19 days. 4 continents. 8 flights. 1 circle of the globe. Throw in a marathon, partying with family, and trying to see as many friends as possible, and the result is four very tired (but still itchy) feet.
When we departed America in 2015, we had planned to return for a visit in North American summer 2017. Ambition, wanderlust, and the ability to book flights at a fraction of their price, led to me scheduling a ridiculous itinerary that saw us visiting way more cities than initially planned. It’s the beauty of this hobby, that we’re able to imagine a stupid route, then make it happen without paying an arm and a leg.
The following table summarizes how we were able to take a $8277 vacation for $2441.
| Item | Miles or points (total for 2) | Actual amount paid | Value | Which credit cards helped |
| Flight ADL—> PER | 36,000 Qantas | $65.00 | $294.00 | None. Earned these the old fashioned way! |
| PER —> MRU | Paid flight | $948.00 | $1198.00 | Citi Prestige |
| MRU—> CDG —> BOS | 80,000 Flying Blue | $422 | $2224.00 | SPG + Citi Prestige |
| BOS —> SEA (stopover) —> LAX | Paid flight + Alaska Air companion certificate | $715.23 | $1160.8 | BoA Alaska Airways |
| LAX —> MEL —> ADL | 80,000 American | $66.40 | $2328.00 | Citi AA, Citi AA business |
| Le Meridien Ile Maurice | 3,500 | $55.00 | $271.31 | SPG |
| Hilton Mauritius | 2 Free night certificates | $95 | $398.06 | Citi Hilton |
| Grand Hyatt Seattle | Free anniversary night | $75 | $402.84 | Chase Hyatt |
| Total | $2441.63 | $8277.01 |
The short version
FLIGHTS
- Adelaide —> Perth: 36,000 Qantas miles + $65.00
- Perth —> Mauritius: $1198.00. Paid flight on Air Mauritius. I didn’t want to use a lot of hard to get miles on flights that cost $600 each.
- Mauritius —> Paris (long layover) —> Boston: 80,000 Flying Blue (Air France) miles + $422
- Boston —> Seattle (stopover) —> Los Angeles: Paid flight for Casey, but Paul’s flight was $99 + taxes, using the Alaska Airways Companion Certificate. Total $715.23
- Los Angeles —> Melbourne —> Adelaide: 80,000 American Airlines miles + $66.40
HOTELS
- Le Meridien Ile Maurice Mauritius: 3,500 SPG points + $55.00
- Hilton Mauritius Resort and Spa: 2 free night certificates
- Grand Hyatt Seattle: annual free night certificate
- The remainder of the time we stayed with friends or family.
It’s confusing, I know. 5 different airlines and 3 hotel chains. If you’re curious about the details on how we accomplish travel for a fraction of the cost, read on. I’ll do my best to explain below. Maybe grab a cup of coffee….it’s detailed.
The looooong version
FLIGHTS
I booked each leg of the journey separately, starting with Mauritius to Boston, filling in the missing pieces when they became available. I’m sure there is a better way to accomplish what we did, using fewer miles, but I worked with what we had.
- Adelaide to Perth
This was actually the easiest, most straightforward booking. I used 36,000 Qantas miles, earned by actually flying, (i.e. not by credit cards!) to book on Qantas. Taxes and fees were an additional $65.
- Perth to Mauritius
So, I paid for this one, which I’m not thrilled about. BUT, the relatively cheap price did not justify the use of points.
Air Mauritius (which is a partner of Air France) flies this route, and we potentially could have made an award booking, however, it would have been 100,000 points plus fuel surcharges! Consider that Mauritius to Boston via France only cost 80,000 points. It was not worth liquidating all of our points on an 8hr flight, so we paid $600 each.
I paid for this on the Citi Prestige credit card which gives $250 travel reimbursement per calendar year, so there was $250 off.
- Mauritius to Paris (long layover) to Boston
I needed 80,000 Flying Blue (Air France’s loyalty program) to book these flights. But, I have never flown Air France, nor do I have a Flying Blue credit card. So how did I get these points?
Air France is a transfer partner of many credit card companies, such as Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) and Citi Thank You.
