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RSSFinal Planning In Place for our Transatlantic Journey
Months ago I posted that we purchased transatlantic cruise tickets as an action towards our interest in doing some sort of international extended vacation. I haven’t posted much since, but there has been plenty of activity so I wanted to summarize the rest of the trip.
Given we were satisfied with the 14day cruise as the major component of our trip, we basically just tacked on a couple days in Madrid and Panama to explore a bit and get us the best deals on the flights. We signed up for 2 British Airways credit cards to take advantage of their 100,000 airline mile promotion on each card. In the end we were able to arrange for our flights using the miles on just 1 card and plan to save the miles on the other card for a future opportunity.
| Major Travel Components | USD Exp | Other Credit or Expense |
| Cruise tickets, taxes + fees | $ 819 | $200 OBSC included |
| BA Chase Card annual fee | $ 95 | |
| BA Chase Card annual fee (2nd card) | $ 95 | |
| 2 1-way flights from NC to | $ 430 | 60k BA miles plus taxes,fees |
| 2 1-way flights from | $ 56 | 9k BA miles plus taxes,fees |
| 2 1-way flights from | $ 120 | 34k BA miles plus taxes,fees |
| | $ 77 | Used 'orbtiz5' code to get 5% off |
| | None | 60k Hilton HHonors Points |
| | None | 30.5k United Miles |
| Total | $ 1,692 | |
We have really been able to leverage the recent credit card promotion and our existing frequent flyer points to minimize our initial out of pocket expenses for the trip. I’m hoping we can carry that forward once our journey is underway.
by 2million on
10/31/11
| Comments (2)
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Comments (2)
Wow 2million, sounds like a great and fun trip! You deserve it. Let us know how it goes.
Posted by Steve | November 1, 2011 9:56 PM
as a financial planner I am very impressed how frugal you are planning to meet your goals. well done! If you ever make it to Australia, we should create an event for you to talk about your experiences live
Posted by greg nazvanov | November 2, 2011 9:55 AM