Algeria: Gateway to 30 days in Africa

[Note: Based on feedback, I've decided to enter 2019 by switching formats to memorialize my travels. Rather than posting a sentence or two and 20-something photos with descriptions on Facebook, I'll try to balance my desire to document with others' requests for informative travel content. Pardon the dust as I work things out...]

SUMMARY

• Stay: 3 nights in Algiers
• Experience: non-toursty cultural immersion
• Getting around: easy to walk/take metro for self-guided wandering
• Budget: dirt cheap (other than the visa)

A CONVENIENT DESTINATION

I began my monthlong multi-stop African wanderings in Algeria, chosen based on an Air France open-jaw fare that allowed the ticket to begin and end in different North African countries for the same price as any of the single-destination sales.

A view from the hills
 to the waterfront.

Algiers made for a nice way to stretch out for a few days between long travel legs from the States and to the next stop in South Africa. I found it to be a non-touristy experience that was budget-friendly...other than a $160 visa.

The Grand Mosque

Casbah district

My stay was in the old city, a location chosen for two reasons: (i) its midpoint between the most popular attractions--Casbah and Martyrs' Square in the north, and the gardens and Martyrs Memorial on the southern end; and (ii) its close proximity to the metro line connecting those places.

A map of the key
attractions relative to
the hotel and metro line

I'd describe Algiers as if Marseille and Cairo had a baby; the French's fingerprints are all over the architecture and boulevard design, and it has a quality of a north African city not named Marrakech. It's an industrial city where the port, not beaches, dominate the waterfront.

El-Hamma Jardin d'Essai

Martyrs Memorial
on New Year's Eve

Centuries of Mediterranean-area influences-- including the Berbers, the Ottomans, Romans, and the French--have made Algiers like many crossroads cities--full of history and culture. It makes for some beautiful architecture and museums full of historic relics.

National Museum of
Antiquities and Ancient Islamic Art

Bardo National Museum

SUMMARY

I found Algieria to be a nice alternative to more popular destinations like Morocco and Egypt; it provides an opportunity to explore North Africa's rich history without the distractions that come with a tourism-driven economy.

TIPS/SOMETHING DIFFERENT

• If taking a taxi, insist on using the meter. Also, airport to city center should cost 600 to 800 dinar, not the 2,000 they'll repeatedly describe as a "good price". I only managed to negotiate 1,500 inbound, and I paid 1,000 on the return with arrangements through my hotel.
• There's a black market currency exchange that, while illegal, is very commonplace. While the ATM provided an official rate of 119 DZD per USD, one could get up to 180 in the street if they are savy. I went with a safer middle ground, getting 160 from a hotel staffer...still a 35% increase in purchasing power. Just don't exchange more than you need; at the end of my trip the bank wouldn't change back, and the street offer was a terrible 50% of the official rate.

LOGISTICS

• Air: open-jaw SFO-ALG//TUN-PAR-SFO; booked with ~37k points in lieu of the $550 sale fare
• Lodging: 3.0 TripAdvisor reviewer rating (#10 of 32 B&B's), booked for $33/night +tax on Expedia
• Visa: required for US citizens; $160 and involves mailing a paper application to the embassy

BUDGET

With $36/night lodging, metro rides for 40¢ each and meals as low as $2, Algeria made for a very inexpensive stay. I've included an expense breakdown below.

Stacking IHG promotions for maximum value

All travel rewards programs are not created equal. While it's true that "something is better than nothing", something plus more is even better. This why I love IHG Rewards for hotel stays...the program offers many ways to maximize travel benefits.

In this post, I will describe how I recently "stacked" IHG benefits to earn about $350 in free hotels nights while only spending about $240...making a stay in Hong Kong better than free.

Anatomy of a pennies on the dollar trip

Some people are skeptical of stories of inexpensive travel. In this post, I'll share the details of a recent trip to provide a real-world example of how one can spend $20 per day...or less...on international travel and lodging.*

3 for the price of 1 travel

This week, United announced a change in how one can book award travel. The implications are significant for people who use frequent flier miles to travel for pennies on the dollar.

