FIJI! It’s finally here!!

Tags

australia, fiji, miles and points, new zealand, travel, united

After almost a year of planning, 2 flubbed United itineraries (thanks to their terrible IT), and over a year of collecting miles and points…

We’re finally off to Fiji this Saturday. FINALLY! I feel like I haven’t had a vacation in ages.

Originally we were just going to go to Fiji and back, but every time United screwed up I was able to make lemonade out of lemons and add another country to our trip itinerary.

The agenda:
1 night in Auckland, New Zealand
8 nights in Fiji
4 nights in Sydney, Australia

The total flight cost: 140,000 United points and $235/pp out of pocket (cheaper than a Hawaii flight from Northern California)
The hotel cost: $100 USD for Auckland, $60/night and 4,000 SPG points/night for Fiji, and in Sydney we’re staying at Justin’s cousin’s place for free.

I really could not have done it without the help of miles and points bloggers like The Points Guy and Million Mile Secrets.

Once the trip is over, I will be documenting it in the “MY VACATIONS” page on the blog, with lots of photos and tips if you ever happen to visit one day.

We will also be completing our diving certification there. I’m a little nervous to be honest. I’m nervous about finally scuba diving in the ocean (I did it when I was little and in my late teens but it has been a while) and I’m nervous about going to a new country!

The flight to Sydney for our first layover will be about 14 hours O__O

Do you have any plane-sleeping tips for me?

❤E&I

Saving Money vs. Jumping at a Vacation Deal

Tags

hawaii, hotel, miles and points, travel, travel deals, tripalertz

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How do you normally travel?  Do you plan it out far in advance and search for the best airfare deals first?  Or the best hotel deals first?

I’m in a bit of a predicament right now (albeit a good one!)

For the next 12 days, TripAlertz has this deal for 1 week’s worth of hotel stays for only $395… and that’s not per person.  There are a lot of countries to choose from, but my main focus is Hawaii.  Right now there are a few resorts in Kauai that offer 2 bedroom apartments and can house up to 6 people (if friends decide to join us.  That would up the savings even further.)  Justin and I have enough points for 5 round trip tickets to Hawaii but at the moment we don’t have any for hotel stays.  If we were to buy this and go alone, we’d only pay less than $60 per night for 7 nights.  This seems like the perfect opportunity to book a quick 1-week vacation to Hawaii!

But… there are a few caveats.

1. Justin won’t have enough vacation time until next year.
2. The TripAlertz deal can only be used within 1 year of purchase.  Therefore, with Justin’s vacation limitations our time to travel will be between January, 2013 up to August, 2013.
3. You can only reserve the TripAlertz deal within a 60 day travel window. “Ex:  If you are planning to travel on February 1, 2013, you will not be able to view available hotels until December 3, 2012.”  If I didn’t have the flights covered, I wouldn’t take this deal.  Buying a flight only 2 months out would most likely end up with an expensive fare.
4. Our airlines award miles can only fly Alaska Airlines, and I’ll have to reserve flights less than 2 months out to match the hotel stay.
5. We’re already going to Fiji for 2 weeks in May, 2013.
6. Even though this will be an inexpensive vacation, we’ll be spending a lot of money on food, excursions, shopping and car rental (on top of what we’ll spend in Fiji.)

My main concern is #6.  On top of Fiji vacation spending, we’d be spending MORE money that we could be saving for the future.  I’m also a little concerned about hotel availability matching up with my airfare rewards too.  I just checked hotel availability from now until September and there seems to be a lot of hotel locations available.  If I were to book, I’d shoot for January or February… which won’t be a busy season compared to summer time.  So potentially, January would be in Hawaii… and May will be Fiji.  A 4 month spread.

Its funny that one of my main priorities in life right now is going on vacation, yet I’m concerned that I’m taking TOO MUCH vacation (and spending the money that comes with it).  I really wish I could take this trip during the 2nd half of 2013 to spread it out a little bit more.

In Hawaii we normally pay around $100 or so for a place to sleep.  Over a 7 night stay, this would save us $280 in hotel costs in comparison.  Is saving an extra $40/night worth it?  Or should I just wait until the end of 2013 for another trip to Hawaii?

This is all a matter of timing, really.

What do you think I should do?

My Experience with “Miles and Points”

Tags

miles and points, rewards credit cards, travel

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So in this post I mentioned briefly how I got into the miles and points game. For those of you who asked about it, this is my experience! It’s a bit lengthy, sorry!

