White Christmas

[ALH]

If you want to do a real white Christmas then consider Finland ... Finnair would also be a good excuse for a OW status run out of SIN or BKK or HKG as an example. Go to Lapland and see Santa. Plus you will get in lots of skiing to boot.

I was there in September. Finnair gave me comp upgrade to J to HEL which was nice. Nb. Cheapest flight from Helsinki to Roviniemi (Lapland) was around $ 600 so I used 11,000 FF points. Waited nearly 2 hours for a taxi from airport to hotel so try and book one in advance.

Not sure how dangerous driving would be in winter, but all the way up to the top of Finland and then down through Norway, the only other 'traffic' on the roads were Reindeer. I would happily take Mr ALH back for Christmas.

Also looking for a white Christmas next year. Prefer a lodge for family and friends. Walk straight out front door to chair lifts. Ideas?

 

[ALH]

Anyone had Christmas / Skiing in India? I hear it's great (and cheap)

 

[Pushka]

Husband spent time in India last Christmas but not in the mountains there but was in Nepal the week before and paraglided around the Himalayas with Everest in the distance. Amazing experience.

Travelling around India at that time of the year was very difficult. It is also the locals holiday period and months before hubby could not get any train bookings and was wait listed. They never came through. You can imagine the sheer volume of people with that infrastructure (lack of) trying to get to holiday places at the same time.

I think you'd need to book now if planning on next Christmas in India. And it certainly didn't have any Christmas or NY feel to it. Just lots of people and well, poop everywhere. Mind you they did do the backpacker style travel.

 

[Pushka]

Also looking for a white Christmas next year. Prefer a lodge for family and friends. Walk straight out front door to chair lifts. Ideas?

Chamonix. (France) Stay at Chalet Les Grand Montets and walk 1 minute to the Argentierre Lift. Stunning. Mt Blanc the next peak over. Glaciers. We were there in July this year in summer and still had powder snow overnight with bright sunny days. Husband watched them paragliding near Mt Blanc (there is a theme here) but back was troubling him so not this time. .

I think you can fly into Lyon (?) international airport and grab a hire car for maybe a 60 minute drive to this part of the Alps.

 

[iRobbo]

I think you can fly into Lyon (?) international airport and grab a hire car for maybe a 60 minute drive to this part of the Alps.

I drove it in summer a few years ago, it's more like about 4 hours (220 km) - there is quite a bit of winding road toward Chamonix. Definitely agree a spectacular place, i'm sure it would be fantastic for a white Christmas.

Have spent Christmas with young kids at Whistler. Easy walk to lifts (or ski in/out) and good village to shop or dine. Also a spectacular drive a couple of hours north of Vancouver (bus or drive). Also thinking of getting back there for this Christmas.

Also did a White Christmas at Lake Louise with partner early 90's, no kids. Harder to get to than Whistler (travel to Calgary and then a couple of hours drive) and there was not much in the way of shopping or dining. I think it has a little more now but I suspect no clubs! Quite romantic if just a couple, probably not as good if you have kids.

 

[Sprucegoose]

It was something I was talking about over Christmas, but our Northern Hemisphere friends assured us that the beauty and romance of a white Christmas is very soon trumped by the mud, slush, cancelled flights, bitter cold and difficulty to just get down to the pub.

I think we'll be satisfied with a trip to Europe starting early March.

Good friends were snowed in the big deluge in 2010? In DC. The first day is quite romantic, after that its all downhill.

 

[ChrisGibbs]

After swealtering through Brisbane's summer this Christmas, I have promised the family a white christmas for Dec '13. Trouble is choosing the destination, my wife just loves the history and atmosphere of christmas, while M-23 wants to ski & F-20 wants to shop and hit the clubs. My preference is to keep the cost at a reasonable level.


I am hoping that someone out there has a suggestion and some great stories.

My family (2 adults + 3 children ages 11, 10, 6) are currently in the middle of our White Christmas. We left Sydney on the 19th December flying to Denver via Dallas. We spent a week in Steamboat Springs where we enjoyed snow on Christmas Day. We then flew east to Boston then took the Acela Express down to New York then to Washington. We spent New Year in NYC with New Years Eve at Madame Tussaud's which was an absolute blast for adults and children. In Washington we even managed to score a tour of the White House. We have just left Washington and now flying to Orlando via Miami for a week of theme parks then a quieter few days in Key West before heading home to Sydney via London. All up it will be 5 weeks in total and would not have missed it for the world.

 

[Austashes]

My family (2 adults + 3 children ages 11, 10, 6) are currently in the middle of our White Christmas. We left Sydney on the 19th December flying to Denver via Dallas. We spent a week in Steamboat Springs where we enjoyed snow on Christmas Day. We then flew east to Boston then took the Acela Express down to New York then to Washington. We spent New Year in NYC with New Years Eve at Madame Tussaud's which was an absolute blast for adults and children. In Washington we even managed to score a tour of the White House. We have just left Washington and now flying to Orlando via Miami for a week of theme parks then a quieter few days in Key West before heading home to Sydney via London. All up it will be 5 weeks in total and would not have missed it for the world.

Wow sounds lie a holiday and a half - can I ask when you booked your flights and did anything better value prior or post getting your airline tickets?

My wife has noted that you may have done an ATW ticket, thanks.

 

[Brisbane Flyer]

Just booked tickets from BNE to LAX in Dec for the four of us.
We'll do 4 days each in NYC and Wash DC, then to Denver/Copper Mountain for 4 days of skiing/family.
From there to Santa Barbara for a week (surf and family), send kids home on their own, whilst missus and I go to Maui, for surf/golf and family.
Home by mid January, refreshed for the year ahead.

