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© 2026 Travel Party of 5 | Points & Miles for Family Travel
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Do you struggle to understand how people travel using points and miles from credit cards? It can be easy to waste a lot of time learning travel hacking on your own, especially if you find it complex and confusing.
Let us pull back the curtain and show you how you can maximize money you're already spending to earn enough credit card points and miles to travel with your family for nearly free.
We've used credit card points and miles to take our family of 5 on trips to places like Costa Rica, San Diego, Disneyland, Oceanside, NYC, Washington DC, Hawaii, and next year we have already booked Paris, Spain and Japan!
Using credit card points and miles (often called travel hacking) doesn't have to be overwhelming or take a ton of time, and we can show you how.
Can you earn a lot of points and miles without opening up multiple credit cards? Only if you have a really high amount of spend each month. For people with larger families, opening new cards is the easiest and fastest way to earn enough points and miles to take a couple of really low cost (but not low budget) family vacations every year!
If you want to learn ways to help you and your family travel more affordably using credit card points, this show is for you.
Let us pull back the curtain and show you how you can maximize money you're already spending to earn enough credit card points and miles to travel with your family for nearly free.
We've used credit card points and miles to take our family of 5 on trips to places like Costa Rica, San Diego, Disneyland, Oceanside, NYC, Washington DC, Hawaii, and next year we have already booked Paris, Spain and Japan!
Using credit card points and miles (often called travel hacking) doesn't have to be overwhelming or take a ton of time, and we can show you how.
Can you earn a lot of points and miles without opening up multiple credit cards? Only if you have a really high amount of spend each month. For people with larger families, opening new cards is the easiest and fastest way to earn enough points and miles to take a couple of really low cost (but not low budget) family vacations every year!
If you want to learn ways to help you and your family travel more affordably using credit card points, this show is for you.
113 Episodes
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Show Notes Links: - Savewise: getsavewise.com (referral link!) - AwardTool: awardtool.com (referral link!) - Six Suitcase Travel Claude is claude.ai In this episode I'm sharing 4 new things I've been using and really liking lately. SaveWise for portal and card offer stacking, a clean system for tracking credits, a pragmatic way to find rooms for five or more, and the award search method that finally surfaced five business class seats. Along the way we explain why Claude beat ChatGPT f...
CARD REFERRAL LINKS! The Hilton offers are all elevated until April 15, 2026. If you're seeing these links after that date, they should still work but will not be elevated offers. Hilton Honors Amex (No Annual Fee!) - 70K Hilton points + FNC Hilton Surpass card (Amex) - 130K Hilton points + FNC Hilton Aspire Card - 175K Hilton points (no extra FNC but this card does come with one every year automatically!) Hilton Honors Business Card (the one we just got!) - 175K Hilton points + F...
We pull back the curtain on the unseen work of family travel and share how we’re prepping for two weeks in Thailand with three kids, seven flights, and one last-minute work trip. Points, packing, meds, and mindset—all simplified into four clear buckets you can reuse. • why Thailand matters to us and how points make it possible • building one master spreadsheet for flights, hotels and transfers • mapping seven flights and overnight layovers with backups • hotel lessons on connecting rooms and...
Travel with Kids Podcast rec! What happens when your kids fly business class before they can spell it? We tackle the uneasy question head-on: are we raising entitled travelers—or can points-powered perks actually teach humility, gratitude, and grit? Drawing from our own path—from rural road trips and solo backpacking to parenting three kids with a points strategy—we share the mindset shifts that turned “is this too much?” into “how do we frame this well?” We start by defining entitlement in ...
Our 2026 travel plan blends status goals, certificate plays, and a careful move toward cash back so we can travel better now and fund freedom later. Along the way we test gold reselling, protect 5/24, and hold out for premium flights that fit a family of five. • shifting from constant new cards to maximizing existing spend • step-by-step approach to buying and reselling gold with guardrails • Hilton Aspire to Surpass downgrade path for four free nights • prioritizing Hyatt Globalist for suit...
We play a family travel Would You Rather built around real points-and-miles tradeoffs, from Hyatt love to premium economy sanity. Along the way we compare Chase, Amex, and Citi, weigh taxes and fees, and debate lounges, breakfast, and splitting flights with kids. • quick update on Bilt changes and current cards • luxury hotel without breakfast vs budget stay with big breakfast • free family trip in economy vs solo business class splurge • Chase vs Amex value with Hyatt and earnability • firs...
https://5calls.org/ https://www.standwithminnesota.com/ Chase Ink Premier Referral Link (Also 100K Ink Preferred!!!) Never used Rakuten? Join now and earn $50 cash back! www.rakuten.com/r/RAYAPI6?eeid=28187 Free flights don’t feed your kids on vacation. That’s the real truth because even with points and miles, we still need to fund the real costs of travel - meals, trains, tips, tours, and all the little line items that don't fit inside award charts. We break the plan into four...
Chase Sapphire Referral Link - Earn 125,000 points with Sapphire Reserve® or 75,000 bonus points with Sapphire Preferred® Chase Ink/Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business Referral Link (if you've never had one!) - Earn 200,000 bonus points with the new Sapphire Reserve for Business credit card and access over $6,500 in value your first year . You can also earn bonuses with the Ink Business Premier® card, Ink Business Preferred® card, Ink Business Unlimited® card or Ink Business...
