Let’s say you came across some cheap airline tickets. Or you have a lot of frequent flier miles. Or you just feel like flying somewhere on a whim (assuming a jet isn’t available – just to get the inevitable joke out of the way). Maybe you just want to go to Copenhagen to get a calzone from Napoli restaurant. You’re going to leave from work on a Friday afternoon/evening, and you have to be back at the workplace on Monday. You’re going to have to get to the airport, get through security, wait to board the aircraft, and then fly for 12 hours. And repeat on the way back.
Would you fly overseas for a weekend? If not, then what is the shortest trip you’d take?
I have done it several times. My wife has to travel to Europe a lot for work. Sometimes I would leave work on Friday, rush to the airport, fly all night and arrive in France or Italy on Saturday morning. Someimes I would leave Monday morning but I have also left Sunday night and gone basically straight to work Monday morning.
I don’t think it is that exotic. Boston - Western Europe is only about a 6 hour plane flight. Lots of people travel that much in one weekend timewise without thinking anything of it. It is just a mental block on the concept I believe.
I’d do it. Normally my friends and I plan a 4 day weekend for an overseas trip though (the longest one being New York to Rio de Janeiro). I might be less inclined now with all the bullshit carryon restrictions.
I wouldn’t fly to Europe from the west coast, but certainly would from the east coast. Or fly to Mexico. 12 hours each way seems okay; 13 seems like too much.
From the US to Europe that would be plain hard. I used to commute from London to Prague (work there weekdays, fly home weekends) and that was bad enough even with only a three-hour flight. We have the luxury of having weekend trips abroad quite easily, and some people are happy to have shopping weekends in New York, but I’d balk at that kind of weekend trip.
If someone else paid for the tickets, I would, but otherwise, no. Flying from my small town in California to Europe is a long trip (drive to Sacramento, fly to New York, then to London–bleah), and if I’m going to spend that much money myself, I’m going for a few weeks and really enjoy myself.
I didn’t say if I would. Back in the mid-late-'80s there was a (now defunct) British airline offering one way tickets from L.A. to London for $99 (with return ticket purchase). I’ve always regretted not taking advantage of the offer.
So yeah, I’d probably do it. (Not necessarily London. I really liked Italy. And then there are those Danish calzones…)
I’ve done plenty of these trips, but mainly over the Sea of Japan / East Sea. My SO and I have taken many weekend trips from Tokyo to Beijing or Seoul.
I’ve done a three-day weekend in New York from the UK, but I wouldn’t do it again. By the time I recovered from the flight (I’m tall and was travelling in cattle class) it was time to go home. But I’ve had many a weekend in Amsterdam, which is only an hour and a half or so, and hope to do so again in a couple of weeks.
I’ve done it just to get to the next level of premium frequent flyer. Flew to London, turned around and got back on the next plane and flew back to the US. I knew I was going to Oz in the next six months and with the upgraded premium level got enough frequent flyer miles to go to Hawaii twice, and got to use the premium flyer club: Free food and showers.
I’ve done it. I guess you’d call it a “long weekend”, though.
Some years ago I flew out of SFO at 3pm, nonstop to LHR. Got into London 10am or so. I sleep well on planes, so no problem sightseeing, running all over London with my sister (she was already there) the first day. Same thing Sunday and Monday. Flew home early Tuesday morning. I originally planned to come home Monday, but stayed the extra day.
I was young and had the money ($450 round trip on BA) and my sister already had accommodations set up. Would I do it now? Probably not. I might fly to New York for the weekend (oh wait, I did that, too a few years ago) but not to Europe.
In 1998 I went to Rome for a “long” weekend for a friend’s wedding. I left Sydney on Thursday afternoon and got into Rome on Friday morning (Rome time). The wedding was on Saturday afternoon; the reception on Saturday night. I left Rome on Sunday evening and got back into Sydney Tuesday morning (Sydney time).
I used to work for a large corporate travel agency in the DC area. The owner was tight with our Pan-Am sales representative. Several times during the course of my employment, there’d be an announcement that there would be several seats available for a “familiarization trip” to London/Frankfurt/Paris etc.
But, the catch was this… you had to work a full week previous, leave as a group Friday night on the overnight from Dulles, return from our destination Sunday morning, and report to work on Monday.
I gotta tell ya, the first time I did it, I was dizzy for several days after I returned. If I stood up too fast, I’d reel.
My last GF can fly for free anywhere in the world whenever she wants to. If I could do that, I would fly to Barcelona next week, Tel Aviv the week after that, then Paris, London, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Berlin, Brussels, Melbourne, Sydney, Tokyo, Beijing, Guadalajara, Lima, Buenos Aires, etc. etc. etc.
Man, I wish I could do that. The fact that she almost never uses it shocks me. She has a lot of places around the world she wants to see, too, but for some reason she saves it until her mom agrees to go with her, and then they end up going somewhere she doesn’t want to go. It’s totally unlimited. I don’t understand, personally.
No, I don’t like to fly across the Atlantic for anything less than a week at a time. I travel a lot for work and I am so sick of flying, the whole experience is miserable.
The only way I’d consider it is if it was business class or better, but even then it would have to be for a very good reason.
I’ve done HK to SF for a weekend (2 nights), but I was younger and in love.
I’ve done many China / US west coast for 3 nights business trips including one a few weeks ago.
If you’re crossing more than a couple hours of time zone and it takes more than 8 hours door to door, then I’d be hard pressed to justify it even without the cost. Long flights are tiring, especially so if you’re in the back of the bus.
