shnprst

Hello there,

I received great support and advice on here earlier this year upon triggering a 2-4-1 voucher which allowed me to visit Chicago in First and return in Business on the A380. Some turbulence aside, I had a great experience. My favourite part was the Concorde Lounge. Living in Scotland, I started my journey in Inverness to save on APD.

I have 210,000 Avios and have just triggered another 2-4-1 voucher. I would really like to use the voucher in either April (Easter holidays) or late June / July (summer holidays) next year. I would really like to fly out in F as I would love to visit the CCR again.

I was hoping for some inspiration regarding destinations? In long haul, I have only visited Florida (2001!) and Chicago (this year). Most of my trips have been Europe.

It is a dream to visit Tokyo and there is a flight out on the 30th of June... but I worry about the soaring temperatures. Singapore is also available aswell as Shanghai. However, I have heard Singapore is very expensive and would worry about accommodation cost? There is Johannesburg and Sao Paulo too. I noticed the cost of these trips is cheaper than the cost from flying to America. Is there much of a saving flying out from INV when going to Asia?

I was hoping you could provide some ideas or first hand experience. I don't enjoy humid weather that much - I coped OK in Chicago in July but that was probably approaching my limit. The breeze made it bearable.

Thank you for any help you can offer.

mikeyfly

With the only link to flying on BA metal - there's likely a better forum for inspirational ideas on where to go on holiday!

fripperies

Yours is a very nice dilemma to have, and one with multiple solutions. If you are flexible on destinations and dates you should find somewhere appealing. If you dislike humidity you probably wouldn't enjoy Singapore (hot and humid year-round). Likewise Tokyo (great city, obviously) and Shanghai in June. It depends really whether you prefer the great outdoors or cities/history/culture. California actually has the lot, i.e. great cities like San Francisco, plus epic deserts, mountains, ocean. My personal favourites are India (northern India eg Rajasthan would be pleasant in April-June, southern India can be sizzling although the Keralan coast is pleasantly fresh), the Cape province of S Africa, Australia-New Zealand, some parts of S America (but I wouldn't consider Sao Paulo a tourist destination). Let us know what you decide.

rolandrat

After many many years going west we have recently started going the other way around the world. We have our first first at the end of the month to Hong Kong, booked before troubles, but equally that doesnt bother me anyway.
We did Beijing in club in Feb and really liked the place and the chinese culture, so next we are going to Shanghai, that will be first again (on a 241). On that subject, if you decide on Shanghai and stay over 144 hours (I think its that) you will need a Chinese visa, and that adds a good few hundred each to the cost, and you cant do it by post anymore you have to visit a centre.
But then as you say you haven't visited much of America and as others have said there is a lot there to see, i'd fly wherever there is availability somewhere over the west coast or slightly in-land,eg Phoenix, San Diego, San Fran, LA, Vegas etc - grab a car and plan a road trip taking in all those places all very drivable. We did it few years ago, family of 8 in one of those big Ford Vans (18 seats or something like that, but little boot/trunk space) it was one of the best things we have done.

vintagepilot

The plum places usually get snapped up pretty quickly, some the moment they are released 355 days in advance. https://rewardflightfinder.com is a good place to look for availability - if you register it can show you what routes are available on specific dates (but not unfortunately over a range of dates). Remember you can do 'open jaw' - that is going out one place and returning from another, which builds in flexibility if a return is not available from your choice of destination, but you need to book those on the phone. You can put in additional 'domestic' flights between the 'jaws' which can be very cheap on Avios eg internal flights with American.

A road trip in USA would be very doable although many high passes eg Yellowstone/Yosemite might still be closed with snow in April. We recently went out to Austin in F and back from Seattle, with a couple of road trips and an internal redemption flight from DFW to BIL. We've also been out to JNB and back from CPT. I don't know what the Western Cape is like in their Autumn/Winter but Kruger park would still be OK in April - but getting chilly by Jun/July I should think. Next year we have a 241 out to NRT in F, and back from HKG in J, with a JAL redemption between Tokyo and HKG. Just hoping the riots have calmed down by then!

Will100

Tokyo out, China or Singapore (availability allowing) back. Perfect trip and if you’re flexible on dates would be a great trip!

estrangeiro8

Hello @shnprst - a very interesting post as I'm in the same position as you with a 2-4-1 to use for next year.

