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Travel Party of 5 | Points & Miles for Family Travel
Let us pull back the curtain and show you how you can maximize money you're already spending to earn enough credit card points and miles to travel with your family for nearly free.
We've used credit card points and miles to take our family of 5 on trips to places like Costa Rica, San Diego, Disneyland, Oceanside, NYC, Washington DC, Hawaii, and next year we have already booked Paris, Spain and Japan!
Using credit card points and miles (often called travel hacking) doesn't have to be overwhelming or take a ton of time, and we can show you how.
Can you earn a lot of points and miles without opening up multiple credit cards? Only if you have a really high amount of spend each month. For people with larger families, opening new cards is the easiest and fastest way to earn enough points and miles to take a couple of really low cost (but not low budget) family vacations every year!
If you want to learn ways to help you and your family travel more affordably using credit card points, this show is for you.
Travel Party of 5 | Points & Miles for Family Travel
What's Coming in 2025 - Credit Card Strategies, Trips, & Life Updates!
This episode shares our travel plans for 2025, including family trips to Europe, new puppy challenges, and credit card strategies for maximizing travel. We discuss life updates, budgeting tips, and our adventures in making travel a family affair.
• Life update: introducing our new puppy, Maui
• Upcoming trip to Christmas markets in Europe, exploring Paris, Strasbourg, and Cologne
• Planning spring break travels in Paris and Spain
• Summer plans for Oceanside and adjustments due to Hyatt renovations
• Strategy for credit card usage to accumulate travel points
• Exploring new travel apps for budgeting and trip planning
• Goals for the podcast: reaching more families with travel inspiration
Hi, friends, Today's episode is all about what's coming up in 2025, including the trips we've got on the calendar, our credit card strategies for the new year and also a couple of fun life updates. So listen in. Hi, I'm Raya. And I'm Dwayne, and we are your hosts of the Travel Party of Five podcast, where we share how we travel as a family of five around the world.
Speaker 2:We will also share how we use points and miles to travel as affordably as possible and sometimes even completely free.
Speaker 1:So if you're wanting to travel more with your family but you're not sure how, we'd love for you to listen in.
Speaker 2:So welcome to our podcast, where we hope you learn a thing or two to get you closer to your next trip.
Speaker 1:Hello, welcome back.
Speaker 2:Welcome back. Thanks for tuning in.
Speaker 1:So today we are going to be covering a smorgasbord of things, including what we've got coming up in 2025 as far as trips, kind of how we're thinking about our credit card strategy for this year and, spoiler alert, we've already gotten our first card approval of the year, which is exciting, and then also a few changes to some trips that were already booked that we were kind of forced to make, and a couple of new apps that I'm going to be trying out this year. So a bunch of random, miscellaneous charcuterie board of items today. Anything to add.
Speaker 2:No, just the fact that I like charcuterie boards. Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1:Okay, okay. Do you want to share our first big life update that is going to make traveling a little more difficult?
Speaker 2:yes, so over the christmas break we decided to get a puppy yep, well, we didn't just we decided a few months back.
Speaker 1:Well, yes, but it was yes, a christmas gift for for the kids.
Speaker 2:We surprised them and it was a great, great surprise.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so we have a. What is he? 10 weeks old now, a 10-week-old shepherd mix.
Speaker 2:He's only 10 weeks.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he's freaking huge. Okay, I checked and he's 11 weeks old. 11, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yes, and he's pretty big already and he's got huge paws.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so he is a shepherd mix. We got him from a rescue. He was part of a litter of 10 and we're gonna do the doggy dna test to find out exactly what he is. But he looks kind of like a shepherd. He has like the black and brown coloring. He just doesn't have the pointy ears. His ears are floppy. So, oh, do you want to say what we named him?
Speaker 2:We named him Maui because he was a chill dog when we got him, and Maui the island of Maui is really chill as well. So, yes, that was the reasoning behind our yes, that was the reasoning behind our yes.
