TheAmericanTravelProject
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One of my very favorite things about this hobby (and by hobby, I mean traveling using miles & points) is that we can often travel at the most expensive times of year without the killer price tag. We have been able to take warm weather trips during our winter break for the past few years, and it really is just the thing we need to get us through the long, cold winters here in the Northeast. We recently returned from a trip to Aruba. It was in the 80s and mostly sunny in Aruba. When we arrived home it was to a windchill below zero and snow on the car in the airport parking lot. Which made the prep and planning for the Aruba trip very worth it.
If you are interested in taking a trip like this, during a school holiday or other busy time of year, planning ahead is essential. When your WHEN is set in stone, like ours was for this trip, your WHERE often has to be more flexible.
Here are some tips:
1. Think far ahead into the future. And by that I am talking 11 months out for flights, or whenever your airline(s) start accepting reservations.
2. Keeping in mind #1 above, you have to start to build up those mileage accounts well beforehand. Apply for credit cards, do some manufactured spending, the whole nine.
3. Choose a few destinations and keep an open mind
4. And/or choose a hotel program in which you have enough points & search for locations that appeal to you
For this Aruba trip, we did all of the above. I knew that I wanted to use Club Carlson points because we had lots of them and I knew I could get 6 nights for the points-price of 3 nights (see here for more on that). I knew we wanted to go somewhere warm, preferably an island in the Caribbean. I also knew which airline miles I had to play around with (in this case it was British Airways and USAirways). I had heard about the Club Carlson hotels in the Caribbean, so I knew that I was going to try for either:
Radisson Aruba Resort, Casino & Spa (top contender)
Radisson Grenada Beach Resort (we had just been to Grenada the previous year)
Radisson Aquatica Resort Barbados (top contender)
Radisson Blu St. Martin (which was sold after we made our plans, so I’m glad we didn’t choose this one)
Radisson Ambassador Plaza Hotel & Casino San Juan (we had been to Puerto Rico the previous year)
I booked our flights the very day that they opened up, and I booked each leg separately (so I was able to book our outbound flights days/weeks before our return flights). I was able to match up available flights with available hotel rooms, and our trip to Aruba was born. I was able to get all of our flights for “free” using miles (plus taxes/fees) & our 6 hotel nights were free using Club Carlson points.
Aruba with Kids
Like I said above, we spent 6 nights in Aruba at the Radisson. I will do a separate hotel review at some point, but I will say here that the hotel was located in the high rise area (that’s what they call it) on Palm-Eagle Beach. We had never been to Aruba before, and found it to be very different than any other Caribbean island we have visited.
Here are some things that we noted about Aruba and our trip:
- The island felt safe
- There were tons of restaurants and stores and other hotels in a short walking distance from the hotel
- There is a paved walking path that runs along the beach (so easy to run or walk or visit other hotels)
- The beach (Palm Beach) was very nice with soft sand
- The surf varied daily from almost flat to some decent waves
- The water (Palm Beach) was turquoise blue, but not clear when swimming in it
- The ocean water was a warm, very comfortable temperature
- The temperature/weather in general was nearly perfect (no humidity)
- No snorkeling directly from the beach
- It felt ‘touristy’ (this is not necessarily meant as a negative…we were tourists too, afterall)
- The food is expensive
- Although it rained briefly each day, the showers were passing & did not effect our activities (and there were rainbows!)
- We mostly hung out at the pool or on the beach each day (very relaxing trip!)
- The highlight of the trip was a tour we took with ABC Jeep Tours
- Sunburn = Luckily there is aloe everywhere & you don’t have to buy it from the stores. You can just pick some and rub it on! We did buy a small tube of aloe cream for my daughter though
- The island is not lush like some others. Vegetation is sparse with lots of cacti
- Lots of the restaurants have ‘Early Bird’ dinner specials from about 4:30/5:00 to 6:30/7:00
- It was more crowded than other places we have visited (but we were there during high season, so that must have been a factor)
- The taxi from the airport to the high rise hotel area is about $28
- We were told (by our taxi driver) that there are cruise ships docked there every day
- There are tons of iguanas and other reptiles
- Very family & kid friendly everywhere we went
- We have never experienced anything like the fireworks in Aruba on New Years Eve and the days following
- The official language is Papiamento, but we heard English & Spanish everywhere
- In the tourist areas, everything is priced in $USD
- You go through US Customs in Aruba prior to the return flight to the US
- The airport is terrible as far as food and services go
- The sunsets were beautiful
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