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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

My son is a huge history buff and wanted to visit the National WW2 Museum. We have been to NOLA before and loved it, so we were excited to return. Flights / Transportation: Roundtrip MCI to Louis Armstrong International using my husband’s and Southwest Companion Pass and points. The cost for the 4 of us to […]

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 […]

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 […]

Free night certificates are part of a lucrative points and miles strategy.  When it comes to Hyatt, there are five ways to earn free night certificates. 1) Hold the Chase World of Hyatt personal card. Upon card renewal, you receive a free category 1-4 night every year. The annual fee is $95.   2) Spend $15,000 […]

Getting outside and enjoying America’s National Parks is one of the best ways to explore nature and connect with your family. In order to use points and miles, flexibility and variety are key when booking accommodations. Check out a few of my favorite options below. As well as a way to save on National Park […]

Each of these four brands comes with its own pros and cons when it comes to booking stays with points. So far, in my personal travel strategy, I primarily stay in Hyatt properties and fill in stays here and there with Hilton. This isn’t to say I’m opposed to Marriot or IHG, I just like […]

My first full-fledged points and miles trip was to Breckenridge, Colorado, and Moab, Utah. I used Chase Ultimate rewards earned from signing up for the Chase Sapphire Preferred card for my husband and myself. I referred my husband to earn an additional 15,000 points.  A few months before I started traveling with points and miles, […]