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Hi all,
I have about 500K Avios and the following vouchers:
2 x Cabin Upgrade expiring Nov 24 & May 25
2 x Companion expiring May 25 & June 25Next year I turn 40 and I am looking at holiday options to make use of my points and vouchers.
I would appreciate any ideas members might have.
4 Adults, 3 Children (currently 11, 9 & newborn)
I think you’ll need to give some more info, e.g. where do you want to go, what type of location/activities, viable travel dates (presumably in school hols?)
Yes good point!
My ideal choice would be somewhere exotic with plenty of sun and hot weather. Not somewhere like the Maldives as that would be too boring for the children I think.
Dates wise it would probably need to be around Xmas/New Years 2024, would travel after Xmas day and be back in time for school reopening in Jan 2025.
San diego, los angeles, Las vagas, hawaii, San Francisco home. Adjust to suit.
San Fran won’t be warm though. But your points should get you all there and back very comfortably.
Maybe consider the two older children in premium for long haul and you in biz. Which give a better chance of availability.
Or mexico, which is very pleasant that time of year, as is central and south America. Plenty to do in Brazil with kids.
Good luck and happy holidays.
All of the above, and going the other way you would have (e.g.) Dubai or Doha. Plenty of sunshine, entertainment, food, etc, if you’re not that bothered about high culture.
Re availability, departing immediately after Xmas you should have no issues getting seats outbound, however just be aware that the first week in January is usually booked up very quickly because of people going back to work and school after the holidays. Have a Plan B – so for example if you went to Las Vegas and couldn’t get avios seats directly back to the UK, consider getting internal flights and do the transatlantic sector from somewhere which generally has good availability, like NYC. You could even do a city break (think NYC, Boston, Washington DC, Chicago) on your way home to add to the experience.
Mayan Riviera is a good option.
Mexico City and then internal flights to somewhere from there? Often availability in club and first
Think Africa? At 11 I moved to Kenya with my younger sister and we absolutely loved a short safari and the beach resorts. You could fly into Nairobi, do the excellent national park next to the airport (no point doing a luxury or long safari with a newborn) then catch the train to Mombasa and spend a week on the beach. Tanzania offers similar options, as does South Africa (BA I think still fly to Durban as well as Cape Town/Joburg).
All of the above, and going the other way you would have (e.g.) Dubai or Doha. Plenty of sunshine, entertainment, food, etc, if you’re not that bothered about high culture.
The OP’s brief was “somewhere exotic” so I’m not sure the concrete jungles and artificial beaches of Doha or Dubai, as well as always eating in hotels or shipping malls quite meet the brief. I say this having visited Dubai/Abu Dhabi probably 25 times and Doha five times, but never on holiday.
My wife and I also took the evidently controversial view that we didn’t wish to expose our children to the fakery and preferred to go to ‘exotic’ places where they experienced local languages, culture, food and real people rather than put upon guest workers who pander to people in English. We never told them this, but we are now quite happy that they spotted the value of languages and each, unprompted, discovered specific cultural values/interests they now explore further on their own. The whole family now also speak fluent French and Spanish and one speaks and writes fluent Mandarin. They have also learned to play golf and tennis to a good level all of which have proved, in different ways, highly useful to their careers and social lives.
There is high culture, local culture and nature too in UAE, but of course you need to venture further afield from the usual touristic spots and concrete jungles. Dubai can flood at that time of the year and it’s not nice. It’s an yearly occurrence in the past couple of years and not something widely reported in the media.
I would seriously think about South America/Africa/Asia. Weather is better in the southern hemisphere at that time of year.
Unfortunately BA doesn’t fly to many interesting destinations direct from London and it will probably involve going to a hub and taking another flight from there.
For me exotic would also mean somewhere I haven’t already been.
Good morning! @JDB, the OP is asking for ideas for a 40th birthday trip, not for a blueprint for their kids’ long-term educational development 😂 Exotic is relative, anyway, Spain would seem exotic to someone who had never been abroad, although the Arabian peninsula must surely satisfy anyone’s definition of the term if venturing beyond the standard tourist venues, as @meta notes. I frequently visit places where they “pander” to English speakers and it hasn’t stunted my ability to speak several languages, oddly!
Don’t forget Florida, of course, the weather was in the high 20s last January, there are endless activities for families (from bird-watching and stargazing to the obvious theme parks), plenty of golf and tennis (Americans are mad about both sports), world-class museums, conservation projects (e.g. manatees), and of course unlimited opportunities to speak Spanish and other languages if you so desire!
For the 9/11 years olds, a safari would be a good choice and there is always lots of NBO availability. Fly into NBO, stay overnight near the airport and then depart to the safari from Wilson airport in Nairobi. From there, it’s easy to get to Diani beach where there are loads of plush resorts. Safari is expensive, but the beach isn’t. I can’t recall seeing newborns on safari, but for your sanity I’d pick somewhere close timezone-wise. You don’t need an overnight on the way home and NBO is a night flight leaving around midnight which makes it great for sleeping.
For booking a safari, Yellow Zebra and Kusini are decent value and listen to what you want. Audley is expensive and doesn’t listen. Many camps advertise online booking and you can book the airstrip flights through https://www.alternativeairlines.com/, but I’ve not taken the plunge to do Africa unpackaged myself yet despite always doing that for South/Central America and India.
South Africa is the other obvious choice in timezone, but it’s a unicorn route.
– Vietnam, beaches, Hoi An and caves <- hard to get a sensible route with Avios + vouchers to DAD unless you can find availability via HKG
– Costa Rica, beach and forrest <- UK xmas period can see wet days on the Caribbean side but don’t let that put you off, heavy downpours pass very quickly (consider via MAD for lower fees and more availability)
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