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I love planning and taking complex trips using points and miles to fly in international business class and stay at luxury hotels for a fraction of the retail cost, but sometimes all I want is a relatively close destination for a quick and inexpensive trip.

I must admit, I’ve been to many countries throughout the world, but I’ve only been to Florida once in my life. So between the latest COVID-related travel restrictions that include testing before you can fly back to the U.S., and my need to escape the cold grey Midwest winter, I’ve decided that now is a good time to explore South Florida’s Gulf Coast. I was attracted by the wide, white sand beaches, mild February temperatures and opportunity to book some  very attractive properties with points.

My last trip was February 2020. My wife and I returned home from an awesome week-long stay at Scrub Island Resort in the British Virgin Islands not knowing that it would be our last trip for a long time. We had tons of trips all over the world planned for 2020 that we would slowly begin cancelling one-by-one: 3 weeks in South Africa, a trip to Chile and Argentina, a few trips to Europe, and tons of domestic trips as well.

Like many of you, we’ve been pretty cooped up for the last year or so.

A note from Sarah Page: In case you don't catch the byline, this was written by MileValue founder Scott Grimmer. We're happy to feature a post by our old friend and coworker! Thanks for your time and valuable insight, Scott.

We typically go over international premium cabin redemptions in our Anatomy of an Award posts. They're great inspiration and good teaching tools for when you're planning big trips.

While I'm sure we'd all love to be flying around the world in a flat bed all the time, that's not the reality most live in.

A few months ago I booked Iberia Business Class from São Paulo to Madrid with 42,500 Avios because of the great mileage price tag and the lack of fuel surcharges departing from Brazil where fuel surcharges are illegal. This left a hole in my itinerary between Buenos Aires and São Paulo.

Here’s an index to give my whole travel experience from Argentina to Spain some cohesion.

In February, my parents flew down to South America to join me for a trip in Rio de Janiero, followed by a week spent in Buenos Aires, the location I call home for at least half the year.

I booked them in United Business between Charleston, SC and Rio de Janiero using United miles, and LATAM Business between Buenos Aires and Miami using American Airlines miles.

I recently booked an award for my parents that departed from their home--Charleston, South Carolina--to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. We used a combination of their United miles and their Ultimate Rewards, transferred to United MileagePlus, to book the award in United Business Class.

I just booked myself a one way award from Honolulu, Hawaii to Charlottesville, Virginia for 17,500 Singapore miles and $6.

Last month, I booked an award from Buenos Aires to Honolulu for 25,000 Singapore miles and about $100 in taxes. The booking illustrates a few topics:

Sweet spots and how to find them
Awards you should book speculatively
Booking awards with foreign programs

The Problem
I have to get to Hawaii for my brother's wedding in February. The main problem is that I don't know where I'll be in February to book the ticket to Hawaii.