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Just the other day, I was mapping out potential cards I might apply later this year and next. After being denied for the Chase Sapphire Reserve last week for having “too many accounts” and building up a stash of 300,000 Membership Rewards points for our travels next year, I decided to take a short break from signups.
Still, I have plenty of awards-fueled travel to look forward to for the remainder of the year. While some components of our trips are paid out-of-pocket, much of it has been paid with cash back from rewards cards, hotel points and free nights, and airline miles. Here are our upcoming travel plans for the rest of the year, and where you can find me.
Next Up, San Diego
Towards the end of September, I’m heading to San Diego for the annual financial blogging conference known as FinCon. While I do write about travel for Frugal Travel Guy and U.S. News and World Report Travel, most of my career writing focuses on financial topics like budgeting and credit.
In addition to attending this conference, I’m also speaking at FinCon this year. If you want to see me, now’s your chance. I will not be at the Chicago Seminars this year because of the next trip I have planned.
Since this is a business event, I chose to pay out-of-pocket for our four nights at the Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina. On the other hand, I used around 20,000 Southwest Rapid Rewards points and my husband’s Companion Pass to get us to the conference and back home.
St. Thomas in October
As I shared earlier this year, I booked a trip to St. Thomas for seven people and paid for the bulk of it with rewards. Using cash back from several rewards cards, I paid for part of our stay in three different condos at the Sapphire Beach Resort & Marina. If you’re wondering why we booked three separate condos, it’s because we needed ground-level access for my parents (my mom had a knee replacement this year) and each condo that fit the bill was a simple studio. So, instead of booking a bigger place where my mom would need to navigate stairs, I chose to book three first-level properties instead. This was not the cheapest option, but it was the best one.
For our flights, I used the bulk of our Citi ThankYou points plus $650 to book flights for six on American Airlines at a rate of 1.6 cents per point. For my brother’s flight to St. Thomas, I booked a random flight using a $300 voucher I received for getting bumped off a flight with American Airlines. This trip is not going to be cheap by any means, but I did save a bundle by paying for certain components of our trip with rewards.
Greece in November
Here’s another trip I’m entirely too excited about. In November of this year, my husband and I are going to Greece for eight, kid-free days. In addition to the four-day Classical Greece guided tour I booked, we are also spending 3 days in and around Athens. We love ancient history and plan to geek out accordingly. And since we’re staying in a central location near Syntagma Square, we should be within walking distance to nearly everything we want to see and do.
Since we got in the sales fares offered to Europe this fall, we paid for our coach airfare with real, actual money. In the end, our seats ended up costing us around $600 each. I also paid to upgrade to guaranteed seats on the British Airways legs of our flights for $84, but I used travel credit from my Ritz Carlton credit card to do that.
When it comes to hotels, our four-day guided tour includes first class hotel accommodations for three nights. For the remainder of our stay, I booked a room at Plaka Hotel for around 6,800 Chase Ultimate Rewards points per night. This place doesn’t look fancy but does offer an ideal location, free breakfast, and Wi-Fi.
Puerto Rico for Winter Break
I love taking my kids on vacation during their school breaks, yet winter break is awful for award availability. As a result, I booked and paid for (gasp!) four flights to San Juan, Puerto Rico on American Airlines. It was only $351 per round-trip flight mind you, but it still hurt.
Once we arrive, we’ll spend a few nights in an AirBNB in Old San Juan first. I paid around $230 in cash back for that stay, and I can’t wait to stay right near the old core of this old historic city.
For the next leg of our trip, we redeemed our two free nights from our IHG Rewards Club Select Credit Cards for a two-night stay at the InterContinental San Juan. This part of our trip is mostly about enjoying the beach!
After that, we had to my favorite property in the world – the El Conquistador Resort in Fajardo, Puerto Rico. There, we can enjoy the on-site waterpark, the beautiful scenery, and a Palomino Adventure at the resort’s private island. And since it sits right next to El Yunque, we can take the kids into the rainforest for some educational fun, too.
Wrapping Up
While I’m not planning to sign up for any more cards for the rest of the year, I plan to enjoy the travel plans I have booked with points already. Add onto that the huge stash of points I have already built for our 2017 plans, and I can’t wait to see where we end up next.
What travel plans are you excited for? How are you using points to your advantage?
[Image via Getty]
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- Annual Fee: $450 fee
- Foreign Fees: No
- Card Type: Travel
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Delta® Reserve for Business
- Annual Fee: $450 fee
- Foreign Fees: No
- Card Type: Travel
| FTG Review | Reward Breakdown | Points Breakdown |
|---|---|---|
Breakdown
Earn (pt.)
Spend
3 months
0
$3,000
Per dollar on eligible purchases with Delta Purchases
2.00
$1
All Purchases
1.00
$1
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