Points and Miles

Odense

Hello! If you are reading this-- OMG! Thank you! (Hi, Momma! Hi, Sister!) I am figuratively blowing off the 4 years' worth of dust that has accumulated on this blog to share with you some exciting (to me) news. I am now a points and miles person, or more specifically, a person who redeems points and miles to pay for hotels and flights. How do I get these points and miles? Through credit card sign up bonuses. I've been in the "game" since September 2024, and I've got a whole strategy. I am sharing about it here in case any of this appeals to you because it's just too good not to share. If you want more TRAVEL in your life, you could play this game too. (If that's you -- let's chat!)

The impetus

If you know me in IRL, you know that travel on a shoestring budget sustained me in my 20s. In my late teens I was lucky enough to have two sponsored trips abroad (Brazil & Israel), and I was hooked. In my 20s, I studied abroad in Florence, got a nanny gig in the Lake Garda region after graduation, tagged along on Isaiah's internship to Munich, and spent our first two years of marriage living in Switzerland (hence the name of this blog). 

When we moved back to California, our days of travel came to a grinding halt. We had debt to pay off (credit cards and student loans). We wanted to buy a house. We wanted to grow a family. We got lucky enough to have a family! We tried taking a toddler on a trip abroad. We swore we'd never take little kids abroad again. The biggest hindrance in the years since: no money for travel. Then last summer, we had a choice: remodel the bathrooms or take a trip abroad. Somehow I convinced Isaiah to take a trip abroad, so we went to Denmark. The images used to make this post look pretty are from that trip. 

Despite the fact that I lost our passports at one point and we all got COVID, it was still the best trip ever. And when we got back home, all I could think about was how we could go on more trips even though we don't have extra money lying around for more trips like that. The thing is, there is a way to travel without a ton of money, and I started learning about it shortly before we left for Denmark. I made the choice to dive in when we got back.

Look, I am not interested in checking off boxes or growing my list of countries visited. In fact, I would be so happy to travel back to places we've already visited. My main objective is to make more travel happen. Period.

Odense

My previous experiences with miles

Prior to joining the points and miles game, I had only two credit cards that earned miles: Delta Amex and Alaska Airlines Bank of America. At first I got the Delta card in 2019 because I was flying from Seattle to San Diego with Delta at least once a year, and I thought it would be nice to save up for a free flight someday. Then when my sister moved to Montana, one summer we got lucky with a good price for a direct flight with Delta, but the next year we flew with Alaska. Then I got the Alaska card with the same idea to save up for a free flight someday. (What's funny is almost everyone I know in the Seattle area has an Alaska card. It's just what you do here.)

With the Delta card, it took three years to save up enough miles for 4 round trip flights to San Diego. With the Alaska card, I blew the welcome/sign up bonus on two nights at a hotel in San Diego when we were in town for a wedding. Then it took over a year to save up enough miles for me to fly with H and P to Montana to visit my sister and her family. 

The thing is, I am keeping these cards because they still have some value, even if it's just the free checked bag benefit. For a family of 4, that alone pays for the annual fee. Plus, the redemption values on Alaska short haul flights can be really good. I think having a stash of Alaska miles is always a good idea. 

Aarhus

How I got started

In June of 2024, a couple of months before our trip to Denmark, I came across an Instagram account called Brooklyn Family Travelers. It's run by an amazing entrepreneur called Rachel. She's a mom, wife, songwriter, and points and miles expert. I purchased one of her videos that taught the basics of travel on points. I didn't want to apply for a new credit card until I could wrap my head around the bigger picture. After finishing the video, I was hooked. (Here is the link to the Brooklyn Family Travelers website.) I've used her referral links as well as her affiliate links to apply for my credit cards. It's a great way to support her work!

It took a few of months until I felt comfortable with the idea of getting into this game, so I didn't apply until September, and my only regret is that I didn't start sooner. I eventually purchased another one of Rachel's videos, and with that one, my understanding of how to strategically use credit cards to earn points solidified.

Copenhagen

My strategy

Before I tell you what I've been up to, I wanted to make something very clear: A lot of people equate credit cards with debt, but for me, I focus on the word credit. The strategy I am about to share works for me because, over the last 15 years, I have made deliberate efforts to improve my credit and to use credit cards responsibly. (And what is "responsibly" for me may be different for you.) I have dealt with credit card debt in the past, and I never want to find myself in that position again. While I have a history of using credit cards to help me in situations in which I did not have the cash, I now keep zero balances on my cards and have them only for the benefits. I feel very fortunate that I now only use cards when I have the cash to pay back the balances, and I recognize that the only reason I can count "opening up credit cards" as one of my hobbies is because I have many advantages in my life that others do not.

A note on credit scores: Last summer, before I applied for my first "transferable points" credit card, my FICO credit score was 850. It is now 838, so yes, my new favorite hobby has affected my credit score, but not in any way that I am concerned about.

Here's what I do:

1. Prioritize credit cards that offer sign-up/welcome bonuses AND feature transferable points.

• Many credit cards offer a large amount of bonus points after you spend a certain amount of money within a specific time frame. Example: Earn 100,000 bonus points when you spend $5,000 in three months.
• I do not spend money on things I don't need just to get the bonus. Instead, I only apply for cards if I am confident our normal, everyday expenses will meet the MSR (Minimum Spend Requirement). If I am confident we can meet the MSR, then I shift ALL my spending to the ONE card that I am working on earning the bonus for. That sometimes means going into my accounts for my bills and changing the payment method. This includes all bills: water, trash, energy, phone, internet, Spotify, other streaming services, car insurance, etc.
• Some banks have co-branded cards, meaning they partner with ONE airline or hotel and you earn miles or points for those brands only (e.g., Delta and Alaska Airlines as mentioned previously), but those banks also have cards that allow you to TRANSFER your points to travel partners. That means you can transfer the points to ANY of their airline or hotel partners. The cards that offer the flexibility to choose from a list of travel partners are the cards I prioritize. 
• While cards with transfer partners are my priority, I am currently working on meeting the MSR to get the bonus for a co-branded card. (See point 2.)

