Bittersweet: The First 12 Weeks

"It's easy to believe that having a child is as simple as growing tomatoes: you do the right couple of things, you take your prenatals and avoid caffeine and nitrates, and the universe hands you a perfect life, right on schedule. But if you've ever tried to grow anything - a tomato plant, a baby, anything - you know it's more mysterious and more treacherous than that. It turns out that conceiving and carrying a healthy baby is just exactly like a lot of other parts of life: way more out of our control than we prefer to believe." // Shauna Niequist, Bittersweet

When I look back, I am in awe of the Lord's faithfulness. Some of you may remember a post I wrote back in August of 2013 entitled On Waiting and the follow-up post Enjoying Life Right Where We're At in January 2014. In the five years since we have been married, He has turned my hardness of heart in the first two years, to a waiting and patient spirit for the last three years (don't be fooled; it was not easy all of the time!), to the gift of pregnancy and then the sorrowful yet rejoicing heartache in losing our first child at 12 weeks. The Lord has been good and faithful in our rejoicing, and He has been just as good and faithful in our sorrowing.

"When things fall apart, the broken pieces allow all sorts of things to enter, and one of them is the presence of God." // Shauna Niequist, Bittersweet

We know all too well first-hand that His timing is absolutely perfect and that our God is good in His sovereignty. In the last 11 years, He has been preparing us along the way through dating and in marriage. Those years were not wasted. We have grown. The other night, I turned to my husband and said, "Could you ever imagine back then what life would look like to this day?" We are thankful that we waited as long as we did to start a family, and even through the joys and the trials, it has been a bittersweet season in marriage.

"Bittersweet is the idea that in all things there is both something broken and something beautiful, that there is a sliver of lightness on even the darkest of nights, a shadow of hope in every heartbreak, and that rejoicing is no less rich when it contains a splinter of sadness." // Shauna Niequist, Bittersweet

The eternal hope that we have is our joy, and He is our strength. For when we are weak, He is strong.

He is in our midst, the mighty one who saves. He rejoices over us, quiets us by His love, and exults over us with loud singing.

He sympathizes with our weaknesses.

If God if for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things?

Count it all joy, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is being revealed to us.

These aren't just merely promises that were once true. They are true and ring clear today.

We have tasted these promises.

We have experienced grief-filled, God-exalting, grace-abounding joy and hope in glory.

We know that our story is just one story. We are confident knowing full well that the Lord holds all things in the palm of His hand and that He who began a good work in us will bring it to the completion at the day of Jesus Christ. We walk by faith, not by sight.

"I believe that suffering is part of the narrative, and that nothing really good gets built when everything's easy. I believe that loss and emptiness and confusion often give way to new fullness and wisdom." // Shauna Niequist, Bittersweet

"But if you can find it within yourself, in the wildest of seasons, just for a moment to trust in the goodness of God, who made it all and holds it all together, you'll find yourself drawn to a whole new place, and there's truly nothing sweeter." // Shauna Niequist, Bittersweet

I love reading pregnancy related blogs and find them quite helpful, so I pray the same might be true as we share our trying-to-have-a-baby and first pregnancy memories.

Pre-pregnancy

Throughout our marriage, we have used the Fertility Awareness Method (FAM). About 6 months prior to getting married, I started tracking and learning my body and fertility signs (this book was very helpful). For us, it was like clockwork once we understood what was going on. Fast forward five years, and we have had nothing but a good experience. We are not experts by any means in this area, but I think a lot of times this method is overlooked as an option and there seems to be a lot of uncertainty about its effectiveness in general.

I did a lot of research pre-marriage and had trouble with the ethical/moral/biblical issues with some of the other forms (birth control pills, hormone devices, and the like) and how they work. Not only that, but I hate putting things into my body anyways, and the health implications and risks for short and long-term use were not something I wanted to risk. I know some people don't see or have an issue with these methods, but we decided to go the natural route instead and have been satisfied with that decision for our family.

Last summer, we started not-trying-to-not-have-a-baby if you know what I mean. ;) I started on a prenatal vitamin, and we rolled with it. Fast forward a few months, and we found ourselves ready to be serious about "trying." Not going to lie, there were some tears in those in-between, not-trying-to-not-have-a-baby months. Despite the tears, my husband was ever so gracious and encouraging, always pointing me to truth accompanied by lots of hugs. All it took was one month of being intentional and a whole lot of the Lord's grace.

