Which Points Card is for You?

I mentioned in my last post that one of the posts I think would be most beneficial is to share what cards I would start with if I were just getting into this points hobby; with the goal being to use credit card points for travel. Here is that list!

Before I jump into my recommended Basic Travel Cards, I want to remind you of a few things:

Financial Responsibility

All of this is shared with the assumption that you don't carry credit card debit, that you're able to spend a minimum a few thousands dollars on a card credit in under a three month period and most importantly, that you're able to pay it off.  (I'm certainly not a financial advisor).

Chase 5/24 Rule

I'm sharing this again, because if you're new to cards, you need to engrain this in your head. Chase will NOT approve you for new credit cards (personal or business cards) if you've got 5 or more personal* credit cards of any time in the last 24 month period. This can include bank cards (Chase, Amex, Capital One, Wells Fargo, etc), store cards (Old Navy, Lowes, Nordstrom, you name it), etc. This also includes if you have been added as an authorized user to someone else's credit card** 

(Remember, there are no "joint" cards in this game. To maximize your point earn, each adult in your relationship should have credit cards in their own name; if you have others willing to participate).

*Business cards do not count in your 5/24 count. However, you must be under 5/24 to be able to get approved for a business card.

**If you are an authorized user (AU) on someone's credit card, or if you have authorized users on your credit card; you can call the issuing financial institution and ask to have the AU removed. This should free up a "spot" on your 5/24 account. 

Now that that's out of the way, here we go. Remember, there is A LOT to learn, especially starting off. You're not going to know it all and you are going to make mistakes. Take one step at a time, digest, learn, and continue on.

Beginner Basic Travel Credit Cards

1. Chase Sapphire Preferred (or Reserve), CSP/CSR

Without a doubt, this is definitely the best place to start. Chase credit cards allow you to earn Chase Ultimate Rewards (CURs), which are their universal flexible points. While you can use CURs to book travel in the Chase Travel Portal, this is much like booking a trip through a third party service like Expedia. You don't earn any loyalty or benefits.

However, there are only a few Chase credit cards that allow you to transfer your Chase points directly to travel partners (more on the how to transfer in a future post).. CSP/CSR are the only non-business cards that allow this. Now, Chase points are considered highly flexible because they transfer to 3 hotel chains (Hyatt, Marriott, and IHG), and 11 airlines (but keep in mind, airlines work in alliances or partnerships. So while there are 11 airlines with a direct transfer, alliances give you the opportunity to book flights with over a dozen airlines).

This is an old example, but really shows the value of booking direct with a travel partner, instead of using your Chase points within the Chase Travel Portal.  Let's say I wanted to book a flight from Denver to Frankfurt.  On the left you see that to book this particular flight in the Chase Portal, it would cost $892 cash (which was the same as booking direct on United), but I could use 71,296 CURs to book the flight for $0 out of pocket. It's a lot of points, but hey, you're still flying for $0! However, with the ability to transfer CURs directly to United (which transfer 1:1), I could have booked the same exact flight for only 30,000 points (+ minimal fees)! Less than half of the point cost!! What?!

This is why it's beneficial to transfer points!!

In addition to allowing transfer Chase Travel partners, Chase also allows you to combine your own points within your account and within anyone else account in the same household. So if you already have Chase points, maybe from a Chase Business Card or a Chase Freedom card, you have the ability to combine those points to your CSP/CSR account and then transfer to a third party. Or if your significant other has Chase points, you can call customer service to have your accounts linked so that you can transfer to one another. (This is a huge benefit if you have two adults in your household earning points. You can take turns referring one another to Chase cards and then pool your points together).

CSP/CSR Card Details:

The big difference between these two cards are the annual fees and the benefits that come with them.

• Chase Sapphire Preferred, annual fee $95
• Major Benefits:
• Ability to transfer to travel partners
• $50 annual hotel credit (for hotels booked in the Chase Portal and charged to this card)
• Earn 3X points on dining (including food delivery services)
• Earn 2X points on travel
• Travel insurance protection (for travel charged to this card)

• Chase Sapphire Reserve, annual fee $550
• Major Benefits:
• Ability to transfer to travel partners
• $300 annual travel credit (for travel charged to card, does not have to be booked via Chase Portal)
• Up to $120 credit towards Global Entry, TSA Precheck of NEXUS (charge your application fee to this card and you'll receive a statement credit to be reimbursed)
• Earn 3X points on dining (including food delivery services)
• Earn 3X points on travel
• Airport lounge access to Sapphire Lounges (not at all airports)

There are two important nuisances to remember with Chase Sapphire cards:

1. You can only hold one Sapphire card at a time. This means you cannot have both a Chase Sapphire Preferred AND a Chase Sapphire Reserve at the same time. (If you have one and apply for the other, you'll automatically be declined).
2. Unlike other cards, the sign up bonus for the CSP/CSR is limited to every 48 months. That means if you get the card and hit the minimum spend for the spend up months, if you wanted to cancel your CSP/CSR at some time to get another sign up bonus, you'd need to make sure it's been 48 months since you received your last sign up bonus.  (You could cancel the card before 48 months, but honestly that would be silly to since it's a card you need to hold to be able to transfer points to travel partners).

There you have it, my number one pick for a beginner travel and points credit card. I often refer to this as the "gateway card" because it's so easy to rack up points without much thought. Which do I have? Ben and I both each have our own Sapphire Preferred. I could have justified the cost of the annual fee for the Reserve if I needed to, but we already have Global Entry (costs covered by other cards) and there currently is not a Sapphire or Priority Pass lounge at DEN airport (plus it's not free to get a family of four in).

