Travel Party of 5 | Points & Miles for Family Travel

Trip Planning for Families: My Entire Process, Start to Finish!

• Raya & Duane

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Link to my entire trip planning checklist for FREE! 

Planning a family trip can be stressful, but it doesn't have to be. Our discussion revolves around creating a structured timeline to help you earn points and maximize your travel experience. 

- Sharing a detailed planning timeline starting 18 months prior 
- Discussing how to choose travel destinations based on flight availability 
- Understanding the role of credit cards in earning travel points 
- Planning accommodations based on points options in each destination 
- Preparing travel logistics, packing, and activity planning 
- Final insights on stress-free family trip planning 

Thank you for tuning in! I’d love to hear your thoughts on this episode. Reach out on Instagram and let me know what you think!


Speaker 1:

If you're overwhelmed thinking about planning a big trip for your family, I've got you covered. In today's episode, I am sharing my exact trip planning timeline, from start to finish, including time to open cards and earn the points to use. 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 friends, and welcome back to Travel Party of Five podcast. I am Rhea, I am your host, or one of them, and we're doing things a little differently for the next few episodes, and I'm actually going to be doing a few solo episodes, primarily because we are gearing up to leave for our two-week trip to Europe in just a few days and our schedules are very, very busy, and so we just did not have time to record together, and so I will be here and we will have some fun and we will see how this goes. So today's episode, I am walking you through my entire trip planning timeline, starting with when I would start to think about opening cards to earn the points, all the way through up until the day of our trips, almost entirely by myself, and so Dwayne just doesn't have a lot to say on the topic anyways, and so that's why I thought this would be a really good episode to do without him. So we're going to start about 18 months before the trip, which I know sounds insane, but hear me out. So again, we're about 18 months out, and first I'm figuring out where we want to go, and I kind of have a running mental list of places that we want to visit, and this list is compiled of places I want to visit, also places I've been but my kids and Dwayne have not been to, as well as places that Dwayne has mentioned that are pretty high on his list. And so I kind of take that mental list and I also factor in whether or not we have our Southwest companion passes for that year, because that also factors into our decision.

Speaker 1:

When we have the companion passes, we try to focus more on places Southwest travels to companion passes. We try to focus more on places Southwest travels to which is primarily domestic and you know, the Caribbean-ish, a little bit of Central America, and so you know, for example, when we had the companion passes for 2023 and 24, we visited Hawaii twice, we did Washington DC, we did Costa Rica and a couple of other places. For 2025, we do not have the companion passes and we're focusing more on international, so Europe, japan, that sort of thing. But we do plan to earn them again at the end of this year, so really starting beginning of 2026. So that is our hope. Hopefully Chase will allow us to do that. Only time will tell.

Speaker 1:

So, once I've narrowed it down to where I think we're going to go, I'm searching on, first, google flights. I want to see if there's any airlines that have nonstop flights from our home airport, which is Phoenix, to our destination. If they do, then I'm going to prioritize earning points I can use on those airlines to book flights. If not, which is more common as big as a city, phoenix is, our airport doesn't have a ton of nonstop international flights. So if there's no nonstop, I'm going to try to understand the best airlines for us to use that maybe like don't have overnight flights and that sort of thing. And if there's really nothing that looks great, I'm also going to start to look at other airports nearby to see if positioning makes more sense For us in Phoenix that's typically San Diego, lax, san Francisco, maybe Denver or Dallas, depending on which direction we're flying.

Speaker 1:

And then, once I've got an idea of the flights, I'm going to work backwards to figure out how we're going to earn the points to pay for those flights. And I do this by knowing okay, for example, united has good flights to the airport we want to fly to and the saver fare is fairly cheap. So, thinking of United, I know United is a transfer partner of Chase, but I also know that I like to save all my Chase points for Hyatt, so it's unlikely that I'm going to transfer Chase to United. So my other options for United points are United cards, so co-branded cards, or I can pull up my airline alliances and for the record I don't keep that in my brain, I Google it every time but I do know that Air Canada and United are in the same alliance and so I can also look to see if the flights that I want are bookable via Air Canada. If they are, that opens up some additional options so I can transfer my American Express points or my Capital One points to Air Canada and I can then book flights that way.

