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Old Nov 6, 2013 | 11:55 am
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greggarious
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Join Date: Sep 2013
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Advice: First time churner looking to maximize points for a 3 city Eurotrip

So I have ~ 70,000 (69,358 to be exact) United Miles and 40,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards, for a total of approximately 110,000 United Miles. I would like to use these for a European vacation. I'd like to try and book an open jaw flight to Europe, business class both ways (but would settle for coach if all the business class flights have been snatched up due to the UA devaluation)

I plan to stay in hostels, rather than spend my rewards on lodging can stay for about 10 nights maximumI prefer to stay in a city a few days and take it in, so I'll probably only 3 cities.

I was thinking of hitting Brussels, taking a train to Amsterdam, then an EasyJet to Berlin. (Or possibly flying into London, crashing overnight w/ a friend, then taking the train to Brussels the next morning)

Another option is to do Ireland -> Brussels -> Amsterdam, or Zurich -> Brussels -> Amsterdam, but if possible I'd really like to include Berlin in the itinerary. I do not want to explore Paris or London - I've spent a long time in both.

Anyways, I have never booked awards travel, so I was looking for advice. I wanna book before United's rewards amounts go up at the end of January. I'd want to fly around the beginning of may, preferably leaving around 5/9, but can ± by a week or so.

Assuming I have 70k United Points and 40 Chase Ultimate, what's my best itinerary? (I don't plan to use rewards for hosing - I'll stay in hostels). I will be flying out of IND (connecting to ORD). I could also probably fly out of YYZ if it's more likely I'll get a business class flight - I'm most likely going to Toronto for business in May.
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