I have always loved to travel and have done my fair share prior to having kids. Since then, we have found it to be too expensive to take family vacations on a regular basis. We did a family trip to Aruba, one to Disney World and a couple trips to Florida for beach vacations with the kids, but they were definitely moderately priced and we had some financial help from my parents and in-laws to help take the $$$ sting out of my wallet.

Then....I found FT

FT has truly changed my life for the better since joining the forum about a year and a half ago. Since then here is what I have done with the miles/points which I have accrued:


1. May 2011 - Coach R/T Ticket BOS-AMS = 60K Delta Skymiles + $65 in taxes/fees (Traveled with a friend who had 60K Delta miles of his own so we traveled in coach together.)

2. October 2011 - 8-day all-inclusive vacation to Playa Del Carmen, Mexico for my family of 4, including RT direct flights on JetBlue = All paid for with my 385,000 Capital One Venture Points. All food, drinks for the week included in the AI package. We did spend $550 for an amazing all-day private land/sea tour of Palaya Del Carmen, Tulum, Akumal.

3. April 2012 - 9-day trip to Anna Maria Island, FL for my family of 4 (This place is sooo beautiful). Been thrice before. This trip includes
- 9-Day standard-size SUV rental = 54K Delta Skymiles
- 2 nights at the Hyatt Regency in Sarasota = 24K Hyatt Points
- 6 nights at a house that is 50 yards from an amazing beach and nice pool on Anna Maria Island = My in-laws are paying for our house rental
- 4 R/T tickets on JetBlue direct BOS-TPA = 110K JetBlue points + $90 in taxes/fees

4. December 2012 - 10-day trip to St. Lucia with my wife to celebrate our first 15 years of marriage.
- 2 R/T coach tickets BOS-JFK-UVF on AA metal using British Airways/Avios points = 80K BA/Avios points. I may decide to do a couple of the legs in Business Class, but may not since BA/Avios require FC award points for any 2-class aircraft on AA metal, even if the front of the plane Business and has no FC. Ugh... So, anywhere from 80K-160K BA/Avios points
- 4 nights all-inclusive at Calabash Cove Resort in Gros Islet = 175K AA miles + approx $600 cash
- 5 nights all-inclusive at Jalousie Plantation in Soufriere= 240K AA miles + approx $1000 cash

After all of this my wife and I combined still have over 1 million points/miles in various hotel/airline/credit card programs. I look forward to some future FC travel with my wife and some posh accommodations such as the Hyatt Paris Vendome (Thanks Chase and Hyatt!)

All I can say is...thank you FT!!!!!


How has FT changed YOUR life?

I have a lot less free time and my family doesn't talk to me for fear of a quick sell on FFM

Wow, that's amazing! Congrats to you! I just signed up at this site today and I better start thoroughly researching the info here. I'm trying to get to Europe next Summer for less than $1400 which is proving to be challenging.

Dunno how M&P & FT changed anything at all. I wuz always entitled to fly free while playing checkers on a globe!

It is really tough deciding whether to visit my swimming pool today (Bahamas), go out for Italian food (Italy)!

I was already beginning to see Europe when I discovered FT, but since then my world traveling has accelerated and broadened and it is nothing strange for me to casually decide to travel to the other side of the world on a whim, if I have the points and the time. No place on Earth is safe from me.

GF and I are going to Chile for 80k BA points + $160, staying 6 nights at the W for 24k SPG points + $360, and camping two other nights. There is no chance in hell I'd be able to afford something remotely close to this without those two credit cards. Looking forward to spending the 160k A*A miles I accumulated from those deals too!

zutmin,

43.75K + $150 per nt - calabash
48.00k + $200 per nt - jalousie

necker via >
VS CC - 95.2k + $0 per nt
SPG - 114k + $0 per nt
AX MR CC - 143k + $0 per nt

I wrote an extensive report on this on TOBB:

http://milepoint.com/forums/threads/...-and-lan.2414/

I was in the miles/points game long before FT. FT has added a community component to it.

Just spent 2 weeks in South America... Argentina, Chile, Peru. All Business Class on LAN... all top end hotels....

Next year doing a 3 country Asia trip, flying F and again top end hotels.

Chances of me affording that without FT? 0%.

I hadnt been outside of US/Mexico/Canada in like 5 years (and that was cause my parents took me!).

^^

Its been incredible. have trully lost track.

This.

I believe you will be able to pull that off without too much trouble. Do some research then post some questions on the FT forums. Europe for less than $1400 can be had easily... first class and staying at some really nice properties. You're going to have to put in your time in research and hopefully you have a credit score that can tolerate some fluctuations. Keep us posted

I don't quite understand your post. Are you showing me how a trip to Necker Island would be a better value for my points? If so, you are probably correct. However, I do not have any MR points, SPG points or VS points right now. All of my MR points were transferred and my SPG points went to AAdvantage.

Or am I way off on my interpretation of your post? Color me confused

Damn...nice work! Travelin' in style