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Hi Travel Junkies,

Summer is finally here and with it comes more stores of 10xT readers taking amazing trips for next to nothing.

Today I bring you the story of Paul and Taryn, newlyweds who just got back from a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Hawaii. Almost entirely booked with points and miles.

Take it away, Paul

I had got into the points/miles world one night while I was working in the ambulance. I stumbled across Bryce’s article on his big trip to Thailand randomly and was immediately intrigued.

I’m one that believes if it’s too good to be true then it probably is. But I decided to read anyways since I was bored. The more and more I read, the more and more I thought that it was actually plausible. And being a big traveler who has spent some real money on airplane tickets, I decided to email Bryce and read up on anything I could find.

Bryce talked me through a lot of the ins and outs of how points/miles work and helped me get started. I enjoyed reading his frequent emails and was immediately obsessed with this new hobby.

My wife and I at the time decided to do our honeymoon in Hawaii in April. I had some work to do. I had both myself and my wife Taryn apply for the Hawaiian credit card that was offering 50,000 bonus miles at the time. Easy. Those miles got us both a non-stop round trip to Oahu and back to Portland including two inter-island flights as well.

We flew into Maui and took a shuttle to Kaanapali, where we stayed for 5 nights at the Westin Maui Resort. We booked our room using Starpoints earned from the Starwood Preferred Guest credit card by American Express, which made our stay at this beautiful hotel almost entirely for free.

(Bryce note: You can find more information on these credit cards here)

While at the Westin we took all the spending at our hotel and charged it to our room, which had our Capital One Venture cards on file. This mean that things like poolside drinks and restaurant bills to become “travel” expenses, which allowed us to use our Capital One points to erase the charges.

While staying at the Westin I was able to book two incredible cruises, one to snorkel at Molokini and the other was a captain’s dinner cruise. All were paid for, as well almost of our Jeep rental, with points from my wife’s Venture card.

We then traveled down the coastline and ended up at the Hyatt Andaz in Wailea. This place was incredible and one of the highlights of the trip. We got two nights for free at this 5 star hotel with the signup bonus. This is one place I will strive to see again.

(Bryce note: I am also a huge fan. Here is a review of my stay.)

We then headed back over to Oahu for 4 nights where we stayed at the Sheraton Waikiki. I used some of my Delta points from the Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card (Rates & Fees) card to book a room for two nights. (Not the best use of points but I wanted a cheap honeymoon).

I forgot to mention that most of the hotels we stayed at upgraded us because we were on our honeymoon. So fun!

The Sheraton was not our favorite hotel, but it got the job done while we were there for a friend’s wedding.

Our last two nights were spent at the Hyatt Place in Waikiki. We also got upgraded because of our platinum status due to having their credit card and being on our honeymoon. The room was huge and what we needed to help us rest up the morning after the wedding. We used Hyatt Gold passport points to take the sting out of the room cost. We paid for about a third of the actual price.

This honeymoon was everything and more that we were hoping for. This was relaxing, fun, and a lot more luxurious than we were ever planning for. Thank you Bryce for helping us make it a reality.

Happy Travels,

Bryce

P.S. Have a success story of your own that you would like to share? Email bryce@10xTravel.com to get started!