InKind Referral link (Save $25 off your first bill!): https://app.inkind.com/refer/RUL9NCCP Three spreadsheets I mentioned for tracking credits: Thrifty Traveler Credit Tracker (you have to make a copy) Points Talk Squad Credit Tracker (you have to make a copy) I have combined the above two, in different tabs, on the same Google Sheet doc. Frequent Miler Tracker (not using this one) In this episode we map out a smarter 2026 points strategy: triple dips where they make sense,...
We revisit a year of family travel to rank the hotels, flights, and upgrades that delivered real value, and we tell two travel stories that never made it to air: a runaway carry-on on an escalator and a seatmate who ate our snacks. We also reassess elite status and share where we’ll spend points next year. • best hotels across Barcelona, Cabo, Lake Tahoe, Cologne • worst stay experience at Thompson Dallas and why • top suite upgrade at the Seabird with ocean views • business class joy on the...
Thanks for finding our podcast! We are a family of 5 who does most of our travel using credit card points and miles and we share how we leverage credit card offers to earn a ton of points/miles so we can afford travel as a larger family. Follow us on Instagram @TravelPartyof5 In this episode we travel from Strasbourg France to Cologne Germany for more Christmas Markets! • setting souvenir budgets per kid to teach value and limit clutter • carry-on packing for cold with layers, wool soc...
Strasbourg AirBnB (not sponsored, paid with our own money!) Magical Christmas Markets of Europe (please note: we are not affiliated with this group in any way, and potentially it is run by a travel agency? Either way, lots of good info in there!) Thanks for finding our podcast! We are a family of 5 who does most of our travel using credit card points and miles and we share how we leverage credit card offers to earn a ton of points/miles so we can afford travel as a larger family. And make su...
Next year we've got three big trips on the docket - Thailand, Scotland/ London, and Switzerland/Italy. By mixing cash fares, smart point redemptions, and repositioning, we share the exact math behind paying cash to Asia, and two goals to keep travel calmer and on budget. • booking strategy for a family of five using points, cash, and portals • why one‑cent redemptions lost to Amex travel offers and 5x earning • routing choices to access lounges and smoother layovers • Thailand plan with Phuk...
Links to Activate Instacart credits: United Cards: https://www.instacart.com/p/chase-united?unauth-refresh=1 Chase Ink Cards: https://www.instacart.com/p/chase-ink?unauth-refresh=1 Chase co-branded cards (Marriott, Hyatt, etc): https://www.instacart.com/p/chase-cobrands?unauth-refresh=1 What if the credits you ignore every month could stock a food bank, surprise a caregiver with lunch, or stretch a teacher gift from thoughtful to unforgettable? We walk through the exact playbook we use to tur...
1:1 Points Travel Strategy Session - Book here! What if your weekly groceries, Friday night dinners, and holiday shopping could fuel your next big family trip? We break down a four-bucket system that took us past two million points this year without gimmicks: strategic sign-up bonuses, smart category spending, thoughtful referrals, and powerful stacking tools that turn ordinary purchases into extraordinary travel. We walk through the exact card moves we made, including timing the AA busine...
Thanks for finding our podcast! We are a family of 5 who does most of our travel using credit card points and miles and we share how we leverage credit card offers to earn a ton of points/miles so we can afford travel as a larger family. Follow us on Instagram @TravelPartyof5 These are all the experiences we booked in Japan using Viator: Our Fave Japan Experiences This episode wraps up our Japan series with a practical Q&A: From eSIM setup and Suica hacks to Shinkansen tradeoffs and...
Thanks for finding our podcast! We are a family of 5 who does most of our travel using credit card points and miles and we share how we leverage credit card offers to earn a ton of points/miles so we can afford travel as a larger family. Follow us on Instagram @TravelPartyof5 These are all the experiences we booked in Japan using Viator: Our Fave Japan Experiences We close out Tokyo with five days in Shibuya, sharing the hotel that worked for a family of five, the food tour that converted our...
Thanks for finding our podcast! We are a family of 5 who does most of our travel using credit card points and miles and we share how we leverage credit card offers to earn a ton of points/miles so we can afford travel as a larger family. Follow us on Instagram @TravelPartyof5 These are all the experiences we booked in Japan using Viator: Our Fave Japan Experiences In this episode we are sharing our five days spent in Kyoto with kids. From bullet train tactics and early-bird sightseeing to Osa...
Things we referenced in this episode: Adventuring With Annie - How to Skip the Lines at Tokyo Disney in 2025 In this episode we share how we tackled two Tokyo Disney parks as a family of five using points, paid and free fast passes, and strategic timing. From cheap-ish tickets and popcorn hunts to a Frozen ride breakdown with a fast refund, we lay out what worked and what we’d change. • using a Hyatt cert and points to stay near the parks • shuttle loop logistics and why early entry ma...
Our podcast episode we referenced: Booking a Trip to Japan on Points as a Family of 5 The Photographer we used: https://fleurandhoney.com/ You can absolutely book her direct using the link above. We booked through Flytographer, so if you want to do that instead (or look at other options), this is our Flytographer referral link: https://flytog.co/RAYASAN-AGUSTIN As always, we appreciate you using our links to help support the podcast! The ramen restaurant, Ginza Ramen Soryu: https:...
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