How To Get Started

  If you are new to the hobby of Almost FREE Family Travel, how do you get started? I recommend beginning with just 1 or 2 credit cards until you get the hang of it. You also want to figure out where you want to go in order to get the most bang for your buck. If you just collect miles and points with no destination in mind, you may find that you don't have enough points on a certain airline or with a certain hotel chain to take that dream trip.

My daughter and I volunteered near La Laguna Coicocha in Ecuador

If you are not sure where you want to go yet or how you want to use the miles, then the most flexible card is actually one of my favorites, Chase Sapphire Preferred. This card unlocks a world of value. The current sign up bonus is 50,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points (valued at $625) and can be transferred to different hotels and a variety of airlines. The minimum spend is $4,000 in the first 3 months and the $95 annual fee is waived for the first year. Besides transferring the points to hotels and airlines, you can get cash back. Cash back is not the best value for the points, but you have that option.

Most of the time, Chase Ultimate Reward points transfer to partners at a 1:1 ratio so you can see how valuable these points can be. Imagine spending 2 nights at the Hyatt Aruba ($545 per night or 25,000 points) for FREE.

The bottom line is that you are spending money everyday, but if you spend it with a plan, you can earn Almost FREE Family Travel!

So dream big, where do you want to go?

Getting Started

I was going to write about some new credit card offers that are floating around. Then I thought I will write about my frustration with Starwood. I signed up for their business card two weeks ago for a 25K bonus and now they are offering 35k bonus. When I called to ask for an adjustment, they said no. I checked the boards and they are denying everyone. Bad customer service. Surprising from Starwood, but now they are merging with Marriott so I guess this is the first of many changes to come.

But I digress.
I actually want to write about how many people I meet who don't use their credit cards to earn miles, points or cash back. And how many people I meet who shop online and don't shop through a portal to get cash back or earn miles.
This is like parking your money under your mattress. You are saving your money, but you are not earning any interest on it. Make it work for you. You are spending it anyway so why not save money and earn miles so you can take trips for a discount or even free. It's so easy yet so many people leave these points, miles and cash back on the table.
So I am making it my goal this year to teach people how to take advantage of the portals, credit card offers etc. so everyone can travel for almost free!

                                     Family photo at the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa