Travel Party of 5 | Points & Miles for Family Travel

Dallas, TX on Points - Texas BBQ, Six Flags Over Texas, and an NFL Game! (+ Our Family Bday Tradition!)

• Raya & Duane

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Family traditions don't have to cost a fortune when you know how to leverage travel rewards. On our latest adventure, we whisked our soon-to-be nine-year-old son to Dallas for his birthday weekend, fulfilling his dream of attending an NFL game while creating unforgettable memories.

The trip centered around three core experiences: mouthwatering brisket at Terry Black's BBQ, heart-pounding roller coasters at Six Flags Over Texas, and the electric atmosphere of a Cowboys-Giants overtime thriller at AT&T Stadium. We navigated the challenges of downtown Dallas's unexpected 3AM street racing scene (yes, really!) and conquered the post-game transportation chaos that had us abandoning our Uber and walking to the stadium.

With strategic planning, we transformed what could have been an expensive weekend into an affordable getaway. Our American Airlines flights were largely covered by a Chase Sapphire Reserve travel credit, while our luxurious Corner Suite at the Thompson Dallas was completely booked with Hyatt points. Even our airport experiences were elevated with lounge access at both Phoenix and DFW.

This Dallas getaway represents something deeper than just another vacation – it's part of our family tradition of celebrating each child's ninth birthday with a domestic destination of their choice, followed by an international adventure at eighteen. These milestone trips create lasting bonds and teach our children about the world beyond their everyday experiences.

Whether you're planning your own family traditions or simply looking to maximize value on your next trip, we hope our experiences provide both inspiration and practical tips. The joy on our son's face as he cheered alongside Cowboys fans (while proudly wearing his Dolphins jersey) made every point and mile we've ever earned completely worthwhile.

Speaker 1:

We are back from a recent weekend getaway to Dallas, texas, and in today's episode we are sharing all the details with you, including six flags, an NFL football game and, of course, how we booked on points. So listen 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. 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. So welcome to our podcast, where we hope you learn a thing or two to get you closer to your next trip. Welcome back.

Speaker 1:

Hello friends. Welcome back to Travel Party 5 podcast. Yes, welcome back to me as well. Welcome back to Dwayne yes, we've met. We missed you.

Speaker 2:

I doubt that.

Speaker 1:

But we did. We did so. In today's episode, as the intro says, we are going to be sharing all about our recent trip to Dallas, and by recent, like we just got home a few days ago, so it's very fresh and a little bit of background as to why we took this trip. Do you want to share?

Speaker 2:

Yeah. So every ninth birthday for our kids, we take them on a trip of their choosing. Well, a practical trip In the US. Domestically In the US, our oldest one went to New York with Raya, our second oldest. He wanted to go to either a Miami football game, philly football game or Dallas football game.

Speaker 1:

Yes, he's very into football and he has a lot of teams that he's into, yes, a lot. This tradition kind of started because I had the idea to kind of add on a little trip with my oldest or our oldest um, to a trip that I already had planned. So I was going to a baby shower in New Jersey and it was right around his birthday and I just said, hey, like what if, instead of a gift, we did this trip? And so Dwayne didn't go on that trip because it was already a like a solo trip where I was going to a friend's baby shower. But, um, we.

Speaker 2:

We also weren't into points and miles, and either no we were not, we were not at all.

Speaker 1:

So like, we paid out of pocket for that and it was not cheap. So it that was like okay. So I remember when we went on that trip I had my chase sapphire reserve card and I had just gotten it and like like, so I use that card for the trip. But like we didn't have any points yet, so we fully paid cash for the hotel. Ironically, we stayed. We stayed at a Hyatt, but we paid cash for the flights. We flew on Delta. I still remember it was like $300 a ticket and I was like, yes, this is a good deal Round trip.

Speaker 1:

So, anyways, our eight year old, soon to be nine year old, and by soon I mean like he's got about four months to go, but football season is is a short window of time. So we knew we either had to go this season or wait until he was almost 10. And he was not interested in doing that and so and the other thing is, I had to then find a football game that was one of the teams he wanted that fit our I'm going to say rigorous travel schedule, because it has been a bit much, I'll say yes, the last three weeks have been a travel week.

Speaker 1:

One or both of us has been gone on the on the weekends for and this one coming up as well.

Speaker 1:

It's a big one, yes literally the day after we were. We're recording this the night before we leave for our trip to japan, so woohoo, but like, did we wait till the last minute? Also, yes, we did. Yes, we did, but not on purpose is because we've been gone for the last three weekends in a row. So, in addition to the travel schedule, I also had to consider the weather, because in no way am I sitting in a football stadium where there's like two feet of snow open air in the middle of winter. So that was my other deciding factor in this game.

Speaker 2:

So and we wanted it to be relatively close.

Speaker 1:

Oh, yes, that's the other thing. We didn't want to go all the way to the East Coast because we knew we only had like two or three nights to do it. That's yeah, that's the other thing. So, yep, so lots of things, but we were able to make it work and we had a great time, and so let me give you some of the details. So we flew over from Phoenix direct to Dallas on American Airlines and back also on American Airlines. We actually booked roundtrip tickets, which we don't normally do. I normally book one ways, using points. We did not use points for our airfare, but what we did use was the $500 travel credit that came with Dwayne's new Chase Sapphire Reserve card, and so the tickets total was $750. So after the $500 travel credit, we paid $250. I thought that was a pretty solid deal and the price was exactly the same. So to use that credit, you had to book through the Chase travel portal. Exactly the same. So to use that credit, you had to book through the Chase travel portal, but the price was identical to what it was on the American Airlines website. So that part was fine.

Speaker 1:

I will say there was a. Again, we don't really enjoy booking through the travel portal, and we don't usually do it. The only time I would do it is if there was a travel credit of some sort, like this In fact, when Dwayne went to Houston a few weeks ago, I booked his flight using my Capital One VentureX $300 credit that was about to expire, so again had to book through the Capital One portal, but this one we had to book through the Chase portal. If you have this credit, you have to use it all at once. So if spend like 450 dollars, it's, it's gone. You forfeited the other 50. It went mostly fine. There were no problems with the flight or anything like that. However, my tsa pre-check or well, I have global entry, but in the us it shows up as pre-check.

Speaker 2:

I did not attach, and neither did duane's, and so and we didn't realize mine didn't attach until we got to the airport. Yeah, way in line it was stressful it was.

Speaker 1:

You were, were you like flashing back to like life before this whole points and miles thing? Um, so okay. So I chatted with, so I realized it wasn't a tat wasn't showing on my boarding pass. I chatted with American Airlines chat and at first they were like, well, you're like your birthday is incorrect. And I was like, Well, what do you mean? This is the only birthday I have and I know that I did not enter it incorrectly Like I'm very anal about that kind of thing. So they were like I said, Well, is it?

Speaker 1:

And I gave Dwayne's birthday and they were like no, and I was like, Well, is it? And then I gave my son's birthday and they were like, oh, yeah, that's the one. And I'm like so you have my birthday as being born in 2017. Like that seems like clearly that's not correct and so, anyways, they were able to fix it. And then I was able to see my pre-check and then I said, hey, can you also do Dwayne's? And I gave them all his information and he was. They were like, yes, this is all set too. And I was like, perfect. But so I didn't think to double check Dwayne's boarding pass, but sure enough, it wasn't on there. So, anyways, if you book through the portal, just you got to double check things like that. We flew direct to Texas Great flight Easy flights Two and a half-ish hours from Phoenix. Where did we stay.

Speaker 2:

We stayed at the Thompson Dallas and when we walked in to check in, I saw a famous freestyler slash rapper that I follow on Instagram, walked right by him in the lobby and I was like, oh shit, that's Harry Mack. What was his name? Harry Mack? And you're like, who's that?

Speaker 1:

yeah, I was like no idea watch.

