A Boston Getaway That Earned Me 75,000 TruBlue Points

This past weekend I took a one day trip to Boston on JetBlue. During one of their sales, I grabbed two round trip tickets from JFK to BOS for just $192.40 total. I flew out on 8/28/ and came back to NYC on 8/29, just two days before the deadline for that Virgin America points match promo.

I flew in economy. You could upgrade for one of their Even More Space seats but they already have plenty of legroom in economy and the flight was just 38 minutes. In fact the flight was so short that they really had to rush handing out water, orange juice and Dunkin Donuts coffee and then picking up the empty bottles/cups before landing.

I booked a room at Holiday Inn Express & Suites Boston Garden using IHG points I had left over from that Priceless Surprises promo a while back. Not a great use of points, but considering that as usual I booked very late and the decent location, I was satisfied. The hotel was just across the street from TD Garden, but there was some construction going on right in front of the hotel.

I had planned to stay in Boston during my day and a half there, but family invited us over about an hour away, so we rented a car. If I knew I would be driving I could have booked a cheaper hotel probably.

I booked through Payless Car Rental, paying about $70 for a day and a half with an AARP discount. I originally booked a compact car but as usual received a small upgrade and got a Ford Focus which I believe is economy. It was my first time ever driving a Ford so I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. It was fully loaded with rear camera, leather seats etc.

After our road trip, we got back to Boston at around 10PM and had some drinks at Boston Beer Works on Canal St. It was open, and a block from the hotel. Decent spot with great selection of beers.

We only stayed at the hotel from 11PM on Sunday till 10AM on Monday. After checkout we had plenty of time to kill until out 7PM flight so we decided to enjoy Boston. I had been there twice before but never really with spare time for touristy things.

Since we had no idea what to do and didn’t really do any research before hand, we turned to Groupon for advice. We found a Groupon for $20 for Charles River Sight Seeing or Sunset Tour for Two ($37 value). Looked interesting and it was.

It took about 70 minutes for a boat ride along the Charles River with great views and lots of interesting info about Boston and Cambridge. Their register was down that day, so sadly there was no drinks on board.

After that we grabbed some lunch at Boston Sail Loft Restaurant. Pretty good seafood, but we didn’t try the clam chowda that they’re apparently known for.

Then some walking around market street, a little shopping and some rush hour driving to the airport. JetBlue flight was delayed about 30 minutes on the return leg.

So after a fun getaway to Boston, we should expect 75,000 TruBlue points each for a total of 150,000 and we only spent $192 on fares. We could have booked a same day round trip and save some IHG points and some cash on the car rental, but that’s too much airport for one day. All in all, a nice trip thanks to a great JetBlue promo.

Let me know if you went for this promo as well and what trip you took.