If you're interested in applying, here is my referral link. This link will allow you to apply for either card with the standard sign up offer being to spend $4K in 3 months and earn 60,000 points.

2. Capitol One Venture X (VX)

My runner up favorite travel card is the Venture X. Now, I have to admit, it took a while for me to be convinced that one of us needed to hold this card. However, now that we do, I cringe to think how much use we could have gotten out of it previously!

This card has a $395 annual fee. Which I know, seems hefty buuuuut... the benefits (if used) more than outweigh the fee cost:

Major Benefits:

• $300 annual travel credit, for travel booked in the Capital One (C1) portal. Book any kind of travel, pay with your VX and the $300, if not used, automatically comes off. I used this credit for a car rental, which doesn't really have a great way to cover the cost.
• Annual 10K point bonus. Once you hit your card anniversary, you automatically get 10,000 pts added to your account
• 2X points on all purchases: While you can find higher multipliers (see Amex Gold 3B below), if you want a card you don't have to think about but get more than just one point per dollar spent, this could be a good option for you
• $120 credit for Global Entry and/or TSA PreCheck: Charge your application fee to this card and you'll receive a statement credit to be reimbursed.
• Airport Lounge Access
• Another caveat to say we have never been big airport lounge people. With a United Card I hold, we get two annual one-time passes and while it's be fine, it hasn't been a loss not to use honestly (last year I gave them away because I didn't have 4 passes to get us all in). However, Capital One Lounge at Denver is a different story. Not only have we eaten there, but we've also taken snacks to go; which have covered costs for both breakfast and lunch on a travel day.
• C1VX card not only gets you into Capital One lounge's for free, but you also can:
• Use your C1VX to get a free Priority Pass Lounge membership, which has over 1,600 locations world wide
• Traveling with someone else? Not a problem with this card! The cardholder is allowed to bring two guests for free to Capital One lounges and one free guest for Priority Pass lounges. (Keep in mind, these lounges aren't at all airports, so check using the links above to find locations when considering this card).
• You may be thinking... well that's nice, but I have 2 (3 or even 4) kids, so my family of 4 (,5, or 6) can't use this benefit. Friend, I'm happy to tell you that there is a way... and unlike other cards/lounges where you can pay, with C1VX - it's free! All you have to do is add one family member as an authorized user to your C1VX card (which is free to do); then that person will be issued their own C1VX card - valid to get them into lounges and bring guest(s) also.
• For example, I'm a family of 4. My husband is the C1VX cardholder and while he could have made me an authorized user, remember that 5/24 rule... I didn't want this card to take up one of my 5 spaces of a new credit in the past 24 months. Instead, we made our 7 year old an authorized user! ha! Now all 4 of us can get into both C1 and Priority Pass lounges when traveling, for free
• Like Chase, the points earned with Capital One cards can be pooled together and serve as universal points to transfer to partners for direct booking and travel!

The current Venture X offer is 75,000 points with a $4,000 minimum spend in 3 months. If you learned anything from the information I shared, please consider using my referral link to sign up for this card. 

From here, there are two paths to go with what card next...depending what your goal is. If you want to rack up the most universal points for general travel use, then lets look at Chase Ink Business Cards

3A. Chase Ink Business

I think the most common thought with business cards is, "I don't have a business" so these aren't for me. But what if I told you to rethink what a business is? Do you resell items on FB Marketplace or Craigslist? Babysit? Property Manage? All of these items can count as a small business and qualify you for a business card, even if you don't have an EIN.

This is where the business card application option for sole proprietor comes into play. You don't need an EIN, you simply use you SSN instead!

I don't want to steal anyone else content nor duplicate the wheel, so if you're interested in qualifying for a business card and how to fill out a business card application, search for "how to file out a sole proprietor business credit card application".

Let me just say.... business cards can play a pivotal role in earning points. Chase Ink Cash and Chase Ink Unlimited are amazing cards, in that they have no annual fee, often have elevated sign up bonus, and you can combine your points earned with your Chase Sapphire to then transfer to direct travel partners. 

Not only are the sign up bonuses usually great, like 75,000 points for a $6,000 spend in 3 months, but if you are working on points in a two-person mode (ie maybe you and a significant other), then you can also refer one another to cards (this is true for all point earning credit cards), so each card you get is not only the SUB (sign up bonus), but it's also the referral points added in too.

*Note, there are four Chase Ink Cards; but only one of them is a true cash back card. (The rest are marketing, but award a sign up bonus in the form of points). The Ink Premier is cash back and this is not an ideal card to get. There are some differences between the other three Ink cards (Preferred, Cash, Unlimited), which I'll highlight in another post.

Let's say you're not so sure yet about trying to sign up for business cards, then let's move on to my alternative option 3.

3B. American Express Gold (Personal)

AmEx is another points currency that I was reluctant to get into. I just love Chase so much!!! But, I had a bit of a wall with too many Chase Ink cards and decided I needed to take a Chase break. Enter Amex.

