Wanted to post this in another forum (travel) but they don't want any miles talk there, so here I am.

My situation ...
AA = 175K miles
BA = 100K miles
CO = 50K miles
Amex Gold = 75K points

Got all these miles and no ideas or maybe too many ideas on where to travel.

Reason why I am asking you guys is because I see how the "pros" use tricks with flights with multiple stops/destinations and getting so much more per each mile. Care to share an awesome trip itinerary you made?

Some info to consider:
I am 29, single, not interested in tours or long winded historical sights. Traveling out of NYC. Have up to 2 weeks to just go at any time of year. Like to see Europe, Africa, South America, etc.

Any ideas would be much appreciated.

P.S. One trip I wanted to take was going to Tanzania and then for 2-3 days relax in Zanzibar beaches. Problem is ... may be a bit boring to go alone.

Simple solution: Take a wingman! Tour of European capitals / Thai islands / Cancun for spring break??

I'm 27 and single and blow all my miles on fun personal long weekend benders.
I just got back from a weekend in Iceland (KEF) Delta begins flying there next month. Don't stay for more than 3 days. Friday and Saturday do the nightlife and Sunday do the Blue Lagoon to cure your hangover! (Iceland is very expensive once you're there)
Check out Buenos Aires (EZE). Flights there are all red eyes so you don't blow the day flying. BsAs has an awesome nightlife, great food, good looking population IMHO, favorable exchange rate to get more bang for your buck. If you don't speak Spanish it is still easy to get around.
There is always Rio de Janeiro (GIG). Great nightlife, a bit more expensive, the exchange rate has become less favorable.
Last suggestion is Bangkok (BKK). Check out Koh Samui, etc.

BA Miles: EASY choice... LAN in Business Class with multiple stopovers. I'm doing Argentina, Chile, Peru later this year.

AA: JAL or CX to Asia.

CO: I dont know enough about *A carriers, so I wont opine

AMEX: Save them for the future

I'd also recommend signing up for hotel programs. After all, you will need a place to stay

If youre 29 and single, join an adventure tour that goes from Nairobi to Zanzibar - takes about 2 weeks.
There is nothing "tour" about it - you travel with people 20-40 yrs old, - and there is a lot of free time, but on the other hand everything is organized for you in terms of the hard part - accomodation and transport. It's never boring, but you can have time to yourself if you wish.

Check out Intrepid, Dragoman, Oasis Overland and Geckos for Tanzania holidays.

Yea so far I see that for example Hilton points don't go that far. Isn't it like 50K points only cover 1 night stay? Not worth it for me to run another credit report to get just 1 night free.

I was in your shoes about 8 years ago, albeit a little younger than you at that point...For me, it was a no-brainer...

Pamplona, Spain in July for the San Fermin festival, AKA The Running of the Bulls.

Craziest party I've ever been a part of. I did have a friend meet me there who happened to be knocking around Europe at the same time, but there were all kinds of solo people there, and I was surprised at the number of females there. I don't remember if I actually ran with the bulls or not, but the party was from sun up to sun up the next day.

I stopped over in London and Paris on my way over (met a different friend in Paris and did London solo).

I did an stopover airline award ticket (into LHR, back and forth from Paris, LHR to BCN and home from BCN) on *A. I did have to buy the ticket on Iberia from BCN to Pamplona, but it all worked out very well.

I wish I knew Spanish or had a friend there. I did think about Thailand as many say it's fun there too. Problem is ... I may not have enough miles saved up. Also .... want a trip with multiple stop overs at no cost like I've seen people do here.

LOL, that must've been the craziest party ever if you honestly don't remember that particular part of your trip

Well, are you thinking of cashing in all the points/miles for this one trip?

I'd suggest visiting one country (at least) in each continent on your first trip if you haven't traveled much in the past. Example:

1) AA business one-way to South America from N. America 50K miles
2) AA business one-way to Oceania from South America 50K miles
3) AA business one-way to S.Asia from Oceania 35K miles
4) UA one-way business to N. Asia from S. Asia 15K miles (rate changes on June 15th)
5) UA one-way S.Africa to Europe in F (50K miles - I think this is a bargain!)
6) AA business one-way back to N.America 50K miles in business

So, this in total would cost you:

* AA - 185K miles (a bit over what you have, but on one of the itineraries, you can easily switch to BA miles)
* UA/CO miles - 65 miles (transfer some of your AMEX MR to CO and then to UA)

You'd still be left with 100K BA miles + 60K AMEX MR, which would still be good enough for another nice trip.

Just to note that S.America to Oceania award in business is difficult to come by.

Thailand is awesome. I'm in my young 20's and I've traveled Thailand 4 different ways (with an American GF, with a Thai GF while I was living there, with 3 of my buddies and solo) and every single trip was amazing (albeit not without the occasional negative such as getting food poisoning and being incapacitated for 3 days ) so I wouldn't be concerned about having a good time.

You have enough miles on both OW (for example use your AA miles to fly CX) and *A (dump your MR pts into your CO account and you have exactly enough points for a biz redemption and then you've got a lot of *a carrier options) so I'm not quite sure why you think you don't have enough miles.

Also you are going to have to do some research to teach yourself different airlines routing rules, stopover rules, and open jaw rules. But that's all part of the game. I wasn't that familiar with AA's routing rules until I built myself a moderately complex itinerary utilizing AA and LA to get to CUZ and then routing back through JFK and taking advantage of the North American gateway provision to stop by FTU for a couple days.

It can be a bit of a pain but putting in the work now will pay dividends for years to come.

Also check out this thread for cool trips FT'ers have put together:

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

Wow, now that is the exact examples I was looking for. Thank you. It is however a long trip. Won't fit into 2 weeks unless it's a very hektic 2 weeks. Not looking to go around the world but multiple destinations at low miles in business or first is awesome.

excellent thread. Thanks for posting. Looks like exactly what I was looking for.

For single and 27 - definitely South America RT for 80k BA miles in LAN business. See this thread for routing advice.

In terms of savings, may I suggest EWR-SEA-ANC-FAI on AS using BA miles. Tickets to Alaska are very high and with unlimited stopovers, this is an awesome itin.

If you just want to go to the northernmost point of the US - Barrow, you can add that as well.

See my posts in the Alaska forum.