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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

Credit cards can be a great way to earn travel rewards. However, many credit cards have an annual fee that can quickly add up. Depending on the card, the annual fee can vary from $50-$60 to hundreds of dollars. Fortunately, many credit cards offer perks that may make the annual fee worth it. These benefits […]

My mom and I just took my two kids to Santa Barbara. This is the second February we have taken this long weekend trip. February is the perfect time to escape the freezing Missouri temperatures to the mild 60 degrees and sunshine California offers.  Flights / Transportation: Roundtrip MCI to Santa Barbara using our Southwest […]

This Reader Redemption Story is from our friend and fellow teacher, Nicole. She and her husband visited Chicago during Christmastime to celebrate their wedding anniversary! I have always wanted to visit a big city during the holidays. This December, my wish came true when my husband and I traveled to Chicago to celebrate our 15th […]

For my husband’s 40th, we took a four-night trip to Napa, where he drank his first-ever glass of wine! We spent two days winery hopping and took a day trip to Lake Tahoe.  Flights / Transportation: Roundtrip MCI to Oakland using my husband’s Southwest Companion Pass and points. The cost for the 2 of us to […]

This past May, my family of four went to Hawaii with my mom and aunt. We used points and miles to pay for our hotels, rental cars, and flights. It was an epic outdoor adventure! Flights / Transportation: I booked a set of one-way flights for this trip. We flew KC to Maui, Maui to Kona, […]

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 […]