Speaker 1:So the first time that we saw him, him and all his litter mates were just snoozing away and they were maybe six or seven weeks at that point, and the people that were running the rescue and like that were fostering him specifically kept commenting on how chill all of these puppies were. And so when we brought him home, his name was max. That was the name that the rescue gave him and we were fine with keeping that as his name, but we wanted to let the kids weigh in and so over the course of the of his first weekend with us, we kind of settled on maui, because he is a pretty chill dog but he's also very smart and so yes.
Speaker 1:Maui also happens to be our favorite Hawaiian island that we visited, so yep and when he's in trouble we call him Maui Maximilian.
Speaker 2:I don't, I just call him Maui.
Speaker 1:That's his unofficial middle name. Well, I tried Maui Louise and Dwayne was not having it, so anyways, yeah, but he's obviously a bundle of energy. He's very bitey right now.
Speaker 2:Shoes on everything.
Speaker 1:As all puppies do, but German Shepherds especially do. So, um, we have an added layer of trip planning now because we need to find someone to watch him when we go away. Uh, so if you're in the East Valley of Phoenix and you like to dog sit, uh, message me on Instagram. In the meantime, we've got a few options that we're looking into, because our first trip is coming up pretty soon. So second life update is we briefly touched on this in our last episode, but we but we ended up, impromptu, spontaneously booking a second trip to Europe next year for all five of us, year for all five of us and that is to go see the christmas markets. Because I was having severe FOMO watching on instagram everyone at the christmas markets and christmas markets have been on the top of my travel bucket list for probably I don't know eight, nine years, like ever, since I learned about them. I like, I'm, am like I have to go there, yeah, so I don't know much about them.
Speaker 2:I mean, I've seen pictures. They look fun and festive.
Speaker 1:I mean, I think the whole idea is it's very like festive and looks really beautiful and you go and you just eat a lot of food and drink a lot of like mulled wine and maybe beer, I don't know I'm I'm in for that.
Speaker 2:We just have to bundle up.
Speaker 1:Um, I also heard they're. You know some of them are really fun for kids and they have like fun kids activities yeah, which our kids will take full advantage of yeah, so I think that should be fun. The super exciting thing and our kids do not know this, so I'm going to speak a little softer is that our flights there are going to be in business class for all five of us, and so that is exciting.
Speaker 2:That's pretty exciting.
Speaker 1:We're going to fly out of Denver, so we will have to reposition. It's pretty exciting we're going to fly out of Denver, so we will have to reposition. But that's not a long flight and I've already bought our repositioning flights because they were cheap, and we will fly direct from Denver to Paris in business class. So I'm really looking forward to that. Yeah, me too. Actually. The cost of that was 212,500 miles.
Speaker 1:Those were all saver fares on air France, and that's because all three of our kids are still, or will still be at that point, under 12. So under 12, you get 25% off bookings on air France specifically. So, um, if we were to go just a few weeks later, our oldest would not qualify because his birthday is at the end of December. But we're squeezing one in before he jumps to the adult pricing, and we will. We will fly into Paris, Then we will take the train to Strasbourg, which is kind of on the France-German border, and we will stay there for a few nights. And then we will take the train to Cologne and we will stay there for a few nights and then we will fly home from Frankfurt, I think.
Speaker 2:Are Christmas markets only in Germany?
Speaker 1:No, they have them in other places in Europe, but Germany is like the best ones, and so I wanted to, for sure, see some of those.
Speaker 2:I only know a few words in German Heineken, heineken, volkswagen, oh my God, that's it.
Speaker 1:That's it. That's two, I wouldn't even say that's a few. Okay, so Christmas markets, we've got fully booked. We've also got coming up in March. We're doing Paris and Spain for spring break, so it'll be a little chilly, especially in Paris, I think, but hopefully we'll get some decent weather. I don't really have a ton booked for that yet. I'm gonna. I've got a few things booked in Paris, but nothing in Spain, so I'm gonna book a few things. You were supposed to look up soccer games, right? Oh yeah, football.
Speaker 2:Football.
Speaker 1:Did you do that?
Speaker 2:No, I did not. Well, yeah, I just I worry about the football games there because they're the fans.
