The trip has finished! We spent nine months and one day in East, South & North Africa (with 40 days in Europe during that period). First stop was Tanzania.
Cumulative 9 month totals:
Average monthly out-of-pocket lodging and airfare expenses: $2,625.
Average monthly amount that we would have paid if we hadn’t used points & miles: $18,919.
Total out of pocket lodging and airfare expenses for nine months: $23,623.
Amount that we would have paid for nine months if we hadn’t used points and miles: $170,272.
Bear in mind, if I state that no point options are available, it’s often possible to just cash credit card points out for cash and to make a payment that way. But that is usually very inefficient compared to transferring points directly to an airline or hotel so I never do that.
For our flight from San Francisco to Kilimanjaro airport, Tanzania; We flew business class on Swiss Air and Ethiopia Air. This was booked using United Airline miles. This cost us 160,000 United miles + $53 in taxes. If we had paid cash instead of miles, this would have cost us $39,000!
We normally always travel with just a carryon and a daypack. But because we will be climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro and Mt. Kenya, we also brought a checked bag. This bag is filled with some of our older mountaineering gear. After the climbs, we will give this gear to our guides since we don’t want to lug it around Africa and there’s no way to ship it home.
For our first month, the sum total of airline and lodging expenses if we had paid cash would have been $40,728. But by using points and miles our out-of-pocket expenses were only $837.
For our second month, the sum total of airline and lodging expenses if we had paid cash would have been $13,259. But by using points and miles our out-of-pocket expenses were only $2,937.
For our third month, the sum total of airline and lodging expenses if we had paid cash would have been $4,106. But by using points and miles our out-of-pocket expenses were only $1,136.
First month (entirely in Tanzania):
Business class flights from SFO to Kilimanjaro airport, Tanzania: 160,000 United miles + $53 tax. Avoided cost $39,000.
3 nights Airbnb in Moshi free after Airbnb credits. Avoided cost $72.
3 nights Arusha hotel $135. No good point options available.
2 nights Arusha hotel $98. No good point options available.
4 nights Holiday Inn Dar Es Salaam: 36,000 IHG points + $100. Avoided cost $500.
Mbeya Forest Hotel $29 (we never stayed but lost this cancellation fee). We were supposed to go to Dodoma and stay here. But after the train in front of ours crashed, we had to cancel the Mbeya hotel and scramble to get to Iringa and get back to Dar Es Salaam.
Sai Villa hotel $56. No point options available.
Flight from Iringa to Dar Es Salaam $311. No miles options available.
Ramada Resort Inn by Wyndham Dar Es Salaam: 13,500 Wyndham points. Avoided cost $302.
Flight from Dar Es Salaam to Zanzibar $54. No miles options available.
3 nights in an Airbnb in Zanzibar. Free after Airbnb credits. Avoided cost $171.
10/15/25. Start of second month.
2 nights Le Mersenne Autograph Collection: 2 Marriott FNCs + top up of 14,500 Marriott points (cost $100) + $15 tax. Avoided cost $976. (Single upgrade first night and double upgrade to a villa on the second night)!
End of first month.
10/18/25 (start of second month): 3 nights in Double A Nungwli beach hotel in Zanzibar, Tanzania. Our cost $50 (we used a $300 Capital One travel credit and an additional $157 Capital one travel credit. Then I think we got a $20 credit from the hotel for a power outage. ). Avoided cost $527.
10/21/25: One night in Holiday Inn City Centre Dar Es Salaam. Our cost $88 (could have used points, but this was the better option). Upgraded to a $127 room. Avoided cost $127
There were no good point options for our flight from Dar Es Salaam to Nairobi on Kenya Airways. So we paid $459 cash.
10/22-10/25/25: 3 nights Hemingways Nairobi (upgraded to an executive suite). Free through using three Hilton FNCs. Avoided cost $3,528.
10/25: Lake Naivasha Simba lodge. Paid $880. No point options available.
