Help me figure out my mystery honeymoon!

[dennis99ss]

You are going to Europe. You are traveling East, not west. Leaving at night arriving in the morning is an east flight. leaving a 6pm from Chicago is the late/mid-late flight to Europe. Arriving at 8am means you are stopping at a "first" European gateway. From Chicago, that is probably London. I think anything on the continent is going to be a later arrival than 8am, if you have a 6pm departure. Sounds like London though. From London, it is about a 2 hour flight into Athens, and Switzerland and about an hour flight into Paris. Make a circle from London to Athens, and you can get an idea of where you may be heading.

Australia, New Zealand, and the pacific are the other way, and, the flights loose between one and two days, depending on when you leave. They also will have to stop in either LA, San Fran or Hawaii. Not those locales.

There is one other possibility, and that is deep South America. Flights into Santiago, and other deep deep South American locales will take you that long to get there from Chicago, because you would likely have to change planes at a southern gateway, Houston, Dallas, Atlanta or Miami. Time is the same, and the flight is probably 12 hours or so from Chicago, but, with a change, you hit your time requirements. Once in South America, you could be going anywhere. Do you all ski?

My vote is London. But, I would keep the South America trip open. I trust that you would know which one they would pick for you and DF. What I do not get is the "driving" part, as I don't think you would want to drive in either locale, and in London you do not need a car.

Hope it helps.

Just some more thoughts. London just got a better vote, as the entry requirements do not require Visas and the like. I think Chile, and maybe Argentina do require Visas. (Been a long time since I have been to either, so don't count on my memory. State Department website can tell you though.)

 

[clh2]

I don't think its Hawaii. I looked on Expedia and there are no flights to HNL after 12 noon from ORD.

But...what if they are transferring planes somewhere along the way, i.e. LAX

 

[golfgal]

Oh, I read that wrong, you could be going to Australia. Most of the flights were leaving around 6/7PM and were getting in in the morning of what ever day it would be.

 

[golfgal]

Ok, I checked Quantas Airline again and there are several flights leaving around 6:00 PM and getting in around 8 AM. My bet now is for Australia!!!!

 

[BelleMcNally]

Would you believe I never even thought of Australia!

 

[mark&sue]

When we fly home from the states to London it is always around that time.

Also you state that you will make the other flights some time during your stay which would lead me to think it would be a trip round europe starting off with a few days in London and then say Paris, Italy or Spain all of which are lovely in May. Have a great time and don't forget to let us know.


Susan

 

[dennis99ss]

Australia gets you in 2 days later, if you take a night flight out. You cross the date line, etc. Coming back, its a full 20 hours or more. Plus, the times are to perfect for Europe/S.A.

 

[BelleMcNally]

Australia gets you in 2 days later, if you take a night flight out. You cross the date line, etc. Coming back, its a full 20 hours or more. Plus, the times are to perfect for Europe/S.A.

You're right--it's so hard for me to keep all of that gaining/losing time stuff straight!

Thanks

 

[robsmom]

Australia makes alot of sense for the extra flights as you would want to see at least sydney, the outback and the great barrier reef which are flights within Australia. Presumably you would land in sydney, however, i can't really see where you would drive at first? How long is your trip. Is it long enough that you might be doing a few destinations. do the think the extra flights are to get you to one place (ie. connect to london and then go to greece) or is your trip long enough to have multiple stops?

 

[SyracuseWolvrine]

United Airlines flight 928 usually departs Chicago O'Hare at 18:05 (6:05pm), and arrives at London Heathrow 7:55am + 1 day. Flight is typically operated on a Boeing 777.

Now, granted, there could be other flights that leave ORD and arrive somewhere else at roughly the same times, but this one seems fairly likely. Checked other "gateway" destinations (Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Madrid, Munich), and the times don't match as closely.

 

[golfgal]

Australia makes alot of sense for the extra flights as you would want to see at least sydney, the outback and the great barrier reef which are flights within Australia. Presumably you would land in sydney, however, i can't really see where you would drive at first? How long is your trip. Is it long enough that you might be doing a few destinations. do the think the extra flights are to get you to one place (ie. connect to london and then go to greece) or is your trip long enough to have multiple stops?

The extra flights could be flights to and from New Zealand. When you get to Australia or New Zealand you have to drive to your hotel or where ever you are staying!

 

[shortbun]

I'm thinking Greece. You could be taking smaller planes to the smaller islands there.

That's my guess too.

 

[jwsqrdplus2]

My parents recently did a European cruise and your projected timeline sounds like it could be the set up for a cruise. In fact my folks are in Dallas, but their international flight was out of Chicago! And part of their cruise itinerary was Greece.

The short flights could be part of a shore excursion (helicopter tour, etc). The drive at the first destination could be from the airport to the port for the ship.

Can't wait to hear the final plan.

 

[BelleMcNally]

That's the other thing--we have no idea how long we'll be going for! I'll be leaving my current job before the wedding (as we will be moving after the wedding) and DFi freelances currently, so we haven't had to demand a time frame from them yet either! I feel it will be something around 10 days, though...

 

[BelleMcNally]

United Airlines flight 928 usually departs Chicago O'Hare at 18:05 (6:05pm), and arrives at London Heathrow 7:55am + 1 day. Flight is typically operated on a Boeing 777.

Now, granted, there could be other flights that leave ORD and arrive somewhere else at roughly the same times, but this one seems fairly likely. Checked other "gateway" destinations (Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Madrid, Munich), and the times don't match as closely.

Wow, you guys are good!! I expected all kinds of guesses, but never actual flight numbers!!

Just goes to show--if you don't know, ask the DISers!

 

[Beth76]

What about Tahiti? The "other flights" are making me wary of Europe. Isn't the transportation of choice trains, rather than planes? I'm thinking it's Australia or elsewhere in the South Pacific.

 

[Steffi]

Oh, how exciting for you! I hope it's Europe, how romantic would that be?! You have a lot to look forward to in the upcoming months. Enjoy!

 

[disykat]

I normally hate surprises - but I love the whole mystery thing! You know it's coming, you'll have time to plan, but you get to spend some time guessing. How fun!

 

[Gary M]

I flew from Detroit to London a few weeks ago and the flight time was about 7 1/2 hours. London was 5 hours ahead of Detroit and 6 hours ahead of Chicago. You would leave Chicago at midnight London time and since Chicago is maybe a little further from London than Detroit it would probably take 8 hours which would get you into London at 8:00 am. I'm doing the times from memory, but I think I am close on the times. We then flew from London to Gibraltar which took about 2 1/2 hours. The European continent is one hour ahead of the UK, so London seems to fit the timeline.