World Tour! Trip Recap

Back in September/October, I basically went on a world tour (not really but I did visit 5 different cities across 3 different countries not counting the day trips we took). I'm finally getting around to writing a recap of that trip. I'll first provide the day by day recap with all activities, restaurants and hotels linked. At the end, I'll provide a cost breakdown for the main items (flights, hotels, activities).

If you prefer this content in video form (more visual), please check out my Youtube Video.


Day 1 (Sunday, September 22): Usher Concert in LA

I flew down to LAX from SFO on United Airlines. I have the United Explorer card (link is a referral link FYI), so I tend to fly with them for domestic travel since I get free checked baggage and priority boarding. This helps on full flights since I don't have to worry about the overhead bins being full by the time I board.

I stayed at The Hilton Los Angeles Airport. I definitely recommend staying at one of the airport hotels if you are attending a concert or sporting event at the Intuit Dome or Sofi Stadium. It was a really easy bus ride from the hotel to the Intuit Dome, and it saves a lot of money compared to using rideshares or renting a car. The hotel has a shuttle to take you to and from the airport which is convenient as well. I don't have much to share about the concert itself, but check out my instagram if you want to see my story highlights.

Day 2 (Monday, September 23): Meet up with my mother in NYC

I was traveling with my mom to celebrate her 60th birthday. We ended up meeting in NYC before making our way to our actual destination since it was more convenient for us to travel from there especially considering we live in two different states.

I flew on United Airlines again from LAX to EWR. I was able to have a good breakfast in the United Club which was one of the perks of my United Explorer card. We ended up taking a Lyft from EWR. There are public transportation options, but we would have needed to transfer to get to our actual hotel. I didn't want to deal with the hassle of transferring with luggage especially at night. I was able to get the Lyft for a reasonable price. I will say that the prices were varying widely. It kind of fluctuated from ~$40 to ~$60 which is a pretty significant difference. I would try to wait a few minutes to see if the price reduces before confirming the ride if the price is higher than you think it should be.

We stayed at the DoubleTree by Hilton New York Times Square. There isn't much to note about the hotel besides the fact that the room was pretty small, but I believe that is pretty typical of NYC hotels. It was pretty late by the time we arrived, so we didn't do anything besides grab some dinner after we arrived.

Day 3 (Tuesday, September 24): NYC + travel to GVA

We decided to sleep in and have a lazy morning. We had to check out of the hotel around noon though, so we did that and decided to spend a few hours in Manhattan until it was time to head to the airport. We walked by the Lincoln Center since neither of us had been there then spent some time in Central Park. Finally, we had lox bagels at Russ & Daughters before making our way back to the hotel to grab our luggage.


We took the subway from the hotel to JFK which is pretty straightforward. You can use Omni with a credit card or Google/Apple Pay, so there is no need to download passes or anything in advance. This works for the Airtran as well.

We flew on Swiss Air in Business Class, so we had priority check in and access to the lounge. I didn't get any pictures inside the plane unfortunately (but this IG video shows a pretty good idea of what the seat looked like). I would say that Swiss Air is probably not the nicest business class product, but it was only 60k points per person which isn't too much. Lie flat seats are definitely worth it for an overnight flat. I'll include more details on how exactly I booked this in a separate blog post.

Day 4 (Wednesday, September 25): Geneva

We arrived in Geneva around 9am. Everything went smoothly at the airport and no Visa was required with a United States passport. We used Uber to get from the airport to our hotel since I didn't feel like dealing with the public transportation at that time. We were able to drop off our bags at the hotel then walked around and did a bit of sight seeing while waiting for the room to be ready.

We walked along the Rhone River and saw the flower clock (l'horlage fleuri) as well as the English Garden (Jardin Anglais).Then, we walked up close to the large fountain (Jet d'Eau de Geneve) before heading to the Globus Food Hall to grab some lunch. There are a variety of options inside the food hall, but I chose to get a savory crepe from Muller's Factory. At this point, the room was ready and we headed back to our hotel. After checking in, we picked up some bottled water and some food from the grocery store and headed to bed since we were pretty tired after traveling.



We stayed at Hotel Tiffany in a Deluxe Room. The staff was very friendly and the room was clean. It was a bit small, but there was enough room for a queen bed plus a separate cot so you could definitely make it work with 3 adults or a couple with 1 child. Without the cot, it would have been fairly spacious for 1-2 adults. The location was convenient. There were multiple food places and tram stops within walking distance. Additionally, we were within walking distance of the main bus station which was very helpful over the next couple of days.