Pregnancy

We were and still are thankful. I had such an easy pregnancy, at least for those 12 weeks. Even the miscarriage, although hard, was as smooth and calm as it could have possibly gone while I labored and recovered, both physically and emotionally. Pregnancy-wise, I had a little nausea for 1-2 weeks early on, but other than being extra hungry and sleepy, it was a breeze, all things considered.

These are the weeks and memories I never want to forget. I absolutely LOVED being pregnant and look forward to being pregnant again, Lord-willing.

Day 24 - Implantation cramping starts and lasts 6 days. Never painful. Felt like a pulled muscle on and off each day. It made me a little nervous though that it could be my appendix.

Day 25 - Fairly confident about what is going on and think I'm pregnant. Amazed! Our bodies are absolutely incredible!

Day 26 - Grandma Adeline goes to be with her Lord and Savior. The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away, blessed be His name. Job 1:21. Lord haste the day when my faith shall be sight, the clouds be rolled back as a scroll. The trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend, even so it is well with my soul.

Day 27/28/29/30 - Baby's first flights and trip to NYC.

Day 32/33/34 - Finally took a pregnancy test and ended up taking three total, one per night for three nights in a row. Those lines are so stinking faint, we hard trouble believe it the first time, but by the third time around there was no denying it. It's official, I'm pregnant! Praise the Lord, O my soul. Such joy. And living sorrowful, yet rejoicing takes on a whole new meaning... How we would have loved to share this news with Grandma Adeline.

Week 5 - Hungry all of the time. Up in the middle of the night to eat. Go to snack items: almonds, cottage cheese and sauerkraut. Yes, I'm German and love my kraut. Apparently, baby does too. #roots

Week 6-7 - More tired than usual. Some cramping (likely the uterus expanding), including waking in the middle of the night. A little nausea here and there resulting in me having to lay down once. Nothing too bad. More that chicken and meat in general do not sound very appetizing. Can't keep myself full. Like ever. Lots of sleep! 10 hours a night when possible. And somehow the below zero temperatures make me gag in the morning when I go outside! Thankfully, that only lasted a week or two. Enjoyed telling our parents the news at Christmas.

Week 8 - Feel great. Cross-country skiing. Life as usual. A few stops at Bruegger's Bagels. Seriously the rosemary olive oil bagels. Yum. Craving cheesecake and key lime pie. Met with our doula. Went to Maui. Baby's first flight over the Pacific Ocean. Hiking. Camping. Snorkeling. Loving some Vitamin D. Can finally sleep through the night without getting up to eat!

Week 9 - First prenatal appointment with the midwife at 9 weeks 5 days. Saw baby's heartbeat flickering on the screen. Things look good. Loving homemade nachos and sleep this week.

Week 10 - Started sharing the news with family and close friends. Loving peach Greek yogurt flax smoothies, strawberry banana Greek yogurt flax smoothies, Five Guys burger and fries, sauerkraut snacks (all I needed was a fork to eat it straight out of the jar!), and lots of sleep with afternoon naps on the weekends. Evening walks. Started wearing maternity pants here and there. Seriously, they are so comfortable! And dresses with leggings.

Week 11 - All things citrus. Grapefruit. Oranges. Still loving smoothies. Warm baths every night after work. Before bed-time snack is now a pumpkin Greek yogurt flax smoothie or some other type of fruit smoothie blend.

Week 12 - During this week, the Lord called our little one home to glory, and he or she is now praising the almighty Jesus. What a lucky little one to be in the presence of our Savior so soon. We continue to live sorrowing, yet rejoicing.

"...sometimes the happiest ending isn't the one you keep longing for, but something you cannot absolutely see from where you are." // Shauna Niequist, Bittersweet

Pregnancy Essentials

New Chapter Organic Perfect Prenatal - (although I took a one-a-day Nature Made Prenatal Multi + DHA for about 4-5 months pre-pregnancy). I take them three times a day, and my stomach has never been upset. Special thanks to my friend Skyler for doing vitamin research!

Ancient Minerals Magnesium Oil - Many of us are magnesium deficient and during pregnancy, this can inhibit regular magnesium absorption. From what I have read, magnesium (along with diet) is said to help decrease morning sickness and help with leg cramps, so actually it is a good idea to start using this pre-pregnancy. I try to use the oil when I have time and had very little morning sickness and no leg cramps.

Mother's Special Blend All Natural Skin Toning Oil - Applying once or twice a day after a shower or bath. Extra bonus that it is a good moisturizer during the winter.

