2020 Travel Plans

[drron]

I'm off to Tassie in 2 weeks time.Working in Latrobe.will have to meet up for a scallop pie or a glass of ghost rock pinot noir.or both.

 

[jase05]

Still trying to put the pieces together on our US trip for Oct/Nov. First time to the US so chopping and changing plans every 5 minutes it seems. Mrs Jase wants to come home via Europe so we will probably spend 6-7 days getting home.
My wife has decided that we need to get away for a couple of days in the coming weeks for my Birthday so we have booked a short trip to Auckland ( going to try the QF 787 in J on the way over) and booked VA on the way home during the DSC period. The US trip will drain the savings so probably only a couple of other small trips during the year like Bali or the Philippines unless some other super good sales appear

 

[JohnM]

Would you fly Ethiopia Air?

Yes, and I have done so at least domestically, in Ethiopia. They have a large and modern fleet.

 

[Gigi]

This year
January - Bali with the grandchildren for 9 nights
February - Christchurch for 5 nights staying at the Hilton
March - Adelaide for one week visiting relatives
April - our first trip to South America, am still working on the bit in the middle from when we get there and when we leave so I copied a tour LE did to Machu Picchu and will loosely follow that.- flying BNE-SYD-SCL-GIG first leg
June - Mr G wants to attend the two tests in Bangladesh so that will probably happen
July - Hobart for 4 nights
October - girls trip to India (I have been twice before) - we are doing a rail journey up to Shimla

 

[mrsterryn]

Ummm ok changed
Quick Jan trip to LA (me only)
March quick trip to LA
July new Zealand
Sept Denmark (husband only)
Nov Dec Europe and USA

*Lol I do wonder if there will be more changes

 

[V Singh]

Have one up coming flight so far:
SYD-HND-SYD end of April

 

[nerdinary]

Only got the first half of the year planned so far.

Jan / Feb:
SYD -> HKG -> LHR -> SFO -> LAX -> SYD. [RTW on Virgin Aus/Atlantic + Delta]

Feb:
SYD -> SIN -> TPE [Scoot]

Apr:
SYD -> MEL [Virgin]

May:
SYD -> BNE [Virgin]

June:
SYD -> SIN -> JNB [Singapore Airlines]
JNB -> CPT -> JNB [British Airways]
HDS -> JNB [South African Airways]
JNB -> WDH -> JNB [Air Namibia]
JNB -> SIN -> SYD [Singapore Airlines]


That's enough to keep me on VA Gold, but I'm 2 VA flights short of Platinum.

 

[blackcat20]

Pretty happy with our plans so far

 

[JohnM]

Plans for 2020 have firmed up nicely.

The usual DONEx starting in late April and going through to late July.

The first part of the mission is a two-week tour of Romania, Moldova, Ukraine, followed by a two-week tour of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia.

View attachment 194563
View attachment 194564

Then it’s over to LOTFAP to visit Memphis and friends in S Carolina, followed by two weeks poking around E Canada, over to Seattle followed by Kona, to visit friends, then make my way through to Seoul for a tour of almost three weeks mainly on the Kamchatka Peninsula, including helo flights into the Valley of Geysers, then home.

View attachment 194565

The routing: [PER-MEL-CBR positioning]-DOH (tech stop in SYD)-OTP-(land sector, but separate flight KBP-GYD)-EVN-DOH-LAX-CLT-YYC-DFW-SEA-KOA-NRT-HKG-ICN-HKG-PER.

This is my 16th annual DONEx and for the first time there is not a QF-metal sector. Now being able to book DONExs ex. Australia without using QF has certain advantages – like QSuites out of Australia . Positioning to CBR via MEL, using my Amex Ultimate travel credit will enable visits to friends in MEL and CBR – and hopefully a catch-up with CBR AFFers.

View attachment 194562

Come September, I’ve already secured an award flight in QR F PER-DOH and on to CDG in J. The main purpose of the September-October trip is to visit Chad for the annual week-long Gerewol Festival (Guérewol - Wikipedia) and then two weeks 4WDing in the Ennedi Mts.

