I’ve mentioned before that I like to plan ahead so it’s very easy to get ahead of myself when it come to vacation ideas. While we have all of our vacations booked through the end of 2018, I’m already thinking into 2019 and beyond! I’m not sure when we will do each of these and what the exact details will be, but these are the ideas we’ve been discussing most recently. Any advice on these very tentative plans is much appreciated!
1. Paris and more!
Neither of us have ever been to France so we would love to start out in Paris. Depending on how much time we can take off work, we would also like to visit Bordeaux and possibly Annecy. If we make it Annecy, it might be easy to pop over to Switzerland and check out Geneva.
In terms of points and miles, the only thing I have in mind so far is staying at the Park Hyatt Paris-Vendome.
2. Hawaii – Maui or Kauai?
Once Southwest opens up flights to Hawaii, we figured this would be a great use of the Companion Pass. We are getting married at a Marriott property so we’ve been earning a ton of Marriott points since we open a new SPG or Marriott card for each payment. It might make sense for use to do a flight and hotel package to earn more Southwest points and cover our hotel.
3. Peru – Lima, Cusco, and Machu Picchu
This is the trip we’ve been talking about the longest. We try to do a hiking/camping trip every year (we failed for 2018), but I’m hoping we can fit this in for 2019. We want to hike the Inca Trail so we will have to find a good tour that is ideally not during the raining season.
I’ve been saving American Airlines miles for business class flights to Lima. I think we will appreciate lie-flat seats after hiking. I’ve seen pretty decent saver availability for next year, but we know this is subject to change.
I’ve tried searching for tour agencies and I think it will be hard to pick one. Please comment if you have used one in the past!
4. Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National Parks
After our amazing trip to Yosemite, I’ve been really interested in visiting more national parks in the US. My fiancé has been to a bunch already including these two but that makes it easier for me since he knows where to go and what to see. This would also be a good trip for 2019 since we could use the Companion Pass for flights.
Final Thoughts
My favorite part of credit card churning is planning vacations. With my work schedule, I often feel like I have more points and miles than time to use them all. With my fiancé starting a new job in 2019 (location TBD…he’s finishing his medical residency), it is hard to start planning trips without knowing what his schedule will be like. For now, it’s fun to talk about where we’d like to go and jot down some initial ideas.
Have you been to any of these places? Comment below with recommendations, advice, or ideas!
