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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
The Cape - #22 Best Hotel in the World is BOOKABLE ON POINTS! (Our Annual Couples Getaway sans kids!)
WAITLIST: Points Travel Strategy Session - LAUNCHING AUGUST 5TH! Join the waitlist for $50 off when you schedule!
In this episode we take you on a journey through our luxurious kid-free vacation at The Cape, a Thompson Hotel in Los Cabos, Mexico, ranked as the #22 best hotel in the world by Travel & Leisure. Our oceanfront suite booked with Hyatt points provided breathtaking views, exquisite service, and unforgettable dining experiences during our three-night getaway.
• Booked using 105,000 Hyatt points (35,000 points per night) with a suite upgrade for a room valued at over $3,000
• Property features stunning infinity pools, open-air lobby, and ocean views from every angle
• Hotel ranked #22 on Travel & Leisure's 100 Best Hotels in the World list and #3 among Mexico's top resorts
• Food highlights included amazing spicy tuna rolls poolside and exceptional dining at Manta, the hotel's Michelin-starred restaurant
• Both on-property and off-property restaurants served outstanding seafood, with Cocina Del Mar delivering the best tuna crudo we've ever had
• Beach at the hotel not suitable for swimming due to strong currents, but perfect for watching surfers
• Spa experience featured ocean views, sauna, steam room, hot/cold plunges, and an 80-minute couples massage
• Los Cabos town visit to Mango Deck provided beach time with calmer waters for swimming
• Private airport transfers were worth the cost ($143 round trip) for convenience and comfort
• Trip total came to $3,566 including flights ($1,080), food ($1,400), spa ($489), and miscellaneous expenses
If you're interested in booking a one-on-one points strategy session, they're going live August 5th - check the link in our show notes for details and join the waitlist for a $50 discount.
We just returned from our annual couples getaway, and this time we stayed at the most stunning oceanfront hotel in Los Cabos, mexico. Of course, we booked it on points and we are sharing all the things today, so let's dive in. Hi, I'm Raya.
Speaker 2:And I'm Dwayne.
Speaker 1: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:Hey friends, before we dive into today's episode, I wanted to give a quick heads up that if you had previously signed up on the waitlist to be notified when one-on-one coaching sessions or point strategy sessions, whatever you want to call them when they go live, you should have gotten an email from me this past weekend If you're listening to this, you know the day that it airs letting you know that the sessions will officially be launching on Tuesday, august 5,. I will send out another email the morning of August 5, if you are on the waitlist. If you are not on the waitlist and you're listening to this on Monday, august 4, I will put a link in the show notes so that you can join, because you do get a $50 discount if you are on the waitlist. So check that out and let's dive into today's episode.
Speaker 2:Welcome back.
Speaker 1:Hello friends.
Speaker 2:Thanks for tuning in.
Speaker 1:So sorry about our little delay. Last week we had no episode and I felt sad about it all week actually. So apologies, that was, that was not a planned thing, but Dwayne and I were in a fight, so yes, life happens and we we also had kids starting back to school and it's just been a whole.
Speaker 1:The last few weeks have been very busy, so, um, but we are going to share all the details of our stay at the Cape and I don't know where should we start. Actually, I know exactly where to start Because there's a little funny story about part of the reason why I booked this stay for us and essentially I thought we were gifted some Hyatt points that just magically appeared in our account and so I use them and okay, so this, probably at the beginning of the year I noticed that our Hyatt points balance was significantly higher than it had been. So we had like around 90,000 ish Hyatt points had like magically appeared in our, in my Hyatt account, and I was like that's kind of weird and I looked at all of our upcoming reservations and they were all still there and the amount was like not a standard amount, right, like it wasn't like 105,000 points or it wasn't a flat amount, it was random, like 91,272, or something like that. And so I told Dwayne this and then I started googling and redditing and, like I had, I found a few people who were like yeah, that has happened to me once or twice before and, like you know, it just happens it's kind of like a glitch or an error and I was like I'm certainly not going to turn down free Hyatt points, so I'm definitely not going to call and bring it to anyone's attention, like I'm just going to book something before they try to take them back. Okay, so that's what I did. I booked this stay, so we stayed for three nights and it was 105,000 points total, so 35,000 points a night. The Cape is a Thompson hotel and it is which is under the Hyatt brand, and it is a category seven, which is under the Hyatt brand and it is a category seven.
Speaker 1:Okay, so then fast forward to maybe like a month ago. I'm looking at one of our stays for Japan, which is the Hyatt Centric Ginza in Tokyo, and I realized that it says I booked like a suite using points plus cash, which, if you're familiar with Hyatt, that is like a really terrible use of your points, because it's always a lot of cash and still like a decent amount of points, and I would never book that way. But what I had done was I had called to apply a suite upgrade award to our reservation again at the beginning of the year, and this was probably about a month before I noticed we had these extra points. So I didn't relate the two together. And so then I realized like, instead of applying the suite upgrade award, they changed my reservation to a points plus cash booking and booked me in a suite but didn't take my award. So now I'm in a panic because we have this stay coming up in a couple months and there's no points availability at all at this property.
Speaker 1:So I call the globalist line and I basically say like hey, I just noticed that when I called to apply this suite upgrade award instead you know it was my reservation was changed and it was changed from a straight points booking to a points plus cash. And I mean it was like expecting me to pay several $1,000 upon check in. And I was like absolutely not, are we doing that? No way. And so it took some back and forth.