Speaker 2:

This guy is about to walk up these people and freestyle for them.

Speaker 1:

And he did, and he did yeah, he did and and it was cool. But yeah, I had no idea. I still have no idea who this man is, but Dwayne was able to get a picture.

Speaker 2:

He's not very famous but yes, I did ask him for a picture.

Speaker 1:

Yes, and.

Speaker 2:

Raya took one of not her best pictures.

Speaker 1:

It wasn't my best picture. No, it wasn't why? What was wrong with it?

Speaker 2:

It was just we weren't centered and you were far away. I edited it and then I screenshotted it, so I fixed it.

Speaker 1:

I feel like, well, all right, my feelings are a little bit hurt. I didn't realize it was dark.

Speaker 2:

I will say that but yes, we stayed at the Thompson Dallas. Yes, we booked on points.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, this is a Category 6 Hyatt and so you can book from anywhere from 21,000 to 29,000 points a night, you know, depending on if it's peak, off-peak or regular. And we stayed for three nights and we did get an upgrade to a suite. It was called the Corner Suite and it it was. There was a lot of light and it was. It was a very nice suite in the corner. It was in the corner.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it was cool because it was a nice suite yes, and like when you laid in bed, like there were just windows on like two sides of you, which was cool. Yeah, um, we have some thoughts about this hotel, though. Should we get into that now and then, and then we'll talk about what we did.

Speaker 2:

I mean yeah, we're definitely gonna have to talk about it. So again, nice hotel. We only ate at one restaurant. The other two or three were pretty fancy. So in the hotel, yeah, but what ray was talking about, I don't know what goes down.

Speaker 1:

Well, first of all, hold on. I had emailed prior to us going and I just said, hey, like I mean I do this almost every time, but this we genuinely were celebrating like a special occasion. And I said, hey, we're celebrating my son's ninth birthday, like we're going to go to a Cowboys game and all this stuff, and it would be great if there could be like a happy birthday note or something in the room. And they wrote back like as if they were going to do that. And so I don't know if and and spoiler alert they didn't. There was zero acknowledgement other than they said happy birthday.

Speaker 1:

When we checked in I don't know if, because they were going to check us into the regular room that I booked, which I think was a two queen, and then I said do you have any suites available? And they were like, oh well, we don't have any suites that have two beds, so if you'd be fine with a roll away, then we can give you a suite. And I was like, yeah, roll away is fine, because there's only three of us, right, the other two kids are not there. I'm like, yeah, that's fine. So I don't know if they had maybe set something up in the original room and just wires got crossed so it never got moved, or if they didn't do anything at all. But that was a little disappointing to me. I will say Our son had no idea that I asked for that or anything, so he was oblivious. But I had wanted that to be a little like a nice little surprise for him and it didn't happen. So that was disappointing. So that was the first thing. Okay, now you can tell the other thing.

Speaker 2:

I'm just going to assume it was another room.

Speaker 1:

I mean, maybe, maybe I should have asked. I didn't think about that until the last day, so I don't know.

Speaker 2:

So, anywho, yes, it was a nice hotel. Excuse me, but downtown Dallas because that's where the hotel is at night, there's like street racing. Yes, it's not really street racing, but I mean there are cars with loud exhaust. I mean I think they were street racing. I mean it sounded like street racing. It could have been motorcycles, it could have been. And, to be clear, we were on the 17th floor, and it was loud, af, it kept us up.

Speaker 1:

It woke up, yes, in the middle of the night, at three o'clock in the morning, and it happened every night, except for sunday yeah, so both friday and saturday night, like two, three o'clock in the morning, I mean just like the loudest sound you can imagine, like it sounded as if it was right outside our window. And again, we are on the 17th floor, so that was not great. And we, when we checked out, we kind of referenced that to the girl, like wow, that, like it's so loud, and she even said like, yeah, this weekend was, was bad.

Speaker 2:

Her exact words were it was a mess.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so I'm sure people it was a mess. Yeah, so I'm sure people were calling and complaining Like we didn't do any of that.