Speaker 1:

Or again, I could also chase, also transfers to Air Canada, but again, I save all my chase points for Hyatt, so not an option for me, maybe it's an option for you. And then I estimate the points that I'm going to need for five of us and I attempt to open cards that will get me that amount of points. So whether that's a you know, an American Express card and I'm planning to transfer, or right now United has an elevated offer and so you know, maybe that's the best option, it's all going to depend on what's happening at the time that you are thinking this through, and also know that it's not going to be perfect, you may plan to get American Express points and transfer them and then, while you're in the process, then maybe United comes out with an elevated offer on their card. Okay, so we can't plan in advance for things that we don't know are going to happen. We can only deal with what's happening. You know, at the time we're making the decision, and so we do the best that we can. And then so I've kind of got flights. You know, I have a rough idea of flights in my mind and I have a plan for the cards I'm going to open. And then I'm going to do the same thing for hotels.

Speaker 1:

My first search for hotels is what points options are there for XYZ city? Right, I'll use an example of a trip that I think I'm planning for 2026, which is Belize Southwest does fly to Belize that's part of why we're considering it which is Belize Southwest does fly to Belize. That's part of why we're considering it. And then I will Google how to stay on points in Belize. And then there's only a few options. Spoiler alert, because I've already done this search, and so I'm going to kind of use that as my jumping off point.

Speaker 1:

If there are no Hyatts, then I might prioritize a Marriott card or an IHG card or, in the case of Belize, I think we're just going to do a mix of hotel and Airbnb and kind of forego points altogether for our stay and only use points for the flight. That's not ideal and it's not really what I want, but I can't make there be points hotels in a place we want to visit. So, again, around 18 months out, that's what I'm starting to do and I'm opening the cards so that I have the time to meet the minimum spends and have the points deposited in my account so that I'm ready to book in roughly four to six months. I'm ready to book in roughly four to six months. Now I will add you might need more than 18 months out if you have a lower monthly spend. We talk about this a lot, but we're a family of five and we have a fairly high amount of spend that we're able to meet, which gives us a little bit of an advantage. So you just have to know for your specific situation. You know how long will it take me to meet the minimum spend and earn these points. So just keep that in mind.

Speaker 1:

But for us, roughly 18 months out from the time we're taking the trip is a good average, and then around 14 months out from taking the trip, I am starting to look at school calendars and I'm mapping out the dates that we can go. So currently, as of the time of recording, we have three kids that all go to three different schools, and not only are they different schools, but they are all in completely different districts, which means they all have entirely different calendars. If that sounds like a lot to manage, you are correct. It is. However, starting in this fall, two of our kids will go to the same school which is an incredible time savings and they will both be in. So two will be in one district and one will be in a different district, and that will be the case for just this first year, and then it will change again. But the school calendars are already released through like maybe 2027. For sure, they're released for 2025-26 school year. So I am looking at those dates and I'm figuring out what dates do all of their breaks align and that gives me sometimes it's like a 10 day window, sometimes it's a two week window it just depends on the year, but that gives me a really good starting point of when I can start to, of when we can go essentially, and if it's a two week window, that's fantastic because then I can. That gives me a lot of wiggle room.

Speaker 1:

The other thing I'm doing around 14 months out is if it's a new country to us and I've never been and we've never been then I'm also figuring out where we're likely going to stay. So, going back to my example of Belize, I think we're going to do a split stay in Belize, kind of similar to what we did in Costa Rica, where we do part of our visit in the jungle of Belize and then part near the beach, and so again, I'm just roughly creating an idea of an itinerary in my mind so that when the time comes I'm ready to book and I know where I want to book. So now we're roughly 12 to 13 months out. So now we're roughly 12 to 13 months out, I am, if we're going to stay in a hotel, I'm going to book the hotel first. If it's a Hyatt, hyatt's open 13 months out, and so I may book an extra day or two on each end, because flight calendars will not be open yet and I may need to. You know we may need to fly out a day earlier or a day later, depending on the saver availability that's available when the flight calendar opens. And so I'm I'm booking, you know, probably a few extra days in as a buffer and then, once I've booked flights, I will adjust.

