Author Topic: Ergel's August 2011 trip planning thread  (Read 19374 times)

Offline Ergel

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Ergel's August 2011 trip planning thread
« on: January 07, 2011, 11:12:25 AM »
I am looking to plan a trip this summer with my wife (and hoping to convince her to leave our 1.5 year old daughter at home with parents and in laws). I went to Italy 2 summers ago and enjoyed greatly. I am looking into London/England/Scotland/Ireland this summer. Is this a worthwhile trip? How much can I do in 10 days? Is it safe to rent a car in England (I have never driven on the wrong side of the road)?
Does anyone have any other suggestions? Looking for somewhere with some city sightseeing but also some nature sightseeing (Italy was great because it had both- Rome, Florence, Venice but also Lake Como and the Alps).
Thanks for your help
« Last Edit: January 11, 2011, 12:29:05 AM by Dan »
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Offline world2see

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Re: August 2011 trip planning
« Reply #1 on: January 07, 2011, 02:54:03 PM »
depends where you leaving from? asia is always nice,even off-season, or how about paris-nice-monaco-monte Carlo,all gorgeous although long train ride from paris

Offline moish

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Re: August 2011 trip planning
« Reply #2 on: January 08, 2011, 06:49:45 PM »
barcelona, costa del sol, gibraltar, tangier

Offline Ergel

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Re: August 2011 trip planning
« Reply #3 on: January 10, 2011, 10:19:47 PM »
Leaving from NYC. I have 145 k AA miles, 2 accounts with 30 k continental miles and 51 k Amex MR miles. Also may have access to many more MR miles. Any further suggestions?
Thanks
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Offline Ergel

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Re: Ergel's August 2011 trip planning thread
« Reply #4 on: January 31, 2011, 02:30:40 PM »
I have 2 continental accounts each with 55k in them. I want to book a 1 way business or first ticket to Zurich then Paris on august 14-15. Is this allowed. How do I find availability on Swiss now that the Ana search tool doesn't work?
Thanks
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Offline AsherO

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Re: Ergel's August 2011 trip planning thread
« Reply #5 on: January 31, 2011, 03:11:11 PM »
I have 2 continental accounts each with 55k in them. I want to book a 1 way business or first ticket to Zurich then Paris on august 14-15. Is this allowed. How do I find availability on Swiss now that the Ana search tool doesn't work?
Thanks


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Offline Dan

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Re: Ergel's August 2011 trip planning thread
« Reply #6 on: January 31, 2011, 03:14:40 PM »
Continental doesn't do one-ways but you can book a US-Europe, Europe-Europe ticket.
ANA still works fine as does Aeroplan and CO.com for *A searches.
Save your time, I don't answer PM. Post it in the forum and a dedicated DDF'er will get back to you as soon as possible.

Offline SuperFlyer

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Re: Ergel's August 2011 trip planning thread
« Reply #7 on: January 31, 2011, 04:54:33 PM »
England/scotland/wales/ireland is beautiful, and underrated, however (!) weather might be a big problem, you could have rain one week straight.

Driving left shouldn't be a problem.
On highways, once you are on, you don't land the wrong side, however, you will have to remember that the right lane is the faster one.
In town, you will just need to concentrate a little, and you should be fine.

Offline Ergel

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Re: Ergel's August 2011 trip planning thread
« Reply #8 on: January 31, 2011, 08:58:22 PM »
Ok, just got another plat card(for my wife) with my plat and gold we will each have 110k on continental (with possibly 15k to spare depending on whether I get the full 25k for the gold card). Now how do I go about booking a rewards ticket thru continental? How many stopovers do they allow you to have? Can it be open jaw? I saw some of the rules for some other *a members on dans post. What are the rules on continental? Thanks again for all your advice (especially Dan, I hope using your cc links is at least a little repayment for your time and effort)
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Offline Dan

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Re: Ergel's August 2011 trip planning thread
« Reply #9 on: January 31, 2011, 09:03:18 PM »
Call CO to book.
CO=1 stopover+1 open jaw permitted.
Save your time, I don't answer PM. Post it in the forum and a dedicated DDF'er will get back to you as soon as possible.

Offline Ergel

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Re: Ergel's August 2011 trip planning thread
« Reply #10 on: February 02, 2011, 12:46:48 AM »
England/scotland/wales/ireland is beautiful, and underrated, however (!) weather might be a big problem, you could have rain one week straight.

Do you have any specific reccomendations of where to go? I will have S-TH available? Would you reccomend the lake district? Thanks for your help.

Call CO to book.
CO=1 stopover+1 open jaw permitted.

Would an itenarary like this work
Sun JFK-ZRH
Tue ZRH-CDG
Thu CDG-LHR (or remove this flight and take a train)
following Thu LHR-JFK (or from some other location in UK to JFK)
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Offline Dan

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Re: Ergel's August 2011 trip planning thread
« Reply #11 on: February 02, 2011, 12:54:13 AM »
No, that's 2 stopovers (ZRH and CDG)
Either cut one to under 24 hours or get rid of a flight.
Save your time, I don't answer PM. Post it in the forum and a dedicated DDF'er will get back to you as soon as possible.

