With less than a week left in 2014, Kim, Lucas and I will be heading off on our last trip of the year this morning. (We’re probably almost through our first flight at the time this is posting!)
We’re squeezing in one last international trip to a place that none of us have been before.
We’ll be heading back to the Caribbean to explore the island of Jamaica!
While I wouldn’t claim to be a beach or resort person, Jamaica is appealing to me for a handful of reasons.
The top reason to visit Jamaica is that we’ll be visiting another new country. It was also a good option since it was available to book with Kim’s remaining Southwest points before her Companion Pass expires on 12/31/14.
During our visit, we plan to visit some waterfalls, learn about Bob Marley (hopefully) and see some other things that the island has to offer. We’re not planning to just sit around on the beach.
Trip Planning: Whenever I book a trip I make a note in my phone with all of the details. However, something went wrong and I must have deleted my Jamaica trip planning note by mistake. Luckily this only had flight info and not our hotel details in it. I’ll include as much info as I can about our flight booking.
The Flights:
We’ll be flying Southwest with Kim’s Companion Pass covering two of the tickets. The third ticket was paid with points one way and with gift cards for the other.
Here are our flights:
- New York (LGA) to Atlanta (ATL) to Montego Bay, Jamaica (MBJ
- Montego Bay, Jamaica (MBJ) to Atlanta (ATL) to New York (LGA)
We’ll have two hours between flights each way in Atlanta.
Kim’s ticket and companion cost 49,490 Southwest points total. Taxes came to around $100 per person.
The third ticket– NYC-MBJ cost $454.10, MBJ- NYC- 23,030 points + $67 tax. We had bought discounted gift cards from TwoSmiles a while back and also transferred some Chase Ultimate Rewards points to book this ticket.
Total cost for flights: 72,520 Rapid Rewards Points + $720. Definitely not cheap but considering the time of year we’re going away, I don’t find this to be so crazy.
Lodging/ Hotel:
We booked our flights to Jamaica back in October and really procrastinated in booking our hotel. By the time we started looking, many of the options we considered were no longer available. This ended up working out very well for us thanks to an awesome promo from Orbitz which helped us save $500! Find out about it here.
We’ll be staying 5 nights in Montego Bay at Toby’s Resort, a small family owned hotel.
Thanks to the Orbitz promo we’re paying $35.16 per night which comes to $175.80 for our entire stay.
Total Trip Budget:
- Flights: 72,520 Rapid Rewards points + $720 +/-
- Lodging: $175.80
Our total out-of-pocket expense for air & hotel is $895.80.
If any of you have been to Jamaica and have some suggestions for things to do, feel free to share with us in the comments below. We have a bunch of different ideas but nothing is definite…
I plan to write about our visit to Jamaica so check back for future posts about the trip!
Tom- Thanks for the info! The horses sound like a lot of fun but probably not suitable for an almost 3 year old. We plan to go to Dunn’s River but we’re not sure if that is good for our son either… Sounds like you had a great time in Jamaica!
Michelle C-Wow- 2+ years here! Doctor’s Cave is the place we plan to go. Walked by it last night and we’ll be heading there soon! I have to check out your other tips. We want to go to a couple of other areas around the island but hiring a car seems quite expensive and taking local can be very slow. Any other suggestions?
Hope you enjoy Jamaica! My husband and I did 2+ years of Peace Corps there and just got back from a three week visit to reconnect with friends. Toby’s is walking distance to one of our favorite places to relax, Doctor’s Cave Beach- just try to avoid cruise ship days or get there first thing in the morning!
If you’re interested in other off-the-beaten-path recommendations, we’ve posted some on our blog:
http://intentionaltravelers.com/2014/06/30/worthwhile-attractions-in-jamaica/
http://intentionaltravelers.com/2014/05/28/jamaica-off-the-beaten-path/
Enjoy!
We just got back from Montego, stayed at new Hyatt. Went horseback riding next door Halfmoon Bay you actually swim with the horses pretty cool. Went previously on a cruise also an went to Dunns River. I heard Blue Hole was cool an mystic mountain although have not been. They get a lot of cruise ships check CruiseTT for when they will be in port if perhaps your going to Dr Caves beach one day to avoid the crowds. We were going to do a tour with Liberty tours but it didn’t work out but would recommend them. Immigration was a long wait when we got there 1.5 hours if you have priority pass that gives you expedited fast pass though customs on the departure but not arrival. Have Fun !