How to Book Your Vacation with IHG Reward Nights

Aaron and I love to travel, but since we're both teachers, it's not something that we can afford to drop a ton of money on all the time. Our solution? We're members of some fabulous travel rewards programs, and we pay our bills with their credit cards. This way, we make our money work for us, and we still get to travel without feeling guilt or going off budget. One of our favorite rewards programs, and very favorite hotel company to stay with, is the InterContinental Hotels Group.

A while back, I shared a post about the IHG Rewards Club Credit Card: how we use it, how you earn points, and how you redeem them. Today I'm here to show you how to search within point ranges to book your dream vacation.

Although I won't be visiting anywhere in the Caribbean for a while because I'm pregnant, I'm already looking forward to doing some traveling with our little one this summer. Next on my travel bucket list? Book a trip to Miami and Key West! 

Step One:

When I'm ready to search for a hotel to book with our reward points, I go to the Reward Nights Link, and then type "Miami, FL" into the destination box. You'll select your dates next (see photo above), and the choose a point range you're looking to stay within. If you know you only have a certain amount of points, you can search for that amount, or you can buy more points. IHG is extra amazing because it lets you combine cash and points to find the perfect fit for your reservation purchase. 

Step Two:

Once you search, you'll come to a list that looks like this:

Underneath the "check rates" box for each hotel, you'll see the point values, showing different increments and points as well as cash combo options. You can even sort your results by "rates" if you'd like, and then you'll probably get the best bang for your buck! 

Aaron and I usually travel with a rental car, so we don't mind staying a little farther from the cities. We usually try to stick to booking rooms that cost 5,000 to 15,000 points, but now and then, you may want to splurge and book an awesome room in a downtown area. Here are some Miami options we would consider:

Step Three:

When you're ready, select the Miami hotel you want. You can even pick extra bonus packages, and breakfast is included most of the time! Another awesome thing about the InterContinental Hotels Group is that they let you cancel up until the evening of your reservation, and you'll get your points back (for free). The flexibility of the program is amazing, and we have always had incredible stays at clean, comfortable hotels. 

Even though we'll have baby in tow, we're excited to plan next year's vacation. With the help of great travel groups like IHG, traveling doesn't have to break the bank. Let me know if you have questions or need help. Maybe we will see you in Miami! 

Currently,

Kelsie

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How to Fly to Europe for (Almost) Free

Aaron and I hop on a plane to Europe in less than a week! Somebody pinch me. We knew Europe was a destination we really wanted to visit pre-kids and after my Master's Degree. And so, in March, we booked a fifteen day Euro-Trip. We've made it very affordable by using Best Rate Guarantees for our hotels, as well as using our free reward nights from our Hyatt and IHG Credit Cards. No lie, we are staying at $600 a night hotels for free because we paid our bills on those cards! But we got a STEAL on our flights. Read on to see how.

As everyone knows, flights are a big expense for any trip. We've taken lots of free flights domestically thanks to our Southwest Credit Card. But for our dream trip to Europe, using Southwest points really wasn't an option. So, with the recommendation of a friend, we found a travel card that would help us get overseas for a lot less than the regular cost of a plane ticket: the US Airways Dividend Miles Barclay Credit Card.

We just had to get the card, make one purchase (which could literally be a 79 cent fountain drink), and pay the $89 annual fee and we had 50,000 bonus miles. A round-trip flight to Europe in the peak season (which is now and includes the summer months) is 60,000 miles. So for Aaron and I to get to Europe for pretty much free, we each needed to get a card and earn 10,000 miles.

How did we do it? Well keep in mind, any spending you do on the card is going to count, plus you've got the 50,000 miles you earn automatically. So we pre-paid several months of bills, made our regular purchases, got a few QuickTrip gift cards, and joined a wine club that gave us 5,000 miles just for ordering $40 worth of wine. Totally worth it. You can also purchase points in increments of 1,000 as needed. We got our cards in late January, and our required mileage posted to our account by the end of March.

 So instead of spending roughly $5,000 on flights for two to Dublin and then home from Rome, we paid about $230 for the mandatory taxes and fees. Total. For both of us. To EUROPE. (Insert happy dance here.)

Now, here's something you should know. The US Airways card is no longer available, as they've merged with American and our card became the American Airlines Aviator Red MasterCard. But don't worry, there are lots of other cards that you can use in a similar way. One of the best places to look for card updates is The Points Guy, which offers info on all of the latest deals (as the available bonuses are always changing).