Speaker 1:

And so then, roughly 11 to 12 months out by now it's been about, let's say, six months I've hopefully earned my points and I have them ready to book and I'm booking flights. And again, like I mentioned, I'm adjusting my hotel days as needed to accommodate the flights that I book. And the other thing I'm doing 11 to 12 months out is, if we need a car rental, I'm also going to reserve the car that we need at this time. If the rate is high, which sometimes it is, especially when you book that far out I'm also going to use auto slash to keep an eye on the rate for me and they will email me when the price drops and I can rebook. It's super simple to do that, even if you're using like Costco travel, which is generally how we search. I will just put in my booking number and set up an alert and it will track the price if it drops, and so from there.

Speaker 1:

So now we're about a year out from the trip and we've got our hotel and our flights booked already, and from there there's a long period of time where I'm not doing much of anything right. The trip is booked, we've got it on the calendar, but as far as the nitty gritty specifics I'm not doing much until we get to about two months out. So at two months out I'm starting to think about excursions, tours, activities, that sort of thing, and I may, you know, randomly do a search here or there during that year, or I may save something I come across on Instagram or whatever that looks fun to do in a city we're planning to visit. But I'm not doing like hardcore research or booking until about two months out. As far as tours and activities, I'm going to try to book through Viator, using Rakuten, if possible. So Rakuten is a shopping portal. You can either earn cash back or American Express membership rewards points, and so you basically just go to Rakuten and then you go through Viator from the Rakuten website and then you book on Viator your tours.

Speaker 1:

I do try to wait until there's a higher percentage of cash back like 10 to 15% is generally pretty high and when I'm booking tours, I need to see a visual like layout of our trip day by day. So I'm sure that you could do this on a like a Google calendar or whatever you use. But for me I like to just get out an eight and a half by 11 regular sheet of white printer paper and I visually write out a calendar for our entire trip. So you know, I'll write out like Monday, you know, april 1, tuesday, april 2, whatever the dates may be, and I I leave room to write what we're going to do each day. I first go through and write in travel days and then I start figuring out okay, these are the activities we want to do and I start placing them on the calendar in pencil so that I can then move them around as needed.

Speaker 1:

I don't book anything until I have my calendar roughly how I want it, and then I'll go and start booking. I usually aim for one activity per day. This allows time for spontaneity, so we don't feel overscheduled, and this is something that I think is just a general good rule of thumb when traveling with kids. I also usually leave one free day, usually towards the end of our time in each location, because this gives us number one time to go back to places that we've seen, or time to add on something that maybe someone recommended, because nothing is worse than someone telling you about a great restaurant or a great place to visit and then your schedule is so booked that you can't squeeze it in, and I hate that. This also builds in a buffer. If someone is sick, which happens to us often, unfortunately, when you travel with kids, I think it's just par for the course and I think overall it just generally gives a more relaxed feel to the trip. Versus rushing to meet a schedule every single day. It gives us time to take the kids to a playground or just wander the streets, get ice cream, get a churro, whatever it may be.

Speaker 1:

The other thing I'm doing and again we're about two months out at this point is I'm looking at, maybe, any restaurants we may want to visit and whether or not we need reservations. I'm not making reservations at this point, at least not usually but I'm making a list and just keeping that in mind, and I might even make a Google map and start saving locations for that um destination. Uh, we have a new puppy, so the other thing I'm doing is making sure that we have him scheduled for boarding and that they have room and space for him. Um, generally two months out, I've I've learned is fairly good for our particular border, unless you know it's like a holiday and then you may need to do this more than two months out, I've learned is fairly good for our particular border, unless it's like a holiday and then you may need to do this more than two months out. But I'm making sure that that's reserved so that we have him all settled.