Mombasa Airbnb. free through Airbnb credits. Would have been $128. No good point options available.
Watamu. paid $185 for an Airbnb. No point options available.
Economy flight from Malindi to Lamu. Paid $130 cash. No mileage options available.
Lamu Island. $75 of the $143 Airbnb cost was free through Airbnb credits
Economy flight from Lamu to NBO. Paid $285. No mileage options.
11/10/25 Razana Hotel in Nairobi $47 cash +$26 Expedia credit (avoided cost $73)
Roundtrip flights from Wilson airport to Finch Hattons airstrip and back. Paid $660. No mileage options.
Nov 11-14: Finch Hattons safari tent camp. We paid 375,000 Virgin Red points (cash cost would have been $5,940).
Nov 14 Hyatt Westlands Nairobi. We paid 3,500 Hyatt points. Avoided cost was $194.
End of the second month.
Nov 15: Flight from NBO to ADD (Nairobi Kenya to Addis Ababa Ethiopia). 14,000 Virgin Atlantic points + $208. Avoided cost was $900.
Nov 17: End of second month (middle of Ethiopia tour).
Start of third month.
Night of Nov 27 Ramada by Wyndham Addis Ababa. Paid 6,000 Wyndham points. Avoided cost $115.
Flight from ADD to EBB (Addis Ababa Ethiopia to Entebbe Uganda. 24,500 Etihad miles (transferred from Amex) +$69 cash. Avoided cost $948
Nov 28 Kampala lake point villa. We paid $54. No good point options available.
Dec 1 Kokii hotel $82 after one key cash. actual cost $84. No good options available.
Dec 2-4 Majestic Nile hotel. We paid Expedia $108. No point options available.
Dec 4 Jinja Igar Plaza hotel. We paid Expedia $103. No point options available.
Dec 5-7 Jinja, Uganda. We were supposed to stay at the Deluxe 12. But they never responded and didn’t have a room for us wen we showed up. This booking was though VRBO. So we got a refund for our entire cost from VRBO, plus we got a $100 credit from VRBO and we got comped a $352 stay at the Jinja Nile Resort! No point options available.
Dec 7 Entebbe Expedia Lakepoint Villa. We paid $48. No good point options available.
Dec 8: Business class flight from EBB to HRE (Harare, Zimbabwe) on Kenya Air for 31,000 Virgin Atlantic pts + $326/pp. Avoided cost $1,294.
Dec 8 – 14 (On safari in Botswana)
Dec 14: end of third month.
Start of fourth month
Dec 15 Maun, Botswana Airbnb. We paid $68 cash. No point options available.
Dec 16 flight from Maun to JHN (Johannesburg). There weren’t any good flight options from Botswana to Mauritius, so we needed to go through JHN. And there was a two day delay in Johannesburg, so we decided to add two more days. There were no mileage options so we booked a flight through Expedia for $539.
Dec 16-20 Holiday Inn Johannesburg. We paid IHG 29,000 points. Avoided cost $427. Staying at IHG let us use their book three nights with points and get the fourth night free program.
Dec 20 flight from JHN to Mauritius. No mileage options. We paid Expedia $1,050.
Dec 20-24 Intercontinental Resort Mauritius. We paid 253,000 IHG points. Avoided cost $3,340. We again used the IHG book three nights and get the fourth night free option. This was probably the nicest hotel we have stayed at up until this time. Upgrading us to the honeymoon suite had a little to do with that, but the property was amazing.
Dec 24-27 We moved to the south end of the island and stayed in an Airbnb for free with Airbnb credits. Avoided cost $257.
Dec 27 flight from Mauritius to the Seychelles. Again, no mileage options. We paid Expedia $905.
