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I've been wanting to visit Mexico for a while now. I just booked a flight using miles to go to San Miguel de Allende for 3 days, then Playa for 5 days after (9/5-9/13).
I'm already looking at destinations for 2016 so I can start planning properly and chose Rome for 2016. I just found out I'm going to a conference in Vienna for work in September (9/25-9/28). Knew nothing about the place...and after looking it up have found that flights are under $100 between Vienna and Rome!
So now my dilemma is I'm wondering if I should delay the Mexico trip and go to Rome instead in September??? Things to consider:
Pros:
-It's SUPER CHEAP to go from Vienna to Rome. If I add my vacation on to the end of the Vienna work trip, I'd be paying maybe $130 roundtrip, whereas if I do Rome in 2016 I'd be paying like $800/$900 since I'd be flying in from the US.
-I get to fit in ROME this year instead of in 2016, and I think I 'could' find a way to still fit Mexico in (maybe...will require some research).
Cons:
-I've already booked my flight to Mexico. (Accommodations aren't paid for yet.) I'd have to reschedule the flight (GUESSING ~$100) or cancel it if I can't figure out when to reschedule it to (no clue how much that would cost...probably several hundred dollars to keep the 30,000 miles I used to book the Mexico trip!).
-Could be frowned upon slightly by my job? In other words, may look like I've decided to go on the conference JUST SO I can go to Rome. The conference is optional, but pretty much the entire team is going to go to Vienna as we get to pick one conference/training to attend annually and this is the 'big' one a lot of people attend. I've been at my company 1.5 years so it'll be my first time attending.
Of course I could just keep all my plans as is: go to Mexico in early September, go to Vienna for work and enjoy as much of that as I can...and just look to go to Rome in 2016. It's just crazy how I just picked Rome as my 2016 trip a few weeks ago and then found this out...part of me feels really compelled to fit it in if I can.
Find out how much it would actually cost to reschedule the Mexico trip. Most airlines' mileage programs (which one is it?) allow date changes (as opposed to refunds) for minimal cost (some even free) provided the new travel dates are within 12 months of the original.
It needn't be either-or in my mind, just a scheduling issue.
Find out how much it would actually cost to reschedule the Mexico trip. Most airlines' mileage programs (which one is it?) allow date changes (as opposed to refunds) for minimal cost (some even free) provided the new travel dates are within 12 months of the original.
It needn't be either-or in my mind, just a scheduling issue.
It's United. I'm looking into the cost as we speak.
I guess part of the issue here is actually vacation time/timing of scheduling in Mexico.
If I choose to go to Rome, and still go to Mexico this year:
-The Mexico trip would have to be when I'm already off (Thanksgiving or Christmas) as I've used my vacation days for Rome. In looking online there is virtually no flight availability to use my points to move the Mexico trip to the holidays instead.
So...I could move Mexico to 2016 (which I strongly prefer to do this year but hey, I'm not going to be a complainypants!). The issue here is I'd have no clue what dates to move it to this far in advance.
Will be back with the fees to reschedule versus cancel/get points back.
-$100 to change the dates of the Mexico trip ($50 for each flight). And like you said, travel would have to be completed within 12 months of booking.
-$250 ($125 for each flight) to cancel the booked Mexico trip and have my 30,000 miles credited back to my account.
I think the issue here is I don't know when I'd be able to complete the Mexico trip. There's really no mileage availability to book during the holidays of this year when I'm already off.
(I could look at doing it in the first half of next year but the issue there is I plan to book a Tokyo trip for ~10 days in early May to see my brother graduate. I strongly prefer to spread my vacations out so taking a week off within a month or two of that May trip isn't ideal.)
I guess there 'may' be a third option I haven't considered:
Keep the Mexico trip as is -AND- still go to Rome.
It would mean asking to tack on maybe 2 days (possibly 3 at the most) to the end of the Vienna trip to see Rome. 2 days isn't 'ideal', but what the heck....it's not a ton of time off from work. Plus I wouldn't have to pay anything to move or cancel the Mexico trip.
It does mean, however, that I would be done from work the 1st week of September, but an additional 2-3 days on the last week of September. Not sure how big of a deal that may or may not be yet.
Plans change all the time so be flexible and take advantage of the opportunity to see a few more sites while you're already in the area, relatively speaking. See Vienna while you're there! Then go to Rome. You don't need to decide now which dates you'll visit Mexico within the next 12 months. You can figure that out later. If 2016 is getting full then maybe you just shorten your Mexico visit. Playa is nice but 5 days may be long.
Plans change all the time so be flexible and take advantage of the opportunity to see a few more sites while you're already in the area, relatively speaking. See Vienna while you're there! Then go to Rome. You don't need to decide now which dates you'll visit Mexico within the next 12 months. You can figure that out later. If 2016 is getting full then maybe you just shorten your Mexico visit. Playa is nice but 5 days may be long.
Since the Mexico trip is already booked, I 'would' have to give the airline my new dates now in order to reschedule it, right?
I usually like to space my vacations out so, unless it's cost-prohibitive or logistically difficult to do, I'd push the Mexico vacation out further.
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Things to consider:
