Hello from my kitchen table in Kansas.
After returning from 31 days in Europe, it's been quite an adjustment to stay still for a bit while returning to work. I enjoyed the trip tremendously and heading home was a very difficult thing for me, knowing it was time to head back to the "real world." But after five and a half weeks back home and a case of COVID I have to admit that though it's been nice seeing the dog, friends, and family we're ready to get back to doing what we love.
A quick stay at the Kimpton Cottonwood
Though we've largely been Kansas homebodies since our return, we managed to sneak in a 5-year anniversary trip to Omaha, Nebraska to stay a night at the Kimpton Cottonwood. The hotel is absolutely brilliant with its pool club, restaurants, and amazing bar, the Cottonwood Room. It's certainly an experience to visit. For this stay, we used our IHG card and paid cash to earn 26 points per dollar spent. That's basically at least 13% back on investment.
IHG just revamped its rewards program and I'm a big fan. Though I don't think the IHG points are the most valuable, I find hidden gems with the points in Europe and I've been pleasantly surprised with brands like Holiday Inn that I used to consider dated. They are really refreshing the brand and I believe IHG is a great addition to a well-rounded budget travel hacking portfolio.
What does the rest of 2022 look like?
We have a couple of larger trips planned in the second half of 2022 that I'm very much looking forward to. This summer we're enjoying some quick domestic trips before the passports come out again this fall. One that I'm looking forward to is our trip to Iowa, where my husband and his friend will be riding two days of Ragbrai. We rented an RV through RVShare.com with the American Airlines shopping portal for 3 points per dollar spent. This is a great option to look into if you're looking to rent an RV.
After Ragbrai, we're taking some quick trips to visit family in Kentucky, a weekend in Bentonville, Arkansas, and then heading to Charleston, South Carolina for a couple of days thanks to an amazing Scott's Cheap Flights deal. What I'm most excited about for Arkansas and South Carolina is how much money we saved on these getaways. Bentonville's Hyatt had off-peak awards, where we're staying the entire weekend for only 7,000 points. The drive is about 3.5 hours, so we'll round out the trip for less than $400 for the entire weekend. For Charleston, I used the Hyatt points sale to save nearly $400 on our stay by buying points with a 30% bonus for $700. Additionally, we're flying to Charleston on American Airlines for only $200 for the two of us and utilizing less than 7,000 Southwest points home.
This fall is when we're really going to start experimenting with the workcation arrangements our employers are offering us. In September we're away more than we're home. We'll be spending Labor Day weekend at the Waldorf-Astoria in Phoenix on points and a free night certificate thanks to my Hilton Aspire card. Heading to Cincinnati on points for my best friend's wedding. And then heading to Mexico for 12 days with a couple at our favorite Hyatt resort, the secluded and smaller Hyatt Ziva Riviera Cancun, before heading to the city of Merida for a week to enjoy a local experience and some day trips.
In November we're enjoying my 30th birthday at the Hyatt Miami Confidante on points using our newly acquired Southwest Companion Pass for our flights. That trip will be entirely free except for a bit of food and entertainment. Just a couple of weeks later we'll fly to Fort Lauderdale for a positioning flight to Peru for Thanksgiving. We paid just $260 for both our flights from Florida on JetBlue and used points home during a Thrifty Traveler sale. Positioning flights are a great tool to save a lot of money on your airfare. Roundtrip to Fort Lauderdale from Kansas City is only costing us $202. Meaning, our airfare from Kansas City to Peru is $462.
I'm now taking consultations!
Behind the scenes, I've been taking consultations with friends and family working out the kinks of the business strategy. I'm happy to start opening consultations for you! They are $100 and include a highly personalized experience with lists of resources and card options. (Hint!) If you use the link on my Instagram you can get 30% off.
My business model is slightly different than others because I don't want to take money from credit card companies, which will influence what I can say on social media due to terms and conditions. Instead, I want to create an environment to really learn about your travel goals and priorities and build a plan around them. That's why I'm spending 3x the amount of time with each of my clients as my competitors for a one-on-one that offers a lot of time to get to know you, allow you to ask questions, and show you all sorts of resources and strategies based on your travel priorities.
Explore on. - K