Since 2013, I have been traveling to a new country (or countries) for my birthday every year in May.

This year, for the fourth time in a row, I considered and dismissed the idea of visiting Machu Picchu. Still wanna do it. Don’t know when it will feel right.

A co-worker visited Amsterdam in January, and I had a light bulb moment. I have been to Ireland, England, and Spain. I have so much more of Europe to explore, and Amsterdam has always been appealing. While I used to think of it, in my 20s, as the place where one could legally get high in coffeeshops, I now think of canal boats, bike rides, and tulips (and legally getting high in coffeeshops).

I found during my sabbatical last year that I reallllly enjoyed having an extended amount of time off work to travel with. I can’t take six weeks off, but I did get approval for three weeks combined with Memorial Day weekend, for a total of 25 days. I’m taking off almost all of May!

I don’t need two to three weeks in just Amsterdam, leading me to consider the neighboring countries of Belgium and itty-bitty Luxembourg. I did some cursory research on flights but had a hard time committing to my destination(s) and dates. The last three Decembers, I have considered visiting Europe to experience the Christmas markets. Bruges was top of mind, and I likely wouldn’t go there again if I’d already been. Then again, I bow out every time I catch a look at airline prices for that kind of trip.

While I was deciding, and after receiving a tax refund, I decided to take the plunge and apply for the Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card, a traveler’s dream with the price tag to prove it. I never, ever thought I would own a credit card with a $450 annual fee, but a friend got it and talked me through the benefits, and I realized that I travel enough that it would close to pay for itself and give me a level-up to a more lux style of travel to boot.

Once received, I closed my existing Chase card with which I’d earned 60,000 miles on United, enough for a round-trip to Europe. I would need to use those within 18 months, and since I was planning to go to Europe now, I thought I’d use them up to make sure they didn’t go to waste.

I discovered United’s Polaris cabin and became a bit obsessed with figuring out how to use my points to book it to AMS (I will now forever be looking to repeat my first lie-down seat experience). Unfortunately, despite a few hours of research that told me it should be possible, I just wasn’t able to find award travel in the United portal that would allow me to book a Polaris seat with 60,000 miles.

My stubbornness cost me some planning time, and at the end of March here, I was getting quite antsy about the fact that I’d so far only talked about going to Amsterdam and had not booked anything.

That changed today. I committed! Yesterday, I discovered that the countries of Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg form a geographic, economic, and cultural entity known as… Benelux. I did not make this up. I thought, “OH MY GOD, I have to go to Benelux.” I am going to call my trip Benelux.

I “settled” for Economy Plus and booked myself from PDX > SFO > LUX and from AMS > SFO (still need to buy the last leg home), with plans to take the train in between.

Castles, canals, beer, chocolate, waffles, bikes, tulips… Benelux!