The Deal Mommy

EDIT: I just saved $43 on the car rental , so the total is down from $916 to $873 Woo Hoo!

I wanted to share my Mother’s day gift this year and see if it inspires you for next year! Deal Dad came through, big time, even if I did all of the planning.

So…drum roll…My Mother’s day (and Birthday, and Anniversary, which are both in June) gift is a 12 day vacation BY MYSELF!!!!!! Deal Dad is taking the kids to see his parents, so while they’re catching up on some Grandparent time, I’ll be having an adventure of my own. I’m going to go line by line to show why I chose this trip and how I’m accomplishing 12 days in Europe for a grand total of $916 including Air, hotel, and car.

I’m not telling this story as a brag. As Deal Dad reminds me daily $893 covers pretty much all of my gifts till Xmas. I’m sharing to answer the “how” questions and hopefully to inspire you to think more creatively about how you can accomplish your travel goals.

I’m hopping on an Air France A380 to Madrid (via Paris). After a day in Madrid, I’m headed to Tenerife in the Canary Islands, staying 8 nights, then flying back to Paris. After two days in Paris, I head home just in time to pick the Deal Family up at the airport.

The itinerary: Why Tenerife? Where is Tenerife? Good questions I didn’t know the answers to till last September. Notice this was 9 months ago, which is Tip #1: Plan Early!

The Canary Islands are part of Spain located due West of Morocco. I had very specific dates in July to take this trip and as soon as I knew them, I started scouring for an affordable summer European destination. After doing some reading, I realized the Canary Islands were a great alternative to Spain proper as they are actually in low season in Summer. The Canaries are basically Europe’s Florida. Tenerife was also Columbus’ last stop before he fell off the face of the Earth looking for India and was a hotbed for pirates…two subjects I’m a bit geeky about.

This leads to my 2nd tip: Think about the experience, not the destination. I wanted gorgeous beaches, European experiences and practicing my Spanish, without the crazy price tag. Tenerife checked all of those boxes.

The Flights: I booked an award ticket on Air France/Air Europa using 60,000 Delta Skymiles and paying $181 in taxes. I actually only needed 40,000 AMEX Membership Rewards points since they offered a 50% bonus. You can get the same deal until May 31 on British Airways…I already transferred a bunch over for future travel.

This leads to tip #3: Open Jaws and Stopovers are your friends. A stopover is where you stay in a transit city before taking your next flight, an open jaw is where you fly to one city and depart from another. I used the free stopovers allowed to visit Madrid and Paris for free en route to Tenerife.

The Hotels: I knew I had to get creative and that I couldn’t accomplish 11 nights on hotel points, or pay hotel prices, so I starting scouting for an affordable vacation rental. Fortunately, Expedia had an Ocean View studio in an apartment complex that was very highly rated on Tripadvisor by hundreds who had stayed there for $46 a night. I’m booked for 7 nights there, even though I’m staying on Tenerife for 8. Grand Total: $321.

This leads me to tip #4: Be prepared to make changes if a better deal comes up. Just recently, Marriott announced a promotion that gives you a night free after you stay at two separate properties. I had booked a Marriott property already, in downtown Madrid, for $80 net (after using 20% off Marriott gift cards purchased during the Daily Getaways promotion). So, I only needed one more stay to get the free night. The only Marriott on Tenerife is a Ritz-Carlton, that cost $247 a night. Luckily, with my AMEX Platinum’s Fine Hotels and Resorts program, at that Ritz-Carlton I get free breakfast, an upgrade, and $110 in room credit. So the net for my Madrid and last night on Tenerife stays is $67 (80+247-110 room credit -150 value of the free room).

In Paris, I’m using Priority Club points to stay at a Holiday Inn near the Opera for a net of $96 a night (the cost of the points I redeemed)…a 59% discount on the $234 advance purchase room rate for the same dates. This leads to tip #5: Hedge! If you want to travel later and see a way to get some points or free stays cheaply now, DO IT!

So, let’s total up.
$181 Flights
$581 Hotels for 11 nights (average $53/night)
$111 Rental car for 8 days on Tenerife
Total: $873

This trip could easily be for 2 or even four people, just add $181 each for the airfare taxes.

So, four people could have gotten to Europe this summer for a total of $1459, or $364.75 EACH. It may be too late to do this Summer 2012, but Summer 2013 is just around the corner!