Inya May's Guide to Childbirth - Love LOVE this book.

Lots of water and good for you food! And some treats here and there.

Sweatpants to lounge around in.

A blanket in my office for morning naps from 6:45-8 a.m. when Matt would drop me off at work.

Music on repeat - All Sons and Daughters and Rend Collective.

Exercise - Evening walks and skiing.

Anyone else have any recommendations? What were some of your go-to items or pregnancy essentials? I'd love to hear about them for next time around, Lord-willing. ❥

Oh, and side note here - If you are looking for a good read, I totally recommend any and all of Shauna Niequist's books, if that wasn't already obvious. :)

Racking Up + Redeeming AA miles

Update 1 - March 28 is now considered the date in which US Airways Miles will merge into American Airline miles. Credit card applications are still available but this is just a more defined date as to when the currencies combine. 

Update 2 - Around noon 3/28 public links (including the one I linked to further down) for US Airways Barclay's card seem to be gone. US Airway's website now marketing the American Airlines Citi card. However, a non-public link seems to be working. This post from the US Airway's thread at Flyertalk still is working. Nope, not any more, try this one. 

Update 3 - As of 4/5, all Barclays US Airways applications have expired. So the double 50k card option is gone, but still the Citi AA 50k offer is around. 


About a year ago, I (Matt) wrote a few posts on mileage earning and flight booking. My miles/points strategy centers primarily around using credit cards, not for financing my spending habits or things I can't afford, but rather as a payment method which earns a return that goes toward travel. For a refresher, please read this post that I wrote about credit and travel rewards, including our view on finances, the breakdown of the FICO credit score and bureaus, how to monitor your credit for free and some advice for beginners.

Normally we're cycling through new cards every couple of months to be able to earn high sign up bonuses. We continue to keep some of these cards in the wallet after meeting the minimum spend required for the bonus, while others join a rubber-banded stack. Some are business credit cards. Some are personal credit cards. Some are specific co-branded airline or hotel credit cards. Others earn points that are transferable into several reward programs. And then there are those that earn points just to offset travel charges. We have applied for cards at an airport booth (my first one, bad idea), on our own laptop at the airport, at home, while driving 70 MPH - from the passenger seat ;) - calling in an application, incognito safari browser on a phone and at a Chase branch in Portland.

I try to stay on Chase's good side :) 

So yes, we are probably a bit crazy with our hobby. I might enjoy planning out my next batch of credit cards a little too much, charting where every credit inquiry lands on my reports and searching airline award availability. But right now there is a pretty straight forward credit card strategy to rack up American Airline miles which is a valuable rewards program. No, it is not quite the extent of miles to scale like last summer when we were able to earn 100,000 miles per card multiple times (that offer has since died), but this method earns a good base of AA miles and is easier to complete. 

We have used American Airlines often: to fly to South America last summer, Maui this winter and for upcoming trips to Europe this year. Their rewards program is arguably the best for Hawai'i or international travel. I will walk through some of their best uses later on in this post, but first, here is why I think now is a good time to rack up AA miles. 

The merger of US Airways into AA has been ongoing for over a year. However, within the next 30 days (rumors are the deadline is April 12), the two separate reward programs will be combined into AA. Currently, Barclays is the bank issuing the credit cards for US Airways, while Citi issues credit cards for AA. Historically, Barclays applications have only pulled my credit using Transunion credit bureau, while Citi only pulls Experian and/or Equifax. Inquiries can have a short term reduction in credit score, so it is nice to spread the hits around evenly with the bureaus or to protect the ones that typically get hit the most (Chase/Amex/Citi all pull Experian).

US Airways - Barclays

Since AA will be the airline and reward program remaining, their relationship with Citi will continue after the merge. Along with US Airway's rewards program being phased out, the relationship with Barclays will end. Existing Barclay US Airways card holders will have their miles converted to AA and going forward all of their miles will be earned as AA miles. There will be no new Barclays credit cards issued once programs merge. Since Barclays will soon be cut off from taking new applications, they have been offering a higher than normal, lucrative incentive: 50,000 miles after the first spend on the card. Typically, most credit cards require $1,000 to $3,000 or even all the way up to $10,000 in order to earn the miles, but earning those miles with one swipe of a card is about as easy as it gets (although it does come at a cost of $89, the annual fee that is not waived the first year unlike most other co-branded cards).

