thirfty thursday: vaca

So all this talk of spring break is making me think about the next big adventure in the cards for us.  Problem is - exotic vacations don't exactly come in cheap.  It's not just the plane ticket and the hotel rooms that empty pockets, it's the food, the drinks, the kite-surfing lessons, the kayaking tour, and we can't forget the brand new wardrobe you obviously have to purchase so you look the part.
So that's why you need to take a vaca you don't have to pay for.

How exactly does one do that without randomly making bank in one of those silly sweepstakes? 
Well, by raking up some points of course.

Stefan and I LOVE to use points for trips.  We spent our first New Years' Eve together in Mexico - flying in on United miles and staying in a 5-star resort with Starwood Points.

Breakfast on our balcony

Clearly, my love for mango margaritas

cannot be contained

Thanks to the boatload of points I had raked up, we were also upgraded to an extra large suite which came with a huge kitchen and lovely dining room.  For New Year's Eve dinner we skipped the expensive prix fixe out and cooked at home: homemade guac and chips at our dining room table, and then fresh fish and champagne on the balcony.  It was perfect.

Now, I see you sitting there reading this saying: "well, I just don't have THAT many points..." but the truth is: YOU DO!  You just don't know who they're with, what they're worth, and when they expire.

Enter: www.milewise.com

(I wish I could take credit, but this was a Stefan find.)

This genius of a site allows you to track any and all point-collecting mechanisms you subscribe to.  We're talking airline miles, hotel points, credit card rewards, you name it.  You simply enter in all your different programs and the site tracks where you are towards achieving your goals.  It evens tells you when those points expire, so you don't accidentally miss out on that free airline ticket on the carrier you used to fly.

Then when you're shopping around for, say, an airline ticket, you can put in your itinerary and the site tells you how to optimize the purchase - be it by cashing in on airline miles, credit card points, or just plain cash.

tech crunch

And if you REALLY don't have any points, I'd highly recommend you consider switching your method of payment to optimize around this dimension.  Mint.com has excellent information on which credit card might be best for your lifestyle.  (And excellent tools for you to track your thriftiness otherwise.)

My two favorite (and excellent reward-getting) cards are the usbank FlexPerks Travel Rewards (more information here) and the American Express Starwoods card (more information here).  Feel free to tell them I sent you.  Because you know what that means: more points for me. :)  

Happy vaca-ing!

xoxo

KK