Frequent Flyer Miles

Remember when I said my boss has gone to Paris for a month? Well that is good news for me for a few reasons: first, it means things will calm down in my office for a few weeks. Second, and more importantly, it has inspired me to really, REALLY think about my proposed trip to Europe this spring.

The fastest and cheapest route from Anchorage to Europe is on Condor Airlines. Each summer the German airline offers non-stop flights from Anchorage to Frankfurt, twice weekly. The flight is just shy of 10 hours and usually runs about $500 each way. Not too shabby. You can also connect to other cities via Lufthansa airlines. My initial plan was to fly to Europe on one of the first Condor flights of this summer, so probably the first few weeks of May, for about $1100 round-trip. Good plan.

Then I got to thinking: I have no idea what my job situation will be next year or how soon I'll have $1,100 burning a hole in my pocket. After buying the ticket, I'll then have to buy lots of train tickets to see and do everything I plan on. It will quickly add up to a $2,000 trip before I've even left Alaska. So should I scrap the whole trip? No way. Not this girl!

About 6 months ago I told Leigh I was going to save up my airline miles until I had enough for us fly to Southeast Asia together for free, so about 120,000 miles. Right now I'm almost halfway there, which is also just about enough miles for a roundtrip ticket to Europe. I figured I'd reach this goal at about the same time we had each been in our jobs long enough to take about a month off. This is an excellent plan. Then I started to weigh the cost and benefits of this. First, I'm not 100% sure I can comfortably afford my tickets to Europe for this year. Second, my Condor flight will NOT allow me to accumulate more miles because they are not a partner with Alaska Airlines (weird, right?). Third, by the time we're able to take a month or so off from work for this proposed Southeast Asia trip we should be making enough money to shell out the dough for our flights. Basically I was going to spend money I don't really have in order to save up air miles for a trip that may or may not occur in the next 2-3 years. That's stupid.

So I decided to fly to Europe this summer on air miles, making my trip almost FREE. The best part is that the partner airline with the shortest flights from Alaska to Europe is Iceland Air, which just happens to offer FREE stopovers in Reykjavic. My Europe trip has just gotten so much more interesting. Here's the plan for a 2 1/2 week trip:

Either on the way to or from Europe I'll plan a 24 hour stop-over in Reykjavic. Honestly, I'd stay longer if I could, but I have lots of places to visit and I have to get back to work eventually. Because Iceland is a small country and Reykjavik is a small city, I can do a lot in 24 hours. The plan is to take a charter bus directly from the airport to the Blue Lagoon thermal pool, soak for a few hours, then take the same charter bus to Reykjavic City. Reykjavic is known for cool architecture and a great nightlife, so I'll wander around, grab some food, then go out for a few hours. I'll have to be up very early to catch my 7:40am flight to.....

Munich:
It only takes about 6 hours to reach Munich from Iceland, or 18-20 hours directly from Anchorage (with layovers, of course). When I lived in France I visited a friend in Berlin and LOVED it. I also made some German friends while studying with the monks at Taizé. One friend in particular lives outside of Munich. Bavaria, being culturally very different from other parts of Germany, has always been a bit fascinating to me. I get the sense that it's culture is the German version of the culture found in the southern US- heavy food, close-knit families, thick accents, culturally more centered on religion (Catholic, in this case) than in other parts of the country. Not to mention they have great beer and, of course, some incredible history.

The plan is to stay in Munich and the surrounding area over a long weekend. This will give me time to take the Free Tour, see an opera in Munich or puppet show in Augsburg, sample the food, and maybe even visit Schloss Neuschwanstein castle. Early in the morning that Monday I'll take the 5 hour train ride to....

Vienna:
Coffee, chocolate, schnitzel, operas, and beautiful buildings. Austria also specializes in a white "young wine" that is not exported. Need I say more? The idea is to spend about 3 1/2 days in Vienna. This will give me time to really explore the city and maybe even fit in a side trip to Bratislava (though I might be tired of sitting on trains and planes by now and skip it). At the end of the week I'll take an overnight train to....

Geneva:
Leigh and I spent a long day in Geneva at Christmas time in 2010. It was beautiful and fun but also painfully cold and we were so tired from taking early flights to pinch pennies. This time I'll spend a weekend in Geneva, hopefully staying with another Taizé friend for added comfort and fun. In addition to exploring Vieille Ville, I'd like to see the nearby town of Lausanne, buy lots of Swiss wine and chocolate, and take the funicular to see views of Mont Blanc. From Geneva I'll catch a 2 1/2 hour train to...

Taizé!!! I'll spend 4 days here relaxing, singing (well, listening, nobody wants to hear me sing!) and praying. From Taizé I'll take the train 3 hours to Paris for a few days. This will be my fourth visit to Paris, but you can't go to Paris too many times. That's like saying you're bored with visiting New York City. There's just so much to do and see and, even if you've seen it all, it's a lovely city even for solo travellers. In Paris I'll explore the Latin and Jewish Quarters some more, possibly spend an evening out in the Marais, and do some fabric and gift shopping. If I get bored I'll pack a picnic and sit in one of the many parks until my flight leaves at 2pm.

Awesome, right? I almost can't believe how many places I'm planning to see. Since my plane ticket is free that means I can take part in almost any activity I like and stay within budget. It also means if I need to pay for lodging I can without worry. It's possible that this trip will barely be relaxing at all, but that's really OK with me. The idea is to have an adventure and see new things but still revisit some of my favorite things I discovered a few years ago. I'll come back to Alaska exhausted but happy.

The friends I'm hoping to visit won't know their schedules until after Christmas, so I will wait make my reservations after the New Year. Then I just have to purchase any reserved train tickets I want and save my spending money (plus come up with a scheme to safely transport bottles of wine and other breakables back to Alaska!). It's amazing how much I love planning trips and how excited I get putting together my timetables and budgeting. It's like I said to a friend the other night: everyone should spend the majority of their time and money on travel. It's better be hungry but well-traveled.