Hi everyone, I am interested in attending the MMM Moab meetup in October of 2018 as cheaply as possible:
https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/meetups-and-social-events/moab-utah-usa-in-october-2018/150/The lodging sounds like it will be camping which is pretty cheap already so my two big costs are flight and rental car.
I'll be flying from MD, preferably BWI but Dulles or Reagan also theoretically possible if cheaper/better for some reason. Flying into Salt Lake city is the closest (~3.5 hours) but Vegas or Denver are also options (~6.5 hours). I'd consider flying into Vegas a night early where I could get a free room and then make the drive up to Moab with a stop at Zion National park for lunch/hike.
For rental car I don't need anything fancy I'll just have small backpacking gear and most likely one person.
My wife actually has a Companion pass for me right now through Southwest but shes not really interested in attending so I'll be solo. Almost out of Southwest points and saving what I do have for a possible December 2018 couples trip before pass expires.
While in Moab I'll also want to rent a Mountain bike for at least two days and presumably want to eat something so some generic statement credits redeemable for anything would be nice too.
So, what cards do I want??? thinking 2-3 probably, we average about $1,500-$2,000 a month on card without having to manufacture and will have one expensive trip and Holiday shopping in December so want to apply for and receive the cards by end of November to start hitting bonus spending requirements.
Delta is one of the few airlines with BWI-SLC non stops so considering that for flight. Already got Gold card two years ago though so Platinum would come with a $195 fee but 70K bonus so thinking it's still worthwhile?
Outside of that I was just thinking Barclay arrival (40K miles) and capital one Venture (50K miles currently) for rental car, Misc, etc.
Doubt I could hit all 3 at once so I'd probably focus on two now and get the other in the Spring maybe.
Anyhow those are my initial thoughts, any of you hacking pros have other/better ideas?
Edited to add: Before suggestions come in
I can NOT get any Chase cards, anything else should be OK.