2020 Travel Plans

[Cinnabel]

Looking at booking Perth - Paris in August, 2020 with an open jaw return from Venice to Perth. Hoping to do the bucket list travel by train from Paris - Lyon - Switzerland - Australia (Salzburg on the bucket list) - Italy and then a short Med cruise from Venice to Greek Isles and/or Croatia. Don't know where to start really.
What date are the J award bookings open for next year - is it 350 days? I'm QFF.

 

[Lynda2475]

Well work travel is severely restricted this FY so much fewer SC earning opportunities than last few years, so I cashed in a bunch of points and leveraged my current Gold status (which is unlikely to be retained) to book a J classic reward.

June-July: Scandinavia and the Baltics
SYD-HKG (in J on QF), HKG-DxB (in J on EK) 1 night stopover in Dubai
DXB-CPH (in J on EK)
5 weeks of land/sea based travel through Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania
VNO-HEL (in Y on AY) 1 night stop over in Helsinki
HEL-DOH-SIN (in J on QR) 1 night stop over in Singapore
Sin-SYD (in J on BA)

First time for me flying J internationally and Im trying out J on 4 different OneWorld Carriers - will actually need to write a trip report.

There will likely be a Boxing Day - New years trip during mandatory office shutdown, and maybe a long weekend somewhere domestic, but all my leave (most fo my points and holiday funds) is used up on the one big Northern European trip.

It is nice to know what I'm doing a year out though, always great to have another trip to look forward to!

 

[daft009]

Only booked Fiji for March. Hotels still TBA, leaning towards the Hilton Denarau.

Any other family friendly options with a 3yo which are relaxing?

 

[Drakecula]

We're building a house next year, so I think the only time I'll get to travel 'overseas' is a tentative plan to visit an old friend in Tasmania. We've never been, so it'll be exciting. Thinking July, as we can celebrate both our birthdays.

 

[Pushka]

Europe. Greek Islands Cruise on a small vessel of 40 people. Then a Med cruise of 3000.

 

[Muppet501st]

Have booked a RTW with VA/VS for Feb 2020, ( very similar to our Feb 19 trip )
BNE-SYD-HKG, HKG-LHR, LHR-DUB, BFS-EDI, EDI-LHR, LHR-LAX, LAX-SLC-MCI-LGA, LGA-CVG, CVG-MSP-LAX, LAX-BNE

 

[knagelli]

Looking at booking MEL - LHR late June or mid Jul. Waiting for any velocity promos with double status credits which will then help me maintain my gold which looks certain by Dec this year.

Any suggestions or recommendations on how soon to book the tickets so I don't end up paying fortune.

Thanks.

 

[mrsterryn]

Ok so mine have changed a bit
(Son and his family are buying a new home so funds will be a bit limited for them next year )

Sooo
Going to London May to do a 14 day cruise including St Petersburg ( anyone done a cruise on celebrity silhouette?)
A quick trip to Tokyo October
Paris trip end of Oct (will be on points again )
Regular end of year trip to Europe for see Xmas markets

Husband has finally retired and will have a couple of extra trips to Europe then me in 2020 and will easily retain his platinum status

 

[GarrettM]

Well I haven't booked the flights just yet, but I'm heading to the Tokyo Olympics.
Allowing for travel both ways I'll be there for 9 days from Aug 2- 10. Accommodation booked and paid for from Aug 2 - 9, and will sort that last night out later.

Have tickets for men's football and water polo gold medal games, plus prelims in water polo, women's basketball, handball, volleyball. Will see if I get more in other stuff along the way.

Going to use my non-sport time to check out museums and other cool/cultural stuff, plus check out lots of guitar stores.

That's it as far as my travels are concerned, but I might use my VA points to send the wife and baby somewhere nice for a few days.

 

[blackcat20]

Hawaii is now locked in for us; we booked the Luxury Escapes package at the Westin Hapuna beach. And cashed in AA miles to fly HA J,

We will be doing CHC in March (for dinner) but otherwise nothing else planned as Ill be heading back to work post mat leave.

 

[LadyC]

Regular end of year trip to Europe for see Xmas markets

Which Xmas markets do you recommend in Europe?

 

[LadyC]

Two more trips have been locked in. New Caledonia just before Easter and then more Bali action in June/July.

