Help plan my holiday

[benjy]

Hello everyone,

I'm currently looking at planning a 4-6 week holiday in October/November 2018, I have countries and places I want to visit, activities to experience, the problem is I'm just not sure how to piece it all together. Hoping the more experienced travelers could offer some insights to piece my thoughts all together to structure it to make it most cost efficient.

1. I have 440k QFF points and wish to book a 280k J OneWorld Award ticket. So I'll be starting to book flights in the next couple months
2. I'll be visiting Alice Springs to Darwin 6th - 9th October 2018 on the Ghan (already booked), so ideally international trip will start from here, but maybe thinking of starting J OneWorld trip in Asia a week earlier and return to Oz for Ghan trip then heap back overseas?
3. Countries I'd like to visit: Malaysia, Vietnam, Fiji, Japan, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Canada, various states in America (in particular Hawaii). Also open to visit other countries
4. I'd like to experience Halloween in America
5. Would love to visit a Disney Park or two (if not the best idea, various theme parks)
6. Bullet trains in Japan and the various attractions in Japan
7. Travel on the Chunnel
8. I would like to take 3-5 night cruise in Europe somewhere, not sure where, also not a must have
9. Possible thought of splitting the OneWorld award up over 2 x 4 weeks trips, once in October and next trip in March 2019.

I'm located in Melbourne and will most likely still be QFF Silver by planned holiday time.I don't currently have any other Frequent Flyer Memberships nor hotel memberships. By reading your ideas I'd be able to paint a better picture in my mind in how I'd piece all my trip together. I'll be looking at booking all the flights and accommodation and activities myself. The current plan is that I'd also be traveling by myself, with the possibility of a partner.

Thanks so much in advance and your insights

 

[offshore171]

If I can be honest, that sounds less like a holiday and more like an episode of The Amazing Race. That's a lot of places to "see" in 4-6 weeks.

I would halve the number of countries as a starting point, and factor in more "place time".

Using OneWorld, you could start with Japan (travel on Bullet trains, visit Tokyo Disney etc), then fly direct from there to Helsinki with Finnair for the nordic leg of your trip. Then on to east coast USA, then Hawaii, then home.

 

[love_the_life]

Isn't there another board on AFF for help with booking awards and travel ideas? (i.e. not just the QFF board).

 

[Mattg]

Keep in mind that you probably won't find any J availability between Hawaii and Australia. But you might between Hawaii and Japan.

Also bear in mind that you only get 5 stopovers with the 280k award, although you can use a couple of surface sectors.

I would be looking at something like this:
MEL-KUL on MH (stop 1)
(Side trip to SGN/HAN?)
KUL-NRT on JL/MH (stop 2)
NRT-HNL on JL (stop 3)
(Surface sector to LAX, then to YVR)
YVR-JFK on CX (stop 4)
JFK-LHR on AA/BA (stop 5)
(Surface sector to CPH/ARN/HEL)
(3-5 day cruise from Helsinki to St Petersburg and back)
HEL-MEL on QR/JL/whoever

 

[benjy]

If I can be honest, that sounds less like a holiday and more like an episode of The Amazing Race. That's a lot of places to "see" in 4-6 weeks.

I would halve the number of countries as a starting point, and factor in more "place time".

Using OneWorld, you could start with Japan (travel on Bullet trains, visit Tokyo Disney etc), then fly direct from there to Helsinki with Finnair for the nordic leg of your trip. Then on to east coast USA, then Hawaii, then home.

Great idea! Would you like to apply to go on the Amazing Race with me?
I like honesty, I do think the number of countries I want to visit within 6 months is too months which is why I'm considering splitting the trip up, with the second half 6 months later.

Thanks for the direction of travel suggestion, definitely gives me a great starting point .

Isn't there another board on AFF for help with booking awards and travel ideas? (i.e. not just the QFF board).

I did have the thread in another forum but it got moved

 

[benjy]

Keep in mind that you probably won't find any J availability between Hawaii and Australia. But you might between Hawaii and Japan.

Also bear in mind that you only get 5 stopovers with the 280k award, although you can use a couple of surface sectors.

I would be looking at something like this:
MEL-KUL on MH (stop 1)
(Side trip to SGN/HAN?)
KUL-NRT on JL/MH (stop 2)
NRT-HNL on JL (stop 3)
(Surface sector to LAX, then to YVR)
YVR-JFK on CX (stop 4)
JFK-LHR on AA/BA (stop 5)
(Surface sector to CPH/ARN/HEL)
(3-5 day cruise from Helsinki to St Petersburg and back)
HEL-MEL on QR/JL/whoever

Thanks heaps Matt with some great suggestions and trip plan, I really, really appreciate it.

With even the couple of suggestions offered already, has given me some good ideas. Will start planning and costing things out (and start looking for J award availability/possibilities)

 

[amaroo]

I agree, way to much - but it's all part of the planning. For a 4-6 week trip you've got to select what you really want to see and stay disciplined.

TBH, I wouldn't focus on getting the most out of award flights - I'd focus on the experience!

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Why not make the flights part of the adventure and book F instead of J? Marginal points difference but double the fun.

 

[BD1959]

OK, gang, just tried pricing up the following itinerary for a F OW Award on the QFF website and instead of coming up with the 420K points, it costs 538K ... what am I doing wrong?

MEL/HKGx (CX) J
xHKG/LHR (CX) F
LCY/JMK (BA) J
JMK/LCY (BA) J
LHR/DFWx (BA) F
xDFW/SYDx (QF) F
xSYD/MEL (QF) J

Stops only in London, Mykonos, London, Sydney - is it the backtrack that's causing the issue or that the tool doesn't recognize LHR-DFW-SYD-MEL as one journey with only transits at DFW and SYD?

As I'm sitting around the 500k point mark, I can't price the taxes as 538k points exceeds my bookable threshold.

Regards,

BD

 

[benjy]

Why not make the flights part of the adventure and book F instead of J? Marginal points difference but double the fun.

If I can gain some extra points between now and when it is ready to book I may just consider it.
YVR > JFK
JFK > LHR
HEL > MEL (HEL > DOH in J)
in First Class is very tempting

OK, gang, just tried pricing up the following itinerary for a F OW Award on the QFF website and instead of coming up with the 420K points, it costs 538K ... what am I doing wrong?

MEL/HKGx (CX) J
xHKG/LHR (CX) F
LCY/JMK (BA) J
JMK/LCY (BA) J
LHR/DFWx (BA) F
xDFW/SYDx (QF) F
xSYD/MEL (QF) J

Stops only in London, Mykonos, London, Sydney - is it the backtrack that's causing the issue or that the tool doesn't recognize LHR-DFW-SYD-MEL as one journey with only transits at DFW and SYD?

As I'm sitting around the 500k point mark, I can't price the taxes as 538k points exceeds my bookable threshold.

Regards,

BD

I suspect double London stops is causing the issues, however leave it up to the experts on that one

 

[MEL_Traveller]

If I can gain some extra points between now and when it is ready to book I may just consider it.

you have enough points now - the F award is 420K.