Speaker 2:

But we were like, yeah, we probably would not stay here again for that reason, and again I mean, like I said, it's a nice hotel, nice property.

Speaker 1:

but it's downtown.

Speaker 2:

So you got the downtown feel.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

But yeah, definitely wouldn't stay there again. No, at the downtown feel, yeah, but yeah, definitely wouldn't stay there again.

Speaker 1:

No, I mean, the other thing I'll say is like I felt like the service was kind of cold for the most part. There was one really nice lady in the restaurant we chatted with, but beyond that I just generally at Hyatt's I feel very cared for, if that makes sense, and I did not have that feeling on this trip, Do you agree? I mean?

Speaker 2:

yeah, yeah. We didn't interact with a lot of people. We went to breakfast twice. Our servers were nice, they didn't go above and beyond, and then, like I said, when we checked in, that guy was freestyling in the lobby, which it was pretty loud, and the girl that checked us in, she seemed annoyed from that because it was loud.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, she handed us an envelope and was like here are all your globalist benefits, but nothing was ever explained to us. And like there there was a paper and like next to the breakfast, someone had written $75. And I was like I don't know what this means. Like, is that our allotment for the for the day? Like I have no idea, so I still don't know, because they I think they did end up taking off all the breakfast. So, whatever, um, probably wouldn't return, but like, if you're looking for like a swankier place to stay in Dallas, like that's probably your best choice. That was why I chose it. Um, I think if, if we were going to go back again, I would stay closer to the stadium and I think there's a bunch of different Hyatt houses or Hyatt places there and that's probably the route that I would go, save some points and yeah.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, because, from what we saw, everything is next to the stadium.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, we went that way pretty much every time we were going somewhere. So our plan was Texas barbecue, six flags and the Cowboys Giants game. So that was kind of the itinerary for the weekend. Barbecue you got a recommendation from a friend.

Speaker 2:

Yep Terry Black's barbecue.

Speaker 1:

Yep. So we didn't rent a car on this trip, we only did Ubers and Lyfts. I did feel like the Ubers and Lyfts were pretty expensive as a side note, but the Uber to Terry Black's was only like $10. So that was not bad. It was maybe, I don't know seven, eight minutes from the hotel. It wasn't far at all. Yeah, it was close. The barbecue was very good. It was expensive, though it was over $100 for the three of us.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I mean, I was expecting that. Well, I wasn't, because it's barbecue. Well, it was our first time, so I got a bunch of extra sides, yeah, which I thought was the best thing of of terry black's besides yeah, the corn, the beans, mac and cheese was okay well, I like the mac and cheese.

Speaker 1:

It was good. Okay, um, I thought the brisket was delicious brisket was good ribs? Oh, they were okay. You said the, the beans were your favorite, right? Yeah, oh, we also got two desserts. We got a peach cobbler and a banana pudding, which was okay.

Speaker 2:

And the banana pudding was good yeah it was good yeah. But I would go back for the sides for sure.

Speaker 1:

I mean, I would go back for the brisket. I was impressed by it, I enjoyed it, had a nice crust on it. Okay, that's all we did Friday. And then we literally just watched a movie, the three of us in our hotel room, and it was great. Our son was thrilled to do that. What was the movie called?

Speaker 2:

Puss in Boots.

Speaker 1:

Oh yeah, oh yeah, I fell asleep towards the end. I fell asleep towards the beginning. It was good though it was cozy, it was fun, it was fun, okay. So Saturday we woke up, had breakfast. Breakfast in the hotel was pretty good. Yeah, it was pretty good. It's at a restaurant called the Little Daisy or something like that and it has like New Orleans kind of vibes to it and the menu, I would say, has like a New Orleans flair. I will say service was a little slow. It was slow. Yeah, all three days like kind of took a while. Well, the first two days, the last day we I think we did room service because we knew it was going to take a while. Our plan was six flags and because of the time difference, we woke up a little later than we normally would. Six flags, first of all, it's not open day. Six flags over texas is what it was called. It's in arlington. It's about a 20 25 minute drive from the hotel.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, 25 30 minute drive yeah, and so it's not open every day. It's generally only open on the weekends, at least currently, and it didn't open till noon, so we got there at like 11 50 I think. Yeah, I had pre-bought tickets and bought the fast pass. Yeah, it was called the flash pass. Flash pass, yes, and so we were basically in right when they opened and we were there until about 8 pm, which was later than we intended to stay yeah, I mean it.