One great card option that's out right now (and is similar to the deal we got) is the Citi/AAdvantage Platinum Select World MasterCard.  This card is currently offering 50,000 American Airlines miles after you spend $3,000 within the first three months of opening the account. Those bonus miles would get you to Europe and back in the off-peak season, without even having to earn extra miles!

The Citi/AAdvantage Platinum Select MasterCard.

So you may be wondering, how does this whole process work? How do I start? Great question.

STEP ONE:
Determine your best card option.
The Citi/AAdvantage Platinum Select MasterCard listed above is a great option if you're thinking about going abroad. There are lots of cards that offer great deals every now and then. Plan months ahead for your trip.

STEP TWO:
Apply for the card and meet your required spending for your bonus miles.
Applying is easy enough, then go to work meeting whatever requirement is needed. For the Citi card, it would be $3,000. Pre-pay bills, make that big purchase you've been waiting on, or buy gift cards for things you'll need someday anyways like food or gas.

STEP THREE:
Decide where you would like to go, and determine the miles needed to get you there.
In order to do this, every airline rewards program should have some way for you to determine the miles needed. Most use awards charts that show you how many miles or points for flights from the US to regions like Hawaii, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Europe. Here is American Airlines' rewards chart for one way travel per person:

Source: AA.com

You may notice that there are different miles needed for MileSAAver Off Peak and MileSAAver. (And note, these are all economy, not first class pricing. You can upgrade.) Peak dates depend on the time of the year and the region, and can be found below:

Source: AA.com

 If I'm wanting to go to Europe from the US on American Airlines in June or July, it will be 30,000 miles per person, per way: a total of 60,000 miles per person. If I want to go to Europe between October 15 and May 15, I can go for 20,000 miles per person, per way: a total of 40,000 miles per person. So if your travel dates are flexible, you can save a lot of miles. If you're like us, and need to travel in the summer, you may need to earn a few more miles. Just make sure you do your research and plan ahead.

STEP FOUR:
If needed, earn or buy more miles to reach the amount of reward miles you need to book your flights.
Each airline reward programs offers various ways to earn more miles, possibly by renting a car on the card, purchasing a certain product, or joining a club. You can also buy or share miles as needed to reach your bonus, which can be done through the website and has a small fee. Set a budget for this- you don't want to spend a whole bunch or it defeats the purpose (which is why you want to choose a card that gives you the highest amount of miles for the smallest required spending).

STEP FIVE:
Book your flights, pay the minimal taxes and fees, and enjoy your trip! 

I would've never dreamed that we would both be able to fly in and out of Europe for less than $300. Buying things on our credit card that we know we can pay off has made our trip a reality, and has really stretched our travel budget so that we can enjoy staying, eating, and exploring abroad for weeks without depleting our bank account. I can't wait for this adventure, and hope that you'll give this a shot so your dreams can become a reality just like ours.

Ready to get started? Still have more questions? Comment below, or contact me here. If you like this post, check out the other posts in the Using Points category. If you'd like to be in the loop for other posts like this, I'd love it if you'd join the Currently, Kelsie mailing list. You'll receive no more than two emails a month with updates on the newest posts and tips! I hope you'll join us.

Currently,
Kelsie

I'm linking up with Homemade for Elle and The Weekend Re-Treat Link Party.

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The Hyatt Credit Card: Stay for Free

Ever since Aaron and I were introduced to the possibilities that points had to offer, we've been able to go on several vacations for free or nearly free. Seriously, we just paid our bills and made our money work for us. I love sharing travel secrets in hopes of helping others enjoy the same experiences that we've enjoyed! (Check out the other posts on the Southwest Credit Card and IHG Rewards Club Credit Card for help with free flights and free hotel stays.) So here's my third installment of travel tips, this time with a focus on The Hyatt Credit Card.

The Hyatt hotel group includes all of the following hotel types: Hyatt, Park Hyatt, Hyatt Regency, Hyatt Place, Hyatt House, Hyatt Centric, Grand Hyatt, and Andaz. Their rewards program, the Hyatt Gold Passport, is free to join, and you are able to redeem points worldwide. The program allows members to earn points for dollars spent on hotel rooms, as well as at their spas and restaurants. There are also some car partnerships available, but the easiest and fastest way to earn points is with their Hyatt Credit Card. Every dollar you put on their credit card will count as a point, or two or three, depending on what you're buying. More on that below.

