Our next big trip is fast approaching so we wanted to give our readers a sneak peek of what’s in store! We usually have one big trip each year for our anniversary but this one got pushed back because of conflicts in our schedule. For our anniversary trips, we try to make it as grand but as economical as possible by using miles and points.
Check out our previous free anniversary trips here and here!
This time, we will be visiting a new continent, Oceania! We’ll explore Australia & New Zealand while having short layovers to check out both Vietnam & China!
The best part about it is that most of the trip will be paid by miles and points!
To get there, we transferred 80k Chase points to our United account and booked the following itinerary in Business class:
Incheon – Ho Chi Minh
Ho Chi Minh – Bangkok – Melbourne
We will spend one night in Ho Chi Minh and stay at the Park Hyatt Saigon using 7,500 Hyatt points. We used our Diamond Suite Upgrade benefit for a guaranteed Suite. We also booked a street food tour that we are super excited about! The visa process for Vietnam is pretty simple. This website is highly recommended.
After Vietnam, we will then fly to Melbourne with a short stopover in Bangkok. All our flying to this point will be in Asiana and Thai Airways Business Class. Same with Vietnam, Australia’s Visa procedures we’re pretty straightforward. It cost $20 for US citizens.
We will also be joined in Australia by Rac’s two sisters! Originally, we booked the Park Hyatt Melbourne but changed it to an Airbnb for our base while in Melbourne. After three days, we’ll then take a short flight to Sydney! For our accommodations, we booked two nights at the world-famous, Park Hyatt Sydney for 30k Hyatt points each night. The rates for the rooms are about $1,000/night so using points provided great value!
After Sydney, we’ll then fly to Queenstown, New Zealand to explore the sites! For our accommodations, we booked the Hilton Doubletree. Now to get back to South Korea, we booked the following flights with 40k United points:
Queenstown – Auckland
Auckland – Beijing
Beijing – Incheon
We will have a full day in Auckland to explore the city. To make it easy, we were planning to take the hop-on, hop-off tourist bus that they offer. After Auckland, we then fly to Beijing where we will have a full day to explore the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square and the Great Wall! Fortunately, China offers free visas for 72-hour or less visits. After Beijing, it will be time to to take the short flight back to Korea.
Overall, we used 120k miles and 67.5k points for our flights and accommodations which saved us over $10,000! Planning these epic trips are half the fun and seeing all the money we save from Travel Hacking makes it that much better!
Can’t wait to start this epic trip!
TravelhackRR 