New Southwest Mini Companion Pass Offer

 

The Southwest Companion pass is by far the best travel perk around. It's a BOGO plane ticket on any Southwest flight for up to two years. 

Did you hear me? 

BOGO on any Southwest flight anywhere Southwest flies. 

Costa Rica, yep. Belize, yep. No blackout dates. No blackout flights. All you do is pay the $5.60 for taxes. Amazing! 

I have had the Southwest Companion Pass for the past 6 years and it has saved me thousands of dollars. I have traveled to Cuba, Washington DC, Boston, New York City, Florida and a number of college visits, trips, family events and more and taken my companion with me for FREE.

You can even change your companion three times in a calendar year and your companion can be your spouse, child, sibling, cousin, friend, neighbor or whoever you want.  

New Southwest Mini Companion Pass Offer 

The way to earn the Southwest Companion Pass is to rack up 135,000 Southwest points in one calendar year. Once you do that, you earn the pass for the remainder of that year PLUS the following year. 

If you time it right, you could have the pass for almost two years. 

Right now, Southwest is offering a mini companion pass. All you have to do is buy a round trip or two one way Southwest flights by Wednesday and travel by May 22nd. Then you will earn a companion pass good for unlimited use for travel from August 5th through October 2nd. 

Watch the fine print though, you must register before you purchase the flights and you must purchase the flights, you cannot use points. Normally we prefer to use points for Southwest flights because it's easier to change flights, adjust flights to get points back and avoid those pesky credits. But if you can fly a companion for FREE, it might be worth paying cash. 

You can still change your companion up to three times during the promotional period so that's definitely a plus. If you prefer to earn the regular companion pass which is good for BOGO travel up to two years, read this article to see how to do it. 

As with all travel, if you want it almost FREE, you need to make a plan, plan early and be strategic. If you want help with this, join my Travel Coaching Program, it's affordable and I'll support you every step of the way so you can travel for almost FREE too. 

How to Witness the Northern Lights Using Points and Miles

 

If seeing the Northern Lights is on your bucket list, then you have come to the right place to find out how to use points and miles to make that dream happen. 

Recently, I went to Lapland Finland north of the Artic Circle in hopes of seeing the Aurora. Fortunately, we were able to see the lights twice during our 5 days in Lapland. 

The lights dance in the sky and the colors are barely visible with the naked eye. But their vibrant greens, reds and purples show themselves in the camera. 

So if this is on your bucket list, let's talk about how to use points and miles to get there. 

How to Witness the Northern Lights Using Points and Miles

First, the Northern Lights are visible in Alaska, Canada, Iceland, Sweden, Norway and Finland. Occasionally they are visible further south, but you can't count on it. And some people have actually seen them from the airplane, but again, you can't plan for that. You will also want to be in the area for at least 4-5 nights to have a good chance for clear skies. 

You can download the Aurora app which will notify you when there is a chance to see the lights in your area. 

The lights are visible from October through March. 

For our trip, we flew Finnair from LAX to Helsinki and then caught a second Finnair flight to Ivalo Airport in Lapland. You can also fly to Rovaniemi in Lapland. Finnair joined the Avios loyalty program in March 2024. Avios is the loyalty program for British Airways, Iberia, Qatar and Aer Lingus. Right now, you can apply for the Chase British Airways, Iberia or Aer Lingus credit cards and earn the 75,000 Avios bonus offer. But we have seen it as high as 100,000 Avios. 

Finnair is also a partner with American Airlines so you can book with American Airlines miles and a transfer partner with Capital One. 

The easiest way to earn American Airlines miles is by applying for the Barclays American Aviator Mastercard. It comes with a 50,000 American mile bonus after just one purchase and the $99 annual fee. I have seen this offer as high as a 70,000 bonus.  

How to Witness the Northern Lights Using Points and Miles

Of course, you can also fly to Fairbanks, Alaska to see the lights via Alaska Airlines, American and Delta. Bilt Rewards also offers transfers to American and Alaska Airlines. 