How It Works:
You apply for the card. Once you are approved, you have to spend $1,000 within the first free months. This spending amount is fairly easy to reach, if you put groceries, gas, and your bills on the card. Then, rather than tons of points, Hyatt awards you two free nights anywhere in the world at any of their hotels. This includes the all-inclusive hotels (Hyatt Zilara in Cancun and Hyatt Ziva in Jamaica) or any of the highest categories of hotels. This offer is good every two years, which is something to keep in mind if ever re-applying. Amazing!

The Rewards:

• Two free nights at any hotel anywhere in the world. You can save a ton of money here alone.
• One free night at any hotel category 1-4 after your cardmember anniversary.
• No foreign transaction fees (so it's a great card to use abroad). 
• Hyatt Gold Passport Platinum Membership. This gets you complimentary internet and late check out, as well as other benefits like a 15% bonus on your eligible spending points.
• Earn 3 points per dollar at all Hyatt properties, 2 points per dollar on all restaurants or airline tickets, and 1 point per dollar on everything else. 
• Chip enabled, which helps with foreign transactions and security.
• $0 Introductory Fee, $75 dollars the second year (which more than pays for itself).

The Hyatt Website.

Using the Website and Booking Rooms:
The Hyatt website, http://www.hyatt.com, is easy to navigate and is fairly straightforward. There is an option to select when searching rooms that says "Show Hyatt Gold Passport Points". When browsing, you would want this to be selected. However, when booking rooms with points or using your free nights, you will need to be logged into the Hyatt Gold Passport site (shown below).

Hyatt Gold Passport:
Once you create your gold passport account (or the company assigns you one when you get the credit card), you will be able to log in. By clicking on redeem points, you'll be able to see the points needed for various tiers of rooms. When you click on free nights, it will show you the amount of points needed for a free stay at any Hyatt. But the most important part of this page is the account details. Click there.

The Hyatt Gold Passport Website

This will take you to your account, so that you can book those free nights that you earned just by spending $1,000 on the card. You can see below that Aaron had two free nights, and that we've redeemed them both. When your two nights show up next to "Available", then it takes you to a screen where you search for and then book your hotel. For free! It's as simple as that. You used to have to call, and you still can if you want, but it's super easy to reserve online. Note that the reward nights can fill up at the best hotels, so try to plan ahead as much as possible. Or be patient and keep checking for availability.

The screen you'll access to book your free nights.

How We've Used the Card:
This card has been amazing for us! We each got one last year (earning a total of 4 free nights), and we used three of the nights towards our free all-inclusive New Year's trip to the Hyatt Zilara in Cancun. To put this in perspective, one night at the Hyatt Zilara would normally cost over $1,000. We got it free (plus unlimited food and drinks). For more on that amazing trip, check out this post.

Since we still had one free night left from our card, we hoped to use it on our trip to Europe this summer. I searched, and the hotel that we wanted in London wasn't available for a reward night, but I checked back a few weeks later and it was! So we are getting a night at this hotel, which should cost $634, for free. Yep. Saving so much money on a Saturday night in London. And we will each get another free night on our card anniversaries!

We love getting free nights at amazing hotels like this one. We're staying at a hostel the night before. No biggie.

We don't really use this card as much for points, but more for the great free nights that you earn right away, and can use at any point value hotel in the whole world. So choose wisely- don't use them at a just okay hotel in your hometown. Use them where you can get the most bang for your (free) buck. But if you're planning to use the Hyatt Credit Card regularly, and you already stay in Hyatt hotels, then you could easily earn enough points to redeem for extra nights on top of the free ones you earn right away. (They start at 5,000 points a night.)

Ready to Get Started? To apply for this card, check out this link.
Still have questions? I would love to tell you more about our experiences or answer any questions you may have. Click here to contact me, or comment below. If you liked this post, and want to be updated when new travel tips or posts are shared, click here to sign up for the newsletter. Happy travels!

Currently,
Kelsie

I'm linking back to The Shabby Nest. 

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The IHG Rewards Club Credit Card: Stay for Free

A few weeks ago, I shared some tips on using the Southwest Rapid Rewards card to fly free. Check out that post here. Flights are a huge expense, but if you can get a free place to stay, it can be an incredible help on the ole wallet. So here's the second installment of travel tips on Currently Kelsie, this time telling you how to get free hotel stays using the Intercontinental Hotel Group (IHG) Rewards Club Credit Card.