Will go thru close to 800k points that are burning a hole in my pocket.

 

[Deleted member]

Just booked tickets from BNE to LAX in Dec for the four of us.
We'll do 4 days each in NYC and Wash DC, then to Denver/Copper Mountain for 4 days of skiing/family.
From there to Santa Barbara for a week (surf and family), send kids home on their own, whilst missus and I go to Maui, for surf/golf and family.
Home by mid January, refreshed for the year ahead.

Will go thru close to 800k points that are burning a hole in my pocket.

Nothing like getting it all sorted ahead of time. Sounds like a great trip

 

[Austashes]

Cudos, I am also thinking of sending teh kids home and spending some relax time.

 

[travelislife]

Am currently enjoying the snow in Niseko, although a great place for kids that age and budget wise I don't think it will give your mrs. that Christmas feel. Christmas is a bit of a non event in Japan (pretty ssure it is a work day), new years is their family and temple time (not partying like we do).

 

[ChrisGibbs]

Wow sounds lie a holiday and a half - can I ask when you booked your flights and did anything better value prior or post getting your airline tickets?

My wife has noted that you may have done an ATW ticket, thanks.

We booked the QF (SYD-DFW, LHR-SYD) flights on points as soon as the inventory became available about 11 months before departure. The AA (MIA-LHR) flights were booked on points around 9 months before departure when the inventory became available. We would have preferred BA for the MIA-LHR flights however the inventory didn't show up until about 6-7 months before departure and didn't have the required availability until about 1 month before departure. We booked the SYD-DFW, MIA-LHR, LHR-SYD flights via the QF Premium Desk with a little help from the P1 service to work on inventory and managed to get a mix between J and F. The internal AA flights were all done via the AA website in F with flight pricing dropping up to 25% about 6 months before departure. Expedia also offered similar pricing.

All accommodation was booked by contacting the Starwood hotel directly. Some of the pricing on the SPG website 9-11 months prior to departure is way over the top especially for the W Time Square in NYC. Contacting the hotel directly also allows you to arrange interconnecting rooms, rollaways, etc.

Tickets to New Years Eve Parties (www.balldrop.com), attractions (NYC Natural History Museum, Universal Studios, Disney, Harry Potter Exhibition (UK), White House, Capitol Hill, etc were all booked about 4-5 months prior to departure to lock in dates / times and avoid the queues.

Rental cars in Denver, Boston and Orlando were booked through www.hertz.com.au. We found the Australian domain for Hertz (.com.au) gave better pricing than the .com domain.

Hope this helps.

 

[Pushka]

I drove it in summer a few years ago, it's more like about 4 hours (220 km) - there is quite a bit of winding road toward Chamonix. Definitely agree a spectacular place, i'm sure it would be fantastic for a white Christmas.

Probably true. We had driven from Paris so just looking at sign posts as a guess. We travelled there last July, and I didn't find the roads bad at all and there were several new bridges including an amazing suspension bridge so I think they've improved now. And maybe travel time reduced as a result.

 

[lovestotravel]

My personal preference is the Dolomites. We have stayed in Colfosco and had a great time. EK to DXB and VCE and then coach

*Colfosco*Alta Badia - Dolomites - Italy

This!

Chamonix. (France) Stay at Chalet Les Grand Montets and walk 1 minute to the Argentierre Lift. Stunning. Mt Blanc the next peak over. Glaciers. We were there in July this year in summer and still had powder snow overnight with bright sunny days. Husband watched them paragliding near Mt Blanc (there is a theme here) but back was troubling him so not this time. .

I think you can fly into Lyon (?) international airport and grab a hire car for maybe a 60 minute drive to this part of the Alps.

Or This


Zermatt - Switzerland is good too

Aspen Colorado is another of my favs and would tick all the boxes, although watch out for your daughter shopping there if she has your credit card....

 

[TraceyK90]

I can second Quebec as a great white Christmas option. We were in Montreal last year and headed up to Mount Tremblant for the Christmas break. Stayed in the village, heaps to do, shops and skiing, lots of hotel options, they had loads of Christmas activities that were free.

 

[Austashes]

After all these hot temperature, havive a white Christmas - cold extremes aside, do seem welcome. Just struggling with 4 x Adult tickets at $3700 each.

 

[Blackbird]

Just struggling with 4 x Adult tickets at $3700 each.

Where are you headed?
For our trip last year, QF had a sale in FEB.
$2450 return to NYC ex BNE with stop over in LAX including all charges per adult in Y.
Think from memory return LAX was around $2100
Fares up to Canada early from LAX were around $400 pp return (YVR, YYC)
Booking direct YVR or YYC with QF was rediculously more (about $4000 pp IIRC)
Check out NZ via AKL to YVR as well.
Or CX via HKG.

Europe was about 50% more.
Think if you leave before Dec 10 thngs are cheaper.

 

[Austashes]

Thanks for this, I will keep an eye out for anything that will give me a break on the cost of flghts. I want to fly via One World, so teh Cathay option is also a great idea. Thanks for the post & ideas, very much appreciated.

 

[RobJ]

Brisbane doesn't swelter. We were there during the heat wave and really it was ok. Try Adelaide tomorrow. 44. That is a swelter.

A white Christmas sounds fabulous.

You're right Pushka - I went to Brisbane just after Christmas for the lovely cool weather - it was a shock leaving 30 in Brisbane for over 40 in Adelaide.