My Upcoming Trips with Credit Card Rewards, Part Two

My Upcoming Trips with Credit Card Rewards Part Two - picture of people boarding small airplane at sunset

This article may contain references to some of our advertising partners. Should you click on these links, we may be compensated. For more about our advertising policies, read our full disclosure statement here.

Yesterday I wrote about our upcoming trips with credit card rewards, and how we used points and miles to pay for the majority of our travels.  Today I’m simply picking up where I left off.  And that, my friends, will be in one of my favorite places on Earth- New Orleans, Louisiana.

FinCon 2014

I didn’t make the financial bloggers conference last year because we were moving, so I was bound and determined to make it happen this year.

Fortunately, some freakin’ genius decided to have FinCon in New Orleans this year.  It’s true that New Orleans is slightly dirty and disgusting at times, but I still love it due to its authenticity and all the weirdos that tend to gather there.  And thanks to FinCon, we will be heading to the Big Easy in late September.  I cannot wait!

For all my stalkers out there, we will be staying at the Marriott near the French Quarter.  The total cost of our stay was $417- an amount I chose to pay out-of-pocket since it is a legitimate business expense and I can write it off on my taxes.

Hey, I got to get those tax deductions anywhere I can, right?

Me and some random guy in New Orleans. He told me he felt queasy because he "just ate a sammich."
Me in New Orleans with my….ummmm…..friend…..

Our flights were paid for with Southwest Rapid Rewards points and my companion pass.  After using points, the total cost of our flights ended up being 14,700 Rapid Rewards points and $10.  Yes, ten freakin’ dollars.

Total Cost of Trip to New Orleans:

  • Hotel: $417
  • Flights: $10

Total: $427

Note:  Links to the Southwest 50K offer are currently dead.  However, I do have  referral codes to hand out to anyone who wants to sign up and earn 50,000 Rapid Rewards points before September 30th.  If you use my code, I’ll earn 5,000 Rapid Rewards points for referring you.  Simply indicate that you want a code in the comments section and I will email it to you ASAP!

Knowing When to Splurge

As I shared sometime last month, Greg has a huge man-crush on the members of Pearl Jam.  I do too, obviously, so we decided to see them in concert this year…come hell or high water!  Unfortunately, their tour dates sucked and none of their concerts were close enough to drive to.  Fortunately, we have the Southwest Companion Pass.  Winning!

Since we had to fly anyway, we decided to go somewhere cool to see our favorite band. And the location that worked best with our calendar happened to be Denver, Colorado.  Thanks to my free Marriott night from the Marriott Rewards credit card, our stay in downtown Denver will be free.  That’s right.  Nothing.  Nada.  And kudos to Southwest for providing our transportation.  The total cost of our flights ended up being 14,900 Rapid Rewards points and $10.

Our big splurge for the trip came in the form of some pricey tickets to the actual show.  Yeah, that’s right.  I’m not going to fly my ass all the way to Denver just to sit in the nosebleed section!  Instead, we chose to get decent tickets for a total cost of $371.  Sue me.

Total Cost to See Pearl Jam:

  • Tickets: $371
  • Hotel: FREE
  • Flights: $10

Total: $381

Note: If you’re interested in signing up for the Marriott Rewards credit card, I have a referral code for that one too!  The sign-up bonus has temporarily been bumped up to 70,000 points for completing a $1,000 minimum spend.  There is no annual fee for the first year, and you also get a free night in a Category 1-4 hotel upon account approval.  If you want a referral email, simply let me know in the comments!

Europe On the Cheap

We’re kid-free for one week in November (Thanks grandma!), so we thought it would be wise to travel somewhere fun and exciting.  You can read exactly how we made it happen here, but we basically redeemed 80,000 American Airline miles for two round-trip flights to Europe (to London, then home from Paris), 48,000 Starwood Preferred Guest points for four nights at the Park Lane Hotel in London, and our two free Hyatt nights for two nights at the Park Hyatt Vendome.

