You’re going where? Where is that? and of course, Why? – these are the most often asked questions of me when I mention my upcoming travels. When I announced I was going to Easter Island (Rapa Nui) everyone was in overdrive asking these questions.
You’re going where?
Easter Island via Santiago and Lima (or as my nieces understood “dum dum want gum gum” from the movie Night at the Museum – google it for many variations)
Where is that?
Easter Island is off the coast of Santiago, Chile; Lima is in Peru – all in South America
Why?
Because two bloggers, Brian “The Points Guy” and Ben of One Mile at a Time told me (and hundreds of others) to go
Yes, I was telling people that bloggers in the points community were telling me to burn my BA EC miles before the Avios transition devalued the current aware route.
Right now, you are probably asking yourself what the heck does that even mean? Basically the airline was going to change its award chart to be distance based so the further the flight, the more points it will cost. There were a few bargains now – Bangkok/Bali and Easter Island, both at 80k for business class. Asia was going to be too big a trip to plan before the deadline but Easter Island for ten days seemed possible.
How did I have British Airways miles since I live in the land of USAirways dominance? I have the BA credit card which is one of my main credit cards since I fly BA once a year to London for work. I had been saving the points for a while since they are most valuable with partner airlines and not ironically with British Airways due to fuel surcharges (if you really want to know why, visit Brian and Ben above as they are gurus in points).
But South America? It has never been at the top of my travel list for many reasons. Sure, I had Machu Picchu on my someday list but despite visiting over forty countries so far, there were many other places to go before South America plus I was intimidated as I have zero language skills (apparently learning Italian at Catholic school only helps you go to Mass in Italy). So I guess I was scared to really see if I could hack it solo.
So prior to the devaluation of the BA program, i booked a ticket to Easter Island via Santiago and Lima from JFK. Looking at my Starwood account, I decided to use points to book at the W Santiago (quite posh) and points/cash in Lima at the Westin. While i know that these weren’t exactly the B&B that gives me some local flavor and insight – I played it safe. Arriving in Santiago on Easter, I would be stranded in my room all day so it needed to be comfortable with some amenities on site. In Lima with my flight arriving from Easter Island near midnight, I arranged for the hotel car service and then with my flight to JFK leaving after 1 a.m., I wanted to use my gold benefit 4 p.m. late checkout. So yes, I played it safe with these hotels but at the same time, I saved a lot of money as well. That’s always the trade-off/balance I need to weigh when using points.
My trip would be ten days:
Santiago – Easter Sunday/Wednesday
Easter Island – Wednesday/Sunday
Lima – Monday/Wednesday
