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After a hectic weekend, I changed my vacation request and re-booked my flight to Hawaii be a week earlier. The plan so far is to spend 5 days in Honolulu and then 3 days in Maui before I fly back home. I will be splitting a room with some friends in Honolulu, but I am looking for a hotel to stay in Maui.

I applied for a couple of credit cards. I got instant approval on the Hilton Reserve card that gives 2 free weekend nights. I plan to use those at the Grand Wailea in Maui if I can still book it. I also applied for and got approved for the Bank of American Hawaiian Airlines card. I also applied for the Bank of Hawaii, Hawaiian Airlines card but am still wait to see if I got approved. I plan to transfer the miles I get for the sign up bonus from Hawaiian Airlines to Hilton Honors points. Points transfer 2:1 and I should get 35k Hawaiian Airlines points (70k Hilton points) for each card.

My vacation request finally got approved and I booked my flight to Hawaii. The countdown has begun. 179 days until vacation. I ended up booking a saver reward flight on United for 40,000 miles and $10. I had the points saved up from a Chase Ultimate Rewards signup bonus. Transferring the points from Chase to United was quick and easy.

Now I just have to figure out where I am going to stay. I don’t want to fall into the trap of booking at a luxury hotel and spending hundreds  of dollars unnecessarily on a room I am just going to sleep in.  If I had more time I would apply for some hotel credit cards but by the time I get the minimum spending requirements done I’m afraid it will be too late. I’ll save that for my next trip to Japan. Luckily, I am not afraid to stay in a hostel. I did it in Tokyo earlier this month. Hopefully I can find a place that is relatively clean and and cheap. I am currently looking at hostels on hostelbookers.com and hostelworld.com. I did find a place with a double room or a twin room with a shared bath for $520 for the 8 days I will be in Hawaii. If I can find someone to stay with me that will be great deal.

I booked my flight to Japan for this October. I am so excited about this trip. This will be my 3rd trip back. This time I will be travelling with 4 other people and meet up with our friends living and stationed in Japan. Unfortunately, this trip is only going to be a week long, but it will be the best week of the year.

Since this will be my 3rd time going, I am trying to help everyone get prepared in advance and offer advice for the trip to keep everyone on the same page. Luckily, everyone has Facebook and creating an event has made this manageable.

My flight is entirely paid for using miles accrued from previous flights and credit card rewards. I also used my miles to book my roommate’s flight on the condition that he will pay for my hotel and lodging for the trip.

The countdown has begun.