Dec 27-29 laïla, Seychelles, a Tribute Portfolio Resort. For the first night, we paid 85,000 points from Kate’s Marriott account (we transferred 62,000 Amex points from Kate’s account to Marriott. An Amex 30% bonus yielded 80,600 Marriott points. And she already had 5,000 points in her Marriott account). For the second night, we used one of Mike’s Marriott FNCs. Our avoided cost $1088. We were upgraded to a partial mountain view junior suite.
Dec 29-Jan 1. Hilton L’escale, Seychelles. We paid 220,000 Hilton points from Mike’s acct. And one Hilton FNC from Kate’s acct. Our avoided cost was $3,954.
Jan 1-4: Praslin Island. L’Hirondelle, Seychelles. There were no point options. So we booked an apartment through Expedia for $615.
Jan 4-6. La Digue Island, Seychelles: The Rising Sun Guest House. Again, no point options so we booked a guest house through Expedia for $383.
Jan 6: We had a flight booked for January 6th to Nairobi, but it was rescheduled to the following day. So we scrambled to find a hotel on Mahe, Seychelles. We stayed at the Runway Lodge. There were point options at Laila or L’escale, but we we only needed a place to crash so it would have been a poor value to use points. We paid $209 cash through Booking.com.
Jan 7: Economy class flight from SEZ (Mahe, Seychelles) to NBO (Nairobi, Kenya) on Kenya Airways. There were no mileage options, so we paid Expedia $1,308 cash. Plus, we had made a change at one point so we paid a $50 change fee.
January 7 – 12. Climbing Mt Kenya. We went back to Kenya in January because this was a better time of year to climb Mt. Kenya.
Jan 12 Holiday Inn Nairobi. We paid17,000 IHG points and were upgraded to a junior suite. The avoided cost was $210.
Jan 13: Business class flight from NBO to CAI (Cairo, Egypt) on Egypt Air. We paid 63,000 Avianca Lifemiles + $165 for taxes. Our avoided cost was $3,309.
Jan 13: Business class flight on Egypt air from CAI to ASW (Aswan, Egypt). We paid 30,000 Air Canada miles + $70 + $26 for a flight change. Our avoided cost was $302. We would have flown economy class for such a short flight, but there weren’t any economy class seats available.
Jan 13-16. Blue Lotus Nile Suites hotel. Expedia booking. $45 one key cash applied +$309 (our out of pocket expense). Avoided cost $354. No good point options available.
Fourth month expense report:
Lodging: cash out of pocket was $1,375. If we hadn’t used points, the cost would have been $10,905.
Flights: cash out of pocket was $4,043. If we hadn’t used miles the cost would have been $7,413.
The main thing that killed us was the lack of any point options for flights from Maun, Botswana to Johannesburg; Johannesburg to Mauritius; Mauritius to Seychelles; and Seychelles to Nairobi.
Lodging had no points options on Praslin or La Digue and additionally, a last minute booking due to a flight rescheduling caused us to book a hotel for cash in Mahe.
End of fourth month.
Start of fifth month.
Jan 16-19. B&B Saluga Sehel Island Nubian House. We ended up cancelling this and paid a $129 cancellation fee. We made this reservation as an option in case we couldn’t find a deal on a Nile cruise.
Jan 15: Roundtrip flight on Egypt Air from ASW to ABS (Abu Simbel, Egypt) and tour of Abu Simbel. We paid 30,000 Air Canada miles + $89. Our avoided cost was $472.
Jan 19-21 Jewel Luxor hotel Nile. No good point options so paid $186 through Expedia.
Jan 21. Air Nile flight from Luxor to Cairo. No good mileage options so we paid $77 cash.
Jan 21 – 23. Marriott Mena house Cairo. We paid two Marriott FNCs. Our avoided cost $1,395 (we were upgraded to a suite for the second night).
Jan 23-27. Nile Ritz Carlton, Cairo. We paid 4 Amex FHRs + $744 cash. We were upgraded to Deluxe Nile view room. We also received $820 in other Amex credits. Our avoided cost was $4,314.
