Double and Even Triple Dip On Your Back To School Shopping

 

You can earn points by flying OR you can earn points by using your credit card to buy the things you purchase everyday. Are you going to the grocery store? Yep, earn points. Are you going to fill your car with gas? Yep, earn points. See how easy it is. 

Now it gets even more fun when you get leverage that spending two or maybe three times like when you shop for school or college dorms. 

I use the website cashbackmonitor.com before I buy anything. This site lists hundreds of stores and how many points they are offering on a variety of credit cards or through the shopping portals. 

If you click on a specific store, then you can see exactly how many points each shopping portal is offering. Shopping portals are a marketplace of retailers hosted by a a specific credit card, hotel or airline. For example, let's look at walmart.com. If you shop through the United Shopping portal with a United credit card, you can earn 1 mile per dollar, without a United card, you will earn .5 miles per dollar. In the American Airlines Shopping portal though you can earn 1 mile per dollar and use whatever credit card you want. 

This could work to your advantage IF you have an Amex offer or another discount. You can check your Amex offers by logging into your online account. 

Here's where it gets even more fun. The Chase FREEDOM, FREEDOM Unlimited and FREEDOM Flex cards earn 5x points on rotating quarterly categories. This quarter the categories are gas, car rentals and streaming. Probably can't double or triple dip on those, but sometimes the categories include home improvement stores and those are super easy to stack. You can earn up to 10x points on those purchases if you play your credit cards right. Here are the airlines that have shopping portals. 

Many of the shopping portals offer bonus points too if you spend a certain amount during a specific time frame. These bonus offers happen during holidays or back to school shopping periods. 

Happy shopping and earning FREE travel at the same time! 

Things To Do In Ireland With Teens

 

Honestly, I wasn't quite sure what to expect in Ireland. But this beautiful country and welcoming, funny, quirky people created an extraordinary off the beaten path experience. And especially this summer, Ireland provided lots of outdoor space, few crowds and cool weather. 

There are hikes, kayaking, surfing if you can brave the cold water, castles, Games of Thrones, rope bridges, distilleries, live music and more. I'll run through what we did during our two week exploration of the country, but there is plenty more to enjoy. 

Day 1-5 Dublin - We arrived to Ireland early on Friday and left Dublin Tuesday morning. Honestly, it was probably one day too long in Dublin. Dublin is a medium size city. The central district is easily walkable. While in Dublin, here's what we did and saw:

Jameson Distillery Bow St. - highly recommend doing this tour, very informative, well done and includes tastings. If you want an extra special experience, buy the cask draw. Even if you don't like whiskey, it's pretty cool to take a sip right out of the cask. Your ticket comes with a FREE drink too. 

Guinness Storehouse - Skip it. Even the staff working the tour told us it's not worth the expensive ticket price. FYI, you can't go inside without buying a ticket. 

Trinity College - We bought a tour with a student that included the Book of Kells and the Long Room. 27 Euros per person. This was a highlight for my teens because we got the chance to hear from a current student about their college experience. 

Southside and Northside Walking Tours - Another highlight of the trip. I have taken these tours in cities all around the world and they are amazing. The guides are honest and open about what life is like in their city, history and politics. In Dublin, the Southside and the Northside are so different that I highly recommend taking both tours. The tours are FREE, but you need to make a reservation and it is expected that you will tip the guide at the end of the tour. Both guides were able to take an online tip. 

Brazen Head - oldest pub in Dublin. Yep, it's worth having a meal and a pint here. The best food, probably not, but it's an experience. 

Temple Bar District - Worth spending an afternoon walking around here and enjoying a pint. Be sure to check out the Molly Malone statue, small farmers market in the square and if you have extra time, the Gallery of Photography is worth a visit. 

Church Bar - fun live music and amazing venue

If you are vegan or vegetarian, I highly recommend dining at Cornucopia and stopping by Bread 41. 