Speaker 2:

It was a great time it was, it was fun. So, yes, our son, who's eight at first said he wasn't gonna ride any of the rides he's a little scared sometimes, which I think is normal yeah, it's normal, so I figured I was gonna have to ride the rides by myself. But he, he rallied, yeah, he rallied, soldiered up and uh, he rode most of the rides.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so the very first ride we went on is this ride called aquaman, the very first ride, and it's, you get wet, like you get very wet, you get soaked and it was hot. It was like 90 that day, I think yeah so it felt good.

Speaker 1:

We went on that ride first, all three of us, and so I as a kid loved roller coasters. The older I get, the harder it is for me to go on them, which is disappointing. But I was feeling like, eh, after that ride. But I was like, still fine, I could do it. And then the next ride that we went on was called Pandemonium and it was awful. You sit in a car, it's a roller coaster, but the car spins also and I have never come closer to throwing up in public than I did so at that moment well, ray and I sat on the same side and our son sat on the other side yeah, so I think all the weight caused us to spin the entire time.

Speaker 2:

It was so bad. It was so bad when it stopped and we were still spinning and I was like this needs to stop it was so bad like we got off and I was like I'm not going on that again and our son's like, yeah, let's do that again.

Speaker 1:

We're like no, absolutely not, and so I needed a moment at that point and we're only two rides in. So I'm like, oh gosh. So we went to Johnny Rockets, which had air conditioning, and I just sat in there and like had a, like a powerade drink and like just kind of relaxed, and and Dwayne went on another ride.

Speaker 2:

Yes, he wanted to go on the ride that was right next to Johnny Rockets, which also spun, but in a different way. But we got on it and as soon as it started to spin, I was like what did I get myself into? And I just kept thinking I need this ride to stop. And it just started. So I mean, the whole time I was on it I was like please, just stop, please, just stop.

Speaker 1:

When they came back, dwayne was like, oh, I can't do that again and mind you.

Speaker 2:

I would ride any ride back in the day, like any ride, yes, and I wouldn't be affected. Not now Not anymore, but I did ride all the. I love roller coasters.

Speaker 1:

Just ones that spin. I can't do anymore. Yeah, the spinning is the worst part, yeah. So Dwayne and him went on a bunch of different roller coasters and, honestly, I just kind of hung out, sat around. It was fine. I didn't mind it, it was fine for me. All I cared about was that he was having fun and he was having a great time he was having a great time. I had a great time. They ended up going on Aquaman two more times throughout the day yeah, we went.

Speaker 2:

I think we went on it four times.

Speaker 1:

Maybe it was four times and yeah. So I mean we had lunch in the park. I did go on a much more tame roller coaster with him. That was definitely like for younger children but, he still liked it. We had fun and we, you know, I went on a few of the other rides that were not roller coasters, but all in all I think Six Flags was a great time.

Speaker 2:

It was a great idea.

Speaker 1:

I was telling Dwayne that because really the only theme parks we've been to in recent years have been Disney, and I feel like Disney really sets the bar high, and so sometimes when you go to parks that are not Disney, it can feel like kind of disappointing or like sometimes they're like dirty, and that was not our experience here at all. It was fantastic actually, yeah.

Speaker 2:

And it was. It wasn't even crowded. We bought the flash pass and I felt like we didn't really need it. Yeah, but I will never not buy the fast or flash pass like you have to.

Speaker 1:

It saves so much time.

