Usually I try not to travel in February, because I have always been concerned about weather related delays. Last winter seemed very long, cold and gray in the Philadelphia area. So I am thinking that I will deal with the delays, if I am able to escape some of the winter weather.

Since my husband is very busy with tax season and my sister loves warm sunny weather, I talked to her about heading off to the Caribbean with me in February. She has taken several cruises to the Caribbean and visited many islands. So I asked her which island she would like to go back to and stay for a few days. She picked Curacao which has always looked beautiful to me from the pictures I have seen. There are no direct flights to Curacao from Philly. There are connecting flights on US Airways in Aruba or in Miami on American, both airlines where I have plenty of frequent flyer miles.

It is always best if you want to use frequent flyer miles for a trip to plan rather far in advance. A good time to start checking availability is 330 days before you plan to go, but the sooner you start to check the better. American has seats available for us. A round trip coach ticket is miles 35,000 ticket plus $51.50 in taxes and fees per person. We could get two free nights at the Hyatt with the Hyatt Chase after paying the $75 annual fee for the card. Each of the other nights would cost about $300 per night for the two of us and would include full breakfast and free internet access.

Now I am waiting to hear back from my sister to see if this trip will work for her. Hopefully the free flights will still be available, if she decides that Curacao in February is the right trip for us.