Now, I know AmEx are often known for their high annual fees, but again, there are benefits that can be used to offset. The AmEx Gold annual fee is $325, and here are some of the benefits I use to offset:

Major Benefits:

• $10/mo Uber credit. Simply load your AmEx as your form of payment and each month, $10 will be deducted from your order cost to utilize this benefit
• $7/mo Dunkin Donuts credit. This one may me laugh! I rarely go to Dunkin, but what I did realize, was that instead of going to Dunkin monthly, I can simply buy a $7 Dunkin gift card monthly and then add that to a Dunkin account; which adds up to $84 a year. If you don't have a need for this, then you could still build up the credits and then be a nice person and bring a dozen donuts into work or school a couple of times a year
• $100 Resy annual credit: Twice a year (Jan-Jun and Jul-Dec), simply dine at a Resy restaurant and pay with your gold card to receive a $50 statement credit.
• 4X groceries, food delivery, restaurants: Honestly this is why I'm keeping this card. The majority of our expenditures point on credit card fall under this category and earns us a TON of points! Not as many points as sign up bonuses, but if we're in between sign up bonuses, this card often becomes my every day card because of this multipliers. In just eight months of having this card, we racked up over 40K pts with these categories alone.
• Rakuten: I have been using shopping portals for YEARS (I mean, look back at this Ebates post (Rakuten's former name) from 2012! Ha! This will be helpful to read if you're not familiar with shopping portals), however, I love that with Rakuten, you can choose to get your kickback in Member Rewards (MRs, aka AmEx points) or cash. I switched to MRs when I opted my Gold and have earned over 16K pts in about nine months

Similar to Chase and CapitalOne, Amex points transfer to a variety of travel partners for direct bookings. Depending on what type of travel you want to do will likely determine who your favorite partners are - many travel podcasts I listen to reserve their MRs for international flights; but I recently did a big redemption with my Amex points to Hilton. The choice is yours and the options are endless.

Wrap-Up

There it is. If I were starting off now, this is where I'd start. Do you have any of these cards already? Or interested in moving on to cards beyond this? I'm working on a post for what cards my husband and I are currently holding (hint, these are all in our wallet at the time same!). 

While there are always new promotions popping up and unlimited co-branded cards, I personally believe in starting with the basic universal points ecosystems and strategizing from there, depending on what your travel goals are.

In Summary:

1. Chase Sapphire Preferred (or Reserve)
2. Capitol One Venture X
3. Chase Ink Business
4. Amex Gold Personal

I'm always happy to help be a sounding board. Feel free to reach out via IG or email (justcallmehaha@gmail.com)

Tricks to Travel: Points 101

Hi! If you're here because you follow me on Instagram (@justcallmehaha), then you know I've been talking about credit card points for travel a lot recently, but what you may not know is how truly obsessed I really am. Ben (and his annoyance) can attest to that. Ha! We've taken dozens of flights (international and domestics) as well as dozens of nights of hotels free (15 in 2025), including a trip to Maui and Kauai for 2024 Holidays valued over $17K all for almost free because of points... and for that, he goes along with my craziness.

If you're not from social media, then a little about me - I've been amateurly earning and traveling with points since about 2014. We have traveled to Europe several times using our points to cover the cost of flights (as a couple, as a family of three, and as a family of four); we did a babymoon in Iceland with flights and hotels completely covered by points, we've flown to Mexico (more than once) via points; and in 2024, we took three trips, as a family of four, that we used points to cover the cost of flights and hotels, as well as stayed 15 nights hotels (local and destination), all covered on points.

I wrote this post in 2018 about some of my experience, methods of earning, and redemptions. While it all still applies, its time to dive into more detail.  

I'm going to do a series of posts about credit card points - how to earn, why to earn them, how to use them, and also travel to cover all of the nuisances in between. Once I get through the fundamentals, I'll then share a post with my recommendations, that if I were starting this "game" right now, which cards I would start with and why. I apologize in advance, because I know some of this gets pretty meticulous. Feel free to reach out via IG (@justcallmehaha) or email (justcallmehaha@gmail.com) for questions and clarification.

While this has become a passion of mine and I love talking points, it does take a lot of time and energy. I'm happy to help education, but I would also appreciate in advance if you would kindly considering using one of my referral links (or more) if I help you in anyway. I'll put referral links in the bottom of my posts. Note, if you open this page via social media, please make sure to click the top right corner and open the referral link in an external browser, which helps me get the credit (and also helps you, because you're not applying for a credit card and sharing personal important information with social media).

Points 101

The goal of points traveling for most is to minimize your out of pocket costs, by utilizing credit card points for travel instead of cash. The quickest and most cost effective way to earn points is often through credit card sign up bonuses. Now, before you rolls your eyes, saying you don't want a million credit cards, and close out of this web browser, hear me out.

First and foremost - this "game" is for people who have a steady income and who are able to pay off their credit card statement(s) monthly. The point of this is not to bring you into debt, or farther into debt, it's to take money that you're already spending for every day life (home utility bills, groceries, car insurance, internet, streaming, childcare (if you're lucky), etc) and spend it more strategically on a credit card in order to earn points that you can them redeem for travel.

The basic jist of points travel is to use your normal shopping and spending habits to strategically open credit cards and hit the minimum spend when opening to earn a sign up bonus (SUB). Hit a sign up bonus, then either refer another adult in your household to the same card for them to work on that SUB (and you get referral points) or if it's been 30+ since you got approved for a new, apply for a new one. Rinse and repeat.

Credit Scores

We pay off all of our credit cards every month. Side note about credit scores, as I shared this recently on IG and only learned myself about two years ago when I started to get really into this aggressively, both Ben and I's credit scores have actually INCREASED over the past two years, even though we've both opened 10+ cards each in that time period.  

Every time one of us opens a new card, I enroll the card in autopayment. I used to be the kind of person who HATED seeing any balance on a credit card. Whenever I logged into our bank account, often several time a week, if I saw a balance, I would immediately pay it off. However, what I learned with this method is that when your monthly statement closes, if your card is constantly paid off, then you report a $0 balance to the credit bureaus. Sure, this is great and feels good, but at the same time, then the credit bureaus don't actually see you utilizing credit. By letting your statement close with a balance, and then paying off that balance, you're proving to the credit bureaus that not only are you utilizing credit, but you're also responsible to pay it off. With this, Ben and I have both seen an increase to our credit scores over the past 2 years and both have scores above 800.