Barclays US Airways 50,000 mile landing page

American Airlines - Citi

50,000 AA miles (US Airways turned AA earned from Barclays) is good in and of itself. As mentioned above, AA currently uses Citi for their co-branded cards and will continue to do so after the merger. They have had 50,000 mile offers almost always available with the right URL link (always checking back in with this thread's wiki). Their current bonus requires $3,000 of spend on the card over the first 90 days, but rewards 50,000 miles without any annual fee the first year. So there's another 50,000 miles.

Citi American Airlines 50,000 mile landing page

To sum it all up, here is what it takes to earn a total of 100,000 AA miles using personal credit cards:

• 2 credit cards (1 issued by Barclays, 1 by Citi)
• 1 inquiry - Of the 3 credit bureaus (Transunion, Experian, Equifax) no more than 1 inquiry per bureau gets hit (for comparison, if signing up for a Capital One card, you would get all 3 bureaus hit but only 1 credit card)
• $89 in annual fees (can cancel either card before next year's anniversary. On AA, we called in, and they waived our annual fee, therefore we kept it for a second year.
• $3,001 spend threshold to meet over the course of 90 days ($3,000 on Citi AA, $1 on Barclays US Airways)
• 100,000 total American Airlines miles earned (50,000 miles x 2)

So then what?

Earning miles is part one of the savings. Redeeming the miles is part two and just as important. While searching for a flight, an airline has an inventory of maybe 150-200 seats for a paid fare, but an award inventory might only be 8 economy seats or 2-4 first class seats at best. So using miles means you are competing for a smaller batch of seats. Keep in mind the best way to have a successful award booking is to have flexibility on dates/destinations or be ready to book award flights when the schedule opens up 11 months out. The availability on high demand flights might be open only really early or really late, close to departure. Availability will change over time as the airline projections of a sold out flight could change. If trying to book a flight only a couple weeks or months away, then yes, you could sound like the victim in Capital One's commercials.

Take a look HERE for the AA award chart that shows what the lowest award level redemptions are in certain regions. An airlines award chart can be a great starting point to see how far miles can go. Domestic flights are an ok value at 12,500 miles one way for saver availability, but that is not typically the best use of these miles. Below are some great redemption ideas for using AA miles or ways to stretch the miles the furthest. 

One World Alliance and Partner Airlines

American Airline miles do not mean confinement to AA operated flights. In fact, I would prefer to avoid some of their old planes if at all possible. It is the other airlines' network and product that make AA miles much more valuable. As long as an alliance member or partner has award space available, the flight is eligible to be booked with AA miles, although not all alliance members/partners show up when searching online (must call in to book those).

Mixed emotions on an American plane...
Love their rewards program but not crazy about some of their old fleet.

--->One World Alliance

A chart from One World's website showing the alliance members and their network map is below. American Airlines's website also goes into more detail about each airline. AA is the most dominant of the group in terms of size and stretch, but no doubt there are some great opportunities to opt for other aircrafts and destinations. South America is practically fully accessible with LAN and TAM.

1,000 possible destinations - don't have to fly on AA planes!

Leaving the Galapagos with LAN

Europe has a lot of options but beware of redemptions on their biggest airlines: British Airways and Iberia. In addition to miles to book, they come with "fuel surcharge" fees which can run several hundred dollars when going to Europe. Transatlantic flights to Europe are best served on American, Air Berlin and Finnair to avoid those high fuel surcharges. A one way over with no connections in Europe will only have an out of pocket cost of $5.60. Return flights will be a higher cost since some airports in Europe have high airport taxes which are still payable when booking award flights.

--->Partner airlines

Even if they are not part of the One World Alliance, there are some airlines that are still accessible. This list includes the One World as well as non-One World partners. Some notables here are Hawaiian Airlines to gain more access to award inventory going west coast to Hawai'i or island hoppers, Alaska Airlines out west and Etihad and their amazing planes in the Middle East.

Off Peak Awards

Some regions have a period during the year where the miles needed to book and fly a flight are less than the miles needed during peak travel season. The nice part is that the off-peak time frames can last over a long period of time, quite possibly during a desirable time or shoulder travel season.

