psychtobe
Apr 13, 07, 2:04 am
I want to take myself, my wife, my infant, and my wife's parents (4 adults in total, 1 infant) to Rome for Easter and the week after, in 2008.
The goal is affordability, and to see Rome and especially the Vatican.
This is what we have now:
185,000 Thank You Points
50,000 AAdvantage miles in account 1
50,000 AAdvantage miles in account 2
90,000 NW miles in account 1
180,000 NW miles in account 2
40,000 *points in account 1
10,000 *points in account 2
30,000 Marriott points
The parents live in DFW. We are in PDX.
The plan:
AA miles for the parents from DFW-FCO.
TY points or NW miles for us PDX-FCO. Not exactly sure how to handle the baby.
The real question is hotels. I realize I do not have enough points to make a dent in our room needs. However, I do have 11 months. I could probably spend about $30,000 between now and then - so maybe 30,000 *points, giving us 70,000 *points in 1 account. If I can combine SPG accounts, we'll have 80,000 *points, enough for 4 nights in a Rome Cat 6. I don't think the Marriott points are enough to help us. We will need 2 rooms for 6-7 nights each, so 12-14 hotel nights total. The *points only get us 4. We don't want to move during the week, unless we're changing cities (probably not worth it given we only have 1 week).
Question: recognizing that this will be our parents' only trip ever to Rome, we need to be right in the heart of things to make best use of our time. Since we'll need to pay for at least 10 hotel nights - what is the budget for something serviceable (not fancy) but acceptable and right in the heart of where we need to be?
What is an acceptable food budget per person per day in Rome? We do not like fancy food - I am imagining eating in local neighborhood restaurants at dinner.
Does anyone have any other ideas on how to rack up more free hotel nights by next March? I can always burn Thank You points - 10,000 gets me $100 in Hyatt, Marriott, or Ritz-Carlton money - but it's not as good a use of points as air travel.
I'm posting in Budget Travel because that is the most pressing theme of this trip - we are paying full costs for 4 adults and Rome is pricey, so trying to keep things controlled is important. There will still be transportation, admission fees, and incidentals. Thanks for any tips/advice.
The goal is affordability, and to see Rome and especially the Vatican.
This is what we have now:
185,000 Thank You Points
50,000 AAdvantage miles in account 1
50,000 AAdvantage miles in account 2
90,000 NW miles in account 1
180,000 NW miles in account 2
40,000 *points in account 1
10,000 *points in account 2
30,000 Marriott points
The parents live in DFW. We are in PDX.
The plan:
AA miles for the parents from DFW-FCO.
TY points or NW miles for us PDX-FCO. Not exactly sure how to handle the baby.
The real question is hotels. I realize I do not have enough points to make a dent in our room needs. However, I do have 11 months. I could probably spend about $30,000 between now and then - so maybe 30,000 *points, giving us 70,000 *points in 1 account. If I can combine SPG accounts, we'll have 80,000 *points, enough for 4 nights in a Rome Cat 6. I don't think the Marriott points are enough to help us. We will need 2 rooms for 6-7 nights each, so 12-14 hotel nights total. The *points only get us 4. We don't want to move during the week, unless we're changing cities (probably not worth it given we only have 1 week).
Question: recognizing that this will be our parents' only trip ever to Rome, we need to be right in the heart of things to make best use of our time. Since we'll need to pay for at least 10 hotel nights - what is the budget for something serviceable (not fancy) but acceptable and right in the heart of where we need to be?
What is an acceptable food budget per person per day in Rome? We do not like fancy food - I am imagining eating in local neighborhood restaurants at dinner.
Does anyone have any other ideas on how to rack up more free hotel nights by next March? I can always burn Thank You points - 10,000 gets me $100 in Hyatt, Marriott, or Ritz-Carlton money - but it's not as good a use of points as air travel.
I'm posting in Budget Travel because that is the most pressing theme of this trip - we are paying full costs for 4 adults and Rome is pricey, so trying to keep things controlled is important. There will still be transportation, admission fees, and incidentals. Thanks for any tips/advice.