Looking For An Affordable Family Vacation, Try Visiting Argentina

 

I just got back from two weeks travelling in Chile and Argentina and wow! So much history, culture, nature, it's overwhelming and wonderful at the same time. The highlight for our family was trekking on the Perito Moreno Glacier in Patagonia. A once in a lifetime experience like no other!

With so much to do, you might think this is an expensive vacation, but it's actually quite affordable right now for those with US dollars.  

This is a picture of the Argentine pesos I got when I exchanged $400 USD. Each of those 1,000 peso notes equals about $3 USD. 

Right now, Argentina is suffering through 96% inflation which is terrible for the residents of that country, but a huge plus for tourists if you handle your money correctly. 

Plus of course, if you follow my blog and get your flights and hotels with points and miles then wow, it's almost like a FREE vacation. 

Looking For An Affordable Family Vacation, Try Visiting Argentina

What does 96% inflation look like? It means that you can change your USD to pesos today for let's say 310 pesos per $1 and by tomorrow, the rate will be 340 pesos per $1. 

The inflation is so crazy that there are actually two exchange rates - the official rate and the blue rate. 

The official rate is about 175 pesos per $1 USD. 

The blue rate changes daily, but is running about 350 pesos per $1 USD. 

So you can see if you get the official rate, then you will probably think prices in Argentina are equal to any European country. BUT if you change money at the blue rate, you get a 50% discount. 

It's a bit hard to follow, but check this out. I visited a Starbucks in Buenos Aires. Each of my drinks were priced at about 800 pesos. The parfait was 950 pesos. 

For the three drinks and the parfait, the total was 3630 pesos. If you get the official rate 175 pesos per $1, this Starbucks run will cost you $20. Pretty typical for the US. BUT if you get the blue exchange rate 350 pesos per $1, this Starbucks run will cost you $10.50. Crazy, right?

Looking For An Affordable Family Vacation, Try Visiting Argentina

Now the question is how do you get the blue rate rather than the official rate? Usually, we recommend changing money at the ATM's, but NOT in Argentina. The ATM's will give you the official rate. There are two ways to get the blue rate that we recommend. 

1. Look for money change signs at restaurants and grocery stores - The signs will indicate if the business is changing money and at what rate. Do some research to find the best rate and then go for it. Right now, the largest currency is the 1,000 peso note which equals $3 at the blue rate. So be prepared for a lot of paper when you exchange money. 

2. Use your credit card - Argentina just passed a law requiring foreign credit cards to honor the blue rate. 

That's the email receipt from Uber, but look at the amount that actually ended up on my credit card. 

You may see some websites talk about changing money on Calle Florida in Buenos Aires. I don't recommend doing that. The cambios on this street are illegal and ripe for scams. It's much safer to change money in a restaurant or use your credit card. 

Keep in mind if you tip for a FREE tour, try tipping in USD. If you tip in pesos, you will end up giving someone a very small tip. 

And of course, always use the right credit card for your purchases and you may be able to erase the purchase altogether. 

The #1 Reason Why I Love Flying on Southwest Points

                              

Even with the meltdown over the holiday by Southwest Airlines, I will continue to fly them. Why? Well, there are a number of reasons:

• The Southwest Companion pass 
• Two checked bags for FREE 
• No fuel charges 
• Points are easy to earn 

But my #1 reason is the fact that if you book on points, you can change your flight without any penalty and you may even get points back! 

The #1 Reason Why I Love Flying on Southwest Points 

Confused? Let me explain. You book a flight on Southwest using points. If you don't have enough points, open a Southwest credit card and earn them or even buy them. But don't pay cash for your ticket because then you may get stuck with a credit voucher, yuck! 

If you pay with points and make a change or cancel, the points just return to your account. Easy! 

That's a great perk right there, but wait there's more. 

The #1 Reason Why I Love Flying on Southwest Points 

Once you book a flight, anytime Southwest has a sale or even on random Tuesday or Wednesday, use the change flight option to see if the number of points for that flight has dropped. If it has, rebook the flight and you get the difference returned to your account. 

Let me show you how this works. 

Log into your account, click on trips and click on change flight. 

Check the flight that you want to change. Don't make any updates to the selected flight and click on explore options. 

Then you will see all the flights for that day, find the one that you are already booked on. If you see a + sign, that means it now costs MORE points to book, but if you see a - sign that means it now costs LESS points to book. 

