I'm looking to use points to take my family of 7 to Ireland from Newark next year sometime. We are all adults, so know school timeframe problems. When is the best time to go, so I get the best value for using points? I read a little about the excursionist perk but not familiar with it. Could we say stop over in Iceland and then go to Ireland and back to Newark from there?

Basically looking to get the cheapest point usage for the 7 of us and get to the most countries on the same fair. Number of days is open but probably 7-10 days.

Any suggestions is appreciated.

May use some Hilton points too, if you have any suggestions on using them too.