The Intercontinental Hotel Group, otherwise referred to as IHG, consists of several hotel brands including Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Intercontinental, Hotel Indigo, Staybridge Suites, and Candlewood Suites. Their rewards program is free to join, and offers points for hotel stays. You can also earn points by doing the dining or cruising rewards programs, but the best way to get them in a hurry is with the credit card. At the time of this post, IHG is offering 70,000 points when you signed up for the credit card, but when we got the card, we got 80,000 points. Sign up when bonuses are highest in order to maximize your free stays.

How It Works:
You apply for the card. Once you receive it, you have to spend $1,000 within the first three months of opening the account. Then the 70,000 points are yours! It's pretty easy to reach this within a month, just by buying groceries, filling up the gas tank, and paying bills. You can always purchase pre-paid gift cards as needed.

The Rewards:

• 70,000 bonus points can usually get you at least 10 hotel room stays, as long as you are decisive about which hotels you use for points. Point Break hotels are the real way to go (more on that later).
• An Annual Free night that you can use ANYWHERE in the world ANYTIME. (Aaron and I are using ours at a hotel in Geneva, Switzerland that would be worth over $600. For free.)
• Automatic 10% point rebate. You use them, you get them back. It's a beautiful thing.
• Platinum Elite Status, which gets you priority check in and room upgrades.
• No Foreign Transaction Fees. Super nice if you're going out of the country.
• $0 Introductory Annual Fee. Only $49 the next year, which is nothing since you get your free night anywhere in the world. A no brainer.
• Earn DOUBLE Points on gas, groceries, and at restaurants. Really adds up!
• Roll-Over Nights. If you don't use them, you don't lose them. And dates are never blacked out.

Using the Website and Booking Rooms: 
Their website, http://www.ihg.com/hotels/us/en/reservation, is easy to navigate. When you sign up for the card, you are automatically given a member number. You use this number and password to access hotels online. Just search your destination, dates, and select "Reward Nights" under Rate Preference. List view will show you all of the hotels that match your search, as well as the number of points required to book them:

Notice how it allows you to book nights with points, or with a combo of points and dollars. This can help if you have some points, but not enough, or if you want to break up the use of your points. San Fran is pricey for points.

Using the Map View is super helpful. You can see all of the different IHG locations in the area. This is an example using San Francisco, CA. The map view is perfect for planning road trips! Also, San Francisco isn't the best place to use points....it's pretty expensive.

Point Break Hotels:
Point Break Hotels are one of the BEST things about this card. Every few months, IHG releases a list of hotels across the world (with most in the US) that you can get for only 5,000 points. This is HUGE because it means that you could get up to 14 free nights just on your card bonus alone (and remember, you're going to earn points for all of your spending too!). It's best to be flexible in order to really use these. Think about various places you would like to go that are within driving distance. You can only book two nights per each specific Point Break hotel for that round of released options, but you could book as many total as you wanted.

This is a selection of the Spring Point Break hotels, available to book through July 2015. You'll have to have your points earned in time to book fast when they come available. Being flexible on your travel location is huge.

How We've Used the Card:
Aaron and I have stayed ten nights for free so far on this card, and we still have points to use! We used three free Point Break nights for our Southwest Spring Break trip. For Spring Break 2014, we used seven free nights as we drove across the Southeast. You can really maximize this card when you have a car (either rental or your own). This way you can stay at Point Break hotels or other cheap point hotels across the nation, stopping to sleep for free before you head to your next destination. Staying out in the suburbs is always worth less points than staying in the city, but it's so worth it. Honestly, we don't even bother booking reward nights unless they are 10,000 points or less. You really want to get the most bang for your buck (or free points in this case).

Ready to Get Started? To apply for the card, check out this link.
Still have questions? I would love to tell you about our experiences or answer any questions you may have. Click here to contact me, or comment below. If you'd really like to dive deeper into making IHG work for you, check out this awesome guide: http://travelisfree.com/2014/07/29/the-complete-guide-to-ihg-rewards/. If you liked this post, and want to be updated when new travel tips or posts are shared, click here to sign up for our newsletter. Happy Travels!

