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I’m turning 30 soon and planning a solo-trip to celebrate my birthday. I’m having difficulty choosing a destination, but I have some exciting options with my travel benefits. I have 250k Avios and a new style 2-4-1 voucher at my disposal. Fortunately, I have three weeks off work for this trip.
My main goal is to experience flying in the Q-suite and BA Club World, something I haven’t had the chance to do yet. While I don’t have a specific preference for any particular place, I have come up with a potential itinerary: London – Sydney – Fiji – Singapore/Thailand – London.
I’m open to suggestions and advice on the best destinations to visit.
Your suggestions would be most welcomeCould you do it as a round the world ticket? Not sure how many Avios they need. Or a multi-carrier redemption. Maybe something like London – Singapore – Bangkok – Hong Kong – Sydney – Auckland – Fiji – Los Angeles – New York – London? (Not sure whether Bangkok would count as a not-allowed backtrack from Singapore?)
If you go that way round and time it right you could celebrate your birthday twice courtesy of the international date line (as I did for my 40th – first on a plane over the Pacific shortly after a late evening take-off from Auckland and again next day in San Francisco).
In terms of destinations, perhaps Melbourne as well as (or instead of) Sydney? San Francisco as an and/or to LA. Kuala Lumpur on your way to Bangkok perhaps. Probably depends how much time you want to spend in each place – I did mine as a bit of a lightning tour, couple of nights at each stop; I think if I did it again I’d go more slowly, but at the time part of the fun was trying to cover as many places as I could in the time – I was pretty exhausted when I got home though, but loved every minute of it!
What a fabulous idea! Just bear in mind that 250k avios don’t go that far and you can’t use the 241 on QR. Bearing that in mind you might want to try to use the voucher for 50% off some of the journey on BA metal, e.g. to SIN or SYD. As we know, these are extremely difficult seats to get, however people have been successful at T-355 with some perseverance, and also the 241 will unlock extra CW availability, especially if you consider starting in one of the regions.
Re @Jon’s suggestion, I have only visited Sydney, but am currently watching Halifax: Retribution which is set in Melbourne and it looks a wonderful city, a bit like a cleaner NYC!
Happy planning!
Travel is fabulous, and your list of potential destinations looks great. I’d worry a lot less about which padded bench I sat on, and a lot more about things to do and see.
Thanks @jon I haven’t looked into a round the world ticket, that’s something i will do now and noted on the feeling exhausted by the end of the trip, might still be a good way to go
If you are heading to Sydney and want an island trip, I suggest you look at New Caledonia, if your plans involve water in Fiji NC has it beat in every way. The isle of pines in particular is heaven. Fiji always reminds me of Mauritius, which isnt a positive for me. The only exception so far is the six senses which is small enough to be relaxing, outside that always feels like you might as well be in Australia.
God, I miss solo birthday trips!
Well, if we’re being honest, I miss being 30 ;o)))))Just in case availability is tough, the Rio-B Aires-Chile
option would be none too shabby!If you go that way round and time it right you could celebrate your birthday twice courtesy of the international date line
Or go the other way and have the added bonus of staying 29 for another year???
dougzz makes a very good point. Prioritise the places you want to see, then worry about the plane ride. Three weeks is decent chunk of time – i’d be tempted to spend it in Aus & NZ. Kiwis amazed me with their friendliness – I think they have an in-built admiration for people who travel that far. I’d go back if I could – but it’s just so far away…
You can easily do Asia and back in a 7/10/14 day trip so save that for a shorter holiday, maybe aside from a 24hr stopover to break this journey up. But down under – or indeed the Pacific Islands – takes so long to get there, trying to do that in a fortnight sees you lose a lot of time to travel.
@Michael, I’m thinking the extended double TP offer will be the perfect excuse for a solo trip … OH and teenager are probably safe for 5 days without me 😂.
@northernlass Yeah, I am happy to pay with cash for all the connecting flights, but of course, using the points for the qsuite and club world wouldn’t leave me with a lot to pay for the shorter distances in between. Thanks for your advice!
@u07ch I will definitely look into that. Thanks a lot!
@Michael C Thanks ive’ just been to Rio and going back in Feb for the carnival so a 3rd time would be overkill haha. definitely, my favorite city I’ve been to so far. I am yet to explore the rest of south America though so those destinations might be a good idea. Thanks!
@Michael, I’m thinking the extended double TP offer will be the perfect excuse for a solo trip … OH and teenager are probably safe for 5 days without me 😂.
Right?! I’m thinking a term-time Sofia for me!
@Michael C Thanks ive’ just been to Rio and going back in Feb for the carnival so a 3rd time would be overkill haha. definitely, my favorite city I’ve been to so far. I am yet to explore the rest of south America though so those destinations might be a good idea. Thanks!
Into B Aires out of Santiago DC would be fantastic: Bariloche overland to the border is gorgeous!
Re @Jon’s suggestion, I have only visited Sydney, but am currently watching Halifax: Retribution which is set in Melbourne and it looks a wonderful city, a bit like a cleaner NYC!
I found I preferred Melbourne to Sydney. But I suppose it depends on your interests and tastes. For coffee lovers, definitely Melbourne 😉 I’ve often thought of Melbourne being to Sydney as Boston is to New York, or Brighton is to London, or San Francisco to Los Angeles. Talking of which, if you had to pick only one, I’d choose SF over LA, especially if it’s only for a couple of days. Although that said, I’ve been seeing a lot of worrying reports lately about how bad SF has become in recent years which, if true, would probably rule out a return any time soon. I very much hope I’m wrong about that, as it is (or was) a wonderful city.
Or go the other way and have the added bonus of staying 29 for another year???
I considered doing it that way round when I was planning my trip, but in the end decided that having two birthdays was preferable to having none 😉 I spent many years being “29 Again” but have since come to the view that one’s 40s are the best decade. So far anyway… 😉
But down under – or indeed the Pacific Islands – takes so long to get there, trying to do that in a fortnight sees you lose a lot of time to travel.
That’s a good point. For me, the flying (and the airport lounges etc) were all part of the experience, so I was happy to spend a good chunk of the time travelling, but that may not be for everyone. Good way to get it out of one’s system I suppose! 😉 Taking overnight flights also helped save on hotel costs, which may be something to consider.
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