Travel dilemma
 

Hi fellow travellers! We have frequent flier tickets and are contemplating where to go this fall, but we're having a difficult time deciding. Help! If you could provide me with your favorite destinations from the choices below, and why they're your favorites, I'd appreciate it! Thanks in advance...

England/Ireland/Scotland
Australia
Northern Spain/Southern France
Tuscany and/or Sicily
Romania

I'll be surprised if you have much choice, looking &quot;this late&quot;. The prime &quot;pickins&quot; for FF awards overseas will normally be found 11-13 months prior to travel, but maybe <i>late</i> fall will be less restricted - - i.e., after early or mid November, but staying away from Thanksgiving, and the last ten days of fall (i.e., Dec 10-20) perhaps.

That said, Northern spain/South (west?) France would be high on my list of wanna-go's - - but you could scarcely go wrong with any of them - - British Isles seemingly <i>least</i> likely to be pleasant in late fall.

Best wishes,

Rex

You've asked us where in the world you'd like to go to - what do you want to see? what are you interested in? etcetera etcetera.

To answer one of the questions, we enjoy sight-seeing, pubs, scenery, shopping, history, walking &amp; hiking -- everything!

I guess it's my practical nature, but if I had that choice, I'd use them to get to the place that I would be least likely to go to as a paying customer, which would probably be the farthest and most expensive destination.

well, there's a lot to consider. I can tell you that I've just moved back from the states after living in Prague for a year, so I've been to all these places except for Australia. If you're going to Europe, I would say go to Northern Spain and the south of France. Even if those 2 places weren't on the list to choose from, I'd STILL go there as first choice. Barcelona is amazing. It was my favorite city in Europe (notice i said city), and the south of France is simply beautiful...if you can stomach supporting that economy. Still, it's worth it. As for Australia, I've never been, but keep in mind our seasons are reversed there, so it will just be getting warm, that may have something to do with your decision making as well, but I wouldnt recommend going there if you've only got a week. There's a lot to see!

If you can get to Australia with your miles, and there is ff space left on a flight at the time you want to go, I suggest Australia. It would be by far the most expensive to pay for so you might as well use the miles and pay for tickets to Europe when fares are cheap.

Unfortunately, this whole question is probably academic. Unless you are super platinum customers in very high standing you probably have slim chances of getting tickets to most (or any) of those places this late.

You might want to start thinking about next year . . . . . .

I'd like to know too if you end up being able to use those miles this fall. We're wait listed on upgrades for October. Doubt that works out, but work makes it hard to know 11-12 months out when we can travel.

As far as where. I've been to England, Ireland and Australia on your list and am booked for that October trip to Romania. I'd agree - put your miles, if you can, into the trip that gets you farthest. IF you have the time.

Australia I wouldn't try to do without at least 2 weeks. It's a brutal flight if you're coming from N. America or Europe. And it's as big as the lower 48 states, not that you have to see it all at once. But if you're going all that way, it would make sense to have the time to do more.

I'm with Janis and Clifton - good luck in using miles for a fall trip now. Friends just cancelled &quot;plans&quot; to go to Scotland because all the FF seats were full until next year.

My recommendation WHEN you call is to call late in the night/ early morning, ready to be patient and anticipate an hour on the phone. Stay nice with the agent.

I booked May flights into Paris and out of Nice last October using a two month window. In other words, I asked what were my options for flights 10 to 14 days apart ANYTIME in May or June. It took quite a while as he searched the computer for options...and there were very few options.

Be sure to let us know if you ARE able to book tickets for this fall.

And, I would probably choose Ireland (it's magical) or the South of France. I'd really go to Greece, but that's me.

I agree with Australia as the pick for the above mentioned reasons. Also I am an optimist and believe that you can get your flights. I booked United award seats to London with an August 2004 departure for the exact dates I requested with little hassle.

Oops, I should have mentioned I booked these seats last week.

What a choice! While I love Australia, I agree that I wouldn't go unless I had at least three weeks (although plenty of people go with only two weeks). I'm from California, and the flight still is pretty grueling. And it depends when in fall and where in Oz. By October, those lovely box jellyfish are out in the north!

I went to England/Ireland in October, and boy was it fantastic. Weather was perfect, but I reckon I was lucky. Not too many people about, and plenty of Guinness to drink. Wonderful trip.

But Tuscany would be nice in the fall, I reckon...

and Spain...I love Spain! Argh..

I can't choose. I vote for the place you can get a FF ticket to!!!

Do a search on my trip report on this site -- &quot;Betty's Sicily Trip Report Consolidated&quot; -- if you want to learn a little something about Sicily, which in fall is still warm enough to swim.

Before you give this any more thought, you really should contact the airline and find out which of these places are available on such short notice for FF awards. This might help to narrow the field.