AAdvantage

Traveling on a Budget

If money didn’t matter, would you care how much you spent on your airline tickets for leisurely travel? For some, money ain’t a thing, but if you’re traveling on a budget or you are just conscientious about how you spend your hard earned money, (like me) always watch your airline flights.

I will tell you how I saved $463 on my next flight out!

Let’s just keep this short and sweet because I know you have more important stuff to do than to read my blogs. So here goes nothing!

I’m an avid traveler to Punta Cana. I have been there more than I should probably admit to. Yet, I’m still grateful.

Something told me to visit Santo Domingo, which is the capital of the Dominican Republic. I never fly into SDQ because the flights are usually expensive (to me) because I’m always on a budget. The flights usually range from $600 – $900. For the dates I chose to travel, these same flights are ranging from $783 – $851 round trip.

A round trip flight to Punta Cana is 1/2 this price which is why I usually fly on SW “Wanna Get Away” fares.

IF YOU HAVE REWARD MILES… USE THEM!

From IAH to SDQ I booked a one way flight using 15K AA reward miles and only paid $36!

I added trip insurance for my flights just in case. Cost for that? $28!

I use several different sources to watch airline flights such as Hopper, Skyscanner, Google Flights and Mezi. So I’m watching this return flight from SDQ to IAH because I cannot stay in the DR! Although I wish I could. This one way flight is $463 and it is fluctuating up and down by a couple of dollars. Here’s what Mezi found for me…

Something told me… Do not buy that flight!

You guys must know that I am tuned into booking my own travel because one, I am amazed at these trips I have chosen for myself and two, I am on a budget! LoL

I started looking at the round trip flight details. The route is from SDQ to MIA and to IAH. I’m thinking, I know MIA (you gotta know your airport codes) has some one way deals to IAH. Let’s look at these flights separately!

Voila! From SDQ (Santo Domingo) to MIA to IAH I paid $256!

A big savings from that one way flight for $463! It’s a big savings to me because you already know I am on a budget! LoL

$196 for SDQ to MIA

$60 for MIA to IAH

A really great deal!

There is a downside to this and if you know me I cannot leave out this part. These airline flights have some restrictions and there is a longer layover in Miami. That $463 flight had me arriving at 10:00 pm, well with these flights I will be arriving at 11:52 pm. I really do not like traveling long periods of time but if I can save over $400 on a round trip flight, well sometimes you gotta do what’s best for you. I was willing to spend that extra time to keep the savings in my pocket.

Here are the restrictions (I thought I said I was keeping this short and sweet) LoL

AA has these new bag rules it seems and the weird thing about me booking these flights is I wanted to look at how I can improve my packing process. I usually have one luggage, a duffle bag and a shoulder purse when I travel. Look at these restrictions below for this Basic Economy Fare.

1. One item that fits under the seat! That would be my duffle bag because there’s no way my luggage will fit underneath their seats.

2. No access to the overhead bins, which means if I do bring a suitcase I would have to pay a checked bag fee for two flights and that’s $50! That is not about to happen because I need to eat with that $50! Now I have to travel without a suitcase.

3. Boarding in the last group! Oh Lawd!!!! I’m used to boarding group A/B. They will assign my seat for me. I am so curious to see how this goes. I better not get bumped for this flight.

So yeah, I will need to make some adjustments to how I travel for this trip. It is my goal to pack light because I usually take too much stuff anyway. My last trip I had to give some of my clothes away. I hope whoever has them use them. LoL!

This is my short travel segment on how I saved $463 on my round trip flight to the beautiful Dominican Republic once again! This time en la capital! Zona Colonial Style!

MUAH! (I think I need a backpack) LoL

LIVE ~ LOVE ~ TRAVEL

Living on a Prayer!


When I say I pieced this upcoming mini vacation together, I really did. Bit by bit.

My last trip to the Dominican Republic 🇩🇴 was in August 2016.  I was significantly blessed to accompany a friend on her trip by an impromptu invite!  She told me, girl you done prayed my husband out of this trip!  Hehehe Let’s  Go!!!!

I’m so grateful for the friends I have in my circle of life.

We spent seven whole days in Bavaro, experiencing the resort life, but because I had been to the Dominican Republic 🇩🇴 five trips prior, I kinda knew my way around the local areas and wanted her to explore the same beauty of this country.

