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Like others I think Japan ticks your boxes. It is of course a unicorn route so will need luck and/or perseverance. But you clearly have the latter given how well you have done so far. There is lots advice here already on the midnight booking of redemptions.
I will recommend China for the city part. Redemptions are much easier, even in First. Beijing is easily full of a week of stuff to do, and as of last December you can stay 144 hours visa free.
You didn’t say what balance of city and beach you’d like, but assuming you want 50:50 I’d go for:
LHR-BJS in First
Stay Beijing 5 nights
BJS-HKG (about 3 hours and £100 each)
Stay in HK for 3 nights
HKG-OKA (2.5 hours and £100 each)
Beach in Okinawa
Fly back via TYO/TYO/PVG/BJS depending upon what you can getIf you love cities, why settle for second rate city experiences when you can do some of the best? Of course, if you can nab Tokyo each way, you will certainly get some first rate city experiences.
There’s really good CW availability for next January, according to SeatSpy!
The MR points aren’t a huge stash. Personally I’d use them for flights.
Interesting!
Is there no benefit to cashing them in to one of the hotel schemes to book rooms with at the destination?
Surely there could be some monetary savings this way?
The MR points aren’t a huge stash. Personally I’d use them for flights.
Interesting!
Is there no benefit to cashing them in to one of the hotel schemes to book rooms with at the destination?
Surely there could be some monetary savings this way?
The MR points aren’t a huge stash. Personally I’d use them for flights.
Interesting!
Is there no benefit to cashing them in to one of the hotel schemes to book rooms with at the destination?
Surely there could be some monetary savings this way?
Some. But not much. When converted to points and then redeemed, 50,000 MR points can net you roughly either a £250 Marriott hotel room for one night or a much more stable £500 of Avios.
Hmmm – how much would that Marriott hotel cost to book with Avios?!?
For hotel rooms Avios are worth roughly 0.5p, so similar to cashing in at Bonvoy (based on Froggees evaluation) However, 100K MR points converted to Avios can get you a far greater return with flights, even more so with a 2 4 1 or upgrade voucher
One of these Virgin cruises, if they become available, at 8OK points would be another good use of the MR points
For hotel rooms Avios are worth roughly 0.5p, so similar to cashing in at Bonvoy (based on Froggees evaluation) However, 100K MR points converted to Avios can get you a far greater return with flights, even more so with a 2 4 1 or upgrade voucher
I can see there is potential for a greater return with flights.
Here’s the thing, though. It feels like using Avios to go somewhere to then have to pay full cash for accommodation, works out to be more expensive than using MR points to, at least, cover some of those hotel costs.
Conversely, cashing in MR for Avios would mean further opportunities for more flights – but that then ends up with more cash being required for more hotels on those further trips.
Obviously, I guess I need to do some maths…There are some great suggestions here, thank you all 😀
@masaccio that looks like a pretty great itinerary and could tick the boxes if I can persuade my wife to go back to China … she did not enjoy her time out there for work which was in Hangzhou Bay with a couple of trips to Shanghai on the weekends.
@Erico1875 to be honest that’s what I have had my eye on for these MRs
@marshy11 thanks for the Mauritius intel, I think if we are taking the opportunity to travel in F/CW then I would be disappointed to use it on an older style one. Your hotel descriptions remind me of my experience in Dominican Republic.Doing 5 nights in Mexico City then using Virgin Atlantic points to PVR where we’re doing 12 nights on the Pacific coast, then return PVR-MEX followed by MEX-LHR-MAN (in CW with the “other half” of the companion voucher).
Hoping to do this in 2025 as ive never been on Pacific Coast on MEX side. Have you been before?
We’ve done a tour of Yucatan/Cancun and also crossed the border from Texas but never been to the Pacific side. It sounds amazing in terms of marine life – and I also can’t wait to explore CDMX as I’m a total history geek. @JDB is an expert on the Pacific coast!
Doing 5 nights in Mexico City then using Virgin Atlantic points to PVR where we’re doing 12 nights on the Pacific coast, then return PVR-MEX followed by MEX-LHR-MAN (in CW with the “other half” of the companion voucher).
Hoping to do this in 2025 as ive never been on Pacific Coast on MEX side. Have you been before?
The Pacific Coast is very varied and the right place depends on what you are looking for. What is has vs the Caribbean coast is many smaller resorts with human sized very good hotels or apartments where Mexicans go which means you you might not have the glitzy stuff, but you do get real restaurants and normal prices; fresh fish is arriving on small boats all day. If you want glitzy hotels, Cabo is the place but it’s now little America, very overdeveloped and horribly expensive. Puerto Vallarta / Punta Mita has got pretty developed now and has seemingly spawned Nuevo Vallarta. We don’t like these high rise, heavily built up places that are entirely geared to foreigners, but there are still nice places further north around what they now call Riviera Nayarit.
Further south, the coast between Manzanillo and Costa Careyes is really beautiful and unspoilt with some really standout places like Cuixmala and its sister hotel in the mountains near Colima, but lots of more low key places. Further south we like Troncones, very pretty and a surfer’s paradise, Zihuatanejo and Playa Blanca – lots to do beyond sitting on the beach! Some beaches aren’t good for swimming because of their orientation/openness so they have a strong undertow but there are loads of calm bays with deserted beaches if that’s what you want or organised beaches with lots of facilities. At Playa Blanca, we do swim with due care, but it’s wonderful to be able to walk along a nine mile fairly deserted beach teeming with wildlife on the beach and there’s a good prospect of seeing dolphins, whales and rays in the waves. The wildlife in the lagoons behind is amazing and it’s pretty similar all along the cost from PV southwards. We love the iguanas!
Ixtapa is horrible and the once glamorous Acapulco, seemingly now rather dangerous but still very popular with residents of CDMX as it’s an easy drive.
Further south again, Oaxaca is a fascinating state and sort of the artistic centre of Mexico. The city itself is really interesting and it’s not too long a drive to the beaches around Puerto Escondido and Santa María Huatulco but there are some readers who know these resorts better than I do who might hopefully chip in.
@JDB Consider me and my family sold, especially knowing theres a no glitzy side which we love (rustic and authentic is my cup of tea).
> Cabo is the place but it’s now little America
This is something I am keen to avoid. Individually I like Americans, like any one else people are people, some you like some you don’t. But en masse I don’t really enjoy holidaying with Americans.
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