3 Epic & Free Vacations Planned For You

The goal of this site isn’t just to blow miles and points, and at the same time it isn’t just to see the most amazing places of the world. What I want most is for people who wouldn’t otherwise have the budget to see the most amazing places in the world.

And while I just wrote about how I plan trips, the fact of the matter is people still don’t know where to begin. Both don’t know the best use of the their points, and don’t even know where they want to go.

So as someone who’s been a lot of places, I thought I would plan a trip for you. Here are 3 routes that we’ve done, and of all the places we’ve been, these are 3 memorable places.

Doing this for 1 week for 2 people:

I’m going to recommend an airline credit card and a hotel credi card, and then places to go. But think about it. The airline miles prices are per person and hotel award prices are per room. Two people can be in one room for the same price.

Therefore I’m going to give tips on a ~1 week vacation for two people. Each person gets the credit cards on the same day, and then these are the redemption recommendations.

I’ll still list per person prices, and honestly, you could get enough points as one person to do the same thing. It changes very little.

This is an extremely long post, so I’ll give you links to the sections.

The three trips I’m going to plan for you are:

1. Thailand
2. Krakow, Budapest, and Vienna
3. India

 

1) Thailand

Thailand is a good place to get your feet wet with Southeast Asia. The tourist infrastructure is great (public transit, tons of cheap flights and buses, etc…), the food is absolutely amazing, and the hotels are luxurious and cheap, and everything is cheap in general.

The trade off for me is that Thailand is more of a “relaxing vacation”, and less of a cultural adventure. Unfortunately, in many of these places with chain hotels, you might see more white people than Thai people. However the people are kind, there are some really cool ancient cultural things, and the natural beauty of the islands are outstanding.

How we’re getting there:

Getting two credit cards will be more than enough for a roundtrip and nearly enough for business class.

• 50,000- AA personal citi credit card
• + 50,000- AA business citi credit card
• 1 economy roundtrip = 70,000 miles
• 1 business class roundtrip = 110,000 miles

Earning hotel points:

• 70,000 IHG points Chase credit card (possible x2 for two people)

I posted about getting the 80k IHG card but for the last week I haven’t been able to recreate it.

Where we’ll go:

• Fly into Bangkok for 35,000 AA miles
• Fly out of Phuket for 35,000 AA miles

Bangkok is a staple. Yes, it’s “another big city” but it is so Thai. The food/night markets… well… and just the food alone. It’s a cool city to visit. Very spread out and lots to do. There are a few Holiday Inns to visit for only 15,000 IHG points. Last time we were there we checked out the Holiday Inn Siam because of its central location.

However, I must admit that we paid cash. I love earning IHG points through their promotions and this was only $50 a night during our latest visit.

The islands in the south are beautiful. We’ve stayed at IHG hotels in Phuket, Phi Phi, Krabi (not an island) and Koh Samui. Phuket is more of a party town in some spots, but the Holiday Inn Resort Mai Khao is on a really big private beach, and yet only 15,000 points.

Phi Phi is more expensive at 35,000 points but extremely private. The InterContinental Koh Samui is somehow only 25,000 points, still extremely private, but even more beautiful and luxurious. If you’re going to blow points, this is a way to do it. Amazing.

• 4 nights @ HI Bangkok x 15,000 points = 60,000
• 2 nights @ HI Mai Khao x 15,000 points = 30,000
• 2 nights @ IC Koh Samui x 25,000 points = 50,000

Total is 140,000 IHG points from the two IHG cards.

The intra-Thailand flights:

Unfortunately, I had some oversight in regards to island-picking. Koh Samui is not a OneWorld destination, so you can use your leftover AA miles to get around. 1 option is to skip Koh Samui and hop around Phuket, Phi Phi, and Krabi.

To include Koh Samui you can pay the $100 each to go from Bangkok to Koh Samui on Bangkok Airways (which I like). Then again from Koh Samui to Phuket. That’s $200 x 2. This is adding up quickly.

A much cheaper option is to fly Air Asia in and out of Surat Thani. A bit of a pain as you have to take a ferry to mainland, and then a one hour bus to Surat Thani’s airport. But we’ve done it twice and it’s fine. Seriously tickets from Bangkok for $20… that’s why we did it. Plus, it’s seriously easy because it’s Thailand. There will be people selling/nagging with instructions to the airport all the way. However, they don’t have a direct to Phuket, so you’d have to rig it up, or pay the $100. Up to you.

Total costs:

• 3 credit cards each
• 70,000 – 110,000 AA miles + ~$120 each in airport taxes
• and 140,000 IHG points
• $120 each = $20 for Air Asia flight to Koh Samui + $100 for Bangkok Airways flight the Phuket

Considering the quality of the trip you’d have, this is highly recommended.

 

2) Budapest & Krakow (& maybe Vienna)

We’ve been to a lot of cities in Europe. From Romania to Lithuania to all over England, we’ve seen a lot. And two cities which I think most everyone will find interesting are Budapest, Hungary, and Krakow, Poland.

