Where would you go long haul in August?

[MavisMonkey]

I know this is a very fortunate problem to have but...

I have got hundred of thousands of BA Avios and two companion vouchers that I need to use in 2023 so I am thinking of where we can go to use them up.

We will be travelling with our kids who are in school so are restricted to August and I want to go long haul as this gets the best "value" from the Avios miles so these are my main two criteria.

We would love a destination where we can spend 2 weeks and possibly travel around a bit and get a mix of city / active / culture highlights and then do some relaxing, so not just a beach destination. The kids will be 9 and 11 so somewhere that will hold their interest.

We would like sunny weather which seems to rule out most of South America and Asia at this time of year but conversely we are not great in extreme heat so we have ruled out a Texas road trip. Mexico, Hawaii and a east coast Vancouver / Seattle based road trip are current ideas but thought I would see if MN could throw some other ideas in the mix!

Mexico, Costa Rica or Peru?

We're going to Mexico with ba then.

Also we've done borneo in the summer - whether was fine. Humid and one rainstorm late afternoon but generally sunny and hot.

Costa Rica

What about a California Road trip. You could start in San Francisco and work your way down Big Sur and beyond. Not so hot in SF but sunnier the further south you go. There was a thread about California this week with other locations further south. You could also go North to Sonoma and the red woods might be fun although i’m not sure about the appeal for children for that one.

Also South Africa?

We're currently in California on an Avios trip - flew return business class to LA with companion vouchers and stayed in Santa Monica/Anaheim (for Disney)/Palm Springs. We've spent a lot of time in California and love it. Would definitely recommend a road trip. We don't love San Fran or San Diego themselves but enjoyed the other stops up the coast and plenty to entertain kids of that age. Lots of people dislike LA but we always have fun - Santa Monica pier/Venice beach are great, this time we went to LACMA/La Brea Tarpits and the Getty Center. Usually we spend time in Hollywood and we go downtown to the Broad.

Not sure how feasible it is to get redemption/companion flights in august though. We booked these a year in advance but our outbound flight was pre half term.

Otherwise South Africa is a great destination.

I went to Indonesia one summer with my children.
They loved it.
City, volcanoes, ruins and beach (we went to Java and Lombok and toured both).

So restricted when you can use those vouchers I find

I would forget about school summer holidays for using your vouchers op!

If you want to travel this August I suspect you've left it too late to find them... try seatspy (I think it's called) for CV availability

And what makes long haul great is when it is winter in your and Europe, long haul countries are in their summers and out of hurricane etc seasons

so I always do long haul in Feb half term

and Europe in august

Thanks everyone for all the replies :)

@Intrigueddotcom Sorry my OP wasn’t clear enough- we are looking to travel in Aug 2023 but know that the seats are limited so want to be poised and ready to go for booking 364 days in advance. We are travelling long haul in Feb 2023 already hence why I want an August trip with my vouchers.

@LactoseTheIntolerant @Oomph Mexico is high on my list but DH not keen after he read an article about drug lords taking over Tulum. Costa Rica and Peru sound really interesting, I thought it might be cold-ish?

@Divebar2021 @JW13 We did a big California San Fran / Big Sur road trip pre kids so would (selfishly 😂) rather go somewhere new but maybe could take in some places we haven’t been…

I’ll take a look at Indonesia and Borneo as well, thanks for the suggestions @HelenHywater @LactoseTheIntolerant

so would (selfishly 😂) rather go somewhere new but maybe could take in some places we haven’t been

meh! They can go when they’re older… a holiday has to work for everyone. What about a safari? I did one pre kids and that was pretty stunning. I think some lodges take children from 7 upwards. Maybe you could do a twin Centre with a week of safari and a week on the coast ( elsewhere)

We used avios & companion voucher to go (club) to Vancouver in August when DS was around 11. We spent time in the Okanagan valley, Vancouver itself & did an Alaskan cruise. Was fabulous.

I would plump for a Canadian road trip. I visited Banff during Winter but would love to explore during the summer as well.

It's such a beautiful place. I imagine there would be a lot of water sports happening and you can explore local canyons (I did Johnston Canyon) as well.

I was intrigued by this thread title, as I couldn't imagine why going long haul would be your only criteria. I still don't quite get it.

You want to get maximum value out of your free vouchers. But you can only feel you have done that if you fly long haul, which has a much greater environmental impact.

Couldn't you turn it around so you ask - where is the best possible holiday I can
have - and if that wasn't long haul, that would be great in that you would have reduced both your flying times with young kids and your impact on the environment?

It's almost as if the pleasure is going to come from getting something for nothing rather than from having a great holiday.

We did Seattle and Washington state last year...was fab. Definitely not too hot. We did kayaking/camping trip to San Juan islands 3 days, Olympic national park and La Push (where twilight was set), down the oregan coast and multonamah falls and ended with a few days in rainier NP.

Meant to say the weather is similar to the UK but a bit hotter in summer and some grey/overcast days. The heatwaves last year were an anomaly.

I'm booking mexico for thus August today. I think trump racist narrative around mexico is prevailing with your dh. California has a far higher crime rate than tulum and in fact I cant see any evidence for drug Lords there. I did see earlier in the year lots of evidence of drug use in san diego.

Hawaii

Just saw your update @MavisMonkey
In that case best tip I had was call the Japan BA call centre to get your CV because they're released at either midnight or 1am our time (Can't remember which). We got first class returns to SA for 400 quid each on a CB that way (but sadly Covid scuppered that trip)

Thanks @harriethoyle that's a great tip, will definitely use that.

Thanks everyone for all the comments, really helpful.

East coast Canada / Seattle Oregon region is looking very popular- that's my husbands favourite. My kids love a city and I know this sounds awful but I have a fear that after 2-3 days in national parks they'll be a bit like "not another hike"...

My favourite is Mexico or Hawaii, although not sure if BA are currently doing the voucher on Hawaii routes. I agree that the anti Mexican rhetoric needs to be viewed in perspective and taken with a big punch of salt, but he's just not super keen. He has the same undefined doubts about South Africa which is somewhere I'm desperate to go and he's always resisted. They're my points, my vouchers and my money so I could steamroller him 😂 but would be better to go somewhere we are all really keen on.

Finishing work soon and will look at Indonesia, Costa Rica and safari as options 👍🏻

We did a Californian road trip with our DCs. We’d done one previously pre-DCs. Different experiences but we loved them both. Also, if you really want to go to Hawaii, you could use the vouchers/points to go somewhere on the West coast, spend a few days there and then pay separately for internal flights to whichever island you want to visit. We’ve done the Big Island which was fab - went on an amazing helicopter tour over the active volcano. We stayed four nights in San Fran before Hawaii and four nights in Vegas afterwards.

So sad not to have the funds or time off to do all these trips… they all sound great!!