What happens to your score when you apply for or close a card? 

This is a question I've been asked a lot recently, and with understandable concern. When applying for a new card, when there is a hard credit pull, I do see a drop in credit score, usually 5-8 points. However, within a few weeks it jumps back up. I rarely see a drop in credit score when I close a card, maybe 1-2 points, and again it jumps back up.

How to Earn

As I mentioned above, there are numerous ways to earn points: every day spend on your card, spending strategically on cards with higher earn rates for categories (such as Chase Freedom with it's 5% quarterly bonus categories), referrals, shopping portals, etc... but truly if you want get the most bang for your buck, then credit card sign up bonuses are where it's at.

A credit card sign up bonus is an offer extended when you sign up for a new card and hit a minimum spend in a defined point of time. Once you hit this spend, anywhere from $1,000 to $30,000+. in a given time period, often 3 months but sometimes up to 6 months; you then receive a hefty amount of points deposited into your account.

For now, I'm going to focus on sign up bonuses (often referred to as SUBs); but refer back to my 2018 points, linked at the top for shopping portals and I'll work to refresh that as well.

Before signing up for a new card, make sure you can hit the Minimum Spend to get the Sign Up Bonus. Go through your budget and figure out a rough idea of how much you spend on a credit card for an average month; then also think about what other unique expenses you have come up: do you have birthdays or holidays? Taxes? Summer camp? <Thinking about these expenses can help you figure out the best time to sign up for a new card and how high of a minimum spend you can hit to determine which card is right for you.

Referrals are also a great way to earn points! If you have a significant other, friend, or family member who's interested in a card you already have, you can refer them - not only will they get the sign up bonus if they hit the minimum spend requirement, but you'll get referral bonus points if they get approved for the card.

Why Points?

Let's talk about Cash Back vs Travel for your Points.

This really comes down to your needs and priorities. For years we would cash out our Chase points and get a nice boost added to our savings accounts (and this is great! It certainly is nice!) but as we started to want to travel more, we found the value it utilizing points for travel.

Cash value of points really varies, especially depending on the card benefits; but let’s just say you have a Chase Sapphire Preferred Card (although this applies to others like Capitol One). You can use your points for “cash” on the Chase Travel Portal. This can give you an “exchange rate” of 1.25 cent per point (cpp) with the Sapphire Preferred. Some cards also offer trade in of points for a credit card statement credit (ie cash back). Which hey! Getting 1.25 cent per point is a 25% increase for your use of your points, and thats’ great, right? But what if you could do better!

If you can get a $1,000 credit on your Capitol One statement by trading in 100,000 points; then your exchange rate is $1,000 / 100,000pts = $0.01/pt also known as 1 cpp.

In contrast, if you want to use points for travel, you can often find that transferring points to travel partners will help stretch those points and earn you a higher cpp. (more on transferring in another post. View Fundamentals Post for which Chase cards you need in order to be able to transfer points).

Ie you can often (not always) get more bang for your buck by transferring points, instead of booking in the Chase Travel Portal, or trading points in for cash back.

Points Transfer Example:

I booked a 5 night stay hotel in Maui for 175,000pts by transferring my Chase points to Hyatt and booking my hotel room directly with Hyatt. The cash price would have cost  $5,934.

 $5,934 / 175,000pts = 3.4cpp; which means my same amount of Chase points is getting me 3.4x’s the value as they could have it I had cashed out.

This is a huge benefit when travel hacking! But it does take time to learn who and how to search! I know, it’s super overwhelming at first. But hang with me...

Cash Back Example:

Now, I get that some of you may be skeptical. You’ll say, but Hannah, I use my cash-back card for everything and earn a couple hundred bucks back every year! Again, that’s great, and if that works for you, keep doing it, But what if I told you instead of a couple hundred buckets back - you could take a free vacation, even a bucket list vacation, yearly?

Remember above how I said we took a 10-night vacation to Hawaii this winter, with a price tag of over $17K had we paid with cash? I had a friend ask… “how much did you have to spend to get that many points? I put everything on my Costco card, which gets me back 3% cash” 

Compare the differences:

Because our trip was over the holidays, the hotel and the flights cost (points or cash) were pretty high. We flew Southwest with our companion passes (buy one flight (on points or cash) and get one free).The points and companion pass were earned with getting a personal and business SW card (which took 2 months, $4K minimum spend).

The hotel points were likely earned with Chase Ink cards and referral back and forth with my husband when they had the high bonus and referral; about 3-4 cards which I think had $6k minimum spend each?

So in total, say we spent $25k to earn the points (on normal every day life spend we do anyways; not going above and beyond) and in return we got a $17k vacation… compared to the Costco Card 3% back; $25K * 3%, you’d get back $750 cash. I think it’s obvious to see points and transfer trump cash back here (if travel is your goal!)

Knowing how to calculate the cents per points value of a redemption (CPP) is can be critical to deciding on a “good” redemption if you’re looking to move beyond free travel and gain more value out of your points; but at the same time - any free travel is still free travel, so do you works for you and meets your needs.

Fundamentals

Let’s end this post with some basic rules and terminology. Here are a few resources that could help those of you who know little to none about travel hacking to get you started with fundamentals.

