Archives for June 2018

Confession: I hate paying cash for airline tickets. Now that my family has been playing the miles and points game for several years, I rarely spend actual out-of-pocket money on flights. And I hope to keep it that way. However, it’s getting harder and harder to accomplish that with our domestic flights. Since I am […]

Last week Nancy wrote a post on taking partial vacations with kids, and all the controversy her parenting style has stirred up on a certain family travel internet board. Hmm, I wonder what those folks would say if I told them that my husband  and I are planning to go to South Pacific for two […]

Now and again I like to feature real-life examples of utilizing frequent flyer miles or looking for most optimal ways to do so. Today I will be dissecting my cousin-in-law’s plans for flying to Europe in May of 2019  (with her permission). It will be a week-long wedding anniversary trip with just her husband. Their […]

Update: this hotel is now a category 3. During Memorial Day holiday weekend, my husband and I had a chance to stay two nights in Hyatt Place St. Petersburg/ Downtown hotel. It’s a relatively new property that costs only 5,000 Hyatt points per night. On paper it looks like a spectacular bargain. And it is… with […]

Recently, I asked for some advice in a social media travel group about a short trip I’m considering taking with two of my kids next year. I happened to mention in my inquiry that my oldest son (who will be in high school) and my husband would be unable to go. Although the absence of […]

When a credit card pays out 5% cash back or an equivalent in points, it definitely gets plenty of coverage in the blogosphere. And for a good reason. Most cards pay only 1-2% cash back, so this is a huge bump on earning rewards. When you have a card like Chase Freedom, it gets even […]