Speaker 1:I did have to call the globalist line twice. They opened a ticket. They basically had to get the hotel to like reopen the availability. And the reason I had to call a second time is because I was like hey, like I called about this two weeks ago and it hasn't been fixed. And the woman was like I see the ticket, but there's just no points in your account and I had kind of been secretly hoping they would just like rebook it without making me transfer more points. But they didn't. So I had to transfer more chase points over to Hyatt so that then they could complete the correct booking, which was points plus a sweet upgrade award and no cash. So that was how we ended up on this trip to Cabo and no cash. So that was how we ended up on this trip to Cabo. I thought it was like a gift from the universe. I told Dwayne, like the universe wants us to have extra Hyatt points. Nope, that wasn't it. They were our Hyatt points that were incorrectly given back to us.
Speaker 2:Yes, but I'm thankful that happened because I mean, it was a stunning property beautiful, beautiful property.
Speaker 1:Dwayne said this rivals the seabird for him.
Speaker 2:I for me not so much, but it's top. For me it's by far the top um, okay, so let's okay.
Speaker 1:So we we went for three nights. The original plan was to do three nights at the cape and one night at the Waldorf Astoria, los Pedregal, and use a free night certificate. However, originally this trip was supposed to happen in May. We lost our child care and had to basically postpone it, and so when we went on the trip, the Waldorf is currently closed for renovations, so we were not able to do one night there. So hopefully we can go back and maybe do two nights there at some point we'll definitely be back um, but so this ended up being three nights.
Speaker 1:We did. We went to wednesday through saturday and we um flew over on american airlines. We did not use points for these flights, we paid cash and it was around $500 a person round trip, which is not a steal by any means. But I'm hoarding our AA miles for something else and also the AA miles, they weren't good. It was like when I looked a few times it was like 40,000 points around trip and I was like that's not a great sense per point and like I can do so many more things with those AA miles. So we paid cash.
Speaker 1:The bright side was in postponing the trip from May to July. It was actually a little cheaper than the original airfare I booked because it was around like 600 a person. So we each still have around 100 120 ish dollars on a credit. Flight was fine. It's a nonstop flight. It's roughly two hours from Phoenix to Cabo, so it is super quick and it was the. So part of the other reason I was okay to pay cash is where I'm working on getting a status and I currently have American Airlines Gold and the next stop is Platinum, which I for sure will get to Platinum. I don't know if I'll get to the next one after that, but I checked beforehand and there were no, absolutely no upgrades available. Like business class was completely full. But when we were at the gate, it was the first time I've ever even seen my name on the upgrade list. Dwayne and I were 10 and 11, if you're wondering, we clearly did not get upgraded.
Speaker 1:But I still. We're working our way up there, slowly but surely.
Speaker 2:Yes, it was a short flight, so it didn't bother me any.
Speaker 1:It was totally fine. I had booked a private transfer from the airport to our hotel. I mainly just didn't want to deal with all the chaos and finding the taxi and all of that.
Speaker 2:First of all, it's chaotic at that airport. Yeah, as soon as you come out of customs, it's a party. Everyone is trying to talk to you DJ freaking bars. And it's a party like everyone is trying to talk to you freaking bars and it's all outside.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean it was. It was a party at the airport.
Speaker 1:It's crazy it was our first time there. Obviously people were walking around with drinks, like it was pretty funny. Um, I booked our transfer through viator and I used a company called Cabo Airport Shuttle. It was super easy. It was $143 round trip for the two of us. I kind of think that that's the price it would have been even if there had been like three or four of us. I could be wrong, but there was definitely more room in the car. It was a private transfer, so it was just Dwayne and I in the car and we went through immigration and went out to like kind of like the main waiting area. That's where they have like a bar and the music and everyone's. There's hundreds of people milling around and we basically just had to wait by number five. There's little numbers and I think, depending on who you book with, they each have their own spot and so we had to wait at number five. We probably waited what? 10, 15 minutes. Yeah, not too long, it wasn't bad, but it was definitely hot.
Speaker 1:I mean, there was hundreds of people out there, yeah yeah, and probably before our car even got there, the same company had five or six other pickups ahead of us. Yeah, so they definitely do a good um, a good volume every day, and we got in the car. What was that like?
Speaker 2:oh, it was great. As soon as we got in, he, the driver, offered me some beer, offered you some water, and I thought this is gonna be fun I. He offered both of us beer and water, but I didn't really drink much, yeah it was like a 40 minute drive to the hotel, so I enjoyed two beers and enjoyed the scenery.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the super nice air conditioning. It's a big SUV, dwayne, when we were waiting he was like, oh, maybe I'll grab a beer from the bar. And I was like, oh, just wait, because I knew the driver had it in the car.
Speaker 2:So I had no idea.
Speaker 1:I just thought that would be a fun little surprise.
Speaker 2:I mean again, like I said, this airport was, it was a party yeah, um yeah.
Speaker 1:So roughly 35, 40 minutes to the hotel, which was actually a little longer than I anticipated and made me feel a little more justified in the amount that it costs to do the private transfer.
Speaker 2:I think it's totally worth it, like yeah, it would just been a headache to try and deal with. I mean, there were so many people coming at you as soon as you came out of customs like you need a taxi. Where are you going?
Speaker 1:Yeah, and so also, if you had, if you were traveling with kids, you could also coordinate to have car seats and whatever in the car for you as well, because that was an option when I was booking. Okay, we got to the hotel, okay, so let me first tell you. So again, we booked three nights, 35,000 points a night, and I booked a standard room and then I applied a suite upgrade award. So the cost for three nights for the standard room for our dates was $2,055 US dollars, but the cost for the suite was $3,133. So a little over $3,000 value that we paid, zero dollars for a thousand bucks a night. Yeah, but we spent a lot of money on this trip still, and we'll talk about that and share exact numbers at the end, um, but okay, so, knowing those costs and kind of the points cost, now share first impressions of the hotel.
