We took a California road trip that started in San Francisco and ended in LA, capped off with a trip to Disneyland and Newport Beach.

Flights / Transportation: We flew into Oakland for the beginning of our California road trip and flew home out of LAX using our Southwest Companion Passes and points. The cost for the 4 of us to fly was just under $45. Read Earn the Southwest Companion Pass on Repeat for all the details on taking advantage of one of my favorite travel strategies.

I used Chase Ultimate Rewards to pay for a rental car. Grab my rental car on points freebie here. I always use my Chase Sapphire Preferred when booking a rental car with points or cash since it has fantastic rental car coverage. This brought the cost of my rental car to $0.

We did pay a $200 fee for picking up the car in Oakland and dropping it off in LA. This was a manageable expense for us to say yes to. We live in Missouri, and flying in was a great way for our family to do a California road trip without 40+ hours in the car.

Stay: I booked Hyatt House Irvine for 9,000 Hyatt points per night. I redeemed points from my Chase Business Ink Cash $0 annual fee card for this stay. This was made possible because I hold the Chase Sapphire Card, which gives me access to 14 incredible transfer partners, including Hyatt. 

During our trip, we wanted to visit Disneyland and the Newport Beach area. This cheap Category 3 property was the perfect home base, with a full kitchen, pool, laundry, and free breakfast.

Eat: We did eat some meals at our hotel since our room had a full kitchen. If you are in the area, here are a few places we ate dinner and grabbed some ice cream. Wilma’s Patio Restaurant, Pacific Whey Cafe, Cowifornia Ice Cream, Handel’s Homemade Ice Cream, and Mohawk Bend Gastropub are delicious and affordable options.

Fun: Tickets to Disneyland were our kids’ Christmas gifts. We went to the park to rope drop and spent the entire day there. This was the first time my kids had ever been to a theme park, and they had a great time. I did not use points for our tickets, but if you want to know more about how to, check out my 4 Ways to Pay for Park Tickets blog post.

My son loves military history, so he loved our trip to the Battleship Iowa Museum.

If you love being outside like we do, here are some recommendations: hiking at Turtle Rock and Shady Canyon Loop, Newport Beach, Balboa Beach, Corona Del Mar State Beach, and Crystal Cove State Park.

Final thought: When points and miles cover hotels, flights, and rental cars, it makes it easier for families to take epic adventures on a budget.

Cards that made this trip possible 

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