Our Second Honeymoon in Paradise – Conclusion & Blog Giveaway! [Expired]

Posted on January 21, 2013 by | 159 Comments
This Could Be Yours!

This Could Be Yours!

Trip Report Index:

This trip report was longer than usual, because I haven’t seen a recent trip report on Bora Bora & Moorea, and thought this might be useful if you consider visiting French Polynesia!  Bora Bora was a once-in-a-lifetime journey for us and we’re glad we were able to save money by using miles and points!

We started planning this trip 14 months before we left the US to make sure that we had the miles and points for the trip.

Here’s what’s up for grabs:

  • 1 Air Tahiti Nui Model A340-300 (Daraius’ Pick)
  • Smelly Stuff Tahitian Oils and Soaps (Daraius’ Pick Emily’s Pick)
  • 2 Tahitian CDs and a magnet (Joint Pick)

You can enter by leaving ONE comment per person on this blog post, by 11:59 pm CST on January 22, 2013.    To make this fun, comment on what’s your miles and points new year’s resolution!

Good luck!

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159 Responses to Our Second Honeymoon in Paradise – Conclusion & Blog Giveaway! [Expired]

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  1. Andrew | January 22, 2013 at 1:05 pm |

    My resolution is to do my first churn after getting a full time job

  2. choi | January 22, 2013 at 1:06 pm |

    in the end, its all worth it.

  3. Patrik | January 22, 2013 at 1:09 pm |

    Resolution: Utilize my darn American Airlines miles……(hard to use since I fly out of SMF).

  4. Chris | January 22, 2013 at 1:16 pm |

    Hope to start churning after getting a house.

  5. Vitaly | January 22, 2013 at 1:17 pm |

    1. Close all Membership Rewards Cards so that I can be eligible for next big bonus if/when it comes up
    2. Combine two award redemptions into three family trips

  6. Randy | January 22, 2013 at 1:28 pm |

    Thanks to all the tips that I learned from Million Mile Secrets, in 2013 my wife and I will spend nine days in Maui, 7 days in Key west and 7 days in Aruba with no cost for airfare and no cost for hotels! Thanks Daraius and Emily – your the best!

  7. Ketan | January 22, 2013 at 1:29 pm |

    my resolution is to take little more risk to earn when opportunity arise and then burn what I earn.

  8. Rob H. | January 22, 2013 at 1:30 pm |

    Thanks for all the great tips…you have been a godsend.

    Rob

  9. Som Maity | January 22, 2013 at 1:35 pm |

    My goal is to pay more attention to the non-legacy carriers like Southwest and JetBlue.

  10. Matt | January 22, 2013 at 1:36 pm |

    My news year resolution is to continue to learn how to earn miles for BIG TRAVEL using SMALL amounts of MONEY! duh :)

    p.s. That plane looks pretty sweet! That’s what my wife and I flew on in 2010. Almost did the exact same trip as you guys!

  11. Sy Ochoa | January 22, 2013 at 1:49 pm |

    I New Years resolution is to burn some of my points and miles and take a long needed vacation to somewhere nice, maybe Aruba :@)

  12. Lucia Ochoa | January 22, 2013 at 1:50 pm |

    I want to use my points to fly away from the everyday normal life in 2013.

  13. Alexandra | January 22, 2013 at 1:59 pm |

    My resolution is to continue to learn from all the wisdom you have graciously shared so I too can go to Bora Bora :)

  14. Jimit Shah | January 22, 2013 at 2:00 pm |

    resolution – Recently Traveled Cathy Pacific Business Class (Mum-HK-NYC) using AA. Loved it and had an awesome time. So my plan to rack as many miles as i can where i dont have to ever travel in Economy Class.

  15. PRH | January 22, 2013 at 2:09 pm |

    Inspired to go to Bora Bora now….thanks

  16. Russ | January 22, 2013 at 2:21 pm |

    nice trip

  17. corinne | January 22, 2013 at 2:33 pm |

    My New Year’s miles and points resolution is to take advantage of the miles and points game by utilizing United Mileage Plus Dining and shopping portals. I recently added up all of my in-store purchases for 2012 and found that I would have banked thousands, upon thousands, upon thousands of miles! Lesson learned…

  18. Drew | January 22, 2013 at 2:42 pm |

    SW Companion Pass…done! Just received it today and is good through 2014, thanks to reading this blog!

  19. Karl | January 22, 2013 at 2:55 pm |

    My resolution is to check the shopping portals first, before venturing out to the mall in the cold weather!

  20. Candace P | January 22, 2013 at 2:56 pm |

    My resolution is to travel as muchas possible. Life is NOT a rehearsal!

  21. Jesse Sheridan | January 22, 2013 at 3:38 pm |

    To sign up for more and more credit cards when I have the opportunity.

  22. Salvatore | January 22, 2013 at 3:42 pm |

    My new year’s resolution is to not sign up for anymore credit cards. I am anticipating purchasing a home this year, so no new cards or anything that might affect my ability to get a mortgage. I’m trying to take advantage of targeted offers for cards that I already have and using shopping portals to accrue points and miles.

  23. Lee | January 22, 2013 at 3:50 pm |

    Hoping to go to Tahiti next year. Thanks for the review

  24. Thomas Cutler | January 22, 2013 at 4:07 pm |

    United MileagePlus! Hoping to get some kind of premier status after beginning travelling for work for the first time in my career!