Speaker 2:A beautiful, beautiful hotel, one of my favorites thus far Open air lobby, beautiful property.
Speaker 1:Stunning ocean views from the second you walk up. So the property is gated.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it reminded me of a property in Maui, or Kauai actually.
Speaker 1:The property is gated, so in order to get in you have to talk to the gate and explain why you're there. So we had to do that every time we returned and when we left, if we took an Uber which is how we got around we had to let them know hey, this is our Uber driver coming and this is his license plate or car or whatever. So definitely very secure, if that's something you're concerned about. So, as a kind of random side note, the week that we went to Cabo, kelsey Graves, who does the podcast Trip Tales which, as a side note, I'm a big fan of, it is not a points and miles podcast, but it is just like a travel podcast and I actually discovered it when she reached out to me and asked me if I would be on an episode about the Kimpton Seafire, and so I. I did that. That was a few months back, but I really another favorite of mine.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I really like her podcast because it is. She does a little bit of points, but it's not a points podcast, it is fully like destination based, and I love getting different trip ideas from her podcast. One of the ones that I really is like memorable to me is she did one about where these two families like rented a? Um it's not a yacht, what's the other word for like a boat Like the one we took in Kauai? What is that? A catamaran? They rented a catamaran, um, and kind of sailed around the St John islands for a week and had their own like chef and kind of a captain and all that and it was an expensive trip but it sounded incredible. So, anyways, I like her podcast.
Speaker 1:If you are looking for kind of a general travel podcast, would highly recommend it. This is not sponsored in any way. I only bring it up because she and her husband went to Cabo and their episode came out literally two days before we left to go to the same property. So I got to listen to her episode and kind of hear all the tips and tricks that she learned from her stay and then apply them to our stay. So that was good timing, I think. But okay, so we walk in open air lobby, ocean views. Like the property is beautiful. Service was great.
Speaker 2:So beautiful that your favorite magazine ranked them. Your favorite magazine ranked them.
Speaker 1:Yes, when we got home in the mail. My favorite guilty pleasure is Travel and Leisure. Magazine Comes once a month and this this month's episode was like the best of awards, and so here let me grab it.
Speaker 2:And I mean we've been to some pretty nice places and I'm surprised they're not on this list. But this one definitely made the list.
Speaker 1:Yes and the category was. It's actually listed in two categories, so the first one is the 100 best hotels overall.
Speaker 2:Overall best hotels.
Speaker 1:In the world.
Speaker 2:Yeah, in the world, and it's number 22.
Speaker 1:It's tied for 22 with the hotel in Kuala Lumpur, but, yes, 22.
Speaker 2:Yeah which is crazy.
Speaker 1:It is also listed under 25 best resorts in Mexico.
Speaker 2:And it is number three in Mexico, yep, so that says a lot.
Speaker 1:For context, the Waldorf Astoria, los Cabos, pedregal, is number seven.
Speaker 2:I don't even know if I want to go there anymore.
Speaker 1:Well, everything that I read about the two basically was like the Cabo or the Cape is more of a party vibe, but the Waldorf is like true, like luxury, Right, and like basically saying like there's no comparison, but we love this hotel a lot.
Speaker 2:So I it was a party hotel, though. And again we were there kid free.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I would not bring kids to this property.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I mean, I think that's another reason why I don't get me wrong. I love my kids, but when we go on a trip without them, it's just truly relaxing. And we didn't have anything planned, yeah we made, we did whatever we wanted to do yeah and it was great it was great.
Speaker 1:so I did not send an email to this property ahead of time, like I normally do, but they did send me a text, maybe, maybe a week before, and so I did just, and they kind of asked a few questions like are you celebrating anything? Like are you who is your travel companion, like those sorts of things. So I said, oh, we're just kind of celebrating our anniversary, which is true, but our anniversary is in February. We just that's the point of our annual trip.
Speaker 2:Yes, and we always do it a couple months after. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Um, and you know I just said, my travel companion is is my husband and his name is Dwayne, and blah, blah, blah. Um, but I didn't like ask for an upgrade or anything. We already had what I think was the best one I'm sorry, not the best, but one of the best sweets on the property. There was a much bigger one that we could see from our balcony, but, um, so I didn't like do a big. You know a big to-do. Before we got there but in our room was still a bottle of tequila and some little like what are those gummies?
Speaker 2:Yeah, some kind of gummy candy with tajin on it.
Speaker 1:Is it chamoy flavor?
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, probably, but you said there was a bigger one. I think those were the residents, though, weren't they?
Speaker 1:I mean you can book those, but I don't think, yeah, I don't think you can book those ones with points.
Speaker 2:And I remember Rhea telling me, before we went on this trip, that she used a suite upgrade for this trip and I thought why would you waste it?
Speaker 1:Well, you didn't think it, you said it.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean I said it Like why would you waste, you know, a suite upgrade on a trip that's just going to be me and you? Yeah, but so glad you did because it was the best room that we've ever stayed in. I know you liked the ocean side one, but I think this one.
Speaker 1:It was very nice, um, and I, when you asked me that I was like well, they expire so yes, we have to use them, and I get it now yeah, so, um, yes, that is okay, so, okay. So we got there and they had the tequila and a nice letter, printed letter with our names, dear raya and duane, like thank you for visiting blah blah blah.