If your credit is in good standing (over 700+), you can potentially do what I’m doing now and travel very cheaply. BUT. I must tell you now that if you’re thinking of starting this, it’s not that simple and there is a lot of research involved. After all, you are affecting your own credit here.

I’m not an expert when it comes to miles and points, but once again I’ll mention some helpful links that got me started:

• Million Miles Secrets (Newbie guide)
• The Points Guy (Beginners Guide)
• Extra Pack of Peanuts (Beginners Guide)

Credit card bonuses are one of the most lucrative ways to accumulate miles and points the fastest. And after reading lots of miles and points blogs like the ones above and some thorough research and investigation on Flyertalk.com, here’s what I did.

1. I checked my credit score before I started any credit card applications. I just recently refinanced my mortgage and received a credit score from my lender. You can also get an estimation of your Transunion score through CreditKarma.com. Also check out Credit Sesame for another credit score estimation. (Weirdly enough, I just recently found out Credit Sesame is just down the street from my job!) Another way of checking your credit history is by getting 1 free credit report (but not score) every year from each of the 3 credit bureaus at AnnualCreditReport.com.

2. I decided what my travel goals were and chose cards that fit my goals accordingly. This is what makes the miles and points game very personal. People have different travel goals or ways of doing things.. this is just my way.

Justin and I love Hawaii and other beachy destinations. So any airline or hotel program that can get me there is what I focus on. I wanted to find the credit card bonuses could get me the most nights at a specific hotel, or what bonuses could get us the airline tickets to destination “X” for little or no money.

I ended up choosing the AMEX Starwood card, which has a reasonable minimum spending requirement, 25K bonus points, and high cash and points redemption value. They have properties in Hawaii (and Fiji) with reasonable redemption rates.

I also focused on Chase cards that gave Chase Ultimate Rewards bonus points for their versatility in point redemption options, for both hotels and airline flights. I used Chase Ultimate Rewards points to book my hotel in Monterey just recently, as well as book my flights to Fiji for next year.

I was just recently asked if I closed my old cards when I got my new ones.. the answer is no. I’d recommend NOT to cancel ANY credit card that you have prior to getting new cards. You could potentially cancel a card with a longstanding relationship with that bank.. and the longer your average credit history, the better. Just put it in a drawer somewhere for safekeeping.

Before I started using travel rewards credit cards, I had only the Blue/Green American Express with cashback rewards and Costco membership, as well as some random Citicard with cash back.

This is what I have right now, and I’ve accumulated each over time:

1. AMEX Starwood (everyday spend card #1)
2. Chase Sapphire Preferred (everyday spend card #2)

3. Chase Ink Bold (will downgrade to the fee free one before my year is up)
4. Chase United (I just got the 50K miles from this, will cancel later when I get a new Chase card)
5. Chase British Airways Visa (I just got the 50K miles which equals 4 RT tickets to Hawaii, will cancel later when I get a new Chase card)

3. I made sure that I could meet minimum spending requirements for each card. Before I started, I took a look at my past credit card payment history to see what I had been averaging per month on everyday spending. Many rewards cards require minimum spending amounts that need to be finished within a certain amount of time. If a credit card had a minimum spending requirement that was higher than my baseline, I’d pass. There’s absolutely no point in applying for a card and taking a hit on your credit report when you can’t meet the minimum spend in the first place.

4. When applying for cards, constant bookkeeping and timekeeping are important. When meeting minimum spends, I checked my spending activity frequently. Checking your card’s activity online on the bank website or using a tool like Mint.com is helpful for this. Card anniversaries have to be noted before you get charged another year of annual fees, and then you have the choice to keep the card, cancel it, or downgrade to a fee-free card. Once again, checking Credit Karma and Credit Sesame is important for credit score monitoring as you get new cards. I also try not to get a new card until I’ve finished the bonus requirements for the old card. I space out applications as much as I can so there aren’t too many inquiries on my credit reports at one time. You can apply for lots of cards at the same time (aka the “app-o-rama”) but I’m not that brave.

4. As points accumulate, I check AwardWallet.com to see all of my rewards points in once place. I also upgraded my service for a small fee so I can be alerted when miles are expiring. This is also good for Starbucks, Sephora, Ebates, or other rewards program monitoring, just FYI.

5. I cash out my points! Once I hit that spending requirement (for some cards, there is none at all) and the points have been deposited into my account, I cash it in! There should be no surprises on what I use my points on because from Step #1 I have already planned out what I wanted to use them for anyway.