Speaker 1:They're real intense I mean, I know, but I feel like it would be an experience.
Speaker 2:I mean it would be. I excuse me. I would love to go to one.
Speaker 1:Well, we'll just have to see if they have anyone. We're there, um, and then let's see over the summer. Our other update is so over the summer we have two trips planned. One is just for the 4th of July week to Oceanside, and we're also going to stay at the Grand Hyatt Indian Wells for a few days on our way there. So that's a new to us property, so that'll be fun.
Speaker 1:Our other summer trip has changed a little. So we were planning to go to Yosemite, which we're still going to do that part is still booked and then we were going to go to Lake Tahoe and spend a few days and stay at the Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe. However, we got an email a week or two ago that the Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe is undergoing renovations. So this is important if you either have currently reservations booked or you are considering booking it for this summer. They are undergoing a major renovation and it is supposed to last until 2027. At least, it'll probably go longer. As we know, with these things they always go run over the timeframe. Um, but they have closed part of the resort, including the private beach. Access to Lake Tahoe is closed, and so if you're visiting in the winter and you're going there to ski, I think fine, no big deal. But if you're planning a summer trip, like we were, that's pretty crappy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because I say the private beach there is the best part of the property.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I think what we will do is we're going to cancel our reservation there and there's a Marriott also in South Lake Tahoe and I think we're going to book that and it probably won't be as nice. We don't have status with Marriott or anything, but I think if we can't have the beach and all the restaurants that are on that side of the resort, I don't really want to spend the points. I'd rather wait until it's finished and then we can go and enjoy it fully. Yeah, so I think that's probably going to be our plan B. Um, so we'll still have the same amount of time, but instead of saying it, instead of staying at the Hyatt, we'll stay at the Marriott I think it's the Marriott timber lodge or something like that which is a Marriott vacation club, so you can get like um, villas that have like a full kitchen and stuff. So, um, yeah, so that's that's our plan for that. A few updates um, as far as the podcast goes, do you have any thoughts or goals for 2025 on this podcast?
Speaker 2:I just you know we're all about gaining more attention and listeners, so I'm you know. Hopefully we can do that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that would be good.
Speaker 2:Um, so if you're out there listening, share. Share us with somebody.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that would be fantastic. We would so appreciate that. Um, I would like to have some guests on the podcast this year. I have a few in mind of people I follow on Instagram that I think would be a good fit. That are, you know, families of five or more. I just would like to find someone who's doing a trip that is not on our radar and that we haven't done, you know, to give people kind of more insight and options into other destinations, because, at the end of the day, we can only take so many trips. You know what I mean. There's just some. Only so much time in the year, there's only so much pto that can be approved, so I mean only so many points and miles that you can use.
Speaker 2:True, yeah, because family of five, it takes a lot.
Speaker 1:They go so fast, yeah, so I guess, on that note, that's a good segue into our credit card strategy for 2025. So, as a quick recap, in 2024 we opened do you know how many cards? 12, 15, it's close. We opened 15 cards in 2024. I would like to do something similar this year, although I don't know Like that is pretty aggressive and I don't know, super aggressive, super Like when you say that to someone who, like, has no idea about points and miles, I mean they fully think you are off your rocker, you have lost your mind. Like what the heck are you doing?
Speaker 2:I mean here? Let me just put it in perspective I what? It's 2025 now, in 2022 I had zero.
Speaker 1:Yeah, probably in 2023 too, yeah because in 2020 well, no, 2022 is when we started, and so so 2023 is when I opened the first few cards.
Speaker 2:So before 2022, I had zero credit cards yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, really you still have zero, because I really have them all. Yes, Dwayne doesn't ever get the physical cards.
Speaker 2:I always have to ask her when we're going shopping. If I'm going shopping by myself, hey, what card should I use? She's like here use this one or use yours.