Speaker 2:But then later in the day, same day yeah, the same day they also brought a bottle of champagne, yeah, and some chocolate covered strawberries, yes. I mean this.
Speaker 1:This property was fantastic yeah, the service was 11 out of 10. It was so good, so good.
Speaker 2:Duane made a few buddies at the pool with the employees yes, matter of fact, I just wrote a review for them and it might it might be my first trip advisor review ever. I mean it is that's. That's how great this property was.
Speaker 1:I was like I want to do a review we of course tipped, but Dwayne also was asking, like you know, I think you asked like how else can we like let them know?
Speaker 2:yeah, and he's like yeah, you probably get sent a survey and just you know, use names. Yeah, they said use names. I got their names shout out to Gustavo and Luis at the pool there. Yeah, they'll take care of you.
Speaker 1:Yes, so, okay. So we've arrived. If you want to see this property and the suite that we had, I have a full Cabo highlight on our Instagram page and I have uploaded, I think, two of our three days and I got to do the other day today so by the time this episode airs, it will be a full and complete highlight so you can go and see the suite and all that fun stuff. Um, one cool thing about the room is that they have binoculars in there, which at first I was kind of like that's a little creepy, but I mean cause we're ocean side like you, but I mean because we're oceanside, like yeah, you're literally.
Speaker 1:I mean you're right, like I've never been, I've never stayed at a property closer to the ocean than this was, yeah, and so you use the binoculars to like look at the surfers. There's always surfers out front, the waves are very intense, yeah, so like I would not swim in this water. There's always's always the red flags and it's generally never, I think, safe for swimming directly from the hotel.
Speaker 2:Our kids would not have gone in this water.
Speaker 1:And it wasn't even the size of the waves which they were big. There were surfers every day, so big enough to surf, but it was the pull of the current when the water would go out. I mean, we're full adults and it was hard for us to stay and it was a bit rocky.
Speaker 2:there too, Water and beach was still beautiful, but you can see in the water that there was rocks.
Speaker 1:A lot of rocks. We were like, how are these surfers?
Speaker 2:not hitting these rocks.
Speaker 1:Our kids would have been sucked out to the ocean. Yeah For sure. So keep that in mind if you are bringing kids there. We did see a few kids. The pool is just not very big. It's an infinity pool and like the tiniest splash like causes water to go over the edge and like our kids would be wanting to jump in and they wouldn't be able to do that and it would be very disruptive.
Speaker 2:It's just not a kid it's not a kid, definitely not a kid there. There were a couple kids there, but I mean our kids would have. They were like pretty good and security would have been, our kids would have. Our kids would have not been that good. Again, this pool, very nice, infinity, had a, uh, sit-up bar or walk-up bar, swim-up bar, swim-up bar. I thought they had enough seats. There's actually two. They actually had two pools. One was an. They both were infinities.
Speaker 1:One was a saltwater pool and then the bigger one, the main one was, well, the one. It was like kind of an infinity pool, like it wasn't a true one, yeah, and then there was a hot tub too. Yeah, it was incredibly hot when we were there, so we, and then there was a hot tub too. Yeah, it was incredibly hot when we were there, so we did not venture in the hot tub. But you have stunning views of, like, the coast and Cabo. I've been to, so I've been to, like, cancun and Playa del Carmen, and we've been to Rocky Point. If you're in Phoenix, you know that's where everyone drives down to. Not a fan of Rocky Point as a side note.
Speaker 1:I don't think I'll ever go back to rocky point. I have no desire to, but we know people that love it. If that's your thing, more power to you. Um, but cabo was so interesting because it was like this weird juxtaposition of the desert. Right, it's like all cactus and like desert and then the ocean, and I don't think I've ever seen an area like that before. It was.
Speaker 2:It was yeah, it was interesting, yeah and I mean on the drive from the airport. I mean there were some support places yes, there was which felt really bad, but yes, no, it is what it is. I mean that's just, and these people work hard and we made sure to tip whenever we could. Yes, we did. I mean the staff here was outstanding.
Speaker 1:Yeah, top notch for sure. Zero complaints about the property itself. The other thing I'll say is I don't think there's a bad room at this hotel. Even if you have the standard room, it's still going to be oceanfront and you're just going to have a smaller patio than we did.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, you were mentioning something about a partial ocean view. I didn't see any room that had a partial. Yeah, ocean. I agree, it was like it all seemed like all the rooms face, yeah, the ocean um, okay, so we were there three nights.
Speaker 1:Um, anything else about the hotel that you think we need to talk about? We'll talk about the spa, but we can do that under like activities. I mean, I can't say enough great things about this, but I mean, Okay, so let's move on to restaurants, and let's first do the restaurants in the hotel and then the ones we went to out of the hotel. I thought that the prices at the hotel were very high very high like even higher than willie nelson.
Speaker 1:High snoop, dogg, high, oh god even higher than like a traditional hotel in the us, which is also high. But this was higher than that, although something that I noticed was like the price that it said on the menu, when I calculated that to US dollars, was roughly 25% higher than when the bill arrived, if that makes sense. So I'm not sure if the menu was printed and then the the value of the currency changed Like I don't know, but I will say that, like I thought something was going to cost 12 us dollars and when the bill came it was eight ish. So I don't know, I don't know what's going on there, but I'm not complaining about that.