It’s this kind of first world eastern European thing going on. Still a little weird, really cheap, and yet normal western European amenities.

The other thing is, unlike Prague, these destinations aren’t ruined by tourism. My local friends in Prague hate 99% of the restaurants downtown. They think they are tourist rip offs. Hanging out with local friends in Budapest, every block had local joints.

The cards we are getting:

• 45,000/50,000- Chase Sapphire Preferred and/or Ink Plus
• 88,000- Club Carlson credit card

Technically you’ll need 60,000 points for our roundtrip to Europe. But one of these cards will almost get you there. The Ink will give you 55,000 after spend, and the CSP 48,000 after spend/authorized users. So if you can spend the extra 5k, or already have it with Chase from an old card (like from using the Freedom), that works. If not, you can just get both and save the rest for later.

The 60,000 Chase UR points will be transferred from Chase to United because United allows stopovers. Because of this we can book both cities on one ticket and not worry about anything else. Spend half our time in one city and half our time in the other.

Booking the United ticket:

1. See here for how to transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points.
2. Transfer to United.
3. Go to United.com and log in – once you have the points
4. click “Award Travel” and then “Multiple Destinations”
5. Put in all of your flights. It should look like this:
   
6. Go through and select economy “saver” flights – which are the blue “select” buttons all the way to the left.
7. Pay and fly

Hotels:

Club Carlson’s credit card allows you to get a free night per award booking of two nights or more. So if you book two nights in a row, you only pay for one.

After meeting the spend requirement on the credit cards you’ll have 97,500 Club Carlson points. Then here are your options:

• Radisson Blu Budapest = 15,000 points (for two nights)
• art’otel Budapest = 28,000 points (for two nights)
• Radisson Blu Krakow = 44,000 points (for two nights)
• Park Inn Krakow = 15,000 points (for two nights)

If you haven’t seen my odd review of the Radisson Blu Budpest, know that it’s an old hotel with a great location. The art’otel is much nicer and has a different great location. Quieter area but right across the bridge from the center, and it has a great view. But it’s more points.

Do both, Uber’s are cheap (don’t take taxis!).

For Krakow, I can’t help but feel that the Radisson isn’t worth it. When we were there we did the 2-4-1 paid rates and got cheap rates. But in terms of points, I would not pay 44,000 points. Yet, it is a better location, but Krakow downtown is really small and the Park Inn is really close. In fact it might be closer to the castle, but further away from the main square. But still, everything is walking distance.

Also, see my post on how to get Club Carlson’s free night award on back to back stays. If you want to do back to back nights, you need to book with two different accounts.

So here’s the plan so far.

• 4 nights @ Park Inn Krakow = 30,000 Club Carlson points
• 4 nights @ Radisson Blu Budapest = 30,000 Club Carlson points
• 2 nights @ art’otel Budapest = 28,000 points

Man, but we’ve only spent 88,000 Club Carlson points of our 97,500 each!

Let’s blow another 100,000 and make this a 2 week vacation.

Adding Vienna

Vienna is, in my opinion, the most beautiful city on earth. If you like to party, maybe you’d like Budapest better. But if you want to be in awe of how beautiful a city can be, walk around vienna.

The Radisson Blu Vienna is in a phenomenal location too. It is a great 5 star hotel that I can actually justify blowing 50,000 points on (for two nights).

Let’s add this to the list:

• 4 nights @ Radisson Blu Styles Vienna = 100,000 Club Carlson points

Now we’ve blown through nearly all of our Club Carlson points. But one more detail…

How to get to/from Vienna:

This is pretty simple, but we’re going to have to add the Budapest-Vienna train for $20 and then make our United ticket have an open-jaw.

If you’re not familiar check my Introduction to Stopovers and Open-jaws. An open-jaw just means there is a gap in the ticket where the airline isn’t responsible.

In the picture above where I show how to book it on United.com, it will look exactly the same except for one detail – the last line would have you departing from Vienna and not Budapest. It would look like this:

• Chicago to Krakow
• Krakow to Budapest
• Vienna to Chicago

Just simply continue your ticket from Vienna without ever having it fly you from Budapest to Vienna. That’s the open-jaw and it won’t change the price – still 60,000 United miles.

Total costs:

The price for the United ticket I tested out came out to 60,000 miles and $125 in airport taxes (because I had to route through FRA twice).

• 60,000 Chase points -> 60,000 United miles
• $125 in airport taxes
• 188,000 Club Carlson points
• $25 for the train

This is a 2 week vacation, a bit longer, but shorter flights than Asia.

 

3) India

Everyone should go to India, but let me first explain two things.

I moaned and complained for 5 weeks straight about the train system in India, and my train story freaked people out. But I want to retract some of what I’ve said and put out a new statement. 2 statements.

1) I’ve never used a travel agent of any sorts, but next time I will make sure my Indian trains are booked ahead of time. Finding a company to do it for me is easy, and booking more than 2 months ahead. Okay, I likely won’t book ahead, but I should next time.

