For some people, part of the Thanksgiving ritual is to wake up early, strap on the running shoes and take a quick “Turkey Trot” to help counter the effects of an anticipated day of consuming copious amounts of turkey, stuffing and pumpkin pie.  For others, a leisurely walk around the block following the meal will do the trick.  However, for a travel and points obsessed person like me, the following idea popped into my head this morning … “Wouldn’t it be cool to fly to Turkey on Turkey Day? Why don’t I do a Mileage Run?”

Hmmm.  Let’s see, I could sit down to Thanksgiving lunch, go back for seconds and still have time for a tryptophan induced nap.  I then grab a carry on bag and head out O’hare and catch the following flight:

Wow, only $660 that’s a pretty incredible price. Very tempting!  Of course, I’m not quite sure if I’d be able to get buy in from my Partner F on this latest hair brained scheme of mine.  I’m sure I would get one of those “What are you nuts?” looks from him.

Perhaps a more plausible scenario would be to take a trip early next year.  For example, this is what pricing of flights from Chicago to Istanbul looks like in February:

Based on these rates, a flight to Turkey would cost LESS than the amount I am paying to visit my family in San Diego this Christmas.  In addition it is HALF the price of what we are paying to go on our upcoming trip to London.  I have my eye on the following itinerary:

Turkish Airlines is a member of the Star Alliance so we would be able to be able to collect 10,948 United MileagePlus points on this trip. In addition, the inbound and outbound flights are both non-stops which would save us a lot of time.  Furthermore, February 18 is Presidents’ Day which would make this a very viable “long weekend” option.

“Hey F, what do you think about spending Valentine’s Day in Turkey?”

(Insert, aforementioned “What are you nuts?” look here)

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!