View attachment 194566

Because the dates of the festival are not fixed and can potentially vary by a few days, attempting to book QR or EK awards more directly to NDJ is impractical. So, I’ve booked outbound to CDG with a couple of weeks slack. I’ll spend that time poking about some more in France, but particularly NW Spain.

Once the date of the festival is fixed, I’ll book a return AF flight CDG-NDJ. It will be interesting to see if I can snare a QF points redemption on that route.

I’ll also allow a bit of time back in France/Spain after the tour, again because of the date uncertainty. I have high flexibility on the return date, so I’ll be starting to rummage around at QF for Award flights back to PER from CDG this week to see what I can snare.

Now for 2021…

Over Xmas/NY the dates for the Gerewol Festival became set, so I put the final touches to my flights:

Award flights:
PER-DOH QR F
DOH-CDG QR J
CDG-HKG CX F
HKG-SIN CX J
SIN-SYD BA F

CDG-NDJ-CDG I bought an AF whY flex and selected exit row seats.




And to top it off, when I noticed that the Indian Pacific train leaves SYD for PER the day after I hit SYD, I decided to journey back to PERfection on the train. It's one of those things I've been saying to myself that I must do one day. This provided the impetus to lock that in.

That's 2020 locked and loaded.

The Xmas/NY period has also seen my 2021 DONE4 itinerary and associated activities planned and ready to book.

Must be nearly time to start on 2022...

 

[JessicaTam]

It looks like my trip to FR with my mother may tick off a new country. "I haven't been to Portugal" she says when we were discussing where else to go.

 

[Katie]

Rightio, so the Tour de France bike tour thingie we're going on is now including spending our 20th anniversary in Helsinki! And probably shelving the New York plan, as I'm rather deficient in annual leave.
Need to work out some kind of family holiday in Dec/Jan.

 

[JohnM]

Over Xmas/NY the dates for the Gerewol Festival became set, so I put the final touches to my flights:

Award flights:
PER-DOH QR F
DOH-CDG QR J
CDG-HKG CX F
HKG-SIN CX J
SIN-SYD BA F

CDG-NDJ-CDG I bought an AF whY flex and selected exit row seats.

View attachment 203416


And to top it off, when I noticed that the Indian Pacific train leaves SYD for PER the day after I hit SYD, I decided to journey back to PERfection on the train. It's one of those things I've been saying to myself that I must do one day. This provided the impetus to lock that in.

That's 2020 locked and loaded.

The Xmas/NY period has also seen my 2021 DONE4 itinerary and associated activities planned and ready to book.

Must be nearly time to start on 2022...

BTW, for all you peeps with a stash of QF FF points and have been hanging out to use them with Scare France to get Award seats to NDJ under the new QF/AF agreement, I could see some availability - in whY - around the dates I wanted, but not exactly on those two dates .

So - keep trying...

 

[Cossie]

More changes, Sofitel, Luang Prabang in Oct. through luxury escapes, will try and get to Hoi An in Vietnam as well. I will hire a 4x4 in Laos this time as the roads are cough!

Doesn't look like Myanmar will be an option year, her in the "boot" is still having issues with her foot.

 

[UpInTheAir:)]

After my only international travel being Bali and KL in 2019
Heading to Copenhagen and Amsterdam with SQ in February

 

[coriander]

Locked and loaded at last.... well there is a matter of Travel Insurance to be sorted , but what-the-hell, YOLO (and don't I know it!).

I redeemed some SQ points in J (actually quite proud of myself as I managed to do that without stuffing it up in the depths of a stem cell transplant) and we'll fly MEL-xSIN-xFRA-DBV for a few days then on a small boat cruise for 7 days (longest boat trip I've been on is the Spirit of Tasmania so has to be better than that ). Off at Split for few days then to Rhodes for a conference - must get the grey matter working again) before home ATH-xFRA-xSIN-MEL. A bit of a repeat of the itinerary I inconsiderately managed to stuff up last year. Then maybe chase Big Boy in Trumpistan if dates align.

So much easier to organise redemptions on SQ compared to QF even though I'm WP with QF.

