Covid permitting, next month I plan to embark upon my first major international trip in 2 years. It goes without saying that with Omicron sweeping through every nook and corner of the planet – the timing is far from ideal.

But Covid will be around in some shape or form for years, so there isn’t likely to be an ideal time to travel anytime soon.

There are other motivating factors for taking this trip too:

• I have a bunch of Qatar Airways Qcredits that are set to expire in June. I had recently written about how valuable these Qcredits are, with step by step instructions on using them.
• I have to attend to some personal business in USA.
• Finally, like many other points collectors – I have built up a significant reserve of points and miles over the last 2 years. So I figured I should put some of them to use before the inevitable award devaluation comes.

The Itinerary

My 9-day round-the-world trip will take me from Australia – Middle East – North America before the long flight home. Visually speaking, this is what my planned trip looks like;

My 9-day Round the World Trip Map

To be sure, the trip is still many weeks away and there is a possibility I might have to deviate or cancel it altogether. It’s an uncertain world right now.

But on the assumption that I am able to make this trip, I would have flown close to 25,000 miles (just under 40,000 km) by the end of it, as you can see below:

How I booked it

I will be flying 4 different airlines and staying at multiple hotels along the way. While the trip is predominantly booked with points, I did pay a small amount of cash to cover parts of it.

Sydney – Doha – New York

My first leg is from Sydney – New York via Doha on Qatar Airways. To break-up this marathon flight, I have added a 1 day stop-over in Doha. I have been to Doha before and there aren’t too many touristy things left for me to do there, but a walk around the Corniche is always a pleasant experience.

Like I mentioned earlier, the purpose of flying to US in such a round-about way was to make use of the Qcredits. To make that work, I purchased a one-way cash fare from Sydney to New York in Economy for about $920 – including the $20 fee for the Doha stop-over. I then redeemed 59 Qcredits to upgrade both these flights to Business Class.

Qatar Airways Qsuites Cabin

I won’t go into the nitty-gritty of redeeming Qcredits here again, as there is a dedicated post on it which you can check out over here.

If you do not have Qcredits to burn and would rather redeem points, your best bet is Cathay Pacific Asia Miles Program. You can redeem 90,000 Asia miles to fly this route which you can earn by transferring points from one of the many cards in Australia that partner with Asia Miles.

The downside of booking with Asia Miles is that it imposes a very high surcharge (expect over $600 for this itinerary) and does not allow stop-overs.

One other option to be aware of is Qantas points. You can redeem 159,000 Qantas points (plus over $400 cash) to fly Qatar Airways from Sydney to New York. It’s not the greatest use of points or something I would personally do, but it might be ok for someone sitting on mountains of Qantas points.

Total Cost : $920

Sharq Village & Spa – Doha

In Doha, I will be staying at Sharq Village & Spa for my 1-night stop-over. The property is part of Ritz-Carlton Hotel Group and even though I am a long time Marriott loyalist, I almost always stay clear of Ritz-Carlton’s since they don’t recognise Marriott Bonvoy elite status in the same manner as other Marriott properties do.

Luckily, this hotel forms part of Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts Program and every booking made through FHR come with many elite-like benefits such as :

• Early check-in and late check-out
• Room upgrade at check-in, when available
• Daily Breakfast for 2 people
• US $100 in property credit which can be used at in-house bars, restaurants and spa

Sharq Village & Spa, a Ritz-Carlton Hotel – Doha (Image courtesy ritzcarlton.com)

The best part is that Amex Platinum card members can use their $450 annual travel credit towards FHR bookings. The nightly rate for my stay came to about $443 which my Amex Platinum travel credit covered in full.

If you would rather redeem points, expect to fork out between 30,000 – 40,000 Marriott Bonvoy points for a night at this Category 5 property.

Total Cost : $0

J W Marriott Essex House – New York

New York City is chock-full of chain hotels. Marriott alone offers close to 50 properties – just in the Manhattan-Times Square area.

During my 3-night stay, I will be checking out JW Marriott Essex House which is located directly across from Central Park.

JW Marriott Essex House – New York (Image courtesy marriott.com)

As a Category 7 property, award nights here cost between 50,000 – 70,000 points. Cash prices are about $800 a night which makes redeeming points a no-brainer. Luckily, the entire period of my stay was classified as off-peak which made redeeming points even better value.

Total Cost : 150,000 Marriott Points + US $35 per day Destination Fees

Earning Marriott Points

There are no credit cards in Australia that directly earn Marriott Bonvoy points. Outside of clocking stays with Marriott, there are only a couple of other practical ways to earn these points:

Amex Cards – If you have an American Express card that earns Membership Rewards Points, you can transfer these points to Marriott Bonvoy. The transfer ratio at 3:2 (3 MR points = 2 Marriott points) is not the best but is an option.

Amex have historically offered a transfer bonus of up to 30% to Marriott in Nov/Dec each year, so you can improve the value proposition a little bit further by aligning transfers with the promotion.

Hertz Car Rentals – If you frequently rent cars, this could be a good option to get your hands over Marriott points. With Hertz, you can earn:

• 500 Marriott Bonvoy points when you rent a car for 1 day.
• 2,000 Marriott Bonvoy points when you rent a car for 2 days or more.

If you are not familiar with Marriott Bonvoy program, check out a full review over here. It’s a little bit of out date, but mostly relatable.

New York – Seattle

The next leg of my journey takes me from New York to Seattle. All major US airlines operate non-stop flights on this route with Alaska offering the most frequencies. I have been sitting on a bunch of Alaska miles for many years now, which I earned as part of a travel package I acquired in exchange for SPG points when Marriott took-over Starwood.

I will be putting some of those miles to work by redeeming 30,000 Alaska miles to fly Alaska Airlines First Class on this 6hr 20 min route.

