http://www.streetsmarttraveler.com/toolbox - In this video, Marcus shows a process to help you figure out how many frequent flyer miles you need for your trip.
Once you know what airline you need to target, you can look up that airline's award chart to discover the requirement number of frequent flyer miles. Then you can start brainstorming how to get enough miles to book that trip.
Mentioned in the video:
ITA Matrix
http://matrix.itasoftware.com/
United Award Chart
http://www.united.com/web/en-US/apps/mileageplus/awards/travel/awardtravel.aspx
