boacvc10 From United States of America, joined Jul 2006, 515 posts, RR: 0 Posted (2 years 5 months 1 week 19 hours ago) and read 2333 times:
Hi, A.netters - I would like to ask for some suggestions. For the third time in one year, we as a couple, my spouse and I have to reschedule our trip to any holiday destination. We have only a limited window to use our expired SQ Krisflyer miles, and possibly can use them with any *A carrier, with a cutoff date of 6 February 2011 at which point our travel must be completed..
Question is, where can we go from the Eastern US that is warm .. in the middle of February ? What would the weather be like in Paris, France? We would only want to stay a few days anyway, as jobs have a nasty habit of turning sour if we take a vacation for any length of time. The expected period of travel is would be around the weekend of 15/16 January.
The limit of travel would have to be to somewhere in either UK, or EU, to use up the remaining miles that are already purchased. Or, given that we have a budget of 55K+ *A miles, should we go to any other destination than EU ?
our departure choices, ex-IAD means we would have to choose carefully. Essentially, we will try to go for a single destination trip, straight out and straight back, with a few days on-site in-between.
flymia From United States of America, joined Jun 2001, 6297 posts, RR: 6 Reply 1, posted (2 years 5 months 1 week 19 hours ago) and read 2329 times:
Quoting boacvc10 (Thread starter): The expected period of travel is would be around the weekend of 15/16 January.
All of Europe will be cold to cool at this period. Maybe Greece or Southern Spain. But even then it wont be warm. Nothing above 70F. No beach weather or anything like that but also not PHL weather either.
boacvc10 From United States of America, joined Jul 2006, 515 posts, RR: 0 Reply 2, posted (2 years 5 months 1 week 18 hours ago) and read 2321 times:
Quoting flymia (Reply 1): Weather in most of europe will be pretty cold. Paris think Washington DC type weather maybe a bit warmer.
I thought SXM, but it seems that is only a paltry 35K (economy) *A miles award, and would it make sense to travel business class for a short trip to the carribean?
I then thought, some island in the atlantic ocean -- and looked at the map -- how is The Canary Islands as a destination? Or, similar?
I agree, Paris in January would be not enjoyable.. no outdoor comfort.
Update: I've never been to Hawaii, but just figured out using *A that I could get there in Business Class for about 60K miles, which would be good... now checking. Does anyone have a tip about visiting Hawaii for three/four days? Beach/Surf do nothing vacation/visit volcano's and Pearl Harbor?
yeogeo From United States of America, joined Jul 2009, 790 posts, RR: 14 Reply 4, posted (2 years 5 months 1 week 13 hours ago) and read 2292 times:
Quoting boacvc10 (Reply 2): I've never been to Hawaii, ... Does anyone have a tip about visiting Hawaii for three/four days?
Quoting signol (Reply 3): Have you thought about flying SA to South Africa? For a few days, Cape Town would be a good destination, and weather in Feb is summer...
Southern Spain/North Africa would be decent weather and not so far to fly (I would definitely make flight times a part of my calculations, seeing as how little time you'll be spending on this trip in total).
Nothing against South Africa, but it doesn't strike me as a three day getaway! I think one would want to spend a week at least there after flying for at least 15 hours each way. Perhaps this wouldn't matter to you, but it takes a toll.
Hawaii would be better in travel time (roughly 10 hours I figure), and certainly one could relax or rent a car and see the sights. Beside HNL, Kona on the Big Island and Maui are very accessible on UA.
boacvc10 From United States of America, joined Jul 2006, 515 posts, RR: 0 Reply 5, posted (2 years 5 months 1 week 11 hours ago) and read 2283 times:
Quoting yeogeo (Reply 4): Hawaii would be better in travel time (roughly 10 hours I figure), and certainly one could relax or rent a car and see the sights. Beside HNL, Kona on the Big Island and Maui are very accessible on UA.
I just struck out on the entire Caribbean (no *A seats) and also to Hawaii (no *A seats) for Dec 26-Dec 31 time frame.
Now back to looking for DAC-xxx-IAD *A seat with a latest arrival date of 3rd January - my hopes are dashed for a easy resolution to this issue. The delay was unavoidable.
flymia From United States of America, joined Jun 2001, 6297 posts, RR: 6 Reply 6, posted (2 years 5 months 1 week 10 hours ago) and read 2276 times:
Every been interested in going to Israel? Or how about South America?
South America is a great short destination place becaue there is almost no time difference and both flights both ways are red eyes. Lets say you have Fri-Sun. You leave thursday night have all of friday and saturday and most of the day Sunday and get in monday moring. If you can get a biz sleep sleep should be no problem.
"It was just four of us on the flight deck, trying to do our job" (Captain Al Haynes)
boacvc10 From United States of America, joined Jul 2006, 515 posts, RR: 0 Reply 7, posted (2 years 5 months 6 days 17 hours ago) and read 2249 times:
Quoting flymia (Reply 6): South America is a great short destination place
Can you provide some location recommendations for non-Spanish and non-Portuguese speakers, for future trips? What are some key choices for tourists and also tourism with outdoor activity?
The weather will be cold. But, there is some charm to being in Paris that time of the year. There are no crowds whatsoever, mornings are crisp and the sun usually shines pretty strongly and you have the sense that Paris is all for you. In my opinion, it´s the best time of the year, along with November, to experience the city. A day trip to Le Mont St. Michel will also be fantastic since you will be the only one there. Excellent time to explore the cloisters, the cemetery and the gardens of the Abbey at the top, since there wll be no one.
You may also wish to try Chartres. That´s a Cathedral that will blow you away, and it´s about a 50 mins. drive from Paris.
Quoting boacvc10 (Thread starter): Question is, where can we go from the Eastern US that is warm
Errr, nowhere, pretty much. You will be limited to Southern and I mean real Southern Spain, Southern Portugal, Southern Greece and the parts of Italy nobody has had any interest of visiting for centuries. Greece I wouldn´t recommend, considering the economic basketcase it is these days, you might find yourself in the middle of some protest.
Quoting boacvc10 (Thread starter): The limit of travel would have to be to somewhere in either UK, or EU
I´ll say Southern Spain, or suck up the cold and head for Paris.
flymia From United States of America, joined Jun 2001, 6297 posts, RR: 6 Reply 9, posted (2 years 5 months 5 days 21 hours ago) and read 2215 times:
Quoting boacvc10 (Reply 7): Can you provide some location recommendations for non-Spanish and non-Portuguese speakers, for future trips? What are some key choices for tourists and also tourism with outdoor activity?
Well I would not worry too much about the language barrier. If you go to a large city there are tons of tourist and many will not speak Spanish. As for outdoor activities I know Chile and Argentina have lots of great places but it takes a while to get there and also those are the type of areas that either A. will be cold or B. The language barrier is a problem.
Rio or Buenos Aires would be the two cities I would recommend there is a lot to do, these are world famous cities. Rio has the beaches if you want that type of thing. Buenos Aires is more about the city. Also Rio is in a mountainous area so I am sure there is some hiking near by. Also during our winter it is their summer so it will be nice and warm.
"It was just four of us on the flight deck, trying to do our job" (Captain Al Haynes)
ajd1992 From UK - England, joined Jul 2006, 2645 posts, RR: 6 Reply 11, posted (2 years 5 months 4 days 20 hours ago) and read 2166 times:
Avoid Europe North of Spain. It's either covered in snow, cold, raining, windy or a combination of all 4. Look at Greece, Turkey, Spain, Portugal, or maybe Italy.
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