Share YourTravel Preferences from CA to Europe
 

I'm in the thick of travel planning for next summer. Our idea is to fly from LAX to Paris to spend a few days in the city and a few days at D-Day sites and then to fly to Scotland to see the land of my love's ancestors for a week or ten days.

I've done much research as to sites we'd like to see in each place ( and will post shortly so you can all pick it apart!) but could use your practical advice now regarding getting there.

Do you prefer red eye flights or no? Specific airlines one way to Paris and another airline coming from Glasgow or Edinburgh? We could fly into one or out of the other... makes no difference at this point. Airlines to completely avoid?

What other travel things should I be thinking about before I decide on a specific itinerary? I know travel.driving times in Scotland are more than what is listed on google maps... I've read many threads here in putting together my ideas.

What did you plan well?

What do you wish you had done differently?

if you live in France or Scotland, what advice do you wish you could tell all travelers to your area?

Thanks in advance!

First off I would not recommend buying to one way airfares on different airlines,, pricey!!

When searching you simply look for "multi destination " flights.. flying into Paris and out of Glasgow ( or whatever major city you will end up in while in Scotland)

Between Paris and Scotland I would just find an Easyjet flight.

I'm in NorCal and for the last few years I've given up on SFO. I fly from SMF either American Eagle or Southwest to LAX and then non-stop to Europe. Usually London but also Paris, Amsterdam, then back through LAX. Open jaw if I'm flying in/out different cities.


There are only 'red eyes' from the west coast unless you stay a day or two in NYC or DC or Boston. Otherwise all flights are over night.

To save a little you might want to reverse the order of things, in to the UK and home from Paris. Departure fees/taxes are higher out of the UK.

If you are flying from LAX check out the non-stop for Air Tahiti Nui. It is a nice flight and not expensive. I have flown it a number of time. Lately we have been using our Chase sapphire point on southwest to take slow hops cross country-we fly Seattle to Austin then Boston and then take a red eye form Boston to Dublin then on to Bordeaux. But we are retired and like short flights with 4-7 days along the way, so not ideal for most folks.

I made the mistake once of using my miles to set up a flight to Heathrow and then deciding later where to go from there. Never again. I will always set all my flights at once. Otherwise you have to retrieve your luggage between each leg. And I came back with an additional bag and had to pay for it twice. Grr.

Personally I like red-eyes to get from the west coast to Europe. My preference is to wake up there and be on local time from the start (even if you have to fake it till you make it).

>>Personally I like red-eyes to get from the west coast to Europe<<

Me too. What I try everything to avoid are connecting flights. 10.5 hours straight through non-stop -- I can deal w/ . . . even in coach though Business s 1000000% better.

But so many west coast flights connect through DFW or ORD or CLT or or or or. That turns a 10 hour flight into a 16 or 18 hour flight(s)

Get non stops whenever you can.

If you've never been to Europe before, and if you don't speak much French, you might find that flying into Scotland (or London) rather than Paris will be much less of a culture shock - especially after such a long flight. Though it's true that many people speak English in Paris, it's still a little intimidating trying to find your way around when you're jet-lagged and you can't understand what you're hearing.

Stay in a hotel in Paris - you'll need the support of the front desk staff. The most central districts will be the Latin Quarter (5th and 6th arrondissements), the Marais (3rd and 4th). You can find less expensive hotels in the 11th and 12th, which are just as convenient for transportation and things to do.

I'm a big fan of train travel, and you get to see a lot of the Scottish countryside, especially if you decide to do some exploring around the Highlands. If you fly into London, get a cheap flight to Edinburgh, rather than spending too much time on the train when you arrive. I would recommend a cheap flight back to Paris and fly home from there.

B&B's - not AirBnB - in Scotland are well worth the money.

<i>Do you prefer red eye flights or no? </i>

I hate them but coming from the Left Coast, you really have no choice unless you want to fly LAX-YYZ, overnight in YYZ, then take the one of the Air Canada YYZ-LHR morning flights which lands in the evening same day. Then you'd have to overnight at LHR before flying to Paris. Seems kinda stupid to waste a whole travel day because you don't like red eyes.


As for airline preference, I plan on keeping my Star Alliance Gold as long as possible so I try to only fly Star Alliance carriers. And that normally means Air Canada.

We always go for a direct flight, or a short transfer in Europe, having once made the mistake of having to change planes in Atlanta. Never again. Give me 10 plus hours of torture in one sitting over two sightly shorter chunks and the hassle of immigration and customs and transferring in between.
Last time we flew to SFO cattle class from Ams via LHR, and back in premium cattle so we had more room for the overnight leg.

You should book a multi city (open-jaw) return flight, which may involve a short transfer in Europe from Edinburgh.

I agree with the open jaw recommendation.

I see kayak has a LAX-EDI-CDG-LAX itinerary with a layover in Dublin on either end for $1242 each. Not bad but prices are certainly going to change between now and when you decide to book.

Thank you all so much!

Got it: Multi city, non stop LAX to destination and the short flights in between while there.

Janisj: I've been reading a lot of your Scotland tips over the past few months, thank you! I'm in central CA and often torn between SFO and LAX and usually end up LAX, although we did fly out of San Jose last year to Hawaii.

Sparkchaser:Thank you for the extra research, I'll check that out!

Fuzzbucket: My boyfriend has been to Europe and to Paris, I'm the newbie. Your comments about specific areas are helpful.