where to go? 4 week holiday with 20 year old - BA reward flights

[MiddleagedBeachbum]

I have x2 BA reward flights, that means I can book virtually anywhere and only pay a few hundred pounds. It would be for myself and my 20 yr old son, as part of his 21st birthday present and graduation.

I'm looking to go around June time and was hoping for some good recommendations?

I've researched where is cheap for a longer holiday and Cape Town, Kenya & Sri Lanka all came up.

I'm just not sure what to do, where to go, any thoughts would be ideal! I'm budgeting about £4k for the whole trip if possible. Both enjoy sports / outdoors / food / animals / learning new skillls for instance we've done surfing, quad bikes, skiing, horse riding etc.

My sons dream is USA but it'a not that cheap and I don't fancy driving hours every day - however I love the idea of ranches, horses etc so could maybe do a shorter holiday.

any great ideas would be welcome! Thanks :)

If you’re both outdoorsy types then camping road trips should be affordable in the US. I know California a little and it’s absolutely wonderful to explore that way. If you can go in late spring the weather will be lovely but ski resorts round Lake Tahoe might still be open (that part would be expensive, but I mention it because you say you’ve skied before together). Yosemite is incredible and you can try rock climbing there (and you might see bears!), drive south to sequoia or kings canyon, then on to Joshua tree park (more world class climbing!). All of those have camping. Drive back along the coast from LA to SF if you can afford the cities for a few days. Obviously some great surfing options along that route too. Or go north along through lots of redwood forest, loads of hiking options, stop at lake Shasta which I think is good for watersports. It is a lot of driving in total but over a whole month you can make sure you get several days in each place and plan it so stops aren’t too far apart. Camping will cost around $20-35 per day, eating out and activities quite expensive, supermarket food and petrol fairly cheap. Car hire will be a big cost. You could probably do 3 weeks of camping and driving with a couple of additional activities for half your budget, plus a week in one of the cities for the other half. It’s not a budget option but USA is definitely possible if that’s the dream.

You can get fairly cheap flights to the us anytime.

Use the reward flights for somewhere further, Ecuador? Japan? Argentina?

Indonesia has good weather at that time and definitely cheap - Lombok and Java have lots to see and are easy and cheap to travel around. Bali is a bit more expensive but doesn’t have to be if you avoid the smart resorts.

Could combine with Malaysia, Singapore or Borneo depending on what appeals.

You'll be hugely restricted by what's available as many destinations sell out of reward flights. I'd suggest you look at where you can actually go first as this may make or significantly narrow down the decision for you. If my total budget was £4K I'd look at flying to SE Asia, Bangkok if BA currently flying there or Singapore. Travelling between countries is then not that expensive and you could potentially visit e.g. Vietnam, Cambodia too.

Oh Peru and Ecuador would be another good option at that time of year - again, cheap and easy to travel and lots of outdoor activities/nature. (You could add on Galapagos but that isn’t cheap).

This is brilliant thanks so much for the suggestions - it's so hard when we could go anywhere!
I'm going to check flights and daily living costs etc against the suggestions.

@Uol2022 how would camping in USA work, do they have campsite with all the facilities as I always have a car full so not sure how that would work on holiday?

Agree with @demonheed that USA flights come up cheap a lot, I've been 6 times so not fussed just trying to figure out where suits us both!

Thanks @Galliano & @minipie going tot ry some of your suggestions :)

how would camping in USA work, do they have campsite with all the facilities as I always have a car full so not sure how that would work on holiday?

afaik the campsites would be basic - shower and drinking water, picnic bench, bear box if required, you take your own tent and stove and sleeping bag. An additional large hold bag would be enough space for me to bring all that stuff on the flight, or I believe you can rent camping gear in the city before you set off. When I camp in the uk I take loads with me and like to have a big tent. Where the weather is reliably warm (including overnight) and dry I find camping is a lot more lightweight. But yeah, it’s definitely a different kind of holiday than you could enjoy in other parts of the world for the same money!

