How I took a Trip of a Lifetime for Under $800
- Abigail Gaston
- Jun 11, 2018
- 4 min read
Not that I have been talking about it much (I know, I totally have been raving about it for like a month now!), but I went on one fabulous road trip through the Netherlands with an amazing detour to Paris recently. I bring it up, yet again, because I really want to share with you how I was able to get big ticket items; flights, hotels, rental car, for cheap! Keep reading to find out more!
I rely quite heavily on credit card points and programs to help me accomplish cheap travel. In fact, I seriously stress to my family, friends and wonderful readers, who I respect and appreciate so, so much, that accumulating travel points or racking up travel gift cards through a credit card program is an excellent way to cut down travel costs! In fact, I pay for just about everything with a credit card; bills, groceries, gas...shopping sprees (shh, don't tell my second half). The key is that I pay them off immediately so that they never accrue interest and I benefit by collecting travel related points, gift cards and discounts!
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Check out the breakdown of my Netherlands and Paris road trip below:
Flights:
My Total Cost was $420 for one round trip flight from Newark to Amsterdam, a one way trip from Detroit to LaGuardia and a one way trip from LaGuardia to Detroit. Points and credit card statement credit saved me $200 on my flights!
Spirit Air – Detroit to LaGuardia $95 (one way); applied for Spirit Airlines credit card and received $100 statement credit for being approved. So, I actually made $5!
IcelandAir – Newark to Amsterdam $425 (roundtrip) via Expedia. Keep in mind, sometimes Expedia has the best prices because they purchase the lighter fair options; meaning, you may spend extra for bags and so on.
Delta - LaGuardia to Detroit (one way) $100 paid with Delta Skymiles, so zero out of pocket money spent.
Rental Car (no points but decent price):
Expedia Rental Car purchase; economy Car - 7 days, $130 + $20/day for full-coverage, zero liability insurance for $270 or approximately $39/day
Hotels:
Total cost = $864.91 for five cities. Full disclosure; during our 10 day trip, we spent two nights at a friends house and one overnight flight.
Brussels – One night at Hilton Grand Place – 5 person sleep room paid for with Hilton Honors points and $90 booking fee. Still, for one night in one of the most beautiful hotels in Brussels, and even more, an upgraded 5 person room, was only $90!
Paris – Rented Apartment in the Paris neighborhood, Le Marais via Expedia; two nights = $642.94. First impression may appear expensive; however, this apartment slept six people (One private bedroom, one loft bedroom, one pullout couch). Two nights = $551.44 ($250/night + $51.50 tax & fee) & $40 cleaning fee. A nice hotel in this great location would most likely have costed similar or more!
Eindhoven – Stayed with Friends for two days. Having friends around the world is fabulous but not because they welcome you in and put you up during trips of a lifetime. No, making friends around the world is great because they take you in, treat you like family and teach you all about their culture, their country, and their home. They truly enrich your life in a friendship way and a cultural way. I encourage you to try to make a friend or two during your travels; with Facebook, Instagram, email and so on, we live in a world where it is virtually impossible to not stay in touch.
Amsterdam – Two night stay at the Best Western Amsterdam (Prime Location). Total paid was only 112 Euros or $131.97. Actual total was $492.07 /417.90 Euros. I had $360 /305.90 Euros in Best Western gift cards thanks to Chase Freedom.
NYC/Manhattan – Hampton Inn Manhattan – Time Square Central – Paid for with Hilton Honors points; no additional fees; zero out of pocket money spent.
Viator is how I experienced the Eiffel Tower and The Louvre VIP style with skip the line and took a romantic evening scenic boat tour of Paris all for under $112.
Click the image to find your vacation deals!
Total Cost for two one way flights and one round trip flight, four Hotel stays in four different cities for a total of six nights and a rental car for seven days equates to $1554.91.
Keep in mind that although the flight cost total, $420, is per person, the hotel stay costs and rental car cost was split between three people. So, my total end cost for flights, hotel and rental car was, drum roll please, just under $800!! Amazing! Obviously, there were additional travel costs; food, taxis/ride shares, activities. However, the upfront /travel costs were incredibly low for this type of trip.
My point here is that I often hear people say that they do not want to have credit cards for various reasons that are not important for this particular article. What I remind my friends when they say this is that they are buying groceries, paying bills, pumping gas regardless, right? Well, why not reap the benefit of points, cash back or gift cards for doing so! You were going to pay for these things anyway, correct? How about initially paying for them with your points credit card, then paying that credit card off as soon as your bills, groceries or gas show up on the statement.
You deserve to be rewarded; discover a credit card out there that can do this for you! And, if you think you do not qualify, well, there are many options out there; ones for those with great credit, good credit, and even for those trying to get back on their feet. Because, we all need a little help getting back on our feet at one time or another and we all deserve an amazing vacation!
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