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 […]

August 20, 2023

When working with this family, we made ONE CHANGE to take their points and miles game to the next level. They were putting all their spending on a Southwest credit card. Yes, they were for sure racking up airline miles, but it wasn’t serving their needs to the fullest. Jen’s family opened a Chase Sapphire […]

August 20, 2023

Omaha is just a few hours from KC and a fantastic Midwest road trip destination. Flights / Transportation: This was a road trip for us, so no points were used, only earned on our drive. Stay: I booked Hyatt Place Omaha/Downtown-Old Market for 6,500 Hyatt points per night. I redeemed points from any of my Chase Ultimate […]

August 2, 2023

The Dillon and Keystone areas of Colorado are beautiful, and they are a great way to escape the Missouri summer humidity. Flights / Transportation: This was a road trip from KC. Stay: I booked Hyatt Place Keystone with two Hyatt Free Night Certificates. Check out my blog post to learn how to earn free night certificates […]

August 2, 2023

This is part of a 10-day semi-road trip in Washington. My mom, two kids, and I flew into Seattle. We stayed just outside Mt. Rainier National Park, in Seattle, and Olympic National Park. This will cover the Olympic National Park portion. Flights / Transportation: Roundtrip MCI to Seattle-Tacoma International using our Southwest Companion Passes and […]

July 21, 2023

When I first started planning our trip to Europe, the first county I knew I wanted to go to was Switzerland. All the other destinations would need to fall in place around her. Here is how we got to one of the most beautiful places in the world on points and miles! Flights / Transportation: […]

July 16, 2023

My family of four just took a 3-week European vacation. Flights, trains, rental cars, accommodations, and prearranged activities were under $2000. Rome was our first city in this summer adventure. Flights / Transportation: One-way tickets were booked from Kansas City (MCI) to JFK to position to Rome. This positioning flight saved me 100,000 American Airlines […]

July 12, 2023

Rental cars can be an expensive part of travel. Some sites like Autoslash and companies like Costco and AAA offer discounted rates. The NEA is a teacher union that provides up to 30% discounts on rental cars. Your company or industry may have something similar. Using your Capital One Venture X card, you can also use […]

July 12, 2023

We recently returned from an epic road trip through Arizona and Utah. Along the way, we stopped at Zion, Bryce, and Grand Canyon National Parks, tons of little state parks, and National Forest spots near Sedona, and on our way back to Las Vegas to catch our flight, we made a pit stop at the […]

June 6, 2023

I love two main annual fee cards regarding Hyatt stays on points: the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (or Chase Sapphire Reserve®) and The World of Hyatt Credit Card. I’ll go over this more below. Cards I hold for access and perks The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card has a $95 annual fee and allows me to […]

June 6, 2023