Day 5 (Thursday, September 26): Geneva + Annecy

We did a combined tour which took a short trip to the nearby city of Annecy followed by a tour of Geneva itself. Annecy is in France, so we did bring our passports just in case there were any checks at the border. Typically, there are not checks between Switzerland and France, but it is encouraged to have your passport/visa/whatever documents with you just to be safe. 

We started out the Annecy trip with the tour guide pointing out some key things during the bus ride. He then took us on a guided walking tour throughout the town before we were given free time to explore on our own. During the guided tour, the main places we stopped at were Palais de l'ÃŽle and Musée-Château d'Annecy. We didn't visit anything in particular during our free time. We mainly just walked around so that my mom could take in all of the architecture. We then stopped to have a snack at a local cafe before the bus ride back to Geneva.



During part two of the tour, we first took a bus around Geneva including the Palais des Nations and the broken chair sculpture. We were able to get pictures of all of the flags at the United Nations as well as see many of the other international organizations in the area. We then took a petit train (little train) around Old Geneva to see some of the key attractions there before finishing up the tour with a cruise around Lake Geneva.


We decided to get some pizza and eggplant parm at Carosello before ending the day back at the hotel.

Day 6 (Friday, September 27): Chamonix + Mont Blanc

We took a day trip to Chamonix, France to experience the Alps. This tour has different options which include different activities. We opted for the Gold package which included all of the activities. After arriving in Chamonix, we were taken on a walking tour of the town followed by a trip on the cable car up Mont Blanc. Due to weather, we were unable to go as high as we would typically go, but it was still nice to go part way up. We were able to walk around on the mountain a bit, take some pictures and take in the scenery before heading back down. After this, it was time for lunch. My mom and I had packed sandwiches from the grocery store, but there were many places to have lunch in Chamonix. After lunch, it was time to take a petit train to see a glacier. After arriving at the glacier, we were able to go into an ice cave where there was a lot of cool information about glaciers.






If you choose to participate in this tour, please dress warmly. I was wearing a sweater, a fleece jacket and another wind layer on top and I still got a bit chilly at times. It was technically fall when we went, but it was still September, so I'm sure it gets much colder later in the year. I would make sure to bring gloves and a hat as well. You'll also want to watch your step in the ice cave since there are quite a few puddles inside. Additionally, there is a large amount of stairs to get to the ice cave, so if you struggle with stairs, maybe skip that portion.

After spending all day in the cold and rain, we didn't really feel like going anywhere else, so we ordered some ramen on JustEat (different version of Grubhub) and relaxed in our room the rest of the night.

Day 7 (Saturday, September 28): Exploring Geneva

We started the day having lunch at Le Relais de l'Entrecote. There is only one menu at this particular restaurant. Everyone is served salad first then the entrecote along with fries. You can choose whether you want it cooked rare, medium or well done. You also have the option to have seconds if you choose.

We then decided to visit some sights in Geneva. Since we planned to go multiple places, we opted to purchase the Geneva city pass since it included all of the places we wanted to visit, so it was more cost effective than paying for everything individually. The 24 hour pass is 35 CHF including public transportation. We started with St. Pierre Cathedral including climbing the towers (again lots of stairs). Next, we visited Musee Ariana to see some ceramic and glass art. Finally, we visited the Patek Philippe museum. I really enjoyed the antique watches. Many of them were super artistic and didn't even really look like watches.



We ended the day with dinner at Cafe Restaurant de la Radio before heading back to the hotel.


Day 8 (Sunday, September 29): Geneva to Zurich

We took the train from Geneva to Zurich. We were technically staying within walking distance of the train station on both ends but we opted to take the tram to make it easier with luggage. In Zurich, we stayed at an Airbnb since it was difficult to find hotels with sufficient space that were close enough to everything. The added benefit of the Airbnb was that we were able to do a bit of laundry to tide us over until we made our way back home. We also purchased the 72 hour Zurich card. All activities and public transportation listed were included with the card (except where noted).

After arriving in Zurich, we opted to have a chill day but did make our way out to have dinner at Zeughauskeller. Our experience there was good but a bit interesting since they seat multiple small parties at a single table. Our 8 person table had our party of 3, another party of 3 and a man traveling alone, so be mindful of that if you choose to eat here.