Our hotels were completely free with points, but we did have to pay $197 in government-mandated taxes and fees for our flights there and back.  So far we’ve also prepaid $160 for a train ride on the chunnel from London to Paris and $139 for two tickets to see Les Miserables at the Queen’s Theatre in London.  Once we’re there, we also plan to take a train to Bath, Amesbury, U.K. to see Stonehenge, and Edinburgh, Scotland.  When all is said and done, we will likely spend another $400 on those train rides and some other attractions.

Cost of Trip to Europe:

  • Hotels: FREE
  • Flights: $197 in government-mandated taxes and fees
  • Chunnel Ride: $160
  • Les Miserables: $139
  • Train/Attractions: $400

Total: $896

So, that’s it.  Those are the major trips we have planned with credit cards this year.  Now I just have to get busy planning our travels for 2015.

And no, you cannot come with me.

Well, maybe.

Check out my recent post on the U.S. Airways Premier MasterCard:

Why the U.S. Airways Premier World MasterCard is a Travel Hacking No-Brainer– VOSA

Do you have any major vacations coming up?  Any trips planned with credit card rewards?  Please share in the comments!

Similar Posts

Disclaimer: Comments, responses, and other user-generated content is not provided or commissioned by this site or our advertisers. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by this website or our advertisers. It is not the responsibility of our advertisers or this website to ensure that all comments and/or questions are answered. Club Thrifty has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Club Thrifty and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers.

50 Comments

  1. Cool…I was wondering if you would be attending FinCon. I’ve never been to New Orleans (or FinCon) so I am looking forward to the being there.

    1. New Orleans is trashy but fun. I’m sure FinCon will be awesome!

  2. I’ll be interested to see how you like the Park Hyatt. Everything I hear about that hotel makes me want to stay there. I’m not a fancy person, so I worry that the Park Hyatt will be too fancy for me.

    1. It will probably be too fancy for us too. It just seemed like the best option for our two free Hyatt nights!

  3. Ben Luthi says:

    That all sounds delicious. I just applied for a scholarship for FinCon so hopefully I can be there too! And I’m totally jealous of your Europe trip. I love that continent with all my heart and soul.

  4. So I didn’t question your decision yesterday to purchase flights to FL instead of using Rapid Rewards, but now I’m really wondering why you didn’t use the points for FL and did use them for FinCon, a legitimate business expense. 🙂 Seems to me it would have been better to buy southwest gift cards and use those for business travel while using the points for personal travel.

    Great job all around though! You’ve got some good travel planned!

    1. There are four of us going to Orlando- too many points for me to part with when I could get away with paying $756! I am also saving SW points to fly 6 of us to Jamaica for Spring Break so wasn’t ready to part with that many SW points yet.

      I didn’t want to pay out-of-pocket for my hotel AND flights for FinCon. “Writing something off” doesn’t make it free and I am still in the business of making money, not spending it. I also didn’t have enough Marriott points to book my room anyway, so I wasn’t going to get a free room unless I paid with other rewards somehow.

  5. Sounds like some awesome trips! We’re looking forward to FinCon as well as neither of us have been to New Orleans. I’m slightly jealous of you going to Scotland. 🙂 We went to London as well as Ireland for our honeymoon and couldn’t make it to Scotland…I guess we’ll just have to get some rewards to get there. 😉

    1. I think Edinburgh will be fine. Might as well go since we’ll be there anyway!

  6. You have some great trips planned it seems! FinCon sounds like an awesome event, although if it is around September every year that would probably be a bit brutal with work…

  7. Great inspiration, Holly! We’re headed to New Orleans for New Year’s courtesy of the Barclaycard and Starwood. I absolutely love New Orleans and am psyched that you’re going. Your Europe trip is nicely done, as well. I, for one, am taking notes!

    1. Nice! New Year’s in New Orleans would be insane!

  8. I am so jealous of all of your fun traveling in store for 2014! Sounds like a great way to end the year.

    I’m super excited for FinCon. See you there!

  9. After two years of shirking, I’m traveling so much for work this year. Too much. Trips planned for NM, CA, AL, and MA so far (and just got back from MA and AR, with CA a few months ago). There will probably be more.

