Trips this year?

[dochas]

Anyone want to talk travel? Any big trips or milestones you're hitting this year? Any tips for good rewards cards?

We're going to Ireland, and I'm so excited. It's been a long time since we've been, and it's my son's first time. It will also be our first time flying since our son was born. We used to travel a lot, but going to one salary put an immediate end to that. I am going to have to start planning now, and I'm having a lot of nervous excitement. Step one is getting him a passport and renewing ours. 

We always just use our credit card rewards for cash, but I think I'm going to get a travel rewards card for this. I want something that has no foreign transaction fees, and I see that our current cards have lost those benefits over the years. We're also spending a bundle, and I think it would be great to be able to roll that into another trip. Chase has 2 that look good, but it's been a couple of months since I checked, so I'm going to look into what the best ones are at the moment.

[namasteak]

-10 year anniversary trip with DH ... somewhere...
-spring break trip to NJ to see family and I’ll take Ds1 into NYC for a day
-weekend trip to Austin with the kids

[mrsd2006]

Amalfi coast in May, Viking river cruise in France in November

We have the Delta Amex cards, we live in Atlanta which is the major Delta hub so we can go anywhere from here.

[lightbulbsun]

We have a few trips planned around weddings and other events, but I want to do something for our 10 year anniversary. We were talking about doing a road trip from Italy to Spain, but I'm not sure if that would work with our vacation time.

We have a wedding in Raleigh in May, and we're going to spend some time in Asheville while were in the state. We might stop at Shenandoah on the way back, too. We have another wedding in LA in June, and I think we'll spend a week there and visit San Diego, too. H also has a couple of gigs lined up in Tampa, but I'm not sure if I want to go with him or not.

[puppylove64]

Going to Breckinridge in a few weeks. First time flying for the kids 😊

Dh and I need to take a 10 year trip somewhere, anywhere! But with a baby coming in March, I’m not sure where or what we can do. We also won some airfare and will have to book them before the end of the year. It is a little nerve wracking after not traveling much and not leaving the kids often and having a newborn soon.

[jinkies]

We are planning for our big family vacation to be Colorado national parks.

I may also go to either Denver or Italy for work.

We usually also do a few long weekends to driveable places-- NYC, the beach, snow tubing somewhere. I haven't planned anything yet though. We might be due for a weekend in DC again this year, it's been a while.

[jillybean222]

We have a wedding in Malibu (I live in Rhode Island so a long trip for us) in May. We usually take a family vacation in April but we're skipping it this year to do a whole family cruise in December. I want to take the kids to NYC around Thanksgiving for the Macy's Parade and the Radio City Christmas Spectacular too. And a bunch of driving distance soccer tournament trips for my older kids this spring too. Our 15th anniversary is in October too but I'm not sure we'll have any disposable in come left after everything else lol.

[wildrice]

I'm always up for talking travel!

First, I have the Chase Sapphire Reserve card. I love it. The fee is high ($450 a year) but you get $300 in travel rewards, so it is a net $150 a year that you're actually paying. Included in that fee is a Priority Pass lounge access card. Depending on where you fly out of, that can be a great value or it can be fairly useless. Our local airport (BWI) has a lounge that is included, so we've taken advantage of that several times. There are also restaurants in several airports that give you a $28 per person credit toward food, so when we flew out of Houston last weekend we got a free lunch (our bill was $53 so it was covered completely, we just left a cash tip). So - I think the $150 fee is worth it. Not to mention, the rewards stack up quickly. We paid a whopping $81 for our hotels on our upcoming Italy trip (8 nights) because I used points for the rest. I use the Chase Freedom card as well (it gets 1.5 points per dollar on everything, the Reserve only gets 1 point for a lot of stuff but 3 points for travel, dining, and related expenses so they pair well together).