My slice of paradise.  Punta Cana ~ Paridisus ~ Macoa Beach ~ Tortuga Bay ~ Six Senses Spa

Thank you Jesus!



Oh how I miss that place. In January 2017, I was planning to go back to the DR just because I have developed a soft love for the culture and the mystery that takes place during each visit.  I started looking at flights for February and what I discovered were long layovers, flying out of inconvenient airports.

I have my own preference of airports and airline carriers I like to use. I try to make it as simple and accessible as possible. But I couldn’t find anything. Therefore I was forced to moved my trip out further into a later date.

I prayed about it. Like Lord, how can I work this out?  When? How?  Maybe I shouldn’t go.  But I didn’t give up. I kept searching.

I used a few great apps such as Hopper to predict airline price changes and searched Southwest for their Wanna get Away fares! Those are the best!

But I got lucky!  Or maybe I am just blessed! This is a very rare thing to find an AA flight out of PUJ ✈️ HOU for only 12.5K miles!  👀 The cost to book this flight? $80.00! Sold!!!


But wait girl!  (I’m talking to my inner self!) You know you just booked a return flight to HOU right!  You have not even booked your departure silly! Yeah, I know!  Hehehehe


I knew I didn’t want to stay on the resort, so I began to search for exotic, but cheap room accommodations with another favorite app, AirBnB.  My desire is to be on the beach. I kept waiting, watching, searching and waiting. I was determined to get it done.


This trendy app lets you choose the entire house or a private room; you can filter your price range and it also has many other features to help you search, but I only used two.  I need my own space, entire house, thank you and on the beach.  I’m kinda private. Lol

My inner me said, use your miles for your room!  I said what?  No!  I use my miles to fly, not using them for my room!  No.

I began to search rooms through the AADVANTAGE website, and low and behold they were having a sale!  I said, lookie lookie! I found a two night stay on the beach in Los Corales for only 21K miles!  My cost?  $0.00!

This place renovated in November 2016, should be equivalent to my heart’s desire.


So now that you have a flight back to HOU, and your room is booked, how are you going to get there girlie?  (My inner me)

Easy, Southwest has flights out to PUJ all the time for only $238!  No problem!  I’ll just book it soon!

I was reading someone’s blog on travel, I can’t remember his name, but he suggested another great app called Skyscanner!  Of course I downloaded it to find out how beneficial it could be to finish this mini vacation!  Type in flights from HOU ✈️ PUJ….


NO!!!!! This can’t be true!  A one way flight for $168?  No way!  That’s cheaper than Southwest and SW usually have the best fares!

This sounds like Skyscammer!  Lol 😆

Let’s see what my Mezi app says!


Hi Mezi, can you find me a one way flight from HOU ✈️ PUJ?  …………

Yes, we found you a one way flight for $164.


SOLD!!!!!

Thus far I booked both flights for under $250!  My room accommodations were no charge because I used my AADVANTAGE miles!  Whew!!!

Now, I only have one small thing on my wishlist!  I need room accommodations for two more nights!

(Y’all know this blog is too long!)

Last but not least, I found this Sexy Villa in Cap Cana, Punta Cana. Very close to the airport because I have an early flight out of PUJ!  Remember I had a few places with Air BnB that I was watching in my wishlist but most of them had large deposits!  😩 Such as $250 – $300 deposits!  I’m thinking oh no!  I can’t have my funds tied up in a deposit Lord!  I need to eat every two hours!

So I waited and watched and waited and watched…. and I decided to refine my search by clearing out all my filters in the app and just starting over fresh.  My search preferences, very simple…

  1. Entire home (2 nights)
  2. Under $150/night

Glory! Found this nice villa with no deposit!

$224.00!


Now I’m no saint, but I do love the Lord. If he allows me to experience this with fun, relaxation and protection, the Heavemly Father gets all the glory!  I’m humbly grateful. I could not have done it without HIS guidance and authority.


If you really want to travel, use your miles.  If you don’t have any miles, get you some!

Follow me on this journey. I will be posting here on VACATION!!!

Love you all!  Pray for me!

#airbnb #skyscanner #metzi #delta #americanairlines #aadvantagemiles #loscorales #capcana #puntacana #dominicanrepublic

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