You already told yourself it's not worth it, that's where you stand. At $3000 plus in travel for maybe $3000 in value, why not just buy those upgrades with that money if it's really burning a hole in your pocket?
At this point that's absolutely my plan. However, I could easily have 2-3 more work trips come up in the next few weeks and may only be stretching for $1000. More than advice on what to do, I'm just curious about others' strategies and how y'all value these rewards.