We’re gonna take a shot at getting there on the cheap anyway, though. Here
is our desired itinerary:
- Washington, DC to Reykjavik, Iceland
- Reykjavik to DC
And the credit cards we’ll be signing up for:
Chase Sapphire Preferred
40,000 points after $3,000 spend in 4 months
No annual fee first year
Chase Ink Bold
50,000 points after $5,000 spend in 3 months
No annual fee first year
The Chase Ink Bold is a business credit card, but even if you just sell
things on eBay, you technically have a business. You can sign up using your
social security number as the federal tax ID that the application requires.
Million Mile Secrets has a great
post on the details of having a business even as an individual.
Total General Points: 98,000
(90,000 signup plus 8,000 from meeting minimum spend)
Total Cost: $0
Flights
These general points can be redeemed at 1.25 cents apiece for travel,
so I’m going to look into flights for a 4-night stay using the ITA Matrix, a special travel
search engine that allows you to customize your flights. I’m going to search a
flexible 4 nights during the entire month of August:
Looks like I can head out on Friday the 30th for cheapest. I
go ahead and look for flights on the Chase travel site on those dates.
Perfect! Even though it costs 50,000
points for these flights, I can pay partly with cash as well. I have 43,000
points from Chase Sapphire, so I’ll use those here, and pay the $87.50 with my
credit card.
Total Points Used: 43,000
Total Points Remaining: 55,000
Total Cost so Far: $87.50
Hotel
Iceland is famous for its high prices. Lodging is no exception. Even
the most basic of hotels can be pricey. Chase’s travel site lists a good number
of options, but there is one that I think is a good compromise between price
and quality, the Hotel Cabin (3.5 stars on TripAdvisor):
The total cost would be 58,000 points,
but I only have 55,000. So I’ll use those and pay the remaining $36.35 out of
pocket.
Total Points Used: 98,000
Total Cost: $124
$124 is pretty reasonable for four nights in one of the most expensive
countries to get to and stay in. This certainly is not the most efficient use
of points out there, as you can often get much more than 1.25 cents of value
out of these points by transferring them to airline miles, but if you’re trying
to minimize your cash expense and maximize your travel to Iceland, this is one
of the best ways to do it.
Here’s a look at the actual price for flights on the same day and the
same hotel:
Flights
$625
Hotel
$724
Total Savings: $1,349
Need help thinking about the right credit cards for you, or how to book
this kind of trip? Head over to www.wennecorp.com
and we’d be happy to chat with you.
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