The complete breakdown of my 9 night Carribean family vacation.

Hey everyone.

Sorry for my absence.

It’s been a crazy holiday season! I started a new job, was away for more nights than I was home, and honestly forgot 2 Fridays in a row that it was even Friday.

I’m back to deliver you guys all the travel wisdom you need to hit your 2024 travel goals.

Let’s get into it.

Special Edition: The full cost breakdown of my next trip.

People lie to you guys all the time.

I promise not to be that person.

I’m 24, I don’t make that much money, but my wife, daughter, and I are going to Florida and the Caribbean next week at an incredibly reasonable price thanks to points, diligent savings, and a little help:)

Whenever I see someone going on a trip, the first thing I think is, “DANG, I’d kill to know how much that cost…”I’ve even gone to the extent of looking up the hotels people stayed at and flight prices to try and estimate how much they spent lol.

And people always say the same thing, “Oh, we got SUCH a good deal.”

Yea, right.

We tell ourselves these things to justify spending money we don’t have.

I want to be real with you guys about exactly how much I’m spending on this trip!

And show you I actually had the money.

Flights:

• To Florida: Round trip flights were $313.56 (including one checked bag).

• Florida —> Bonaire: 46,200 Avios (transferred from Capital One) + $162.34 in taxes and fees

  • Worth noting - these flights should have cost $1,800 total.

• Total for flights: $46,200 points + $475.90

Car:

• I rented a car for the week on Expedia. Simple economy car.

• Price: $276.31

Lodging:

• 1 night in FL in airport Hyatt hotel: 15,000 points + $0.

• 7 nights at the Grand Windsock Bonaire: $1,062

  • Booked via Chase travel portal.

  • This is their 1,300 square foot garden appt with a full kitchen.

• 1 night in a different FL Hyatt hotel: 9,000 points + $0.

• Total lodging: $1,062 + 24,000 points. 

Other:

• Bonaire tourism tax: $160

  • Mandatory for all visitors.

Total Spend: $1,974.21 + 70,200 points

Are you shocked by how much this is, or how little?

I’d challenge you to do a 9-night trip to South FL + Caribean for much less in peak season…

There’s a few other things I’d like to share.

• I got a $350 bonus from Capital One for opening a checking account with them.

• In lieu of Christmas gifts, I asked my parents to contribute to this trip and they VERY generously gave $500 to encourage us on our first official family vacation.

• That brings my effective cash paid down to $1,124.21.

Also, we had been wanting to take a trip this winter since we weren’t able to take one last winter.

We’d been saving.

Before I even found this deal, we had already saved up $1,000 for this trip since last January.

This trip was saved up for over the course of a year and paid for with money we actually had.

Travel isn’t only for rich people. It’s for smart and disciplined people.

The cash value of the things I booked with my points is around $2,350.

So I’m taking a $4,324 vacation for $1,124,21. That’s travel hacking.

We’ll spend a bit more on groceries as we plan to cook all our meals and will avoid restaurants, but we’ll be able to go into this vacation peacefully, knowing it is completely paid for.

I want to help you guys do what I’m doing.

This is the fruit of a lot of hours of hard work.

I was determined to find a way to take my family on a nice vacation.

We’re so blessed to be able to!

How can I help you today? Reach out on LinkedIn.