I used one previously to go to Vancouver which I can highly recommend as a city - great mixture of urban life, history, culture and nature - the Pacific Ocean on one side, and the mountains on the other. I took my uncle for his 50th and he loved the city and the whole Club World experience.

If you're keen on Asia, I don't think Tokyo would be as hot and humid in June compared to July and August. What you could do is spend 2 days in the capital, and then fly north to Hokkaido where it'll be much cooler. I hear that Sapporo is an exciting city with a cool craft beer and music scene, and the nature is spectacular.

An alternative to mainland China is Taiwan. You can use the 2-4-1 to HKG and it's a easy hop over to Taiwan - it's a small country with a lot to see and do. Dynamic cities like Taipei and Kaohsiung, historical temples, natural parks and landscapes, and a vibrant food scene. A perfect fusion of China and Japan in a manageable size.

Final recommendation is Durban in South Africa (especially if there's no availability to CPT or JNB direct.) Great city, the Drakensberg Mountains are a couple of hours away (easy to access game reserves) and you can pop down to Cape Town for a few days as well to check out the history, culture, arts, food and wine scene.

Hope that gives you some further ideas in planning your trip!

shnprst

Not too flexible with dates - I am a teacher so have to take my holidays when told. However I am off from the 27th June to around the 12th of August for our summer holidays. The thing that bothers me with Japan is I've heard it's 'unbearable' and I only really want to visit Osaka, Tokyo and Kyoto.

MSPeconomist

Singapore is always hot and humid, while Shanghai and Tokyo only have this problem during the summer. Tokyo Olympics will make summer a very expensive time, if you can even get a hotel room then.

Sao Paulo can also be hot, even during northern summer, but more importantly it's dangerous.

If you're interested in Latin America, how about Buenos Aires? Your dates would correspond to fall or early winter there, which is low season, so hotels are relatively inexpensive. Food, taxis, etc. (in fact anything priced in local currently, including local boutique hotels but generally not international chains) are currently extermely cheap in Argentina due to exchange rates.

Are you at all interested in Australia or New Zealand? How about Canada?

shnprst

Thanks for all your suggestions folks. If temperature was no issue, it would definitely be Tokyo and this would be an easy decision. One regret about my previous Chicago trip was it was just a week - and I wish I was more adventurous.. like perhaps visiting two cities so open jaw may appeal. Second on my list would be South Korea, but it faces the same issues from Japan.

shnprst

I never thought of that (re Olympics). If Singapore is always hot and humid then maybe I should just bite the bullet and go there? Is it quite expensive? I watched videos of Kuala Lumpor and it felt like a mix of Chinese / Indian culture almost. Does Singapore have a similar vibe? I like the idea of flying longer than my trip to Chicago and having more time to enjoy the flight. I don't have enough Avios for F both ways, but enough for F there and PE back or Business both ways (but no CCR). When I arrived back from Chicago I visited one of the Galleries lounges and was pretty disappointed - busy, cups and plates everywhere and the food selection wasn't great.

I'm not interested in visiting Australia or NZ or particularly South America - I just noticed the availability. Canada I would be interested in - I actually nearly booked Ontario instead of Chicago. I haven't been to NY but I've heard Chicago is a cleaner, slightly less impressive NY so think visiting NY would be too similar to my last trip.

Ideally I want to go away for upwards of 2 weeks.

The_Editor

Yes, Singapore can be expensive, certainly compared to other places in the region. It does have a similar mix of Indian and Chinese culture as Kuala Lumpur.

Personally, I wouldn't want to spend a full fortnight in either Singapore or KL - a couple of days is enough for me. The advantage of KL to me is that it's cheap/easy (and earns avios/TP on MH!) to get around and see more. This is exactly what we did with our last 2-4-1 - flew F to LHR-KUL return, and then went to Borneo and the Perhentians.

blitzen

The Tokyo Olympics start 7/24 flying out end of June should get you back before everyone arrives. Advantage everything will be in place (english signs/ new hotels/....)

shnprst

Interesting... is it likely to be 'unbearable' heat? I want to be able to go places, not go from building to building to seek AC! I want to go very badly but don't want to go and be miserable.

blitzen

Only you can tell. As when my wife thinks it is getting a little hot I'm already melting away Everyone has a different tolerance.
https://www.holiday-weather.com/tokyo/averages/
And then it all depends on where you will be going (i.e. trip to Hakone > in the mountains = less heat/humidity)