Fall 2023 was when the Save My Cents celebrated 10 years married. For this monumental personal milestone, we decided to take a no-kids trip to a few places of significance to us: 1) Fiji – this is our favorite international resort destination due to ease of getting there from Los Angeles (just an overnight flight), English as an official language, and more “reasonable” prices (compared to Maldives and Bora Bora, which offer similar style private island resorts). 2) New Zealand – our trip around the world in 2020 was cut short in New Zealand due to COVID-19. We finished our tour of the southern island, but did not get to the northern island. 3) Tahiti – we found business class tickets on the way back from Auckland to Los Angeles, and by calling in the tickets manually, we built in a 2-night stop on the island of Tahiti. It’s not Bora Bora, but still pretty amazing!
The retail value of this trip if you did not use any points / miles / loyalty statuses to defray the cost, would be $19,788. See how we paid just $3,067 of our own cash and subsidized the rest using travel hacking to achieve this incredible trip.
All numbers are for double occupancy / 2 adults in USD using the following approximate exchange rates:
FJD to USD: 2.5
NZD to USD: 1.67
CFP to USD: 100
We took out cash in Fiji and Tahiti (just small amounts for taxi) using our TD Bank account, which charges no ATM transaction fees. We used credit cards only in New Zealand – almost all our credit cards do not charge foreign transaction fees.
If you want to get per-person numbers, you can divide the flight and food costs by 2, but it would not apply to room or car. At the end of the blog post it is also summarized by top category (✈flight, 😴hotel, 🚗ground transport, and 🍚 everything else – mostly food)
Day 1: Los Angeles to Fiji
🚗$76 paid
As we left our kids in the care of grandmothers, we left behind our one and only car with them and took an Uber to the airport.
✈$12 paid, $1,300 total value
Fiji Airways, LAX to NAN
31,000 British Airways Avios + $6 taxes, per person
62,000 British Airways Avios + $12 taxes total
Fiji Airways and British Airways are part of One World alliance, and so you can use British Airways on ba.com to find Fiji Airways flights. We transferred credit card points to get British Airways avios.
Side note – we were also at the OneWorld lounge at LAX, but we had taken so long to get through airport security (Fiji Airways does not participate in TSA Pre) so only had a drink and a snack and then raced out of there to get to the far side of Tom Bradley International Terminal.
💰Total spent this day: $88
💰Retail value of this day: $1,376
Day 2: Fiji
😴$0 paid, $62 value
As the flight landed at 5AM, we booked a cheapo place near the airport to lay our heads. The hotel was bookable using Chase Ultimate Rewards points. Using a combination of 1,200 UR points and a $50 travel credit on my Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card, we got a one-night stay at Hotel Oasis Fiji for free and had Chase call the vendor to let them know we were arriving the following morning of the booking. Expect no frills here – it was a bed in a room with barely any air conditioning, but it was good enough for a few hours.
🚗$160 paid
We took two taxis – one from the airport to the hotel, and one from the hotel to the port ($20 total). Then we paid for 2 ferry tickets on the South Sea Cruises ferry to our resort hotel ($140)
🍚$82 paid
Got $8 of snacks and bug spray at the supermarket at the ferry (this is important – to avoid lunch at the resort. The resort we booked is known for meh food)
$24 lunch at Indigo which we also ate at in 2020 and loved
$50 for dinner at the Sheraton Tokoriki
😴35K Marriott points, $700 value
We booked the Sheraton Tokoriki. Through my husband’s travels he is still a Marriott Bonvoy Titanium member. With upfront asking, we were upgraded to the fabulous ocean front bure with private plunge pool, valued at the time of $700 a night. You can see my video summarizing the stay here
💰Total spent this day: $242
💰Retail value of this day: $1,004
Day 3: Fiji
😴35K Marriott points, $700 value – still the Sheraton Tokoriki
🍚 $180 paid, $210 value
We got free breakfast at the hotel ($30 value) and also ate a pretty bad lunch there ($30). We then made reservations at the other resort on the island – Tokoriki Resort, an adults only luxury resort, for dinner there which was incredible ($150).