Once you are in the area, there are hotels built to see the lights featuring igloos like this one at the Northern Lights Village in Lapland so you can stay toasty warm and watch the lights dance outside. There are also Northern Lights tours. You could book this hotel through the Chase Travel Portal. A random check of rooms available April 12-14 would cost $316 per night or 46,312 Chase Ultimate Reward points with the Sapphire Reserve. Not too bad. 

If you head to Fairbanks, Alaska, you can find all the major hotel chains there including Marriott, Hyatt, Hilton and Wyndham. If you want the igloo experience, you can try the Borealis Base Camp for a pricey $990 per person for two nights. 

Other activities in Finland while you are waiting for the lights to appear include visiting a reindeer farm, snowshoe, sauna and driving a dog sled team. 

Seeing the Northern Lights is one of those bucket list experiences that is within reach with points and miles. As with all travel, if you want it almost FREE, you need to make a plan, plan early and be strategic. If you want help with this, join my Travel Coaching Program, it's affordable and I'll support you every step of the way so you can travel for almost FREE too. 

How You Can Earn 5x Chase Points on Amazon

 

Chase just announced the 5x points bonus categories for Q2. These rotating bonus categories are available with the Chase FREEDOM (not available) and FREEDOM FLEX credit cards. 

They are bringing back the popular Amazon, Hotels and Restaurants. Woohoo! 

Besides the Paypal category, Amazon is my fave. There are not many ways to get bonus points on Amazon purchases so the 5x points is huge! You can read here about why I love Chase Ultimate Reward points. 

You must register for the bonus by June 14th. You can do that here. If you do not have the FLEX card yet, it's a great no annual fee credit card. Right now, you can get a $200 or 20,000 point bonus for $500 minimum spend. 

Exciting! Almost FREE Family Travel featured On Global Podcast

 

So excited! Almost FREE Family Travel was featured on the global travel podcast "Why We Travel" to talk about why language schools are an affordable way to travel. 

Of course, we touched on using points and miles to travel and our new Travel Coaching Program. 

You can check out the episode here or it is available on 30 podcast channels, e.g. Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcast etc.

Huge thank you to Claus Lauter for inviting us onto the show. 

Another Success Story "FREE Honeymoon Flights To Italy"

 

"Thank you again! We are beyond grateful we get to have the honeymoon of our dreams without stressing at all!"

 That's the email I received yesterday from Mackenzie and Michael. 

The couple joined the Travel Coaching Program in November 2023 because they were planning a wedding. Lots of purchases and they wanted to know if and how they could get their honeymoon for FREE.

 They were great students: coachable, watched the video modules, took notes, met for the 1:1 and where we reviewed their points and miles and credit cards. 

Then the fun part, we looked at their travel goals of spending their honeymoon in Italy. 

And we made a plan! 

Another Success Story "FREE Honeymoon Flights To Italy"

Mackenzie and Michael followed their personal plan exactly. They opened a Capital One Venture credit card and a Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card. They reached their minimum spends quickly with wedding purchases. And watched the bonuses deposit into their accounts. 

 

Then we looked at how to use the points and miles to get to Italy for their honeymoon. 

So how did we do it? We started by searching for the airlines that fly LAX to Italy using google.com/flights. Then using Google's Points Path, we found that Flying Blue, the loyalty program for Air France and KLM, offered one way flights for just 20,000 points. Woohoo! 

Another Success Story "FREE Honeymoon Flights To Italy"

Mackenzie and Michael were flexible with their dates and destination cities and were able to find round trip flights for just 40,000 points each. Wow! 

Since they had Capital One points and Chase Ultimate Reward points, they were able to transfer enough points to Flying Blue. 

And booked the flights! 

"Thank you so much for your guidance, time and encouragement! We booked our flights (and all with JUST the Venture points - 84,000 total)! WILD!"