I also have the Capitol One Venture card. It was offering a great opening bonus last year, so I got it just for that. We used it to buy our airline tickets for our upcoming vacation, and I think we ended up spending only $280 of actual money on 2 round trip tickets to Europe. I will likely cancel the card after this trip, only because I am devoted to Chase and think I get better stuff there. But it's worth looking at if they are doing a bonus or if you decide against Chase for whatever reason.

We are leaving on vacation next Thursday. We are flying to London, attending my SIL's wedding, and then on Sunday we're flying to Florence. We'll spend 4 nights there, bus to Siena, then head to Rome the next day and spend 3 nights there. I'm so excited. I've been to Florence and Rome before, but only very briefly (and was sick and exhausted the whole time) so I'm really looking forward to having the time to see things in depth, eat more food, drink more wine, and explore with my H. He hasn't been to either place before so it will all be new to him.

We are also hoping to go somewhere in November with my parents. We'll do an AI (they have a vacation club) and we're hoping for Jamaica but have to look at pricing. If not there, perhaps somewhere in Mexico or another Caribbean resort.

[lolalolalola]

We are on a ski trip in Banff now. We have ski trips planned for Whitefish, Lake Louise and Jasper. We have a trip to SF planned for the summer. We also spend 1-2 weeks at the lake each summer.

[tripleshot]

Ireland sounds awesome!

We’re going to Islamorada in the FL Keys 2/15-2/17 for DH’s 40th. It’s a quick trip but he is stuck to the school calendar and has 2/17 off so it’ll make a good long weekend as long as there are no flight delays (winter in Cleveland).

We just talked last night about saving to go to France and other spots in Europe for 2 weeks in June 2022.

ETA: We now have 3 Chase cards to earn Ultimate rewards to help cover flights. We have the Sapphire Preferred, Freedom, and Freedom Unlimited. I have 130k points now. I typically transfer the points to Southwest to buy flights to FL for our annual Spring Break cruises (I get a better point value doing that).. You can also book travel through their portal or transfer to other partners.

Let me know if you want a referral link for the Chase Sapphire Preferred.

[dochas]

Every one of these sounds great. Except I'm already in NJ namasteak. LOL I love hearing about other people's trips.

[CurlyQ284]

Going to Disney the last week of October. We took SDs when they were about 10 and 11, DS has never been. He is 7 and we were waiting for the Star Wars stuff.

After this trip, no more kid-focused trips. We are doing what we want because I have done kid trips for 15 years, we didn't even go on a honeymoon. We will still bring the kids for a family vacation, I am just not putting them at the center of the next trip. I'm thinking a cruise or all inclusive resort for 2021. I want to do NOTHING on the next trip. No planning, no feeding people, zero.

[eddy]

This year will be scaled down because we had a big travel year last year.

I think our family trip this year will be to Door County in Wisconsin. I want a cabin, a lake and other assorted activities.

[Mrs.flang]

I'm just starting to plan our family vacation for this summer. I haaaaate trying to come up with a plan. I started a spreadsheet of different options this morning and I'm feeling so overwhelmed and defeated. I'm so jealous of everyone who has all their plans already!!

[sotally tober]

we're trying to figure out a cancer free trip. I finally convinced H to go to Mexico as I've always wanted to do an all-inclusive. A cruise is also an option. My parents/family is wanting to go, too, so that makes us have to go in July/August specifically which is annoying.

We don't travel much so I'd also like to do a trip for just H and I to somewhere different as I think we're leaning towards bringing DD (14) with us to the cancer free trip.

[just]

Jan 3, 2020 10:59:12 GMT -5 eddy said:

This year will be scaled down because we had a big travel year last year.

I think our family trip this year will be to Door County in Wisconsin. I want a cabin, a lake and other assorted activities.

We spent tons of time in DC, have you been before? It's beautiful.

[isabel]

-Either Montreal or Barcelona for at least 2 weeks, but hopefully closer to a month, this summer.
-If we're home, we'll go up to Steamboat for the hot air balloon rodeo.
-Steamboat in early August for the wedding of one of DH's childhood friends.
-Very likely a couple of trips to Indianapolis to visit family. Probably spring and Christmas.
-I'm in Nashville for a work conference in May. First trip there, so I'm excited to explore the city and eat.
-Probably a couple other work-related trips in 2020 and maybe a weekend trip or two up to the mountains to ski or during summer/fall.

