Rich people say they live comfortably and this trip was definitely comfortable. Not first class flights and Ritz Carlton stays, but business class with nice hotels including a Holiday Inn. Sorry I haven’t posted in awhile, but I’ve been traveling and now can write this report. Also, since I used so many points on this trip it may be difficult to provide an alternative cost, but I’ll try my best.
Itinerary
It seems like we like to squeeze two destinations into one trip and we managed to do so this time with Tokyo and Australia. We spend 3 nights in Tokyo, 3 in Tasmania, 4 in Melbourne, and 3 in Sydney.
Transportation
Flights
USA-Tokyo $500 + upgrade certificate I got from my airline status
Tokyo-Seoul-Sydney 50K United miles + $71
Sydney-Tasmania $110
Tasmania-Melbourne 10K American miles + $20
Melbourne-Sydney 4.5K British Airways miles + $13
Sydney-USA 80K United miles + $80
Total: 145.5K points + $794 per person
If we flew economy and paid cash the tickets would have cost $1,400 each, meanwhile business class would have been $7,500.
Car rentals
We rented a car in Tasmania for four days at the cost of $160. We also needed a car to go to the Twelve Apostles. That one-day rental cost $50, but I would not recommend driving there and back to Melbourne in one day. It was around 7 hours in the car roundtrip.
Total: $210 + $150 for gas = $360; $180 per person
Uber
Certain rides to or from the airport were by Uber. This is an expensive form of transportation, so use sparingly.
Total: $60 per person
Subway
Tokyo’s subway is super efficient and close to just about everything. Unfortunately the costs add up. It was around $30 for our 3-day trip. Then we had a layover in Korea where we needed to transfer airports in the city. Seoul has an incredibly cheap subway. Going into the city and then later to a different airport was about $2. In Melbourne we rode the tram in the free tram zone downtown.
Hotels
I almost never stay in Airbnb as I feel more comfortable in a hotel. Preferences will vary, but being a point collector certainly helps lower my costs.
Hyatt Regency Tokyo: 12K points per night, cash price would $250
Holiday Inn Melbourne: 26,250K per night (4th night free with IHG card) which were purchased at half a cent during an IHG promotion, so $131.25 per night
Random Hotels.com places: $700 for 4 nights. However, I managed to burn a lot of the “free” money I got from buying the Google Pixel last year.
Four Points Sydney: $200 a night
Total: $1187 per person, a bit under $100 a night, however with the Hyatt points it was 18K points and $812 per person
Food
We spent $620 person on food during the the 13 days. That’s $47.69 a day, which I’m a bit surprised it is that low because my wife is a foodie and we had some meals that were over $50 a person. You could certainly spend less and get by on $20 a day or go the other direction and eat $100 meals.
We were able to eat many meals on the plane, in lounges, and with our Priority Pass which saved us at least $100.
Activities
We went on a bike tour around a town north of Tokyo. It took an entire day and we got to pick strawberries, be fed lunch, and have a bbq picnic for dinner. It was 20 miles of fun! The cost was $110.
We went to Freycinet National Park and had to pay $20 for parking. The Blue Mountains were about $5 for parking. We got to feed kangaroos and see a Tasmanian devil at Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary which had a $15 fee that goes toward rehabilitating animals. We were able to see the world’s smallest penguins at Low Head for $20. I would recommend doing that as you get to see hundreds of penguins walk up the beach to their burrows.
Total: $170 per person
Conclusion
There was also $15 fee for an Australian visa. I bought a new wallet, but that isn’t really trip related so I won’t include it. So all together we paid 163.5K points + $2683 per person. That is around $200 a day which seems reasonable for such an international trip. Certainly this is much less that just the $7,500 it would have cost for the business class seats we slept in. Tasmania wasn’t too expensive and I would recommend it as well as Tokyo as great destinations. Please provide feedback if you would like more detailed expenses, more photos, more stories, or something else, maybe access to my Mint transactions?
All cash economy: $4,039
All cash business: $9,389
My price: 163.5K points + $2683 per person