Speaker 1:So, anyways, I don't know if we'll be able to do that velocity again in 2025, but I would like to come close if we can, because we don't have a ton of points right now. Um, I am, we are going to be partially focusing on like stacking and other ways to earn points without signup bonuses. So, for example, we go to Staples or like any office supply store and we will buy roughly a thousand dollars worth of the fee-free gift cards and we use those at costco because, predominantly they're five times the point yeah, it's five x or five, yeah.
Speaker 1:So for a thousand dollars spend, you'll get five thousand chase ultimate rewards points if you use your chase inc cash business, and so we do that roughly once a month and we use those at Costco, especially if it's an Amex card that you're working on your minimum spend for, which is what has been happening to us for the last few months We've been. We had an Amex Hilton, two Amex Hiltons actually, and then now we're working on your Amex gold personal.
Speaker 2:Because Costco does not accept.
Speaker 1:American Express. Yeah, so we do that. We also do Rakuten. I actually earned 100,000 Rakuten points in Q4 of 2024, predominantly due to Christmas shopping and some stuff I had to order for work. So hopefully those will all there. A lot of them are pending right now. Hopefully they'll all get confirmed before the February payout date, which is coming up soon.
Speaker 1:Um, so we're really just focusing on kind of building up points balances, because the next trip we're going to book, I think, is Belize for 2026. And we're going to pay cash for, I think, all of our lodging there. Um, for, yeah, because the the points options are slim. There's a Hilton and a Marriott. That's pretty much it. I don't know that I want to use our Hilton points because we do have some, but they're not going to go very far because we need two rooms and so I think we're probably just better off paying cash. Is is my thought process there and we will use points for flights, but those points are going to be southwest points and they're going to come towards the end of the year when we start working on our companion passes for 2026 and 2027 yes, because our companion pass is no longer yeah.
Speaker 1:so we do not have companion pass for this year and we will work on getting it again at the end of this year. Part of our strategy is taking it a little bit easy with Chase for that reason, because we need to make sure we can get approved for the Chase cards at the end of the year. So we'll probably get one or two Chase cards each in the beginning of the year and then probably give it a good six month rest before we open our first Southwest card around November-ish.
Speaker 2:Yeah Sounds like a plan.
Speaker 1:The other thing that's on my mind is so in 2024, we slowly started adding in Hilton points. So now we each have a Hilton card and we have roughly 400,000 points between the two of us and one free night certificate, which is pretty valuable. So in 2025, we're going to start getting some Marriott points, because there is a bucket list Marriott property that I want to stay at. It is the JW Marriott Masai Mara, and we are several years out from our kids being able to handle a safari, I think, because it's a lot of time like on trucks.
Speaker 2:That's in Africa, by the way.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, yeah. But I think earning the points starts now, because it's a lot of points and we need two rooms and then we still have to pay cash for the fifth person.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so that's on the radar.
Speaker 1:That's on the radar, and we're just going to start slowly accumulating points for that now in in the hopes that in a couple of years we will have enough points. What else? Oh, okay, the last thing on my list is there are two new apps that I am going to try out this year. So the first one is called travel spend and it's basically just an app that keeps track of your spend while you're traveling. I haven't even downloaded it yet, but I am going to try to use that this year to get a better idea of what we're spending on like food and excursions, and all of that Because I keep a loose like I have a loose idea in my mind and I assign it in our budgeting software, but I don't like, sometimes I forget, and so I'm excited to try that out because I think it'll give us a good picture of exactly what we are spending. Um, and then the other app is called wander log, and this is an app that can help you to plan your trips. Um, previously we have used trip it, which I'm I have liked and I do like that it syncs with your email confirmation, so if you get, like, a flight confirmation email or whatever, it will automatically populate in the TripIt app, but I do find it kind of tedious when you are planning, like trying to add in activities and excursions every day. I find it kind of not user-friendly. And so Wanderlog is another app similar to TripIt that does those things, but I've heard it's better for the actual planning part of the trip, and so I am going to download that and try that out and compare and I will report back. Wanderlog also does have like a budgeting tracking type thing, so maybe you can do it all in one app. Maybe I don't need both, but I'm going to try out both and we will see how it goes.
