Traveling with Points and Miles
Hello!
If you’re reading this, you probably at some point have asked us on how you can also save money on travel! One of biggest factors on how is by maximizing on points and miles earned from using credit cards. If you’re never used a credit card before, don’t be afraid, it’s not as hard as it may seem! If you are worried on how it may affect your spending habits, do take the time to learn how to organize your finances (paying the card off before your monthly statement is due is best practice) and discipline is key as well. After all, overspending would cancel out all the amazing benefits points and miles bring.
Below you’ll see three options for anyone looking to begin this lifestyle, these cards are versatile and not tied to any specific hotel chain or airline. Disclaimer, we do get a referral bonus if you apply using the links below, which is why we created this page as a resource, don’t hesitate to DM us any specific questions!
Family Adventure Travel
Creators trusted by
Chase Sapphire Preferred (Best card for beginners)
Annual fee = $95
Earn 60,000 miles after spending $4000 in the first three months
5x Dollars spent when booking travel through the Chase Travel Portal
3x Dining, online groceries, eligible delivery services, eligible streaming services
2x Travel
1x Everything Else
My take on it:
For the longest time, I thought this was “okay” card because it was 1x everything else. Even with the bonus categories like dining and travel, I thought I’d rather just earn 2x on everything else through Capital One. But it’s all about the journey, it took me about 5 years of learning about points and miles to truly understand the landscape of booking cheap flights. Back then, Meg and I only thought “If we can just get there, we’ll figure out how to save on everything else like hotels and rental cars”. What we overlooked was that in country costs can add up really fast even if we “got there for free”. Chase Ultimate Rewards (yes, that’s what they are called, or UR points for short) can be transferred to IHG, Hilton and the most valuable of all, Hyatt points. Needless to say, it’s in my opinion THE BEST card for beginners, and at a low annual fee, going on one single flight or hotel stay on points, would cover the cost of owning this card.
Good reads on this card:
Why I love my Chase Sapphire Preferred card — and will always keep it in my wallet
Chase Sapphire Preferred Card review: A top travel and dining card
How do we find cheap flights? We don’t.
Going sends them to us everyday.
It’s free for domestic flight alerts. We have the $49/yr premium plan that gives us international deals like $260 to Peru or $340 to Copenhagen!
Capital One Venture X (Best premium card for luxury or international travel)
Annual Fee: $395
Earn 75,000 bonus miles when you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months
Receive a $300 annual credit for bookings through Capital One Travel
Get 10,000 bonus miles (equal to $100 towards travel) every year, starting on your first anniversary
Earn unlimited 10X miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel and 5X miles on flights booked through Capital One Travel
Earn unlimited 2X miles on all other purchases
Unlimited complimentary access for you and two guests to 1,300+ lounges, including Capital One Lounges (only in D.C, Denver and Dallas for now) and the Partner Lounge Network (Plaza Premium and Priority Pass)
Use your Venture X miles to easily cover travel expenses, including flights, hotels, rental cars and more—you can even transfer your miles to your choice of 15+ travel loyalty programs
Elevate every hotel stay from the Premier or Lifestyle Collections with a suite of cardholder benefits, like an experience credit, room upgrades, and more
Receive up to a $100 credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck®
My take on it:
Colin, it’s $395 a year?! To which I say, did you read everything else?! Even though Capital One has a Sapphire Preffered equivalent with $95 annual fee, the perks of this premium card literally pays for itself and frankly I see no point in getting the Venture or $0 annual fee VentureOne. The annual travel credit of $300 alone brings the cost down to $95 and on top of that, the lounge access all around the world allows our family of four to eat for free. Our first year, we used the travel credit to offset our Disney Aulani cost (from $480 a night to $180), and this year, Meg and I used it on an anniversary night getaway in amazing Greenville, SC. I’ve used our CO Miles to book rental cars and boutique hotels all over the world and if you’re making even 1-2 international trips a year, I would highly recommend this. Domestic travelers? The lounge access may not be an appeal to you because only the major hubs in the US have decent lounges. I wouldn’t count it out because the Annual Travel Credit is still a huge benefit. Consider this card a faster way to earn miles because of the 2x.
Good reads on this card:
Should I get the Capital One Venture X?
Who should (and shouldn’t) get the Capital One Venture X card?
Capital One Venture Rewards (Best card for beginners, non-bonus spending)
Annual Fee = $95
Earn 75,000 miles after spending $4000 in the first three months
5x Dollars spent when booking travel through the Capital One Travel Portal
2x Every dollar spent
My take on it:
if you want to take your first step into this world, and don’t want to worry about the nitty gritty (travel partners, bonus spending categories, particular about travel partners), then this is your card. Every dollar you spend earns you double the miles ($10 = 20 Capital One Miles) which is more than any other card in the game. We used this card for about 6 years before we upgraded to the Venture X to get lounge access and travel credits. Colin, why get this card rather than the Chase Sapphire Preferred? I think the only leg up this card has is that Capital One lets you use your miles to cover any travel purchase aka The Purchase Eraser. That beach house you rent every year for your family reunion through some beach rental website? That could be free! Airbnb, VRBO, it’s all game.
Good reads on this card:
How to cover travel purchases using Capital One Miles (Step by step guide)
BONUS CARDS
Chase IHG One Rewards Premier
Annual Fee = $99
Earn 140,000 Bonus Points after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months
Redeem 3 nights, 4th one free
Anniversary Free Night
26x IHG points at IHG Hotels & Resorts
5x IHG points on travel, gas stations and dining
3x IHG points on all other purchases
My take on it:
This was my very first Hotel co-branded credit card which I thought for SO MANY YEARS was useless because why would you earn points from only one hotel chain. Well, I signed up in the Summer of 2023 when they had an elevated sign up bonus of 175,000. The bonus ALONE got us 8 free nights in Hong Kong and Bali. Other hotel co-branded cards like Hilton or Marriot require 4 award nights in order to get the 5th night free so in this case, IHG wins. Knowing I had a trip at the end of the year, I started using this card exclusively for about a month or two and even stayed in some IHG hotels for work trips, which earned me 5 more free nights (2 more in Bali and 3 for our Disneyland trip). All in all, I probably saved more than $1500 on hotel stays and guess what? I’m getting another free night once I hit my card anniversary. Pretty good investment for $99 I would say! It may not be a long term card for me, but I’ve sure have enjoyed the ride.