Phew. Does it seem a bit crazy? I did simplify it a bit, but please do your research to see if this ‘hobby’ is right for you and your travel needs. As for me, I don’t take my credit lightly…I watch my credit like a hawk. Justin said he realized how serious I was when I started printing out credit reports and figuring out which bank inquiries hit which bureau’s credit reports!

If you have any further questions, feel free to ask me. Also, Travis from Extra Pack of Peanuts has said in my last miles/points post that if you need some help or advice in how to earn and use frequent flyer miles, you can contact him here.

♥ E&I

It’s Official… We’re Going to Fiji!

Tags

chase, fiji, miles and points, sheraton, starwood, travel, united

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We booked our flights and hotel stays for Fiji!!

I used 36,000 Starwood points for Cash & Points redemption and 140,000 United miles (by way of Chase Ultimate Rewards) for a 9-night trip at the Sheraton Fiji Resort.

Each night will be $60 USD (not including 15% tax, oh well), and we had to pay a little bit in taxes ($225.80 total) for our United flights.

Totals out of pocket:

• Flights are $112.90 per person through United/Air New Zealand (Price without points is a whopping $2,658.80/pp)
• Hotel stays cost $270 per person for 9 nights, or $60/night (not including tax, and price without points:  $1,083.92/pp total, or $240.87/night)

So why did we choose Fiji?  Justin and I love the beach.  And Fiji is one of those places that beachgoers like us dream about… no other land masses in sight, crystal clear waters and powdery white sand.  Polynesian culture is also really interesting!  I was also thinking about going to Thailand but the southeast Asian mosquitoes scare me, plus Thailand accommodations are cheap enough for us to save up for them in the future.  I’ll get over my fears and go to Thailand someday.

Another reason why I wanted to go to Fiji was because we had a lot of points to use and I wanted to check out a place that I normally wouldn’t go to because of cost.  When I checked out the flight schedules, the United site said I could buy the flights outright for $2658.80 per person, which is COMPLETELY INSANE.  I suppose its that much higher because its after the rainy season too.  Never in a million years would I pay that much for a flight (if I had a choice).  I also checked Kayak and the lowest fare I could find was $1740.30 per person.  Still very expensive. So… why not go using rewards points and a couple hundred dollars?

I chose to go in May because that’s April is the last month of Fiji’s rainy season and May is supposedly beeeyouutiful!  I’m hoping the weather will cooperate!

As always, I’ll be taking a lot of photos and documenting the trip in the Vacations page.  :D

Points value calculation:  I hope I’m calculating this correctly.

• (($240.87 – $60) / 4000 Starwood points) * 100 = 4.52 cents per point for the Starwood stay
• ($5,317.60 / 140,000) * 100 = 3.80 cents per point for the United flights

♥ E&I

I’m Itching to Travel!

Tags

fiji, miles and points, travel

I haven’t been very motivated to shop lately… and its because I’m thinking about taking a vacation!

I’ve collected nearly 170,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points and 32,000 Starwood points over time and now its time to redeem them.

After some thinking, Justin and I have decided to use up most of the points for a trip to Fiji.  I was thinking about Thailand instead, but I don’t think I’d ever go to Fiji using my own money in the first place.  Plus the USD goes much farther in Thailand and I can save up money for that trip one day.

Two economy RT tickets to Fiji cost 140,000 United miles.  Normally a single RT ticket costs $1,500 to $2,000.

8 nights at a Starwood Category 4 hotel (specifically The Sheraton Fiji Resort) will cost 4,000 Starwood points/night plus an extra $60/night, where the normal rate is about $218/night.

I haven’t booked anything for Fiji yet, because I’m waiting for more airline rewards dates to pop up on their site.

I’ve also just redeemed two hotel nights using Chase Ultimate Rewards points at the Hyatt Regency in Monterey for Memorial Day weekend for the Cal Roots Festival.  The normal rate is $186/night with the AAA discount.

Thinking about collecting miles and points?  Check out these links here for an introduction:

• Million Miles Secrets (Newbie guide)
• The Points Guy (Beginners Guide)
• Extra Pack of Peanuts (Beginners Guide)  <— very easy to understand

I was introduced to the miles and points game from a post by Well Heeled Blog and lately miles and points research has taken up a lot of my time.

Just to note:  I’ve applied for the AMEX Starwood, Chase Sapphire Preferred, Chase Ink Bold, and Chase United Explorer starting October 2011.  My credit score has only dropped 2 points since then according to my credit score monitoring on Credit Karma.  Before you get into the miles and points game, make sure to do your research first and see if its right for you.  

♥ E&I