Currently,
Kelsie

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Southwest Rapid Rewards Card: Fly Free

I love traveling. I don't love spending money, as described in my recent post, We Aren't Home. When Aaron and I first got married, we decided one thing we would do during our "DINK" (dual-income, no kids) years was to travel like crazy. Granted, we're both teachers, so our "dual" income may not even add up to your single income. But I digress. Being a rather thrifty person, I figured we would budget and just save up for trips. And we do, to some extent. But thanks to the help of a couple of dear friends who had been traveling in this way for a few years, we've hit the jackpot by making points work for us.

One of the best ways to use points in loyalty programs is to get the company's credit card. Many offer instant spending bonuses that can be worth their weight in gold, or groceries, or bills, or whatever you spend your money on to earn them. With the cards that we have, we literally just pay off our bills and end up getting all sorts of free perks like hotel rooms, flights, VIP treatment, and more. You just have to make sure that you're choosing the best cards for your travel goals. So today I'm featuring the Southwest Rapid Rewards Card- my favorite flight card. I'm not getting paid to advertise for them (though that would be nice), I just want to share my knowledge with others looking to travel cheap, or in this case, FREE.

Southwest Airlines offers a great loyalty program called Rapid Rewards. You can sign up for free, and you don't have to get the card to start earning points on the flights you are paying for. But the real way to earn a lot of points in a hurry is to apply for the credit card. It's a simple application, but you want to make sure that you're applying when you can earn 50,000 points, not 25,000 points. We'll talk more about points in a second.

How it Works:

You apply for the card. Once you receive it, you have to spend $2,000 on the card within the first three months of opening your account. Then the 50,000 points are yours. For most people, this can easily be reached within a month by just paying for gas, bills, groceries, and other necessities. If you're not big spenders, you can even purchase gift cards that you can use for a later date, or pre-pay your bills.

The Rewards:

• 50,000 points can usually buy at least two roundtrip flights for two people, depending on where you choose to go and how many points the flights are. We BOTH flew to Cancun and back and Vegas and back for free, and we still have points left! (Yes, they fly internationally now!) Keep in mind, you will get the 50,000 points when you spend $2,000, PLUS 2,000+ points for the dollars you put on the card. 
• 6,000 points will be credited to your account every year that you keep the card open. That's enough points to get from KC to Chicago and back if your dates are flexible. These 6,000 anniversary points make the $99 Annual Fee more than pay for itself.
• No foreign transaction fees, and NO blackout dates. I love this about the Southwest Card. You can find flights for much cheaper point rates than you would with any other flight loyalty program. All flights are available on all dates and time, though the cheapest point flights generally fill up the quickest.
• You can earn points with various programs, including Dining Rewards, Shopping Rewards, hotels, and other specials like TurboTax. You can also buy and share points as needed, with a small fee. 
• Points don't expire, and two bags per person are always free! Enough said.
• You can cancel your flight up until 24 hours before with no fees. No questions asked!

The flexible dates calendar shows you when points are cheapest. Make sure the fares are showing in points.

The Companion Pass:

This is super cool. There are two different Southwest cards you can get. If you get both cards and earn the 50,000 points on each card, then you will have 100,000 rewards points. If you can get to 110,000 points within a calendar year, then a companion of your choice will fly FREE for the rest of that year AND for the entire next year. So your points basically become double value because you are only having to use them for one person. You can do some major damage with 110,000 points and your companion flying free- you just have to make sure that all your points post in the same calendar year. And putting $10,000 worth of spending on your card in a year, which should be doable, especially if you're planning to make a big purchase. Or you can even transfer point over from another rewards program, which is what we did to get the pass for the rest of 2016 and all of 2017!! 

The Rewards Flight Tracker lets you see available flights from your home airport. It lets you search a range of available flights and check dates or track points for the best value.

Using the Website and Booking Flights:

Southwest automatically assigns you a Rapid Rewards number when you get your card. Their website, https://www.southwest.com, is incredibly easy to navigate. When you search for flights, just make sure you've clicked points and not dollars. From there you can look at the flexible date calendar for the best price.

The only thing you're charged is the non-negotiable airline fee, which is usually around $5, or a little more for international fees (which happens no matter what airline you use).

Ready to Get Started? Check out this link. Still have questions? I would love to tell you about our experiences or answer any questions you may have. Click here to contact me, or comment below. If you liked this post, and want to be updated when new tips or posts are shared, click here to sign up for our newsletter.

Happy Travels!