Speaker 1:

The other thing is I'm thinking logistically about what we're going to need on the trip. And so when I say logistically, I'm thinking do we need to bring car seats or boosters? Do we need a stroller? Do we need a carrier, that sort of thing? Our youngest is now five and she does pretty good walking. There will be times, I'm sure, where she will want my husband to carry her and he will. But I don't think that it would make sense for us to bring even like a baby carrier or a toddler carrier. I've looked at them and considered it, but I don't think it will be worth the space it will take up. So we're not going to do that. But obviously, if you have younger kids, this is something that, logistically, you'll need to plan for.

Speaker 1:

The car seat is, I think, personally the biggest struggle. So my oldest does not need any kind of a seat or booster. My middle he probably will be fine without a booster, but we do have an inflatable one that I may bring. And then I ordered a ride safer vest a few months back for our daughter, um, for our Europe trip coming up, and so that is basically like a car seat harness that she wears and it can be buckled into cars or taxis or whatever. The other thing that I'm ordering specifically for our upcoming trip to Europe is I have a turtleneck pillow that I love and I've had it since 2018 and it really helps me to sleep on overnight flights in economy, and I've ordered one for Dwayne and also for my two older boys. My youngest is too little for one I think you have to be seven or eight and so I wasn't able to get one for her, but I'm hopeful that that will help the older two sleep on our flight there. These are also things that we plan to use several times this year and likely next, and so I do think they're good investments for us. So that is about two months out and then jumping up to around one month out.

Speaker 1:

This is where I'm starting to think about outfits, clothes, what we need to pack If we're doing a photo shoot which we did this in Kauai, and we are also doing this in Paris coming up in a week or so so I need to plan an outfit for that. The way that I start this process if you're planning to do something similar is I usually start by Googling Paris family photo shoot and I look at the images. Or you know Hawaii family photo shoot or Japan family photo shoot and I look at the images. Or you know Hawaii family photo shoot or Japan family photo shoot. Wherever you're going to be, google this, the city or the country, and then family photo shoot and I look at the images and get outfit ideas from there. That helps me develop a vision for what I want us to wear, and I think some people will be like, oh my God, I'm so bad at choosing family outfits. The more that you do this, the easier that it gets.

Speaker 1:

I've been planning Christmas photo shoots for us for years, and so the process is now fairly easy, but I think the first time it was a little difficult. So just have patience with yourself, because, in addition to my vision, the other thing I'm factoring in is what can I get my kids to wear, if you know, you know, and then I'm ordering accordingly. Um, I usually start by ordering some stuff on Amazon and then I'm I'm likely going to return at least half of what I ordered, and then I repeat that process several times until I get what I need. I am aware that this is not the most sustainable practice. However, as a busy mom who works full time and has three kids all in their own activities, I don't have a ton of time to spend shopping in stores in person. So online ordering is what works best for us, and that's why I start at least a month out, so I can allow time for delivery and returns, and delivery and returns, et cetera.

Speaker 1:

The other thing about family photo shoots is my vision also has to align with what we can pack in a carry-on. So my goal is always carry-on only for all five of us, and it doesn't make sense to pack an entire outfit and shoes that's only going to get worn once, like. Space is limited and that just takes up way too much space. So, for example, for our Paris photo shoot coming up, we're wearing fairly fancy attire, like the boys will wear white button downs and black pants. My daughter and I have dresses, but we're all wearing sneakers. Even though it's more fancy attire and it's, this is done on purpose and I think it's going to look super cute, but it's also functional because the sneakers can be worn multiple times. So it's kind of killing two birds with one stone. Right, it's a style choice, but it's a little bit of a forced style choice because I don't want to pack a pair of heels that I'm only going to wear once.

