Planning and Paying for Amazon Fishing Trip

While my Alaska fishing trip is a still fresh I’m now deep in the planning stages for my Amazon Fishing Expedition in August. This post focuses more on the budget and how to pay for it.

Points Strategy

The plan was always to use points from American Express, Amazon and Bass Pro Shops as well as cash back rewards to subsidize this trip. A lot of these points were earned through the Alaska trip and or my personal / business life.

As of this writing, I have used more than $4,000 in points / cash back towards this trip. So let’s break it down:

Air

I was able to use AMEX points for first class roundtrip on Copa Airlines from Miami to Panama City to Manaus, Brazil. The tickets would have cost $2,600 and I used points for the seats. I’m at the point of my life where I only fly first class, either via upgrades, points or cash. So this was always going to be a big part of the budget.

Gear

Most of the gear I already own, but I did drop about $700 on new / specialized travel gear using Bass Pro Shop points, which were earned baying for our health insurance.

I will do a separate post on all the gear for the Amazon at a later date with photos and videos!

Amazon Fishing Lodge and Guides

Unlike Alaska which was a DIY trip, the Amazon is a fully guided trip which includes lodging, meals and a charter flight from Manaus out to the river, etc. All in this should run about $4,750, of which about half is paid for with cash back rewards from other cards like Amazon and Apple Card cash rewards earned for the Alaska trip.

Total Cost of this trip is estimated at $8,000 with at least $4,000 already covered using points and cash back rewards.

2024 Trip

So far this points strategy will cover 2024 to either Iceland or back to Brazil. As I have the gear for both it’s really just points for air travel (already have more than enough now for first class to either destination) and cash back rewards for the lodging and guides.