Tag Archives: itineraries

Central American Adventure – Choosing Accommodation

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With an eco-tourism trip, the highlight is going to be the eco-lodges so you need to choose wisely.  You will need to research the species you are hoping to see and find national parks with lodges in those areas.  Although airline miles are of use to everyone, hotel points will only be useful for stays near airports to accommodate early morning flights.  There is one exception as you will see below.  Also, this itinerary is unusual in that I organized a stopover in Hawaii on the way back to Australia so I could burn some hotel points and celebrate my birthday!  If you are USA or Europe based, this won’t be an option.  Here are my choices, how I booked them and my reasons for choosing them.  Detailed reviews on each will be forthcoming in future blogs.

BELIZE

Crooked Tree Lodge: booked direct by email (don’t use aggregators), paid cash.  Chosen because the area is known for Yellow-headed Parrots, Red-lored Parrots and White-fronted Parrots and they have a good local guide.

Parrot’s Nest, San Ignacio: booked direct by email, don’t use aggregators, paid by Visa on checkout.  Chosen because there are parrots in the area sporadically but primarily for the experience of sleeping in a treehouse.

GUATEMALA

Tikal Inn: booked direct by email, don’t use aggregators, paid by Amex on checkout.  Chosen because it’s in the Tikal National Park, there are parrots and other birds in the grounds and they have a pool.  Also they offer a free sunset/sunrise tour and some of the guides are familiar with the local birds.

Radisson, Guatemala City:  booked online with Club Carlson points.  Chosen because of proximity to airport, free shuttle and cheap points redemption.

COSTA RICA

Selva Verde Lodge, Sarapiqui:  booked online at Hotels.com.  Used 10% promo code and Ultimate Rewards Mall.  Chosen because of excellent guides and known for being home to Great Green Macaws and many other birds.

Laguna del Lagarto Lodge, Boca Tapada:  Booked on Pointshound for UA miles.  Chosen because of recommendation by friend who was just there and area is extremely rich in birdlife.

Volcano Lodge, Arenal:  Booked on Pointshound for UA miles.  Chosen because of volcano views, garden, pool and it being a nice place to relax after full-on birding.

Cala Lodge, Monteverde:  Booked on Pointshound for UA miles.  Chosen because near town for easy meals/shopping and easy to get taxi to Monteverde Cloud Forest for Respendant Quetzals.

Villa Lapas, Tarcoles:  Booked on their website, don’t use aggregators.  Chosen because it is adjacent to Carara National Park for Scarlet Macaws and other birds.

Savegre Mountain Lodge:  Booked on their webiste, don’t use aggregators.  Chosen based on recommendation by friend who had been there recently, excellent guides and ease of finding Resplendant Quetzals.

Park Inn, San Jose:  Booked using Club Carlson points on their website.  Chosen because of cheap mistake rate of 5000 points, otherwise would have stayed closer to the airport.  Easy enough to get Alajuela bus to airport in the morning.

PANAMA

Radisson Summit:  Booked using Club Carlson points on their website.  Chosen because easy 15 minute drive to Soberania National Park and also because some rooms have spectacular view of the rainforest.

Courtyard by Marriott, Panama City:  Booked using Marriott points on their website.  Chosen because I wanted to burn my last 10k points and it was near the airport.

USA

Holiday Inn (Desert Inn), Las Vegas:  Used Chase free night certificate.  Chosen because I had to use the cert or lose it and they wouldn’t give me Venetian or Palazzo on Labor Day weekend.

Four Points Sheraton, LAX:  Got BRG with 2000 SPG point bonus.  Chosen because of this deal and free airport shuttle.

Maui Seaside Inn:  Booked on Hotels.com using free night after 10 stays and this one was the closest to the value I had on my free night.  Chosen because we wanted to stay in Kahului for easy access to Road to Hana and Haleakala.  Also rumours of Mitred Parakeets in nearby area.

Hyatt Regency Maui:  Used Chase Ultimate Rewards sent to Hyatt to book free nights.  Chosen because of resort facilities and a great place to spend my birthday!

Sheraton Waikiki:  Used SPG cash & points.  Chosen in hopes of an ocean view upgrade (got one!) and infinity pool.

Royal Hawaiian:  Used SPG cash & points.  Chosen because I have wanted to stay in the “pink palace” since I was a kid and never thought I could afford it!

 

 

 

Central American Adventure – Putting It All Together

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This was a pretty complicated itinerary that required several different air mile programs to complete.  You can find my guide to using miles to get to Central America here.   I used miles from my Top 8 recommended programs.  Simply put, we flew from Brisbane to Belize, overland to Flores, flew Flores via Guatemala City to San Jose, Costa Rica; and another short hop to Panama.  From there we flew Panama to Las Vegas, rental car to LAX, flew to Maui, then a short hop to Honolulu.  The final return was Honolulu-Brisbane.  Now let’s break it down into individual airline awards.

1.  US AIRWAYS – South Pacific-Central America award in business class – 120,000 each.  This was the hardest one to get as it was in August when availability trans-Pacific is at a premium.  The other challenge I had to deal with was that US was starting to enforce maximum permitted mileage though there were still some agents who didn’t seem to have  a clue.  My first suggested itinerary used ANA via Tokyo on a 787 to Seattle but for some reason US agents couldn’t see that space even though I could see it easily on UA’s tool.  It turned out to be a blessing in disguise as there were problems with 787 aircraft leading to many cancellations.  We finally booked the open jaw using Thai from Brisbane – Bangkok – Seoul, Air Canada from Seoul – Vancouver, then United (only had economy seats available) from Vancouver – Houston – Belize.  BNE-BKK-ICN-YVR-IAH-BZE.  The return was easier, a simple Honolulu – Seoul – Bangkok on Asiana, then a tight connection to Thai for the final flight to Brisbane.  HNL-ICN-BKK-BNE.  We used miles earned from the Grand Slam promo held annually from 2008-2011.

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2.  UNITED AIRLINES – Central America award Flores – Guatemala City – San Jose, Costa Rica.  Easily booked online at United for 7500 miles each using flights operated by Aviateca and Lacsa as part of TACA.  Miles earned from credit card sign-ups.

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3.  AVIANCA-TACA LIFEMILES award San Jose – Panama in economy for 7000 miles each.  Original flight was on Lacsa but when this flight was cancelled I got them to put us on Copa.  Miles sourced from Lifemiles Visa sign-up.

4.  LIFEMILES award on Copa, Panama – Las Vegas, 15,000 miles each.  I specifically chose Vegas as our point of entry to the USA after research showed there were very few international flights to LAS so customs would be easier.  I was right, it was a breeze!  Miles sourced from Lifemiles Visa sign-up, the shopping promo from Oct 2012 and needed to top up some miles & cash.

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5. AVIOS redemption on American Airlines, LAX – Maui, 12,500 Avios each.  Easily booked online for the morning flight 10 months in advance.  Miles sourced from Chase BA Visa sign-up.

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6.  HAWAIIAN AIRLINES cash ticket from Maui – Honolulu.  I found a cheap deal for $60 each so decided not to waste miles on this one.

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I had been planning this trip several years in advance and knew which credit cards to get and which promos to use to make it happen.  I have no idea how much cash we would have needed for 2 people to actually pay for all these flights but my total outlay for taxes and cash components was somewhere around $1000-1200 max.  Without strategic use of miles, we never would have been able to do this trip!

Tomorrow, I will discuss how hotel points saved us more money which made us able to spend more on the independent eco-lodges.  I will also give reviews on the airlines involved and airports we visited.