Travel hacking definition: the practice of accumulating and utilizing loyalty points, rewards miles, and other incentives to reduce travel costs. It involves strategic use of credit cards, airline programs, hotel reward programs to maximize reward points while reducing cost of trips

Common Acronyms and Terms

CUR/UR: Chase Ultimate Rewards (the points earned with Chase credits cards. These are awesome because Chase has so many travel partners (airlines, airline alliances, and hotel operators) that you can transfer your points to to book directly (see premium cards below). Transferring CURs to travel partners most often will help your points go farther than booking in Chase Portal. Chase Portal may get you extra points, but it may also cost you more than travel partners and it’s truly a third party, similar to booking with Orbitz or Expedia)

SUB: sign up bonus

MS: minimum spend

A sign up bonus is often a credit card offer to receive extra points for opening a card, when you spend a minimum about in given amount of time opening card.

For example: right now Chase Sapphire Preferred has a SUB of 60,000 points with an $4,000 MS within 3 months of opening the card

(PS- the entire reason for opening a card is to hit a SUB. If you can’t hit the MS, you may want to wait to open until you can. <THIS is the primary method to quickly churn and earn points!! Not daily spend on the right card (although this is the next best option if you’re unable to hit an MS)

Chase Premium Cards

• CSP: Chase Sapphire Preferred
• CSR: Chase Sapphire Reserve
• CIP or CIBP: Chase Ink Preferred or Chase Ink Business Preferred (a business card)

In order to maximize point value; you’ll want to transfer Chase points to travel partners. You’ll need one of 3 premium cards above in order to have this option

5/24 Rule **I'm highlighting this in red because it is critical to know and understand*

Chase requires that a person not have more than 5 cards opened within the past 24mo months in order to be approved for a new credit card from Chase. Cards can be issued from any institution, bank, vendor, or store; so even a Nordstrom card can count against your 5/24.

Note: business cards do not count against your 5/24, but, you have to be under 5/24 to apply

Player Mode

AU: authorized user

P1/P2: Player1 / Player2. In tracking hacking, it is often advised that there is no “we”. Each individual signs up for their own cards. This is because listing someone as an AU will take up one of their 5/24 spots and the goal of the game is to get as many cards (as you can afford) to benefit from each cards sign up bonus.

A huge benefit to 2-player mode is that you can go back and forth in referring one another to new cards; that way not only do you get a SUB, but your P2 also gets referral points.

P1 and P2 can combine points via calling Chase.

Misc others:

• AF: annual fee
• CFF: Chase Freedom Flex (card)
• SW/SWA/SW CP: southwest, Southwest Airlines, southwest companion pass

Conclusion

Phew! Did you make it this far? I know that's a lot of information to share and more so to comprehend. This is more of a background knowledge post than all of the fun stuff, but it's important to know. I hope it makes sense and if it doesn't, reach out!

Here are the current credit cards myself or Ben hold and our referral links

• Chase Sapphire Preferred <you can use this link to apply for Preferred or Reserve
• Chase Ink Business <you can use this link to apply for any of the Chase Ink Business cards
• Chase Southwest <you can use this link to apply for Southwest Personal or Business cards; but if you're interested in earning Southwest Companion Pass, you need to apply strategically. Future post on this :)
• Chase United <you can use this link to apply to Personal or Business card
• Amex Gold Personal
• Amex Platinum Personal
• Capital One Venture X

Upcoming posts:

• Points Cost and Transfers: What do things like flights and hotels cost in terms of points? and how to do you actually transfer points to partners to book?
• Business Cards: Can you qualify for a business card and how to apply
• Where to Start? Cards Newbie: If I were starting now, this is which cards I'd start with
• HaHa's Hand: Which cards I'm holding and why
• Example Points Trips: Trips on my list and how much they cost for your inspiration
• Southwest Companion Pass: how to earn buy one, get one flights for less, with sign up bonuses; not flying over 100 flights of spending over $100K

Madrid 2023

To be completely honest, Madrid hadn't been on our must-see list. I know, don't hate me and I know every European city has it's own vibe, but we've been to Barcelona (loved!) and Madrid was on the list, but so are so many other cities! The end goal for this trip was Portugal.

Yet, since I wanted to make this trip happen using points for flights, I started getting creative in my searches when I couldn't find flights from Denver to Lisbon for the point price I was willing to pay. Thus, Madrid came on my radar as a major city we haven't been to and that is relatively close and easy to get to Lisbon.

We flew Lufthansa from Denver through Frankfurt to get to Madrid. I thought I'd found the perfect flight, a 3 hour layover in Frankfurt, enough to give us a cushion of time for delays as well as initial customs. Of course, our flight from FRA-MAD ended up getting pushed back, so we had a 6 hour layover in Frankfurt instead. Not ideal IMO (I'd planned on us using the sleeping pods at FRA that I'd found online, but in reality they would have required us to go through two more security lines and we decided it wasn't worth it). But hey! We survived!

We arrived at Madrid airport around 8:00p local time Monday, 5/22. Knowing that we were going to be arriving this late and jetlagged, I had prearranged a private transfer from the airport to our airbnb through our airbnb. While I'm glad we didn't have to think, only to look for someone holding a sign with our name, we TOTALLY got ripped off. The ride cost us $60eu and an Uber would have been $30 or less. Oh well.

We booked this airbnb about 2 months ahead of time. We chose it based on location, private outdoor patio, air conditioning, and honestly the elevator as a positive too - again knowing it was 5 floors up and we were travelling with two young kids.  The airbnb was fine... but I don't know that either of us would recommend it? The layout is a bit funky. Both kids were a bit scared to share a room away from ours as we originally planned, so I ended up sleeping with Parker upstairs with the low slanted ceiling and Ben/Grayson on the main floor. The first night, the main floor bedroom smelled overwhelming of airfreshner and the next night we realized that was probably to cover up a mildew small. Anyways, on to the city!

