Christmas in South America

Tom and I have been collecting Northwest Airlines WorldPerks miles for years with flying and via our Visa (which earns us loads since we use it for everything).  They didn't add up so fast until we moved here.  With loads of trips back and forth to the US and short hops all over on KLM we have amassed over 2 million between us both.  We have also been elite members for years which makes them add up that much faster with bonus miles.

In 2006 we used miles to fly First and Business Class on Malaysian Airlines from the UK to New Zealand via Kuala Lumpur.  At Christmas that same year we used miles to fly Business Class on Air France from the UK via Paris to Santiago, Chile where we visited Chile and Argentina.  That trip made us fall in love with these two countries and we decided we would go back again someday.  In addition to these free trips we have used them for upgrades from economy and a couple of trips for me back to the US to visit family.

We have been itching to take another long trip since we cancelled a second trip to New Zealand when we found out I was pregnant.  I didn't fancy that long-haul travel in my first trimester, especially if I were to have morning sickness.  So, with over a million miles to burn we finally booked ourselves a trip.  We leave the third week in December from the UK to fly to Paris and then onto Santiago on Air France in Business Class, the same flights we did two years before.  This is a 14-hour flight (nothing really to say about this but ugh).  I told Tom I would not be holding a 14 month old child for 14 hours on a plane, so Sofia has her own Business Class seat.  It cost us 140,000 miles each, but well worth it not to have to hold her.  We will spend some time in the north of Chile before transporting ourselves in some way (haven't quite figured out how yet) down to Buenos Aires where we fly home 18 days after we landed in Santigo.

Perito Moreno Glacier

1 comment

A 14 hour flight from Paris

We are so excited about our trip.  There is a lot of planning to do and decisions, decisions.  Chile has so much to see in the north.  And, what do we want to see in Argentina?  Fun!!!  Let the planning begin.