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 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 […]

Our latest reader success story comes from Cheryl and is all about three European cities on points and miles. Cheryl just started in 2023 and has had some amazing success! Here is her story:   Cheryl’s Story with Credit Card Points and Miles First of all, I wanted to say Thanks!   I started my […]

On our recent family trip to Japan, our family of 5 spent two nights in Osaka. Our family focuses on utilizing points and miles to cut down on travel costs, and we rarely (if ever!) have a trip that is 100% on points. It can be especially tricky and costly in points when, due to […]

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 […]

As someone who aims to visit all six of the Disney Parks, I couldn’t go to Japan without visiting Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea. This was Disney Castle #5 of 6 for me, and I could barely contain my excitement! The Tokyo Disney parks are located in the Tokyo Bay area of the city. It’s about an […]

I love Southern California. My family always traveled there when I was younger, so I have wonderful memories of the beaches, amusement parks, and great weather. When Alex invited my husband and I to join them on their Spring Break vacation to Southern California, we were all in. Carlsbad, California, on points and miles, was […]

With the recent Hyatt award chart changes, the Hyatt Place Kyoto is one of the hotels making a rare downgrade in a category. It was previously a Category 3 Hyatt hotel, but as of March 26, 2024, it is a Category 2. This makes standard nights only 8k points per night! While traveling during the […]

Tokyo was the last city we visited on our 2.5 week family trip to South Korea and Japan. There are so many hotels in Tokyo that it was difficult to narrow down where our family of 5 would stay for our three nights. Pam and Jess had previously stayed at the Andaz Tokyo Toranomon Hills […]

Seoul, South Korea was the first stop of our family of five’s 2.5 week trip to South Korea and Japan. I originally booked two rooms at the Holiday Inn Express Seoul Hongdae with IHG points. However, after realizing we would want more comfort for our first few nights in Asia while we adjust to the […]

Our original plan for this trip was only to visit Japan. However, we were going to be visiting Japan during the Hanami Season – the Japanese art of springtime flower watching, aka Sakura or Cherry Blossom season. This is one of the busiest tourist seasons of the year in Japan. Finding five award flights (even […]

Like most of our readers, I usually pick our next trip destination and then plan and book everything for our family. I’m lucky that my husband is always up for whatever big plans I have for us, but I still occasionally ask if he has any ideas or requests. When I asked him what his […]

Laura shares her reader success story with us today – a winter escape to Arizona. I was raised in Arizona, and there is no better place to go to in winter! Here are all the details of her escape: Recently, my family just returned from a great winter escape to the Phoenix/Scottsdale area.  We flew […]

We just returned from Huntington Beach and Disneyland on points and miles. This time, we took another squad with us—five of the cutest, confident cousins who let us tag along on their adventures and pick up the bill. They range in age from eight to twelve, and all of them remind us that they are […]

We use points and miles for a lot of luxury trips, family vacations, and more. Another great way to use points is to visit family. In fact, that’s what got Jess into points and miles…being able to visit family for less. In this reader success story,  Amanda shares how she used points and miles to […]

Our latest reader success story is close to my heart as Lysandra and her family hotel-hopped in Cancun, Mexico.  Here is her report: I wanted to give a review of our recent points trip to Cancun as a family of 5 for winter break 2023. Our girls are 7 and 10, and our son is […]

Family hotels in Europe are harder to find than in the United States because they have stricter room occupancy limits. This is regularly a thorn in the side for many of our readers who travel with their families on credit card points and miles. Who really wants to split a family up into two or […]

It may seem too good to be true when we show you how to take a nearly free vacation on points and miles. However, we have hundreds of stories of readers who have also used credit card points and miles for nearly free travel. This proves that ANYONE can do this—even YOU! Here is a […]

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 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 […]