Currently,

Kelsie

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Southwest Spring Break

As many of you know, Aaron and I have become quite the avid travelers over our last few years together. Marriage guarantees a travel buddy, and since we are both teachers in the same school district, we are blessed to have the same weeks (and months!) off of school each year. This equals awesome travel opportunities! Be sure to check out the bottom of this page, where I give some tips on traveling for CHEAP. Lord knows, us teachers have to get creative to travel on our salaries.

Last year we went on a crazy spring break trip to the Southeast side of the country. I'll fill you in on that more later. This year we decided to tackle the Southwest, but instead of doing all of our driving in our own car like we did last year, we decided to fly to and from Vegas, then explore from there!

What We Did:

DAY ONE:

Flew to Las Vegas and rented a car (first time renters!). Drove to the Grand Canyon and stayed in Williams, AZ, a cute little town about an hour outside of the national park. Go eat at Kicks on Route 66! It was so delicious that I wasn't even mad that Gonzaga ruined my bracket by narrowly losing to Duke.

DAY TWO:

Drove to LA. It was a pretty drive through the middle of nowhere where people pass you when you go 85. Explored Hollywood by open air bus and spent the evening at Griffith Observatory before finding Blaze Pizza in Pasadena. SO GOOD. Stayed in Moreno Valley that night at the Holiday Inn Express (for free!)

DAY THREE: 

Drove back to LA, and spent the day at Venice Beach, Santa Monica Pier, and in Anaheim. We visited Downtown Disney and saw the edge of Disneyland. Had a great dinner at Cortina's Italian Market . We would definitely recommend it! Then we drove the hour and a half back to Moreno Valley and stayed again for free.

DAY FOUR: 

Drove to San Diego, an easy hour and a half drive. Saw the Sea Lions at La Jolla, went to lunch and took a nap on Mission Beach, and then saw Fremont Park. Checked out Old Town. Met up with some great friends and saw the Harbor, Coronado Island, and the Gaslamp Quarter. Stayed in Beaumont for free again!

DAY FIVE, SIX, AND SEVEN: 

Drove to Las Vegas. Stayed on the strip at Bally's for two nights. (If you have a Total Rewards card from Harrah's you can get great hotel discounts!) I could seriously watch the Bellagio fountains for hours. Explored Fremont Street and Palace Station. Returned Car. Flew Back. Thank goodness for airplanes.

How We Did It:

Southwest and IHG Points made this a very reasonable trip. Our flights to and from Las Vegas were free on points, and they were running a great special where it was only 5,280 points each way per person. Normally it is about twice as much! The Southwest Rapid Rewards Program is awesome. Check it out at https://www.southwest.com/rapidrewards . Read this post to see how we earned points and used the card for six free flights!

IHG (Intercontinental Hotel Group) runs a special on Point Break Hotels, which means that you can stay at certain hotels all over the world for only 5,000 points a night. The point break locations change every few months. Click here to see the list of current point break hotels through January 31st! If you get the IHG MasterCard, you get 80,000 points, which means you could use this card for up to 16 free stays at hotels! Not all hotels are available for 5,000 points, but if you are willing to drive out a bit (like we did for Moreno Valley and Beaumont), then you can stay for free and really get the most out of this card promotion (Here's how)! We used this card last spring break as well, and didn't pay for a single hotel room.

Vegas has cheap hotels, so long as you are flexible. We stayed at Bally's on the strip for the Wednesday and Thursday at the end of our trip, so that it was cheaper than the weekend would have been when we first flew in to Vegas. Get a Total Rewards player's card for free at your local Harrah's and you can sign in to online booking for great discounts. You can sign up at https://www.totalrewards.com/Program/ . 

We rented a car using Priceline Car Rental Bidding. You can name your own price at http://www.priceline.com/rentalcars/. We ended up getting a Nissan Sentra through Hertz for a week for about $200. We really used it, and put 1,600 miles on it. It gave us the ability to drive to see the other cities, stay at hotels farther out for free, and we could drive off of the strip in Las Vegas so that we could eat for cheaper! We also recommend using Tix4Tonight to get cheaper meals on the strip. You pay $2 per person for a voucher, and end up saving $20-$30 dollars off of buffets at casinos! 