How We Spent 3 Nights/2.5 Days in Madrid

Night 1

That first night it was late and we were all starving by the time we checked into the airbnb. We were right off of Plaza De Sol, so a well populated location. The downside of not having researched too much was that we had no idea where we wanted to eat and it was 10p, so places were closing. We ended up eating at Tapa Cafe Madrid, which as you can guess from the google reviews, was so-so. 

Day 2

The next day we all slept in until 11am. I had debated booking a tuktuk tour for us, but ultimately decided against it, not knowing how we'd all be feeling. We decided to go with the back-up plan: Madrid City Tour hop on/off bus. Once we were all awake and ready to go, we opted for a coffee shop breakfast. Feliz Coffee was perfect for the job. Once fueled, we continued walking to Museo Nacional del Prado to buy tickets (which we could have done online) and hop on the bus.

San Jeronimo el Real

We've never done a hop on/off bus before, but I have to say, it actually worked out quiet well! Kids under 6 are free. A one day pass was $25eu and two-day was $30eu, so we opted for two-days. We rode around the city for several stops, until inevitably someone wanted water and someone needed to go to the bathroom. We got off at Plaza de Espana and hopped in a Faborit for a drink and bathroom (which also had some delicious light-meal food. The kids got smoothies). We wandered over to the plaza and found the most amazing playground by happenchance, Parque infantil Plaza Espana. I would say this is a must visit if you have kids toddler age or older. My kids were beyond excited for a playground (and this was the favorite of our entire trip).

From there we wandered more, looking at the Real Palace (from the outside), finding gelato, and then hopping into Taproom Madrid to avoid some rain. We were all feeling pretty good at this point that we decided to go to an "early" flamenco show. 

I had researched flamenco show options ahead of time. Knowing Madrid is a late night city, I had bookmarked a show I found via Airbnb experiences that started at 6:00p. I also got lucky that I had found the same show via Viator. Airbnb wanted to charge for the kids, whereas Viator listed kids under 6 were free. On top of that, Viator sent me a $25 off $50 booking. So in the end, we all 4 went to Essential Flamenco for $50, including a drink for everyone.

The show was an hour long, which was close to too long for the kids, but it held their attention. I'm glad we went (and also glad we didn't do a full-on production with dinner and show)! From there we walked over to Las Bravas, a spot I had bookmarked in my research, for dinner. But it was completely closed. Instead we ended up at Bandida Tapas. We got there at 7p and the restaurant was fairly empty, but the time we left it was full.  It didn't seem the most welcoming of kids; but the food was good and we managed just fine! We stopped at mas que cervezas on the way home, which is an excellent beer and wine shop.

Day 3

With no major plans for the day, we started with a walk to a coffee shop for breakfast to see what the day had in store. Alchemy Coffee was incredibly quaint, but also delicious (my best iced latte of the trip). The clerk was so friendly; he chatted with the kids and made them little chocolate milks on the house - plus gave them a cookie to share when we left. From there we walked up to Plaza Mayor to look around and over to Mercado de San Miguel.

It was a beautiful building, but inside was a bit intense and chaotic for us. Ben doesn't do well in crowds in America, let alone a foreign country with a different language and wrangling two kids. We weren't all that hungry, but there was no where to sit either. We grabbed a few pastries and found a spot outside to eat.

We continued to walk around the city and explore, but decided we should get to Takos for lunch. Ben's friend had visited Madrid in recent years and Takos was the only food recommendation he offered. He was right. There was a line when we got there (waiting for it to open) and a line when we left. They have delicious street tacos if you're in the mood!

After lunch, since we had the bus passes, we decided to hop on the bus again to Retiro Park. This was another highlight of Madrid for our family. We explored some of the gardens and statues, got a drink by the pond, and then waited inline to rent a paddleboat. It was a picturesque afternoon!  We got back on the bus, found some empanadas (not really memorable), and walked to Oso Brew Co (to be honest their beer Ben bought in cans the night before was better than what they had on tap!)

We went to Brew Wild Pizza Bar for dinner. This was a spot Ben had found in his beer research and they had the coolest/yummiest "volcano pizza"; almost like a calzone, that they sent on fire. I would recommend giving it a try to break up all of the croquettes!

Day 4

Departure day already! We had enough time before our check out to grab breakfast. We walked over to a different part of town we hadn't been to and got a real sit down breakfast at Nomad Cafe. It was as delicious as it was adorable. I would definitely recommend!

Remember how I said above that we got ripped over paying $60eu for our transfer from the airport to our airbnb? Yea, we ordered an Uber to pick us up and take us to Madrid airport.... it cost $19. Sigh.

On to Lisbon!

Europe 2023: Madrid, Lisbon, and Algarve

 I don't have a great history of blogging consistently anymore... but there are some things that are worth documenting, and our recent trip to Europe is one. We returned from a 15-day stay in Europe a few days ago with the kids (newly 4 and 5.75) and I'm attempting to capture while items are fresh in my mind. As you probably recognize by now, I'm a wordy talker and writer, so I'm trying my best to keep this succinct.