Speaker 2:

It did save a lot of time, yeah, yeah I mean, even though it wasn't busy, you were still gonna wait 20, 30 minutes, you know yeah, and the other thing that but like disneyland, you're waiting like an hour and a half, you know yeah, like no that well.

Speaker 1:

I think the other thing too is we thought we were gonna have to leave around six because it's now it's Halloween season and they have like the Fright Fest thing going on, and our son is terrified on a good day in broad daylight of like very simple things. So he's going through a phase right now where. Yeah, so there was no way that he was going to be able to handle any kind of a Fright Fest.

Speaker 2:

So we were like they had, like zombies, when, as we were leaving, yeah.

Speaker 1:

So we were like we gotta like make sure we're out of here before any of this starts, but it didn't. It didn't seem to be starting where we were. So we kept like we played games and whatever, and we were there until eight and it was starting to get dark when we left and as we walked out towards the exit slash entrance, that's like it was starting to get dark when we left and as we walked out towards the exit slash entrance, that's like it was all like foggy and misty and eerie and spooky.

Speaker 2:

There were zombies and like yeah.

Speaker 1:

And he kind of looked around a little bit, but he didn't really say much and I think he knew we were leaving and so it was OK. But we thought we only had till about six and so we were trying to like rush through everything to, you know, get as much out of it as we could, but we ended up having a couple more hours than that before it got spooky, so that was good.

Speaker 2:

Would highly recommend Six Flags over Texas for sure.

Speaker 1:

We had a great time. So then we went back to the hotel. We got room service because we were exhausted, because again it was hot and we were outside all day, and that was great room service. The food at the hotel was quite good.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I will say.

Speaker 1:

And then we woke up the next day and what was on our agenda?

Speaker 2:

The game at the cowboy stadium, enemy territory yes, but it was a great game.

Speaker 1:

It was a great game, very exciting. The giants did not pull it out in the end, but it went into ot went into overtime, but it went into overtime in such a crazy way like giants scored at the end.

Speaker 2:

There it was, it was crazy great game.

Speaker 1:

It was a great game, um. So our son wore his miami dolphins jersey. That was our choice. He has a philadelphia eagles jersey and a dolphins jersey, and duane thought that I just didn't want him to wear enemy, yeah, yeah, because the eagles, the cowboys and the giants were all in the same division, right and same with, you know, washington and the Cowboys had just lost to the Eagles the week before.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so Dwayne was like it's probably safer if he wears the Dolphins jersey, and in no way will I be spending one cent of my money to buy any Cowboys merch. Just in case anyone's wondering, there is no shot the Eagles. I did, because I like Saquon Barkley, but that's it. That's where I draw the line. So, anyways, this is not a football podcast. But he wore his Dolphins jersey and was just whooping it up with the Cowboys like towels that they give you the entire game, screaming his head off, cheering for the Cowboys next to me as I scream my head off cheering for the Giants in anime territory, because everyone around us for the month there was a few Giants fans in our kind of section yeah, but, yeah.

Speaker 1:

But, like all the people directly next to us were all Cowboys fans and, yeah, it was a great time we got some, you know, some popcorn, some drinks.

Speaker 2:

First of all, the stadium's very nice yeah.

Speaker 1:

I mean it's huge. We do have some tips about getting to and from the stadium, because that was a nightmare.

Speaker 2:

A disaster. So if you decide to go to a Cowboys game at the stadium arlington, you need to get there at least an hour and a half before the game, at least yeah, and that doesn't.

Speaker 1:

We don't mean leave, and we mean arrive, that early.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I mean they. The traffic there it was terrible. It was horrible like there was no organization. There was, I mean it was bad and so we had.