💰Total spent this day: $180
💰Retail value of this day: $910
Day 4: Fiji
😴35K Marriott points, $700 value – still the Sheraton Tokoriki
🍚 $60 paid, $90 value
We had free breakfast, skipped lunch, then had dinner at the Sheraton as well to be budget-conscious. And I suspect from one of these meals, I got gastroenteritis later at night and it lasted for about 18 hours. I also rented snorkeling gear for $10
💰Total spent this day: $60
💰Retail value of this day: $790
Day 5: Fiji
😴$158 paid, $563 value
We are friends and family with Hilton, and booked the fabulous Hilton Fiji Beach Resort and Spa for a standard room. We did so because the flight out the next day was early morning, which would be impossible to make coming from the Sheraton Tokoriki. We were upgraded to an enormous one bedroom suite. See the video I made about it here (sorry I was really sick still when making this video so the shots and audio aren’t great. it doesn’t convey how much I love the property!)
🚗$148 paid
$140 for both of us to ferry back to Port Denarau, and then from the port you can hop on to a bus that goes around to the resorts in the Denarau peninsula for $8.
🍚 $55 paid
I got some more snacks (sour gummies for car rides, $5) and we got an amazing whole red snapper for dinner at the on-resort restaurant at Hilton Fiji – Koro, which is adults only, for $50.
💰Total spent this day: $361
💰Retail value of this day: $796
Day 6: New Zealand
✈$180 paid, $350 value
Fiji Airways, NAN to AKL
11,000 British Airways Avios + $90 taxes, per person
22000 British Airways Avios + $180 taxes total
Retail value is $350 per person, $700 total
🚗$97 paid, $269 retail value
We got a $16 taxi to the airport in Fiji.
In New Zealand, my husband used 2800 Hertz points (from his business travels) and his corporate rate (which he can use to made personal bookings) to get a Hertz rental for the next 5 days valued at $269 with no additional mileage, for just $97. We use our various credit cards for primary insurance coverage (cards such as Capital One Venture X and Chase Sapphire Reserve are some examples of this).
🍚 $275 paid
We got snacks and also an extra layer of clothes at The Warehouse which is right by Auckland airport ($35)
We splurged for the Hobbiton Evening Banquet experience ($240, or $120pp) which you can see here in this video
😴$0 paid, $162 value
Most hotels in New Zealand are independent. So the travel credits and points we have with the Capital One Venture X credit card came in handy here. We used the credit and their hotel portal to book most hotels for this trip. We stayed at the Regent of Rotorua this night.
💰Total spent this day: $552
💰Retail value of this day: $1,406
Day 7: New Zealand
🚗$74 in gas
Today was a long drive to New Plymouth. Very curvy. I got carsick.
🍚$103 paid
We went to the wai-o-tapu thermal wonderland in New Zealand which was SUPER worth it ($38). Grabbed breakfast at Scope Cafe Rotorua ($18, highly recommend). We had a fantastic tapas-style dinner at The Hour Glass in New Plymouth ($47).
😴$0 paid, $152 value
Used the Capital One Venture X card to book the Novotel in New Plymouth
💰Total spent this day: $177
💰Retail value of this day: $329
Day 8: New Zealand
🚗$65 in gas
Another long driving day. We started out by hiking a little bit in Egmont National Park, and then drove most of the day to Coromandel Peninsula (and to be honest the Coromandel Peninsula wasn’t worth it in reviewing this trip).
🍚$72 paid
We had a forgettable breakfast picked up in town ($11)
I got motion sickness and allergy meds at a local pharmacy ($15)
We had one of the best meals of the trip at Gothenburg, in Hamilton (which was a mid-way point between New Plymouth and Coromandel Peninsula) ($46)
😴$0 paid, $146 value
Used the Capital One Venture X card to book the Hahei Beach Resort
💰Total spent this day: $137
💰Retail value of this day: $283
Day 9: New Zealand
🚗No gas today
We found out that the entire reason for being in the Coromandel Peninsula – the Cathedral Cove Beach – was closed to walking (you could still see it by boat). So this day was a bust and we made the drive early back to Auckland.
🍚$107 paid
I finally got a fantastic meat pie at Hahei Beach Cafe and Mr. Save My Cents his daily flat white ($13).
