Woohoo! Another Client Success Story

 

I love using points and miles to save on travel, but what I love even more is to help others save on travel. 

So far, dozens of people have joined my Travel Coaching Program and saved thousands! You read about the honeymoon couple who used points to score FREE flights to Italy or my client who saved more than $3,000 on a month long trip to Iceland and Italy. 

Now we have another client success story! 

This time, our client saved $3,200 on a 3-week trip to Spain, Portugal and Morocco. 

The client spent two weeks in Spain, one day in Morocco and one week in Portugal. 

This is a list of what she was able to get for FREE: 

• $1,200 flights to Europe
• $30 walking tour 
• $336 Cave daytrip in Portugal
• $25 boat tour 
• $100 Jeep tour 
• $150 day trip 
• $89 flight to Porto
• $399 hotel in Lisbon
•  $22 Wine tour 
• $109 flight to Madrid
• $700 hotel in Madrid

If you want to learn how to use points and miles to travel for FREE, consider joining my Travel Coaching Program. You get five short videos explaining the basics, a personal tracker and then 1:1 with me where we talk travel goals and set a plan in action. Then you can join our monthly live coaching session forever for FREE!

We look forward to helping you plan your next trip! 

How You Can Earn 5x Chase Points This Quarter

 

One of the easiest ways to earn 5x Chase Ultimate Rewards points is to activate the bonus categories on your Chase FREEDOM (no longer available) and FREEDOM FLEX credit cards. These cards are great no annual fee cards to have in your wallet. You can read here why I LOVE Chase Ultimate Reward points.  

Past 5x bonus categories have included Amazon, hotels and restaurants. 

This quarter the categories are gas stations (good for summer road trips), EV charging, select live entertainment and movie theatres. 

You can only get the bonus on $1,500 spent in all categories total, but that's a lot of bonus points! You must activate your card by September 14th. Purchases are retroactive, but it's better to activate before the bonus begins on July 1st. 

If you don't have the CHASE FREEDOM FLEX credit card yet, it's a good first card for your student or a good everyday card for you. You earn a $200 bonus on the first $500 that you spend. There's no annual fee and you earn 3x points on dining and drugstores. 

Is The New 85,000 Southwest Bonus Offer Right For You?

Southwest launched a new whopping 85,000 bonus offer this week on all three of its personal credit cards! First, I'll tell you about the offer and then I'll tell you why you may NOT want to jump on this. 

The new offer is for 85,000 bonus Southwest points when you spend $3,000 on any of the three personal credit cards. 

• The Plus with an annual fee of $69 
• The Premier with an annual fee of $99
•  The Priority with an annual fee of $149 

Each card comes with slightly different benefits like early bird check in, FREE upgrades, $75 Southwest credit and bonus anniversary points. 

To decide on which card, you have to decide which benefits you will actually use. My favorite is the Priority card because although it has the highest annual fee, it comes with a $75 credit making the annual fee just $74 and you get four upgraded boardings per year. Love these when I forget to check in right at the 24 hour mark. 

Here comes the catch! You can only hold ONE personal credit card at a time and you can only get the bonus every 24 months. 

So with this offer, you have to decide whether or not you plan to earn the Southwest Companion Pass for 2025-26. The Companion pass is the best travel perk around. It is BOGO flights on any Southwest flight. No hidden charges, no fees, no limited availability. If there is a seat available on the plane, you can add your companion FREE. Well you do have to pay the $5.60 taxes. 

I have had the Companion Pass for the past 10 years and used it to fly to Hawaii, Cuba, Florida, New York, Washington DC, and many more. It has saved me thousands of dollars in FREE flights. 

Hyatt Kaanapali, Maui

BUT here's the catch! The best time to earn the Companion Pass is at the beginning of the year because the pass is valid for the year you earn it AND the following year. 

So if you earn the pass in January 2025, it is valid for all of 2025 and 2026. BUT if you earn the pass in September 2024, then it's good for the rest of 2024 and all of 2025. A full 6 months less! 

Make sense?

You earn the pass by collecting 135,000 Southwest points. The new 85,000 bonus offer puts you closer to earning the pass and if you read our Companion Pass plan, then you will know how to earn the pass quickly. 

And you can only earn the bonus once every 24 months. 

So timing is everything. But if you don't need the Companion Pass, this is a great offer! 

 If you decide to apply for this new offer, consider using my referral link here. 

If would like help deciding what to do with this offer or future travel, join my travel coaching program.

Why I Visited Two Capital One Lounges In The Same Day

They say once you experience something you can't go back. Well, that's how I feel about airport lounges. A quiet space amongst the chaos of the airport. A place with food, drinks and my favorite, coffee. A place with WIFI, comfy chairs and sometimes even a resting room and showers. 

Recently, I spent time in the new Capital One Lounge in Washington DC Dulles Airport and then just hours later during an extended layover, visited the Capital One Lounge in Denver. 

How much does this all cost? Nothing if you are holding a Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card or  Capital One Venture X credit card. There are a few others too that include this benefit, but I'm going to focus on these two credit cards. 

There are 1,500 Priority Pass lounges around the world and three Capital One lounges (Dallas, Denver, Washington DC Dulles). Everyone must present a valid boarding pass to enter and check in at the lounge desk. You can find a list of all the lounges worldwide on the Priority Pass website or app.

• The Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card includes the Priority Pass membership. Once you receive your credit card, just login to your Chase.com account and activate the membership. Priority Pass will send you a physical card in the mail. You can also access a digital card online. Through July 1st 2024, the pass includes some restaurants too where you are eligible for a $26 per person credit. The pass is good for the card holder and two guests. Authorized users also get a Priority Pass membership, however, it costs $75 per year to add an authorized user so that's not the best option.  
• The Capital One Venture X  credit card includes the Priority Pass membership as well, but not the restaurant credit. It is also valid for the card holder and two guests. A benefit of the Capital One Venture X is that you can add authorized users for FREE and they ALSO get FREE Priority Pass lounge access for themselves and two guests. I added all three of my children as authorized users which helps them build their credit and gives them an emergency credit card plus they have access to Priority Pass lounges and the three Capital One lounges. Pretty sweet! 

The Chase Sapphire Reserve is offering an increased bonus offer right now of 75,000 points for a $4,000 minimum spend, but it does carry a $550 annual fee. 

The Capital One Venture X is offering 75,000 bonus offer for $4,000 minimum spend and a $395 annual fee. 

Both are great cards and can have a vital part in your travel strategy. Join my travel coaching program for help to determine which one best fits your needs for your future travel goals.