Planning your dream trip? Don’t forget to check tourist visa requirements for the countries you’re going to visit! Nothing would be more stressful than trying to go through immigration at your dream destination and not having gotten your visa or ETA (electronic travel authorization) when one is required. Knowing all about tourist visas will keep […]

Once again, I recently found myself on the brink of missing a positioning flight.  Cue the adrenaline rush! There’s nothing worse than that panicked, sinking feeling that your hard-earned business-class redemption, booked with precious points and miles, might slip through your fingers. Or worse—that your trip itself might be at risk.  So when you’re scheduling […]

We love earning our points and miles through credit card welcome offers, but sometimes you don’t have enough hotel points for the stay you want to book. Rather than pay a high cash price, there’s another option that can sometimes make sense and save you money: buying hotel points.  The key to buying hotel points is […]

There’s nothing quite like checking into a luxury hotel knowing you booked it entirely with points and miles. Using points strategically can save you hundreds or even thousands of dollars. But finding the best redemption rates isn’t always straightforward, as award availability fluctuates, and hotel programs have different pricing models. That’s where the right search […]

When you’re in the beginning stages of planning that dream trip, it’s worth considering whether travel insurance might be a smart addition to your plans.  Are you traveling abroad? Do you have concerns about getting sick? Or would you feel more at ease knowing that you and your family are covered if something goes wrong? […]

Do you ever feel frustrated when booking reward flights only to discover that the available options come with long layovers? It can feel like you’re stuck wasting precious vacation time sitting in an airport waiting for your next connection. A lengthy layover might even make you rethink your travel plans altogether. But what if we […]

We get a lot of questions from people about when the  card_name or the  card_name will have an elevated welcome offer. While we love to take advantage of elevated welcome offers, we also feel like waiting for one is not the right thing to do in most instances. Here’s why we say, “Don’t wait for […]

I thought it might be fun to look at our top posts from 2024. The interesting thing is that some of them are posts we wrote years ago—but our readers still return to them!  I’ll list each of our readers’ top posts from this year and then our top posts that were actually published in […]

My sister and I have just completed an almost two-week trip to Italy. We travel about two times a year with each other to foreign countries using credit card points and miles. We are both senior citizens, and we feel completely comfortable traveling worldwide. To encourage other senior citizens to feel comfortable traveling more, here […]

Today is a long travel day for me. I know many of you hate travel days, but I love travel days with points and miles! Even my husband, who is a reluctant traveler at times, says they are a lot better than they used to be because we use credit card points and miles to […]

My sister and I travel a lot together internationally. I have Global Entry and she doesn’t. Guess who is always waiting a long time for her to get through customs when we arrive back in the United States? This time, I encouraged her to check out a different way to get through customs, and my […]

Let’s talk all about Capital One Lounges today. For many people, these are their airport lounges of choice. Luckily, they have opened more of them so that they are more accessible. If you find yourself at any of the following airports, you need to check them out: Dallas – Fort Worth (DFW) – the original […]

One of our readers sent us this review of the American Express Centurion Lounge in Atlanta. Alex writes about Disney World and Disney Cruises over at seconddadtotheright. He discovered an episode of our podcast talking about using points to go to Disney. That sent him down a rabbit hole, and now he has racked up 1.2 […]

I had an interesting thought today, “Do I spend more money with this points/miles hobby?” Of course, I save thousands yearly on travel using credit card points and miles. But as I pondered this question, the answer was, “Maybe.”    Spending Money on Travel While points and miles typically cover my flights and lodging, I […]

We often get asked this question, “Do we use points/miles for ALL travel?” The answer is no. While credit card points and miles cover most of our travel, it does not cover all of it. If you are trying to cover every single expense for your own travel, you might end up frustrated. Or, at […]

On our recent trip to Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, we found ourselves with six hours to spend at the Singapore airport before flying back to San Francisco. Luckily, Changi airport is the easiest airport to find things to do, so we had no problem filling our time. Here are some things to do at Singapore’s […]

Today, I’m talking about the most expensive trip I’ll take this year, and it’s because I couldn’t use points/miles to book it. Let me explain. My husband and I have old friends (old as long-time friends and old as in age because we are all grandparents!😜). They go to Arizona yearly with their fifth wheels. […]

As an award travel newbie, we recognize how hard it is to keep up with all the new vocabulary and rules. Hence, we give you our Award Travel FAQs that we hope you refer to often. We will give you a short explanation and link you to our articles that give you a more detailed […]

Once again, I’ve booked an airplane award redemption without a real trip planned. The option of flying Etihad Apartments for 65K miles (booked on Air Canada’s site) was too good to pass up. Amazingly, many people jumped on this offer in 2023, and many had their trips canceled as Air Canada and Etihad had some […]

We love using our points and miles for family trips and luxury vacations. However, points and miles can save the day (or vacation) in some instances! Having a stockpile of points and miles when you have to travel at the last minute (and the cost of travel is high) makes a huge difference. If you […]

On my recent trip to NYC, London, Dublin, and Florence with my sister, something happened that underscores why I don’t check luggage very often. We were flying from Dublin to Florence with a layover in Amsterdam. We had packed carry-on luggage only for a two-week trip (yes, it is possible). When we checked in at […]