January 27, 2023

TravelStories Episode 5: Christmas Markets

45 minutes

Christmas Markets

Episode 05: Show Notes

Nothing quite rivals the European Christmas markets during the festive season. Trevor recently went on a multi-city Christmas trip with his family, spanning three generations. In this episode, we hear about his travels from Paris to Berlin and on to Vienna and Prague. Trevor shares his observations of the Christmas markets in each city, as well as his accommodation and culinary experiences in each destination. This is timely as it’s a great time to start planning for a 2023 Christmas market trip, as reward availability is just opening up. Tune in to learn about the point redemption opportunities involved in Trevor’s recent trip and how to do Christmas markets in style!

Key Points From This Episode:

[00:18] Introducing today’s topic: Christmas markets.

[00:38] Why now is a good time to plan for a Christmas market trip.

[01:08] Trevor’s past European Christmas market experiences.

[02:07] How many times he traveled to Europe in 2022!

[02:44] The point redemption opportunities involved in his recent Christmas market trip.

[07:54] Trevor’s Christmas market food experience in France.

[11:05] His Parisian hotel experience.

[12:58] Trevor’s German Christmas market and hotel experience in Berlin.

[17:14] The pros and cons of the hop-on-hop-off bus in Berlin.

[19:28] Trevor shares his observations of each market he visited in Berlin.

[25:00] A recount of his stay in Vienna.

[33:21] The benefits of staying 60 nights in the higher program.

[35:05] The connectability of Vienna.

[35:34] The multiple Christmas markets in Vienna and their unique features.

[37:18] The Viennese food that stood out to Trevor and his family.

[37:57] How he traveled to Prague.

[39:34] Why he chose to stay in the Hilton Old City.

[43:38] Trevor’s overall feeling about his recent multi-generational, multi-city trip.

Correction: When discussing the Andaz Vienna am Belvedere’s Executive Suite, Trevor stated it may have been 1,100 square meters; it was actually 108 square meters, which translates to 1,162.5 square feet.

Tweetables:

“Hotels can be a dime a dozen, but if you want a specific hotel, when you’re talking about the holiday season, you need to start really early.” —@tmount [0:00:53]

“German Christmas markets are really the Christmas markets in Europe.” — @tmount [0:13:28]

“Not every market is open every day, at least in Berlin.” — @tmount [0:23:53]

“The Christmas markets in Europe are so beautiful and they’re so doable with a little bit of planning ahead.” — @tmount [0:44:34]

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By Sam Simon and Robert Dwyer

4.4

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