Speaker 1:

Um, I'm also filling Dwayne in on my vision and telling him what he needs to wear so he can get that. He's an adult, he can handle his own clothes. I generally do not order his clothes and I never pack for him. He does all of that, but I do need to tell him what I'm thinking so that he has time to make sure it happens. And then, even if we're not doing a photo shoot, a lot of my kids' clothes are dirty and stained, especially my boy's clothes, and we have a new puppy who has put little teeth holes in a lot of their stuff as well, and that's fine for everyday wear at school, where they just come home filthy every day anyways. But in my opinion, it is not fine for Europe, in full transparency, if my kid is strolling down the streets of Paris in a stained, ripped Peppa Pig t-shirt, I'm going to be a little embarrassed. Okay, we listen and we don't judge. On top of that, we live in the desert, we're in Arizona, it's a warm climate, so Paris in March for us is going to be cold and it's also likely to rain. When I was in Paris last year, it rained the entire time. So we also likely need to get some more pants, rain jackets, whatever. Depending on how much time I have, I sometimes will try to go through Goodwill or whatever discount stores I can find to get items for pretty cheap, but also sometimes I just order from Walmart or Amazon and call it good. For our upcoming Europe trip, for example, I had to order all three kids new pants and I got some plain t shirts, some long sleeve shirts and rain jackets. I also got them each a new pair of shoes, which I talked about in um. Uh, you know about the photo outfits, but I can justify that because they will wear those sneakers until they have holes. So I feel okay about that.

Speaker 1:

Next up, and again we're still at about one month out. Um, so next up, I'm thinking of any appointments that I may need to make, either for the kids or for myself, before we go. For example, I will usually do a hair appointment for myself. That needs to be booked at least a few weeks out for me, if not a month. I'm also likely going to do a pedicure, maybe a manicure I don't always get manicures, but sometimes I do and then, if it's summer or we're going somewhere warm, I will also book a spray tan for myself. And then, on the note of appointments, in addition to scheduling needed appointments before we go, I also need to make sure that I'm canceling, like recurring appointments that we have. For example, one of my kids goes to therapy. He has an appointment every week, and so I need to make sure that I'm canceling, like recurring appointments that we have. For example, one of my kids goes to therapy. He has an appointment every week, and so I need to make sure I cancel that for the weeks that we're gone. So that's another kind of checklist item. Okay, so now we are one to two weeks out from leaving on our trip.

Speaker 1:

I am doing things like ensuring we have all the clothes we need. I've ordered everything. I'm placing last minute orders on Amazon. Usually, if we don't, I'm making sure the clothes are washed and ready to be packed. I'm also picking up airplane stuff. So this is things like activity books, coloring books for my younger two, making sure my oldest has one to two chapter books to read for the trip, and I'm also making sure that I have snacks both for the flights themselves and then also to keep in our hotel rooms for hangry kids at six o'clock in the morning.

Speaker 1:

At this point I'm also making sure that whatever I'm using to keep track of our itinerary has everything I need. So whether that's booking confirmation numbers or tour times or meeting points for tours, last year I made itineraries in Canva for all of our trips. This year I'm trying an app called Wanderlog and I will keep you guys updated on if I like that or not. This will be the first trip that I use it on coming up here in a week or so, but I want to make sure that everything is in there so I can easily just look at it on the day of and not have to stress about searching through my emails or whatever, looking for something. I'm ordering any other accessories that we may need, like plug adapters, any supplements or medications we may need to bring, anything we need to get refilled from the pharmacy, and making sure we have enough to last us through the duration of our trip. Same thing for my own skincare and makeup. I'm just making sure I have enough to last me the whole trip, especially if I need to get a new travel size like foundation or something like that.

Speaker 1:

Also, if we need to do laundry on a trip for example, our upcoming trip to Europe we will be gone for like 17 days and so we will definitely need to do laundry at least once. So I'm going to make sure we have enough laundry sheets. I am super sensitive to some fragrances, so I buy fragrance free laundry detergent sheets from. I buy them from Amazon. The brand is called Earth Breeze. They travel super well. They take up hardly any space. They're literally they almost feel like a dryer sheet, but it is laundry detergent and when you put it in water, obviously it dissolves. They work really well. I have no complaints. We've had the original pack we bought for about a year and we still have some left, so I would highly recommend. I can put a link in the show notes if that's something people are interested in.

