2023 was another year full of earning and redeeming points and miles for nearly free travel! This year we took more family trips than we have ever before. It was a great year full of making great memories! Here’s Alex’s 2023 Points/Miles Recap! Alex’s 2023 Points/Miles Recap February The first trip in my 2023 Points/Miles […]

Yosemite National Park beckons families with an irresistible blend of awe-inspiring natural wonders and a wealth of outdoor adventures, making it a perfect destination for an unforgettable family vacation. With an enchanting realm of towering waterfalls, towering cliffs, and ancient forests, Yosemite offers a unique opportunity for families to connect with nature on a grand […]

One of my favorite things about using credit card points and miles for travel is the ability (usually) to cancel and rebook when you find a better deal. I was able to make a Maldives last-minute flight change recently when I saw that there was Q-suite availability from Doha. My original return flight was on […]

I just returned from my second trip to the Maldives. This time, I took my husband along. Once again, it was by mixing points and miles with cash for a Maldives trip. My husband wanted to check the Maldives out, and I found a great deal for $5,000 all-inclusive for an overwater villa. It seemed […]

Our Friday Family Vacation to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, is also a reader success story! Here is Christine’s story: We are new to the points game this year. My husband and I have opened five new cards totaling 575k in various types of points. We are a military family, so our fees for many cards […]

Visiting the beautiful city of Istanbul doesn’t have to break the bank. Istanbul, a city that straddles two continents, was even more magnificent than I imagined it would be. The people, the history, the food—I can’t wait to return! Here’s how I turned what would have been a $5,000 trip to Istanbul into one that […]

My family recently returned home from spending our fall break at the Hyatt Regency Lost Pines located just outside Austin, Texas. We had never visited Texas as a family and usually spend our family vacations at the beach so this was a new experience for us. Spoiler…we loved it! Keep reading to hear what it’s […]

If you want the pura vida experience, head to Costa Rica. Sunshine, water, great food, and the nicest people – what’s not to love? Even better, using points and miles to Costa Rica for an amazing vacation is easy to do. I just got back from a trip to Costa Rica with one of my […]

This blog post is a tale of two Hyatt all-inclusive resorts in Mexico. One for couples and one for families. But first, did I meet my favorite Mexico resort (perhaps my favorite resort EVER)??   Hyatt All-Inclusives in Mexico Let’s first get you up to speed. Alex and her family asked my husband, me, and […]

Our fabulous Digital Business Manager and Facebook Group Moderator, Megan Condello, wrote up a trip report about 10 days in Morocco using points and miles. She usually uses a combination of cash, points, and miles for her trips, and this was no different. She paid for her hotels with credit cards and earned points and […]

I just returned from another vacation to Oceanside, California, and after staying at the incredible Seabird Resort, I had to do a Family Friday Vacation to Oceanside post. I promise you, this Hyatt hotel will not disappoint – I can’t wait to return myself. Check out all the pictures below – every spot was so […]

Recently, my husband and I were heading to Arizona for a wedding. Coincidently, I noticed that we had an 85K Marriott annual certificate expiring simultaneously, so I started to figure out how to use it for part of our stay in Arizona (we’d stay with my sister for the rest of the stay). We ended […]

Recently, I stayed at the Hyatt Regency Salt Lake City in Salt Lake City, Utah. The purpose of this trip was some family time with family from London, along with Alex’s family. My daughter, Lindsey’s husband, was in Salt Lake on business, so we made that our main base and naturally, wanted to stay at […]

Today, I had the option of two different Venture Mile redemptions for my trip to Italy next Fall. I have a multi-city trip planned starting in Rome, on to Lake Como, and finishing in Cinque Terre. In Rome and Lake Como, I will use Hyatt hotels for my stays, but there are no chain hotels […]

British Airways Avios are a great way to book flights because three transferable currencies transfer to them (AMEX, Ultimate Rewards, and Capital One). The other transferable currency, Citi ThankYou Points, transfers to Qatar Airways, which also uses Avios (and you can transfer Avios between Qatar and British Airways once you link them), so essentially, you […]

I’ve found a new place to position myself for flights to Europe. I had to find last-minute flights to Europe this summer and ended up positioning through the Calgary Airport. I was pleasantly surprised and hope to do it in the future. You might also consider it a place to position as it is not […]

As much as I love Turkish Airlines, it can be a pain to book a companion’s flight. We’ve been needing a post on booking for someone else with Turkish miles for a while – here it is. For most airlines, you can book a flight for another person without any problem or extra step. However, […]

Our latest reader success story to Spain using points/miles comes from Meghan. Here it is in her words: Our son is in a dual language program with Spanish.  We are trying to travel, at least once a year, to a Spanish-speaking country to help him build his real-life skills (especially since Mom & Dad aren’t […]

Recently, we went out of town to watch our grandson’s soccer tournament. Luckily, we have credit card points so it made it an easy decision to tag along on Alex’s family trip to Idaho Falls. I can’t even imagine how much people spend when they use cash to go out of town for their children’s […]

It’s no secret that Hyatt is our favorite program to earn points for because of their outsized value. When you can stay at a luxury Hyatt for 40K points per night versus paying double or triple that for a Hilton, Marriott, or IHG hotel of the same caliber, it only makes sense. Many of our […]

The Grand Canyon is a massive natural wonder located in Arizona, USA. It is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River and is a popular destination for nature enthusiasts and tourists from around the world. Our Friday Family Vacation is to the Grand Canyon National Park.   How to Get to the Grand Canyon: […]