Jan 27-29: Four Season hotel at San Stefano, Alexandria, Egypt. This was a Chase The Edit booking. Our out-of-pocket was paid $472 after receiving our $250 Edit credit. Plus we received a $100 property credit.
Jan 29-31. Hilton Alexandria Corniche. We paid 70,000 Hilton points. Our avoided cost was $281.
Jan 31. We flew business class on Egypt Air from CAI to CMN (Casablanca, Morocco). We paid 64,000 Avianca Lifemiles + $132. Our avoided cost was $1,498.
Jan 31 – Feb 2. Hilton Garden Inn Casablanca Sud. $200 (we could have paid Hilton points but the cash value was better).
Feb 2-5: Airbnb booking Apartment in Rabat: We used $116 of Airbnb credits + we paid $100. Our avoided cost was $216. No good point options available.
Feb 5-8 Mitzi 101 Studio Apartment Marrakech. Free through our Airbnb credits. Our avoided cost was $284. No good point options available.
Feb 8-11 desert trekking
Feb 11-12. Mitzi 101 Studio Airbnb ($82 paid the host directly). No good point options available.
Feb 12-14 Sahara Tour
Feb 14: Ramada by Wyndham in Fes. We paid 6,750 Wyndham points. Our avoided cost was $130.
Feb 15-18. Ramada by Wyndham in Fes. We paid 20,250 Wyndham points. Our avoided cost was $231.
End of fifth month. Fifth month expense report.
Lodging: cash out of pocket was $1,365. If we hadn’t used points, the cost would have been $8,543
Flights: cash out of pocket was $298. If we hadn’t used miles the cost would have been $2.047.
START OF THE SIXTH MONTH OF TRAVEL
Feb 18 – 20: Hotel Dar Mounir, Zankat Kadi Alami Hay Souika, Chefchaouen, Morocco. Booked through Capital One travel. Our cost $166. No good point options available.
Feb 20 – 22: Ramada Encore by Wyndham Tangier. We paid 13,500 Wyndham points. Our avoided cost was $142.
Feb 22 – 23: Gibraltar: Holiday Inn Express. We paid 35,000 IHG points + $9. Our avoided cost was $208,
Feb 23 Tap Air Portugal flight from Gibraltar to LIS (Lisbon). Chase travel portal. We paid $207. No good mileage options available.
Feb 23 – 24. Lisbon Intercontinental hotel. We paid an IHG FNC + 9,000 pts. Our avoided cost was $423.
Feb 24 – 25. Lisbon Intercontinental hotel. We paid an IHG FNC + 9,000 pts. Our avoided cost was $423.
Feb 25 – mar 1: Holiday Inn Express Porto Boavista. We paid 42,000 IHG points. Our avoided cost was $472.
March 1-3. Pine Cliffs Algarve, Portugal. We paid two Amex FHR certificates + $58. Our avoided cost was $938.
Mar 3-5 Conrad Algarve. We paid 180,000 Hilton points and were upgraded to a fabulous six room suite. Our avoided cost was $1,297.
Mar 5-7. Lisbon; Holiday Inn Express Plaza Saldanha. We paid 44,000 IHG pts. Our avoided cost was $288.
Mar 7: Business class flight from LIS TO TUN (Tunis, Tunisia). We paid 25,772 Lufthansa points + $392. Our avoided cost was $1,220.
Mar 7-11. Tunis La Villa Bleu. After using a Citi $100 credit, our cost was $667. Our avoided cost was $767.
Mar 11-15 Iberostar Selection Diar El Andalous, Sousse, Tunisia. We paid 60,300 IHG points + $14 for this all-inclusive resort and were upgraded to a Prestige Junior Suite. Our avoided cost was $575.
March 15: ITA Airlines direct economy flight from Tunis to Rome (FCO). We paid $356. There were no good mileage options available.
