A couple of weeks back we went to Atlanta over the holiday weekend. The first question we kept getting was- why Atlanta? My reasoning was no different than most of our other trips: Why not? The two main things I wanted to do were to check out another baseball stadium, Turner Field- home of the Atlanta Braves. And secondly, just to visit a new state (although we only got to visit one city in Georgia).
Putting together our trip was relatively easy and cheap thanks to miles & points. Without miles & points I doubt that we would’ve taken this trip at all. It woud have been a pretty costly long weekend.
During our trip, the weather in Atlanta was really nice. It was pretty hot but with little humidity- making for some pretty comfortable weather. We did get caught in the rain heading back from the Braves game during our last day but it didn’t mess up our plans!
I’ve written a couple of posts about Atlanta already. (I guess you could say that I’m writing about this trip a little out of order!)
Here are the posts:
- While checking-in for our flight I spotted One of the Oddest Carry-On Items
- Delta Flight Museum Just Re-Opened, It’s Awesome
- We took Uber in Atlanta for the first time. I wondered- Can Someone Please Explain The Big Deal?
Trip Planning:
The Flights:
We flew roundtrip to Atlanta from New York’s LaGuardia Airport on one of my favorite airlines for domestic flights, Southwest. However it’s only a favorite when using Rapid Rewards points along with a Companion Pass!
We booked 2/3 tickets with Kim’s points thanks to her Companion Pass. Without the pass, Southwest isn’t really much of a bargain but we needed a third ticket. Luckily I had some gift cards from my American Express Platinum Card’s yearly $200 Airline Fee Credit.
Here is the brakedown:
Tickets one and two were booked with Kim’s Companion Pass
- New York (LGA) to Atlanta (ATL) for 10,158 points ($193 if paying)
- Atlanta (ATL) to New York (LGA) for 8,484 points ($163 if paying)
So the first 2 tickets came to a total of 18,642 Rapid Rewards points + $10 tax.
Ticket three was not as good of a deal since we had to pay for it. I could’ve flown alone if there was a better deal, but Southwest’s fare was pretty close with other airlines flying this route. Even if there was a better price (for convenience) we still probably would’ve all flown on Southwest.
Ticket 3 cost $356 which we paid with gift cards- $200 from the Amex airline fee credit and $156 which I bought at Staples with an Ink card to get 5X points.
So all-in, our 3 tickets to Atlanta cost 18,642 Rapid Rewards points + $366.
Lodging/ Hotel:
After looking into a bunch of different options we decided to stay at a hotel in Midtown which is just a short train ride from most of the main attractions & sites. We weren’t looking to spend any money for our stay so I opted to use Hilton HHonors points.
- We booked three nights at Homewood Suites by Hilton, Atlanta Midtown
Our room was a very nice, King 1 Bedroom Suite. The room came with complimentary breakfast, too.
The cost for our stay was 90,000 HHonors points. (If we paid for the stay, the room would cost $139 per night for a total of $484.83 with tax.)
Our total out of pocket expenses came to $366 ($200 from Amex plat incidental credit), 18,642 Southwest Rapid Rewards points and 90,000 Hilton HHonors points.
Atlanta is definitely an interesting city which we really enjoyed. There are a good variety of sites/ things to do and lots of good dining options. I plan to write about more of the things we did in future posts.
