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Help Me Decide Where To Go!

artnbarb

1000+ Posts
We decided to get American Airlines credit cards because we each get 60,000 miles. Our plan was to use those miles to fly somewhere this Feb or March, but where? Here are some considerations:
  • The climate should be temperate - cool is okay, but not cold. Dry is better than rainy.
  • The flight shouldn't be too long. no more than 8 hours, preferably less, but I don't know if that's practical.
  • I'd like to fly directly into the city I'm going to visit - i.e., I don't want to rent a car or take a train to a town more than 30 minutes away.
  • The location should have enough to see and do on it's on, without more than one daytrip.
  • I have ZERO interest in a beach vacation. I live in FL and don't even go to the beach here!
  • We're going to Ireland and England this summer, so London is probably the only place I'd consider, but rooms there are more expensive than NYC!
  • I'd love to make this bargain vacation an even bigger bargain by finding a city where I can get a good deal on a hotel room or apartment - I don't want to blow all my airfare savings by having to overpay for a hotel room. If I wanted to spend money I might as well go to NYC.
  • It'll still cost for hotel/food/admissions, so I think a week is long enough, but I want to make my jetlag worthwhile!
  • Flying out of Tampa is my #1 choice. Orlando or Miami would also be possibilities.
Something in Portugal? San Francisco is just too expensive for both hotels and food! I'd love to see Copenhagen, but think the flight is too long and it's too cold (and dark!)

Quebec City is too cold, and NYC really is out of the running because the weather is just too unpredictable at that time of year! Why is this so hard? Help!
 
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Portugal certainly an option, though no guarantee of dry/warm weather. As such I'd be tempted to fly in/out of Lisbon, but allow for day trips to break up the stay as and when the weather is fine. Likewise Spain, Spanish Islands or Madeira might appeal. Barcelona is still on many people's lists as a city break. For me, I'd tend to look for city breaks at that time of year, on the grounds that a little cold / wet isn't a major problem, and with short days, the bright light of a city retains appeal.

Considering where you are planning to fly out of, would anywhere in South America appeal?
 
When we lived in Boston and wanted to escape winter weather, we went to the Mediterranean a few times. The weather along that coast -- both French and Italian -- tends to be milder than inland. We went to Nice twice in December and once to Italy in Feb - March. In Italy we stayed in Castiglioncello, a town south of Pisa because we went to an Italian language school there, but the town itself didn't have a lot to recommend it. This was the last week in February ten years ago, and we then spent the first week of March in Tuscany. All three trips the weather was pretty good most of the time -- very little rain and not too cold. (Although we were coming from Boston and I imagine it might have seemed chillier if we were comparing it to Florida!)

We loved Nice in winter, when the tourists were way down, but watch out for winter carnival, which I think is in February, and I'm sure would be mobbed. But Nice is a great city when it's not overcrowded, and has plenty of flights into it. It also has good train service for day trips. In Italy maybe Genoa or Pisa would be good options for cities.
 
Have you considered Morocco? Dry and cool, but looks like more than 8 hours of flight. Probably not as expensive as top destinations in Europe. Never been there myself, but would be on my list if I had the chance.

We've been to Genoa twice and really liked it (although not in the season you are planning). Spending a week there in tricky weather is maybe a bit too much, but depends on your travel style.
 
Thanks for the ideas! I'm going to do some research to check on logistics for several locations.

As for South America, it doesn't have immediate appeal for me, but if anyone has a destination they'd like to promote, I'm willing to listen.
 
Mexico? But not beachy Mexico. Somewhere like Guanajuato or Cuernavaca?
I would also vote S. France, perhaps Aix or Lyon?

this is fun!
 
I can see now that finding a direct flight from Tampa is impossible - the whole idea is to use AA FF miles, and AA just doesn't have many direct flights to anywhere. London is the only direct overseas flight, and they only fly as far west as Phoenix!

Orlando broadens the list to Lima Peru, and as far west as LA, but neither of those places fit my wish list.

Orlando is just a 2 hour drive, but Miami is 4+ hours - but the list expands dramatically from Miami to include many, many cities in Central and South America, as well as Madrid, Barcelona, Paris, London, and more that are just too far away to be practical.

So now I'm wondering: is it worth is to rent a car and drive 4 hours, or should I just look at connecting flights?
 
Barbara, have you ever tried to book flights with FF miles? My experience when I have tried it once or twice was that it is very difficult to get a route that you want. I think you almost always have to book some roundabout way with connecting flights to get to a destination you might want. I had enough miles to get a flight from SFO to Paris, but abandoned the effort because for that distance I only wanted to fly direct, and it seemed impossible to get on the one nonstop flight a day with FF miles. There are only a very few award seats available on any single flight, and they are very hard to get.

Maybe someone else who has more experience can give you some tips, but for me it just didn't work out.
 
I know that Barbara has booked flights with miles, and the majority of my trips to Europe since 1996 have been on miles. It's a matter of being flexible on dates, and some programs are more generous than others. Indeed, sometimes one needs to take an indirect route. Sometimes, when one finds availability on the transatlantic segment, it's hard to find it for the short segment to connect to it. If, Barbara, you focus on what you can find from Miami and are willing to drive there, you'll probably find the best options; it's fine if you can get something from Tampa with a connection in Miami (or another AA hub), but you might also consider paying for the segment from Tampa to the hub.

Most programs' award charts call for the same number of miles from anywhere in the continental U.S. to anywhere in Europe, so it can be tougher to find an award from the West Coast.
 
Portugal certainly an option, though no guarantee of dry/warm weather. As such I'd be tempted to fly in/out of Lisbon, but allow for day trips to break up the stay as and when the weather is fine. Likewise Spain, Spanish Islands or Madeira might appeal. Barcelona is still on many people's lists as a city break. For me, I'd tend to look for city breaks at that time of year, on the grounds that a little cold / wet isn't a major problem, and with short days, the bright light of a city retains appeal.

I'm a bit late, but at that time of year Barcelona can be miserable weather-wise; it would be better to consider southern Spain. We've had wonderful weather there at all times between October and March (I was swimming in the sea in mid-November ...). How about Sevilla? It would be a brilliant city for a week's stay. In the unlikely event you find there isn't enough to do, Cordoba is an easy day-trip on the train. You can also get to Malaga and Granada from there.
 
We've done a few April trips in Europe. We had a nice trip to Sicily and the weather was good. A trip to Puglia with good weather. In 2018 we are going to Israel in March.

On my list for February - March trips are Seville (as @veronicafrance suggested above), Taormina (Sicily), Palermo (Sicily), Aix-en-Provence. I think Seville would be the warmest and have the most to do there or nearby. I have always wanted to take one of Shawn's tapas tours.
 
OK, I give up! I have completely abandoned this idea after working on my spreadsheet for our 2018 Ireland/England/Austria/Italy vacation. The numbers are staggering, and I realize now that my idea of finding a low-cost getaway was not just foolish, but also just not in the budget! Thanks for all your suggestions!
 
We would recommend somewhere in Italy. Possibly Venice Or the Amalfi Coast. There is so much to see and do whether you're a foodie, explorer or historian. My wife and I live in the UK so it's a short hop over the water for us. But we love it. Venice is pricey but if you do your research it's fine.

Portugal is nice particularly Albuferia. I love the sardines out there and the churches are lovely, for me it doesn't stack up to Italy though
 

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