If you see that it costs LESS now than it did when you originally booked, click on the flight, review changes and purchase. 

The points will return to your account immediately. You can do this as many times as you want up until your flight departs. 

The #1 Reason Why I Love Flying on Southwest Points 

If you have a companion booked on the flight with you, you will need to cancel the companion's flight BEFORE you make the change. 

Pretty sweet! 

If you do not have a Southwest credit card yet, please use my referral link. The current offer is 50,000 bonus miles for a $3,000 minimum spend for each of the personal cards. You can check out which card I prefer here. 

Have You Earned Your Southwest Companion Pass Yet?

 

Even though Southwest had a meltdown over the holidays, hopefully that did not change your goal to earn the Southwest Companion Pass. 

If you have been following my blog, you know that I am working on earning my pass right now along with you. 

In fact, due to the meltdown, Southwest extended the expiration date for the 2022 companion pass to January 31, 2023 so if you had it last year, well, you get an extra month to use it. Southwest also added an extra month for those people trying to qualify for A-list and to earn the companion pass in 2022. But don't worry, this won't penalize those of us who are trying to earn the pass for 2023-24. 

The Southwest Companion Pass is the best travel perk out there. It's a BOGO pass for any flight, any time for up to two years. Amazing. 

I have had this pass for 6 years and I estimate the savings at thousands of dollars. I have used it to travel to the East Coast for college trips several times, for college family weekends, for travel to Cuba, Cabo San Lucas, Costa Rica, New York City, Salt Lake City, New Orleans, Napa and so many more. 

In fact, last year, I didn't try to earn the pass again because I didn't think I would get much use out of it. Big mistake and I regretted that decision for most of 2022. 

To earn this pass, you need to collect 135,000 Southwest points in a single calendar year. It sounds like a lot, but we have discovered an easy way to get this done. You can read about it here. 

Or you can join my business partner Lyn with Families Fly FREE, she is hosting a webinar on Jan. 18th and 19th where she will explain simply how to do it and she is giving away prizes like 30,000 Southwest miles. Nice. You can register here. 

So if you are already working on your pass with me, how are you doing?

Consider this your check in.

Remember, we opened our credit cards in mid November so you need to keep an eye on that three month deadline to reach the minimum spend. Chase only gives you three months to spend the minimum which was $3,000 for the personal card and $5,000 for the business card. 

You can check your statement close date in your online Chase account and don't be afraid to pay that credit card bill early to trigger the bonus. I am planning a spring college scouting trip and I need those points asap to book the flights. You can always add a companion as long as there is any seat available on the plane. 

I went ahead and paid the bill early, but after January 1st just to be certain the points would credit in 2023 and NOT 2022.  

And bam, within a day or two, the bonus appeared in my Southwest Rapid Rewards account. 

I'm still waiting on the second bonus and the 10,000 points for having a Southwest credit card to drop into my account (Chase and Southwest say this will happen February 1st) to reach the 135,000 points and trigger the companion pass. 

That should happen soon! 

Let me know how you are doing on earning your pass and if you have any questions! 

And if this has sparked your interest in earning the pass, read this article and then consider using my referral link to apply for your Southwest credit cards. 

Trekking A Glacier In Patagonia Is A Once In A Lifetime Experience

 

One of the most incredible once in a lifetime experience is trekking a glacier in Patagonia. The trek on the Perito Moreno Glacier departs from the town of El Calafate in Argentina. There are flights to this small town on Aerolineas Argentinas from the AEP airport in Buenos Aires and other cities in Argentina. There is very limited award availability on Aerolineas Argentinas. Instead I booked this flight through the Capital One Travel portal and then erased it with points. 

The tour to the glacier is an all day event so don't plan to fly in or out on the same day. This tour is also weather permitting so you may want to give yourself some extra days if possible. Though many tours sell the mini trek, the only company actually operating the tour is Hielo y Aventura. You can book directly with that tour company or book through a third party like Viator. No matter where you book or what tour company is listed, all the tours end up with Hielo y Aventura. 

Plan to spend about $250 per person for this adventure, but it's worth every penny. 

This company is top notch. They pick you up at your hotel with a mini shuttle around 7:30am. They advise you to bring warm layering clothes, jacket, good walking shoes, water, sunscreen, sunglasses and a hat. You also need to bring your own lunch and money for the national park entrance fee. 

