2025 Vacation - 4 Continents, 5 Countries (1 of 3)
Can you visit 4 continents and 5 countries in 18 days as a party of 5 using non-governmental made-up currencies? Of course you can! We just did. We just returned from our annual family vacation. Here are the details of the trip. In this blog, I share our itinerary. I then share how I “paid” for the trip. Finally, I share some of the highlights from each location in a separate blog post. A photo dump has been added to each of the blogs for your viewing pleasure.
Itinerary
The kids and I began our trip by repositioning to Washington’s DCA airport on Delta. Here, we met up with the wife who was working in DC at the time. We visited the US Capitol and the White House on this trip.
After a few days in DC, we made our way to IAD where we caught our Iberia flight to Madrid. After an 8-hour layover, we continued our trip to Dakar, Senegal on Iberia. On this outbound itinerary, I and the wife flew in business class and the kids rode in the back of the bus,
After spending about a week in Senegal, we continued our journey. Next Stop? Istanbul. To get to Istanbul, we took a repositioning flight on Iberia back to Madrid. After another 7-hour layover, we split up. I and the boy took a business class Turkish Airlines flight directly to Istanbul. The wife and the girls took Lufthansa to Istanbul after first laying over in Frankfurt, Germany.
After about a week in Istanbul, we began the inbound portion of the trip. The five of us took Turkish Airlines from Istanbul to Toronto, Canada where we spent the night after our 11-hour flight. The next day, after about 18 hours in Canada, we caught a West Jet flight to Nashville, Tennessee. After a short layover there, we caught a short 39-minute Delta flight back to Atlanta.
Itinerary for Mooring 2025 Family Vacation
Budget
We began our trip by repositioning to DC. I spent 33,000 Virgin Atlantic miles to purchase a Delta flight to DCA from ATL. I also spent 7,500 Flying Blue miles to purchase my ticket on the same flight. I then called Delta and merged the two itineraries. I spent 15,000 points to spend one night in the Hyatt House Washington DC Convention Center and 9,000 Hyatt points to spend one night in the Hyatt Place US Capitol. On Day 3, we moved to the Embassy Suites Dulles Airport (using 50,000 Hilton points).
Next, I used 144,000 Iberia Avios and $320.20 to buy two business class tickets to Dakar, Senegal. I also spent 133,500 Avios for three economy tickets to Dakar. While in Dakar, we paid $521.86 to stay in an AirBNB.
After Dakar, we traveled to our next destination, We paid Iberia $1,317 cash to reposition us back to Madrid. I used 54,000 Lifemiles and $102 to buy two business class tickets to Istanbul on Turkish Airlines. I spent $855.27 to stay in an AirBNB in Istanbul. I also spent 60,000 Aeroplan miles for three multi-city itineraries. The first part of the itinerary was three Lufthansa economy tickets from Madrid to Istanbul via Frankfurt. The second part of the itinerary was three Turkish economy tickets from Istanbul to Toronto. In addition, I spent 88,000 United miles and $49.60 to buy two economy tickets on the same Istanbul to Toronto Turkish airlines flight.
While in Toronto, I reserved two rooms at the Hampton Inn Toronto airport. The first room was purchased using 32,000 Hilton points; the second room was purchased with $224.71 Canadian dollars.
Finally, I spent 70,000 Flying Blue miles for five economy tickets to travel from Toronto to Nashville on West Jet and from Nashville to Atlanta on Delta.
