“Travel Hacks: My Wallet-Friendly Trip to Hawaii”
Let’s dive into how I planned a budget-friendly trip to Hawaii using travel rewards and smart financial strategies. The trick to mastering travel reward points? It’s all about proper planning and timely decisions.
A while back, I attended the FinCon 2014 event. Thanks to my smart usage of travel rewards, I managed to enjoy an amazing weekend in New Orleans for just $608.87. Around half of that amount covered the ticket for the event itself.
Similar to that experience, I decided to plan a trip to Hawaii this year with my best friend. The last time we’d been on a big vacation was six years back, which was an unforgettable trip to Scotland and France. We took a while to decide on our next destination. We knew Hawaii wouldn’t be a budget-friendly option, but we eventually agreed on it.
Securing the right cards is the next step in the process. I successfully applied for credit cards from Chase Sapphire Preferred, Barclaycard Cash Forward, BankAmerica Travel Rewards Signature Visa, and BankAmerica Travel Rewards Platinum Plus Visa.
For instance, with the Chase Sapphire Preferred, I had to spend $4,000 in three months to qualify for the bonus. My routine purchases and some extra payments brought me quite close to the target. Another smart move was opening a savings account at PNC Bank and funding my initial deposit using my new credit card, which also counted towards my spending.
In a similar fashion, I opened accounts at First Niagara Bank and Santander bank to hit the credit card spends. As a result, I accrued 55,415 points which equated to $692.69 from Chase account. I used those points to book a beach-front property in Oahu, Hawaii for five nights, with only $151.24 out of pocket!
The story was pretty much the same with my Barclaycard Cash Forward and Bank of America cards. By smartly placing my regular expenses on these cards, I managed to qualify for all the bonuses.
A common worry when “churning” credit (opening several credit cards to take advantage of signup bonuses) is the potential effect on credit scores. Just so you know, my credit score actually increased from an excellent score between 765-803 to an even better 808-811 because my credit utilization was incredibly low and my total available credit increased by $20,000!
So, by clever budgeting and reward point optimization, I was able to get my total spending on the Hawaii trip down to $1,854.00 from my initial budget of $4,000 – not including food and souvenirs. That’s a victory for smart credit card use!
As a closing note, always remember to keep an eye on your finances. Have your plan in place, make sure you’re able to repay the balances on your cards, and then enjoy the benefits provided by travel rewards and credit card bonuses.
P.S. Here’s my journey of credit card churning and how I used the same strategy for a budget-friendly tour across Eastern Europe.