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My travel goals for 2020

How fast did 2019 fly by? Not nearly as fast as December. In three short weeks we’ll be making New Year’s resolutions we’ll forget about and settle into the boredom of January. Hopefully, we can all liven things up with some fun travel plans. 

January 2020

In January, I’m going to Turkey with my parents. Istanbul is my favorite city and I’ve only ever visited in the summer. Citi is offering a 25% bonus for ThankYou point transfers to Lifemiles, so I was able to save quite a bit on this trip. 

Namli Gurme Istanbul Review Neighborhood
Namli Gurme Istanbul Neighborhood

Summer 2020

Last summer, my family flew to Turkey from all over the world for my cousin’s wedding. Ever since then, they keep saying we need another reunion. At this point, people keep asking me when this thing is happening and I have no clue.

I suggested some of them make their travel plans this summer and we’d plan ours accordingly. I just don’t want to be responsible for coordinating anything. 

Austrian Business Class seat LAX - VIE
Austrian Airlines Business Class seat to Istanbul

So I’m leaving it up in the air and hoping my cousin in Germany makes the first move, which will set off a domino effect and the rest will follow. Most likely, this trip will happen in July at a resort town in Turkey. 

I have enough points to fly everyone there in economy class, but I’m going to do some more manufactured spending in the coming months to see if I can bump as many of us up to business class as possible.  

December 2020

My family’s Umrah trip from 2016 gets talked about constantly, so I think it’s time for a repeat. Since I’ve mentioned this, at least one cousin stateside and one in Australia have expressed interest in coming along. It’s more fun with a large group anyway, so I hope we can make this work.

Last time I booked an Umrah trip on points, we flew Etihad business class all the way to Jeddah, booked a Qatar Airways flight from Medina to Dubai and then flew Etihad back to San Francisco from Abu Dhabi. 

Things have changed since 2019, mostly for the good. 

Kaaba Masjid al-Haram and Clock Tower in Mecca
Kaaba inside Masjid al-Haram Mecca

Positive changes

For starters, an Umrah visa can now be obtained online. Getting them without a travel agent who is also booking your flight and hotel was challenging and expensive. This time, that won’t be as much of an issue. 

Another hurdle that’s been removed? The Saudi government no longer imposes a $500 penalty for those taking more than one Umrah trip every five years. That fee would have added up to $2,500 for my family, so I’m glad that’s not a problem anymore.

In 2016, taking a bus was the most efficient way to get from Mecca to Medina. Now, there is a high-speed train that travels directly between the two cities in just 3 hours. This is much more preferable to flying, which would require driving in the opposite direction of Medina and all the time-consuming fun stuff involved in air travel.

Negative changes

The biggest challenge is how we’ll get there. Last time, AAdvantage miles were super easy to earn via the Citi AAdvantage Platinum Card but now Citi has imposed a 48-mont rule on these sign-up bonuses. 

Etihad doesn’t fly out of San Francisco anymore, so we’ll likely have to transit through LAX or IAD. I’m not a fan of connecting flights when traveling with kids, so I’m aiming for an alternative.

Emirates partners with Alaska but those flights cost 82,500 miles each way in business class. One of the cheapest wayS to get to the Middle East on points is using ANA miles, which requires just 104,000 in business class. If I pick up an Amex Blue Business Plus Card, I can earn 100,000 points after just $50,000 worth of spending. 

It’s all a matter of working out the logistics, but regardless, I’ll need around a million points and miles for this trip. Last time business class award space for all eight of us opened up during a very busy period and we were able to make the trip. Maybe we’ll get lucky again.

Final thoughts

People plan, God laughs but it’s always nice to have something to work towards. These are the main three trips I’m planning to take in 2020. I’m sure a trip to New York will happen and I’d love to catch up with fellow points and miles folks at the Chicago Seminars next year. 

And it’s not a sure thing, but I will probably make another trip to Unionville to celebrate at the Gilmore Girls Fan Festival for the show’s 20th anniversary.

Regardless of how things go, I plan on earning a lot of flexible rewards currencies speculatively. Because you never know when you need to take a last-minute trip to escape the monotony of daily life, visit family, or attend a weird festival. 

