Alex and I recently took her second son, Cruz, on his 10-year-old birthday trip to San Antonio. This trip became a tradition after we took her son, Eli, to Washington, DC. The ability to start fun traditions like this is made possible by points and miles and something that I always look forward to. The […]

Creating family memories is what we are all about. Recently, I had the pleasure of making those memories with three generations in Cabo on points/miles. Initially, my daughter Kasey and I had decided to go to Cabo and use points to stay at two different hotels—The Cape and the Waldorf Astoria Los Cabos Pedregal. At […]

I just returned from my most recent trip planned around an award redemption, Etihad Apartments, first class for only 65K Air Canada miles. While there, my daughter, Lindsey, and I did a little Hyatt hotel-hopping in Abu Dhabi. First, I had NO intention of returning to Abu Dhabi again, but the opportunity to try out […]

Today, Pam—the queen of booking phenomenal business and first-class flights—shares her recent escapade to Abu Dhabi! Have you ever planned a trip around a flight you want to take? It’s not that unusual for us at the Travel Mom Squad. Pam’s trip was planned around her desire to fly Etihad Apartments first class. This trip […]

Nothing causes more analysis paralysis than this question, “Are you getting your best points/miles redemption?” You’ve done the work of earning all those credit card points and miles for that nearly free trip, and now you worry if you are doing it “right”. We see a ton of messages in our Facebook group where people […]

I originally found Jess through a viral real.  I was a lurker for some time, thinking, “why in the world would people pay an annual fee on a credit card when there are free ones?”  Finally, I said YOLO and used Jess’s link to sign up for the Chase Sapphire Preferred.  We met the spend […]

On a recent podcast, we all talked about our strategies for 2024 and that we all planned to earn a million points or more again. I also mentioned two other things: 1. I have over 4 million credit card points and miles, and 2. One bank doesn’t like me now (not approving me for their […]

Recently, Alex, Jess, and I met in Scottsdale for our annual retreat. We make plans for the coming year, enjoy good weather, eat great food, get massages, and have a lot of fun. Of course, we stayed at a Hyatt. Here is our review of the Andaz Scottsdale Resort.   Location of the Andaz Scottsdale […]

Welcome back travelers! Today, we’re giving you a glimpse into how we choose those fabulous, family-friendly hotels and resorts for our travels. It’s all about blending fun, comfort, and adventure for the entire family. Join us, as we share some insights and our top picks that have made our family vacations truly special. Listen on […]

Credit cards that offer points that can be redeemed for hotel stays are an important part of our points and miles journey.  Sometimes, we get a card and don’t want to pay the annual fee, but did you know that there are hotel credit cards worth keeping every year? I have several that I get […]

Hailey’s new mom reader success story is a brief but oh-so-sweet story that we just HAD to share it with you. Being moms ourselves, we can totally relate to the struggle of wanting to be with your young children and also wanting to travel. In today’s world, that can be next to impossible on one […]

Two summers ago, our family of five embarked on a huge Midwest national parks road trip. We started off in New York state in our minivan with three kids. We drove through 15 states and visited six National Parks—for a grand total of about 4,500 miles. Twelve of our 15 hotel nights were on points […]

Today, we’re getting personal and interactive by answering your questions. We’ve gathered a fantastic collection of questions from our Instagram stories, and we got to answer as many of them as we could in this episode! Listen on Apple Podcasts Listen on Spotify Listen on YouTube   Here is just a sneak peek at some […]

As an award travel newbie, we recognize how hard it is to keep up with all the new vocabulary and rules. Hence, we give you our Award Travel FAQs that we hope you refer to often. We will give you a short explanation and link you to our articles that give you a more detailed […]

One of my favorite ways to fly to London in business class is by positioning to Boston and flying on Virgin Atlantic. Even better, I can get this cheaper by booking it through the Air France site rather than the Virgin Atlantic site. Yes, the surcharges are high at about $700 for a round-trip ticket, […]

Our next reader success story to Denver is from an Award Travel Academy student who states that a trip on credit card points and miles helped get her Player 2 onboard. She has been following us for a few years and shared her trip to Denver and future plans with us!   Booking a Trip […]

On my most recent trip to London, I was flying Virgin Atlantic on a positioning flight from Boston to London. Their Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse is closed for renovations and I was immediately disappointed that I was going to have to use the Delta Sky Club in Boston instead. And then I walked into it – […]

Today, we’re peeling back the curtain on our business – sharing the story of our humble beginnings, the engine that keeps our mission running, and some golden insights for those of you dreaming of starting your own venture. Listen on Apple Podcasts Listen on Spotify Listen on YouTube   We sprouted our roots back in […]

I started following Jess over at Made Possible By Points right after I returned from an amazing trip to Kauai, Hawaii. My husband and I had the time of our lives at the Grand Hyatt, and Jess was sharing a reel about how she scored a trip to Hawaii using points from a welcome offer. […]

Once again, I’ve booked an airplane award redemption without a real trip planned. The option of flying Etihad Apartments for 65K miles (booked on Air Canada’s site) was too good to pass up. Amazingly, many people jumped on this offer in 2023, and many had their trips canceled as Air Canada and Etihad had some […]

Recently, I was able to check out the new Chase Sapphire Lounge that is located at Logan Airport in Boston. Currently, there are only three Chase Sapphire lounges—one is in Hong Kong, one is at La Guardia Airport, and one is in Boston. The next one will be opening up in Las Vegas. Here is my […]