Travel Hacking In 2022
| Dates | Travel | Details | Cash Value | Points | Value Per Point |
| January | Flight | Nashville | $303 | 16,305 | $.02 |
| March | Flight | DAL to TUL Southwest roundtrip Companion Pass | $316 | 5,000 | $.06 |
| March | Hotel | Grand Hyatt Vail | $6,000 | 119,000 | $.05 |
| March | Flight | DAL to DEN Southwest Companion Pass | $1,904 | 19,200 | $.10 |
| April | Flight | DAL to LGB Roundtrip Southwest Companion Pass | $696 | 46,000 | $.02 |
| April | Hotel | Huntington Beach Hyatt | $1,797 | 160,000 | $.01 |
| June | Hotel | Tulsa Hotel | $307 | 10,000 | $.03 |
| June | Hotel | Tulsa Hyatt | $1,245 | 39,000 | $.03 |
| July | Flight | DFW to LIR BA Avios Round Trip | $7,804 | 32,000 | $.06 |
| July | Hotel | Andaz Peninsula Papagayo | $4,959 | 160,000 | $.03 |
| September | Flight | DAL to MDW roundtrip Southwest Companion Pass | $960 | 35,399 | $.03 |
| September | Hotel | Chicago Athletic Association | $986 | 30,000 | $.03 |
| October | Flight | DFW to MRY Roundtrip AA | $1,082 | 54,000 | $.02 |
| October | Hotel | Alila Ventana Big Sur | $9,242 | 90,000 | $.10 |
| September | Flight | Mom HNL to MEM | $1,400 | 50,000 | $.03 |
| December | Flight | DFW to GCM AA | $3,200 | 151,000 | $.02 |
| December | Flight | GCM to DFW Southwest Companion Pass | $1,600 | 32,000 | $.05 |
In 2022, borders fully opened, and it was time to put my travel hacking skills to work. My family took five trips; I also took two with my oldest son, a girls’ trip with college friends, and a weekend away with my husband. This epic year of travel used 1.2M points in exchange for over $44k in airfare and hotel costs. It was mind-blowing that I used almost the same number of points and got DOUBLE the value compared to 2021.
Spring Break In The Snow
My husband loves to ski, and my kids have never seen real snow, so for spring break, we used points at the Vail Residences at Cascade Village and explored the beautiful winter wonderland. My kids’ favorite part of that vacation was the bunk beds in their room. It’s nice that they don’t require much to be impressed. Saving a ton of money on a room and flight for prime ski season enabled us to pay for a snowmobiling excursion that showed us how beautiful Colorado is.
Disneyland
We took the kids to Disney World in Orlando for their birthdays last year, so in 2022, we decided to take them to Disneyland in California.
We stayed at the fabulous Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach, a hotel that is on my list to return to again someday.
12 Hour Trip
I also went a little crazy with points power in 2022 by using points to fly out of state for a bridal shower and return home the same day. Why would anyone do something like that? My response is that I do it just because I can.
Chicago
My older son and I took a long weekend trip to Chicago. If I can, I will repeat these mommy-son trips every year.
Costa Rica
A popular hotel in the points and miles world is Andaz Peninsula Papagayo Resort in Costa Rica. We spent five wonderful days at this beautiful property in one of the best hotel rooms I have ever stayed in. Costa Rica is a country that I want to spend a lot more time in, but I think to fully enjoy all that Costa Rica has to offer, the return trip will wait until my kids are older.
Big Sur
I also splurged using points on the aspirational property Alila Ventana Big Sur this year. With rates easily over $1000 per night any night of the year, this hotel would have been entirely out of the realm of possibility for me if not for the power of points.
In 2022, I started sharing my points and miles tricks with my family. I taught my mom and stepdad how to earn points for a trip to Hawaii, and they even got round-trip tickets in business class!
Christmas At The Beach
We finished off the year with a trip to Grand Cayman that was originally booked for Christmas 2020 but delayed due to COVID-19 border closings.
I could not believe how much travel happened in 2022. It was an amazing year! I love this hobby!
Thanks for reading, friends. Happy Travels!