March 15 – 18: Citi travel booking Hotel Relais Teatro Argentina, Rome. We paid $731. I used Citi travel because I thought I had a $100 credit with them, but later I realized that I had already used that credit in Sidi Bou Said. (Note that there are lots of points options in Rome and we will be using some of them at the end of the month. But none of the chain hotels are in the city center near the historical sites. This particular hotel had an incredible location where we were able to walk to everything).
End of sixth month of travel. Sixth month expense report.
Lodging: cash out of pocket for our sixth month was $1,645.
If we hadn’t used points, the lodging costs for our sixth month would have been $6,007.
Flights: cash out of pocket for our sixth month was $955. If we hadn’t used miles the cost of our flights for our sixth month would have been $1,783
Cumulative 6 month totals:
Total out of pocket lodging and airfare expenses: $14,591.
Amount that we would have paid if we hadn’t used points and miles: $94,791
Average monthly out-of-pocket lodging and airfare expenses: $2,432.
Average monthly amount that we would have paid if we hadn’t used points & miles: $15,799.
Start of seventh month:
March 18 – 20: Airbnb condo in Santa Croce, Florence. Free with our Airbnb credits. Our avoided cost was $233.
Mar 20 – 22: NH Collection Murano Villa. After using Amex The Hotel Collection credits, our cost was $92. Our avoided cost was $703.
Mar 22-24: Airbnb apartment in Verona. After using our Airbnb credits we only had to pay $49. Our avoided cost was $227.
Mar 24 – 26: Airbnb in Modena. Free with our Airbnb credits. Our avoided cost was $233.
Mar 26 – 28: Airbnb in Vernazza (Cinque Terre). We paid $402 (we had run out of free Airbnb credits).
Mar 28 – 31: Rome – Part 2. Rome Cavalieri, A Waldorf Astoria Hotel. After using Amex Fine hotels and Resorts credits, our cost was $525. Our avoided cost was $3,297. We were upgraded to a Vista Suite King room with a view of the Citadel for one night. After using Amex Fine hotels and Resorts credits, our cost was $205. Our avoided cost was $1,731. (We also used Amex credits to get $215 of food for free at the Rome Cavalieri, but I’m not including that in the totals).
March 31. Business class flight on Virgin Atlantic from Rome to JNB (Johannesburg). We paid 142,000 Virgin Atlantic points + $595. Our avoided cost was $4,904.
April 1: South African Airways. Johannesburg to WDH (Windhoek). We paid $282 for economy class (half of the roundtrip cost). No good miles options were available.
April 1-2: Hilton Garden Inn in Windhoek. We paid $106 (it was better deal than the Hilton points cost).
April 2 – 14. Camping in Namibia.
April 15 – 16: Hilton Garden Inn in Windhoek (upgraded to a king suite). We paid 25,000 Hilton points. Our avoided cost was $210.
End of our seventh month of living abroad.
Lodging: cash out of pocket for our seventh month was $1,175. If we hadn’t used points, the lodging costs for our seventh month would have been $5,411.
Flights: cash out of pocket for our seventh month was $877. If we hadn’t used miles the cost of our flights for our seventh month would have been $5,186.
Cumulative 7 month totals:
Total out of pocket lodging and airfare expenses: $16,643.
Amount that we would have paid if we hadn’t used points and miles: $105,388
Average monthly out-of-pocket lodging and airfare expenses: $2,377.
Average monthly amount that we would have paid if we hadn’t used points & miles: $15,055.
End of seventh month.
Start of eighth month
Living Abroad – Eighth month expense report
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. We paid 25,000 Hilton points. Upgraded to a king suite. Our avoided cost was $210. This is a good hotel with breakfast included.
April 17: South African Airways flight from Windhoek to Johannesburg. We paid $282 (half of the roundtrip cost: JMN-WDH & WDH-JNB). No good mileage options.
April 17 – 18: Holiday Inn Airport Johannesburg. We paid 12,500 IHG points. Our avoided cost was $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 Johannesburg.
