Our latest reader success story is a 10-day European Vacation on points and miles. Andrew and his wife took their adorable 10-month-old on his first transcontinental vacation—here is Andrew’s story.

 

Getting Started

Hello Pam, it took a while to put this together, but my wife and I wanted to share our experience learning about points & miles from Travel Mom Squad and using that knowledge to book and take an amazing trip to Europe with our son last year. My wife’s co-worker introduced Kathleen to Travel Mom Squad (TMS) in January of 2023. After she watched TMS’ “How to Get Your Next Vacation for Nearly Free” webinar, she convinced me  (Andrew) to watch, and we were hooked.

At the end of summer 2023, we took our 10-month-old son on the trip of a lifetime to some quintessential European cities.

 

 

Points and Miles for the Win

Kathleen signed up in March of 2023 for a card_name, which offered 75K Capital One Venture Miles after spending $4,000 in 3 months. We used it to pay our taxes. Then, I signed up for the card_name at the end of April when they had an in-branch-only offer of 90k Chase Ultimate Rewards® after spending $6,000 in 3 months.

Finally, in mid-May, Kathleen signed up for the card_name, which had dropped its offer to 75K Ultimate Rewards after spending $4,000 in 3 months. However, after asking for extra points due to missing the enhanced amount and a referral from me, it came closer to 85K UR points.

By the end of May, we had accumulated over 185,000 Ultimate Rewards and over 200,000 Venture Miles from the welcome offers, referrals, and spending, using only four credit cards.

 

Learn How to Apply
bonus_miles_full
 
 

Learn How to Apply
bonus_miles_full
 

Flights to Europe

During this time, we devised several travel ideas before landing on London, Brussels, and Paris based on what we saw with flights and our interests in food and history. After a night of discussing travel dreams with friends, we went home and asked themselves, “What are we waiting for?”

So at around 9:30 PM, we called Virgin Atlantic and Air France to book out flights (two bulkhead Economy tickets with one lap infant, each way). When calling to purchase our tickets, we additionally requested a “Sky Cot” (either a bassinet or seat attached to the wall of the bulkhead seat for children under a certain age and weight based on the carrier) for our son.

 

 

With Kathleen’s Venture X Card (which includes membership to Priority Pass for the cardholder and two guests), we enjoyed access to the Turkish Airlines Lounge before our flight.
 

Flight Details

We flew nonstop from Miami International Airport (MIA) to London Heathrow Airport (LHR) via Virgin Atlantic by transferring 46K Capital One Venture Miles and paying $409 in taxes/fees. The “Sky Cot” ended up working phenomenally for our son, who could sleep soundly on the overnight flight, and gave us peace of mind due to it having a four-point-harness.

Our return flight to MIA was from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) via Air France by transferring 25,500 Capital One Miles and paying $518.75 in fees. Unfortunately, the “Sky Cot” on this flight was more of a bassinet seat with no harness, and because our son was already capable of sitting up and crawling, we ended up only using the “Sky Cot” as a place to put baby items. We instead used a Baby Carrier so that our son could sleep on the way home.

 

Other Transportation Details

We heavily relied on trains to get around cities and from location to location. We took the Eurostar from London to Brussels and a Thalys from Brussels to Paris.

 

Hotels in Europe

Due to information from Travel Mom Squad, we focused mainly on staying in Hyatt hotels. We reviewed options and availability. Further, we emailed each hotel to confirm that they could accommodate two adults & one infant in their rooms and had a crib/Pack ‘N Play available for our son to use.

We ultimately settled on four nights at the brand new Hyatt Regency London Blackfriars by transferring 74K Ultimate Rewards (though we ended up being moved to the Great Scotland Yard Hotel on arrival due to a pipe leak), three nights at the Hotel du Louvre in Paris by transferring Ultimate Rewards, and two nights at the Hyatt Place CDG Airport by transferring 11,500 Ultimate Rewards points all to Hyatt.

Additionally, we used our $300 Capital One Venture X annual travel credit and $86.45 to book two nights at the Warwick Brussels Hotel.  This 10-day European Vacation on points and miles was funded almost entirely on earnings through credit card welcome offers!

 

 

Thoughts on Hotels

Without a doubt, these hotels were some of the nicest we have ever stayed at, and we did it almost entirely on points and a travel credit. The biggest takeaway was how much nicer the Hyatts were in comfort, style, and service than the non-Hyatts.

We even stopped by the Juliana Hotel Brussels and were blown away by its luxury. The second takeaway is how helpful reserving and using a hotel’s crib/Pack ‘N Play, as opposed to bringing your own, can be for families traveling with little ones.

 

 

 

Trip Summary

We saved close to $8,000 by using points and miles to take our son on the trip of a lifetime. We got to see plenty of iconic landmarks:

• London – Tower of London, Harrods, Buckingham Palace, and the Harry Potter Studio Tour
• Brussels – Manneken/Jeanneken Pis, Neuhaus/Pierre Marcolini/Mary’s Chocolatiers, and Delirium Village
• Paris – Arc de Triomphe, Eiffel Tower, Louvre, Palace of Versailles, and Disneyland Paris

 

 

We were able to try local cuisines (too many food recs to mention), and experienced true luxury. We are patiently looking forward to our next family trip after the birth of our second son, on points and miles, of course!

 

Bottom Line

I love how this shows that you don’t have to let young children keep you from seeing the world as a family! Great job, Andrew and Kathleen, on the education you plan to show your children. Your Reader Success Story: 10-Day European Vacation on points and miles is phenomenal!

 

Related Posts

• Visiting Paris on Points & Miles
• Getting to Europe on Points & Miles
• The Ultimate London Itinerary