A surprise stretch of five days off work is usually a gift — but turning it into an intercontinental holiday at short notice takes some scrappy planning. That's exactly what happened here: with sudden leave approved and kids still in school, a couple scrambled together a short European getaway, swapping beach fantasies for a horse-riding reunion in Germany's Black Forest.
The original wishlist was sunnier. First thought: the Caribbean, specifically Saint Kitts and Nevis and its Park Hyatt. Second idea: Iceland, flying in with no plan and driving the Ring Road. But a phone call with a best friend settled it — Germany it was, combining a visit to parents who'd been missed on a summer trip with trail rides among the Black Forest's famous hills and pine woods.
Booking the flights is where the miles-and-points side comes in. Business class award space wasn't available out of Los Angeles, but Chicago had SAS business class on the exact dates — a five-day window with four nights on the ground. The routing is a fun, slightly convoluted one: fly into Zurich for the German visit, then buy a separate cheap Norwegian ticket from Basel to Copenhagen to connect (tight!) onto the SAS flight back to Chicago. The long-haul leg runs on the SAS A330, a cabin the traveller has flown many times before but is happy to settle into again.
There's a takeaway here beyond the flight hacking. The reasoning behind saying yes to a short trip is a good nudge for anyone: there's never a perfect time to get away, and with kids growing up fast, a four-night dash to Europe can be worth more than waiting for the ideal two-week window. Five days is genuinely enough for a meaningful visit — land in Zurich, a couple of hours to the Black Forest, time with family and friends, and a flexible return via Basel if you want a taste of Switzerland too.
Who should care? Two crowds. Points enthusiasts will enjoy the routing creativity — mixing SAS miles with a separate budget-carrier positioning flight to unlock premium cabin availability. And busy parents who keep postponing trips will relate to the core message: grab the unexpected days off. The Black Forest, meanwhile, is a legitimately appealing short-trip base — riding stables, hiking trails, spa towns like Baden-Baden, and easy rail links from Zurich or Basel.
The trip reports are still to come, including a fresh look at SAS's transatlantic business product. But the booking itself already makes the case that last-minute doesn't have to mean second-rate.
