Dear FlyerTalk,

I'm seeking the advice of the hive mind...

My husband & I are planning a vacation to Hawaii to get the heck out of the north this winter! We're set on HI, and we're set on a town where we have a friend to stay with. We have pretty constrained time off, so after lots of research we've narrowed our travels down to precisely one set of flights on Delta (that includes 1/2 of a family trip earlier in the year...thank you frequent flyer internet communities for teaching me about the wonders of stopovers).

The only thing left to decide is whether to pay SkyMiles or cash. Delta wants 130,000 SkyMiles for our "trip and a half" itinerary or they want about $1500 cash.

I've got 178K SkyMiles, though I don't foresee replenishing them with credit cards any time soon. (I got them through credit cards, and honestly I'm a little overwhelmed by the time commitment of my new hobby and am planning to give it a rest until I burn through all the miles & points I've already earned.) I've also got the money - we've been saving up in our vacation fund.

Our next big trip won't be till Summer 2015, and we may or may not fly it with Delta. We are hub-captive & fly Delta a lot, but realistically, we probably only have time off from work for 2 or 3 cash-pricey "see the family" domestic trips before then - if we can even get them for 25K.

What do you think of our situation? Should I spend $1500 & have 189,000 SkyMiles "in the bank?" Or spend 130,000 SkyMiles & have $1500 in an actual bank?

Thank you!!