Speaker 1:

And then another thing I'm doing one to two weeks out, is I'm also figuring out our phone service. So generally that's a question of if we're traveling internationally that is I'm figuring out are we going to buy an eSIM? We have Verizon, so they have what's called the travel pass. You can pay either a daily fee or you can do like a monthly international fee, and we do that specifically for Dwayne's phone. My phone is through my job so I cannot use an eSIM or anything like that, but for Dwayne's phone, I think for this trip upcoming specifically, we're going to do the monthly rate for Verizon because that was cheaper than paying day by day, because we're gone for again roughly two weeks a little over, and so I'm going. I'm going to set that up. If I'm planning to use a new credit card for our spending on the trip, then I'm making sure to apply for that a good two weeks before we leave so that the card has time to arrive before we leave. It is important for this card, specifically if you're traveling internationally, that the card has no foreign transaction fees. So make sure to keep that little tidbit in mind when you're deciding on a card to bring.

Speaker 1:

And then something else I'm doing is making sure we have some cash in a bank account that allows me to withdraw the money at an ATM overseas without a fee. Both Betterment and Charles Schwab are two examples of bank accounts that don't charge transaction fees for withdrawals. So I'm just making sure that there's some money in there for when we need to take out cash. I'm also making sure anything we need done by the time we get back is done before we leave, because one I know that when we get back we're going to be really tired, we're going to be jet lagged for a few days, and I'm not going to want to, you know, jump right on getting my taxes organized, for example. That's the thing that's top of mind for me right now, because it is the middle of tax season. I have not even attempted to organize our taxes yet and we are not going to get back until the end, you know, basically the end of March, which doesn't leave a lot of time.

Speaker 1:

So one of the items on my to-do list for before this upcoming trip is again to get that done, but this can really apply to anything. Another example is we're also renovating our primary bathroom shower, and I personally want to have all the materials picked out and ordered so that I can get it scheduled. The company won't schedule it until I've done that, and so, again, that's something that I want to have done before we leave on our next trip so that I can schedule it and have it ready to go for when we return. Those last two things, again, they're not necessities but they're nice to haves. And I think that brings up another good point that I do kind of have a secondary list of things where I'm like, okay, this would be really nice to have done, but if it doesn't get done because I don't have time, it's not the end of the world versus the things that need to get done, like, for example, I need to have we need to have phone service when we're gone, right, we need to be able to take out cash when we're gone, we need to have our medication when we're gone. Those are all necessary. And then I have a second kind of column for, like a quote nice to have done, okay.

Speaker 1:

So now we are moving on to the week of the trip. I am starting to pack for the kids. First, I'm generally laying out suitcases and I'm putting stuff in as it's washed. If we need to do laundry, I'm planning when we will do that roughly and figuring out how many outfits we need to last until the laundry day. I am doing things like making sure we have enough dog food for the dog to take to the boarding facility. I'm doing any last minute panic ordering from stuff that I forgot. I am coordinating with our housekeeper so she doesn't show up when we're gone. I'm letting her know like we'll be out of town. You know, can we schedule for XYZ date once we get back? I am making sure all bills and credit cards are paid. Our bills are paid on autopay, but some of our credit cards are not. I like to go in and manually pay them. That just helps me keep our spending in check, and so I'm making sure all those are paid. You know, if the due date is any time while we're gone, I'm just paying it in advance so that I don't have to worry about it and there's no chance of me forgetting.

Speaker 1:

I am also figuring out which cards we're going to bring, and so obviously credit cards. Again, because we're traveling internationally, all the cards must have no foreign transaction fees. That's a requirement, first and foremost. Usually that would be whatever card we're working on a sub for. But if not if we were not working on a sub, and or the card we were working on does charge foreign transaction fees, then I would likely bring the following I would bring my Capital One Venture X because that gets 2X on everything and no foreign transaction fees. I would bring Duane's Amex personal gold card for all restaurants, because we will be eating out a lot and that will get 4X at restaurants. And then I would, if we're staying at a hotel, I would bring whatever my co-branded hotel card is. So if it's Hyatt, I'm making sure I have either my Hyatt personal or my Hyatt business card and any and all hotel charges. If there are any, we'll go on that card specifically. So those would be the three that I would bring if I were not working on a sub. I'm still going to bring all those three on our upcoming trip, but we are also working on actually two signup bonuses and I'm going to bring those cards as well.