[eddy]

Jan 3, 2020 11:01:49 GMT -5 just said:

Jan 3, 2020 10:59:12 GMT -5 eddy said:

This year will be scaled down because we had a big travel year last year.

I think our family trip this year will be to Door County in Wisconsin. I want a cabin, a lake and other assorted activities.

We spent tons of time in DC, have you been before? It's beautiful.

No!

My ILs love it though. It seems like totally my vibe of a place.

[katfco]

We're possibly taking a cruise with DH's family this December. It all depends on if SIL is pregnant at the time. If we postpone, we'll take a just us family vacation, probably to the Carolinas, since we've never been.

As always, we take family trips to Mass and Iowa.

[jamaicam]

Jan 3, 2020 10:57:34 GMT -5 wildrice said:

I'm always up for talking travel!

First, I have the Chase Sapphire Reserve card. I love it. The fee is high ($450 a year) but you get $300 in travel rewards, so it is a net $150 a year that you're actually paying. Included in that fee is a Priority Pass lounge access card. Depending on where you fly out of, that can be a great value or it can be fairly useless. Our local airport (BWI) has a lounge that is included, so we've taken advantage of that several times. There are also restaurants in several airports that give you a $28 per person credit toward food, so when we flew out of Houston last weekend we got a free lunch (our bill was $53 so it was covered completely, we just left a cash tip). So - I think the $150 fee is worth it. Not to mention, the rewards stack up quickly. We paid a whopping $81 for our hotels on our upcoming Italy trip (8 nights) because I used points for the rest. I use the Chase Freedom card as well (it gets 1.5 points per dollar on everything, the Reserve only gets 1 point for a lot of stuff but 3 points for travel, dining, and related expenses so they pair well together).

I also have the Capitol One Venture card. It was offering a great opening bonus last year, so I got it just for that. We used it to buy our airline tickets for our upcoming vacation, and I think we ended up spending only $280 of actual money on 2 round trip tickets to Europe. I will likely cancel the card after this trip, only because I am devoted to Chase and think I get better stuff there. But it's worth looking at if they are doing a bonus or if you decide against Chase for whatever reason.

We are leaving on vacation next Thursday. We are flying to London, attending my SIL's wedding, and then on Sunday we're flying to Florence. We'll spend 4 nights there, bus to Siena, then head to Rome the next day and spend 3 nights there. I'm so excited. I've been to Florence and Rome before, but only very briefly (and was sick and exhausted the whole time) so I'm really looking forward to having the time to see things in depth, eat more food, drink more wine, and explore with my H. He hasn't been to either place before so it will all be new to him.

We are also hoping to go somewhere in November with my parents. We'll do an AI (they have a vacation club) and we're hoping for Jamaica but have to look at pricing. If not there, perhaps somewhere in Mexico or another Caribbean resort.

i strongly recommend Jamaica 

[just]

Jan 3, 2020 11:02:35 GMT -5 eddy said:

Jan 3, 2020 11:01:49 GMT -5 just said:

We spent tons of time in DC, have you been before? It's beautiful.

No!

My ILs love it though. It seems like totally my vibe of a place.

Let me know if you need any suggestions. We used to live in GB and my ILs had a cottage in Egg Harbor, so we'd go up almost every weekend from October through March since the winter is beautiful up there. We also spent our fair share of time up there in Summer too though and visited most of the state parks, many of the restaurants, all of the breweries (at that time - there's tons more now)

[wildrice]

Jan 3, 2020 11:03:54 GMT -5 jamaicam said:

Jan 3, 2020 10:57:34 GMT -5 wildrice said:

I'm always up for talking travel!

