A few days ago, I read this cute story about a family who took their cats on vacation to the beach. It was timely for me because we’re considering taking pets on vacation with us next summer. My Experience Traveling with Pets When I was young and single, I had a cat. Whenever I made […]

IHG Mastercard Now at 125k Bonus: The IHG Rewards Club Premiere Credit Card now has a sign-up bonus of 125,000 points after spending $3000 within the first three months. This is the highest bonus I’ve seen on this card. Annual fee of $89 is not waived, but it includes a free night on your card anniversary […]

On my family’s recent trip to New Zealand, we visited Hobbiton movie set. This is where the Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit trilogy were filmed. Last year, when we decided to pool our miles and points for the big New Zealand trip, my husband said that visiting Hobbiton was a non-negotiable. He […]

On our trip to Australia and New Zealand last month, we used miles and points for our flights and some of our accommodations. The one big exception was our vacation home rental in New Zealand. Even though we shelled out quite a bit of cash for this one-week rental, I have no regrets! Why We […]

Over the last few years, it became sort of a tradition to use hotel points to treat my family to getaways in neighboring European countries. They live in Belarus (where I’m from), so many historic places are a train ride away. I rarely see my nephews and sister, so I guess this is one way […]

Confession: I’m not a big fan of kids’ birthday parties. I don’t like planning them, and I don’t like the stress of the actual party day. However, my kids love birthday parties, so most years I suffer through them. Two years ago, I offered my daughter a trip with the family to Great Wolf Lodge […]