In this article, I'm going to do two things...some of you might find the second one useful, especially if you're interested in saving money, and turning a basic vacation into an incredible adventure.

There's more to travel than flying "The Big 3"

I've got A LOT more flying ahead of me
to make a dent in this list...

While I'm a believer in the old adage, "life is a journey, not a destination", that doesn't apply to airline travel. For me, flights are time in a big aluminum tube that I endure so that I can enjoy more significant adventures once I'm on solid ground.

What follows is a list of travel carriers I have used to save time and money while expanding the new destinations I'm able to visit. Hopefully it inspires readers to think "outside the box" when it comes to planning an adventure.

Money for nothing...in the form of hotel stays

What if someone gave you a $500 stay in the heart of London for doing what you normally do?

In essence, that's what happened to me this summer as I decided to get better at maximizing hotel reward benefits.

Travel costs for round-the-world 2014

Reaction to my most recent trip has been mixed; some have been inspired to travel more often, while others cite all sorts of reasons why they can't. 

Either way, a common concern is cost. After crunching the numbers, I've come up with a figure that should be encouraging to most aspiring globetrotters...

Round the World... for peanuts

Peanuts? I like peanuts.

They say that reading is fundamental...that includes travel blogs and forums, right?

I was all set to go to London and Paris this fall--a few months ago, I'd booked airfare using some frequent flier miles, identified which hotels were ideally located for short visits, and looked at what's involved to take the Chunnel between the two cities.

Then I ran across this*: Under $400: From Los Angeles – Visit Budapest / Prague then Tokyo, One way, including all taxes.

A new meaning for "paid vacation"

"Wait...you want to pay me 80 bucks
to fly to New York? Sure!"

It's like a pitch on a late-night infomercial: "What if I told you that we could get you to your destination at the same time as scheduled... and we'll pay you the price of your ticket, plus an extra eighty dollars?"

That was the question posed to me when I checked in for my flight to New York this past weekend. Turns out that United overbooked the flight, and since I hadn't chosen a seat, I got "bumped". (I skipped selecting seats in the hope that I'd wind up in a roomier "Economy Plus" seat for the five hour redeye from LAX to JFK.)

Crumpets, Tea...and Raiders

Roger Goodell...if you're
listening: Hong Kong.
Just sayin'.

I'm starting to think that the NFL knows that I like to travel.

In late August, I ran across a rockstar deal from Sacramento to New York City - $220 round trip during the Veterans' Day holiday. A cheap, three-day weekend to New York was enough to make me want to book the flight, but the fact that my team is playing in the Giants' new stadium on Sunday made the trip a no-brainer.

Miles Run for legroom & power outlets

Only 6,000 miles to obtain
Elite Gold status and all of its benefits
for a year and a half? Yes, please.

What's worse than traveling in an airline seat for 9 hours over an ocean? Easy--being stuck in that seat with only 31 inches of seat pitch and having your entertainment device run out of power.

The fear of aching knees and mind-numbing boredom, combined with a perfectly timed airline promotion, was the inspiration for my first "mileage run"--a trip taken solely to gain frequent-flyer miles, points, or status.

Mastering the layover on the cheap

I learned something new last night while speaking with an American Airlines booking agent. Lest I forget it, I'm documenting it here.

Apparently, when booking award travel, American allows domestic hub-city layovers of UNLIMITED duration when the stop is a part of a continuing itinerary to a foreign city. For example, if I want to fly to South America using my frequent flier miles, I can include a week-long stay in Miami on my way to Rio, or on the way back from Panama City. Next time I book a trip to Europe, I'm definitely spending some more time in New York City!

Some hub cities that are not domestic yet are within North America, such as Toronto or Vancouver, also qualify for this added flexibility. Also, because Hawaii is a domestic hub in route to the South Pacific, extended stays in Honolulu can be made on the way to or from places like Australia or New Zealand.

