This post is a little off-topic from dermatology or physician assistant school. I would like to think it can still serve as inspiration for the overworked PA-C who is looking for a way to travel inexpensively. Since you know… there are all those student loans to still pay off.
I am going to break down exactly how I am going to travel to London for a week with my mom for Mother’s Day for less than $500. If you aren’t already familiar with travel rewards aka credit card hacking, let me be the first to introduce you. I originally encountered the magic of travel rewards a little over a year ago while listening to the ChooseFI podcast. At the time, I was trying to learn as much as I could about budgeting. I had a plan to pay off my $130,000 worth of student loans as soon as possible. I wanted the burden of student loans off my shoulders. My plan was to attack it with everything I had while the interest rate was 0% due to COVID-19. You can read more about my journey paying off over $130,000 of student loans here.
At the time, I had made up my mind that my love for travel would have to take a backseat. I was under the impression that traveling would be unrealistic and counterproductive to paying off my student loans. One of the podcast episodes I listened to taught me that there was actually a way to travel for free (if not close to free). I have been obsessed with learning about travel rewards ever since.
The two major credit cards that played a role in this specific trip are my Chase Sapphire Reserve card as well as my American Express Hilton Honors Aspire card. A quick look into both of these cards shows that each has a hefty annual fee. Fortunately, since my husband is active duty military both cards fees were waived for me as a spouse of an active duty member. Even if you are not an active duty member or spouse the card’s annual fee can still be worth it if you intend to make use of its benefits. Let me break the cards down for you and show you what I mean.
The Chase Sapphire Reserve Card
Off the top, this card automatically reimburses you $300 annually for travel. You don’t even have to request the reimbursement. I went to Austin, TX for my birthday in January, and the flight was originally a little less than $400. After Chase applied the $300 credit to my account the flight only cost me a little less than $100.
Other benefits worth mentioning:
- Priority Pass including any Chase Sapphire Lounge- Complimentary airport lounge access
- Free Lyft Pink All Access Membership
- 1-year complimentary Instacart
- $15 per month Instacart credit
- Complimentary DashPass Membership
- $5 monthly DoorDash credit
- Global Entry or TSA PreCheck of NEXUS Fee Credit
While all of those benefits are amazing, what makes the card worth it (at least in my opinion) are the sign-up bonus points. After spending a certain amount on the card, I earned 80,000 points to use however I wanted. If you wanted to, you could exchange the bonus points for cash or gift cards. OR you could transfer the points to partner airlines or hotels to get the biggest bang for your buck, which is exactly what I did.
The London flight I found was through Virgin Atlantic which is an airline partner of Chase. I found a flight that cost 40,000 points plus $400 to fly round trip from my point of origin (Memphis, TN) to London and back. That same flight would have cost me $1,600 without points! That is a savings of $1,200 PLUS the best part is I only used half the points I earned through the sign-up bonus. If I had needed to I could have purchased 2 seats and saved a total of $2,400 all through one credit card. Let’s not forget that doesn’t even include the $300 I saved a month earlier for my birthday trip to Austin. This brings us to a grand total of potentially $2,700 in savings.
The American Express Hilton Honors Aspire Card
This card is not as amazing as the Chase Sapphire Reserve, but it is still worth it to me since it got me 5 nights free at a Hilton property in London through Amex’s travel website. Plus with this card, you automatically get Diamond status which is Hilton’s top-tier membership status.
Benefits of this card include:
- Diamond status benefits: room upgrades, premium wifi, 48-hour room guarantee, executive lounge access, elite status gifting
- Annual free night stay
- $200 credit semi-annually for Hilton Resort ($400 total)
- $50 credit each quarter for flight purchases made directly using an airline or through amextravel.com using the card.
- $100 property credit when booking a 2-night minimum stay at HiltonHonorsAspireCard.com for qualifying charges at Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts and Conrad Hotels & Resorts
After spending $6,000 on this card, I received 180,000 sign-up bonus points. After spending that much money on the card plus the bonus points I had approximately 220,000 points. I was able to find a Hilton hotel that was booking rooms at a rate of 50,000 points per night. So with my annual free night stay + 200,000 points, I was able to book 5 nights completely free at a Hilton in downtown London. Oh, and it includes a daily complimentary breakfast. That same hotel room would have been $350 per night in cash. This card gave me a total of $1,750 in savings.
The total savings for this 5-day trip to London is $2,950 just from using two credit cards. The savings could have been even more if the $300 Chase Sapphire Reserve annual credit had been applied to this trip. Not bad right? I didn’t include the cost of food and any extra activities, but we plan to keep those costs to a minimum.
I am SO excited to explore London for the first time with my mom. Also, to put a cherry on top, I am using PTO, so that means I am actually getting paid to go on this trip, right? After reading this do you think the combined annual fees of $1,100 are worth it? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
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