Back in 2018 my family took a trip to Kauai and fell in love with it. While we didn’t stay at the Grand Hyatt Kauai on that trip, we did have dinner there and decided the Grand Hyatt was the place to stay for our next visit. Throw in the pandemic and it took us […]

Can you beat sun, beach, and waves? Only if you can do it on points and miles AND you take your family to create some lasting memories. I still remember fondly being a child in San Diego with my parents and siblings! We had such fun times that I thought it was surely the best […]

When I decided to go to Australia with points and miles, I knew I would also add on a trip to New Zealand. I always hesitated to go to both places due to the distance involved. Fast forward to many LONG trips taken, like to the Maldives, Thailand, Vietnam, Dubai, etc., and Australia and New […]

  Family Vacation to Paris This trip is often requested by our readers and is quite doable. In these simple guides, I won’t go over every flight or hotel option but will pick one option for each, thereby decreasing that analysis paralysis we all run into. The hardest part of this plan is deciding what […]

I have long wanted to go to Australia and New Zealand as my London-based daughter and her husband have raved about both. I knew that their summer happens during my cold, snowy Colorado winters, so I started planning. Knowing that ANA business class to Australia was a great deal, I began my search there!  It […]

I previously wrote about booking an ANA flight to Australia with a free stopover in Tokyo. I used Hyatt hotels for my stays there. My trip report of points and miles to Tokyo, Hyatt hotel reviews, and our activities is here. And you can learn more by listening to this episode of our PODCAST!   […]

Back in October, my family of six spent three nights at The Seabird Resort in Oceanside, California.  We love traveling to Southern California with the kids and have done Newport,  San Diego, and Disneyland, but this was our first time to Oceanside. The reason we went with Oceanside this time was so that we could […]

Barcelona is one of my favorite European cities. The food, the people, the history, the architecture… this place is ready to wow every type of traveler. And with many points and miles to choose from to visit Barcelona, you’ll also have plenty of opportunities to save money. Here’s my complete guide to visiting Barcelona on points […]

  Mexico has been a yearly travel destination of mine for years and years. Today I want to show you how you visit Cancun on points. I’ll go over how to get flights paid for and give you some great options to consider when it comes to choosing your hotel stay.   Flights The first […]

In October I traveled to Cabo San Lucas with my 9-year-old daughter and oldest stepdaughter. I had been wanting to check out The Cape for quite some time, and my daughter’s fall break seemed like the perfect excuse to take a trip down to Mexico. So what did we think? Keep reading…   The Redemption […]

A couple of years ago, Alex and I went to Cancun on a mission. We wanted to compare the Hyatt Zilara and the Hyatt Ziva for our readers. The Hyatt Ziva was our favorite. Last year we made a return trip to Hyatt Ziva Cancun on points. We knew it was the perfect place to […]

Alex, Jess, and I had planned to meet in Houston in December for a THM retreat to discuss upcoming plans and goals for 2023. We had always talked about going somewhere fun together when we hit a designated goal. That happened sooner than we thought (nice, huh?), so we changed our plans to a Cancun […]

Ever since we got into the points and miles game, my mom and I have been curious about the Hyatt all-inclusive resorts. We finally scheduled a trip to Cancun and booked both the Hyatt Zilara (adults-only) for three nights and Hyatt Ziva (family-friendly) for two nights. Originally we had booked four nights at the Zilara […]

  If there is one thing most travelers can agree upon who have visited Budapest, it’s that it is one of their favorite and most underrated European destinations to visit. Budapest is beautifully stunning with its river views, art deco buildings, and funky offerings. And with an abundance of quality points and miles hotels and […]

I just spent 5 days in Bora Bora, and it was paradise. Even though we had a lot of rain 😩. You know it is a great resort when you are dying to get more points so you can come back again, even when the weather the first time wasn’t the greatest. I enjoyed it […]

My points and miles trip to Tahiti and Bora Bora was one that I was so excited about that I had trouble sleeping for two nights before departure. Both were destinations that I had wanted to go to for some time. After a recent trip to the Maldives, I also wanted to compare the trips […]

When you think of Mykonos, you may think of beach clubs and wild parties. As a mom looking for a relaxing getaway in Greece, that’s not really the vibe I was going for. I am happy to report that I found a gem in Mykonos that was gorgeous, relaxing, and practically free, thanks to Hyatt […]

  Greece has been a bucket list destination of mine for years. So when I had the chance to fly to Greece in business class using points and miles, I couldn’t book my award ticket fast enough! Even better was that I convinced my best friend to open a new credit card and join me. […]

A recent trip to the Maldives had a 19-hour stopover in Abu Dhabi. I had been to Dubai before but not Abu Dhabi. Unfortunately, this change in our flight schedule meant we missed half a day in the Maldives. Trying to make lemonade out of lemons, I got excited to spend one day in Abu […]

We’ve written a bit about going to the Maldives on points/miles because so many people are interested in that. Alex went last Spring to the Maldives and can’t stop talking about it. I had a trip booked for December 2021. Unfortunately, one after another of our flights was canceled, and I finally just decided to […]

Hi there, this is me being a little selfish again. Well, not completely as many of you ask us how to do a trip to Iceland with points and miles. I’ve long wanted to go there myself (even Mr. Reluctant Traveler wants to go) so I decided to do research on the best ways and […]