i just spent 20 minutes or so on the phone with a person from united, trying to use my miles to book a trip, and it worked! i'll be going to greece and israel next summer! woohoo! now, cin needs to get her flight, but that shouldn't be as complicated. yay!

and no, i don't normally plan trips a year out, but flying to europe with frequent flyer miles requires this kind of planning. as it is, i didn't get my first choice of trip dates because the only flights with award seats left for the days we wanted required two stops, and i wasn't really willing to do that. especially not with a stop in london, what with airport madness the way it is.