April 18 – 21: The Last Word Madikwe Safari Camp, Madikwe Reserve, South Africa. We paid 75,000 Citi points (which transferred to iPrefer at a 1 to 4 ratio became 300,000 iPrefer points). Our avoided cost was $3,711. Hard to beat this (see my specific post about this safari camp). All inclusive.
April 21 – 22: Hyatt House Rosebank, Johannesburg. We paid $98 and were upgraded to a king suite. Our avoided cost was $161. A very nice hotel, but still a step below the Holiday Inn Rosebank. The cash rate was better than the points rate.
April 22: Economy class flight on Airlink from Johannesburg to CPT (Cape Town). We paid $215. No good mileage options.
April 22 – 25: Hyatt Regency, Cape Town. We paid 17,000 Hyatt points. Our avoided cost was $864.
April 25 – 27: The Westin, Cape Town. We paid two Marriott 35K FNC’s (but got 4,000 points credited back to us). Our 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. We paid $201. No point options available.
April 30 – May 3: Franschoek, The Last Word Franschoek. We paid 81,000 Choice points. Our avoided cost was $1,535. This was an outstanding point redemption. Breakfast included. Evening reception with drinks and snacks included.
May 3 – 4: Hermanus Airbnb. We paid $113. No point options available.
May 4 – 6: Knysna Airbnb. We paid $132. No point options available.
May 6 – 8: Plattenburg Bay Airbnb. We paid $132. No point options available.
May 8 – 10: Stormsrivier, Tsitsikamma National Park lodging. We paid $265. No point options available.
May 10 – 11: Graaff-Reinet. Mountain Zebra Cottage. We paid Booking.com $57. No point options available.
May 11 – 13: Clarens. Upper Classic lodge. We paid Citi Travel $122. No point options available.
May 13 – 14: Hyatt House Rosebank, Johannesburg. We paid 5,000 Hyatt points. Upgraded to a king suite. Our avoided cost was $161.
May 14: Economy class flight from Johannesburg to TNV (Atananarivo) on Airlink Airlines. We paid 50,000 United miles + $88. Our avoided cost was $975.
May 14 – 15: Radisson Hotel Tamboho Waterfront Antananarivo. United Travel booking. We paid $100 after using a $50 United travel credit. Our avoided cost was $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 eighth 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 eighth 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.
Start of ninth month. This month was actually one month plus one day.
May 15 – 27: On a tour of Madagascar. Madagascar was one of two countries (the other being Ethiopia) where due to the poor infrastructure and safety concerns, we weren’t able to set up our own traveling. So we had to join a tour.
May 27: Business class flight from TNV (Madagascar) to NBO (Nairobi) on Ethiopian Airways. We paid 90,000 United miles + $259 in taxes. Our avoided cost was $7,786.
May 27 – 30: Holiday Inn Two Rivers Mall Nairobi. Upgraded to a junior suite. We paid 57,000 IHG points. Our avoided cost was $667.
(This is the start of our family vacation, when we flew six other family members over to go on Safari. I’ll have a separate post about how we did most of that on points. This section will only document the expenses for Kate and myself).
May 30: Safarilink bush flight to Tsavo West National Park. We paid $785 (roundtrip cost). No mileage options available.
May 30 – June 2: Finch Hattons Safari lodge in Tsavo West. Park entrance fees $540. Virgin Atlantic points 330,000 (we transferred 236,000 Amex points with a 40% bonus to Virgin Atlantic which yielded 330,000 Virgin points). Avoided cost $5,940.
June 2: Safarilink flight back to Wilson airport, Nairobi.
June 2 – 4: Farmhouse VRBO rental in Lake Naivasha. We paid $207 (this is 25% of our family of eight cost). No point options available.
June 4 – 6: Kapoto safari camp including Masai Mara park entrance fees. We paid $1,400. No good point options available.
