Soldato
- Joined
- 22 Nov 2007
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- 4,226
Consider me jealous good sir!
Also i was very confused about your sky holiday at first. I was thinking of some resort where you can just watch sky channels 24/7
*** Holidays & Travels 2023 Thread ***
Also i was very confused about your sky holiday at first. I was thinking of some resort where you can just watch sky channels 24/7
Caporegime
I might have to pick your brain one day on how best to use my points in getting the seat that i want. I have 100k in Avois and 100k in Amex but don't even know where to start besides i know Amazon is the worst way to spend it and i know how much per point for penny is a good value....
I would not have wanted to take kids to Rome.
I wasn't a big fan myself of the city. It turned into a tick box exercise of specific sites.
Within a couple of days I decided I wouldn't be coming back so wanted to see everything in one go. So had a bit of queuing, walking about, it was hot!
I'm sure many loved it (everyone is different) but due to how much walking about and seeing the sites didn't feel family friendly to me.
Don't get me wrong seeing the colosseum, pantheon etc was amazing. But for me it's a couples/adult holiday.
Contrast that to ischia/naples, that (I felt) was much nicer for a family and more of an aggregated experience rather than hopping from site A to site B
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Caporegime
Do not go to Rome in the summer, it's ridiculous. It's hard to get the feel of Italy in Rome, it's just a 1 massive tourist trap i think. Great to tick box all the famous places, good to take in history. It can be romantic if you just want that nice backdrop. With kids though...not sure about that.
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Associate
- Joined
- 19 May 2010
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Any time mate - I don't know anything about the Amex points and whether or not you can transfer them to Avios, but all you need is to decide where you want to go and when and we can start from there!
Caporegime
Ta. I know you can transfer them to Avois, the reason I haven't is because on the US Amex once a year you get like a deal where 1 Amex = 2 Avois...but i've still not seen this offer ever popped up over here. It's always 1 = 1. So Amex points is just racking up on it's own until that one day, if it ever happens.
As for destination, I think I will plan something in the Aus/NZ region in the next couple of years, stop over in Singapore. So if, either one of the end of the trip or all 4 flights can be upgraded with points in the best way possible....that would be best. I don't mind slumping it eco but a bonus if i can lay flat of course.
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Caporegime
You'll want to read this if that's the destination you're thinking - https://www.headforpoints.com/2022/01/29/avios-multi-partner-reward-chart/
I too am waiting for the mythical 1-2 Amex -> Avios swap!
I did a little bit of reading about UK <> Australia flights with Avios a while back. The consensus seems to be that the best option (flying business) is to use Qatar airways which will cost you around 180,000 avios return to Perth, and I guess a bit more to other Aus cities assuming they fly those routes. That would be flying via Doha rather than Singapore obviously though. Supposedly reward seats on Qatar are easier to come by. From what I read getting reward seats on BA to Singapore (or the Sydney direct flight) is extremely difficult.
In a nutshell how the reward seats (for BA only) work is:
For each flight BA guarantee a certain amount of seats: 8 economy, 2 premium, 4 business.
These will normally be released when the flight comes on sale - I think this is 330 days before departure but worth checking. For popular routes you need to call BA at midnight basically to secure the seat. You can call an office outside the UK to be sure they're open at that time.
Depending on how popular the flight is, BA may or may not release further reward seats over time. You can use seatspy or similar paid services to get alerts on this.
Associate
- Joined
- 19 May 2010
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Two links you might be interest in - getting business or first out to Australia is known as the unicorn route, as it's pretty much impossible to get. There's quite a few economy/premium seats available though, and surprisingly the BA app is the easiest way I've found to look for availability - even easier than the website!
Travel news for our readers in the UK and Europe
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Travel news for our readers in the UK and Europe
Stories and guides that are written for The Points Guy readers in the UK and Europe.
thepointsguy.co.uk
Hmm, a little concerned about what the weather might be like in the Maldives around September time, I don't want us to get rained the whole time we are there.
Mauritius is an alternate, but it's working out more expensive, and it's not as straight forward to get to for us. Mauritius Airlines business class looks incredibly dated for the price, and BA oney fly direct there from Gatwick which is another hour past Heathrow and not that convenient. We ideally want to go from Heathrow or Birmingham.
Mauritius is an alternate, but it's working out more expensive, and it's not as straight forward to get to for us. Mauritius Airlines business class looks incredibly dated for the price, and BA oney fly direct there from Gatwick which is another hour past Heathrow and not that convenient. We ideally want to go from Heathrow or Birmingham.
Mauritius is great, it’s like the Caribbean but in the EU
You can fly BA via South Africa (from heathrow) but it’s more expensive. There is also emirates probably from Birmingham. Maybe treat yourselves to a night in a suite at the sofitel the night before?
We are on a small window when we can go, so want to avoid any kind of connecting flights.Mauritius is great, it’s like the Caribbean but in the EU
You can fly BA via South Africa (from heathrow) but it’s more expensive. There is also emirates probably from Birmingham. Maybe treat yourselves to a night in a suite at the sofitel the night before?
Edited to add my mrs is cabin crew, and had spent a lot of time in the Caribbean, she said Mauritius looks a lot like it so she was hinting at elsewhere.
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Associate
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- 19 May 2010
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It is more the rainy season in September, but having just been in January we had rain then too - it's all warm water anyway and you're in the middle of the ocean, I wouldn't get too hung up on it.
In the same vein, I wouldn't get hung up on whether you're travelling from Heathrow or Gatwick - yes one is a bit further but when you're talking about a (fortnights?) of holiday that's absolutely nothing. I've been to Mauritius too direct with BA, and as nice as the resorts look that's about all there is to it. We had a car and explored most of the island (the resort was the opposite end from the airport...) and although there's some nice scenery up in the mountains most of it is run down towns and not somewhere I'd go back. If you want to stay at the resort then you should be fine, but it's not a patch on the Maldives.
Sadly not, we have a window which is around a week as that's all the leave she can get going part time, plus we have a 10 month old who is being looked after for us while we're away. Hence we only want direct flights, from our favoured airport which isn't further away than Male. If I had it my way we'd be travelling around Vietnam, Cambodia, and Asia etc for a month.
Do South Africa if you want Mauritius. Or just so SA. Cape Town is incredible.
Edit: I think I did Maldives in sept, I have a pic of me snorkeling in a storm. We got lucky 2 out of 3 days were good.
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Tenerife and Thailand down so far
Tenerife was a family do and Thailand partially an exploratory trip for retirement locations
We were looking at Hua Hin but not convinced there, later in Year we are back in Thailand, part of which is to check next option (Jomtien)
In the meantime we have a short trip to Sofia to see friends' and a week in Kefalonia
Tenerife was a family do and Thailand partially an exploratory trip for retirement locations
We were looking at Hua Hin but not convinced there, later in Year we are back in Thailand, part of which is to check next option (Jomtien)
In the meantime we have a short trip to Sofia to see friends' and a week in Kefalonia
Part of me things just go and hope for the best, it's always pot luck with weather really.
Cape Town looks nice, but, is it Maldives nice?
Honestly, Cape town is a bit of a dump. But franshoek(sp) is amazing. You'll be going from vineyard to vineyard having top class food and wine for dirt cheap. Horse riding etc. Drive to the end of Cape town and do a bit of whale watching. You can also do shark cage diving if the weather allows.
Edit: I then took a quick hop to Mauritius but like someone else said, unless you are into surfing it's just resorts and a few national parks. Driving there is recommended as it's pretty civilised.
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