In addition to my written trip report of my recent trip to the Lufthansa First Class Terminal, here is a video I shot, which shows the tarmac Porsche ride and the inside of the terminal.

Last week, I flew from Buenos Aires to Rio Gallegos, Argentina with no intention of going to Rio Gallegos, Argentina. Instead, my plan was to walk out of the airport, stick my thumb out, and try to get a ride to Puerto Natales, Chile, where I met my friend to hike Torres del Paine National Park.

Why hitchhike last week?

It was a goal of mine to try hitchhiking once in my life.
Rio Gallegos airport is 3:22 driving from Puerto Natales, Chile.

Greetings from Patagonia!

With 2016 in the books, and my rundown of last year’s travel here, I thought I’d share my upcoming travel plans.

I pretty much know exactly where I’ll be in January and half of February, see a few options for the rest of February and March, and then have no idea what I’ll do from April on.

2016 was a great year of travel for me, and hopefully for you too.

The year started on the tarmac in Nagoya, Japan, about to take off in Thai Business Class on a Dreamliner to Bangkok.

The year will end, for me, in a few hours in sleepy Puerto Natales, Chile where I arrived by hitchhiking yesterday, and where I'm prepping for my Torres del Paine eight day hike that kicks off in a few days.
COUNTRIES VISITED (16)

In chronological order (new countries in bold):

Japan (45 minutes)
Thailand (10 days)
Singapore (2 days)
Vietnam (10 days)
India (2

Until today (December 31, 2016), you can buy up to 30,000 Starpoints with up to a 50% discount on the normal purchase price.

The discounts are targeted. To see your discount, sign into your SPG account at this link. I was offered the maximum, 50%, discount on purchases of 5,000 or more Starpoints, and I bought 20,000.

Starpoints are normally sold in increments of 500 points for 3.5 cents per point. Getting a 50% discount brings the price down to 1.75 cents per Starpoint.

Until today (December 31, 2016), you can buy Alaska Airlines miles with up to a 40% bonus. Log in to your account at this link to see your offer.

The sale is structured as a bonus on the normal number of miles you’d receive.

The bonus is tiered, so the biggest 40% bonus comes from purchasing 40,000 to 60,000 miles at the normal price of about 2.96 cents each after tax.

It costs $1,774 to buy 84,000 miles (60k + 24k bonus) during this sale.

Delta and Alaska Airlines are ending their partnership May 1, 2017.

There will be no more codeshares, no more mileage earning on each other's flights, no more reciprocal elite benefits, and no more redeeming miles on each other's flights.

There is some grace period if you already booked your flight.
Delta SkyMiles Members will be able to earn and redeem miles on flights operated by Alaska Airlines through April 30, 2017.

Virgin America and Alaska Airlines have merged.

Starting January 9, 2017, you can link your Alaska Mileage Plan and Virgin America Elevate accounts. Then you can transfer 1 Virgin America points to 1.3 Alaska miles.

That is almost exactly the fair ratio in my opinion.

Update 1/1/17: I've added a video of the ground experience to the end of this post

Recently I flew from Croatia to the United States in Lufthansa First Class for 40,000 Starpoints + $300. Here’s how I booked the award.

Trip Report: Lufthansa First Class Lounge in Munich
Trip Report: Lufthansa First Class Terminal in Frankfurt (this post)
Trip Report: Lufthansa 747-8 First Class Frankfurt to Washington-Dulles (future post)

After a one hour flight from Munich, I arrived in Frankfurt at a remote stand.

Bad news, good news:

The bad news is that the year-round 12,500 Avios award from Boston to Dublin or Shannon, Ireland on Aer Lingus is dead.

The good news is that those awards from Boston as well as awards from New York, Newark, Hartford, Toronto, Washington-Dulles, and Chicago to Ireland are now only 13,000 Avios for more than two-thirds of the year.