Trip Highlights (In No Particular Order):

1. Aaron narrowly avoided an accidental speeding ticket leaving the Grand Canyon. The policeman noted that  we were in a rental and that he had been pulling foreigners over all day, so he just gave us a warning. Thanks, Officer Thomas. 
2. We were somehow blessed to constantly find free parking spots on the street in the most random places and at the perfect time, which saved us over $20 in parking.
3. While driving from LA to Las Vegas, a truck with a trailer swerved over in front of us and shot a rock into our windshield, making a dime-sized crack. I nearly had a panic attack as we were returning the rental, but it ended up being only $17 to fix it. Thanks, Cesar at Hertz. (Side note: Check with your credit card company when you rent. The card that we used actually offered us full insurance on the car, and it would have covered a replacement windshield if we needed to file an accident report.) 
4. After sitting in two hours of traffic on I-15 North because of an accident, we pulled over to the next exit in the middle of nowhere only to find a line of about 20 people waiting for the one-holer bathroom at the gas station. When nature called outside, Aaron found a random black box on the back road, which ended up containing a really nice Canon camera. After chats with the gas station owner, people around, Canon, and the police, the owner couldn't be located, and we ended up landing a super nice new camera.
5. When we visited Griffith Park to see the night view of LA, we hopped into a shuttle van and ended up narrowly avoiding waiting in line behind 50 people both on the way up and on the way down.
6. Palace Station was running a $6.99 lunch buffet for rewards members, along with $3 in free slot play, so Aaron and I joined and got cheap lunch, free play, and a nice man gave me a free candy bar.
7. We got to spend an evening with some really great friends who had just happened to move to San Diego!
8. We had a great time just exploring together and getting away from the real world for a bit!
   
   
   All in all, it was an amazing trip. It's going to be hard to get back into the swing of the real world, but we had a great time.

Currently,

Kelsie

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Fabulous, Nearly-Free Cancun

For the past three New Year's Eves, we have traveled with one of our very favorite couples. Two years ago, we were all on a 22 person trip to an awesome Christian conference for 18-25 year olds called Passion. Last year, we traveled to New Orleans. And this year, we went to Cancun!

Adventures with friends are the best, especially when you get along so well with them, well enough to spend 6 nights straight sharing hotel rooms :)

Our vacation in Cancun was glorious. It was 82, sunny, relaxing, and, seriously, almost free! How so? The secret is making your money work for you (and making sure that you pay off your bills!).

Step One: Southwest Travel Card
This card is awesome. Basically, when you sign up for the card and meet the initial spending by purchasing items you would already be purchasing, you get a reward bonus of 50,000 points. These points can be put towards any Southwest flights. Points for flights range depending on your destination, but we have BOTH been able to fly to Cancun and back, Vegas and back, and one other small trip (to be determined) all on points. By the way, Southwest now flies to Cancun, Cabo San Lucas, the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, Aruba, and Jamaica!

In addition to the sign on bonus, you earn points for every dollar you spend on your card. Two thousand dollars in bills, food, and gas this month? You just earned 2,000 more points towards a flight! Also, you get 6,000 bonus points on the anniversary of your card date. All of these points make the $89 annual fee pay for itself and then some. We have saved over $1,000 in flights this year alone. The rapid rewards program (and this card) are awesome! For more on the card, check out this post. If you want a referral to the card, feel free to email me at currentlykelsie@gmail.com or comment below and I will send you the link.

Step Two:Hyatt Card
Hyatt has a sign up deal similar to the Southwest Card. They operate on a points system as well, but the best thing about this card is that once you meet your spending requirements then you win two free "reward nights". These are redeemable ANYWHERE in the world. (And you get a free night every year for being a card member.) Seriously. We got the most bang for our buck by staying at the Hyatt Zilara. 

We used some of our rewards nights, coupled with our friend's reward night to earn four FREE nights at this amazing all-inclusive. Which means we didn't pay a dime for food, drinks, or hotel stay for four nights at this four and a half star resort. Talk about luxury for less! They also have all-inclusives in Jamaica and Cabo San Lucas where you could do the same deal if you didn't want to go to Cancun.

All that's left to pay for was the transfer from the airport to the hotel and back, which we found for $55 total for all four of us. It really made things stress free. If you want to explore more of downtown Cancun, it's easy to do by foot, or you can pay under $1 in pesos to hop on the city bus. We did some tipping as well for the awesome staff.

If you have friends that you don't mind sharing a hotel room with, then get your rewards nights, share them, and head off on a lengthy, fabulous, almost free vacation!

Currently,
Kelsie

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