Over the years, we’ve had many readers share their success stories with us. Folks for whom traveling domestically once a year was a luxury are now traveling the world with just a few credit card sign-up bonuses. And the best part? They are sharing their stories with us and others who benefit from knowing that it is possible to see the world at prices we can all afford.
If you have your own success story to share, please email us and if it gets published, we’ll send you a $25 Amazon gift card as a thank you.
Hi!
I wanted to thank you guys; my husband and I are going to be celebrating our third anniversary on a European adventure, ending with two weeks visiting his family in Italy- something we haven’t had the money to do since before we got married!
My husband and I met while I was studying abroad in college in Italy. He is from Italy, and we spent the next 5 years— and over $20,000 in flights!— flying back and forth to visit each other every few months. The costs skyrocketed when my husband was transferred to Australia for work. Prices at the time were $3,000+ from Australia to California, and vice versa. I am kicking myself now for not having credited all these points to frequent flyer accounts. Or better yet, for not having used points and miles to pay for these exorbitant flights!
Anyways, we have now been married a few years, and have been grounded ever since. Even our honeymoon was a local drive away, as we didn’t have any money to spend on travel, and expected our travel to be as expensive as it had been in the past.
About a year ago, I stumbled across your travel blog, and have been studiously collecting and saving up points and miles ever since. We have just finished booking the trip of a lifetime- our belated honeymoon, wrapped up into an anniversary celebration, and a trip to visit his family- for hardly any money at all! Better yet, we were able to do this with no prior mileage banks or savings. We just used a few creative credit card sign up bonuses, which we found out about thanks to you guys!
We will be flying from LAX to Paris CDG non-stop on Air Tahiti Nui, one of American Airlines’ partners, with AA’s off-peak award to Europe. Cost: 18,000 miles per person + $5.60 taxes and fees/ person. (20,000 miles/person, minus 10% redemption rebate with our Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select Mastercard). Finding out about AA’s Air Tahiti Nui partner was incredible, as the only other flights available through AA were with lengthy layovers, or high taxes and fees through London.
Paris has many great hotels, but we are excited to stay at the Park Hyatt Paris Vendome for 4 nights, using the two sign up nights each for my husband and my both signing up for the Chase Hyatt card. We also got a $50 statement credit on each of our cards with our first purchase, which was an added plus. We could have never afforded $800/night otherwise!
We are hopping from Paris to Barcelona, Barcelona to Catania (Sicily), and Catania to my husband’s tiny town in Italy, which only has a small regional airport serviced by low-cost carriers, with the sign-up bonus from our BarclayCard Arrival Plus card. This card was great, as it’s helping us to cover flights with European low-cost carriers, which are averaging out at about $25-30/person per flight, and which we’d be paying out of pocket otherwise. Additionally, this was a great help, as major airline carriers could only get us within 300 miles of my husband’s home town; BarclayCard is allowing us to book a flight to 5 miles from my husband’s family’s home!
BarclayCard is also helping us with covering an AirBNB in Catania. In Barcelona, we’re looking forward to using the 3 Go-Free Wyndham nights we received by signing up for the BarclayCard Wyndham Visa a few months ago when they had the special offer of 45,000 points for the $69 annual fee card. The hotel we’re looking at would otherwise cost $379/ night, or $1137 for our 3-night stay! We also may stay a few extra nights with the points we’ve accumulated with the recent IHG Priceless Surprises promotion- over 100,000 points between my husband and myself.
To get home, we’re flying Lufthansa from Rome to LAX via Munich, for 30,000 miles and $70.10 per person in taxes and fees. By using our signup bonus from the United Mileage Plus Explorer card, we were able to avoid American Airlines routing us through London and paying humongous taxes and fees. We charged our taxes and fees to our BarclayCard Arrival Plus card and wiped those out as well.
Best yet- we were able to apply for Global Entry for free, through our Ameriprise American Express Platinum card! We’re looking forward to using it for TSA pre-check and getting through customs quickly on our trip!
In total, all we’re paying are a few of the taxes and fees that we didn’t wipe out with our BarclayCard Arrival Plus card- leaving our money to be spent on more important things, like romantic meals out and souvenirs!
My husband is ecstatic at the thought of getting to see his family, after many years of living abroad and not being able to get back to Italy, and I am incredibly excited to finally have the honeymoon we’ve always dreamed of! And just in time for our third anniversary!
Before this, I never thought we’d be able to travel- and much less travel like this! Thanks!
-Jessika D.
[Image via Getty]
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
- Annual Fee: $95 fee waived for the first year
- Foreign Fees: No
- Card Type: Bank
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- Earn 50,000 bonus points when you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $625 toward travel when you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards®
- Named Best Credit Card for Flexible Travel Redemption - Kiplinger's Personal Finance, July 2016
- 2X points on travel and dining at restaurants worldwide & 1 point per dollar spent on all other purchases.
- Earn 5,000 bonus points after you add the first authorized user and make a purchase in the first 3 months from account opening
- No foreign transaction fees
- 1:1 point transfer to leading airline and hotel loyalty programs
- Get 25% more value when you redeem for airfare, hotels, car rentals and cruises through Chase Ultimate Rewards. For example, 50,000 points are worth $625 toward travel
- No blackout dates or travel restrictions - as long as there's a seat on the flight, you can book it through Chase Ultimate Rewards
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
- Annual Fee: $95 fee waived for the first year
- Foreign Fees: No
- Card Type: Bank
| FTG Review | Reward Breakdown | Points Breakdown |
|---|---|---|
Breakdown
Earn (pt.)
Spend
First 3 months
50,000
$4,000
Travel Purchases
2.00
$1
Restaurants Purchases
2.00
$1
Coffee Shops Purchases
2.00
$1
Fast Food Purchases
2.00
$1
Alcohol & Bars Purchases
2.00
$1
All Purchases
1.00
$1
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Already have this card? Maximize your rewards.
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