How our award travel journey began
If you’re anything like me, the thought of exploring new places and experiencing different cultures has been a lifelong passion. Ever since I can remember, I've had a deep love for travel. And now as a parent, one of my biggest dreams is to share that love of travel with my kids and create lots of memories together.
As the kids get older, it’s becoming easier to envision us traveling as a family more frequently. They're at that perfect age where they're curious, adventurous, and can actually remember the trips we take now. This helps! When they were younger, I was not in the right headspace to prioritize a lot of family travel. It was way too overwhelming for me.
Like most families, we don’t have an infinite travel budget and I wanted to find a way to take more than one big trip per year as a family. That’s where my determination kicked in—I was super motivated to figure out a way to travel more often, spend less money, and still enjoy all the amazing experiences that travel has to offer without having to sacrifice quality.
Enter the concept of award travel! For those who might be new to the concept, award travel is all about maximizing points and miles from credit card welcome bonuses and cashing them in for nearly free travel (most often hotel stays and flights). It's been a game-changer for our family, allowing us to make a dent in our long list of destinations without breaking the bank. I really thought it was too good to be true at first…but it isn’t!
How we got started
My journey into travel hacking began with a lot of reading and research. At first, it seemed way too good to be true. Open credit cards and travel for free? How could that ever be possible?
After stewing on it for a while, I decided to give it a try. It didn’t seem too hard because I manage most of our household finances and pay the majority of our bills (Mark affectionately refers to me as the CFO of the family). I also plan most of our vacations (I’ve always loved to travel and am a full-fledged planner at heart), so it just kind of made sense for me to run with this. What did I have to lose?
Almost every source I found about award travel recommended starting with the Chase Sapphire Preferred card. I jumped in (cautiously optimistic), applied for the card, and got approved. We met the $4,000 minimum spend in a snap and quickly banked 80,000 points (there was an elevated offer at the time). Pretty excited by our success, I decided to take the next step. I referred Mark to the card, and after we met the minimum spend on that card, we had a whopping 180,000 points in our Chase account. (Remember, don’t add your spouse as an authorized user. Instead, refer them to the same card so you can earn double the points plus the referral bonus!)
Feeling pretty good about how easy the Chase Sapphire Preferred cards were, I contemplated which card to open next. Again, most of my research mentioned that Hyatt hotels are a sweet spot in the award travel game. Hyatt provides awesome accommodations for relatively low point prices compared to other brands, so you can get extra value from your points by booking Hyatt properties. I decided our next card should be the Chase World of Hyatt.
We followed the same steps. I opened the Hyatt card, hit the minimum spend, and banked 30,000 Hyatt points. I referred Mark, he opened the card, and we met the minimum spend on his card. We found ourselves with about 75,000 Hyatt points and 180,000 Chase points in a handful of months. Ultimately, we used some of these points toward our roundtrip Southwest flights to the Bahamas and our stay at the Grand Hyatt Baha Mar (which cost us $0). And we still had points leftover for another vacation!
This initial success turned award travel into a fun little game for us—how many cards could we strategically apply for, and how many points could we accumulate over time? We’ve booked many trips so far with our stockpile of points and at this point, we’re flat-out addicted!
Remember, the award travel game isn’t one size fits all - in fact, it’s quite the opposite. Depending on what your travel priorities are, you can tailor the type of points you earn and the pace at which you earn them. You’re also fully in control of how you redeem your points. Will you cash them in at more reasonable Hyatt properties so they stretch even further? Or will you use them to splurge on a high-end resort just because? We do a little of both!
Check out some of our other beginner-friendly blog posts if you’re thinking of getting started in the award travel game:
Conclusion
Cracking the code on award travel has made it possible for us to visit bucket list destinations more quickly than we ever imagined. All because we apply for new credit cards more often than the average person!
So, if you’ve been dreaming of traveling more but are worried about the cost, I highly recommend giving award travel a try. It’s opened up a world of possibilities for us, and I’m sure it can do the same for you.
We’re here for any questions. Happy travels!
❤️ Liz
Friendly reminder: We are not financial advisers, we are simply sharing our method and approach with you. Of course, it's important to use credit cards responsibly. Pay off your balance in full each month to avoid interest charges, and never spend more than you can afford just to earn rewards.
