My wife and I attended Oktoberfest in Munich for the first time in 2017 and had an absolute blast. The food, the beer, the music and the overall atmosphere made it clear that this wouldn’t be my last visit. As my father, who is responsible for my German heritage, approached retirement, I started to put together a plan to return with him next time.

My wife and I attend our first Oktoberfest in Munich in 2017.

Anna’s note: Israel is still closed to tourists and only Israeli citizens are allowed to enter. Please check updated travel restrictions before making any plans.

Know the Entry Requirements for Each Country

As travel resumes, it’s paramount to know each country’s requirements, even if you are just transiting through and are there for a short layover. I like IATA’s Travel Regulations Map and Kayak also maintains a comprehensive list of travel restrictions by country. 

United has its own resource where you can check international travel requirements.

With its Giza pyramids, Sahara Desert and the Nile River, Egypt is known for many things and therefore is a popular travel destination. I must admit that this African country had been on my bucket list for an embarrassingly long amount of time, and I’m happy to share that I finally checked it off the list.

Egypt opened borders in July to travelers who can provide a negative PCR test for COVID-19. A visa is also required for U.S. citizens.

My last trip was February 2020. My wife and I returned home from an awesome week-long stay at Scrub Island Resort in the British Virgin Islands not knowing that it would be our last trip for a long time. We had tons of trips all over the world planned for 2020 that we would slowly begin cancelling one-by-one: 3 weeks in South Africa, a trip to Chile and Argentina, a few trips to Europe, and tons of domestic trips as well.

Like many of you, we’ve been pretty cooped up for the last year or so.

Hey MileValue Family,

Many of you take the time to read each and every article we publish. For that, we are truly grateful. Some have even taken advantage of our free credit card consultations. But today I wanted to take the time to highlight one of our lesser known services, our award booking service.

One of the biggest challenges in points and miles is putting your miles to good use.

Air Canada’s loyalty program, Aeroplan, has been involved in so much drama in the last few years, any telenovela would be jealous of the twists and the turns.

For about 25 years, Aimia Inc. operated Aeroplan independently of Air Canada. The Montreal-based carrier planned to launch a new program but eventually bought Aeroplan back from Aimia for 450 million Canadian dollars in 2018. Now that Aeroplan has returned to Air Canada, the program underwent many changes, and we have the final result.

The program has migrated to a new system, but luckily everyone’s miles are intact.

There's a large amount of United Business Class available from the United States to Europe for the coming summer months of July and August. We're talking up to eight seats available some days and up to four on many days. Award space flying United Business Class costs just 57,500 United miles versus the 70,000 it would cost you to fly another Star Alliance partner like Austrian or Turkish.

On April 24, 2017, Delta will begin service between Washington D.C. (DCA) and Los Angeles (LAX) on a Delta One-configured 757-200. You can book Domestic First Class flying Delta One between the two cities with fully flat beds for 25,000 Delta miles.

Award space is wide open in Business Class on United flights to Brussels and Amsterdam for Summer 2017 for 2+ people. That means you can book your family flat beds to Europe for as little as 40,000 miles plus taxes with no fuel surcharges.
Product
United Business Class features a comfortable flat bed, but it isn't up to the standards of the absolute best products in the world because there are as many as eight narrow beds per row.

Only true aficionados will complain.