My Almost-Free Vacation Plan Using Credit Card Points
It's winter here in the northeast. Winter means snow, cold, and wind. Sometimes it's just rain, cold and mud. After a few weeks, I just want to be in warm, sunny weather. In a few more weeks, my family will be heading to sunny, warm, wonderful, southern Florida.
A family on a budget traveling?? YES, for around $500. And LOTS of traveling with points.
(Note: This article contains affiliate links.)
Was the process to get all these points easy? Not at all. I put almost all of my expenses on a credit card to earn points. But the almost free travel will be totally worth all my effort.
We will just need money for food and whatever we want to do on the trip. Renting a condo is a great money saver, as we can prepare most of our meals in the condo. I will get a shopping list set up from a local grocery store to pick up food on the way to the condo.
My family doesn't expect to go on multiple vacations each year. One per year is enough for me to plan! During the summer months, we do inexpensive camping trips, with tents! Note: Why don't camping reservations code as travel with Capital One???
When I describe to others how we travel for almost free, most are lost after the first step. Most don't want to know more after I tell them that rule #1 is never, ever to carry a balance on any credit card.
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| Fort Myers Beach, Florida |
Was the process to get all these points easy? Not at all. I put almost all of my expenses on a credit card to earn points. But the almost free travel will be totally worth all my effort.
Here's the breakdown of the big three expenses of our travel:
1. Condo rental on Airbnb:
Total cost is $900 for five nights. $450 of this was paid out in advance. The remainder will be erased with a Capital One Venture Welcome bonus! (Book early! I booked this in April of 2019.) If you use this link you will get $55 off your first trip!2. Flights:
We are traveling during a school break week. Flights from Buffalo NY to Fort Myers would have been $2000 for our family. We are driving three hours to Pittsburgh, PA (where they are NOT on break that week) and the cost dropped to $1200. I used Southwest points and Ultimate Rewards points transferred to Southwest for our flights. I have a Southwest Rapid Rewards Card that gave me 40,000 points with a $2000 spend. Cost of tickets: $11.20 per ticket. I didn't buy the Early bird check-in, as it would add $200 to our tickets. Will set alarm to check in at 24 hours in advance.3. Car Rental:
I used the Chase Ultimate Rewards site to book a car completely with points.We will just need money for food and whatever we want to do on the trip. Renting a condo is a great money saver, as we can prepare most of our meals in the condo. I will get a shopping list set up from a local grocery store to pick up food on the way to the condo.
My family doesn't expect to go on multiple vacations each year. One per year is enough for me to plan! During the summer months, we do inexpensive camping trips, with tents! Note: Why don't camping reservations code as travel with Capital One???
When I describe to others how we travel for almost free, most are lost after the first step. Most don't want to know more after I tell them that rule #1 is never, ever to carry a balance on any credit card.
For those that can play the credit card game without paying interest, the travel rewards are amazing!
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