Traveling on Points and Cash (Colorado Edition)

[canyonwalker]

Our week-long trip to Colorado earlier this month was paid for, as we do with most of our trips, with a combination of points and cash. Five Things:

1. The flights, I purchased using points in one direction and cash the other. I decided that based on a complicated calculus I use for valuing when to spend points vs. earn points on Southwest Airlines.


2. The reason we flew Southwest, aside from its schedule convenience on routes such as SJC-DEN, is the Companion Pass elite benefit I've attained for the past several years. It's basically a 2-for-1 sale whenever Hawk flies with me.


3. Most of our stays were paid for with points and free-night certs. We only spent cash for two nights. Those were the two we were in an AirBnB.


4. Some of the hotel nights/certs were mine, some were Hawk's. Often we focus on using mine as I pursue earning them more, but she has a lot piled up with Marriott and IHG that we want to ensure we get value from, too.


5. Gas was a cash expense. In the past I've rarely included gas in my calculation of travel expenses, but since it's gotten so expensive lately it's become a drag on the fun of road-tripping. On this trip we drove our rental truck 1,340 miles. At an average fuel economy of 24mpg (impressive for a pickup truck!) and an average gas price of $5/gallon, that works out to $279. ...Which, okay, that's less than any one of several of our hotel nights were. Though we paid those on points.