  25. MrChu | January 22, 2013 at 4:09 pm |

    No resolutions this year!

  26. Ryan hart | January 22, 2013 at 4:14 pm |

    I want to earn 1 million miles this year!

  27. Seth | January 22, 2013 at 5:16 pm |

    A trip to New Zealand

  28. Emil | January 22, 2013 at 5:24 pm |

    My resolution is to be more focused and diligent in collecting miles!

  29. dot cahill | January 22, 2013 at 5:35 pm |

    to try to keep my lowly silver med.on delta…. as it is almost feb and i have gone no where ..maybe i will try the weekend all over the country to help me..

  30. Jordan | January 22, 2013 at 6:37 pm |

    My resolution is to take some awesome trips and not just obsess over earning miles and points

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  35. pacifico | January 22, 2013 at 7:58 pm |

    Thanks for this great travel report, I finally booked everything for my trip to French Polynesia.
    First of all, I moved to Australia and back to home within an hour to get Gold status of my Hilton HHonors, then I entitle for the GLON award:
    Hilton Moorea 4 nights @42,500 points per night thanks for GLON award
    Hilton Bora Bora 4 nights @42,500 points per night thanks for GLON award again
    InterContinental Thalasso 4 nights @50,000 points per night
    All above resorts already upgraded to Overwater Bungalow with the bargain rates
    Hilton Auckland 2 nights @25,000 points + cash before fly back home
    All ten nights Hilton stays will be enough for maintain Sliver elite for next year at least I could entitle for GLON award for my visit either go back to Conrad Samui or Conrad Maldives Rangali Island again for next year!
    I can’t wait for my trip to French Polynesia and the free breakfast of Hilton !

  36. mlgm8r | January 22, 2013 at 8:12 pm |

    My resolution is to vastly expand the horizons of my 13 year old triplets by using the more than 1 million points I have accumulated to take them on a fabulous adventure.

  37. Chris | January 22, 2013 at 8:20 pm |

    My resolution is to try to make use of the AA international gateway tricks and be more diligent churning cards.

  38. andrew | January 22, 2013 at 8:40 pm |

    my resolution is to churn and churn

  39. Eugene | January 22, 2013 at 8:48 pm |

    Stay at the Andaz in London with UR points and watch Wimbledon this summer

  40. Sam | January 22, 2013 at 9:06 pm |

    My wife & kids to Central America on miles.

  41. Nick | January 22, 2013 at 10:02 pm |

    Teach a friend or more about miles/points benefits (if they are responsible with credit cards).

  42. mary m. | January 22, 2013 at 10:02 pm |

    Europe with Avios miles if possible! Thanks!

  43. JonCski | January 22, 2013 at 10:10 pm |

    My points resolution is to use my hotel points run for a ski trip somewhere this spring. If not for skiing, then I’ll settle for Waikiki. Also fly business class with 1 or 2 kids under 2 for free.

  44. Frandon | January 22, 2013 at 10:12 pm |

    To visit Bora Bora..

  45. Jon | January 22, 2013 at 10:32 pm |

    Vegas baby

  46. Dan | January 22, 2013 at 10:41 pm |

    I’ve enjoyed this series, as my wife and I have always wanted to go to Bora Bora. Jealous!

    Resolution: Get a handle on all the credit cards I have opened for points & miles. Close cards I’m not using, open new cards with great bonuses, and only have a handful of active credit cards at a given time. Right now I have over 10 with charges each month!

  47. Phillip | January 22, 2013 at 11:35 pm |

    I would like to reach 1,000,000 miles this year

  48. Larry | January 23, 2013 at 5:03 am |

    Have churned my way to five French Polynesia trips with a sixth planned later this year. My goal this year is to get enough points to get me there a seventh time in 2014!

  49. Laura | January 23, 2013 at 10:01 am |

    My goal is to use points on my cc and learn how to use them by vacationing.

  50. Jimgotkp | January 23, 2013 at 10:24 am |

    I would like go on a family vacation after I graduate in May while paying for most of the expenses with my points/miles. It will be our last family vacation before I get myself into the workforce… :(

  51. suechibana | January 23, 2013 at 5:29 pm |

    My 2013 resolution is going to Tahiti like you did. ;-)

  52. Marie | January 23, 2013 at 5:35 pm |

    My resolution is to travel, from now, the same “smart way” than Emily and Daraius do ! And I will surprise my husband with an honeymoon trip to Bora Bora in Jan 2014.

  53. Smita | January 23, 2013 at 6:20 pm |

    No time for resolutions this year…

  54. Catherine Edwards | January 23, 2013 at 7:31 pm |

    My resolution is not to make resolutions ;)

  55. Ali M. | January 23, 2013 at 11:14 pm |

    Resolution this year is to earn more points and burn more miles!

  56. Erin | January 24, 2013 at 12:21 am |

    My resolution, as my husband and I attempt to start our family by IVF fertility treatments we shall put it on our cards (because we have no choice) and earn more points to towards a getaway while waiting for our miracle. We used all of our points for our amazing 6 week European honeymoon last summer.

  57. kim | January 24, 2013 at 1:13 am |

    I want to pay for a south africa trip the end of this year by getting miles and following your site..newbie :)

  58. Mike B | January 24, 2013 at 10:48 am |

    Tahiti Nui – Aloha – we want those miles & smelly stuff !

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