.  Emily is 5’7 and petite and Orlando is 5’7 and weighs about 165 lbs.

Food: 7/10 – Good food and drinks.

Service: 9/10 – Friendly faces everywhere.

Kid Friendly: 8/10 – They have movies available and the flight attendants do a good job to accommodate parents with kids.

Entertainment: 9/10 – Plenty of movies to make the time pass by.

We flew economy on Aegean Airlines from Amsterdam to Athens, Athens to Santorini and From Santorini to Lisbon. This airline is what I wish all airlines were. Friendly staff, awesome with kids and everything is free.

Comfort: 9/10 – Great space for basic economy.

Food: 9/10 – Food was pretty tasty.

Service: 10/10 – Friendly faces everywhere.

Kid Friendly: 9/10 – Emily loved how child-oriented the staff was.  Our son was given his food first and offered toys and coloring books.

Entertainment: 0/10 – No entertainment available, but no problem since it was a short flight.  We brought an old Asus tablet with Disney digital downloads from the Disney club for our son, too.

We flew economy on Tap Airlines from Lisbon to Paris. We had high expectations of this airline based on how great the Portuguese culture is, but it turned out to not be so great.

Comfort: 7/10 – Your average space for basic economy.

Food: N/A – We can’t recall if food was served on this trip.

Service: 4/10 – There was a lot of confusion about FAA approved car seats and we were asked to move the seat and to check-in the seat. We were also asked a few times if we had paid for a seat ticket for our toddler. I guess in Portugal nobody pays for children tickets?

Kid Friendly: 4/10 – See comments above.

Entertainment: 0/10 – No entertainment available.

Where did we stay:

Sheraton Amsterdam Airport Hotel, Conveniently located right by the airport to make sure you don’t miss your flight the next day.

Price: $0. We used a hotels.com rewards credit and the booking was free.

Family friendly rating: 8/10, no breakfast included

Herodion Athens was centrally located and everything we wanted to see was within walking distance.

Price: $150 per night on hotels.com.

Family friendly rating: 9/10, Amazing and expansive breakfast included, and the front desk offered Henry toys to play with while we checked in.  It was amazing how child-oriented Europe was.

Nautilus Dome is a beautiful hotel located in the same island as Santorini, just on the opposite side.

Price: $90 per night on hotels.com.

Family friendly rating: 8/10, Free shuttles to Fira during your stay if you book with the hotel’s airport shuttle.

Residencial Florescente is an old fashioned hotel centrally located in the most beautiful part of Lisbon. This is by far Emily’s favorite hotel.

Price: $120 per night on hotels.com.

Family friendly rating: 7/10, awesome and expanisve breakfast included.

Radisson Blu Hotel Champs Elysees is a five star hotel centrally located in the tourist district of Paris.

Price: $0 for the first night thanks to a free night that we redeemed on hotels.com. Second night was $225 using a coupon on hotels.com.

Family friendly rating: 7/10, no breakfast included

Recommendations:

Amsterdam:

Go as a couple and enjoy adulting. It can be tough finding activities with children during the cooler months.

Greece:

We loved Athens and its beautiful architecture, but if you are in a time crunch, it can be skipped for the Greek islands.

Portugal:

You will need lots of time for Portugal and even then you will wish you had more time. Lisbon is a beautiful city for adults and children. Don’t forget to go to Sintra! Get an Uber and ask the driver about personal tours, they will know someone who knows someone. We had a private driver take us to Sintra and around Lisbon for the entire day in a BMW. We paid $100 dollars for the entire ride plus a $20 tip.

Paris:

Walk the city! Yes, take a stroller if you have smaller children and walk around the city. We did and we enjoyed every moment of it.  *Bring an umbrella from the hotel.

 

Lessons learned:

We loved the Dutch culture, but the Netherlands is not a country we would visit with children due to the lack of outdoor activities during the cooler months.  Also, we experienced jet lag the night we arrived, in which all three of us were wide awake at 3 am.  We eventually crashed, but missed an opportunity to see the tulip fields in bloom before our flight later that morning.  *If you buy tulip bulbs to bring back, they have to be certified so customs doesn’t toss them.

We loved Greece and we feel like the time we spent there was just enough. Greece is definitely a country to visit in the summer.  Emily recommends the thermal pool on the outside of the city, and let us know if you find Orlando’s wedding band in the water!  Also- we ordered octopus as much as we could.  This is the place to eat octopus.

The weather in Portugal is just right in May. Don’t go there unless you have at least a month to enjoy beyond the Lisbon area.  The culture was very child-friendly, and people were constantly crooning at our toddler and calling him an angel, even when he wasn’t being so angelic.  This culture was Emily’s favorite as a mother.

Paris is beautiful, but full of tourists. The amount of tourists takes the beauty away from any city in my opinion. We wish we would have gone to a smaller, more medieval city.  Do check out the local artists on the street.  Great place to buy an original.