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My weekend wedding trip to London: Trip Report

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My weekend wedding trip to London: Trip Report

Who goes to London just the weekend? Wellllllll we did.  My girlfriend has a very close friend who was going to have a big fat Greek wedding. There was no WAY we were missing it and so we put Miles to work. In the end we wound up with a really fun, adventurous, and quick weekend wedding trip to London. I have to say, every time I take a trip I get so inspired. This one was on a different level; I came back completely exhausted, but renewed and full of passion for life! Thanks points and travel!

The first problem was Econ pricing at $1500 r/t

Miles has both me and my girlfriend flush with points, but we wanted to make sure we were getting the most bang for point. Economy was running in excess of $1500 from LAX-LHR-LAX. SAY WHAT!? Obviously this is the shortest Itin we could book; however, what we ended up discovering is that a roundtrip from Dublin to Dublin ( Through London) in business class was only $300 more than that $1500 economy trip. BANG BANG!!  Since I need to be back in London at the end of September, I figured I could just buy my return flight now, and figure out an alternate way of getting to the wedding on August 1st.

I mixed routings and used Points and Revenue fares

Here’s what I ended up booking for myself

  • LAX-SFO-DUS-LHR ( Mix of AA first, Air Berlin, and BA club Europe 57,500 + $85
  • LHR-DUB ( BA econ with a return to LHR late Sept) ~$150
  • DUB-LHR-ORD-LAX-LHR-DUB ( mix of AA and BA) $1800

I ended up making use of AA’s 24 hour layover rule at SFO by flying in the night before my flight from SFO to DUS. This way, I could get a good night’s sleep, check out the new refurb on the Hyatt Regency, and then do a tour of lounges at SFO before hopping on the flight. The funny thing is I left more than 24 hours ahead of my girlfriend and she arrived 4 hours before me and flew direct from LAX to LHR. But, I loved every second.

As of now, I still don’t have a way home from Europe in October, but I’m not too worried. I might end up buying another Dub-Lax r/t, but in coach just to make sure I hit my Executive Platinum Status. Prices are barely over $500 r/t. A third of a one way price. Ridics.

Here’s a map of what I ended up booking

Screen Shot 2016-08-26 at 8.12.03 PM

 

I have to say…I flipping loved this trip. It was such an adventure AND I got the chance to review so many different things: lounges, hotels, new cabins and products. If you have the means whether by points or cash I would HIGHLY recommend doing something like this. The combination of long flights, time differences, and all out exhaustion made every waking second at the wedding completely worth it.  My adrenaline was kicked up to high and I have to say that it made so focused on every waking minute and conversation that I may just fly half way around the world for every wedding…even if it’s in America. 😉 The icing on the cake was witnessing a very love filled Greek ceremony that I’ll never forget.


My weekend wedding trip to London : The reviews

Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.

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