{"id":2190,"date":"2014-09-07T20:39:04","date_gmt":"2014-09-08T00:39:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/?p=2190"},"modified":"2015-02-15T16:55:50","modified_gmt":"2015-02-15T21:55:50","slug":"canada-greece-turkey-italy-intro-greensboro-chicago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/blog\/2014\/09\/07\/canada-greece-turkey-italy-intro-greensboro-chicago\/","title":{"rendered":"Canada, Greece, Turkey, and Italy: Intro and Greensboro to Chicago"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Intro and Greensboro to Chicago<\/a>
\nAir Canada Maple Leaf Lounge Toronto and Exploring Toronto<\/a>
\nAir Canada Executive First Suite Toronto to Istanbul<\/a>
\n14 Hours in Istanbul<\/a>
\nAegean Airlines Business Class Istanbul to Athens<\/a>
\nHotel Amalia Athens and Exploring Athens (Part 1)<\/a>
\nExploring Athens (Part 2)<\/a>
\nAthens Airport Lounges and Aegean Airlines Athens to Santorini<\/a>
\nAnamnesis Luxury Spa Hotel and Exploring Santorini (Part 1)<\/a>
\nExploring Santorini (Part 2)<\/a>
\nExploring Santorini (Part 3) and Aegean Airlines Santorini to Athens<\/a>
\nHoliday Inn Athens Airport and Aegean Airlines Athens to Milan
\nUNA Hotel Cusani and Exploring Milan
\nUnited Business Class Milan to Newark to Greensboro<\/p>\n

\n

As you probably have read, a few weeks ago, the Mrs. Guru and I took an incredible trip to Greece, with quick stops in Istanbul (on the outbound) and Milan (on the return).  I’ve posted a few times with some details on how this trip came together, so I’ll summarize some of those points here, with links to more detail if you missed any of those discussions or want to refer back to them.<\/p>\n

I started planning this trip last December, when United announced that they would be raising the cost of awards starting in February.  Any trips booked before February 1, 2014 (even for travel after February) would be bookable at the old\/lower prices, but after February 1, the prices would go up – for Business Class to Europe, United raised the price from 100,000 miles roundtrip to 140,000 miles roundtrip, so I definitely wanted to book before the 40% increase!  I had only been to Greece once (for just a few days), and the Mrs. Guru had never been to Greece, so we decided that it would be a great destination.<\/p>\n

\"Santorini,<\/a>
Santorini, Greece<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After much research into available flights, I was able to book our flights as a roundtrip between Greensboro and Athens, with no stopovers (longer than 24 hours).  Both the stops in Istanbul and Milan were scheduled to be less than 24 hours, so they were simply long layovers.  As a result, we are currently still en route on this trip – we’re back home in North Carolina, on a 3 month stopover before we continue on down to the Cayman Islands.  You can read more about this stopover trick in this post here<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

I specifically booked our outbound flights on Air Canada for 2 reasons:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Air Canada’s Executive First Class offers fully flat seats<\/a>, which is an excellent way to spend 10 hours overnight.<\/li>\n
  2. Air Canada flies from Toronto to Istanbul, and Istanbul has one of the newest, most luxurious lounges<\/a> anywhere in the world.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Although there were a number of schedule changes between when we booked the trip and when we actually left, our itinerary ended up looking like this:<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n