June 6 – 7: Holiday Inn Two Rivers Mall, Nairobi. We paid 17,000 IHG points. Upgraded to a junior suite again. Our avoided cost was $194.
June 7: Business class flight from Nairobi to LHR (London). We paid 85,000 Alaska points + an Alaska 25k global companion certificate + $719 (plus we paid a $310 penalty for cancelling an earlier Air Canada booking that wasn’t as good). Our avoided cost was $5,670.
June 7 – 8. Ruby Stella Hotel London. We paid 24,659 IHG points. Our avoided cost was $265.
June 8 – 10: For these three days Kate and I did a mini Camino in England, running from small town to small town. These towns were too small to have any point options.
June 8 – 9: Wingrove House in the city of Alfriston. Capital One travel booking. We paid $290. No point options available.
June 9 – 10: The Wellington in the city of Seven Sisters. Citi travel booking. We paid $114. No point options available.
June 10 – 11: The Grand Hotel in the city of Eastbourne. We paid $248 and booked through Citi Travel which gives 10X on hotel bookings. This hotel is listed as a Hilton SLH property and should have been bookable with points. For the life of me, I tried over and over to find it on the Hilton website but it never would show up.
June 11-16 NoMad hotel in London. This hotel has a great location in Covent Garden. It’s easy to walk to shows in the area. We paid 400,000 Hilton points (with the fifth night free benefit). Our avoided cost was $5,800. We were also able to get free breakfast every day and we were able to use $155 of Amex Business Platinum card and Amex Hilton Surpass credits for free lunches and dinners.
June 16: Business class flight from London to SFO (San Francisco). We paid 165,000 American Airlines miles + $843 in taxes. Our avoided cost was $24,784.
End of our ninth month of living abroad.
Lodging: cash out of pocket for our ninth month was $2,259. If we hadn’t used points, the lodging costs for our ninth month would have been $15,125.
Flights: cash out of pocket for our ninth month was $2,916. If we hadn’t used miles the cost of our flights for our ninth month would have been $39,025.
Cumulative 9 month totals:
Total out of pocket lodging and airfare expenses: $23,623.
Amount that we would have paid if we hadn’t used points and miles: $170,272.
Average monthly out-of-pocket lodging and airfare expenses: $2,625.
Average monthly amount that we would have paid if we hadn’t used points & miles: $18,919.
Bear in mind, if I state that no point options are available, it’s often possible to just cash credit card points out for cash and to make a payment that way. But that is usually very inefficient compared to transferring points directly to an airline or hotel so I never do that.
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How did you get the Virgin Atlantic points?
We made transfers from Amex and Chase when they had bonus transfer offers active.
How did you earn the United miles?
We transferred 66,000 Chase points to United (1 to 1); we transferred 122,000 Marriott points (this gave us 70,000 United points); We utilized a few shopping portal bonuses (500 to 2,000 points here and there). We had some points left over from the 60,000 mile bonus from opening the United Explorer card. I utilized a bonus of spend $1,000 and get 10,000 United miles.
How did you get the Wyndham points?
We got them through our Wyndham Business Earners cards. Besides the welcome bonuses, these cards provide 8X on gas purchases and 5X on utilities. And I used a shopping portal offer to sign up for two months of an American home Shield warranty ($30 x 2) for a 60,000 point bonus. We’ve also purchased Wyndham points when they were on sale for future use, but we haven’t had to break into that stash yet.
How did you get the Hilton points and FNCs?
We opened three Amex Hilton Aspire cards which yielded 600,000 Hilton points (welcome offer + minimum spend points + 20,000 Hilton points by using my referral for Kate’s card). They also yielded three FNCs.
How did you get the IHG points?
We opened two Chase IHG personal cards and one Chase IHG business card. This yielded 320,000 IHG points. We’ve also purchased IHG points when they were on sale for future use, but we haven’t had to break into that stash yet.