Redeem 30,000 Alaska Miles to fly First Class between New York and Seattle

Now, before you conjure up images of fine dining and free flowing champagne, I should point out that domestic First class on US airlines is the same as domestic Business class in Australia. On Alaska Airlines, this means flying the equivalent of Virgin Australia 737 Business Class. Recliner seats arranged in 2-2 configuration, albeit with greater legroom and more padding than VA.

Alaska don’t have a fixed rate award chart for their domestic routes, so the same flight can sometimes cost as many as 70,000 miles. Cash prices on this route range anywhere from $700 to more than $1,000, so to be able to fly it for 30,000 Alaska Miles is very good value.

Total Cost : 30,000 Alaska Miles + US $6

Earning Alaska Miles

Like Marriott points, there is no easy way to earn Alaska Miles in Australia. The best way to acquire them is to buy them when Alaska puts them on sale, which it frequently does.

In the past, Alaska have sold miles at about A$0.002 or 2 cents per mile. At that price, you are paying about $600 for this flight which in most instances will be slightly cheaper than paying cash for the ticket.

But the application of Alaska Miles go well beyond flying Alaska. As a long time Qantas partner, the miles provide excellent value on Qantas flights. For instance, you can redeem 20,000 Alaska Miles (about $400 at 2c per mile) to fly Qantas Business Class from Sydney – Perth. The same ticket paid with Cash often costs more than $2,000.

The other option is transferring Marriott Bonvoy points to Alaska. This would only work for those who have large balances of Marriott points and are ok with the notional loss in value such a transfer incurs.

You can transfer Marriott points to Alaska in the ratio of 3:1 (3 Marriott Points = 1 Alaska Mile). Then for every 60,000 points you transfer, Marriott will throw-in a sweetener of bonus 5,000 miles. In other words, if you transferred 120,000 Marriott Points to Alaska, you will receive a total of 50,000 Miles.

Marriott counts more than 40 airlines amongst its transfer partners, you can check out the full list of partners and the transfer ratio on this link.

Renaissance Seattle Hotel – Seattle

Seattle is not exactly teeming with high-end properties. There’s no St Regis or JW Marriott – and although there is a W in downtown Seattle, the general impression is that it’s not very good.

After some research, I picked Renaissance Seattle as my base for the 2 nights I will be in the city.

Renaissance – Seattle

As a Category 6 property, award prices here range between 40,000 – 60,000 points per night. But when I noticed Cash rates of around $160 per night for the time I was going to be there, I decided to pay cash and save my points for another stay where I can hopefully extract better value out of them.

Total Cost : $320

Seattle – Vancouver

Some of the hardest award seats to find in the world are those between North America & Australia/NZ. For my flight home, I checked all mainland US carriers who fly this route and came up empty.

Qantas was another option and it has been extremely generous in releasing lots of classic reward seats on this route in recent times. But as I have plans to fly Qantas on this route later in the year, I wanted to fly a different airline.

Enter Air Canada.

Air Canada is the national airline of Canada

For those unaware, Air Canada recently resumed flights between Vancouver & Sydney and have been good enough to open-up plenty of award seats. Upon checking, I was easily able to find confirmed availability for the date I wanted. The only issue was the positioning flight to Vancouver.

All major US airlines fly between Seattle & Vancouver. If you book ahead and are flexible, you can easily find flights for around $100. If you are looking to redeem points, Delta is a solid option.

A good reason for Australians to fly Delta on this route is that you can book Delta flights with Velocity points. This is what I did.

I redeemed 7,800 Velocity points (+ $14 cash) to fly Delta (Main Cabin) from Seattle – Vancouver.

Redeem Velocity points to fly Delta Airlines

The route is operated by Embraer ERJ-175, a single aisle, 70-seat plane including 12 First Class seats. Unfortunately, there was no availability in First Class.

I look forward to roughing-it on this sub 1-hr flight 😉

Total Cost : 7,800 Velocity Points + $14

Vancouver – Sydney

A few hours later, I will be jumping on Air Canada for my flight from Vancouver – Sydney. At 7,775 miles, this is Air Canada’s longest route.

Like Delta, Air Canada is also one of Virgin Australia’s airline partner and Velocity members are able to redeem points. The best part is that if you book ahead and are flexible with dates, it is possible to find up to 4 Business Class Reward Seats on some flights.

Redemption rates are very reasonable.

Redeem Velocity points to fly Air Canada Business Class

I redeemed 104,000 Velocity points (+ $113 cash) for my 15+ hr flight home, which is an incredible value. As a comparison, you will be forking out more than 108,000 Qantas points and $286 cash to fly this route with Qantas.

Total Cost : 104,000 Velocity Points + $113

Earning Velocity Points

If you live in Australia, Velocity points are one of the easiest to come-by. From retail to financial services to shopping for your groceries, there is a Velocity partner in the supply chain virtually everywhere.

Check out this link for a full list of partners and places where you can earn Velocity points.

My Thoughts

I am excited about my upcoming Round-the-World trip. A trip like the one I have planned, if paid with cash can easily cost North of $20,000. So my total cash outlay of just $1,520 underscores how valuable points & miles are.

I could have saved another $320 by redeeming points for my hotel in Seattle, but having points is not necessarily a license to redeem them. If the value proposition does not stack up, its better to pay cash and save points for a more aspirational redemption down the line – unless of course if you have more points rolling-in than you know what to do with.

The trip is still several weeks away and there is no guarantee the universe won’t throw another curveball in this time. But I am somewhat comforted by the fact that if I did end up cancelling my trip, I will get the cash and all of my points and miles fully refunded.

Have you done a Round The World trip on points? Leave a comment below.