We may receive a commission when you use our links. Monkey Miles is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com and CardRatings. This relationship may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. Monkey Miles is also a Senior Advisor to Bilt Rewards. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Last year I organized a trip for my family and best friend around the world. We flew nothing but business and first class, stayed in 4 and 5 star hotels and paid literally a fraction of the cost. My parents spent time in London and New York as stopovers en route to Africa while Dave and I took the trip below:
Here was our itinerary – dream trip 2015
- Etihad Business and First Class Lounge Washington DC
- Etihad Business Studio – IAD to AUH
- Review: Etihad Arrivals lounge and Etihad Chauffeur experience
- Grand Hyatt Dubai
- Hyatt Capital Gate Abu Dhabi
- Etihad Business and First Class Lounge Abu Dhabi, AUH
- Etihad Pearl Business Class – AUH to JNB
- Intercontinental Johannesburg Sandton Towers
- Blue Train Johannesburg to Cape Town
- Queen Victoria Cape Town
- Chitwa Chitwa Sabi Sands Luxury Game Reserve Kruger National Park
- Royal Chundu Zambezi River Lodge – Victoria Falls
- Intercontinental Johannesburg Airport
- Review: S(h)ongololo Lounge JNB
- Cathay Pacific Business Class – JNB to HKG to HND
- Ritz Carlton Tokyo
- Japan Airlines First Class Lounge Tokyo, NRT
- American Air Flagship First Class – NRT to LAX
Flying around the World on one trip – check!
Miles and I had wanted to fly allllllll the way around the world on a single, extended, fantabulous trip since, well, I can’t even remember it’s been that long. But, we didn’t want to do it sitting up…
We wanted to lie flat!!!!!
And we wanted to send mom and dad on a dream vacation in First Class on a safari in Africa
Lie Flat and make the folks feel all that!?!?! Double Check!
So how did we do it?
We maxed out the value of the points we had, made some strategic credit card sign ups, used transfer bonuses, and ultimately weren’t that picky on dates. That’s probably the biggest thing – be flexible.
How did we pick the places?
The rents…
We knew we wanted to get to South Africa for a safari, but didn’t know exactly how much time we needed. After a lot of research online I found Chitwa Chitwa safari lodge – their website has some great options for multi-destination trips. Reaching out to them put us in contact with Bianca at Icon expeditions and we nailed down the spots we wanted to see: Joburg, Blue Train, Cape Town, Kruger, and Victoria Falls. We then referenced the award availability and picked dates that gave us wiggle room. All in all for my parents we booked everything on BA.
How did we get them the flights?
- BA credit card sign up for 100k bonus
- Card gives one free ticket with a purchased ticket, even with points, after 30k spend in a year.
- The ticket cost 300k avios for two people roundtrip in First.
- 150k was already in the account
- the other 150k was earned from a 40% Amex to to BA transfer bonus.
- Total: 150k each plus taxes
~ Each ticket would have cost roughly $17,000 when we booked them with points: almost $0.12 per point ~
How did we manage the stop overs – BA allows free stopovers in London on award tickets
- My parents and I love high tea
- London is quintessential for high tea
- Grosvenor House on Park Lane is a great spot to stay and enjoy high tea for 45k Marriott rewards per night
- Blacklane offers great, reliable, and often cheaper than taxi, black car service. They love it
Dave and I balled out in the middle east. Flew Business, stayed 5 star and spent $150 for 4 nights and flights to and from U.A.E.
We sought out a different experience. Both of us were keenly interested in seeing the fare of Dubai and Abu Dhabi, plus I REALLY wanted to fly on a 787 and specifically with Etihad. Unfortunately, American doesn’t allow routing, nor stopovers, through the middle east to Africa. Our only real option was through Europe, so we booked two separate one way tickets on Etihad using AA miles to route through Abu Dhabi.
Ya
- The first: Etihad Business Studio IAD-AUH 67,500
- The Second: Etihad Pearl Business AUH-JNB 45,000
- Total: 112,500 ( but a 10,000 discount for having a a Citi or Barclay branded AA card)
After Africa we used the ITA matrix to investigate options of getting home. Often times when you’re at the antipodes of the earth you can find stunningly good deals. We found one way tickets to Japan for $1100…that’s almost 17 hours of business class for less than what a lot of roundtrip first class tickets cost domestically.
So we thought we’d head East to get back West.
Dave and I had wanted to check out Tokyo and the Ritz had avail with points. We also were fans of the Netflix documentary ‘Jiro Dreams of Sushi’ about the first Michelin 3 star sushi restaurant in the world Sukiyabashi Jiro. We were lucky enough get a reservation at the Roppongi Hills location by using the concierge at the Ritz. Both experiences were truly out of this world.
I then set out to find us avail back from Tokyo…
We were lucky enough to catch a huge dump of award avail on AA before BA devalued last May. We nailed down tix for 75k +$135.
So what did the flights and hotel cost us
States to Middle East: LAX-IAD-AUH-JNB
- Etihad Business Studio and Etihad Pearl business class
- 112500 + $40 ( 10k were refunded for having the Citi Aadvantage Platinum card)
From Africa to the States: JNB-HKG-TYO-LAX
- Purchased a Cathay Pacific JNB-HKG-HND flight for $1100
- Used 75,000 Avios + $135 for a 1st class ticket on AA from NRT to LAX
The Hotels:
- 2 free nights in a category 4 with Chase Hyatt Credit card
- 1 night $200 and 3000 points for a suite upgrade
- $95 total
- 70k per night
Total:
- Aadvantage: 102,500
- Avios: 75,000
- Marriott 140k
- Hyatt 1500 points and $150 each
- Cash – roughly $1150 each for flights ( including taxes paid on award flights)
How did we get the points?
- We both did two sign ups.
- US Airways 50k after 1st purchase, which converted to AA after the merger
- Citi AA Platinum 50k after 3k spend in 3 months
- Chase BA card 100k bonus after 20k spend in 12 months
- The Marriott points we had, but could have done a Ritz Carlton 140k sign up offered last year
- Hyatt card offers a great deal of 1 free night annually with a $75 annual fee
If you’re interested in seeing more in depth reviews and looksat all the places, check out the links at the top and bottom of the report! If you have any questions – hit me up!! And if you’re interested in Miles booking a trip for you like he did for us…hit up the Award Booking page on the home screen – he will get you more lux for less bux!
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.