Later this day we splurged for a dinner in Auckland at Homeland ($94). We also got 3 free drinks because our room wasn’t ready at the Park Hyatt, as well as a free bottle of champagne. I probably value that at $80 retail
😴$0 paid, $758 value
The World of Hyatt mastercard was our main spending card for most of 2022 and 2023. We used 23K Hyatt Points to book the Park Hyatt Auckland, and with my husband’s Hyatt Globalist status, we got upgraded to this corner marina view suite which ran for $758 that day, but could go up to over $1,000. It was so luxurious and we felt like royalty staying in this room and both took advantage of the marbled bathroom with the most exquisite bathtub (not at the same time haha we didn’t fit together). See my video of it here
💰Total spent this day: $107
💰Retail value of this day: $945
Day 10: New Zealand to Tahiti
🚗$92
We filled up near the airport and returned the car ($72) and spent on a taxi in Tahiti ($20)
🍚$0 paid, $110 value
We had free breakfast at Park Hyatt thanks to hubby’s Globalist status ($60 value) and also ate a pretty hefty dinner at the Qantas first lounge at Auckland airport (salad, soup, ice cream) and then also had another dinner on our flight.
✈$0 paid, $3,200 value
Tahiti Nui Airways, AKL to PPT (to LAX)
80,000 Alaska Airlines miles + $90 taxes, per person
160,000 Alaska Airlines miles + $180 taxes total (credited to day 13)
We found an incredible hack to go from Auckland to Los Angeles, via Papeete which is Tahiti. My husband earned a lot of Alaska Airlines miles through his work travels, which we used to manually book this flight. It is a 2-segment flight but it uses one aircraft from beginning to end (crew changes) so it’s considered a stopover. We lengthened the stopover to a layover by calling in the flight and asking for our second second to start in two days. This allowed us to have some time to enjoy (as a bonus!) the island of Tahiti in French Polynesia. The value of $3,200 ($1,600 per person) is assigned to just this segment. However, the 160K miles is used to book the entire flight (from Auckland to Los Angeles). You can see my video of both flights pieced together here.
😴$292 paid, $575 value
Using friends and family benefit again, we booked the Hilton Tahiti. While our room wasn’t remarkable, the hotel itself is fantastic. Lovely new digs and the best view ever. My video review of it is here
💰Total spent this day: $384
💰Retail value of this day: $3,977
Day 11, Tahiti
🍚$71 paid, $191 value
Free breakfast as Hilton Gold members (they charge retail $120 for it but that’s insane). I got $10 of snacks at Carrefour across the street. We skipped lunch and had dinner at the Hilton Tahiti for $61 (the food was really good – a lamb and a fish!)
😴$292 paid, $575 value, still at Hilton Tahiti
💰Total spent this day: $363
💰Retail value of this day: $766
Day 12, Tahiti
🚗$112
We technically had another full day in Tahiti – our flight for Los Angeles wouldn’t leave until midnight. So we ended up renting a Hertz car at the last minute (paid $100 including a hefty mileage charge, saved about $50 with corporate discount), and drove it all around the island on $12 of gas. It was a fantastic drive and I’ll blog the top spots later. We stored our non-valuables at Hilton Tahiti, and came back to shower at their transit lounge and have dinner and free wifi – which you can still have as a hotel guest who stayed the previous night. This basically solved the conundrum of needing something to do, but not paying for another night of hotel accommodations.
🍚$44 paid, $164 value
Free breakfast again, and then we shared a single entree for dinner (the steak) which was enough at Hilton Tahiti.
💰Total spent this day: $156
💰Retail value of this day: $326
Day 13, Tahiti to Los Angeles
✈$180 paid, $6,880 value
Tahiti Nui Airways, AKL to PPT to LAX
As I mentioned, this was an awesome hack with 160K Alaska Airlines miles and $180 in taxes that I counted today. Our flight left midnight, landed after 10AM, and with Global Entry and fast walking, we got from the plane to curb in 16 minutes flat.
🚗$80
Uber home
💰Total spent this day: $260
💰Retail value of this day: $6,880
Trip totals by category:
✈$372 cash paid, 83K British Airways Avios, 160K Alaska Airlines miles
Retail value: $12,000
😴$742 cash paid, 105K Marriott Bonvoy points, 23K Hyatt points, 1.2K Chase Ultimate Rewards points, $460 Capital One credits
Retail value: $5,093
🚗$896 cash paid, 2,800 Hertz points
Retail value: $1,118
🍚$1,049 cash paid
Retail value: $1,569
new to travel hacking? I’ve linked some helpful posts below!