Cape Town is an amazing destination - we have been several times and stayed in Hout Bay and Constantia - nearby wine country, half an hour drive from the center but also easy access to Chapman’s peak and the most southerly point of SA.

Fly to Thailand, Malaysia or Singapore (or Vietnam, not sure if BA fly there?) and do some travelling round.

V cheap to live out there - well not Singapore but you could stay a few days then cross the border into Malaysia.

As someone said before, you’d be better checking what reward flights you can get in June (there is a section on the BA app to do this).
Having the 241 doesn’t mean you can just get on any flight, it has to be a BA destination and also have availability in their scheme. They release a certain number of seats for the rewards a day. Just because there is room on the plane, doesn’t mean you can use the voucher.

For instance right now there are only 4 days with flights back from Cape Town to London in June that you can book onto (in economy, assuming that’s what you want)

I was assuming it was some sort of voucher/compensation flight rather than Avios

Oh yes perhaps I got the wrong end of the stick

Have you looked at Costa Rica ?

I may regret saying this but there seemed to be decent availability on San Jose flights with Avios and I have done a quick check on hotel prices and they seem very reasonable.

Thanks that’s great to know - I’d never considered camping when I fly somewhere! It’s a great idea for cheap travelling in the US.

Having spent a few hours today looking Cape Town is coming out as our front runner!!
Ive actually been a few times, as was engaged to a SA and we’d visit family - but this was 14+ years ago and we didn’t actually get to do much tourist stuff so very excited at the idea of visiting again!

Thanks, there’s a cheap flight out to Singapore, £400 for both plus the vouchers so also considering this but need to spend more time working out how to go from place to place and those costs :)

Thanks I’m aware of this - however if you have no clue where to go, it’s actually quite hard.
So I have BA flight routes page open on one tab.
Google flight mapper for One world as to where they fly direct from London
Then another Googling destinations and ideas
then have to check each airport and see if flights going there

Unless there’s a much easier way I don’t know of?!

So today, I individually entered each of these destinations people have suggested above, into the voucher flight search bar (bearing in mind some places have 3 airports), I then had to write down each individual airport as to whether there were flights, and cost etc.

it took me 2 hours! 🤣

Oooh thanks I hadn’t checked there and we’ve been and loved it!!

I'd definitely go to Thailand. You can fly into and out of Bangkok, moving around regions internally is very cheap.

Oh gosh that is hard work!
what kind of voucher do you have? Is it a rewards two for one or like a compensation voucher?

No real advice but if he's only 20 when you're going I'd avoid the US as I'm presuming like most 20 year olds he likes to partake in a beer. There's no chance of him being able to have one in a bar or restaurant.

Ah sorry @MiddleagedBeachbum I had looked at Costa Rica for later in the year and there was good direct availability with BA then. For June it looks like there aren't direct flights and they are with Iberia - if you have a premium voucher I think you might be able to fly with Iberia but not on the basic.

Unfortunately the free flights get picked up fast so it's very much a matter of taking what is available unless you're looking a year in advance.

If I had the option of 4 week holiday I’d probably go to Australia or New Zealand but I appreciate that may not be affordable.

Maybe SE Asia. Accommodation and local travel should be cheaper.

I’m not sure I’d enjoy such along holiday again but I have done a couple of
long trips to the US and Canada. Internal flights and car hire combination

And one thing just to say about Cape Town, I was very keen to go there, but DH was worried about safety as it does seem like you would need to be careful about where you go an how you travel, so unfortunately is off the cards for us for now.

As you like horses, ranches and wildlife, Argentina could fit the bill.
Your trip could include the amazing Perito Moreno glacier.
Sri Lanka is great too. It takes time getting from A to B so it's good you have four weeks and ideally hire a driver for all or part of your stay.
Best wildlife experience I had was in Zambia, gorgeous country.