Want to get away from the winter doldrums this year? (This is not and ad or a promotion)

For 911 bucks and a little ingenuity you can be in Sydney, Melbourne, Cairns or the Gold Coast of Australia this winter!  Here's how:

1. Get an Alaska Airlines Visa Signature card, spend $750 on it.  It can be for utility bills, groceries or anything. You'll get a 25,000 mile credit on your Alaska Airlines frequent flier account.  Or if you already have 25,000 mile in your AK FP account, skip this step.
2. For 25,000 miles you can get a round trip ticket to San Francisco or Los Angeles. Go to the Alaska Airlines frequent flier rewards page and check availability of 12.5K mile each way seats for your trip.
3. Go to Air New Zealand's web site and look for the "Special Deals" button link.  There you can check out availability of the cheap seats to Australia.  Make a note of the cheapest dates for the round trip.  Right now the cheapest seats are $911 round trip.
4. Go back to the Alaska Airlines site and make reservations for your Anchorage to SFO or LAX flights. 
5. Go back to the Air New Zealand site and make your Australia ticket purchases.

Notes: You usually have a 24-hour period to change your Alaska Airlines tickets without penalty.  It's possible to have availability change while you're in the middle of booking your flights.  If that happens, you can go back to the Alaska Airlines site and change them.  Or... you may be able to do a 24-hour reservation on either system without commuting to purchase the tickets.  Then, when all looks good, push the button on purchase.  The folks at both airlines give good help over the phone as well.

Hints: International baggage rules are different from US domestic flights.  Check sizes and weights before you leave home.  The carry-on limitation is 7 kg which is about 15.5 lbs. Don't for get your passport.

GDDAY!