Obviously back to back is the right thing for AMS, 2 hours connections are absolutely the worst of all worlds. The choice really is back to back or night before, or at a pinch a long connection the same day with plenty of Plan Bs. Anyone who is still struggling with the logic behind this can go to the Ex DUB positioning thread in the Forum Dashboard, then to the Wiki and from there is a link to a post on why back to back is important. In respect of going the night before:
Originally Posted by
FrancisA
Provided you have time, the other option that I take is to chose cities which you actually want to visit and go out a day or more before.
I'd definitely agree, particularly for the first time you do a Third Country Itinerary. But I would go further and say try a few unusual start points since generally similar fares are available to all BA locations in the same country. So DUS is often a cheap option for certain fares: next time try Hanover or Stuttgart. Milan is also a cheap location due to the competitive environment there, particularly to Asia, but Turin, Genoa, the massively under-rated Bologna are often going to be in the same ballpark. Now for AMS you only have RTM as an alternative, and even I can't find much positive to say about Rotterdam (reminds me of the Beautiful South song, which could the theme to this sort of travel!) but LUX and BRU may well be a similar price.
Welcome to Flyertalk
Taltem, welcome to the BA forum, I hope you have a good set of flights to South Africa and all passes without incident.