Alas, the same is not true with foreign cities. Just like exclusively domestic trips, stays are restricted to a maximum number of hours that makes leaving the airport impractical. Connecting domestic flights must be within four hours of arrival, while connections abroad must take place within 24 hours; the same time restriction applies for tickets that are purchased.

Even the 24-hour window rule is a great piece of information; if I have multiple connection options out of London or Paris, I can opt for the one that allows me to spend nearly a full day exploring the city!

UPDATE: The Frugal Travel Guy blog published an article about the most generous stopover rules here.

This year's Thanksgiving menu: Turkey Tagine and Tapas

So Oprah recommends magical-mystery-tours.com, where you provide a budget, answer some questions about travel preferences, and they surprise you with a vacation, details unknown until you arrive at the airport. Cool concept...but I take this as a challenge! (Yes, I have control issues; sue me.)

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you eight days in Southwestern Europe and North Africa: Barcelona, Spain tp Marseille, France to Marrakesh, Morocco...with a night in Madrid on the way back stateside thrown in for good measure. On top of that, there's a half day to tool around in New York City before catching the overnight to Spain.

Using frequent flier miles earned through "churning" credit card signup offers, round-trip airfare across the Atlantic is only $61 per person. Low-cost carrier flights between the four cities is another $450 per person, and eight nights in some pretty nice, centrally located 3 and 4 star hotels can be had for about $500 per person (double-occupancy) during the off-season. Throw in cab/metro fare, meals and incidentals, and it still comes in under $190 per day!

Top that, Oprah.

Bangkok, Day 3

(note: no internet service in Bangkok = a lot of catching up to do)

Visited the Grand Palace, Wat Phra Khew (the Temple of the Emerald Buddha), Dusit Park (home of Vimanmek Palace), and Wat Pho (the Temple of the Reclining Buddha). After a lot of walking, got traditional Thai massages (no, not the other kind) at the Traditional School of Medicine at Wat Pho. 50 minutes of foot massage reflexology...worth every baht!

Singapore, Day 1

Day 1: Toured Chinatown, Maxwell Street Food Centre, Central Business District, Fullerton Hotel, Singapore River cruise, Merlion, the Esplanade, the old Supreme Court building, Victoria Theater & Concert Hall, New Asia Bar (top of Swissotel Hotel), Raffles Hotel, Singapore Art Museum. (Updates to follow)

Not good or bad, just different

Boarding pass? Check. Baggage? Check. Big screen playing sumo wrestling? Check. Just another day at Narita International Airport.

We arrived in Singapore after 7 1/2 hours of doting from the stewardesses on Japan Airlines. It's Tuesday morning here, and we're off to put Frommer's recommended sightseeing iteneraries to the test. Next stop, Chinatown (and Tian Tian at Maxwell Road Food Centre for some highly spoken of Hainanese chicken rice!)

Are we there yet?

I've spent the past three weeks preparing for this Southeastern Asia vacation. Countless trips to stores for luggage, clothing, and guide books. Unknown hours spent researching hotels, airlines, destinations, attractions, and cultural taboos. Even added a fourth destination to the trip at the last minute.

But now everything is done, and all there is to do is hurry up and wait for the flight. I don't know if I can hold out that long...

My TripAdvisor map

I love TripAdvisor; it's such a great resource. The peer reviews/rankings of hotels and attractions make travel planning simple!

The site also allow folks to create custom maps of places they've visited.

Note: on my map, I don't include places where I've only (a) visited the airport during a plane transfer (e.g. Dallas) or (b) driven through without stopping for anything more than taking a break (e.g. New Mexico, Texas, Utah, South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Rhode Island and Kansas).

Late night inspiration

I wanted to blog about my trip to Southeast Asia, but I needed to figure out what to name it. Done, thanks to VH1...and a little insomnia.

British Columbia Day Weekend 2008

Good times in Vancouver, Canada...might be my favorite place on the West Coast.