First, I have the Chase Sapphire Reserve card. I love it. The fee is high ($450 a year) but you get $300 in travel rewards, so it is a net $150 a year that you're actually paying. Included in that fee is a Priority Pass lounge access card. Depending on where you fly out of, that can be a great value or it can be fairly useless. Our local airport (BWI) has a lounge that is included, so we've taken advantage of that several times. There are also restaurants in several airports that give you a $28 per person credit toward food, so when we flew out of Houston last weekend we got a free lunch (our bill was $53 so it was covered completely, we just left a cash tip). So - I think the $150 fee is worth it. Not to mention, the rewards stack up quickly. We paid a whopping $81 for our hotels on our upcoming Italy trip (8 nights) because I used points for the rest. I use the Chase Freedom card as well (it gets 1.5 points per dollar on everything, the Reserve only gets 1 point for a lot of stuff but 3 points for travel, dining, and related expenses so they pair well together).

I also have the Capitol One Venture card. It was offering a great opening bonus last year, so I got it just for that. We used it to buy our airline tickets for our upcoming vacation, and I think we ended up spending only $280 of actual money on 2 round trip tickets to Europe. I will likely cancel the card after this trip, only because I am devoted to Chase and think I get better stuff there. But it's worth looking at if they are doing a bonus or if you decide against Chase for whatever reason.

We are leaving on vacation next Thursday. We are flying to London, attending my SIL's wedding, and then on Sunday we're flying to Florence. We'll spend 4 nights there, bus to Siena, then head to Rome the next day and spend 3 nights there. I'm so excited. I've been to Florence and Rome before, but only very briefly (and was sick and exhausted the whole time) so I'm really looking forward to having the time to see things in depth, eat more food, drink more wine, and explore with my H. He hasn't been to either place before so it will all be new to him.

We are also hoping to go somewhere in November with my parents. We'll do an AI (they have a vacation club) and we're hoping for Jamaica but have to look at pricing. If not there, perhaps somewhere in Mexico or another Caribbean resort.

i strongly recommend Jamaica 

It's definitely my (and my H's) top choice! I think the pricing structure for my parents' timeshare thing is different depending on different places, so it will really depend on if they have enough points (and if they want to use that many on us, haha). 

If we don't go this time, we definitely will on our own at some point. It's high on my list of places I want to get to!

[jamaicam]

My major trip for this year is a month in England this summer with the boys. Planning on leaving the boys iwth my parents for a few nights to do an adults-only trip to Ireland as part of that, and we may go over to France as well for a few days. We also have a week in a cottage in Wales with my brother and his family and my parents as part of that trip.

Other than that, nothing is planned at the moment. We usually do a few days at an AI around Easter but will have to see how finances are this year re summer trip before I book that! But I'm sure we'll at least have a few weekend beach trips.

[dochas]

Jan 3, 2020 10:57:34 GMT -5 wildrice said:

I'm always up for talking travel!

First, I have the Chase Sapphire Reserve card. I love it. The fee is high ($450 a year) but you get $300 in travel rewards, so it is a net $150 a year that you're actually paying. Included in that fee is a Priority Pass lounge access card. Depending on where you fly out of, that can be a great value or it can be fairly useless. Our local airport (BWI) has a lounge that is included, so we've taken advantage of that several times. There are also restaurants in several airports that give you a $28 per person credit toward food, so when we flew out of Houston last weekend we got a free lunch (our bill was $53 so it was covered completely, we just left a cash tip). So - I think the $150 fee is worth it. Not to mention, the rewards stack up quickly. We paid a whopping $81 for our hotels on our upcoming Italy trip (8 nights) because I used points for the rest. I use the Chase Freedom card as well (it gets 1.5 points per dollar on everything, the Reserve only gets 1 point for a lot of stuff but 3 points for travel, dining, and related expenses so they pair well together).

I also have the Capitol One Venture card. It was offering a great opening bonus last year, so I got it just for that. We used it to buy our airline tickets for our upcoming vacation, and I think we ended up spending only $280 of actual money on 2 round trip tickets to Europe. I will likely cancel the card after this trip, only because I am devoted to Chase and think I get better stuff there. But it's worth looking at if they are doing a bonus or if you decide against Chase for whatever reason.