Day 6 - Wicklow Mountains National Park and Kilkenny - this is an easy one day driving trip with an easy three mile hike in the valley. Enter the Visitors Center as your destination in GPS. Easy parking and restrooms available. From there, you will pass over the Wicklow Gap on your drive to Kilkenny. You can buy tickets to tour the Kilkenny castle online and then there are lots of restaurants in town to grab some dinner before taking the highway back to Dublin. 

Day 7 - Drive to Galway stopping near Athlone to kayak on the River Shannon with Mid Ireland Adventures. Jonathan will give you a wetsuit and a great two hour kayak tour. Ask him for his recommendation for the best fish and chips in town. The oldest pub in Ireland, Sean's Bar, is located in Athlone so that's fun to visit. The pub does not serve food and parking nearby is metered and only accepts Euros so keep that in mind. 

Day 8-10 - Cliffs of Moher hike with Pat - This was a highlight of the trip. Pat joined with 30 of his farmer neighbors to create a walking path along the top of the cliffs. Parts of the path are a bit precariously perched close to the edge, but you get some great photos! Meet at O'Connors pub in Doolin and grab lunch here afterwards. Pat charges 20 Euros per person for the tour and 5 Euros per person for a ride back to Doolin (totally worth it). If you do the hike, skip the ferry ride to the cliffs. 

                - Galway - Spend an afternoon in town. There is a great shopping district with lots of pubs and restaurants. If you want to dine at a Michelin restaurant, you will need to make a reservation. You can also pick up groceries at the local Spar, there's one in every town, but they do tend to close early. 

                - We stayed at an Airbnb on a farm for a few days and then moved to Pete's castle for a night. Highly recommend staying with Pete. His castle is quirky and a one of kind experience. You can read all about it here. 

Day 11- Drive to Belfast through Connemara - You could opt to go further south to Donegal by taking the car ferry, but we wanted to spend time in Belfast so we went north instead. The Kylemore Abbey was beautiful and well worth the hour out of our way. You can buy tickets online for 15 Euros per adult. Discounts for students and children. 

Day 12-13 - Belfast, Giants Causeway and Rope Bridge - Highly recommend all of these in fact, I'm not sure a trip to Ireland would be complete without visiting Belfast. It gives you a whole different perspective on the politics in the region. In Belfast, you must take a Black Taxicab Tour and visit the Titanic Museum. Definitely pay the extra Euros for the audio guide. Both are incredible and highlights of the trip. Giants Causeway is a strange remnant of a volcanic eruption that makes for a great hike. You may have to pay a few Euros to park. The Carrick-A-Rede rope bridge is nearby and gives you yet another stunning view of the Northern Ireland coastline. You can buy tickets online for 13 Euros per adult. 

Day 14 - Howth - cute seaside village about 25 minutes from the airport. There is a beautiful three mile cliff walk and be sure to visit McNeill's for live music and great food. 

Ireland is beautiful with lots of gorgeous scenery to enjoy. It's definitely a fun place to visit with children and teens. And you can do it for almost FREE. Does it take some work and some planning, yep, is it worth it? Family time, memories and a chance to visit a beautiful country. I think so! 

If you want your entire trip to be FREE, you need to plan in advance and I recommend joining me at Families Fly FREE. We have teamed up with my friend and national travel blogger Lyn. She has created a simple system to help families fly free. 

If you would like to check them out, click here and let Lyn know I sent you. :)

If you are thinking about applying for the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, please use my referral link. 

If you are thinking about applying for the Capital One Venture X credit card, please use my referral link. 

My teens said the highlights for them were hiking the Cliffs of Moher, touring Trinity College with a student, 

 

Hate those pesky travel credits you get when you pay cash for a Southwest flight and then cancel or adjust the rate? Yep me too. Actually I always use points to fly so I avoid those credits. You should too, but that's a story for another day. 

If you do pay cash for Southwest flights, then listen up! Southwest Airlines announced today that flight credits issued on or after July 28th 2022 will not expire.....ever! Woohoo! 

No More Expiration Date For Southwest Travel Credits - Woohoo! 

You will notice that within a few days the flight credits will have a dummy date attached in the year 2030. 

