Help wanted

[Rono]

Folks, my wife and I are planning on kicking our travel plans back into gear in early 2023.

I have a conference to attend in Nashville Tennessee 29th Jan until 1st Feb 2023. These conferences are usually held on the west coast at that time of year but in 2023 they have decided to hold it closer to the east coast of the US. We'd love to check out various things on the east coast but have always been scared off by the very changeable weather closing down airports and forcing the cancellations of literally thousands of flights.

Any suggestions on how we might approach this trip and still enjoy a break?
Any suggested flight paths into Nashville Tennessee given we are based in Brisbane?
Is it possible to fly easily, economically into Nashville from say the Caribbean, South America, central America?

Cheers
Rono

 

[Mwenenzi]

Any airline/alliance preference? Price a consideration? Class of travel? Total travel time a consideration?
QF/AA will get you BNE-LAX-BNA. UA & DL would also get you to BNA

USA airlines work on a hub & spoke system, so probable you will need to fly via a major hub to/from AU, Caribbean, South America and central America.

The Caribbean, South America & Central America is very wide range for options. Done much research? Just allow for possible delays, with generous time between flights.

Wikipedia (routes/airlines may not up to date) Nashville International Airport - Wikipedia

A map from the Great Circle Mapper

A map from the Great Circle Mapper

www.gcmap.com

 

[Townsend]

That is our favourite time of year to travel in that area of the states and we maybe doing a similar trip a couple of weeks after you.

Have you considered QF7 to Dallas and then doing a road trip? Something like Nashville, Memphis, the Mississippi, New Orleans, Houston then Dallas

 

[drron]

We have travelled quite a lot in the States at this time. Sure we have run into bad weather but it can happen at any time of the year. Still enjoyed our trips. Quite a few International flights in to BNE -Cancun,Calgary,Montego Bay,Panama city,Toronto and even BA is bringing back direct flights to London.
A road trip is a good idea. Not likely to be greatly affected by snow in the south though still possible. But that just adds to the beauty.

 

[kookaburra75]

As the others have said, it's a good time to visit the US. When we've been there in Feb, while there were snow storms that closed everything down for a day or two, they had everything back up and running within a day - they're used to it.

Flying into Dallas, and then doing a road trip would be way to tackle it. The train system is also a good way to get around.

 

[Rono]

Any airline/alliance preference? Price a consideration? Class of travel? Total travel time a consideration?
QF/AA will get you BNE-LAX-BNA. UA & DL would also get you to BNA

USA airlines work on a hub & spoke system, so probable you will need to fly via a major hub to/from AU, Caribbean, South America and central America.

The Caribbean, South America & Central America is very wide range for options. Done much research? Just allow for possible delays, with generous time between flights.

Wikipedia (routes/airlines may not up to date) Nashville International Airport - Wikipedia

A map from the Great Circle Mapper

A map from the Great Circle Mapper

www.gcmap.com

Thanks for your reply and yes you have asked me some pertinent questions. We have Gold membership of both Virgin and Qantas, plus using our Amex Plat we can access various airport lounges. We usually fly economy but will eventually be tempted as we near retirement to upgrading. As for length of visit, well, I have board meetings at set dates so the maximum trip duration is usually 4 weeks.

Cheers
Rono

 

[Rono]

That is our favourite time of year to travel in that area of the states and we maybe doing a similar trip a couple of weeks after you.

Have you considered QF7 to Dallas and then doing a road trip? Something like Nashville, Memphis, the Mississippi, New Orleans, Houston then Dallas

Townsend, thanks for your reply and suggestion. My wife and I drew up our bucket travel list just this weekend. The road trip idea sounds interesting, we did a road trip out of Vegas to the Grand Canyon just before COVID-19 shut things down, in fact we flew back to Oz mid Feb 2020. We're looking at maps right this very moment.

Cheers
Rono

 

[Rono]

We have travelled quite a lot in the States at this time. Sure we have run into bad weather but it can happen at any time of the year. Still enjoyed our trips. Quite a few International flights in to BNE -Cancun,Calgary,Montego Bay,Panama city,Toronto and even BA is bringing back direct flights to London.
A road trip is a good idea. Not likely to be greatly affected by snow in the south though still possible. But that just adds to the beauty.

drron, thanks for your suggestions and the connections you've mentioned have given us some extra options as we have long standing friends in Vancouver BC whom we normally catch up with on these US trips - towards the end of January they're usually looking to meet us somewhere warm and sunny.

Cheers
Rono

 

[Rono]

As the others have said, it's a good time to visit the US. When we've been there in Feb, while there were snow storms that closed everything down for a day or two, and then they had everything back up and running within a day - they're used to it.

Flying into Dallas, and then doing a road trip would be way to tackle it. The train system is also a good way to get around.

Kookaburra, have you any more information or links you could share re your train suggestion. We have done Amtrak down the west coast but only for short trips say from LAX to San Diego but it was easier on me after a long flight in transit than driving on the freeway.

Cheers
Rono

 

[Mwenenzi]

Thanks for your reply and yes you have asked me some pertinent questions. We have Gold membership of both Virgin and Qantas, plus using our Amex Plat we can access various airport lounges. We usually fly economy but will eventually be tempted as we near retirement to upgrading. As for length of visit, well, I have board meetings at set dates so the maximum trip duration is usually 4 weeks.

VA will cease to be a DL ff partner and will become a UA ff partner
With QF you have AA and AS Alaska as Oneworld alliance USA ff partners.
Premium economy is a step up from economy

For me Amtrak long distance has been a good experience, but costly (so be it). Had a San Francisco - Chicago Amtrak sleeper booked for 2020, but that was not to be.

Amtrak - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Amtrak Tickets, Schedules and Train Routes

Book your train and bus tickets today by choosing from over 30 U.S. train routes and 500 destinations in North America.

www.amtrak.com