<p>We have a dream of a family vacation after DS’s graduation. Ideally it would be somewhere in Europe. The kids wouldn’t mind an itinerary that allowed them some sidetrips (or youth hostels) on their own.</p>
<p>I have the United Award chart, and it is very clear that we’d do best to find a destination that has “Saver” tickets available. That would allow us 3 (maybe 4) RT flights for almost free. </p>
<p>The trip would probably start around May 19th from Boston or a little later (or possibly June) from Denver. </p>
<p>Wouldn’t June be peak time in Europe for mileage use?</p>
<p>What kind of miles are you looking at using now, if you search for it on their website? I only use Delta miles and their site can be funky. One minute it’s only 60K miles to go to Europe, the next minute the same route is 200K. Makes you crazy.</p>
<p>There are a few things to know about United miles. They are good miles to have, as you can do “open jaw”, which is arrive in one city, depart from another. So arrive in London, and depart home from Greece for example, which gives you the freedom to take trains, boats etc, while traversing the continent. If they have that routing, and I don’t know what code share partners United has with European airlines. You can also get a stop over en route. So if your destination is Greece, get a stop over in Paris on the way. </p>
<p>I am doing a similar trip with United miles to Asia this fall, and was to get the stop over and open jaw, by calling United to set it up. Forget the website, aside from checking things out initially. It is a well spent $20 or so to book on the phone with a live person. Especially as you are looking for seats for several people. Will be interested to see what you come up with!</p>
<p>May/June may be peak travel… but that is what we are shooting for so we can use the window of time before DS starts a full time job. Also… DS and older DD do not have a “significant other” (at least not that they’ve shared)… so now it’s a great time to book a ;ast hurrah family trip. . Most of our vacations have been to visit relatives, so this would be nice. </p>
<p>In early May of 2012, DH and I were able to find United Saver travel and used that open jaw options described above. It was great! We flew into Barcelona (for a Med cruise) and out of Madrid. All for 60K RT each. </p>
<p>We haven’t done this at all. But my SIL has. She agrees that it is well worth doing this via phone. But allow yourself a lot of time, and have your calendar in front of you. She planned a trip and was able to use FF miles for the whole trip. BUT it took her a long time to find dates, available seats, and such even on the phone. </p>
<p>60K miles for two to Spain and back, great deal. At least it sounds like you have a window of time, so if you have that flexibility, I’ll bet you’re able to find something good. It’s when you MUST go on specific days and places that it’s impossible. I have these Delta SkyBonus miles (different program than frequent flyer miles, for small business), 290K, that so far have been impossible to use where I want to. Plus we always get companion passes with our credits cards every year, and I think I’ve only been able to use them one time. Ridiculous.</p>
<p>May/June is shoulder season, not peak season. Peak is July/Aug, especially Aug. Pretty much all western Europeans take the entire month of Aug off. When I worked in Europe, the only ones holding down the fort were expats.</p>
<p>Availability of free seats on United is surprisngly good. The only thing I don’t like is the fairly high fee if you cancel and naturally want to get your miles back. So if you are booking well in advance, make sure you are certain about your plans.</p>
<p>It is best to book your tickets well in advance, to get the best availability. I’ve frequently booked tickets to/from Europe using FF miles, and find much better availability the further in advance I book. Certainly you will want to book before Christmas for a May/June trip. I like the suggestion of an open jaw trip, where you can fly into one city and out of another. Train tickets to get from one city to another are relatively cheap, and convenient, if the cities are relatively close. </p>
<p>Where to go depends on a lot on where you have been before. Has anyone studied a European language? I would suggest Paris + London or Italy (Florence, Rome), if you haven’t been to those places before. How long will you have?</p>
<p>DS has seen a good sampling of Europe with a 16 day hs music trip in 2008 (London, Paris, Switzerland. Venice, Rothenburg). He liked Switzerland best, but we hear it is pricey. DH and I did a 2012 Western Med cruise (Barcelona, Pompei/Sorrento, Rome, Florence, Cannes, Marsaille) plus Madrid. If somebody gets “repeat visit” on this trip, that could be OK. DD has not been to Europe. </p>
<p>Per languages, both kids had a lot of Spanish in hs. DH took French, but does not recall much (for that and other reasons I’m not keen on is France canal boat rental idea). I took German but never did much speaking. Germany is a possibility since a dear aunt wanted to take the kids there but passed away before doing so.</p>
<p>My mom has done extensive communication with a 2nd cousin in Poland. He is a jazz musician, like DS. Maybe we should put Poland on the list of possibilities too. </p>
<p>Before you make your plans, go onto their website and see the availability at the different mileage levels. I think seats typically open up 335 days in advance, and May’s not all that far away, so some of your decisions may be made for you - there may be a lot that is simply not available, or that is available but only with redeeming a lot more miles. </p>
<p>The trick here will be getting both kids to commit to timeframe. DS will likely not know his final city (probably Boston) and job for many month. I’ll try to convince him to just earmark the vacation weeks now. </p>
<p>We live in CO. DS graduates from a college near Boston in May. It’s a teeny school, just one ceremony on Sunday (no dept events). Am I crazy to think about vacation departure from Boston on Tuesday? DS lives in dorms with minimal stuff and has a place to stash stuff with relatives on Cape Cod. </p>
<p>This would be complicated for aligning schedules, vacation schedules, airline tickets etc. But…I’m not ready to give up the dream quite yet. </p>
<p>Keep posting ideas for cities. If there is a way for the kids to take a rustic side trip on their own, they’d like that. They had fun together in Taiwan (thanks if you posted to the related thread!) when DS was on a semester abroad in Singapore. </p>
<p>What about places in Eastern Europe–Prague or Budapest? Greece or Turkey. St. Petersburg or Moscow? Any of those would be interesting and you may not have as much competition for frequent flier miles.</p>
<p>Thanks for the ideas! I suggested Greece last week and DH was not so interested. But Prague or Budepest might be nice I’ll do some more what-if experiments at the United booking site.</p>
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