This new policy does not apply to Southwest LUV vouchers. Those will still have an expiration date. A LUV voucher is compensation from the airline for a missing bag, delayed flight or other situation. 

Flight credits still can only be used for the person listed as the passenger on the original booking. That's why we recommend that you only use Southwest points to book flights. Points will be returned to your account if you cancel or adjust your flight and then you can use them for anyone. 

If you think you have a travel credit, you can find it by logging into your account. If you don't see it at the top of your account, then you can click here and enter the confirmation number attached to the credit. 

 

Just returned from two weeks in Ireland, amazing! In the photo, you can see my family and I on a five mile hike along the top of the Cliffs of Moher. Fabulous! We also spent time in Dublin, stayed the night in a castle and took the Black Taxicab Tour in Belfast. 

And guess what? The trip from soup to nuts cost approximately $1,000 for all four of us. Yep, that includes flights, hotels, rental car, food and tours. 

I am going to break it down for you step by step so you can see how we did it. 

• Flights - erased with Capital One points and Chase Ultimate Rewards 
• Hotels - IHG points and a FREE night certificate, Marriott points, erased Airbnb.com reservations with Chase Ultimate Rewards points and Capital One Venture X $300 promotion credit
• Tours - Erased some with Capital One points 
• Dining - Erased with Chase Ultimate Reward points 
• Parking - Erased with the Chase Sapphire Reserve travel credit 

My goal is to teach everyone how to fly and stay for FREE so travel is accessible for all families. 

My Two Week Family Trip To Ireland Cost Only $1,000 

Step1 

The first thing I work on when planning a trip are the flights. Now that may seem so logical to you, but I have met people who book their hotels first. Wrong! 

You have to book the flights first because sometimes in order to get FREE flights, you have to be flexible with your dates/times and even destination. For example, it might be cheaper to fly to Paris and then catch a budget airline over to Dublin than to fly directly. 

For this trip to Ireland, we knew we wanted to leave around the end of June. Aer Lingus is the obvious airline of choice and usually it offers the best points deals. I had earned the 100,000 Avios bonus a few months back and planned to use those points to get us there. 

But when I started searching up flights, the fuel charges were so outrageous, it would have cost me 50,000 points plus $282 for each ticket. That's not FREE. 

So I checked American Airlines, Delta and United, but it was the same problem. Outrageous fuel charges. 

My next step was to look at the travel portals. Both Chase and Capital One offer travel portals where you can use points to "buy" your flights. 

Each portal works a bit differently and you can read about them here. 

After researching both portals, my best option was to book tickets for my husband and myself through the Capital One travel portal and "erase" the purchase with points. Those tickets cost us 55,000 points each, but no fuel charges. My husband had earned the points through the 100,000 bonus points Capital One Venture X credit card offer. Read about my ultimate Capital One Travel Portal hack here! 

And to buy my daughter's flight through the Chase Travel Portal on my Sapphire Reserve account with points. Since the Sapphire Reserve offers 50% bonus on points when you book through the portal, her round trip ticket cost 33,000 points. Read about the what you need to do before you book your flight through the Chase Travel Portal. 

My son was already in Europe. 

My Two Week Family Trip To Ireland Cost Only $1,000 

Step 2

Now that we have flights secured, we move onto hotels. I use awardmapper.com to check the areas for hotel chains. I notice there is a Holiday Inn Express Dublin City Centre that has rooms available. I cash in a FREE night certificate for the first night and then book three nights on points. IHG offers buy 3 nights with points and get a 4th night FREE. Now we have the first 5 nights covered for 89,000 points. We had earned those IHG points a few years back with a bonus on the IHG credit card. 

Back to awardmapper.com to check Belfast for hotels and bam, an AC Hotel by Marriott offers rooms for just 21,000 points per night. I'll take two nights there please. 

The rest of the nights, I book on Airbnb.com using my Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card which is running a promotion where you can use points to erase Airbnb.com purchases. 

The Capital One Venture X also came with a $300 credit on Airbnb.com so I used that to pay for the night in the castle.  