Speaker 1:But nothing on that menu cost $12 or eight about that, but nothing on that menu cost 12 or eight. No, that was like the the um guacamole or something, I don't know, but anyways, um, okay, so we ate at a few different places in the hotel. Yes, let's do breakfast first. Um, okay, breakfast, you have two options. One is at the sunken Boat, which is kind of like the lobby bar slash coffee shop. So in the morning, at night, it's a bar, in the morning it's like a coffee shop, and then they also have a pretty decent breakfast menu, not huge, but like a lot of options.
Speaker 2:It's Mexico, so it's also a bar in the morning, oh yeah, true.
Speaker 1:And then the other option was the Ledge, which was kind of like the more more full service restaurant. For breakfast. You can choose either as a globalist I don't really know the prices because the menu that we were handed didn't have any prices on it. So if you eat at the Ledge, you can basically choose from one kind of hot entree and they had, you know, like some egg dishes, some French toast, that sort of thing and then you also get access to like their buffet and I'm putting that in air quotes because it's not like a full buffet, but they did have a lot of things. There was like granola and salad and fruit plates and a few little like tostada type things which they made the uh tortillas right there in front of you um, yeah, so that was good.
Speaker 1:we ate there the first day, and then the sunken boat had a more shortened menu and that was like a breakfast burrito, um, and then you could also get your choice of, like coffee, juice, um, different pastries, fruit, and all that was included. Uh, for globalists as well. If you didn't want to eat at the property, you could easily grab an Uber into Los Cabos and probably find something cheaper in town for breakfast, but we have status and so we didn't pay for the breakfast at all, so that's obviously where we chose to eat.
Speaker 2:Food was really good.
Speaker 1:Yes, it was really good For lunch at the property. I think your only option is really the pool.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we only had lunch at the pool. Then we went off property one day.
Speaker 1:The food at the pool was also very good. We had chips and guacamole. We had the spicy tuna roll was one of the best I've ever had in my life Fantastic.
Speaker 2:So good that we had to order it right before we left.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we ordered it a second day. It was like $40, though I want to be transparent about that it was $40 for one spicy tuna roll, um. So, yes, it was very good, but I mean that's expensive, like all the food here was so expensive.
Speaker 2:The day we left, we ordered two.
Speaker 1:It was $80, but it was really good, so good. Sometimes it's just the downfall of using points is you kind of get in this mindset of like we didn't pay anything, the room's free.
Speaker 2:So let's hotel.
Speaker 1:So let's like. Let's just like throw all caution to the wind. And we did well. We did eat at some very nice restaurants that we just don't get the opportunity to do when we travel with the kids. I mean, we do take them sometimes to like fancy restaurants, but it's not as often as Dwayne and I would if we were by ourselves. So dinner at the property we ate at Manta, that is like the fancy, schmancy restaurant.
Speaker 2:Michelin star restaurant.
Speaker 1:It is a michelin star.
Speaker 2:It was very good, except for one thing of course, the one thing that I got it's a korean fried chicken, which you know it's my own fault for getting that in mexico the lesson we learned was get the seafood all the seafood we had on this trip was like maybe best I've ever had so fresh, tasty, it was the best we got um, some ceviche at manta.
Speaker 1:That was 10 out of 10. I also got shrimp or no fish tacos at manta. They were also delicious. They brought out a bunch of different little sauces and the server was, who was very good. Uh was like I would recommend this green salsa with the fish tacos. And he was right. It was like 11 out of 10. So good, he also brought out um. So there were, I think he brought out what three or four initially and you were trying the spiciest one. He was like oh, that's a lot little did he know.
Speaker 2:I already had some prior to that and I was like, no, it's, I'll be fine duane is.
Speaker 1:duane likes really spicy things and can handle a lot of spice. So once he saw duane comfortably eating that, then he brought out something that he called Black Tears, black Tears, and he was like if you like spicy, try this. How was it?
Speaker 2:It was hot and it was good.
Speaker 1:Your nose was sweating. It was hot, yeah, but I didn't back down. No, you ate a good amount of it. I think he was impressed by you.
Speaker 2:I mean, I wish it was available at breakfast.
Speaker 1:I would have thrown that on my eggs, Not I, Nope. Dwayne was like do you want to try it? And I'm like nope, absolutely not, I do not. So, yeah, everything was 10 out of 10. They even brought out this like complimentary um appetizer. It was like chicharrones with like avocado puree and a few different sauces, and even that was delicious. It was so good, so it was expensive. Ironically, it was not our most expensive dinner, it was actually our cheapest dinner, um, but it was very good.
Speaker 1:So if you're looking for kind of a don't get the korean fried chicken stick with the seafood, I'm telling you, um, and then the other option for dinner at the hotel, if you want a more casual vibe, is the rooftop and that also has stunning views of the ocean and you can see los cabos, and it's beautiful. Um, we only had a drink there, so actually I had a mocktail, actually, and Dwayne had, like a whiskey espresso oh yeah, yeah, espresso, yeah Um which was great.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but the views up there are beautiful and they also do have a food menu, if you're wanting to eat on property but not wanting to spend the amount that it costs to eat at Manta, wanting to eat on property but not wanting to spend the amount that it costs to eat at Manta. Oh, and, at Manta we also had a dessert, the mango sticky rice, and that was good. I just wanted it to be sweeter. I wanted it to, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I didn't think it was bad. It was. Yeah, it was fine. Okay, other restaurants that we ate at outside of the hotel we went to a place called Harry's Steakhouse. Yes, this was our least favorite, least favorite.
