Got 7 round trip flights for 2 people for free. Where to go?

[nawhite]

I played the Credit Card Churn game with the Southwest Rapid Rewards credit cards. I signed up for 2 cards and my wife signed up for one and we now have 140,000+ points in my Rapid Rewards account.

The kicker is that at 110,000 points earned in one year, I get a "Companion Pass." This allows me to choose one person (my wife obviously) to ride for free with me anytime I fly southwest (until Dec 2015).

An average flight costs between 5,000 points and 15,000 points one way. So if I average that at 10k per flight, 20k per round trip flight, I have 7 round trip flights I can use. And, with the companion pass, both my wife and I can go on all of those flights.

We paid $230 in annual fees but we get 28 seats on an airplane. If I assume $150 per one way flight, we are getting over $4000 of travel (which we love to do) for $230 and the spending we do already.

Epic win!

Now we just have to figure out where we want to go. We have 5 of the trips already planned for fun and family (Portland, ME; Birmingham, AL; Nashville, TN; Lake Tahoe, NV; and Rochester, NY) but we still need to come up with a plan for the last 2 trips. Any recommendations for cool places Southwest flies to?

[YK-Phil]

Cool, that's the way to go. I just got myself 5 credit cards in the past 3 months after reading a thread here, and I will make over $2,000 worth of free travel this year, and probably more once I figure out the kinks of some of these reward programs. Too bad we don't have the same cards up in Canada, otherwise I'd be doing much more churning.

Mardi Gras is coming soon. What about New-Orleans to celebrate?

[needmyfi]

Mardi Gras is coming soon. What about New-Orleans to celebrate?

Sorry ykphil, Mardi Gras has come and gone for 2014-it was on March 4th this year.  It will be Feb 17th in 2015.  JAZZFEST is coming up though!!!  IMHO even better than Mardi Gras.

[kudy]

I flew Southwest to Puerto Rico - might be one of the more exotic locations you can use your points for?

[brandino29]

Now we just have to figure out where we want to go. We have 5 of the trips already planned for fun and family (Portland, ME; Birmingham, AL; Nashville, TN; Lake Tahoe, NV; and Rochester, NY) but we still need to come up with a plan for the last 2 trips. Any recommendations for cool places Southwest flies to?

I hope Birmingham falls into the family category, if it's on your fun list I'd reconsider.  :)

I definitely second the recommendation for New Orleans, JazzFest is great, but honestly you can go anytime of the year and have a good time.  I'd also highly recommend Austin -- a really cool and fun city to visit.

If you're interested in going international, Southwest flies to Mexico City which is a surprisingly interesting place, very very different than anything in the U.S. certainly, and not typical of most other Latin American/Caribbean beaches Southwest flies to.

[Willbrewer]

You could fly to SeaTac airport on May 30 and attend the Camp Mustache Retreat.

https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/meetups-and-social-events/seattleportland-retreat-with-mmm-and-jd-roth/50/

http://campmustache.brownpapertickets.com/

[nawhite]

Oh New Orleans would be fun. We went there for New Years 2012 and had a blast.

Puerto Rico is actually on the list of possibilities for an end of May vacation. We're trying to figure out how I should invent extra vacation time from work. (3 weeks/year is better than 2, but 6 weeks with 3 unpaid is better).

Birmingham is indeed on the family list and not the fun list. We do usually have fun with that part of the family, but its still Birmingham. We've convinced them to come to Colorado the past two years and figure its our turn to make the trip.

While I would love to go to the Camp Mustache Retreat, I don't think I could convince my wife to go. She'd be all about the camping and the PNW, its us crazy Mustachians she would get sick of. Dealing with me is bad enough ;-)

[socaso]

We had a great time at the American Beer Fest in Denver last October. We flew Southwest. Even if you didn't go to the Beer Fest you could go the week before and lots of the breweries participating in the Festival do events at bars and restaurants around town. Those are largely free except for the beer you buy. If you are interested in the Beer Fest be aware the tickets sell out crazy fast.

[nawhite]

We had a great time at the American Beer Fest in Denver last October. We flew Southwest. Even if you didn't go to the Beer Fest you could go the week before and lots of the breweries participating in the Festival do events at bars and restaurants around town. Those are largely free except for the beer you buy. If you are interested in the Beer Fest be aware the tickets sell out crazy fast.

I actually live in Denver and either volunteer at GABF or get free tickets from a friend who is volunteering. So no need to fly for it. Well worth the trip for anyone else interested though. More beer samples than anyone could ever drink :-)

If anyone is planning on coming to Denver for the Great American Beer Festival though, let me know. We have a spare room and live next to a light rail station which will take you to and from the festival so you won't need a designated driver, or pay for a cab.

[zarfus]

I would do SJU, SEA, SAN, PWM, BOS, CHS, and then ORD or LGA, for a nice city weekend.

Enjoy!  For the record, if you just got the companion pass, I think it's good through next year as well.

[nawhite]

So we are about 90% confirmed for a vacation in May to Puerto Rico. Free flights, $40/night apartment on the ocean through Airbnb, cheap car rental through work perks, and apartment vs hotel so we can cook our own food puts total cost of the trip at less than $1000 for a week for 2 people (if we didn't have to board our dog it would be cheaper. Oh well).

If only we were already FIREd so we could make it a 3 month vacation instead of a 1 week vacation.

[jhartt3]

shorter flights are lower point cost.  i travel for work and have tons of SW points.  best way to use these it to book months in advance for any trip you are even considering.  then watch for specials b/c when they run specials on dollars it works in points too.  so you can cancel and rebook at a lower price.  if you dont end up wanting to go just cancel and they give you all your points back. 

[Villanelle]

Vegas.  Cheap hotels and tons of free stuff to see and do.