Christmas 2020 is still up in the air as we can't decide between a European Christmas or doing a North Asian tour of Seoul, Kyoto, Tokyo (including a few days at Hakuba), Taipei and an island resort in the Philippines as our final stop.

 

[bPeteb]

Overnight it's gone from four or five weeks in Greece in late August into September (with little else planned) to a two week Intrepid overland safari Kenya and Tanzania late July and a week around it Johannesburg and Capetown. So that means two weeks to fill somewhere else

 

[mrsterryn]

One of the fun things about this thread and you can see how your plans morph

 

[robtemt]

We are really looking forward to our 2020 travel, as we've been duds in 2019. My +1 decided to take travel to the next level and joined QF as international cabin crew. So besides the one planned trip in 2020, we will do some spontaneous "what flight has space today" staff travel.

March 2020:
SYD-SIN-LAX: (SQ R and J with Amex converted to KF miles).5 nights in Temecula and San Diego visiting family. Outlet shopping (come on AUD, you can get back up there!).

LAX-SJO (VA points on DL in "F") - 2 nights in San Jose and then 8 nights in Punta Leona (30 min from Jaco). We have rented an 8 bedroom 11 bath Villa with 3 other couples (we've all been friends for 10-25 years). Villa is staffed with housekeeper, cook, and butler. Has a pool, and is a 1 minute drive in the golf cart to the beach. Card games, lots of pool drinks, and relaxing.

SJO-LAX (VA points on DL in "F") - One night in LA. Last minute shopping, last minute fix of Mexican food.

LAX-HNL-LNY (VA points on DL in "Delta One" and then private jet to Lanai) 4 nights at the Four Seasons.

LNY - HNL - SYD (Private back to HNL and then AA points for J on Hawaiian)

 

[bPeteb]

Overnight it's gone from four or five weeks in Greece in late August into September (with little else planned) to a two week Intrepid overland safari Kenya and Tanzania late July and a week around it Johannesburg and Capetown. So that means two weeks to fill somewhere else

And after having some time to think about this rather rash booking we changed the Intrepid to an 18 day round trip from Jburg - Exploring Southern Africa. No Serengeti or Ngorongoro but Okavango is a worthy replacement.

The flights to Nairobi then down to Cape Town were chewing up way too much of the limited remaining time. We'll now take Premier Classe train down to Cape Town morning after we fly in and then fly back to Jburg afternoon that the Intrepid begins.

This morning we've booked easter weekend up at Palm Cove. Loved or May long weekend. Reef House was we decided a tad too much so Paradise on the Beach Resort is getting our business this time.

 

[ontheaisle]

Greece. Islands and Peloponnese. A new destination for us. About four weeks. Decided the private tour thing again is for us. Drivers, ferries and hotels all done so we don't have to bother. Now to decide when. Aug into Sept? All September?

Personally, I'd go in September. August is really hot and super, super busy (especially on Santorini, Mykonos, etc.). Peak cruise ship time too.

So far for 2020 I only have a long weekend in Fiji in late Feb - managed to grab one of those FJ $350 return tix to celebrate the launch of their A350 services - and the usual week in Queenstown in late Jul/early Aug for snowboarding. Looking at doing a two/three week trip somewhere, probably Europe, around late September to celebrate my mum turning 70 in April (need to save up the leave).

The one thing I miss about working in the public service... the extra five weeks a year of leave

 

[hachoo]

So far I've just got the Japan Summer Olympics Late July to Early August. Organised my flight there and back with JAL J to Tokyo NRT and then QF Y on the way back. Tried to get it sorted pretty much the day the flights were available.

Planning a ski trip to ZQN just after that too so fingers crossed I can extend some time for that. Haven't been to the snow for about 5 years so it'll be good to relieve the pizza and french fry.

 

[RooFlyer]

Change of plan. Scrapping India foothills over Easter for a tour Romania-Moldova-Transnistria-Ukraine, with an add-on to Belarus at the end.

Still doing RTW in Feb/March.

 

[Cossie]

The World Rally Championship calendar has finally been released, so some serious planning can now be done. Kenya is included once again, in July, tempted but probably won't.

NZ is back, early September, that is a definite, although I hope it isn't as wet as September was this year.