We are leaving on vacation next Thursday. We are flying to London, attending my SIL's wedding, and then on Sunday we're flying to Florence. We'll spend 4 nights there, bus to Siena, then head to Rome the next day and spend 3 nights there. I'm so excited. I've been to Florence and Rome before, but only very briefly (and was sick and exhausted the whole time) so I'm really looking forward to having the time to see things in depth, eat more food, drink more wine, and explore with my H. He hasn't been to either place before so it will all be new to him.

We are also hoping to go somewhere in November with my parents. We'll do an AI (they have a vacation club) and we're hoping for Jamaica but have to look at pricing. If not there, perhaps somewhere in Mexico or another Caribbean resort.

The Reserve is the one I was looking at! For the Priority Pass - do you each have to have one, or can one person bring guests? It will be 3 of us, and our son is 9. I wasn't sure how that would work. I think we could rack up a lot from this trip, and then use the rewards in 2021. We have the Freedom that we use for most things now. It sounds like you make great use of it!!

[mrsukyankee]

As we're trying to buy a house, we're cutting back on travel this year. I'm doing a women's trip to the countryside (near Derby, England in March, in a big chalet with hot tub) and my H is doing a guy's trip on the same weekend to Bath. H & I are planning on doing 10-14 days in Portugal with a few days in Lisbon and the rest of the time at a beach. Other than that, nothing planned.

[MeMyselfandI]

I'm leaving for Iceland in a little over a month. I'm very excited and very nervous. It will be the first time I've traveled internationally by myself. A friend was supposed to go with me, but she's leaving Monday to visit her parents in Singapore for two weeks, so there goes that. Over the last few years though it has been a goal of mine to do more things out of my comfort zone. I have been holding myself back for too long, so this is definitely a big step towards that.

Other than Iceland, I may visit my brother in Pensacola later this year, but haven't decided yet. My next big trip will be in 2.5 years. I'll be going to Alaska for my 45th birthday. Probably a cruise, we'll see. I'm constantly adding places to my bucket list.

[redheadbaker]

H and I are going to Hershey for a couple of days for the Green Day concert. H got almost-front-row tix as a gift for my 40th birthday.

And we're taking a family vacation somewhat local (probably Wildwood, NJ, again), and saving up to go to Universal Studios in Orlando next summer.

[jaycee]

January - Hawaii
April - NYC
Summer - Niagara Falls
October - either Disney or Denver

We have the Costco card that we use for travel and it’s something like 3% back.

eddy I live very close to DC too, so let me know if I can help you.

[Patsy Baloney]

sotally tober, so happy to hear you're taking a cancer-free trip. May it always be that way.

We're planning a few little things this year - DS has a surgery coming up, and we're not sure how much sick/vacation time his recovery will take from H and I. We're planning a weekend in Las Vegas when I finish my masters in May, a long weekend in Chicago for my H's birthday, and then a long weekend in D.C. for our 10th anniversary in the fall. We ended up sort of stumbling into having our honeymoon there, then 5 years later stumbled into a return trip with our daughter, and now we'll be going 5 years later with our DD and DS. It's such an easy place with kids.

We may also head to southern IL in the summer to enjoy the Shawnee with the kids. We had a great trip to that area last year for a wedding and would love to go back with the littles so they can see all the great hiking places, flowers, bluffs, etc., and we can enjoy tired-kids-early-bedtime

[wildrice]

Jan 3, 2020 11:02:35 GMT -5 eddy said:

Jan 3, 2020 11:01:49 GMT -5 just said:

We spent tons of time in DC, have you been before? It's beautiful.

No!

My ILs love it though. It seems like totally my vibe of a place.

My family went up there most years for our summer vacation when I was growing up. I have great memories - it's a wonderful, low key place for a family vacation.