Speaker 2:And you'll be surprised what the worst thing at this place was. First of all, it was a steakhouse. Yes, everything was great except for the steaks.
Speaker 1:The steaks were not good and they were like $70 a piece.
Speaker 2:Expensive.
Speaker 1:So that was disappointing. The service was great.
Speaker 2:Service excellent, location excellent, steaks not so excellent.
Speaker 1:They bring out like a little, what are those things called A sterno thing.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:And they have like rosemary and some other like herbs and stuff in it and they light it and it's to keep the bugs away. Yeah, it was a nice touch. It was a nice touch and then at the end, thank god, someone told us about this beforehand, because we didn't know. One of the concierge, yes, he said if you go to harry's, don't order dessert because they're going to bring you out this giant thing of cotton candy and it was giant it was bigger than my torso.
Speaker 1:It it was huge, it was huge, and so we did not order dessert and they did bring us cotton candy and it was really fun. It was great. We couldn't eat it all, but it was fun.
Speaker 2:But really disappointing because you know we love a good steak. I mean, I got the ribeye, you got the filet yeah, the filet mignon, and it was.
Speaker 1:D, the phillip mcnaugh and it was duane was like the steaks that we make from costco are better than this. And he was shout out to costco. I love you, it was, it's true, so that was disappointing. Um, the corn was the best thing we ate, actually was the best. It was like a truffle creamed corn.
Speaker 2:That was the best I told her, if we go back, I'm just gonna get the corn we corn, we wouldn't go back there.
Speaker 1:That dinner cost $300 total. So then our third dinner was at a restaurant called Cocina Del Mar.
Speaker 2:Fantastic.
Speaker 1:Yes, this one is in another hotel. It's in the Lobej.
Speaker 2:Lobej.
Speaker 1:Lobej, I don't know. It's like seven minutes away from the cape and you see you're seated like kind of on the rocks, overlooking the ocean again right on the ocean. The service was fantastic definitely get the seafood I got. The snapper duane got. What did you get?
Speaker 2:I don't know. Mine was the least favorite. Again, it was good, just it was the least favorite of that entire dinner but the appetizer that we got was the tuna. Oh my god the blue tuna crudo blue fin tuna, blue fin tuna crudo and it was probably the best seafood dish I've ever. I've ever. I mean the tuna like melted in your mouth. It was so good.
Speaker 1:It was very good, so good. We also had some. What else did we get?
Speaker 2:We got the seafood fondue, which sounds disgusting. It was good, it was really good. It was served with cornbread. It was served with cornbread. There was like squid in it shrimp. It was good with cornbread. It was served with cornbread. There was like squid in it shrimp. It was good. Seafood like concoction, like I said, seafood fondue. I was like what the F is that?
Speaker 1:It was like a creamy seafood dip. It was good. And, yes, I got the red snapper, which does come as a whole fish as a side note. And yeah, this was your dish that you got. I don't remember what it was called.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was like a smoky dish with like fish I think it was, uh, not my, I don't remember what fish it was snook snook. Yes, white.
Speaker 1:Yeah, fish snook, it was a catch of the day and then we got some mashed potatoes, and for dessert we got a pistachio souffle which was also very good, so freaking good. They like drizzled caramel in it. It was really good. This is the restaurant where Dwayne ordered a glass of Cabernet and when the bill came, I realized that the glass of wine was $40. $40.
Speaker 2:And I was like you didn't look at this. First of all, before we got there, there she was showing me one of her instagram someone you followed on instagram that was just there. It was a yelp review, oh yeah, and it was just her and, I think, her partner and they spent like 495 dollars for just the two of them and I thought we can beat that and I said we better not yes but we did get close it was close to 400 it was like 393 dollars for just for the two of us.
Speaker 2:Yeah so, but I mean you're almost paying for the view there.
Speaker 1:I mean it was spectacular it was really beautiful, super romantic, like definitely would go there again service was excellent yes, I mean you. I'm at the end. I'm going to share our total like expenses for this trip, but it was more than I wanted it to be a lot. And but I mean when we don't have the kids.
Speaker 2:We just freely do whatever it is we please. And you know, someone told me the other day I think it was my dentist or something it's like yeah, when you take the kids it's a trip, when you don't have the kids, it's a vacation.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's so true yeah, um, okay, so those are all the places we ate and as far as activities go in full disclosure, we didn't do much. Um, I didn't plan or book anything. We only had two full days. I didn't want it to feel rushed or anything like that. We were going to book a snorkeling trip, but it was already booked. So if that's super important to you, like it goes out to the arch and you get to snorkel and whatever If that's super important to you, make sure you're booking, like at least a week in advance. It was not super important to us, so we were okay yeah, the trips we take.
Speaker 2:When it's just us, we just go with the flow yes. However, we did decide to go to the spa because duane's buddy that he met at the pool luis gave us a discount muchas gracias so he gave us a 25 discount at the spa, which I'm sure he did gives it to everybody, but he's like I will hook you up, my friend. Yeah, yeah, who knows? Thank you.
Speaker 1:Thank you, but we did get the discount. I like looked at it on the bill, so we did a couple's massage 80 minute 80 minute couple's massage, which was fantastic and we got to enjoy, you know, the spa beforehand, so there is like traditionally sauna, steam room, hot tub, cold plunge yeah, the cold plunge yes we did all the things.
Speaker 1:Uh, the cold plunge was very cold. I could only go in for a minute max. I timed myself. But like you are in the spa and you are looking at the ocean like it's definitely the most beautiful spa view I've ever had.