All my problems would have never happened if I had booked ahead. But as it was, I didn’t book anything until I landed and trains in India have 100-person waiting lists by a month out.

Or you can not take trains if you’re a last minute planner or non-planner like me, but flights go up last minute.

2) India is one of the most incredible and different cultures I’ve ever experienced and I can’t wait to go back. Seriously.

India is some of the best travel on earth.

I say all this to convince you to go, because it’s so freaking cool. BUT, the train systems are a mess. That being said, I was able to book trains around Rajasthan (the area I’ll be recommending) really easily. Shorter routes don’t get sold out in advance like the long ones. So you could do the route I’m going to mention all last minute fairly easily. Plus, for the really long hauls, you’re likely to want a bed, whereas for these, you only need a seat for 4 hours.

Airline & Hotel miles

It wouldn’t matter whether you have AA miles or United miles (or Chase points that transfer to United), both don’t have fuel surcharges and have similar prices. But United not only allows a stopover (in Europe or East/SE Asia), but allows us to fly right into some of the smaller towns that are super cool.

In most towns there will be SPG and Club Carlson for super cheap, but Club Carlson fits the bill more for the specific route I’d recommend. If you want to go to Delhi and Agra (meaning you can put up with the smell of Agra because the photos of the Taj Mahal have deceived you into thinking that it’s 1, a big building and 2, a cool place to visit for more than an hour), then SPG could also be a good bet.

Earning the miles/points

I’ll list the amount of points you’d earn after the spend requirement…

Both people would get these cards:

• 48,000 points- Chase Sapphire Preferred
• 55,000 points- Ink Plus
• 97,500 points- Club Carlson

This will be more than enough United miles to book a roundtrip to India, and with a stopover if wanted.

The route

I should mention in terms of booking, the two most important things are the flights:

1. Fly into Udaipur
2. Fly out of Delhi

From there you can connect a lot of places depending on time. There are many cool sites on the way and in between, including temples and forts not in major cities. But of the cities/towns, in the area there’s: Udaipur, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, Jaipur, Ajmer, Agra (*coughskipcough*), and Delhi. You could do them all with little back tracking, except for Jaisalmer.

We didn’t make it to Jaisalmer as I was more interested in culture than desert safaris but I’ve heard great things. Didn’t go to Ajmer, so I don’t know if it’s worthy of recommending. So let’s do the following:

• Updaipur
• Bus to Jodhpur
• train to Jaipur
• train to Delhi

Udaipur and Jodhpur are both absolutely amazing, maybe in opposite ways. The pictures we have in Udaipur still make me say “wow”, and I said that when taking them. Incredible for sure.

Memories of Jodhpur are my best memories of India. The fort, the blue town, the markets, the everything. I’d go right now.

Jaipur has a lot of cool sites, buildings and a fort. We were supposed to go to the fort, and I got sick and then spent two days booking a train ticket… so I regret not seeing it. And now I notice pictures of the Jaipur’s fort everywhere. So, I think I have to go back.

These trains are relatively short, plus there are buses as back up. There is no train from Udaipur to Jodhpur. But know that Udaipur is very touristy; you can buy a bus ticket from every other house. And I know people even hire private drivers for cheap for the 4 hour ride.

Hotels:

• 4 nights @ Radisson Blu – Udaipur – 44,000 points (for two nights)
• 4 nights @ Park Plaza – Jodhpur – 15,000 points (for two nights)
• 2 nights @ Country Inn & Suites – Jaipur – 15,000 points (for two nights)
• 2 nights @ Radisson Blu Marina Hotel Connaught Place – Delhi – 38,000 points (for two nights)

While the first two are my favorite destinations in India, (except for Amritsar), the hotels are only okay locations. Udaipur is small and it won’t matter because it’s cool. But it would be cooler to be on the lake, and I wouldn’t spend 44k in a place where I can get a nice hotel on the water for $50.

And in Jodhpur, you’ll have to take a very cheap taxi ride into town, but I didn’t use points because it was $40 and there was a promo.

Total costs:

• 85,000 Chase points -> 85,000 United miles each person
• $102 in airport taxes
• 171,000 Club Carlson points

 

Conclusion

I say all the time that you should never pay fuel surcharges, therefore I constantly suggest AA and United.

Also I have to say, in terms of planning a vacation that’s more than two days, there is no comparison to the Club Carlson card. It earns 5x everywhere, starts with 97,500 points (after spend), and gives free award nights. It can give as little as 4 free nights and as much as 20. Even if you’ve already gotten the card before, it’s worth a second look for the bonus and benefits.

Also, IHG is great too considering they actually have a number of decent category 2 hotels. We stayed at category 1 hotels (for 10,000 points) in many places from downtown Glasgow, Scotland to Krabi, Thailand. That could be as much as 7 nights before the 10% rebate.

And if you find an SPG property on the list of Unbelievably Cheap Hotel Redemptions, it could also give that many. For a category 2 hotel, you could get 7 to 10 nights from the credit card bonus.