These credit cards are really useful, because the points are not committed to a particular program. Once you decide on your travel plans – and check that award flights are actually available – you can transfer points to your selected airline’s frequent flier account, which is what I did in this case.
I transferred 20,000 points from SPG to a Flying Blue account that I created the day before. I received a bonus 5,000 points because SPG automatically adds an extra 5,000 points when you transfer points in increments of 20,000. That left me needing a further 55,000 points, and I did not have enough SPG points.
From my Citi Thank You account, I transferred 55,000 points to Flying Blue, taking the balance up to the requisite 80,000 miles. The flight was booked through Air France’s website, on a codeshared Air Mauritius/Air France plane. The downside is that Air France charges fuel surcharges, which amounted to $422. This was still a heck of a lot cheaper than paying outright.
- Boston to Seattle (stopover) to Los Angeles
This one is also a bit confusing, as we didn’t originally intend to visit Seattle. So, let me clarify.
Generally it is possible to book Boston to Adelaide on American Airlines as one award booking for 40,000 AA miles per person. For this to happen, however, all the seats must be available in the same category, such as economy Mile SAAver, which is the lowest level. American has different levels of award redemptions, even within economy. At the lowest level, it should cost 40,000 miles to get from Boston to Australia. The issue was that, since we were flying during summer, there were no MileSAAver spaces left on the domestic (Boston to LA) leg. This meant we would have to pay an additional 30,000 points each just to get from Boston to LA. I couldn’t rationalize paying nearly the same amount of points to get to LA as it would take to get to Australia. So, I decided to get to LA some other way.
One of the perks of the Alaska Airlines credit card, is that when the cardholder pays for a flight, a companion flying with them can book the same itinerary for $99 + taxes. Alaska Airlines has its hub in Seattle, and neither of us had visited the city, so we figured we would spend a day there, then fly to LA the following day to catch a plane back to Australia. I may have had an ulterior motive, given the headquarters of a certain coffee chain being located there. Anyway, I paid for my flight, and Paul got his for $99. Plus, we got free checked bags, which is always a perk!
Much like with the Perth to Mauritius flight, the value of saving my points outweighed the cost of using them. When flights are reasonable, but the point redemption is really high, as in this case, I choose to pay for flights. It’s not about getting totally free flights all the time. Instead, it’s about using points when we need them.
- LA to Melbourne to Adelaide
80,000 American Airlines miles plus $66.40 in fees. American and Qantas are partners, so we actually flew with Qantas, although we booked with American.
HOTELS
- Le Merdien Ile Maurice, Mauritius
This was booked with the cash + points option that SPG offers. I used 3,500 points and paid $55. We were upgraded to a massive suite, with two bathrooms.
- Hilton Mauritius Resort and Spa
A bit silly switching hotels after a night, but we were trying to book solely on points. We used 2 free night certificates from the Hilton credit card, which I received after spending $2500 in 4 months. Like other hotel credit cards, I can’t say it’s truly free, because the annual fee is $95. 
I had originally gotten this card with the hopes of redeeming the nights in Bora Bora, yielding a more profitable redemption, but the Hilton Bora Bora was under construction while we were there.
We received a nice upgrade, in addition to welcome gifts, including a polo shirt and sarong with the hotel’s logo. Water sports (except scuba diving) were included, so we didn’t have to pay for a snorkeling trip.
- Grand Hyatt Seattle
The Chase Hyatt credit card (which we used to stay at the Park Hyatt Sydney), gives card holders a free night at any category 1-4 hotel when they renew the card each year. Basically, if you pay the $75 annual fee, you get a free night. Clearly, as long as the hotel costs more than $75, this is a good deal. In this case, the room was going for $402.84, so we saved a lot of money.
Other benefits
There were a few other perks, and money savers that we received due to either having status or certain credit cards, which also saved us money.
For example:
- $100 in baggage fees on Alaska Airways
- $100 free in breakfasts at Hilton Mauritius due to Diamond Status. Food there was incredibly expensive.
- $10 coffee at Le Meridien
Yes, we could have done it cheaper, but, some of the point redemptions didn’t seem appropriate, so we elected to have a couple paid flights. Still, this hobby enabled us to visit 4 different destinations and stay in luxury resorts for less than it would have cost to fly round trip between Adelaide and Boston.