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34 Comments

  1. could u do an update to current MS situation at wm, thanks

  2. Ariana, you mentioned Thank You points transfer to Lifemiles. I never used Lifemiles because I hear a lot how frustrating the redemption via Lifemiles could be (incompetent agents, sketchy availability, etc.). Did you find this the case? If you have a chance and could elaborate about Lifemiles in your reply or in a future post, it would be really appreciated.
    Happy planning and happy travels!

    • Not at all. You can redeem miles online pretty easily and some redemptions are cheaper than United. No complaints. Maybe I can get a “pros and cons of Lifemiles” post together in the new year.

  3. Takhliq Khan

    Hi Ariana,

    I know you still have about a year to plan for your Umrah travel so i am sure you will be able to do it the way you prefer. But i am going for Umrah on the 25th of December and just would like to share how i am doing. I used Virgin Atlantic flying club points for 4 people to fly Delta One from Detroit to Amsterdam. Very good deal at 50k points each. Then i have used Singapore Airlines miles to fly Turkish Airlines in Biz from Amsterdam to Madinah via Istanbul. It was 29,000 miles per person.For the return, i was able to use Delta Skymiles to fly from Dammam to Washington Dulles on KLM and Virgin Atlantic in biz. It was 85,000 skymiles per person.

    My positioning flight on Delta from Washington to Detroit cost me 7000 skymiles each. While in Saudi Arabia, my positioning flight from Jeddah to Dammam cost me 200 dollars for 4 tickets in economy. I feel like i have done really well. For the hotels, i used hhonors points to book my stay at Conrad in Makkah. In Madinah, i paid cash for our hotel stay.

    • Thank you for sharing! Wow, you are way ahead of me in planning. I would love to go around that time, so if I can find award space that would be great. The Conrad was a great choice – loved the hotel and they have some of the best staff I’ve encountered anywhere.

      • Takhliq Khan

        Hi Ariana,

        I should have clarified in the first post that i am flying this year. Also if anyone is curious, taxes and surcharges on the Turkish Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Madinah, Saudi Arabia were about $180 per person. But with only 29000 Singapore miles per person, its a very good deal. Especially with the fact that both flights on TK are on A330 and not B737. There are no fuel surcharges on any of the other flights.

  4. The title is “My Points And Miles Goals For 2019” and the post is about trips planned to the Middle East in 2020. Does anyone else see an issue here?

  5. Takhliq Khan

    JStone,

    I see what you are saying but no issue for me. I knew what she meant.

  6. Office Depot is running the discount on the fee for the master card GC. Any one use MC for MS at WM? I’ve always just used VGC

    • My store is probably wiped out already. Be careful with those MS cards – they got hacked a while back. Keep your receipts and liquidate them fast.

      • My store has a bunch of them so I’ll go load up. Thanks for the advice about them being hacked. I did remember reading about that somewhere on this site. I’ll get rid of them fast.

      • Ariana, with the MC that needs to be quickly hitting “change payment type” then use “debit card” payment, is that only apply to WM purchases of MO? what if going to grocery store for the MO? Thanks for your advise. You are the best, as always.

        • I’ve never used it at a grocery store, so I can’t say for sure. But I would keep an eye out and if a “Cancel” button appears, press it and select debit. If it ends up cancelling the transaction, just say “Whoops! I accidentally hit cancel.” Then let the cashier know you’re paying with debit, in case there is something they need to do on their part.

        • I have used them without issue at Publix and Winn Dixie. No need for cancel button. However, I have never gotten the cancel button trick to work for me at WMT.

  7. I have not confirmed yet but I have a feeling that Mecca to Medina high-speed train will be very expensive specially for a party of 3 or more. Taxi would be the most economical and relatively comfortable alternative. However I think its worth try and one time experience at least.

    • If I remember correctly, flights were only like $100 while the bus was $28. If the train is somewhere in between, I think it will be worth it. The bus wasn’t bad, just slow.

      • Takhliq Khan

        Ariana,
        Are you talking about flight from Jeddah to Medina? Because flying to or from Mecca is not an option.
        One service that i found about during my search was UmrahTaxi. They have several options from sedan to van to big SUV. Rates are very reasonable. Definitely a better option if 4 or 5 people in the group. I have not booked it yet but that is what i plan to do for my travel from Medina to Mecca.

  8. Since Turkey has engaged in ethnic cleansing of the Kurds using Daesh militias in concert with Russia troops I have a hard time thinking about having anything to do with Turkey or Turkish Airlines

  9. A little glib. We all get to decide where our moral limits are when and where we spend our hard earned money and time. Personally I can’t step inside the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Not everything is morally equivalent.

