Hot off the heels of my trip to Barcy in January, I’ll be heading to the French Caribbean island of Martinique in February 2016!

There’s quite a good sale going on right now, and as I looked through the fares a few weeks ago, I thought wow, these will sell out quick!

But, they didn’t. And when I saw the fares start to increase, I pulled the trigger on this one.

I usually wouldn’t book 2 trips so close together, but this sale, combined with the $250 airline credit on my new Citi Prestige card, formed a perfect storm of BOOK THE TRIP.

Why I did it

My biggest regret about 2015 was not taking more trips.

I became so immersed in my Airbnbs that I spent all my time preparing for other travelers (which, not complaining at all, it’s been wonderful).

I made it to Dublin, which was amazing, but other than that, this year was quiet for me on the travel front.

I will change that in 2016.

I’m planning to relocate to Dallas at some point, and looking at Alaska Airlines as my new go-to loyalty program.

I also strategically just got Citi Prestige to take advantage of the $250 airline credit 2 months consecutively. And the 4th night free benefit.

Fares on Norwegian are between ~$200 and ~$300+ round-trip. In December, you can find fares for $198 from:

• Baltimore
• Boston
• New York

I’m closing on my house on December 15th (fingers crossed!), so I didn’t want to add a trip in before or after that – so pretty much the whole month of December.

Fares in January and February are still a great deal, though, and there’s also this:

It’ll be over 80 degrees in the French Caribbean and it definitely won’t be over 80 degrees in the middle of the frigid Northeastern winter.

My ticket was $317 round-trip.

And after the $250 I’ll get right back, only $67 round-trip for non-stop flights.

The flights are ~4 to ~5 hours each way. Plus, I’ve never flown Norwegian (so more things to blog about here).

And, I’ve already emailed Citi Travel Concierge for hotels to use the 4th night free perk, and will report back on my experience with it. I’m thinking about this hotel: Hotel La Pagerie (it’s available on the Carlson Wagonlit website).

It’ll also be reason enough to update my Citi Prestige by the Numbers page where I’ll track all of the value I get from the card.

A cursory look tells me hotels are ~$200 a night. But for my 5-night trip, I’ll only pay for 4 of them, so ~$400 for my half.

My ticket was ~$67 net effective after the $250 airline credit.

All-in-all, a mid-winter trip to a warm Caribbean island for under $500. I couldn’t pass that up!

BOOK THE TRIP

It’s also a part of the mantra I want to adopt moving forward:

BOOK THE TRIP.

When in doubt, book the effing trip. Life’s too short not to be enjoyed, and I’ll regret not doing this much more than doing it.

It’ll be a new experience, my first time in the Caribbean, first time on Norwegian, and a great reason to get excited during the winter. Plus, I get to put my new Citi Prestige right to work.

I can’t wait!

Bottom line

Count me in on a trip to Martinique in February on Norwegian.

Flights were (are!) so cheap, so non-stop, and so round-trip that I couldn’t say no. It’ll give me a chance to give my Citi Prestige a work-out, and I’m super excited about seeing a new part of the world, trying a new airline, and getting a fantastic deal on a mid-winter break from New York’s winter.

And I don’t know what I’m in for.

If you’ve had an experience with Martinique or Norwegian, or you have a rec for where to stay, let me know!

* If you liked this post, consider signing up to receive free blog posts in an RSS reader and you’ll never miss an update!