--->Hawai'i

Flights to and from Hawai'i between January 12 - March 13 and August 22 - December 15 are only 17,500 miles in economy one way. Just for comparison, United and Delta require 22,500 miles year round. Using AA miles is a good deal, not only to get to Hawai'i (35,000 miles round trip), but the intra-island flights (on points) are really cheap too. It only takes 5,000 miles for any non-stop flight between the islands, year round. So you could fly to Kaua'i for 17,500 from mainland, stop through Oah'u, then Maui before finally flying home from the Big Island for 17,500 miles. For this four island tour, it would require a total of 50,000 miles at the saver redemption level.

Example: fly to Hawaii and see 4 different islands for 50,000 miles overall

--->South America

Flights to and from northern South America between January 16 - June 14 and September 7 - November 14 cost only 15,000 miles each way. This would include going all the way into the Galapagos Islands in early June for only 30,000 miles roundtrip (keep in mind LAN is a One World member whose route map in South America is extensive but cannot be booked online and would require a call in to AA).

Even southern South America between March 1 - May 31 and August 16 - November 30 for 20,000 miles is a good deal. From Minneapolis, Buenos Aires, Argentina is only a 1 stop flight through Dallas covering over 6,000 miles, but only requiring 20,000 miles each way for the award redemption. Travel in March or November, and you've hit an off-peak sweet spot.

Example: 20,000 miles one way to Buenos Aires

--->Caribbean and Mexico

This region is probably the most limited for dates during the year. Off-peak redemptions are available from September 7 - November 14, but at only 12,500 one way, it makes it very much in reach. 50,000 miles could cover round trip flights for two people. Keep in mind Delta/United/AA all charge 12,500 for all lower 48 domestic flights, so this redemption would cost the same as going from MSP-ORD.

--->Europe

Flights to and from Europe between October 15 - May 15 only take 20,000 miles each way in economy (there are three of us flying to London next month all on 20,000 off-peak saver awards). Summer in Europe is no doubt the travel peak season, but with 6 months considered "off-peak", there are certainly some good shoulder season trip opportunities. For comparison, United and Delta require 30,000 miles year round at the saver redemption level.

--->Japan and Korea

Flights to and from Japan and Korea between October 1 - April 30 take 25,000 miles each way in economy. That's a long ways away for only 25,000 miles! One way is over 7,000 "but-in-seat" miles! Sure, a premium class cabin would be nice on such a long haul, but flying round-trip to visit Tokyo for only 50,000 miles is pretty incredible.

Premium Cabin Redemptions

Using miles to book economy tickets can be valuable. Business and first class award redemptions require roughly double the miles as economy class. On an international long haul flight or on an aspirational airline product, the paid airfare of that business or first class seat could be many times greater than the cost of a paid economy seat. This makes redeeming miles for business and first class seats even more valuable than an economy redemption.

--->Europe 

Flying first class on a two cabin plane or business class on a three cabin plane only takes 50,000 miles. That means 100,000 miles could be used to relax in 180 degree lie flat business seats across the pond and back. I am looking forward to taking my first premium cabin flight coming back from Europe on the US Airways A330 which features lie flat business seats. We have also recently booked a trip for later this year with the return on a 9 hour Air Berlin flight with fully lie flat business class seats. Each of those flights were booked for 50,000 miles one way. 

--->Quantas Airlines to Australia

My top aspirational award booking (if I could book it) would be to take the longest commercially operated flight in first class on Qantas' A380 covering over 8,500 miles nonstop from Dallas to Sydney. It rings up at 72,500 miles one way, and I would think it is well worth it, given the nearly 17 hours of flying. That would be an amazing flight to be on, but it has nearly impossible availability. I have yet to see that route show any saver availability. Flying 7,500 miles from LAX to Sydney nonstop could be a good second option. That still is a tough award redemption to snag, but I have found one seat available at times when looking 11 months out. It is worth noting, however, that economy availability for 37,500 miles each way is relatively wide open to book when looking far out in advance.

--->Etihad First Class Apartments

Of the "Big 3" airlines from the Middle East, AA partners with two of them: Qatar and Etihad. Emirates is the other. The premium cabin on Etihad's A380 is quite impressive. They have a first class called " Apartments," and then there is one (do you even call it a seat?) called "The Residence." The Residence is not able to be booked with AA miles and costs $20,000 one way. It has three private rooms (bathroom, bedroom, and living room). Sorry, that's just a side note about this airline's crazy aircraft. However, the 1st class Apartments are quite the product and will apparently be flying New York to Frankfurt starting next December. 

No change fees as long as origin and destination stay the same.