Now it's onto hotels and tours! 

Stay tuned to see how many of those they can get using points and miles. 

If you would like help reaching your travel goals, join my travel coaching program and let me help you. 

 

How You Can Earn Points When You Pay Rent

 

If you pay rent, you might want to take a look at the Bilt card. It just arrived on the market and is making earning points and miles even easier. 

Point and miles enthusiast Debbie Griffin was a guest on our February group coaching session in the Travel Coaching Program. She explained how Bilt points are flexible similar to Capital One points and Chase Ultimate Rewards. 

The list of transfer partners includes airlines and hotels like Flying Blue, IHG and Hyatt. 

There is no annual fee on the Bilt credit card. But you must make 5 purchases per month to earn points. You can earn 1x points on rent, 2x points on travel and 3x points on dining. There are also bonus earning games on the first of the month and transfer bonuses. 

Griffin just used Bilt points to book a Hyatt hotel near the Paris Airport. And she just played the games on the first of the month to earn the points.

If you decide to apply for the Bilt credit card, please use Griffin's referral link and if you want help reaching your travel goals, join my Travel Coaching Program. 

 

A Secret Gateway To Affordable Globetrotting – Language School!

This past summer, I tried something different in my travel journey....attending a language school. Yep, call it a short study abroad program at the Isla Spanish Language school in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Language Schools are a great way to deep dive into the culture and community of a country and they are super affordable. This was my second time attending one and I have already enrolled in a third.

 

Why San Juan? Well, the flight from the East Coast is short and cheap. Plus Puerto Rico intrigues me. It's a US territory, but its neighboring islands are independent countries. How did that happen? What is it like to be in a place that straddles both the US and the Caribbean? A place that is part of the US, but labeled a territory and not a state? Puerto Rico also has a huge problem with stray animals so I thought I might be able to lend a hand. You can read about that here. 

A Secret Gateway To Affordable Globetrotting – Language School!

San Juan is a US territory so you do not need a passport to visit just a drivers license to fly. Puerto Riquenos have US passports and are US Citizens, but residents of Puerto Rico cannot vote for the President of the United States and they have no representation in Congress. 

Isla Spanish Language School is located in the financial district of San Juan away from the tourist areas. The school conducts a placement interview before your arrival so they can put you in the appropriate class, beginner to advanced. The students were of all ages and included professionals, Spanish teachers, second generation Puerto Riquenos and ex pats. 

A Secret Gateway To Affordable Globetrotting – Language School!

At most schools, classes run 9am-12pm Monday through Friday with additional private classes offered in the afternoon. And the schools offer FREE cultural activities several times during the week. Cultural activities include dancing or cooking classes or excursions to a local site or art museum. 

Besides the classes, the schools offer a variety of affordable accommodations for approximately $330 per week including meals and laundry. There is a discount if you enroll for multiple weeks. You can choose from homestay with a local family, a dorm or private apartment. I opted to stay with a local family and it was lovely. Nayza is a widow and has been housing students for years creating an income stream for her. 

I had my own room with air conditioning and a shared bathroom. Nayza's home was within walking distance of the school. I had access to the kitchen and refrigerator, but not the stove. 

Reflecting on the experience, my language ability increased dramatically, but even more importantly, I felt like a local in San Juan and welcomed into the community. More like a traveler than a tourist. 

A Secret Gateway To Affordable Globetrotting – Language School!

Of course, we can make this experience even more affordable by using points and miles for the flights. Most language schools will not code as a travel so you cannot "erase" the purchase, however, I paid for the school with Paypal during the 5x bonus category with my Chase FREEDOM FLEX so at least I used the purchase to earn lots of points towards future travel. 

And while in San Juan, I booked tours of the rainforest, kayak in the biobay and snorkeled with the turtles and was able to "erase" all of these tours with points. 

If you would like help planning your next travel journey with points and miles, consider joining my travel coaching program. I would love to help you!