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 […]

One of the things we hear from many readers is their reluctance to pay an annual fee on a credit card. Obviously, it would be cool to have no annual fees or at least waive them all the first year. Sadly, that is not usually the case. This post is a reminder not to let […]

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 […]

We met Beth a couple of years ago before she knew anything about points and miles. Here is her first-year reader success story, and it is a doozy—congrats, Beth, on all your success!   For the past 27 years, I have focused on raising my three boys and working full-time for a nonprofit. I never […]

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 […]

 Myth: You must have an LLC and employees to be eligible for a business card, including Chase Ink business cards. Fact: Any side hustle makes you eligible for a business card! Even if you don’t have a registered business or LLC, you can apply for a business card as aƒ sole proprietor using your social […]

We love our card_name, but some people have not applied for one because of the higher minimum spend required. The minimum spend in three months for their business cards has ranged from $6,000-$15,000, leaving some people feeling like they won’t be able to hit that high spend. Well, there are some great changes to the […]

Yes, it’s true—SLH (Small Luxury Hotels) and Hyatt are parting ways. And now we have a date for this split—May 15, 2024. Alas, we’ve enjoyed this partnership, but all is not lost as they will be partnering with Hilton soon (date not yet known). What does this mean for each of us? For instance, I […]

Recently there were some Turkish Airline redemption changes and it wasn’t good news. We used to find some absolutely amazing deals to Europe for as little as 45K miles one way in business class. Jess flew to Greece and Istanbul that way and I have a trip for later this summer to Italy for 45K […]

Using credit card points and miles has opened my world to lie-flat business-class seats. Before I started this hobby, I had only flown in business class once. On impulse, I upgraded to business for about $800 to snag a same-day ticket when I was flying home from London. It was AMAZING! Obviously, you will use […]

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 […]

Have you heard about EU261 compensation for overbooking, delayed, or canceled flights while in Europe? I have heard about it but wanted to do a deep dive about it today to ensure our readers know how to receive their compensation if they have a canceled or delayed flight in Europe. Refer back to this post […]

  The New Year is a time for reflection and these were our top nine posts for 2023.  While some were written and posted in 2022, they were all the most-read posts of this last year. It is always interesting to see what posts are most popular for our readers – did any of these […]

2023 was an incredibly great year for travel for this grandma of 21! Business-class seats, luxury hotels, and wonderful memories were all made possible with credit card points and miles. Here is Pam’s 2023 points/miles recap!   Pam’s 2023 Points and Miles Recap January I started the year with a multi-country trip to Japan, Australia, […]

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 […]

I traveled to Greece and Italy this summer, two destinations that are on a lot of people’s bucket lists. So many people want to go to Europe so let’s go over some of the best ways to get to Europe on points and miles.   United Airlines One of the ways I fly to Europe […]

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 […]

We get SO many questions about how to travel carry-on only. The three of us do this consistently, even for a 2-week trip. After my Florence fiasco and losing my luggage for three days in Greece, this is the ONLY way that I will travel. Here are our tips and tricks for traveling carry-on only. […]

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 […]

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 […]

My sister and I go on an annual trip every year. Actually, we usually take 2-3 trips together a year, but one is always longer and more involved. A couple of years ago, we went to Greece and Italy and last year to Maui.  This year, we planned to hit up five cities—NYC, London, Dublin, […]