This past December, my family traveled to NYC for four nights. From the nostalgic window decorations at Macy’s to the bustling Christmas Markets sprinkled around the city, the holiday season was truly alive! 

Flights / Transportation: We flew roundtrip from Kansas City MCI to New York City—LaGuardia using our Southwest Companion Passes and points. The four of us spent just under $45 in taxes and fees!

We used Lyft and earned 5X the points with my Chase Sapphire Preferred Card to get to and from the airport to our hotel. 

The rest of the time, we took advantage of the subway, which my kids thought was cool,  and walked to get around. 

Stay: We stayed at the Thompson Central Park NYC. I redeemed Chase Ultimate Rewards points from my Chase Business Ink Cash $0 annual fee card for this stay. This was made possible because I hold the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card, which gives me access to 14 incredible transfer partners, including Hyatt. 

The Thompson Central Park NYC was gorgeous and a fantastic location for our trip. 

Fun: Broadway, the Statue of Liberty, Holiday Markets, Summit One Vanderbilt, Harry Potter Store, and the Museum of Natural History, to name a few. So many incredible experiences! 

One of the highlights of our trip was seeing Wicked on Broadway. I transferred Chase points to Hyatt to pay for this through Hyatt FIND Experiences. This made this $500+ experience free for us. WOW! I will never stop being amazed at the power of points and miles.

I booked tickets to Summit One Vanderbilt, the Museum of Natural History, the Statue of Liberty cruise, and a tour through Groupon and Viator. This allowed me to earn American Airlines points by stacking the purchases through the AAdvantage Shopping Portal! Be sure you take full advantage of stacking to earn even more points through shopping portals.

To learn more about earning more points and saving money on experiences while traveling, check out my blog post, Five Ways to book experiences to earn more points and save money.

Eat: We ate lunch one day at Columbus Circle Holiday Market, which was delicious. It was my favorite market we visited, and it made me want to go to the European holiday markets so badly! We visited a few different stands, but Empanada Mama was our favorite!

The delicious and funky Burger Joint down the hall from the front desk in the Thompson lobby is a great little gem! Oh my goodness, it was incredible! One night, when we were exhausted from sightseeing, we ordered burgers and fries and ate them in our room while watching Home Alone: Lost in New York. It was so fun! 

Final thought:  This was my fourth time visiting New York City, and it never gets old. My first time going, I was 18 years old and from a little town of 500 people in northern Missouri. My mom and aunt took my sister and me as a high school graduation gift. Even though we were not a wealthy family, my parents always valued travel, whether camping in Rocky National Park or NYC. I am so excited that points and miles allow me to instill this sense of adventure and culture into my children. 

Cards that made this trip possible

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