Some travelers like to really immerse themselves into another country or culture when traveling. Others like to keep moving and hit as many places as possible. When we embarked on our first big trip to SE Asia, we never imagined we’d ever be able to return, so we did a little bit of both.
How did this trip come to fruition? We had been saving hotel and airline miles for years and had dabbled in “travel hacking”. Travel hacking is a slang term for using credit card bonuses and points for free travel. At one point I did some blogger suggested trick where I converted Marriott points into a bundle for 100,000 southwest points and a Marriott 7-night stay certificate (this is no longer offered). Then we got too busy to use that Marriott certificate… so I called and begged and had it extended. More than once.
Then we had to decide where in the WORLD we wanted to vacation for a full 7 days. Aside from our honeymoon, all of our trips together were compromised of long weekends or multi-city trips over a week. After searching around for the best use of this certificate, I settled on the JW Marriott Phuket in Thailand. You typically can get a lot more value for your points in SE Asia, and we were able to secure a reservation over Christmas when rates are at their highest which provided an excellent value.
Why did we choose Christmas? Historically, both of our work schedules were very demanding and the idea of taking off any more than a week at once seemed impossible. Except for during the holidays, when business temporarily pauses.
We knew we weren’t going to fly to the other side of the world and just sit at the beach for a week. So we started researching and carved out an itinerary that allowed us to use the certificate for a relaxing week at a luxury resort and explore a few other cities and countries in the region.
Our final itinerary landed here:
Detroit, Michigan to Frankfurt, Germany (11 hour layover)
Frankfurt, Germany to Bangkok, Thailand (overnight)
Bangkok, Thailand to Chiang Mai, Thailand
Chiang Mai, Thailand to Phuket, Thailand
While staying at the JW, we visited the Phi Phi Islands and Patong
Phuket, Thailand to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam to Siem Reap, Cambodia
Siem Reap, Cambodia to Bangkok, Thailand
Then back to the US!
I’m going to highlight each of these places we got to visit, and how we were able to wrangle business class flights there using airline miles. More to come!