Speaker 1:And then the only other thing is for 2025 is we are starting to book for 2026 travel. So I I'm pretty sure we're going to do Belize for our spring break. We're thinking about Scotland for summer 2026. Originally we were thinking Yellowstone and maybe we'll do both. I don't really know yet. I don't know how much time Scotland will take, but my mom really wants to go to Scotland and our parents aren't getting any younger, so I think it's important to prioritize that first. And she's a big Outlander fan so am I actually. I'm just not fully caught up yet on all the seasons, but she's read all the books and now she's watching the show and so she really wants to go to Scotland. So we're considering that for summer and then fall I have no idea Like I think it would be fun to go back to somewhere in Asia, but I don't know. What do you think?
Speaker 2:I think it's a good plan we got. I mean, 2027 is still quite a ways away. This is 2026 we're talking about Belize Scotland, we got to plan trips for us.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's the one thing we don't have planned for 20, even for 2025 yet is a getaway for Dwayne and myself. We try to do at least one every year. Last year we were really fortunate and we got four One big one and then four like well and one of those was, yeah, just like one day well, they were all. Well, I guess flag staff was two days, the other two were just one day came and was more than that no, no, I know I'm not talking about.
Speaker 1:I said one big one and three small ones, gotcha. So, yeah, um, we are probably going to go to cabo. That is probably going to be our trip this year, but we don't have it booked and I don't know, maybe I'll be able to book it this week. You have to check with your work schedule first, because we have a like a two month window where we don't have any trips planned, so somewhere in there would be good for us just to go for like three nights. It's a two-hour flight, it's super easy, but the downside is the flights are expensive. For it being so close, like, the flights are like $600 a person, maybe more Like. That's a lot to me.
Speaker 2:It is.
Speaker 1:And, like Google Flights, says that the price is typical, because you know it'll tell you like prices are low, you should book now. Or prices are high, you should wait. Nope, they're like prices are typical, book whatever. So, anyways, okay, so that is our plan Credit cards, aiming for some Marriott points, trying to stick to business cards, because I am currently at 424 and you are at 524. You will drop down to 424, I think, in February, but we're really trying to stay at 424 or below to make sure that we're eligible for any elevated chase business card offers. Um, and I think the rest of our credit card strategy, if I didn't say this already, is really going to be based on what elevated offers are available, cause that's really what I'm focused on.
Speaker 2:You get the most out of those.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like the Marriott business card, for example, right now has an offer of three free nights. But sometimes they do an elevated offer and it's five and I would apply if it were five free nights, although that doesn't help us really earn the points I want. But I would potentially use those in Belize if we could. But I would potentially use those in Belize if we could. So we're we're basically looking for elevated offers and want to make sure that we're in a position to jump on them when they arise.
Speaker 1:Chase also had a really good offer last year that I am hoping they bring around again, because we didn't apply for it and I regret it. There was a Chase Freedom offer that basically matched all of your annual spend. I forget the exact offer, but it gave you like three or five X on all your spend and then Chase would match whatever you spent at the end of the year. So some people are earning like three, four, 500,000 Chase points from that offer. I'm surprised you didn't do that. Actually, I don't really know why I didn't. I think there was some kind of issue with the 524 status because it's a personal card. But I'm really hoping it comes around again this year because one of us will be getting it for sure.
Speaker 1:So that's our strategy Elevated offers, as many as we can get. Build up our point stashes so that they don't look so sad Like I think. Right now I have 940 American Express membership rewards points Okay, 940. That's it. That's it, and I've earned like over 400,000 in 2024. So that's pretty wild. They're just all gone, these kids. They take up so many points.
Speaker 2:All right. Well, I think that's it. Yep, hope your new year is going as planned and we'll catch you on the next one. We will catch you on the next one.
Speaker 1:Thank you. So, oh, as a side note, thank you for listening. We greatly appreciate you. If you find this podcast valuable, please share it with a friend. Follow us on Instagram at travel party five. Um, I am the one who's on there and you can message me at any time with questions.
Speaker 2:Yes, so thank you.