Mission Accomplished: We Have Returned from Vacation

Well it has been a little over a week that our family has returned from their Hawaiian vacation, and wow was it an incredible travel experience! Dare I even say, that the trip was life altering for our family. We saw the boys grow tremendously over the 2.5 week experience, and felt a tremendous bond as a family. We loved the whole trip, and look so forward to sharing our experiences with everyone over the next couple of months.

We captured a staggering number of photos and video from this trip, just shy of 32 gigabytes. Spending 3 days at Disneyland captured just over of 1,200 photos and tons of video alone. The only disappointing thing after returning home was seeing that we only have about 2,700 photos (plus video) from 2 weeks in Hawaii; it is crazy how much footage one can capture, particularly with kids when you “just keep swimming clicking.”

Even more impressive at Disneyland was seeing our two little boys faces during the parade, and when they saw their favorite characters, they about jumped out of their strollers. Or riding Autopia and having Bug (3) jump into my arms and tell me how mush he loves me and how much fun he was having. Those are moments that can not necessarily be captured on film, but live in our memories. It is moments like those that justify the validity in traveling with our children and as much as possible. It is an understatement just how much our family loves to travel! As much as it is nice to come home to a great house, at the same time it makes we wonder if we were meant to be nomads, taking the world in.

Spending 2.5 weeks on vacation does not just happen without a well thought out plan. The first thought or comment that others ask when they learned of our extended vacation was, how were we able to afford traveling for so long? While I am not going to lie and say Hawaii is cheap, I will say we probably spent less in 2.5 weeks than most families may spend on a week vacation. We were able to cut costs on all kinds of aspects of the trip, which allowed us to spend money on other more valuable experiences.

We spent months and months planning and shopping for the best deals. In addition, with some smart planning ahead of time, our family was able to earn enough airline miles and hotel points to not only fly our family of four (4) roundtrip tickets to Hawaii, with a multi-day stopover in Los Angeles, but also fly my in-laws out to spend time with us in Hawaii.

Flight tickets to Hawaii, during the summer months, were $800+ depending on exactly when we wanted to travel. Considering we needed three (3) seats (plus one lap child), the cost of flights can add a tremendous amount of upfront cost to a trip. However, over the past couple of years, both my wife and I were able to apply for United Airlines credit cards issued by Chase, as well as Continental Airlines cards (prior to the merger with United), and earn plenty of miles to make traveling to Hawaii a reality.

Hotel planning started back in 2009-10, with a Priority Club promotion called Crack the Case. By staying a total of 10 nights, we were able to earn enough points to stay a total of seven (7) nights for free in Honolulu. This was a case of taking part in the right promotion at the right time.

Every little bit of mile and point earning really helps to make cheap or free travel a reality. That is why it is so important for everyone that has any interest in traveling to not only sign up for frequent flyer and hotel programs, but to also pay attention to promotions, sign up for credit cards that offer tremendous incentives, and register and use those credit cards to earn bundles of rewards that can be redeemed for memorable experiences.

Sometimes offers come around that we are only able to share via Facebook or Twitter to help get the information out there as fast as possible. So please consider following us in any of the social media platforms to stay up-to-date with all the latest information.

We look forward to retelling our Disneyland and Hawaiian story over the next several months, and hope that we can help inspire you. Travel does not need to be expensive. The information is free for the taking and does not cost a thing as long as you have an open ear. Now I am going to go back to trying to kick this jet lag. Save Money, Travel More!