    1. I hope you are earning some airline miles for all of that!

      1. Yes, but they just get used to visit the relatives out in the middle of nowhere or to fly out relatives to visit us.

        1. Oh, just got a reminder that I’m going to TX in October. Completely forgot about that conference.

  10. Sounds fabulous! We did a very similar London–Paris trip a few years ago and stayed at the Park Lane Hotel in London with our Starwood points. It’s a great location and the hotel itself was just fine (not amazing, but perfectly lovely). We really enjoyed the chunnel ride (Mr. FW is a train geek). Enjoy!

    1. Yeah, I’m sure the Park Lane Hotel will be fine. It may not be fancy, but it has a great location!

  11. So great that you have those vacations coming up! I’m really dying for a vacation…but we’re probably moving soon. I hate packing and moving stuff. I keep hearing travel bloggers talk about the Hyatt in Paris…I’d be interested to hear how fancy that hotel is.

  12. I would love to attend FinCon but it will be in 2015. I only found out about their scholarship yesterday! I’ve seen a fair bit of Europe but I have yet to visit the trifecta (England, Scotland and Ireland). For our vacation airfare we tend to use our air miles accumulated from our business trips.

  13. We should have the companion pass in a couple of months. Probably not the best time to get it, but it’s not like we fly Southwest all the time. It will save us a ton for Christmas flights and whatever we decide to do next summer.

    1. Sweet! Hey, any time is a good time if you ask me! =)

  14. Be careful overplanning in England. Having lived there…Edinburgh from London is easily a 7 hour train ride each way. Great city, but it’s not close…with only a week for London and Paris, Edinburgh may be too much.

    1. Thanks for the tip, Julia! That is exactly why we haven’t booked that train trip yet. Some of the trains look like they take about 5 hours, which is doable, but I’m afraid to commit without know how we will feel. We might decide at the last minute.

  15. Miles and hotel points are great ways to cut costs! I do it when I travel too.

  16. Sounds like some great trips you have planned, Holly! With both my wife and I in new positions at work the hardest thing for us is finding time for trips. Unfortunately with the forecast falling during FinCon I won’t make it this year : /

    1. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

  17. I loved New Orleans! It is dirty and weird, but unique and exciting nonetheless. I enjoyed touring the Garden district and seeing all the mansions there, including the one owned by Sandra Bullock.

  18. I love reading your articles here and elsewhere – great tips and insights! Do you currently have any links for Southwest BUSINESS credit cards with the 50,000 points? Going to get the personal one now and hoping there will be another 50k point offer for business ones this year, but if you have one…

    1. Thanks Tim!

      Nope, I don’t have a referral number for the business version. It sounds like you have a good plan, though. Get the personal version now and earn 50K then sign up for the business version later this year when the 50K bonus comes back! Then you will have the companion pass for all of 2015.

      Or you could just wait until the beginning of next year and try to do both cards in 2015 so you’ll have the companion pass in 2015/16!

      Let me know if you need the number and referral info for the personal PLUS version of the card!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  19. Sounds great. Especially the London/Paris trip. I hope you have nice weather. I was there in 2013 Late March and it was cold but we made the best of it. First thing I did was get on the London eye. Got great pics from there of the city, Thames River and Big Ben. We bought the London Pass for our 4 day weekend. It was a world wind and we needed a vacation after that! ha!

  20. We did a bus tour from London that hit up Salisbury, Stonehenge, and Bath. It was reasonably priced as I remember it. I found it through viator, so you should be able to find something similar – may save you time and money. Getting to stonehenge can’t be done by train (only bus/car) 🙁

  21. That Denver trips sounds awesome! We’re planning a trip to Europe for a few weeks next summer, so I’m headed over to check out the US Airways card right now- thanks!

  22. Sounds like some great trips coming up! I am interested in getting the Marriott rewards card-could you please send me a referral link? Thanks Holly!

  23. That Europe trip sounds amazing for that price! I’m pretty new to credit card rewards, currently I’m just using one card for 5% gas cash back and another for 1.5% flat cash back. I figured it works well for me but whenever I see a post like this I feel like I should start to look at one that gives travel rewards as well – I think that would be a lot more rewarding.

  24. Sounds really awesome, Holly, all these trips! Way to make it work. You are the master. How do you find time to plan all this stuff. I used to spend so much time planning our vacations that I think it’s a good thing we can’t afford to take any now, because I don’t have time to plan them anyways! 😉

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.