Speaker 1:

I predominantly use lyft. I have like the lyft pink or whatever the membership is and that's just what I use. Um, however, we I ordered a lyft from the hotel because, again, we didn't rent a car, we only took public transportation. Our son is old enough to not really like he's fine without a booster and whatever he does sit in a booster at home, but it's fine if he's not when we travel. So we were like we're free, right, like we don't need a car seat, like we're good. We had two Lyfts cancel, I think. They saw where we were going and they were like nope, and so then I switched to Uber. Uber was double the price of Lyft every time as a side note, and we did get an Uber driver. She did pick us up, she was great, um, but it took us a good maybe 45 minutes and we still finally were like we have to get out of your car and walk because the game is about to start.

Speaker 2:

I mean, yeah, it took 45 minutes. It took us probably 20 minutes to get to the stadium, and then we sat in traffic for 25, which we were right in front of the stadium.

Speaker 1:

We could see it, yeah, and everyone was walking past us, going faster than the cars. The cars were just not moving. So we, finally she was like I want to get you guys as close as possible and I'm like I appreciate that so much, but like at this point we just have to get out and walk because the game is going to start. And she's like, yep, totally get it. So we literally just got out of her car on the street and and walked in and then, leaving the game, we were also like man, how is that going to work? Um, not great, it didn't work great it was.

Speaker 2:

It was worse than getting there. I mean, it was horrible.

Speaker 1:

So we I will say I think that it was easier for us, maybe I feel like we got lucky. So we ordered an Uber, right, as we were like walking out the door of the stadium, but obviously the Uber can't come right up to the front door, right. And so we got an Uber pretty quickly. And then the driver called and I handed the phone to Dwayne, because that's not like, directions are just not my, they're not my thing, I don't care about them, I don't. I have a terrible sense of direction, I don't whatever. So I give the phone to Dwayne Like this is you handle this?

Speaker 2:

Yes. So he called and said he was at the walmart and we were like, well, we don't know where the walmart is, but luckily we were walking right towards it. So we're like, okay, we see it, we walk over there. And, mind you, I mean we, we had to walk through traffic that was just stopped in the middle of the street. Yes, to get to walmart. We finally get to walmart and we're like you know where is he. So we get to Walmart and we're like you know where is he. So we call him back and we're like hey, we're, you know, in front of Walmart. He's like oh, so am I? I'm like, well, where are you at?

Speaker 1:

Because there are just SUV after SUV lined up People and people and people, just everywhere.

Speaker 2:

And so, yeah, he's like I'm right here, are you in between the pharmacy and the grocery side? I go, yeah, we're right in the middle. Then, finally, we walked through the parking lot and found him.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so we got in the car, which was nice because it was air conditioned and again it was hot, like hot and humid, and so we probably sat in his car for 25 minutes in the parking lot.

Speaker 2:

In the parking lot and didn't move. Then he, like, backed up and made his way to one of the streets that was packed full of traffic. He then got on that street and we sat in that, in that traffic, for another 25 minutes and then he like, um, he went.

Speaker 1:

I do think that he went around a few ways that like he wouldn't have known to go.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, he just, he was like going through the neighborhood and, you know, made a u-turn a couple times and the tldr is that this uber cost us over a hundred dollars to get back first of all, when we first ordered, it was 80, right, yeah. And then we sent so much traffic that the price went up well, there was.

Speaker 1:

I was looking at the receipt and there was like an event surcharge added, basically, and so that was like 25 bucks, so that it was like 105 I thought it went up just because we were no, I don't think it did, but the surcharge was added, so I don't know.

Speaker 1:

But anyways, um, we spent a good amount on uber I. So I didn't do the math. I just kind of assumed that Uber Ubering to where we needed to go would be cheaper than paying to rent a car, plus paying to park the car both at the hotel, because we stayed downtown, and at the stadium. So, but I could be wrong because, again, the Uber, it was more expensive than I thought.

Speaker 2:

So I think it would have been more expensive to rent the car.

Speaker 1:

I mean maybe, maybe, but and would it have been any better, like renting it and driving and parking ourselves? I don't know, but it was. It was quite the chaotic mess. So just keep that in mind and be patient. And if you, if you have the option to like, just stay near the stadium and maybe eat or something before you go back, that's probably the way to go, that is the way to go.

