{"id":2129,"date":"2012-11-21T00:16:20","date_gmt":"2012-11-21T08:16:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jett.in\/?p=2129"},"modified":"2012-11-21T00:16:20","modified_gmt":"2012-11-21T08:16:20","slug":"middle-east-on-a-cheap-whim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/first2board.com\/wanderlusty\/2012\/11\/middle-east-on-a-cheap-whim\/","title":{"rendered":"Middle East on a Cheap Whim"},"content":{"rendered":"

i was looking around for cheap mileage runs again tonight (semi-obsessed with them now as a way to see the world without breaking the bank) and saw that American had a cheap fare to Doha<\/a>. kayak showed that United (my airline\/alliance) had a similar fare ($100 more), and long story short, thanks to the help of an agent who helped me move a flight around (the middle flight to Dubai), i now have a cheap way to see some of the (fancy part of the) Middle East.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Maps generated by the\u00a0Great Circle Mapper<\/a>\u00a0–\u00a0copyright \u00a9 Karl L. Swartz<\/a>.<\/p><\/div>\n

flights<\/strong><\/p>\n

$1116.46 for SFO-LAX-IAD[-DXB-]DOH (SF to Doha via LAX [for the miles] and Dulles, with a stop in Dubai), Doha for 4 full days, then a night flight to Dubai, stay a couple days, then DXB-IAD-IAH-SFO (again, stop in Houston for the miles). btw, that comes out to 5.555 cents per mile (EQM) with the 500-mile elite minimum, without any bonuses. there’s a Mileage Plus promo that offers 50% extra redeemable miles on cheap economy tickets<\/a> from IAD-DXB, but i don’t know if it applies in this case since it’s not a round trip to Dubai. eh, we’ll see.<\/p>\n

the flight between Doha and Dulles stops in Dubai, and i tried to finagle it myself so i could have a stopover on the way home, but it came out to several thousand more online, so i booked it without the stopover for $1080 and called the premier line to see if she could move the flight around for me. she did, and i managed to get Dubai in for just $30ish more!<\/p>\n

lodging<\/strong><\/p>\n

$35\/night airbnb at the Zig Zag Towers<\/a>\u00a0in Doha and a free suite upgrade (thanks to Hyatt and the Star MegaDO for the trial Diamond status) at the Hyatt Regency Dubai (=suite for 36% of the price).<\/p>\n

so, my kind of trip! thanks to the time difference, i can sightsee during the day and work at night, and it’s definitely on the affordable end of things!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

i was looking around for cheap mileage runs again tonight (semi-obsessed with them now as a way to see the world without breaking the bank)…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"jetpack_publicize_message":"Middle East on a Cheap Whim","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[12],"tags":[264,484,570,590],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nMiddle East on a Cheap Whim - Wanderlusty<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/first2board.com\/wanderlusty\/2012\/11\/middle-east-on-a-cheap-whim\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Middle East on a Cheap Whim - 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