Most airlines will charge upwards of $150-$200 to change the routing or dates on an award booking. Try doing that on a paid fare? It likely costs even more. AA charges $200 on a paid domestic fare change and on an international fare, it could cost up to $450. But when booking an award, AA has a very lenient policy. As long as the origin and the destination stay the same, they won't charge ANY fees. It is nice knowing that as long as award redemptions are available on different dates or routes for same origin/destination, there will be no charge to change.

If a two or three stop saver is available now, it is nice to be able to lock in the flight option now since I can make it work, but have the option to change it later to a one stop itinerary if availability opens up. This makes it a lot easier to pull the trigger on an award redemption without trying to time the best itinerary. I just try to lock in something I would not mind flying and if something better becomes available, great!

We have done this twice now. We changed our routing when flying from Miami to Maui this winter to include one stop in Dallas for the Centurion Lounge (the itinerary originally had us flying through San Diego). For an upcoming Europe trip with Amanda's sister, we used AA miles as well. Originally, we were booked on different flights with different layovers. A couple of months later, saver availability opened up for the ORD-LHR segment, and I called AA to switch us all over. For her first time out of the country, it will be nice to all fly into London together, even though we are starting the itinerary in different cities. On United this change would have cost $225 total. Delta would have been $450. But with American, there is no fee.

Original locked in award flights: MSP-PHL-LHR and GRB-ORD-CLT-LHR

No fee change once ORD-LHR award availability opened up. MSP-ORD-LHR and GRB-ORD-LHR

10% miles back on award redemptions

A perk of having the American Airlines Citi card is getting back 10% of redeemed miles up to 10,000 miles each year. We recently booked a trip to Europe for later this year and redeemed AA miles to fly back (on Air Berlin in business class). Since Amanda has the American Airlines Citi card, she received 10,000 miles back on the 100,000 miles redeemed. So really it was only 45,000 miles per seat. In other terms, round trip economy to Europe can be had in off-peak for only 36,000 net miles with the co-branded card! It has a refundable limit of 10,000 miles per year, but that means the 100,000 miles earned from these 2 personal cards (US Airways Barclays card and American Airlines Citi card) really stretches to 110,000 miles. 

10% back on mileage redemptions when having the American Airlines Citi card

In Conclusion

It has been fun helping some of you with travel plans. If anyone is ever looking for advice on a card, mileage redemption or just simply booking paid travel, let me know. If it is not already obvious, I really enjoy this hobby.

If you are considering the US Airways Barclays card and/or American Airlines Citi card, a couple of things to consider. The US Airways card will likely be gone by April 12. It is one of the very few credit cards out there that offer a "first spend" sign up bonus vs a large spend requirement. It has an $89 annual fee that isn't waived first year, but for the ease of earning and redeeming miles, I consider that to be a bargain. The American Airlines Citi card says "limited time 50,000 miles" but really there is no rush. Feel free to ask me if ever considering it down the road. Most of the time with AA cards, it is just a matter of getting the right URL link pulled up (as in AA's website or Citi doesn't always show the best offer). Typically there is a 50,000 offer floating around.

Most importantly, I cannot stress enough the importance of:

1) Ensuring any new credit card(s) doesn't lead to spending outside your regular budget. If the requirement to spend $3,000 in 3 months (the AA Citi card) would stretch your budget, then don't do it. We normally try to lump large spend that we would have to do anyways during those time frames. There are also some other tricks for completing spend.

2) Track your credit report/score. Know what is on your reports before applying for any kind of credit. It is helpful to know when and where credit inquiries occur, to have good payment history and to keep low utilization ratios of credit used in relation to available credit.

If you keep the above items in check, it can be a good way to rack up miles. In this instance, 100,000 American Airline miles can be earned all while doing so:

A) cheaply ($89 annual fee total)

B) with low spend considering the miles earned ($3,001)

C) and minimal credit impact (no double hitting on any of 3 credit bureaus while opening 2 new credit cards).

Maui Budget Breakdown

Before getting into the nuts and bolts of our Maui budget breakdown, we thought it would be helpful to reiterate our purpose in travel. As mentioned in previous posts, we travel because it points us to God through celebrating His creativity and design in the world and the peoples of the world, which grows us in relationship to Him and then secondarily, to one another. Travel is so good for our marriage. We step out of our comfort zone, learn to problem solve together and enjoy the quality time exploring different places. To sum it all up, we grow through travel by going vertical first and horizontal second.