Trip Itinerary

• Sunday 5/21: Depart from Denver (we flew Lufthansa, booked on points through United), and flew through Frankfurt to get to Madrid)
• Monday 5/22 - Thursday 5/23: Madrid (3 nights)
• Thursday 5/23: Fly 1.5 hours to Lisbon
• Thursday 5/23 - Monday 5/29: Lisbon (4 nights)
• Monday 5/29: Pick up rental car at Lisbon Airport and drive 3 hours south to the Algarve region of southern Portugal
• Monday 5/29 - Saturday 6/3: Carvoiero (5 nights)
• Saturday, 6/3: Fly 3 hours to Munich
• Saturday 6/3: Stay in Munich (1 night)
• Sunday 6/4: Fly back to Denver

We booked the trip this way for a few reasons. The biggest driver was that we wanted to go to Portugal for the majority of the trip, but we wanted to fly using Chase Ultimate Rewards points (see old post here and happy to talk points with anyone, anytime!). Denver has somewhat limited options of where to fly into for Europe. I looked at "positioning" flights, ie. flying to a large US hub airport and then directly to our destination, but even then, I didn't find many "good" options for the points I was willing to spend to get to Lisbon. Thus, when I found decent flights to Madrid from Denver (with a Frankfurt layover), and knew that we could easily (and cheaply) get from Madrid to Lisbon; it seemed like a worthwhile option.

I also knew from my research that I wanted us to end our trip at the beach. I figured we would enjoy the hustle and bustle of the city for a few days and then enjoy the downtime of the beach following. This was the perfect approach for us.

We could have stayed one more night in Carvoeiro; but I figured flying back to Denver on a 10 hour direct flight from Munich was going to be long enough and I didn't want to add another flight to that day (which would have also been an early AM flight), instead we opted to fly Faro to Munich the day ahead of time and use credit card points for one night hotel. While we wish we would have had more time to explore Munich, this approach of a quick stopover worked well for us.

Because I have no shame and get excited about travelling on points, our international flights would have cost us $8,200 cash. Instead we paid 262,400 points + $629 cash (for taxes and fees). Wohoo!

While several aspects of this trip were heavily planned, the general daily itinerary was not. Our kids are used to shuffling around and keeping busy at home/in the mountains, but I wasn't sure how much any of us would be up for or what would keep their interest. I'm going to break each city up into it's own post to share what we ended up doing while there. Check for links below (once created)

Madrid

Lisbon

Algarve

Munich

View from breakfast of our Lisbon airbnb street

A Non-Winter Family Friendly Guide to Summit County, CO

We have been visiting Summit County for years; before we even moved to Colorado in 2013, thanks to Ben's parents family friends owning a condo there. It's absolutely one of our favorite places and lucky for us, it's about a 70 minute drive from our house (depending on traffic). I think most Coloradans are aware but those others, Summit County is made up of five primary towns, being Breckenridge, Dillon, Frisco, Keystone, and Silverthorne. Breckenridge and Keystone have Vail-Resort owned skiing. Copper Mountain is a close 10 minute drive and also a ski mountain (owned separately from Vail Resorts). Then there's Eagle County; which is about 30/45 minutes farther west which includes the towns of Vail, Eagle-Vail, Minturn, Beaver Creek, Avon, Edwards, and farther west Eagle.

Of course, now that we have kids, some of the activities we frequent have changed, ie less 14ers and daylong hikes and more playgrounds. But one thing remains the same - breweries. I've been meaning and asked to share those activities for some time now, and am finally doing it! 

This list is mostly geared towards kids and non-winter activities (at the time of writing this my kids are newly turned 3, and almost 5; but we've done several of these items with them as toddlers as well as with our nephew who is now 9). Here are some of our favorite things to do when in town
 
Playgrounds 
Breckenridge:

• River Park Playground and Bike Track*/** (one of our favorites; it has a play area for toddlers as well as bigs, plus a bike track and is close to the river and bike paths)

• Breckenridge Elementary School
• Prospector Park at Main Street/Wellington St Park: more like climbing structures, usually busy*

• High Line Railroad Park (not great for young kids; next to outside train museum and same parking lot as Troll Hike)

Dillon:

• Dillon Marinara Park*/** (also has water/beach access. See below)

Frisco:

• Frisco Marina Playground*/**

• Frisco Elementary School

• Walter Byron Park**  This newly rebuilt park (opened during covid) has a toddler and big kid play structure (limited parking, but also walkable from Frisco Main Street)

• Meadow Creek Park** (super basic playground, has a walking path around small pond with a bridge and a block from Outer Range; note this doesn't have a permanent restroom, but has a portapotty in the summer)

Silverthorne:

• Rainbow Park** (This is a fav! There’s a big kid playground to the west/off the parking lot with smaller kid area and if you keep walking back past the tennis courts (to the east) there’s an entirely separate smaller kid area too

• Arctic Placer Park (see Fairy Trail hike below for a fun way to access); pavilion with

         picnic tables but no restroom

Notes:

*Sunny (almost all of the playgrounds are straight sun and offer little shade)

** Has public restrooms (and generally most of these have a shaded pavilion with picnic tables and drinking fountain)

 

Water Activities

• If you walk down the bike path at Dillon Marina Park, almost directly below the hill from the playground there’s water access/rocky beach to play

• Frisco Marina has a beach area just northeast of the playground. It gets super busy, recommend going early on weekends or during week days . There are public bathrooms and the marinara restaurant has limited food; but you can bring your own. You can also launch paddleboards from this location. Parking is available with an overflow lot.

