B's frequent flier miles and hotel points are a perk (perhaps the only perk) of his frequent travel. We recently decided to put them to good use for a European vacation next year.
Since the dollar is currently in a rather sad state, the hotel points are generally best used for European hotels. Our honeymoon hotel rooms would have cost many thousands of dollars had we paid for them out of pocket--but the points allowed us to sleep for free for 13 nights. However, for this trip, we decided to "sacrifice" some of B's hotel points and transfer them to airline miles to allow us to redeem the points for free airline tickets.
The decision to transfer the points is cost-effective because we're flying during a very expensive time. The flights that we need are currently close to $1,000 per person (!!)--way more than I am willing to pay. Paying with points will be a huge cost savings. I thought I had it all figured out. Then I called the airline to book the flights.
The cust serv rep was trying to send us on a flight with connections in Philly (and sometimes Laguardia) and either Germany or Amsterdam--yikes! I said, "It's just so inefficient! I know there are direct flights to Germany!" She kindly agreed to dig deeper and was able to get us on my first-choice flight on the way over. However, the flight back was not so simple.
There were two options--fly with 2 connections (3 flights) in a single day, or have an overnight layover in Germany. "Hrm," I thought, "Germany..." So now we have a layover in Frankfurt, and we'll have the remaining 2 flights the next day. B has predicted that our bags will be lost. However, I think I trust the airline system over the Italian post office.
Speaking of Italy--that's where we're going! Venice, Florence, and Cinque Terre! And then we're going on a cruise through Greece. And I have a lofty goal for this trip--I don't want to check any luggage on the way over. Can our intrepid traveler survive for 2 1/2 weeks with the clothing in a single suitcase? Stay tuned. The packing list is about to get a whole lot shorter.