We ordered a box lunch from our hotel, but you could bring along a sandwich from a grocery store.

The mini shuttle runs around town picking up all the customers and then drops them off at the tour bus. Once all the customers arrive, the bus leaves for an approximately 1.5 hour drive to the Los Glaciares National Park. At the entrance to the park, customers are advised to go inside and pay the entrance fee. We were told many times to bring 5,500 pesos per person, but at the entrance, they accepted credit cards. You may also be able to pay online in advance. 

After everyone pays, the bus continues another 30 minutes to the boat dock where you board a ferry type boat for the approximately 15 minute ride across the lake. Once you arrive there, the guides quickly divide the passengers into English and Spanish speaking groups of 20. They go over safety, what the day will look like and show you where to leave your lunches and bags. 

Next, the groups start to walk towards the glacier stopping a few times for photos and information about glacier formation and history. Then it's onto the crampon station where guides fit the crampons to your shoes. 

Once the group is ready, the guides teach you how to hike the glacier in crampons. It's pretty intuitive and easy to follow. And then you are off heading up the side of the glacier. The guides position themselves in front and back of the group ready to lend a hand. i found them extremely attentive and passionate about their work. 

On the 1.5 hour hike, the guides pointed out different fissures, cracks and streams of water. We even got a chance to drink glacier water. At the end of the hike, there is a surprise that involves whiskey and glacier ice. 

Then back to the crampon station to remove the spikes and a short walk back to the base to eat lunch. The boat ride back involves a drive by the glacier for a different view. The bus makes one last stop at the viewing platforms for yet another different view of the glacier. The ride back to town takes about two hours and then mini shuttle shows up to deliver passengers back to their hotels. 

The day ran like clockwork, this company is a well oiled machine. This experience is not to be missed and definitely earns a place on the top of the bucket list. 

If you pay for the trek using your Capital One Venture X, you may be able to erase it as a travel purchase. Also check Capital One for a discount offer if you book through Viator.com. I got 8% back which equaled almost $90. Woohoo! 

 

How You Can Vacation in South America For Pennies

 

My family and I just returned from two weeks in Chile and Argentina. This was a redo trip from a vacation that was supposed to happen in March 2020. That trip was going to be almost FREE so the question was could we repeat it almost three years later and still do the trip for almost FREE. The answer is yes. 

I'm going to break it down for you so you can see how I do it and hopefully see how you could do it for your family. 

I believe everyone can play this game and travel for almost FREE. 

I start planning big trips like this one almost two years in advance. Why so early? You need time to earn the points and miles and then the airlines open flight reservations approximately 330 days in advance. Depending on when you want to travel especially if you are looking at summer or the holidays, you need to be ready with your points/miles when those reservations open. 

How You Can Vacation in South America For Pennies 

For this trip, we were planning to travel over winter break. It's high season so I needed to be ready. 

The first thing I do is figure out what airlines fly to the destination. In this case, I targeted American Airlines. Between American miles and Marriott points, I had collected enough miles to fly our family of five one way to Santiago, Chile. I looked at several dates and it looked like I could find flights for 30,000 miles one way from San Diego to Santiago, Chile. 

You can see below if you click on the calendar, you can look at the entire month and pinpoint which days offer the best value. Right now, you could fly to Santiago for just 22,000 American miles one way. 

But the return from Buenos Aires was showing 50,000 to 100,000 miles on American. The key is to be flexible with dates and cities. So I tried multiple cities and dates and nothing. 

So I started looking at other airlines. I checked Avianca, United and Delta. Delta Airlines was showing returns for 25,000 miles pretty consistently. 

I decided to target Delta Airlines and start figuring out how to collect those miles. All of us had various amounts of Delta miles already due to flights over the years, earning miles with Airbnb and other random promotions. But only a few of us had the full 25,000 miles needed. Marriott points transfer to Delta Airlines at 3:1 with a 5,000 point bonus for every 60,000 points. So I could top off with Marriott points and bam, 125,000 Delta miles gets all five of us home for FREE. 

As soon as the flights open up, I book them. Now I will book one way flights when they open and then book the return when that opens. So for two weeks, I will sit with flights to the destination and no flights home. It's a bit nerve racking, but has worked for me every time. 