    • Good comment. I think you must be morally superior to me. It is good you can properly discern moral gradients. I am not so intellectually endowed.
      Thank you for your moral training! Could you please provide your morally unacceptable list of countries to visit for all of us to criticize, sorry, I mean to be enlightened by?
      Thanks again.

    • Not traveling to a country because of its dubious human rights record is absurd. What the world needs is for more understanding and interaction between societies. You think it’s going to do them good to be isolated? No. That’s how extremism flourishes. There’s no morality in abstaining from traveling to one country when literally every government in the world has corruption and a growing body count (follow the news lately?).

      You can live on a boat out away from everything that offends you or you can engage with the world and try to improve it.

  10. Well said, Ariana!

  11. Maybe we all have equally dirty hands. After all, the KSA is the largest purchaser of US military weapons which they employ with delirious gusto. And for us the profits are simply yummy. And hey, the enemy of our enemy is our friend. And I get that travel broadens ones horizons. I enjoy it myself. But we’re kidding ourselves if we believe that by dropping a few bucks at hotels and restaurants in Beijing is going to help the Uygurs, or by sightseeing in Myanmar the Rohigya will be treated like human beings or that by dropping some coin in Riyadh on holiday will cause MBS to lose his affinity for bone saws or that women will ever be anything but second class citizens or that you could be openly gay or declare yourself an apostate without being stoned to death. The best way to foster change in the KSA would be to develop alternate energy sources, loosen our dependence on fossil fuels and to stop buying their oil.
    Kirk, I don’t consider myself morally superior to you. Knock yourself out by visiting every theocratic/military dictatorship you want. I’m sure you probably prefer them to constitutional democracies as long as the sightseeing and cuisine is great. See you next year in Pyongyang. Oh, I won’t be there.

    • It’s not about getting into the good grace of the a**holes who rule these countries: It’s about keeping the lines of communication between ordinary people open. By communicating with ordinary people, you influence their view of the world. That can lead to change.

      And look, China has one million Muslims locked in concentration camps. As a Muslim, that infuriates me. What happened to Jamal Kashoggi is vile and infuriating. But just a few months before it happened, MBS was in Silicon Valley hob-knobbing with Zuckerberg and he’s got Trump acting as his mouthpiece in the media.

      I agree with you to a degree – economic and political pressure can lead to change. People should lobby their leaders to take a stance against morally reprehensible acts like the murder of a journalist or the imprisonment/slaughter of innocent people. Politicians in this country do more to empower MBS through arms sales and public advocacy (via the president) than any of us traveling to Saudi Arabia.

  12. Thanks for your thoughtful response. I have always been a big fan. This is a discussion in which there are no easy answers and I appreciate you opening up this very meaningful dialogue.

    • Very true but I’m glad you brought it up. This is something all travelers think about at one point or another. I respect those who avoid traveling to these places because it doesn’t sit well with them. Empathy is a good thing. But I think if we want to change things, there are more impactful ways to do so.

  13. James Anderson

    Hi Ariana,

    Love the site! I live in the East Bay and my wife is from South Africa, and one of my goals this year is to be able to fly my wife, 4yr old daughter and I back to SA so she can see her family. Is there an aggregation site/can you suggest the best way for me to figure out the minimum amount of miles or points I would need to make that happen please? Is it just a case of figuring out the preferred route then calling all relevant airlines directly to figure out the amounts?

    Thank you

    • Thanks James! It really depends on whether you’re flying economy or in a premium cabin and which rewards credit cards you have access to. If you’re working from scratch, this article is a good starting point: https://upgradedpoints.com/best-ways-to-fly-to-south-africa-with-points-and-miles/

      Award redemptions are as low as 65k RT in economy, though you may pay more in taxes for that award than a higher mileage one. Also keep in mind that currencies like AA miles are easier to get since Citi has multiple AA cards that offer big targeted bonuses. Barclays also issues these cards, so you can earn miles pretty quickly. Of course, award space can be tricky and if you’re traveling during peak dates, you might not be able to find Saver space.

      I suggest you plan way in advance and also accrue some flexible currencies (i.e. Chase UR, Amex MR, Citi TY) in case you don’t find award space with your chosen program and need a back-up.

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