With that, this horizontal growth is much bigger than just Matt and I, and sometimes it directly includes the family and friends that we travel with. But beyond that, we hope that whoever reads this blog would see more of God's glory and beauty through the posts and pictures relating to travel and that perhaps it may just inspire others to step outside their own comfort zones, whether that is traveling to the inner-city or hopping on a plane to travel halfway across the world.

But more importantly, our aim is that our readers would find the place where all the beauty comes from... whether that is through travel and seeing the amazing places around the world or sitting at home reading and relating to our joys and trials. Jesus is the most important thing to us, and we want others to experience freedom from sin, everlasting joy and the eternal hope that we have in Him through the gospel by faith alone.

So Maui.

We love Hawai'i. It is one of those places we would return to again and again, and we would venture to guess that the Hawaiian islands are an aspirational travel destination for many on the mainland, especially for those of us in the Midwest who endure the long, cold winters.

Just like the NYC Budget Breakdown, we share this because we enjoy helping others travel affordably. Sometimes the best way to do this is by using a practical, real-life example to visually see how miles and points fit together to make Maui a somewhat reasonable, budget-friendly travel destination. We will not do this for every trip, but because Hawai'i tends to be quite popular, we thought it may be helpful. Keep in mind that there are several strategies one could take to get to the islands without breaking the bank (including those short-lived, amazing low ~$350-$550 round-trip fares that have been popping up recently and that some of you have booked YAY!!), but that's all figuring out the pieces of the puzzle and knowing your individual travel habits and preferences. :)

All that being said, here are the numbers and expenses for two people from our five day/five night trip to Maui in mid-January. This trip is valued at $3,877.58, but the actual cost out-of-pocket was only $460.77.

Big Picture Overview

Maui Trip Expenses Value Credit Actual Cost Uber Ride to Airport $24.54 $20 referral credit $4.54 MSP-MDW-FLL $214.20 $107.10 travel voucher + Companion Pass $5.60 Uber Ride FLL-MIA $55.56 $20 referral credit, offset by Barclays Arrival $0 MIA-DFW-OGG ~$1,000 free one way added from award flight $0 DFW Centurion Lounge Tip $8 - $8 Alamo Car Rental - 1 Day $42.76 offset by Barclays Arrival $0 Costco - Groceries + Sunscreen $67.25 - $67.25 Kmart - Cooler + Ice $7.38 - $7.38 Natl Park 3 Day Pass - Camping + Falls $10 - $10 Laulima Farm Coffee - Matt $3 - $3 Costco - Gas from Day 1 $13.81 - $13.81 Budget Car Rental - 5 Days $152.22 split cost, offset by Barclays Arrival $0 Costco - Dinner $7.11 - $7.11 Costco - Snacks $18.03 split cost $9.02 Krispy Kreme - Amanda $1.41 - $1.41 Andaz Hotel Room $736.37 25,000 Ultimate Rewards to Hyatt $0 Andaz Valet Parking $30 split cost $15 Andaz Valet Tip $10 split cost $5 Bad Ass Coffee - Matt $2.60 - $2.60 Shave Ice - Amanda $4.75 - $4.75 Wailuku Coffee Company - Matt $2.75 - $2.75 Lahaina Pizza Company - Dinner $26 - $26 Trilogy Catamaran - Snorkeling Tour $250.22 Expedia discount $125.11 Trilogy Catamaran Tip $15 - $15 Maui Coffee Roasters - Matt $2.86 - $2.86 Costco - Ice $4.16 split cost $2.08 Costco - Gas $18.81 split cost $9.40 State Park - Camping Permit $19.80 split cost $9.90 Flatbread Company - Dinner $34.50 - $34.50 Natl Park 3 Pass - Camping + Summit $10 - $5 Breakfast - Denny's $31.50 - $31.50 Dinner - Costco $8 - $8 Costco - Gas $25.99 split cost $13 OGG-DFW-MSP ~$1,000 35,000 American Airlines miles $11.20 Uber Ride to Car $19 $20 referral credit $0 Overall Value $3,877.58 Actual Cost $460.77

The Specifics

Getting There

Of all the award programs, American Airlines (AA) is one of the best values from the Midwest using the off-peak saver redemption of 17,500 miles one-way. It is not nonstop, but the layover is not too bad. Although Matt just reminded me that using Singapore KrisFlyer miles on United metal is even better because their redemption is low year round at 35,000 miles round-trip. However, from other areas of the country, there are some better redemption options (i.e. using British Avios from the West Coast), so if you are located somewhere else, please don't take this to mean always use AA miles or Singapore KrisFlyer miles. This can be an easy redemption, but we made it a little more difficult than it had to be and perhaps after some explanation, it will make a little more sense.