Now all the hotels are FREE. 

My Two Week Family Trip To Ireland Cost Only $1,000 

Step 3

I book the rental car and due to a technical issue at pick up end up paying for it on the Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card so I'll end up paying for that one. 

Step 4

While on the actual trip, I use the Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card to pay for all parking and dining. This card comes with a $300 travel credit so as we charge travel, it's erasing the charges. It also earns 3x points on dining and then when I return home, I erase another $700 worth of purchases with the pay myself back program.  Some may argue that you can get more value out of the points by transferring them to an airline, but it all depends on your travel plans. 

My Two Week Family Trip To Ireland Cost Only $1,000 

Step 5

I rent my house when I go on vacation and use those funds to pay for the trip too so that covers almost all the rest of the purchases less $1,000. 

Does it take some work and some planning, yep, is it worth it? Family time, memories and a chance to visit a beautiful country. I think so! 

If you want your entire trip to be FREE, you need to plan in advance and I recommend joining me at Families Fly FREE. We have teamed up with my friend and national travel blogger Lyn. She has created a simple system to help families fly free. 

If you would like to check them out, click here and let Lyn know I sent you. :)

If you are thinking about applying for the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, please use my referral link. 

If you are thinking about applying for the Capital One Venture X credit card, please use my referral link. 

 

Last Chance To Get 5 FREE Nights At Marriott

 

It's the last day to apply for this huge bonus offer from Marriott Bonvoy! The offer is for the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless credit card and includes 5 FREE nights with a $5,000 minimum spend. 

The annual fee is just $95. 

The offer ends on July 21st at 7am EST so apply today if this offer makes sense for you. 

There are a few details about this offer to think about:

• The offer is for 5 FREE night certificates valued at 50,000 points each and not points. So you will want to plan accordingly to maximize the value out of this offer. 
• You cannot apply if you have a Marriott Premier, Boundless or Bold credit card or have received a bonus in the past 24 months. 
• You cannot apply if you have or had what was previously a Starwood Business Amex credit card in the past 30-90 days
• The FREE night certificates will expire in one year
• You can't transfer the points to airlines or hotels

Personally, I prefer points rather than FREE night certificates since the certificates expire, you can't transfer them to airlines or hotels and you can't break them up to get more value, BUT if you are planning a trip and the certificates can help you get 5 nights FREE, then this is a great offer for you. 

How You Can Spend The Night In An Irish Castle For FREE

 

Want to spend the night in an Irish castle? This is me with my crown and goblet sitting in the bathtub in a real Irish castle near Galway, Ireland. And guess what? It was FREE. I'll give you a tour of the castle and describe the experience and then I'll show you how to stay here for FREE. Don't worry, the owner of the castle got paid. 

This castle is Pete's passion project. This British born, Ireland raised former fashion designer told me his lifelong dream was to live in a castle. Really, who doesn't want to live in a castle? 

He found this former castle in ruins back in 2010 and spent the next 5 years renovating and rebuilding the structure himself. Super impressive, in fact, Pete shared the photos of the build with us. 

This castle is truly a labor of love and it shows. 

Pete actually lived in the castle for a few years with his family until a friend urged him to turn it into an Airbnb to provide an income for his family. 

Pete keeps the price reasonable, he says, to attract the type of person who will enjoy this authentic and quirky castle experience. 

Pete greets every guest at the door and gives them a personalized tour of the castle. It takes about an hour and he shares the history of the project, his story and the unique quirks of the home like the bathtub in the floor. He's had more than 3,000 guests from all over the world stay at the castle.

Check out this video as you walk in the front door of the castle and up the steps to the rooms. The first two floors are bedrooms for Pete's children, the top two floors are available for guests. There is a rope to help with the steps, but obviously, this space is not suitable for those who can't manage lots of steps in a small space. The living space (kitchen, bathroom, living room) is on the third floor and the master bedroom and loft is on the fourth floor. There is also roof access and a few quirky surprises up there that I'm not going to share with you. 