Speaker 2:

After the game, go to a restaurant, sit down, take your time and eat, and then call an Uber or drive home.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's what I would do, but again, I would also stay. We would probably stay more near Arlington than downtown Dallas. But you know, you live and you learn. And then we just woke up the next day and we actually used our late checkout which we never really do, because I had to work, and so I was able to work from the hotel room, took a few meetings, did you know, whatever work stuff, and so I was able to work from the hotel room, took a few meetings, did you know whatever work stuff. And then our flight was later that afternoon. I had wanted to fly out early in the morning, but the price was a lot cheaper later in the day. So fortunately, I work remotely and, you know, was able to make that work. So, oh, and we did.

Speaker 1:

We went to two lounges. So when we left Phoenix, we went into the Chase Sapphire lounge. If you are flying through Phoenix or leaving, you know, live in Phoenix, you can make a reservation at the lounge up to 14 days before your trip. So I would recommend doing that, because we there's, there was like a 45 minute wait and we didn't wait at all because we had a reservation and then we also were able to use the Capital One Lounge in DFW, which was also great Capital One. They have great lounges and through February you can still bring in guests. So I was able to get both Dwayne and our son in on my card alone yeah, capital One, that's the way to go.

Speaker 1:

It's good, but starting february 6th or something like that, we're not going to be able to to do that because then they limit their guest access. So anyways, um, yeah, it was a great trip. We had a great time. I really love how points and miles have given us the ability to create traditions like this for our kids.

Speaker 2:

Did we mention how many points it was For the hotel?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, I said it's a Category 6, so it's between 21,000 and 29,000. I fully don't remember our exact total, but it was somewhere in there. Don't remember our exact total, but it was somewhere in there. Um, oh, the other thing I was going to say is we, um, my thought process is so they get a domestic trip at nine and then they get to choose an international trip at 18 of their choosing, and so that's that's. That's how I think about it.

Speaker 2:

I think that's cool Must be nice. So funny story, Mike. Our son's got haircuts today. You don't know about this, and our Otis is telling the barber or the girl that's cutting his hair you know why he's getting a haircut. Just go, You're going to Japan.

Speaker 1:

He's like yeah, when else have?

Speaker 2:

you been and he's just started naming off places. I mean he's getting a haircut, just go, you're going to Japan. He's like yeah, she's like where else have you been? And he just started naming off places. I mean he's been to Hawaii all over the US California, north Carolina, florida Then he's like, yeah, I also went to Costa Rica, even went to Europe. And she's like, oh, wow, you went to Europe.

Speaker 1:

Man, they're so lucky, lucky, she goes in march I went to philadelphia and I just kind of like giggled, I just thought it was funny. Oh, that is funny. Yeah, in march I went to philadelphia hey, listen, I mean best cheesesteak of my life and what's funny is.

Speaker 2:

That's what she said she's like I didn't like philly cheesesteaks just because you know they weren't the, but when I got one in Philly, it was so good.

Speaker 1:

It is so good and I don't know how or what they do to it, but I think the place that we went was D'Alessandro's. Maybe I could be wrong about that, but I have a friend who lives right outside of Philadelphia and I visited her it was actually back before I went to Europe and, oh yeah, it was delicious, delicious. Okay, I feel like that wraps up today's episode. If you have any questions, ask me on Instagram at travel party five, if you are, if you have points and you're just not sure, like how to use them or how to make the best use of them, I do do paid one on one consults. They are one hour long.

Speaker 1:

There is a link in my Instagram bio to like learn more about that and book it if you want to. I'm like fully booked out through like middle of October, I think, at this point. But yeah, if that's something of interest, feel free to check that out. And if you have not done so and you enjoy the podcast, please leave us a rating or review, because that helps more people find our podcast, which is the goal, and we appreciate you so much.

Speaker 2:

Yes, we appreciate you.

Speaker 1:

We will catch you on the next episode, have a good one Bye.