Seattle: Our Top Destination in 2019
This is the fourth installment of a Travel Series I decided to start with the intent to share information about places we’ve been to and ways to minimize expenses using travel hacking strategies. Traveling can get expensive but if you’re flexible, plan in advance, and do a little bit of due diligence, you’ll be surprised by how affordable it can be.
Our destination for this trip was Seattle. We did a little more planning compared to our trip to Portland. This went a long way in securing very attractive point redemptions for both airline tickets and our hotel stay.
If you’ve read previous posts, you know I’m an aspiring travel hacker and as such, I try to take advantage of credit cards, sign-up bonuses, and all possible perks banks are willing to give away as long as they can get your business.
Don’t Sign Up For a Credit Card Just Because
Normally, we sign up for credit cards that offer significant sign-up bonuses. Timing can be tricky but in general, we get new cards when:
- Big expenses are on their way,
- Sign-up bonuses are too good to pass on,
- Banks/airlines advertise limited time offers or,
- A trip is coming up.
Checking credit card offers before you go on vacation can be a great way to get to the minimum spent to get the sign-up bonus. However, you don’t have to get a new credit card just because you’re getting out of town.
Since there was nothing really great going on a month before our trip we just used the credit cards that reside in our portfolio. Below are the ones we used for this particular trip for each category:
| Category | Credit Card | Points |
| Entertainment | Chase Freedom Unlimited | 1.5x |
| General Merchandise | Chase Freedom Unlimited | 1.5x |
| Groceries | Amex Blue Cash Preferred | 6x |
| Restaurants | Chase Saphire Reserve | 3x |
| Transportation | Chase Freedom Unlimited | 1.5x |
| Travel | Chase Saphire Reserve | 3x |
Our trip to Portland was incredible. There is just something about the west coast. When we got home my wife and I agreed that Seattle had to be the next on our list.
Total Trip Expenses … Not Bad at All
Similar to Portland, this city has a phenomenal public transportation system which not only saved us a good amount of money when moving around but also facilitated hitting all the places we wanted to visit. Before I keep going too far, let me share our total expenses for a four (4) night stay in Seattle.
| Category | Amount ($) |
| Entertainment | 180 |
| General Merchandise | 63 |
| Groceries | 46 |
| Restaurants | 310 |
| Transportation | 102 |
| Travel | 80 |
| Hotel | NA |
| Airline Tickets | 45 |
| Total | 825 |
Airline tickets for two (2) adults and two (2) children with Southwest were 25,983 points and $11.2 per person to cover taxes and fees. The reason the total amount of points appears low is because my wife has the Southwest companion pass and I get to fly for free 🙂 .
We booked our hotel using the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal. Not only do they have a great selection of hotels, but booking through the site allows gets you an extra 25% on point redemption. A four (4) night stay at this Homewood Suites close to Pikes Market required 61,442 points (or $154 per night – breakfast included). Not bad in my opinion.
Spend on Experiences
If you’ve had a chance to read previous posts on this series you’ll notice we’re big fans of spending on experiences. Entertainment and Restaurants accounted for 60% of our total spent. We’re absolutely ok with that.
Let me share the list of places we visited as well as some pretty cool pictures we captured during our stay.
- The Children’s Museum
- Center Armory
- Pike Place Market
- Freemont Troll
- Freemont Brewing
- Gas Works Park
- Elliott Bay Harbour Cruise
- Columbia Center Observatory
- Kerry Park
- Hiram M. Chittenden Locks
- Fisherman’s Terminal
- Optimism Brewing
- Starbucks Reserves Roastery
Final Thoughts
I usually end our travel posts with lessons learned; however, there weren’t a lot of surprises on our trip. The one thing that caught us “off guard” was the cold weather. I say off guard between quoting marks because we knew it would be cold but not Colorado cold … wrong!
We packed really light and ended up forgetting beanies and gloves for the kids. We had to make a stop at Target to get a couple of things but outside of that, this trip was a smooth ride.
The one thing I might regret is the short duration of this trip. We left quite a few things on our list unchecked so we definitely foresee coming back to Seattle. For now, the game is on for planning new destinations in 2020 … #50before50.
Until next time … JJ