2. Go slowly and pay attention to 5/24.

• Rachel taught me that you have to go slow or you risk getting credit card application denials. 
• I am prioritizing/starting with the cards for Chase bank, and they have a 5/24 rule. Word on the street is that they won't approve you if you have opened more than 5 personal cards (from ANY bank) within 24 months.
• In order to go that slowly with personal cards, I apply for small business cards in between. Many people qualify for small business cards. I sell gently used clothing, shoes, and toys on Poshmark and Facebook BST pages. I enter $200 for my annual business revenue. I am honest about this figure, but I still get approved because the banks take into account my household income and check my personal credit before approval. 
• I like to be working toward the MSR for a bonus as much as possible, so because I need to go slow with Chase (including their business cards), I am currently working on earning the bonus miles I'll get for upgrading my Delta Amex card.
• I hope to soon be working on earning bonus miles for an Alaska biz card I recently applied for.
• Another thing to do while spacing out Chase card apps is to take advantage of the multipliers on the cards I already have. For example, the Chase Sapphire Preferred gets 3X on dining, so if we eat out, I use that card. 

3. Earn and burn. 

• While some people use their points to book business class flights, I haven't figured out how I'd be able to earn enough points to do that, so I'm more of an earn 'em and burn 'em kind of girl. My goal when I started this game last September was to book an awesome family trip ASAP, so as soon as I had enough points to do that, I booked a trip! (See next section.)

CPH Airport

Upcoming family trip and the numbers involved

We are going to Hawai'i this summer for 9 days (10 nights). Total cost in points: 363,000. 

Here are the 4 cards we used to make this possible along with the bonuses we got and the time frame for reaching the MSR.

1. Chase Ink Preferred (Biz Card opened September 2024) 120,000 bonus points after $6,000 in 3 months.
• Approx. 138,000 points earned including bonus plus multipliers on the spend I put on this card. (I also redeemed 8,500 points for 2 nights in Dallas back in March.)
2. Chase Sapphire Preferred (Personal Card opened January 2025) 60,000 bonus points after $4,000 in 3 months.
• With the bonus + 10K for a referral + the multipliers for the spend I put on this card, the total points earned was approximately 77,000 points.
• This card is the NUMBER ONE card you should have if you are interested in trying out this whole points and miles thing. Currently, Chase is offering a once-in-a-blue-moon elevated offer of 100,000 bonus points if you spend $5,000 in 3 months.
3. Chase Sapphire Preferred (My husband's Personal Card opened March 2025) 60,000 bonus points after $4,000 in 3 months.
• I do most of the spending in our household, but I convinced Isaiah to get this card too because he does the Costco run and treats himself to coffee and pastries in the morning most weeks.
• He also had a bigger ticket item he had been thinking of buying for a while, so he finally took the plunge, and that helped reach the MSR more quickly.
• He used my referral link, and I got 10k points when he was approved!
• We combined Isaiah's points with mine in order to book the trip (approx. 64,000).
4. Chase Ink Unlimited (Biz Card opened March 2025) 75,000 bonus points after $6,000 in 3 months.
• Note: I used this card to pay about $3,000 to the IRS for taxes owed (fee was about $65)
• With the bonus + 1.5X on the spend I put on this card, the total points earned came to: 84,000.

Note: I also earned 9,000 Amex points from Rakuten shopping portal and transferred the points to British Airways to help pay for the flights.

Points Cost Breakdown:

A. Roundtrip airfare for 4 people: 160,000

• Cash price would be approximately $3,000.
• Redemption value: 1.8 cents per point.
• I transferred points from Chase to British Airways for Alaska Airlines flights. lol
• I booked each leg separately (one-way flights).
• Taxes were $44 total ($22 each leg for all 4 of us).

B. 7 nights stay at Hyatt Regency: 203,000

• Cash price would be approximately $5,300. 
• Redemption value: 2.6 cents per point.
• I transferred points from Chase to Hyatt. (We paid cash for the other 3 nights of accommodations at a different hotel.)
• Taxes and resort fees included in points price.
• We would never pay that cash price. I include it to show the value of the hotel stay.

Notes:

• We probably would have aimed for spending around $2,000 for 7 nights at a hotel (and that would be if we found something really affordable b/c Hawai'i is really expensive), so if we're thinking savings rather than value, booking this trip with points saved us approximately $5,000.
• If you do the math, you can see that we basically used up ALL our points for this trip and it took about 8 months to earn the amount we needed. 
• Now to start building up the stash for our next dream trip! ;)

Final tips

If all this sounds appealing to you, please reach out to me directly! I can share my referral link for the Chase Sapphire Preferred. If you apply and are approved, I get 10K bonus points! Remember it has an elevated offer of 100,000 points if you spend $5,000 in 3 months. Don't delay -- Chase announced that the elevated offer expires soon! EDIT: I just heard that the 100,000 points offer ends on May 15 9am ET!

Here is my referral link to the Rakuten shopping portal. If you have an Amex card that earns points, you can link it to Rakuten and earn Membership Rewards points. If you don't have an Amex yet, you can still sign up for the cash back and switch to points back later! The 9K points I earned last quarter from doing my online shopping through the Rakuten portal is what gave us just enough points to book our summer trip, so it's worth it!

Finally, I have TWO gift subscriptions to Rachel's Substack left to share. It will give you access to her posts for one month. Let me know if you'd like one and I will send her your email address.

If you have any questions, please reach out! I am happy to share what I have learned!