Airmiles
I got it in my head last night to take a look at my air miles and it turns out I have enough points for some pretty sweet stuff…
Car Rental - 425 miles
I can get a $50 gift card for either Alamo or National car rentals. That’s over a day free! I must say this is one of the most tempting rewards because it makes the Orlando trip even cheaper! To give you an idea of how awesome this is let’s say we rented an Aveo from Alamo for the full week and had 4 people going on the trip, assuming one of them a driver 25 or older. The cost would work out to $8.77 USD per person per day ($61.39 USD per person for the whole trip), but if you factor in the gift card it would only be $6.98 USD per person per day ($48.86 USD per person for the whole trip).
Now you see what I did there? Sure I COULD just put the gift card towards my portion of the rental and be a totally selfish prick but no, vacations are a time to be nice and generous so I’m willing to share my good fortune with the group. Hopefully if anyone else in the group has sufficient air miles they’d consider matching my gesture. And the above is all assuming we can’t find another other way to knock down the price which I’m pretty sure we can. Or alternatively the gift card could pay for a GPS device for the week!
Books - 185 miles
I could get a $25 gift card to Chapters or even a $50 gift card for 365 miles. Why, I could put that towards a travel guide for Orlando or something to read on the plane.
Charity - 170 miles
I could donate money to Kid’s Help Phone or the Special Olympics however I don’t think I could claim that as tax-deductible so I don’t see it happening.
West Edmonton Mall - 135 miles
I have enough miles to get 3 tickets valid for Galaxyland or the Waterpark. Getting there would be the challenge. And to be clear, 2 tickets would be for me - one for each attraction, and the third would be for a travelling companion. Don’t want to get anyone’s hopes up here.
Splashdown Park - 100 miles
I can get a single adult admission or take the whole family for 300 miles. Again getting there would be the challenge but much less so than say, Edmonton.
Movies - 75 miles
I can get a single ticket to the local theatre for 75 miles or two for 180 or a Cineplex package for 175. Eat your heart out Scene card.
Bowling - 30 miles
I can get 2 games of bowling in Richmond for 30 miles - that means I have enough miles for 28 free games.
Nintendo Wii - 2900 miles
I have 15% of the miles needed for this. Sigh.
Death By Gift Cards - 115 miles
Banana Republic - $25 - 185 miles
Gap - $25/$50 - 185/365 miles
HBC - $25/$50 - 200/400 miles
Earls - $25/$50 - 195/385 miles
Kernels - $15/$25 - 115/185 miles
It’s amazing how many points you can rack up living across the street from a Safeway for 4 years. So, now that you know the options, what do you think I should get and what should I use it for? I’m thinking as soon as a driver 25 or older signs on for Orlando I’ll see about getting the gift card for the rental car and if that doesn’t pan out I’ll see if I can arrange transport to Splashdown. And if all else fails, maybe I’ll go back to Edmonton sometime after Orlando.
