On Points With Kids

Airline miles expiration and transfer partners

February 12, 2023February 18, 2022 by

When you decide to transfer your hard earned credit card points to one of the airline mileage programs, it’s important to know their expiration policies. During the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, many people had their miles stranded with various airline mileage programs due to overall disruption in travel and even though some programs extended or paused miles expiration, it was still unfortunate to have your miles and points locked with a program that has a harsh miles expiration policy.

We decided to put this article together to have a quick and up to date reference to domestic and international airline mileage programs and their miles expiration policies.

Favorite things from our travel checklist with kids

August 25, 2023February 16, 2022 by

Traveling as a family, especially with the little ones, is always challenging; you want it to be as comfortable as possible, and you want to be ready for any imaginable scenario.

You constantly adapt and develop your own traveling habits. Like this one — pack in your carry-on 1 set of underwear/socks/T-shirts for each person. You never know if your luggage will arrive on time, and you obviously don’t want to end up with no change of clothes for the next day or two.

Here we wanted to share with you the list of our favorite things we take with us on our trips.

Hyatt Regency Monterey Hotel And Spa On Del Monte Golf Course, the Hotel Review

January 23, 2023February 5, 2022 by

Recently we spent a weekend at the Hyatt Regency Monterey Hotel And Spa On Del Monte Golf Course in Monterey. So far, this was our fourth stay at this property, and we always enjoy it.

The hotel is a 22-acre property with two large outdoor pools, hot tubs, dining, a little outdoor area where you can play ping pong or a giant jenga, a gazebo with a fire pit for roasting marshmallows, and obviously a golf course.

A summer trip to Houston, Texas, June 2021

August 25, 2023January 26, 2022 by

Last summer we took a short trip to Houston, Texas to take care of some family business.

We booked this trip with Southwest Airlines and paid with cash which of course went towards the minimum spend requirement for a credit card signup bonus (at that time we were working on the Hilton Honors Aspire card, to learn how we spent the signup bonus, read about our Hawaiian vacation here). We had the A-List status with Southwest Airlines so we got our seats in the front of the plane.

Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort, the Hotel Review

October 17, 2023December 15, 2021 by

In April 2021, exhausted with covid fatigue, we decided to look for a vacation spot for our Thanksgiving break. We didn’t want to deal with the ambiguity of international travel during the pandemic and decided to go to Hawaii instead.

This was our first time in Honolulu (and Oahu) and our 4th in Hawaii (we’ve been to Maui twice and once to Kauai). Although we love nature, hiking, and sightseeing dearly, for this vacation, we only planned to spend time mostly on the beach and to enjoy good food. So, this post is more of a resort review rather than a story about a Hawaiian experience.

The Ultimate 10-day Alaska Itinerary with Kids

August 29, 2023November 26, 2021 by

This is the part 2 of our Alaska journey. You can read about how we planned our trip (how we booked and paid for it) in the first part here.

We landed in Anchorage at around 11 pm, and by the time we collected our luggage, picked up our rental car, drove to the hotel, and set things up, it was already 1 am. We had read some horror stories about people not being able to pick up their rental cars due to covid-related availability issues. However, everything went smoother than we thought; there were no problems with the rental car or luggage whatsoever.

Alaska With Kids, July 2021, Part 1 — Getting There

August 25, 2023October 25, 2021 by

We dreamed about going to Alaska for a very long time. The Last Frontier has so much to offer for the great outdoors, breathtaking sky tall mountain ranges, glaciers, pristine fjords, wildlife sightseeings, you name it. However, with the pandemic and the new baby it was hard to plan this trip since there were so many unknowns in the equation.

A weekend at the Carmel Valley Ranch

August 25, 2023October 24, 2021 by

A couple of weeks ago, we spent a weekend at the luxurious ranch in the Carmel Valley, California — Carmel Valley Ranch.

We love Carmel-by-the-sea and usually go there to spend some time on the beach and walk around downtown, but we had never been to the Carmel Valley, which was only 20 minutes further inland.

Visiting San Luis Obispo with kids

August 25, 2023October 10, 2021 by

We love road trips! You don’t have to stress out about plane tickets or packing too much, and you can stop whenever you feel like it.

However, having a new baby and the pandemic made things more difficult for traveling. When baby Zoe was seven months and Sophia was 6.5 years old, we decided to give it a try and planned our first little getaway. This was the first time we traveled as a family of four, and we agreed upon a little town on the Central Coast of California — San Luis Obispo. It was only a 2.5-hour drive from us and wasn’t that busy, given the time of the year (March) and all the restrictions.

Where to start if you want to travel using points and miles?

February 26, 2024October 10, 2021 by

Have you ever heard of people who travel the world without spending a lot of money, using only their points and miles? This concept becomes even more enticing when you’re traveling with a larger family and need to book multiple plane tickets. In this post, we’ve gathered some helpful tips on how to start earning points and miles, and we’ll also recommend some beginner credit cards to get you started.