Day 9 (Monday, September 30): Exploring Zurich

We started the day by picking up some lunch on our way out then took the train up to Uetliburg. You have to take a short hike to get from the train station to the viewing point. Additionally, there is a viewing tower that you can choose to climb for an even better view, but I chose not to do this. You can see a huge chunk of Zurich from up here along with mountains and other beautiful scenery. It's definitely a must-do.


After that, we decided to do a lake cruise. We opted for the short lake cruise around Lake Zurich. After boarding, we realized that you can actually get on and off at different stops so we opted to get off and visit the Lindt Home of Chocolate. (Note: Home of Chocolate is not included with the Zurich Card, but they do offer a discount.) We weren't able to enter right away, so we purchased tickets for a later time slot before heading off on another adventure. We took the bus to Felsenegg where we again had to walk a bit before taking a cable car to take in even more scenery (Day 9 was clearly about the views). We headed back to the Home of Chocolate for our tour. It's quite small, so it didn't really take long to get through everything. There is some interesting info about how chocolate is made as well as multiple chocolate samples. After finishing our tour, we hurried back to the port to finish the lake cruise. Finally, we picked up some items for dinner from the grocery store and headed back to our Airbnb.

Day 10 (Tuesday, October 1): Zurich again

We started the day with lunch at my company's office (yay for free food + I heard this office was cool and wanted to see it). We then headed to the Swiss National Museum until closing time around 5pm. You could easily spend an entire day in this museum. We were there until closing and didn't get a chance to see everything. Finally, we decided to take a Limmat River Cruise to see old town Zurich before having galettes and crepes for dinner at Et Sa Cousine.


Day 11 (Wednesday, October 2): Zurich to London + sightseeing

In the morning we flew from ZRH to LCY on British Airways. We took public transportation from there to our hotel which was near Paddington Station. You can use your credit card or Apple/Google Wallet to tap and pay on public transportation throughout London. We stayed at the Park Grand Hyde Park in a Deluxe 2 Queen room. Thankfully, we were able to check in early and drop off our bags in our room before heading back out to make the most of the day.

We grabbed a quick lunch at Paddington station. There are quite a few food options there, so there will be something for everyone. We then headed on a whirlwind tour of some of the major London sites:

  • Tower of London
  • Tower Bridge
  • St. Paul's Cathedral
  • London Eye
  • Big Ben
  • Westminster Abbey




We finished the day with dinner at Nando's before heading back to our hotel.

Day 12 (Thursday, October 3): Afternoon Tea + Royal Walk

We started the day with afternoon tea at Harrods (really noon-ish). After eating, we didn't really have any concrete plans, but we knew we wanted to at least see the palaces, so we did a shortened version of the Royal Walk before ending the day with fish and chips at Goat Tavern.




Day 13 (Friday, October 4): Travel home

There isn't really much to report here since this was a travel day. I flew from LHR to SFO in Premium Economy on Virgin Atlantic. I would definitely recommend Premium Economy on Virgin for a daytime flight since the lie-flat seat isn't much benefit if you don't intend to sleep. The seats were wider and had more leg room than standard economy, and the meal service was quite nice as well. It seemed pretty comparable to domestic first class experience. (I've only experienced domestic first class once so please take this with a grain of salt lol). I was very happy with my decision to go with Premium Economy instead of using the extra points to book business class.

I will note that if you are a priority pass user, check the lounges at Heathrow ahead of time. Capacity was limited, so you had to either make a reservation in advance or join a waiting list on the spot. I was able to get in after about 30 mins, so it wasn't too bad, but I think I would have preferred to pay the small reservation fee to have a guaranteed spot.

Cost Summary:

  • Major Transportation (between cities...my portion only):
    • ~$1000 + 102,500 miles (spread across multiple airlines)
    • includes San Francisco -> Los Angeles -> New York -> Geneva -> Zurich -> London -> San Francisco
  • Hotels (for all of us...will vary based on size of room needed):
    • ~$3300 + ~50000 capital one points
    • includes Los Angeles (1 night), New York (1 night), Geneva (4 nights), Zurich (3 nights), London (2 nights)
  • Activities (my portion only):
    • ~$600
    • includes booked activities (tours) + city passes


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