At the end of June, I took a 2,000+ mile East Coast National Park road trip, solo with my three girls. We departed from New York and drove through Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and West Virginia. We visited three East Coast National Parks: Shenandoah National Park, Congaree National Park, and New River Gorge […]

Chase Ultimate Rewards® are our very favorite points. With so many ways to earn them, racking up 120K is easier than it seems. Here’s how we would use 120K Chase Ultimate Rewards®…   How Megan Would Use 120K Chase Ultimate Rewards® I’m usually one to spend my points almost as quickly as they post to […]

At the end of June, my three daughters and I went on an East Coast road trip to visit their 34th U.S. state and three East Coast National Parks. After our first two days of driving, we made it to Isle of Palms, South Carolina to stay at the Boardwalk Inn at Wild Dunes Resort, a […]

Meghan sends us her reader success story to San Antonio, a popular Texas destination. Here is her story: My name is Meghan, and I love getting a good deal, so when I heard more about traveling on points two years ago, I was hooked. My husband, I, and our two young boys recently returned from […]

We love our Flying Blue promo deals each month, but if you have Alaska Airlines miles, you might want to start paying attention to the Alaska Airlines Global Escapes! We’ll start updating you on these deals too. Right now, the Quarter 3 deals are out, and here are some of the highlights! You can save […]

My recent trip to Greece and Vienna culminated in a flight home in business class on Iberia Airlines. Here is my review of that flight. For more about flying Iberia to or from Europe generally, check out my post about the great deals on Iberia Airlines.   The Redemption I transferred American Express Membership Rewards® […]

Vienna, Austria, has been a trip I’ve wanted to make for a while. I particularly wanted to stay at the Park Hyatt Vienna as it is one of the favorite Park Hyatts as mentioned by Hyatt Globalists. When I was planning my recent trip to Greece (more on that in a future post), I thought […]

Recently, there have been a couple of disappointing redemption changes in the always-evolving world of points and miles. Let’s go over each of these redemption changes and how they will affect us.   Virgin Atlantic Devalues Delta Award Redemptions One of our “go-to” great redemptions for Europe was to book a Delta business class flight […]

Our latest reader success story is a 10-day European Vacation on points and miles. Andrew and his wife took their adorable 10-month-old on his first transcontinental vacation—here is Andrew’s story.   Getting Started Hello Pam, it took a while to put this together, but my wife and I wanted to share our experience learning about […]

Two credit cards come with a Marriott 35K certificate annually: the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Card and the Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card. In our opinion, these cards make the annual fees worth paying year after year. But what are some great ways to use a Marriott 35K certificate? Remember, it is possible to “top […]

We have a doozy of a points and miles redemption for you today! CJ shares her reader success story: One Month in Italy! Yes, a FULL month! Hello! Since Italy is a popular travel hacking destination, I wanted to share how we booked a one-month summer trip on points. This is for 2 adults and […]

We see so many people in our Facebook Group asking people about where to go with their points and miles. Last night, on our coaching call with our Award Academy Next Level Group, we helped a woman who had a lot of points but didn’t know where to go. I thought it would be good […]

We just enjoyed a huge family trip to Costa Rica. There were 16 or us in total! Here’s how we used points and miles to get to Costa Rica – well partially!   Flights to Costa Rica This trip was to celebrate two graduating seniors, and our daughter, Kelly from Colorado Springs, invited us to […]

New York City is a frequent spot for me to position to for an award flight. I prefer to travel in business class for my international flights, using credit card points and miles. My biggest fear is not making one of those award flights on time. Because of this, I would prefer to arrive in […]

Kayla shared her 8-day reader success story to the United Kingdom in our Facebook Group and said that we could share it with everyone here. We love, love, love to hear about your successes and know that they inspire all those who read about them.    Flights to the United Kingdom My husband and I […]

Hilton has a new way to book stays with points—you can now book luxury campsites with Hilton. This includes luxury campsites and custom Airstreams, cabins, and luxury tents in scenic locations near national parks and beaches across America. Billed as AutoCamps, they are a great alternative to hotels and Airbnb. There are mandatory fees with […]

Before our recent African Safari on credit card points and miles (that didn’t happen), we were supposed to spend a couple of nights at the JW Marriott Nairobi. We used 37K Marriott points/night for this hotel, which has an average cash price of about $300-$350/night. We still stayed at this hotel before we left Africa […]

This post about traveling to Sardinia, Italy on credit card points and miles, was not something I expected to write about today. I was supposed to be on an African Safari instead. If you’ve been following my adventures, you know how well that turned out. Sardinia is an enchanting island in the Mediterranean Sea, off […]

The trip I planned for my birthday was not the one I ended up taking. I had planned a safari in Kenya for my birthday in May. First, we went to Mauritius, and on our second to last night, we got an email at dinner that changed everything. This post is about when your safari […]

When we decided to use credit card points and miles to book an African safari in Kenya, I knew I wanted to go to another country or island since we had traveled so far. I considered the Seychelles and Mauritius and settled on Mauritius on credit card points and miles.  Mauritius is a small island […]

Last year, shortly after the  JW Marriott Masai Mara Lodge opened, I heard that rooms could be booked for about 75K Marriott Bonvoy Rewards per night, including a safari. Having previously been on a safari, I was anxious to see if I could book this with my stash of Marriott Bonvoy points. The 75k/night deal […]