pointsobsessed

Having accumulated what I consider to be a sizable amount of mileage over the past year and a half, I am looking to spend as little cash as possible. Could someone provide their suggestions or share their past experiences?

Some potential regions I would be interested in: Western Europe (except Paris, Rome, and the Amalfi Coast, been there more than once), Chile or Argentina, Australia, exotic islands like the Fiji, Maldives. I am generally open to these places since I haven't been to any of them. Approximately 2 weeks, with a combination of urban and rural/beach would be preferred. I am thinking sometime in the early to late spring, or fall of next year.

Update: 2 additional nights at any Fairmont (as part of the Chase CC promotion)
Hyatt 180k
SPG 21k
AA 160k
DAL 30k
BA 175k
Virgin Atlantic 46k

Thanks!


Update 10/10: Thanks everyone for your suggestions so far. My apologies for being so open ended. I would be looking to depart from any of the NYC area airports.

I agree with Thunderroad in that most of my hotel stays will be with Hyatt. I forgot I also have two free nights with Fairmont. Perhaps it is imperative that I focus on exclusive properties within Hyatt and Fairmont, with perhaps a one or two night stay via SPG.

But generally, I am curious to hear about some recent stories about mileage and honeymoon destinations.

JerryFF

I hope you fiance doesn't read your post.

philemer

Welcome to FT. As you check this forum for replies I'd also suggest you browse our other forums for useful info. We have forums that cover the areas you mention below.

Also, you're likely to get more help if you narrow down the places you want to visit to one or two specific countries.

KennyBSAT

Welcome to Flyertalk! If you narrow your list down to one or two places, we can help with the miles and points aspects. Also, origin and desired/required class of travel would help. A couple of points: You have enough AA miles for 2 coach tickets to anywhere. Your BA points will incur surcharges for most travel outside the Americas except on AirBerlin and Aer Lingus. So based on the minimal cost request, I'd look at South America if you want business or first class seats, and try http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/destinations-704/ or tripadvisor for destination advice.

onthego15

It is also really hard for anyone to help you when you don't tell us where you are flying from.

folden-diaz

I represent a couple and we recently set out to plan their honeymoon using miles/points - they had similar balances to what you have shared above. In the end, they decided on a safari - with some time in the Seychelles. We booked all of their air via the miles - and there was still some left over for city hotels. A good travel planner can help you maximize your miles and narrow down your destinations/options.

Thunderroad

Welcome to FT! As others have said, it would help to get more specific info, including where you'd be originating.

Looks like the only hotel program you have a lot of points with is Hyatt, so you might want to peruse its site and the FT forum for info on its properties that might fit your bill. I don't know the program very well, but believe it has a great hotel in the Maldives that you can get for 22K (??) per night and many fine urban properties. Not sure if it has many good beach resort hotels other than the Maldives.

Your honeymoon should definitely include great plane trips getting back and forth. If it fits with your origin and destinations, you should accordingly look into flying Cathay Pacific First Class, which is fantastic and often has award availability if you book far enough ahead. Your AA balance will definitely get you one RT F ticket to Asian destinations from North America and Europe. I believe your BA balance will do the same, though I'm not certain.

(Be aware, though, that using BA miles for most places other than South America incurs extra $$ charges. From North America to Asia it's perhaps a few hundred dollars for an F ticket, which is well worth it. But passing through London from North America can cost you well over $1,000.)

farbster

How about BCN and the French Riviera. Hyatt just acquired two properties there.

We've been to LeMeridiens in both BCN and Monaco.

aeneas3

not to confuse things but I highly suggest Maui
going back in April for our 10th and have been there for our honeymoon, 5 year and now 10 year.

mikedlk

Your BA miles are enough for two tickets to Santorini in Greece with Air Berlin and Niki. You can also fly business class up to Berlin or Dusseldorf. Vienna and some other cities nearby are worth a visit. However I doubt that Niki has posted their summer schedule yet

mia

Try these threads:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles...honeymoon.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles...honeymoon.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles...king-help.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles...honeymoon.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles...solidated.html

sfaoffroad

I wanted to go somewhere exotic for my honeymoon. The wife had other plans. We ended up going to Italy and took a cruise to Croatia and Greece.
Spent 120k UA points for Lufthansa flights on
IAH-FRA-FCO and VCA-FRA-IAH. I hated Lufthansa A380 in coach. Was the worst part of the trip. Id recommend stepping up to business class. Would of made my trip perfect.

dovergator

My wife and I planned a three and a half week road trip from Maine to Key West! It was truly awesome. We got to see many parts of the country that we wouldn't have seen.

We used Hyatt, SPG, Hilton, IHG, Hertz and United points. All in all we were on the road for quite some time and didn't pay for a single night's stay!

Among our favorite hotels were:
Park Hyatt DC
Hyatt 48 Lex (NYC)
Hyatt Clearwater, FL
Hilton Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort

pinniped

+1. Maui is awesome, plus maybe spend a little time on the Big Island if you want a bit more of an exotic feel (both the Volcanoes National Park moonscape as well as the trip up to the observatories on Mauna Kea). Of course, we also love Kauai as well...hard to go wrong on any of those 3 islands. We've done all as Marriott/Hilton people, but from reading these boards it sounds like Hyatt has some great properties out there too.

The main thing that has prevented us from eventually making it to Maldives is the fact that Hawaii is so good. Don't get me wrong, someday we'll make it out there, probably tied in with some other destinations in that general part of the world, but if you just want great islands it's hard to justify all of that extra travel time when Hawaii is so good.

If you're more set on going east, then Slovenia/Croatia could make for a nice honeymoon roadtrip down the coast. (Likely fly into MUC or VCE for this, adding as much or little of Italy, Austria, and Germany as you prefer.)

sonofzeus

1) Hope it was drive down/fly back.

2) NYC to DC to J'ville isn't the PCH.

3) Glad you enjoyed.