Speaker 2:So they even have massage beds, like on the beach. Yeah, that you can book yeah, that like it was too hot for that.
Speaker 1:I don't see how that would be fun, because it was very hot and humid, so that doesn't sound enjoyable to me. But there were people doing that, so I mean, I guess maybe there's something to it. Uh, massage was great, um, super relaxing, and yeah, that's literally the only thing we did the whole day. Oh no, I'm sorry, that's not true. That's not true.
Speaker 2:We also we ventured out into los cabos. Yes, one day yeah, it's like the little beachy town they have there. We went to a place called Mango Deck.
Speaker 1:Yes, Another really popular like bar is called the Office and Mango Deck is right next door to the Office. We went early, we got there at like 1030, I think, and we got a table right in the sand and if you go there, you can go to the beach. Yeah, they have like a cordoned off area where you can swim. It's cordoned off because there's an area right next to it where tours are picking people up and jet skis and all that stuff.
Speaker 2:Beautiful, beautiful beach, though the water was super clear.
Speaker 1:Water was perfect much calmer than the water by the hotel, but still like a pretty strong current. Um, so we got a table and we ordered a drink and then basically you can just like put your stuff at this table and go get in the water.
Speaker 2:Yeah, go swim on the beach we brought towels from the hotel.
Speaker 1:So we went, went for a, we got a drink, went for a swim, came back, ordered some lunch and, like we kind of hung out until it started to get busy and then we left around maybe one o'clock yeah they started, the DJ was hooking up.
Speaker 2:There was a break dance show.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I was like that's our cue to leave. But it's a good thing we went when we did, yeah, and I was like that's our cue to leave.
Speaker 2:But it's a good thing we went when we did, because the next day that same beach cruise ships had docked yeah.
Speaker 1:And I can only imagine what that town looked like when the cruise ships were there. Yeah, because it was pretty sleepy the day we were there.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, there was not a lot of people Not a lot of people at all, which I thought was perfect.
Speaker 1:Yes, I mean, we had the beach to ourselves. At one point we were the only people swimming in the area. The restaurant had marked off Literally the only two people, so that was really nice. Over the course of the next two days, though, I think we saw four different cruise ships come and go Three, okay, three, three. So I guess, if you don't like crowds, I would pay attention to the cruise ship schedule. Another thing to note is there are two different towns that make up Cabo. There is Los Cabos, which is the little town we went to, where the mango deck is the party town.
Speaker 1:Yes, and then there's also San Jose del Cabo, which is the other direction Like the more traditional artsy and yeah that's quieter, they have like an art walk. It was about 35 minutes away, though, from the Cape.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we didn't make it out there.
Speaker 1:We didn't make it there this time. Another thing that you can do is people go to La Paz, but that's like a two-hour drive, yeah, and that's another like super beautiful beach, and we did not go there either, obviously. Um, and then there were two beaches that were the opposite direction from los cabos that the concierge recommended they were called cheleno yes, and like santa maria, santa monica, something like that it started with an M Madonna Beach.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay, so we went to the concierge and I said, hey, we want to go to Lover's Beach and Divorce Beach, because I had read that those are like two really beautiful beaches. And he was kind of like, well, why do you want to go there? And I'm like I don't know. I just heard they were nice. He had a look on his face like and he was like well, the only way to get there is by boat. And what else did he say?
Speaker 2:he said and you know, you got to get there by boat, though they drop you off and then they don't come pick you up for you know a couple hours. Yeah, so you're like stuck there yeah, and there's nothing there. There's like no facilities there, like so you're just really there just to hang out on the beach and swim and you have to bring your own food and stuff like that. I'm glad he told us.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because I was like oh, that actually doesn't sound very fun to me. So he was like I recommend these other two beaches. One was Medano Beach, the other one is Chileno Beach. Again, no food or anything at either one of those either. So you would still want to pack a picnic, but I think quieter and you can drive there or uber there. So, um, there is a grocery store called the fresco, not across the street but within like a two minute drive from the hotel and there's also a costco shout out to costco.
Speaker 1:Dwayne wanted to go there, but we didn't. Another thing to note is like when you leave the Cape, if you are going right, you're fine, but you cannot go left and so basically you have to go right no matter what and eventually make a U-turn. But it's kind of like you have to go five or six minutes before you get to make the U-turn. So when we wanted to go into Los Cabos, six minutes before you get to make the U-turn, so when we wanted to go into Los Cabos, the driver went right and I was telling Dwayne like we're going the wrong way and like Dwayne is a man who has never had to think about safety or security in his entire life right, but it is programmed in me because I am a female raised in America, Okay.
Speaker 1:So I am immediately thinking this Uber driver is taking us in the wrong direction. So I say to Dwayne we're going the wrong way and he's like we're going the wrong way because we have to make a U-turn. And I was like, oh, okay, Like then it made sense and I was like yep, yep, I'm tracking. But I think, just as a heads up, if you are a female traveling alone, don't panic. There's just no way to make a left turn. Dwayne's like literally laughing at me right now. But it's, it's, that's your male privilege talking, Okay, yeah.
Speaker 2:I just knew we had to make a U-turn. It's because I'm directionally aware I mean, yes, that too and aware of my surroundings.
