I'm planning a trip to do some hiking in Nepal in 2017 and will try to get there on miles. My wife and I have about 150,000 delta and around 60,000 Chase Sapphire already. But since this won't be until Aug or Sept 2017, we have time to collect other point currencies if need be.

I've done a few searches on the big 3 US airlines, with Delta (80,000 R/T) the obvious first choice because we basically have the miles already, but the connections don't work in our favor (45 hour return flight - 2 stops). United (85k R/T) seems like the best option so far as the times aren't bad (26-28 hours - 2 stops), the fees are low $110, and we can break up one-way with a free stopover.

But I'm here to see if there is a cheaper, faster, better way to get there. We are both willing to open any cards with the exception of Sapphire to get the necessary miles. Our home airport is RDU.