Some of my favorite hotels I’ve stayed at have been Marriott Hotels. My absolute favorite Marriott Hotel was the JW Marriott in Phu Quoc, Vietnam. I actually went there just to stay at the hotel after reading so many great reviews about it! Today we want to talk about getting a Marriott Hotel on the […]

Traveling is the most fun activity in the world for us! But just because we do it often and for nearly free doesn’t mean we haven’t made our share of blunders. Here are 10 of our travel mistakes, in the hope that we can save you from doing the same!   Overpacking I well remember […]

This post contains referral links. Thanks in advance if you use our links to apply for any new cards!   Hawaii is one of my very favorite travel destinations. It is expensive, but thanks to credit card points and miles, I have been able to return year after year for next to nothing. We’ve previously […]

I have a confession to make. I am a major airport lounge geek! Imagine my joy when the Denver American Express® Centurion® Lounge finally opened up and I happened to have a trip planned. In fact, I visited on the 2nd day it had been opened and I am so excited to review it. I […]

After taking advantage of American Express offers this week, I just had to write a post about them. I have used a few in the past but the ones offered right now for anyone who has an card_name currently are out of this world! I took advantage of three this week to get $100 in […]

Many people have left their hearts in San Francisco, myself included. Having lived in Humbolt County, California for years, San Francisco, the city on the bay, was a frequent destination for me.  Let’s see how you can enjoy visiting San Francisco on points.     Getting There San Francisco Airport is an international airport so […]

One of the major airlines in the United States is American Airlines. Today, we are going to go over the credit cards that can earn you American Airlines miles. Citi Bank offers four great credit cards that will give you great bonus miles when you apply, get approved, and complete the minimum spend. Barclays also […]

  One of the United States’ major airlines is American Airlines. Let’s have a 101 tutorial on the credit cards that will let you travel on American Airlines with free miles. Citi Bank offers four great credit cards that will give you great bonus miles when you apply, get approved,  and complete minimum spend. Barclays […]

So many credit cards, so many types of reward points! It can get confusing, can’t it? Ultimate Rewards, American Express Rewards, Citi ThankYou Points, Marriott Bonvoy Rewards, Delta SkyMiles, etc., etc., etc. It’s hard to keep up with all the different types of reward points! Although it can get confusing, the good news is that […]

Our latest Reader’s Success Story comes from Valerie, who used points for a family trip to Dallas, Texas. They could take seven, yes seven, family members there for free! Here are her words: Years ago, my husband worked at Chase Bank and started understanding the beauty of credit card points. We opened both the card_name […]

Flights are huge savings for us when it comes to using credit card points and miles, but another area where we see big savings is on hotel stays. One of my favorite things about points and miles is being able to stay in fancy hotels that would normally be outside of my budget. We have […]

My family loves staycations because they are cheap, don’t take a lot of planning, and let us see more of our local area. Today we are going to talk all about family staycations.   Booking the Hotel for Your Family Staycation The first step to planning your family staycation is to decide where to go […]

One of the most asked-about itineraries we keep hearing about is an Oregon Coast road trip. Traveling the Oregon coast is a spectacular experience. Having lived near the Oregon coast, in Arcata, California, for 40 years, I have traveled to many of these places, many times. It is a gorgeous drive and definitely worth a […]

Not every family wants to travel internationally, so we want to share some ideas for family trips to parts of our own country. Our first trip is a family trip to Mount Rushmore and parts of South Dakota that I recently took and thoroughly enjoyed.  Who knew that South Dakota was so beautiful? I had […]

Our newest reader success story comes from Tara who is a recent convert to points/miles.  We love that she has already signed up for a couple of credit cards and sees the value of getting more cards. That’s the way to increase your points – keep those signups coming! We try to always have a […]

Our latest reader’s success story is from Azar who is using credit card points to make memories. Azar is a relative newcomer to points and milesbut she is really on the fast track! She used credit card points to make a trip to her sister-in-law’s shower possible with points. Azar is a great example of […]

What is your favorite place to travel to in the wintertime? I have one requirement – someplace warm!  A friend and I do an annual girls’ trip every winter, and our destination is any place warm. We went to Vietnam last year and to Thailand the year before. This year, it was Costa Rica, and, […]

Our latest reader success story comes from Mimi who was also the winner of our random drawing for reader success stories! She told us how she used points to get to California. We loved all your stories and know you can learn from each other about using points. Because of this, we will be including […]

Never in my life did I think I would be able to fly business class to Europe. The cost is just insane: $3,000 (and up to much, much more) for a one-way flight?! It’s just a tad out of my price range! I would see those seats and be so envious and imagine what it […]

One of my favorite trips using points and miles was one that I took to Thailand. Thailand had long been on my list of trips to take, and it did not disappoint!  Thailand was one of my very first trips that took with points/miles. It is a magical land of temples, elephants, Thai food, longtail […]

Last week my husband and I took our three boys to Newport Beach, California. We attended a 90-minute timeshare presentation in exchange for 3 nights at the Marriott Newport Coast Villas for $299 plus a $50 Marriott gift card. In this post, I’ll be sharing with you how I got this offer, a review of […]