Speaker 1:Listen, I'm also aware of my surroundings. I just I don't have a good sense of direction, and I fully own that. That's fine. I have other strengths, um. So those are the activities that we did Nothing crazy and very relaxing, and no regrets about the fact that we didn't see a ton of Cabo. Um, I definitely think we will go back at some point. I definitely want to stay at the Cape, or, I'm sorry, I definitely want to stay at the cape, or, I'm sorry, I definitely want to stay at the waldorf. Um, and then we can compare and contrast. But yeah, our flight back left left on time pretty much. Oh, let's talk about the airport lounge. There is, if you have priority pass, there is a lounge in the cabo airport that you can access. And, in full disclosure, I kept telling duane, don't get your hopes up, like I'm sure, it's not that great.
Speaker 1:And and I kept saying it's probably going to be one of the nicest ones we've been to it was very nice in terms of um, like the, the ambiance and the like the seating and all that was very nice.
Speaker 2:The food was complete trash, yeah I feel like the food at all these, except for a few, yeah, the capital one ones are good and like the food at all these, except for a few, aren't very good.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the Capital One ones are good and like the Chase one is okay, but yeah, the food was not. First of all, there was almost no food and second of all, like it was, what was there was not good. But we, it was free and we had already spent a lot of money. So we got some souvenirs at the airport. We went into the lounge and then we got some souvenirs at the airport.
Speaker 2:We went into the lounge and then we just kind of hung out until our flight left, and don't get starbucks at the airport oh my god, it was so bad, I took two sibs and threw it away, wasted it.
Speaker 1:It was like literally disgusting and undrinkable, so yeah okay, what else?
Speaker 1:um, I mean, if you take anything away from this podcast today, just know that the thompson or the cape in cabo is definitely worth it yeah, so, and if you can, get the suite upgrade for sure yeah, suite upgrades for hyatt can be applied to a stay up to seven days, so if you book like a longer stay, you can still use the suite upgrade. Okay, last but not least, clutch your pearls, because I'm going to share the exact amount that we spent on this trip. It does include our flights, so keep that in mind. But, in full transparency, this was a good $1,000 more than I wanted it to be, so it was $3,566. Jesus. So the way that that breaks down, 30% of that is the flights. The flights were like roughly $1,000-ish. 39% was food Again. Like our three dinners alone were over $1,000 ish. 39% was food. Again. The like our three dinners alone were over $1,000.
Speaker 2:Like I. Why do you think it's so expensive there? It's Mexico, like I said, we just we do what we want.
Speaker 1:I mean, okay, so yes, like are there? Are there ways to do this cheaper? 100%, there are, because you don't have to go to a fancy dinner every night. Right, you definitely don't. But I just think that you should know. If you want to do that, this is what it costs and holy moly. That's so crazy.
Speaker 2:I just feel it's okay for us to splurge. It's our time to relax and do whatever it is we want. And you know we did it this time. I know I just and I mean it was such a great trip I thought it was.
Speaker 1:We had a great time. I will also say that this also includes the cost to board our dog, which was a couple hundred dollars for the three nights, so that is factored in as well. If you don't have a pet, then congratulations. That dog is very expensive.
Speaker 2:He's a good boy, but he's he caused money um, and I mean I would let my parents watch him, but you know my mom's not a big fan of hairy dogs.
Speaker 1:He's like 80 pounds, yeah and your he's like 80 pounds, yeah, and your parents are like 80 years old, yeah, and he and they already have the three kids, which is more than enough. Yeah, like there's. It's not like he they're going to break a hip or something Trying to take him for a walk, and he has fun at the, the boring place.
Speaker 1:He plays with all his buddies and he has a great time. Yeah, so time, yeah. So flights were $1,080 on this trip, restaurants were. It was $1,400 essentially is what we spent on food for the two of us. The spa was close to 500, like 489. And then there was some other miscellaneous. Like you know, the transportation we did take, other than the private transfer to and from the airport, which, as a side note, I would absolutely recommend. They were incredibly prompt. They they will pick you up three hours before you are. Your flight is scheduled to leave you input, like your flight information, so they watch it for you. So if it does get delayed, they know and they. Our flight left at three o'clock, I think, or three 30,. They picked us up right at 12, which is subsequently the same time as checkout. So that worked out perfectly and um very easy process too they were incredibly like.
Speaker 1:He was there at 12 o'clock on the dot like beers ready to go for me yeah, super prompt, and you know we enjoyed chatting with with him on the way back to the airport too. And then the other things are just tips. You bring cash for tips. They accept US dollars if that's what you want to do.
Speaker 2:And I'm a great tipper. Ray is also a great tipper, but I tend to tip for everything.
Speaker 1:Yes, he does. I tip. Well, but I don't tip for everything. If I'm ordering a drink and you're turning that screen around to me asking for a tip, like I'm probably not going to tip you, but like if we're eating at a restaurant, I'm a hundred percent going to tip you 20%. So, um, yeah, okay, anyways, that is, that is the budget, and I guess it would have been 25,. 2,500 was what I had in my head, and I guess if we had paid use points for the flights, it would have been. $2,500 was what I had in my head, and I guess if we had paid used points for the flights, it would have been closer to $2,500. So I guess that's something. But yeah, that is it. Yes, that's.
Speaker 2:Cabo in a nutshell. Hopefully that's helpful for you.
Speaker 1:Yes, as always, come find me on Instagram if you have any questions. Always happy to chat over there. And one last reminder that if you are interested in booking a one on one kind of point strategy session like generally, I think that's if you have the points and you're just not sure how to use them and need some help the points and you're just not sure how to use them and need some help that is going to go live. If you're listening to this, the day it comes out. Tomorrow, august 5th, is when that will be available for booking, so make sure to check that out. I'll put a link in the show notes. Thank you, guys for tuning in yes, we appreciate you.
Speaker 2:See you next time.