Copenhagen
 

Hi. My daughter will be studying abroad in Copenhagen. She will leave boston mid-January and come home in May. I am trying to decide if she should take Iceland Air or British Air. Using miles on BA the fares are almost the same. On BA she would have flexibility to change her flights since we would be using miles. Any concerns about connecting in Iceland in January? Would London be better? Is a 90 minute layover in either place enough?

Also, my husband and I will be visiting her, probably end of February-we don't have a choice. Where should we take her for a few days to get away?

Thanks so much!!

I wouldn't ever use miles to pay the same fare I could pay without miles.

We have connected via Icelandair with about a 90 min. layover and it was fine.

BA would give her flexibility to change her flights for a nominal fee

Ninety minutes sounds short for London if its LHR.

in Feb I would go as far south as possible! Maybe Sicily or Lisbon. Or Nice - it's sheltered.

I would never do a connection for 1.5 hours in LHR - it can be a real bear.

As to where to go in Feb the only places in europe that have substantially moderate temps are southern spain and sicily.

How far is Sicily from Copenhagen?

Best flights - with one stop in either direction - take about 5 hours. But then you have to add the time to get to/from airports, check in, go through security, etc. This type of trip doesn't really make sense unless you have at least the best part of a week.

Do be aware that even though it is so far north Copenhagen doesn't have a truly dreadful winter - unlikely to be worse then Boston - although days are much shorter.

Thanks so much

If there is a 90 min connection offered to you at LHR on BA, it will be enough time. BA would not propose this connection if it was not possible. You will be arriving and departing from Terminal 5. If the arriving flight is late and you miss the connection, there are 5 daily flights from LHR to CPH so BA will put you on the next available one. Usually flights arriving from North America arrive early.

Nice in February can be very cold. I have been couple times in Feb and it can have snow, frost and be bitterly cold OR it can be mild with rain OR it can be dry, cold or mild & sunny. You don't know what you are going to get. The days are short in Nice as well. Copenhagen might not get the low temps of Boston but it is the wind and the rain that can get you instead. However, it might also be dry, cold with sunshine as it has been on my last winter visit.

You didn't say what sort of getaway you are after, it is for warmer weather or for something else? Europeans seeking winter sun in Europe will usually go to the Canary Islands, southern Spain or Cyprus but even then it will not be super hot. Further afield, Sharm el Sheikh (Egypt) or Dubai. As well as scheduled flights, there are packages and charter flights that will offer direct flights to many holiday destinations. Here is a link but it is in Danish.

http://www.startour.dk/flybilletter-fra-danmark

Norwegian airlines have alot of flights to various destinations, several are direct.

https://www.norwegian.com

I would suggest keeping it simple and embrace the winter, stay in Copenhagen or go to Stockholm or Paris, Amsterdam, somewhere like that.

We have two get aways. My husband and I will go somewhere for a few days before or after we see our daughter and then somewhere for about 5 days with our daughter. When we are with my daughter I think we should go someplace that is easy to get to but where the weather won't be too bad.

You could just go to Berlin.

For "weather not too bad" -meaning I assume warmer than the winter you are used to - you really need to head south of the Alps based on average temps. You can get snow even as far south as Rome but it's rare and southern Spain - except for the mountains where there is skiing - is warmer, as in the 50s.

I love Berlin and think it's a fascinating city - but it's unlikely to have weather a lot different from Copenhagen.

The earlier suggestion of Lisbon is a good one. Not sure about Sicily. Heading south does not automatically mean better weather. Cyprus had an extremely cold winter last year for example, with snow fall at the coast.

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...th-seasons.cfm

I think I'll look at Lisbon, Sicily and maybe Paris. Thanks.