Once I secure the flights, I move onto accommodations. For our family of five with teens and young adults, Airbnb seemed like the way to go. In South America, Airbnb are very affordable and with the Chase Pay Yourself Back program allowing you to erase Airbnb purchases with points, it was a no brainer. Unfortunately, you can no longer erase Airbnb purchases with Chase points. BUT you can still erase Airbnb purchases with Capital One points. 

I booked Airbnb in Santiago, Mendoza and Buenos Aires and erased all of them with Chase points. Check out how to combine your points onto your Sapphire Reserve credit card to max out the value. 

For tours like this Tango lesson in Buenos Aires, I booked through Viator, Trip Advisor and Airbnb experiences. The ones I booked through Airbnb, I went ahead and erased with Chase points. I paid for the Glacier trek with my new Southwest credit card which will help me reach the minimum spend and earn the Southwest companion pass. 

I also leveraged some points on the Capital One Venture X credit card to erase a few travel purchases. 

There were a few flights we took during the trip. I booked those through the Capital One travel portal and the Chase travel portal so I could either use points or erase them with points. 

I will continue to erase dining purchases through the Chase Pay Yourself Back program for the next 90 days. 

All in all, flights and accommodations were FREE. Some tours were FREE. Some meals and taxis will also be FREE. 

Grand total for five people for two weeks in South America comes to approximately $3,000 out of pocket and that included the expensive mini trek on the glacier. If we had paid instead of using points, this trip would easily have cost $15,000. Does it take some planning? Yes. Does it take some time? Yes. But it is worth it, I think so. 

That's how we do it at almost FREE family travel. 

 

Almost FREE travel is the name of the game! And as the year winds down to a close, there are some things you may want to do before Dec. 31st. And if you are working on your Southwest Companion Pass along with me, keep using that card for all your purchases, but watch that minimum spend threshold. 

Here are my top 5 recommendations: 

• The number 1 thing is to use up any benefits that may be ending at the end of the year. 
• At this point, we believe that Chase is ending the pay yourself back program benefit to erase Airbnb purchases, dining and the annual fee with points. You may want to check to see if you have any eligible charges that you can "erase" or make some purchases that you can "erase" before the end of the year. 
• When I went to erase my Airbnb purchases this morning, I saw the grocery purchases were listed again, but at 25% value instead of 50%. So I would recommend erasing those dining and Airbnb purchases immediately to get more value out of your points. 
• Remember to move any points over from your freebie cards like the FREEDOM or INK cards to your higher redemption value cards like the Sapphire Preferred or Reserve. 

Top 5 Things To Do This Week Re: Points And Miles 

• Number 2 - Did you use your travel credits? Check to make sure any credit card travel credits, vouchers, points or miles do not expire at the end of the year. You should be tracking this on a spreadsheet so it's easy to see. 
• Number 3 - I use the end of the year or the beginning of the new year as a time to do a review of all my cards. I decide which ones I would like to keep for another year and which ones I would like to cancel. Remember Southwest allows you to get the bonus once every 24 months and Chase Sapphire once every four years. Capital One is a once in a lifetime bonus. 

Top 5 Things To Do This Week Re: Points And Miles 

• Number 4 - I always use the end of the year or beginning of the new year to set some travel goals for the year and for the following year. Will you travel mostly domestic or international? Do you anticipate some special travel events in the coming year? What are your travel goals for this year and next? What points or miles do you need to accumulate to reach those goals? Now is the time to plan. 

• Number 5 - Before you cancel any cards, be sure to check the benefits. Do you have a Global Entry credit to use before you cancel? How about those Southwest early boarding passes or upgrades? 

The end of the year or January are great times to review strategy and goals. The key to this game is planning early and taking advantage of opportunities. 

Enjoy the holiday season! 

Happy Holidays!

 

Happy Holidays from all of us at almostFREEfamilytravel.com! 

We hope that you enjoy the break and keep working towards earning that Southwest companion pass. 

We have almost reached the minimum spend on both Southwest credit cards, but I will wait until after January 1st to actually hit the minimum. 

The number one mistake people make is hitting that spend too early. Though the close date has passed and we are probably safe, I want to be 100% certain. 

We will chat again in the new year and I can't wait to celebrate with you as we see those Southwest companion passes drop into our account. 

Happy Holidays!