The living room 

The master bedroom and loft above

The kitchen 

The bathroom

Pete reminds his guests constantly that this is an old castle so it's dusty and has spiders and he is right. But it is quirky and unique and so fun! Pete provides electric blankets so it's warm and cozy. There are two double beds plus the couch which my son said was very comfortable. Pete also has air mattresses available if you need them. 

The bathtub is in the living room so keep that in mind. Pete says young kids and couples love it. Families with teens, not so much, except to take photos for Instagram. 

The kitchen is functional. We cooked up dinner at the castle and enjoyed a cozy night of board games. 

One word of warning, Pete told us the toilet seat broke and he decided not to get a new one. The stone on the toilet is what you would expect in a castle - COLD! While at the castle, save some time to explore the grounds. Pete has planted more than 500 trees including a Sequoia and of course, there are cows next door. I won't share most of the surprises Pete has in store for his guests, but he does offer every guest a chance to sculpt their names into the castle. 

Pete's castle is a true treasure and one of a kind experience. On Airbnb, a night in this castle will run you approximately $300. If you decide to go, let Pete know I sent you. 

Now how can you stay at Pete's castle for FREE? Through September 30th 2022, you can use your Chase Ultimate Reward points to erase Airbnb purchases. It's called Pay Yourself Back. 

If you have a Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card, you will get 25% more points value and if you have a Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card, you will get 50% more points value. 

So that $300 night in Pete's castle will cost you approximately 21,000 points with your Chase Sapphire Reserve and 25,000 with your Preferred card. 

For more on this program and how you can use it for statement credits, to erase dining, membership fees, click here. 

The great thing about this program is that it is not connected to when you stay at the airbnb, it is connected to when you PAY for the Airbnb. So make your reservation now, pay now and use your points to erase the charge and then stay at the Airbnb next month, next year or whenever. I've already erased several Airbnb reservations for next year. 

That's how we do it at almostfreefamilytravel.com 

If you decide to apply for the Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card, it's my favorite, please use my referral link. 

 

This is what the Dublin Airport looked like last Thursday at 7am. Yikes! Hundreds of people were waiting in line three hours before their flight. This line is for just two Air Canada flights from Dublin to Montreal and Toronto. Air Canada has online check in. 

So my question was why are all these people waiting in line?

I started to look around, listen and ask people what they were waiting in line for. 

The #1 answer: check in baggage

WHAT? 

The #1 Way To Make Your Trip To Europe Go Smoothly This Summer

The Air Canada supervisor told me it looks like this everyday. Oh no. On the other hand, I checked in online for the same flight and had just a carry on bag. Yep, I spent two weeks in Ireland with a carry on bag. 

And I arrived at the airport three hours early, got through security in 15 minutes and had time to visit the Chase Priority Pass Lounge for a bite to eat. No stress, no lines. 

What a difference, right?

But I know what you are thinking. You are probably thinking that you can't even imagine travelling with just a carryon. So I'm going to show you how I do it and then I'm going to share a hack with you. 

In the video, I mention packing cubes, you can find those on Amazon. You can also find small travel size bottles for your toiletries (lotion, sunscreen etc.) and remember you can take as many small bottles as you want so take a few filled with sunscreen. 

But my number one tip is to plan to do a load of laundry on your trip. Most Airbnb's have a washer and dryer and if you are staying at hotels, some offer laundry service or relax in a laundry mat for a couple of hours. No big deal. 

The #1 Way To Make Your Trip To Europe Go Smoothly This Summer

Believe me, spending a few hours doing laundry will save you some major headaches at the airport this summer or worse looking for lost luggage. 

If you do decide to check baggage, use the right credit card to buy the flights and or pay for the luggage. Some credit cards like my favorite Chase Sapphire Preferred and Reserve offer lost or delayed baggage coverage. 

If you don't have this credit card yet, it's my favorite. Right now, you can get a 60,000 point bonus with a $4,000 minimum spend. Those 60,000 points are worth $750 towards travel. Use my referral link to apply. 

In my next post, I'll show you how I used the Chase Ultimate Rewards points to stay and eat for FREE in Ireland.