 

[Stewey]

My 2020 Travel Plans

MEL - SYD twice a month (work trips)

Feb
MEL - SYD (boys trip)

MAR
MEL - BKK?? HKG?? SIN?? - MEL (Anniversary -Destination TBA ) J upgrade hopefully on the way home

April
MEL -DFW -LAS -LAX -MEL Business (DFW) and Pleasure (LAS) and whilst there visit friends (LAX)

June
MEL - HKG -MEL Business

JUL - NOV
TBA??

DEC
Mel - HKG -MEL (Horse races)

Mostly all the above on QF metal

 

[Bundy Bear]

One of the fun things about this thread and you can see how your plans morph.

Jan: Quick weekend trip to Singapore.
March: Vietnam on Cathay with a 1 or 2 night stop in Hong Kong on the way back.
June: Emirates, stop in Dubai, Manchester, Dundee(Scotland) Amsterdam, London and home on QF10.
November, New York, if I get good enough to run the New York marathon with a side trip to South Florida.

The June trip is most likely it was half planned for this year but lack of finances delayed it for a year.

2020 travel is off an running,

The Jan Singapore trip was made with a side trip to Vietnam for 4 days, Hong Kong being unstable I decided to give it a miss.

The June trip has now become a July trip as a wedding got planned for 4 July, not sure if I will make this as end of financial year.

November, New York; I am now good enough to run a marathon but the official date is Sunday 1 November so tough to make it work, a deposit was required during December which I skipped next round of offers come in March when the 2nd payment is required and then you find out whether those who put down the deposit can go.

One trip added is a week bare boat charter(you hire the boat yourself without crew and provisions) in the Whitsunday for 9-16 May.

Also in the plans, short trips to Darwin, Sydney x 2, Port Macqaurie and Perth x 2. "hurry up Qantas the faster that DSC offer lands the faster these trips get locked in.

I was eying off Japan in April but the Virgin schedules and event timings just didn't work out.

Further afield is South Africa for 2021.

And I forgot to add Canberra for December.

 

[Stewey]

My 2020 Travel Plans

MEL - SYD twice a month (work trips)

Feb
MEL - SYD (boys trip)

MAR
MEL - BKK?? HKG?? SIN?? - MEL (Anniversary -Destination TBA ) J upgrade hopefully on the way home

April
MEL -DFW -LAS -LAX -MEL Business (DFW) and Pleasure (LAS) and whilst there visit friends (LAX)

June
MEL - HKG -MEL Business

JUL - NOV
TBA??

DEC
Mel - HKG -MEL (Horse races)

Mostly all the above on QF metal

Looks like I'm going to HKG for a long weekend with my brother to catch up with friends in March too

 

[OZDUCK]

We have booked most of our flights, all in J, for our trip to Germany in August/September. Booked through fellow AFF-er Madrooster.

First flight is Per -Sin on QF then transfer to Finnair for the Sin - Hel leg. Then spend 3 nights in Helsinki. After that Finnair "Euro-business" to Frankfurt for a few nights before we train to Berlin for the family reunion of my wife's German side. Plans afterwards are still a bit in the air but probably Prague, Harz Mts & Munster plus a few other places before we fly out of Dusseldorf ending up in Singapore.

Our Finnair ticket terminates in Singapore so we can use something like ScootPLus for the last leg. By not returning to Perth on the main ticket we save close to $2,000 even after including the cost of a night or two in Singapore and the Scoot flight. So more money to spend on the ground in Europe. Scootplus is fine for a 5 hour day flight as it has the bigger seat and more legroom I want. As I mentioned elsewhere on this site, it is cheaper to add a J flight Per - Sin on QF and then do Sin - Europe - Sin on Finnair than just do the Sin - Europe - Sin return legs on Finnair - why I don't know.

 

[Noel Mugavin]

April - Melbourne for work with 20 15/16 year old
July - Cairns/Port Douglas for a week, using my $450 AMEX credit before I cancelled the card
Sept/Oct - Very close to pulling the trigger on South Korea/Hong Kong. Qantas site not helping with a multi city booking - Cathay's site, easy as
December - Heading off on the 31st to LA, my first rewards booking - Cathay Business Perth - Hong Kong; First Hong Kong - LA. There for the Rose Bowl, then off to Miami for a Panama Canal cruise. Waiting out for return flights to open up