Virgin/Virgin Airmiles - next summer
Discussion
We rarely fly anything other than Virgin due to a huge number of airmiles accumulated when we used their (now non-existent) FX service. I’m talking millions of miles.
I am Silver Tier with them and end up with a companion ticket each year too worth 150k miles. Usually used to Florida with the family once a year and a lad’s trip.
Disney is out for us next year as the youngest still won’t be tall enough for the better rides but is old enough to be pissed off about it.
Requirements are nice weather, good food and drink, safe, lots to keep us and kids entertained. Preferably no longer than 7/8 hours flight for the kids benefit.
https://www.virginatlantic.com/en-EU/where-we-fly
Where would you recommend? 2 weeks during the summer holidays. Need to book while we have any hope of using the points and before I end up downgraded to Red and the vouchers halves in value. So Orlando is out and we’re going to NY for New Year.
I am Silver Tier with them and end up with a companion ticket each year too worth 150k miles. Usually used to Florida with the family once a year and a lad’s trip.
Disney is out for us next year as the youngest still won’t be tall enough for the better rides but is old enough to be pissed off about it.
Requirements are nice weather, good food and drink, safe, lots to keep us and kids entertained. Preferably no longer than 7/8 hours flight for the kids benefit.
https://www.virginatlantic.com/en-EU/where-we-fly
Where would you recommend? 2 weeks during the summer holidays. Need to book while we have any hope of using the points and before I end up downgraded to Red and the vouchers halves in value. So Orlando is out and we’re going to NY for New Year.
That's a nice idea, thanks. I would like to see more American states and the trip to Vancouver would be a nice and relatively short one.
Boston, Chicago or San Fran are on also Virgin routes we've not checked out yet, just need to look at things worth doing with a 5 and 7 year old in tow.
Boston, Chicago or San Fran are on also Virgin routes we've not checked out yet, just need to look at things worth doing with a 5 and 7 year old in tow.
I think this probably depends on your kids and how "outdoorsey" they are, but flying into Las Vegas, picking up a hire car and then doing a circular road trip taking in some headline national parks (potentially expensive, see other thread for details) might work really well.
You can link together some fabulous places without huge amounts of driving in between - there are plenty of threads on here with good ideas.
A night or two in Vegas at the beginning to get used to the timezone is also probably worth considering. There's enough to see and do that doesn't involve Casinos, drinking or strip clubs to last a day or so. I say this as someone who had previously found the concept of Las Vegas quite abhorrent, but actually enjoyed the couple of days we spent there earlier this year. We only went into Casinos to either go to a restaurant that was in one, or to go through it and get to the other side.
You can link together some fabulous places without huge amounts of driving in between - there are plenty of threads on here with good ideas.
A night or two in Vegas at the beginning to get used to the timezone is also probably worth considering. There's enough to see and do that doesn't involve Casinos, drinking or strip clubs to last a day or so. I say this as someone who had previously found the concept of Las Vegas quite abhorrent, but actually enjoyed the couple of days we spent there earlier this year. We only went into Casinos to either go to a restaurant that was in one, or to go through it and get to the other side.
omniflow said:
I think this probably depends on your kids and how "outdoorsey" they are, but flying into Las Vegas, picking up a hire car and then doing a circular road trip taking in some headline national parks (potentially expensive, see other thread for details) might work really well.
You can link together some fabulous places without huge amounts of driving in between - there are plenty of threads on here with good ideas.
A night or two in Vegas at the beginning to get used to the timezone is also probably worth considering. There's enough to see and do that doesn't involve Casinos, drinking or strip clubs to last a day or so. I say this as someone who had previously found the concept of Las Vegas quite abhorrent, but actually enjoyed the couple of days we spent there earlier this year. We only went into Casinos to either go to a restaurant that was in one, or to go through it and get to the other side.
Very good points made. Most people don't seem to get how much there is to do in Vegas without gambling!You can link together some fabulous places without huge amounts of driving in between - there are plenty of threads on here with good ideas.
A night or two in Vegas at the beginning to get used to the timezone is also probably worth considering. There's enough to see and do that doesn't involve Casinos, drinking or strip clubs to last a day or so. I say this as someone who had previously found the concept of Las Vegas quite abhorrent, but actually enjoyed the couple of days we spent there earlier this year. We only went into Casinos to either go to a restaurant that was in one, or to go through it and get to the other side.
Summer holidays is the kicker for me
If you'd flexibility to do Easter or May Half Term, I'd say Caribbean - Barbados as a first shout (very friendly / family friendly culture, enough to do for a week maybe plus time on the beach).
...but July/August is humid, potentially wet and potentially windy down there (albeit Barbados probably safer than the central Caribbean)
If we're talking North America, southern CA will be very hot (and Vegas/surrounds even moreso), but northern/central CA might be alright temperature wise for sightseeing, Oregon/Washington may be in reach if you're road-tripping, and Yosemite / Lake Tahoe will most probably be OK too due to the elevation.
...so maybe the road trip is in/out of SF (I'm reliably told it's a lot better an airport than LA and air-conditioned in all the parts you need to be), taking in any of the following:-
- Lake Tahoe
- Mono Lake and that abandoned mining town nearby
- Yosemite (high plateau and the valley, plus the walks if your family is outdoorsy) - but book accommodation and possibly park tickets ASAP as summer is probably peak season, and their parks service has been decimated by DOGE.
- Whale watching out of Monterey / Moss Landing - bloody cool way to spend half a day
- car community in that area (Canepa, Laguna Seca)
- PCH-1 & Big Sur / Carmel just down the road
- one of their air museums maybe (Castle was a very cool place to spend a few hours on the way from Yosemite to Carmel - SR71, B52, more F-'s than I can remember, Vulcan, some other rarities, but good lord is it in the middle of dullsville)
- one of the sequoia / redwood groves (Mariposa, Henry Cowell (sp? something like that), etc. - there's a few around)
- ...and if you've still got time then Death Valley isn't a stupid drive from the top of Yosemite.
If you'd flexibility to do Easter or May Half Term, I'd say Caribbean - Barbados as a first shout (very friendly / family friendly culture, enough to do for a week maybe plus time on the beach).
...but July/August is humid, potentially wet and potentially windy down there (albeit Barbados probably safer than the central Caribbean)
If we're talking North America, southern CA will be very hot (and Vegas/surrounds even moreso), but northern/central CA might be alright temperature wise for sightseeing, Oregon/Washington may be in reach if you're road-tripping, and Yosemite / Lake Tahoe will most probably be OK too due to the elevation.
...so maybe the road trip is in/out of SF (I'm reliably told it's a lot better an airport than LA and air-conditioned in all the parts you need to be), taking in any of the following:-
- Lake Tahoe
- Mono Lake and that abandoned mining town nearby
- Yosemite (high plateau and the valley, plus the walks if your family is outdoorsy) - but book accommodation and possibly park tickets ASAP as summer is probably peak season, and their parks service has been decimated by DOGE.
- Whale watching out of Monterey / Moss Landing - bloody cool way to spend half a day
- car community in that area (Canepa, Laguna Seca)
- PCH-1 & Big Sur / Carmel just down the road
- one of their air museums maybe (Castle was a very cool place to spend a few hours on the way from Yosemite to Carmel - SR71, B52, more F-'s than I can remember, Vulcan, some other rarities, but good lord is it in the middle of dullsville)
- one of the sequoia / redwood groves (Mariposa, Henry Cowell (sp? something like that), etc. - there's a few around)
- ...and if you've still got time then Death Valley isn't a stupid drive from the top of Yosemite.
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