• Access to sandy/rocky area water area off Dillon Dam road, park at parking on the road, right before Giberson Day Use area (which has a fee, parking on Dillon Dam is free)

• Rent a pontoon boat from Frisco Marina or Dillon Marina for 2hrs; life jackets included in rental. Book online in advance (typically they sell out); rental is $200ish (depending on size) and includes life jackets, even for young kids and infants

Breweries 

Breckenridge:

• Broken Compass BYO food, typically has a food truck, indoor and outdoor seating

• Breckenridge Brewery has restaurant and outside seating

Dillon:

• Dillon Dam Brewery happy hour M-F, 3-6p, $3.50 select pints and half off no; has

         outside seating, - also a full restaurant

• Pug Ryan’s we're not huge fans; but it is convenient with outdoor seating and a full

         restaurant

Frisco:

• Outer Range is no longer BYO food, now has a fried chicken company open inside the brewery (Birdcraft) as well as Mountain Dwellers coffee, which is good and a great quick spot for breakfast. This is our absolute favorite brewery in the state of Colorado!

• HighSide has BBQ and some outside seating

• Prost (not associated with Denver and technically not a brewery, but German beer hall with sausages)  

Silverthorne:

• Baker’s Brewery Also a restaurant, good food, outdoor dining

• Angry James  like their citra lager; has snack food available but can BYO

 

Toddler Friendly Hikes/Exercise

Breckenridge:

• Isak the Troll: Park at Ice Rink Lot in the far SW corner of the parking lot. You’ll see brown signs for the troll and cross a little bridge to get to the trail. It’s a quick loop (maybe 0.5mi total)? But there are more trails in the area.

• Aspen Alley: if you continue up Boreas Pass Rd from the Troll, there’s dirt parking area on the left and on the right farther ahead is Aspen Alley Trail

• Breck Blue River trail: From River Park, if you walk towards the river, there’s a trail on the right (before the bridge) that is a dirt path to walk alongside the water

• Minnie Mine: Colorado has so many abandoned mines left over from the days of gold and mineral extraction. This loop is rated as easy and is 1.5miles long, passing across a few old mines.

• Cucumber Gulch: goes around the base of the mountain and wetlands; under the gondolas. There’s a beaver pond and old cabin (Josie’s Cabin) . If you're not staying in walking distance of this on the base of Breck mountains, you can park at Breck Nordic Center and take the trail to the west/left of the building towards the mountain

 Dillon:

• Sapphire Point Overlook 0.6mi (quick loop trail area with great views of the lake and mountains); or just park and go check out the lookout

• Dillon Reservoir has a bike/walk path around the entire lake

• Old Dillon Reservoir Trail (1.7mi total), hike up above the reservoir to a pond area. Really pretty views and easy (Great for aspen trees!)

Frisco:

• Rainbow Lake trail (1.5mi r/t, mainly wooded trail; in town; usually busy!!) 

• Lily Pad Lake (3.3mi total), hike through woods to lake

Silverthorne:

• Blue River Silverthorne Trail: paved/shaded path, popular for running, walking, and biking. It’s not really a “hike”. Park at Red Buffalo Coffee and walk behind the buildings to the river. Left/North of coffee shop there’s a bridge. Cross it and go left. (Note, Red Buffalo Coffee shop is about two blocks from Angry James Brewery. You can also access/walk to Rainbow Park from this path)

• Fairy Trail: This is a must do! In Silverthorne, follow 5th St to Brian and park at the soccer fields. Look across the soccer field and you'll see an opening in the chain link fence. Follow the bath from the opening and you'll find a 1/4-mile trail filled with  fairy and gnome houses. Best park? There's a playground at the beginning and end points of the trail (This is also just a few blocks away from the new Bluebird Market - with food, drinks, ice cream, and a game room!)

Nearby:

• Clinton Gulch (outside of Copper), 2 miles, can fish reservoir, Mountain View’s and wildflowers (but mud and bugs!)

• Lower Cataract Loop (About 35min north of Silverthorne near Heeney): This trail is listed as easy and 2.3 miles long. When we did it, we clock 2.8 miles and thought about 1/3 of the trail was moderate (due to inclines and rocks). The trail is a loop and we started off going to the left/clockwise. The last third of the trail was the more difficult part. My 4.75yr old hiked the entire way with not too much difficulty. My 3yr old hiked about half (to the base of the waterfall). Although we hiked mid-June wildflowers were already popping. This trail has so many aspen, it would be a great fall colors hike too

 

Fav Brewery/Park Combos

• Outer Range and Meadow Creek Park (or Frisco Elementary)

• HighSide Brewery and Frisco Marina Playground

• Broken Compass and Breck River Playground (about 0.5mi walk)

• Silverthorne rainbow park and Angry James brewery

 

Indoor Ideas

• Breck rec center has indoor swimming/water park
• Silverthorne rec center has indoor swimming/water park
• Libraries: Breckenridge, Frisco, Silverthorne
• Wild and Free Indoor Playground Silverthorne (admission fee)
• Dillon Movie Theater
• Mountaintop Explorium (kids museum; admission fee) has finally reopened 2022 after years of being closed; this was always a fav!

Misc

• Ride Breck gondola up to the base of Peak 8 for free (there are kid activities you can pay for at the top too)

• Check the schedule for free outdoor concerts on Frisco Main Street or at Dillon Amphitheater

• Frisco Adventure Park has a bike track in the summer and tubing hill (fee) in the winter. The bike track is better for older/experienced bikers

• All of the towns have bike rental shops that will allow you to rent bikes, trailers, helmets, and even electronic-bikes to scoot around the various bike paths

• Summer Fridays, 9a-2p: Dillon Farmer's Market at Dillon Amphitheater

• Breckenridge, Keystone, and Copper resorts have a variety of activities at the mountain like alpine roller coaster, scenic rides, water bumper boats, etc (all for a fee)

 

I will come back to this post to add lodging and food reccs!

And as always - update this list with new activities as we find them. If I missed some of your favorite activities, reach out so that we can give them a try too!