P.S. Too bad your dates are not flexible--changing your dates to when prices are lowest is the best way to save money!
Yeah, trust me, if we could have traveled in the off-season, we would have, but it's simply not possible with this group due to one person working in a school, another person in grad school, and two semi-tight work schedules.
I don't agree that Jan is too early to buy tickets for July. I might keep tabs on prices, but I would not wait too long. Airfares are really weird.
That's what I read elsewhere, too. Rick Steves, for example, recommends shopping Jan-March for fares in July.
How far of a drive is it to Chicago? Could you rent a car in your city, drive to Chicago and turn it in at the airport there and then fly out of Chicago? That may be safer than having 2 separate flights.
It would be an entire day's drive to Chicago from where we live in Minnesota (8+ hours). I'd rather pay $200 more for airfare than deal with driving to Chicago, sorry! Maybe that's not "mustachian" but we are trying to strike a balance between extremely frugal (staying with friends for half the trip, apartment in Paris we can cook for ourselves) and comfortable for my mother, who turns 65 this year.
There is nothing wrong with separate flights but of course you'd need to have much larger layover than with connected ones. Someone mentioned going from Paris to Frankfurt/Disseldorf by train. That's certainly an option, but remember that in many cases those tickets have to be bought well in advance to get a good price.
Yeah, I'd rather save the 5+ hour train ride back to Germany and fly out of Paris. It would eat up a day of our trip, basically, and I'd rather spend that day in a park in Paris eating gelato or cheese. :)
You don't have to feel beholden to any one airline's CC if that's what making you squeamish. The Arrival Barclaycard will give you $400 back towards your travel expenses, including airfare, plus 2%. And there aren't any foreign transaction fees either, for when you're in Europe.
I am looking at this card as well as the Capital One Venture card. Need to do more reading up, but both sound like a good deal.
Thanks so much for everyone's help and suggestions. I am open to more input and will report back on what we end up paying for this peak season trip. We plan to keep costs fairly low in every other area. No car rental, inexpensive accommodations that allow us to prepare our own meals, and we are "just walk around and see normal stuff" kind of travelers vs. "shop the entire trip" travelers, so that will help, too.