This month was entirely spent in South Africa except for the first day and flight were from Namibia and the final day was a flight and a night in Madagascar. It was a good month for travel with pretty much all of it being free other than small towns (no point options available, so we resorted to Airbnbs, Booking.com and National Park Service lodging. We can often get Airbnbs for free through credits from our Amex Business Gold card. But we had used all of those up before arriving in South Africa.
April 16 – 17: Hilton Garden Inn in Windhoek. Paid 25,000 Hilton points. Upgraded to a king suite, Avoided cost $210. This is a good hotel with breakfast included.
April 17: South African Airways. Flight from Windhoek to Johannesburg. Paid $282 (half of the roundtrip cost: JMN-WDH & WDH-JNB). No good point options.
April 17 – 18: Holiday Inn Airport Johannesburg. Paid 12,500 IHG points. Avoided cost $131. This hotel is fine for when you’re just spending a night near the airport. But it’s not near as nice as the Holiday Inn Rosebank Johanessburg. Breakfast included.
April 18 – 21: Last Word Madikwe Safari Camp, Madikwe Reserve. Used 75,000 Citi points which transferred to iPrefer at a 1 to 4 ratio and became 300,000 iPrefer points. Avoided cost $3,711. Hard to beat this (see my specific post about this safari camp). All inclusive.
April 21 – 22: Hyatt House Rosebank, Johannesburg. Paid $98 (upgraded to a king suite). Avoided cost $161. A very nice hotel, but still a step below the Holiday Inn Rosebank. Breakfast included.
April 22: Airlink flight from Johanessburg to Capetown. Paid $215 for economy class. No good point options.
April 22 – 25: Hyatt Regency, Cape Town. Paid 17,000 Hyatt points. Avoided cost $864. This was a very nice hotel. Breakfast included.
April 25 – 27: The Westin, Cape Town. Paid two 35K FNC’s (but got 4,000 points credited back to us). Avoided cost $1,439. This was an outstanding hotel and had the best sauna we’ve ever been in (see my instagram post). Breakfast and lounge access (which gave us lunch and dinner) included.
April 27 – 30: Simon’s Town Airbnb. Paid $201.
April 30 – May 3: Franschoek, Last Word Franschoek. Paid 81,000 Choice points. Avoided cost $1,535. This was an outstanding point redemption. Breakfast included. Evening reception with drinks and snacks included.
May 3 – 4: Hermanus Airbnb. Paid $113.
May 4 – 6: Knysna Airbnb. Paid $132.
May 6 – 8: Plattenburg Bay Airbnb. Paid $132.
May 8 – 10: Stormsrivier, Tsitsikamma National Park lodging. Paid $265.
May 10 – 11: Graaff-Reinet. Mountain Zebra Cottage. Paid Booking.com $57.
May 11 – 13: Clarens. Upper Classic lodge. Citi Travel, paid $122.
May 13 – 14: Hyatt House Rosebank, Johannesburg. Paid 5,000 Hyatt points. Upgraded to a king suite. Avoided cost $161.
May 14: Flight from Johannesburg to Atananarivo on Airlink Airlines. Paid 50,000 United miles + $88 for economy class. Avoided cost $975.
May 14 – 15: Radisson Hotel Tamboho Waterfront Antananarivo. United Travel booking. Paid $100 (+ used a $50 United travel credit). Avoided cost $150.
End of our eighth month of living abroad.
Lodging: cash out of pocket for our eighth month was $1,220. If we hadn’t used points, the lodging costs for our seventh month would have been $9,262.
Flights: cash out of pocket for our eighth month was $585. If we hadn’t used miles the cost of our flights for our seventh month would have been $1,472.
Cumulative 8 month totals:
Total out of pocket lodging and airfare expenses: $18,448
Amount that we would have paid if we hadn’t used points and miles: $116,122.
Average monthly out-of-pocket lodging and airfare expenses: $2,306.
Average monthly amount that we would have paid if we hadn’t used points & miles: $14,515.