Offline Ergel

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Re: Ergel's August 2011 trip planning thread
« Reply #12 on: February 02, 2011, 12:55:28 AM »
What about if i remove the cdg-lhr?
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Offline aussiebochur

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Re: Ergel's August 2011 trip planning thread
« Reply #13 on: February 02, 2011, 12:56:49 AM »
No, that's 2 stopovers (ZRH and CDG)
Either cut one to under 24 hours or get rid of a flight.
Cut the CDG-LHR and you're fine. One stopover and one open jaw.

Offline SuperFlyer

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Re: Ergel's August 2011 trip planning thread
« Reply #14 on: February 02, 2011, 01:14:27 AM »
The lake district is nice, but I believe scotland, ireland and even wales are nicer.

Places to avoid are all industrial cities, such as manchester, birmingham, liverpool, etc.

Remember: you may not sleep over in york.

There are flights with CO, leaving from lots of airports, such as EDI, DUB, GLA, etc.

Train for some reason is called a luxury transportation method, so by bus (they call it coach), its much cheaper.

Even better is renting a car. Unless you have prolonged stays at places.

Offline Ergel

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Re: Ergel's August 2011 trip planning thread
« Reply #15 on: February 22, 2011, 01:56:55 PM »
I am now ready to book my tickets (my miles have posted).

I have two weeks to do this trip with my wife and myself (sans daughter) from Sunday August 14-Friday August 26. I plan on spending one week in Scotland/Wales/English countryside (not exactly sure where I am going to go) and the other week 3 days in Paris, a day in Zurich/Lucerne and a day in London. I plan on spending Shabbos by family friends in London.

I can fly either arriving in Zurich (or Paris) and departing Edinburgh or the other way around, arriving in Edinburgh and departing Zurich (or Paris). Below is the best availiblity I found with a lot of work. Which of them do you think is better? Can you find any more availability to improve my itinerary?

Thanks in advance for all your help.

OPTION #1
EWR   MUC   Aug 14   20:15   10:15   LH413  F
MUC   ZRH   Aug 15   11:25   12:20   LH 2368 B
ZRH   CDG   Aug 16   9:05   10:20   LX634   B
I will probably buy a one way BA ticket to London (no direct availability and too much wasted flying time-only $90 each)
EDI   EWR   Aug 26   9:25   12:00  CO37   E

This last flight is the really problem-only availability is in easy pass-50k in economy. What are the chances of business class opening up availability? Any other suggestions?

OPTION #2
EWR  IAD   Aug 14   15:35   17:05   CO3262   E
IAD   CDG   Aug 14   21:45   11:25   CO132   B
CDG   ZRH   Aug 17   20:20   21:30   LX645   B
ZRH   LHR   Aug 18   20:25   21:10   LX340   B
EDI   EWR   Aug 26   9:25   12:00  CO37   E
(same problem with the last flight)

THE OTHER DIRECTION
OPTION #3
EWR   EDI   Aug 14   20:00   7:55   CO36  E (same issue as above-Easy Pass)
Buy a ticket BA London to Paris ($90)
CDG   ZRH   Aug 25 9:50   11:10   LX633   B
ZRH   DUS   Aug 26   9:05   10:15   LH3135 B
DUS   EWR   Aug 26 12:10   14:40   LH408 F
(is this last flight too close to Shabbos???)

OPTION #4
EWR   EDI   Aug 14   20:00   7:55   CO36  E (same issue as above-Easy Pass)
LHR   ZRH   Aug 21   20:05   22:45   LX339 B
ZRH   CDG   Aug 22   20:25   21:40   LX646 B
CDG   FRA   Aug 26   8:00   9:15   LH1051 B
FRA   JFK   Aug 26   10:25   12:45   LH400 B
Will this count as a second open jaw (EWR and JFK?)


Thanks

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Offline moish

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Re: Ergel's August 2011 trip planning thread
« Reply #16 on: February 23, 2011, 06:27:41 AM »
i would skip the day in zurich and spend another day in london

Offline Ergel

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Re: Ergel's August 2011 trip planning thread
« Reply #17 on: February 23, 2011, 09:11:04 AM »
My wife already has been to London so I am only gonna spend 1 day and see just the real highlights
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Offline Ergel

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Re: Ergel's August 2011 trip planning thread
« Reply #18 on: February 23, 2011, 01:22:44 PM »
Ok. Maybe my question was a little too broad and that's why I got no responses. Let me try this.
Can anyone help me find a flight NYC-EDI or NYC-GLA on August 14th in first or business? Or can anyone find EDI-NYC or GLA-NYC on August 26th in first or business?
Thanks again for all you help.
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Offline aussiebochur

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Re: Ergel's August 2011 trip planning thread
« Reply #19 on: February 24, 2011, 08:37:27 PM »
JFK/EWR-FRA-EDI is available in business.