Last spring, when booking an AA award redemption return from South America to the United States, we tacked on a free one way (no extra points or dollars needed) from the gateway city (the city that we entered in North America). In this case, the gateway city was Miami (MIA). At the time, we could book this redemption to have a long layover between the flights, also called a stopover in this case. The stopover could be a couple of days to months, as far out as the schedule allowed. Since then the rules have changed, and stopovers have to be less than 24 hours, which makes what we did on AA then impossible now. However, that being said, the stopover rules vary from airline to airline, so on other carriers, like using Singapore KrisFlyer miles on United, a stopover could still be accomplished.

Truth be told, we could have used the rest of that award ticket to get us back to our home airport, but we saw more value in adding a flight to Maui (OGG) six months later. Of course that meant we needed to get home from MIA in July and back to MIA in January. So it looked like THIS. Some people would find this to be a hassle, but we saw it as an opportunity. :) We used Rapid Rewards on Southwest to redeem award flights home last summer and Southwest travel vouchers to get south this winter, both accompanied by the companion pass which meant a two for one deal. The other caveat is that Southwest Airlines only flies into and out of Fort Lauderdale (FLL) which meant we needed to find a way to get between the two airports. In July, we used the Metrorail to go from MIA to FLL which worked well. For this trip, we used Uber instead because we flew back into FLL late and wanted to get to MIA as quick as possible to sleep before the next morning flight.

Confused? Don't worry, our flights back home were much simpler. We used 17,500 AA miles per person to fly OGG-DFW-MSP.

One way to avoid baggage charges is by flying with carry on luggage. Personally, we love to travel simple and like not having to worry about lost bags. It really is amazing what you can fit in a carry-on. On this trip, our two backpacks were filled with clothes, toiletries, two sleeping bags, two travel pillows, a tent and two beach towels. Our personal items were a Camelbak full of food and another small laptop sized bag filled with some clothes and two extra pairs of shoes. Of course, it is always important to know your travel style. For some people packing light could add more stress. In that case it might be worth it to pay for checked luggage.

Lodging Accommodations

Maui can be quite pricey for lodging, including points used for hotel award redemptions, so we went with the low cost alternative for four out of the five nights on the island - camping!

Kīpahulu: free with national park day pass
Pāpalaua Wayside Park: technically a permit, but we didn't get one here
Wai'anapanapa State Park: $19.80 for a one-night permit
Hosmer Grove: free with national park day pass

The campsites were beautiful, but we definitely slept better at some than others. Only one of them (Wai'anapanapa State Park) had showers, so we utilized the public beach showers to rinse and wash our hair a couple of times. Again, it all comes back to your travel style. This would not sound like a vacation to some people, but for us, it sure was fun!

For the other non-camping night, Matt booked the Andaz Hyatt using 25,000 award points, and it was such a treat! We love Hyatt, and this one is a beauty. The highlights were the infinity pools, the rainfall shower, the shampoo/conditioner and the central Wailea location.

Eating

Since we travel frequently, this is one of the areas that we are willing to sacrifice a bit, limiting the number of meals we eat out each trip. Groceries at Costco come in handy, both for meals on the go and for the budget. During those grocery stops, a few meals were consumed from the cafe on this trip too. It was quick, inexpensive, and this pregnant lady sure loved their pizza, hot dogs and frozen yogurt at the time. We ate two dinners out at Lahaina Pizza Company and Flatbread Company (pizza!!), and as the budget reflects, we love our treats as well (coffee stops for M, shave ice and a donut for A).

Seeing the Sights

If you happen to be planning a trip to the islands, we would highly recommend the Hawaii Revealed guidebooks to aid in planning lodging, activities and restaurants. Although the islands can be expensive, there are a lot of free activities to do. Sunshine. Beaching. Swimming in the ocean or at waterfalls. Hiking. The national park pass is also a good value. It is $10 for a three day pass which included the falls and the summit sunrise plus the campsites. Our one excursion was a snorkeling tour, which included some whale-watching as well.

Overall, Maui was beautiful. We had a blast exploring the island and look forward to visiting Hawai'i again, whenever that may be.

If you get the chance, go! And if you have questions, let us know! We love connecting with other travelers and could talk all day about Hawai'i and award redemptions. :)