a veg life

We are hoping to do a series of posts for our destinations, sharing a bit more in depth about how we used points and miles to get here. Since Rick is the expert in all things points related, he'll be the one explaining how all of this works! Enjoy! Leaving Istanbul, we needed the quickest and easiest way to Crete. I chose a flight from Priceline.com on Aegean Airlines .  We needed to connect through Athens, and then go on to Chania Airport in Crete.  Priceline offered the flight for $109.30 per per person ($218.60 total) Again, checking topcashback.com , you can see that they will offer you $5.00 back per flight booked.  So we have knocked our total cost down to $208.60.   As my last post stated, you can use the Capital One Venture card to write off travel purchases.  I used 20,860 points to write off this Priceline purchase, effectively making this trip free.   While in Crete, we decided to stay out in the country at a secluded ...

(posted by Emily) 4 July 2015 Crete, Greece (Chania) On our final day on Crete, we considered doing the famus hike of the gorge in Omalos, but just couldn't bring ourselves to get out of bed that early. The gorge is the largest in Europe, and goes 10 miles down to the ocean. The cliffs at the bottom are said to be the spot where Odysseus heard the Sirens' song. Even though we decided not to hike, we still wanted to see the gorge, so we headed up to Omalos. The views were stunning all the way up, with picturesque villages and olive groves along the way. The temperature dropped from 25*C to 18*C, and the landscape changed from olive trees and large bushes to scrub grass and short plants. There were mountian goats up in the higher altitudes as well.  The view from the top of the gorge was stunning--the air was crisp and fresh, and I'm sure the hike is great--just something to add to the list for when we come back to Crete again! These goat friends were just chillin in the midd...

(posted by Emily) 3 July 2015 Crete, Greece (Chania) On Friday, we woke up around 9 and decided to head off into town to eplore the island a bit more. We drove into Chania, and explored the beach a bit further west of where we had been our first day.  After some sun and swim, we stopped and did some quick Googling about what was in the area--Rick found an olive oil tour a few km away at a company called Biolea. Their estate is up on a hill near a town called Deliana.  We could see the ocean and this small village from the estate. Chloe, the daughter of the family that began this company, gave us a tour of how they make their olive oil--still using a granite stone mill and cold pressing their oils. This is an old technology they have made modern, to get the best quality oil they can.  For lunch, we asked Chloe where we should go and eat. She told us about the small taverna in Deliana run by Yannis, whose mother makes the best spinach pies. We were sold.  The restauran...