Speaker 1:

And then the night before the trip, I am finalizing, packing everything. I am cleaning out the fridge, I'm cleaning the house, duane is going to take out the trash and make sure all that is done. I'm dropping the dog off at the boarding facility. Dwayne is charging all devices and downloading whatever shows the kids have requested onto their iPads. He generally will ask them what shows do you want? And they usually give a few options and he downloads them all, either from Netflix or Disney Plus. He's also making sure all the devices are charged and ready to go.

Speaker 1:

I am charging any cameras or video equipment that we might be bringing. Sometimes we do record YouTube video of our trips. I think I've only ever put up one YouTube video so far because editing takes so much time, but we do record it and we will likely record this one as well. So I'm making sure that I've got those devices charged, I've got batteries for them, I've got all that stuff and then, um, you know, I'm finishing up my packing. So the kids should all be packed generally a couple days prior, but I do not pack for myself until the night before and then obviously finish up in the morning with, you know, toiletries and all that that I need to use in the morning. The other thing I'm doing in the morning is likely heating up some type of breakfast sandwich that's frozen and I'm wrapping them up in tinfoil and bringing them to the airport for breakfast for the kids. This is in case either there's no time to get into a lounge or there's a wait to get into a lounge, or there's no lounge in the terminal we're flying out of, and that way I don't have to spend, you know, $80 on a subpar airport breakfast for the kids, and that pretty much wraps up my entire process.

Speaker 1:

I am aware that for some people, starting to plan a trip 18 months in advance is insane and that's okay. I want to recognize, like I understand that's not for everyone, but when you are traveling with a bigger family and there's you know, there's five of us, it is imperative that we get as much value for our points as we can, and the way to do that is by booking, you know, 12 to 13 months out for your flights and hotels, and I can promise you that the schedules will work around the trip that you have booked and everything will work out just fine. There has not been really anything that we've missed out on that's been life altering by doing this, and we've been doing this for several years. So I do understand that it is a bit of a mindset shift to start thinking about, you know, travel that far in advance. But if you're really serious about taking the trips and and wanting your kids to see the world and using points to do it, this is going to be your best bet. And I'm not saying that you can't plan trips, you know, sooner than 18 months in advance, but you need to reverse engineer the whole process and you need to allow yourself time to sign up for the cards, earn the points and then have the points ready to go. Now can you book a trip six months in advance? Yes, might you have to be a little more flexible on either where you go or when you go or how you go, meaning economy versus business Also, yes. So I think if you don't want to compromise and you want to pick the place you want to go and you want to pick the exact dates you want to go, then booking in advance is going to be your best bet. If you can be more flexible and you don't really care so much about the destination, then you have more time and more power to you.

Speaker 1:

Okay, that's my soapbox for the day. So, overall, planning a family trip with points and miles doesn't have to be overwhelming. It just takes a strategic approach and a solid timeline. Hopefully, by breaking it down step by step in this episode, you know, from earning the points to finalizing bookings and doing all the packing and planning you can see what can seem like a big, daunting task doesn't have to be. I'm going to write up a quick like guide or checklist. I'm not exactly sure of the format yet, but some type of a timeline.

Speaker 1:

So if this episode was helpful and you're someone who needs something visual or concrete that you can look at, download, print out whatever, I'm going to put a link to that in the show notes. So don't forget to download that if that is helpful and you can follow along with my exact process and start planning your next Points. Powered family getaway. Thank you so much for listening. Please send me a message on Instagram. Let me know if you like the solo episodes, if you don't like them, and also just come say hi. Thanks so much. Catch you on the solo episodes if you don't like them and also just come say hi. Thanks so much. Catch you on the next episode. Bye.