Trivia Tuesday: Which famous cocktail originated in the Raffles Hotel, Singapore? Keep reading to find out the answer. 👇
Good morning and welcome back to Daily Drop, the “bidet” of newsletters; most people haven’t experienced it… but once they do, they never look back.
I know I just compared our newsletter to a toilet, but try it before you judge.
Anyway, here’s what’s cookin’ in the DD kitchen today:
✈️/🛳️ Emirates takes to the seas
🎗️ Use your points and miles to make dreams come true
🤓 Travel Trivia Tuesday
✈️/🛳️ Emirates takes to the seas
One of the lushest airlines in today’s world is descending about 40,000 feet to develop a… sealine. Literally! Emirates has decided to dabble in the luxury cruise world, aptly naming their fleet Emirates Sealine.
Emirates initially announced this massive surprise on April 1st, so naturally, I think many of us were cautiously hopeful like, “April Fools…? No…?”
But then April 2nd rolled around and it was still legit, so yeah.
If you happened to be in Dubai last week, you could have even witnessed the unnamed ship’s maiden sea “trial” voyage as it glided around the Palm Jumeirah. And smooth, sultry glide it did 😏
Those who actually want to sail with Emirates will have to wait until April 1st, 2024, though (and again, no, we’re not fooling you… unless they’re fooling us?)
But this will be quite a special maiden voyage! The journey will take you from Dubai Harbour to the port of Karachi as a nod to the airline’s first-ever flight route that it launched back in October 1985.
And as if we would expect anything less from Emirates, some of their spokespeople have vowed to make it top-notch with “undreamed of luxury onboard” and “never before-explored itineraries around the world.” Yes, please 😍
They’re even promising custom-built, electric chauffeur-driven cars to transport you from DXB to Dubai Harbour in an effort to create a full-bodied, well-rounded, air-land-sea experience.
OR if you want to work for Emirates, they’ll be recruiting thousands of individuals in the coming months to make this whole thing operational! 😱
I mean… if I wasn’t doing this, maybe I could apply to work on an Emirates luxury cruiseliner? Now that is a sentence I don’t think I ever imagined I would say.
And Emirates hasn’t mentioned anything yet, but wouldn’t it be AMAZING if we could somehow use Skywards to book their cruises? Or maybe they’ll develop their own points currency to help us travel hackers get a spot on one of their luxury liners??
One can only dream sweet, travel-hacking dreams for now. *sigh*
But if you’re seriously interested, more details regarding itineraries and bookings will open on June 31st!
🎗️ Use your points and miles to make dreams come true
A member of our Daily Drop online community brought this to my attention the other day, and I realized it was a great topic to share.
We always talk about how the best way to use points and miles is to book free travel. But there’s actually one better use for them…
You can donate points and miles to a cause you care about. Almost every airline has a program to do so, and you’d be surprised how far a few thousand miles can go.
For example, you can donate miles from most U.S. programs to the Make-A-Wish Foundation in just a few minutes.
Did you know that 70% of wishes from the Make-A-Wish Foundation involve travel?
If you donate miles to them, you can directly help make someone’s dreams come true by giving them the opportunity to travel.
I’m not asking you to donate all of your hard-earned miles. But if you have a big stash of them and want to give back a little bit, consider looking into the points or miles program to see what options you have to donate.
You can visit this link to donate miles to the Make-A-Wish Foundation directly.
FYI, we are not partnered with them in any way, we just think they’re great and that giving people the gift of travel is fitting for this publication. Definitely explore your options to find a charity you trust and care about.
🤓 Travel Trivia Tuesday
You had a bit of a clue from the name of the place, but did you guess it?
It's the Singapore Sling!
Now regarded as Singapore's national drink, the Sling was first created in 1915 at the Long Bar at the Raffles Hotel.
And let me tell you, this is a popular drink. So popular, in fact, that I once sang an entire scene in an opera about it… I’m serious. It was a weird opera.
The legend goes that women back then were not permitted to drink in public settings for the sake of modesty. Instead, they tended to drink juices and teas.
So, the bartender created a drink that looked like plain juice, making it acceptable for women to drink in public! You can imagine that this made the drink super successful and brought the community together, which is pretty cool in my opinion.
You can read more about the history of the Singapore Sling here.
That’s all for today, amigos! Make sure you join us tomorrow for some travel inspo, some big news in the airline world, and maybe even a special little surprise… 😉
Take care and have a wonderful day 💕