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Travel Party of 5 | Points & Miles for Family Travel
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.
Travel Party of 5 | Points & Miles for Family Travel
A Couple's Anniversary Trip to Istanbul + Cappadocia on Points!
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Reliable Travel (booked everything in Cappadocia for them)
Balloon Turca (booked by/through Reliable Travel)
Ariana Sustainable Luxury Lodge (an SLH property!)
We trade our usual family travel format for a couple’s Turkey anniversary recap that is packed with points and miles tactics you can steal for your own peak season trips. Melissa walks us through how she booked business class flights, stacked hotel perks, and built a Cappadocia hot air balloon day that actually runs smoothly.
• How Melissa plans travel around a strict school schedule
• Booking KLM business class with Flying Blue miles and Amex transfers
• What KLM business class is like including Delft houses and the Amsterdam lounge
• Repositioning to Mexico City to find Turkish Airlines business class saver seats
• Istanbul hotel strategy with Hyatt Globalist benefits at the Grand Hyatt
• Istanbul sightseeing with a guided walking tour, Galata Tower and a Bosphorus cruise
• Cappadocia logistics, why local drivers and guides help, and when cash beats points
• Using Chase The Edit and points to book a boutique Cappadocia lodge with credits and upgrades
• Hot air balloon ride details: weather rules, pickup timing, what to wear and what it feels like
• Returning to Istanbul with an Amex Fine Hotels and Resorts stay at the Park Hyatt and a hamam plan
• Turkish award booking tips, credit card requirements and why travel insurance matters
• School break booking rules: calendar open, flexibility on destination and smart repositioning
Let me know your feedback if you think that this would have better been split into two episodes or if you like the kind of longer format. If you have any questions, feel free to send me a message and I will ask her for you.
Welcome And Turkey Trip Preview
SPEAKER_02In today's episode, we're diving into a couple's anniversary trip to Turkey, including business class flights, luxury hotels, and an incredible hot air balloon ride in Cappadocia. So listen in. Hi, I'm Rhea.
SPEAKER_00And I'm Dwayne.
SPEAKER_02And we are your hosts of the Travel Party of Five podcast, where we share how we travel as a family of five around the world.
SPEAKER_00We will also share how we use points and miles to travel as affordably as possible and sometimes even completely free.
SPEAKER_02So if you're wanting to travel more with your family, but you're not sure how, we'd love for you to listen in.
SPEAKER_00So welcome to our podcast where we hope you learn a thing or two to get you closer to your next trip.
SPEAKER_02And today we have a first ever guest on, and she's sharing all the details of her and her husband's recent anniversary trip to Istanbul and Cappadocia in Turkey. And so I'm going to play the episode in just a moment, but I did want to give a couple of heads up that first of all, this episode is longer than our normal episodes. And I'm curious to know your feedback if you think that this would have better been split into two episodes or if you like the kind of longer format. Um, as I do look to bring on more guests in the future to do more trip recaps like this, I'm just curious to know what you guys prefer and if you'd prefer this split into two or you know, just kind of one longer one off the bat. So let me know that. And otherwise, I really hope you enjoy. Melissa is a really good friend of mine. We actually did meet on Instagram last year, and I always would hear people, not just in the points and miles hobby, but in whatever their hobby was, talk about how they met some of their, you know, best and closest friends through that hobby. And I always just kind of thought that's great, but I don't really see that, you know, happening for me. And then Melissa reached out on Instagram last year and we ended up chatting, and now we literally talk every day. And I would definitely say she's become a very good friend of mine. So I'm excited for you to hear about her trip to Turkey. Um, she definitely loves points and miles just as much as we do. And so check it out. And if you have any questions, feel free to send me a message and I will ask her for you. All right, everyone. Today's
Meet Melissa And The Plan
SPEAKER_02guest is someone who actually slid into my DMs last year, and I am so glad that she did. Melissa and I connected on Instagram, and what started as a shared obsession over points and miles has now turned into a real friendship. We actually met in person for the first time when she came out to Phoenix for the award travel meetup last month. Um, and I would like you all to welcome Melissa to the podcast. Welcome, Melissa. Thank you. Why don't you introduce yourself and give everyone a quick, a quick rundown of who you are, where you live, and we'll go from there.
SPEAKER_01Great. Thanks. Um, so my name's Melissa, and I live in Houston. I'm a high school administrator. Um, and my husband and I love to travel and have to think about all of those things when it comes to travel with a school schedule.
SPEAKER_02Yes. So a couple of notes. First and foremost, um, this is the Travel Party of Five podcast, and Melissa is going to talk today about a trip for two. Um, so you and your husband do not have kids, and I did want to call out quickly that I know people might be like, that's kind of a weird first guest to have on the podcast, but you do follow a very strict school schedule, maybe even more so than the students, because you cannot miss a day of work, really. Whereas my kids can and do often miss some days of school uh to accommodate our travel schedule. Um and in a in another life, you led group trips for students around the world. So I think that you have uh a good idea of what families are considering when booking travel. Wouldn't you agree?
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. Yeah. I I led uh eight international student trips for high schoolers uh to Asia, Europe, and Central America over my teaching career. And no longer do that, but absolutely adhere to a very strict school schedule and have to travel just when school is out. Love it.
SPEAKER_02Um, so let's talk a little bit about how you got into points and miles, and then we can jump into the trip. Today we're talking all things Turkey. So you and your husband went on a bucket list trip to Turkey earlier this year, business class, the whole nine yards. And so we're gonna get into all the details.
How Points And Miles Clicked
SPEAKER_02Um, but first tell us how you got into points and miles.
SPEAKER_01Sure. So my husband is from England, and we used our gold personal amex for everything for decades. And every once in a while, every few years, we would be able to use those points to fly ourselves in economy back to England to visit family and friends, and thought we were doing a great job. And then in 2024, I was chatting with my friend Megan and asked her how was she flying to Bora Bora and other places? And she told me she did it on points and miles and gave me a little bit of information about a website called 10x Travel and their free online course. So I took that, listened to their podcast, and jumped in full force. And that was in 2024. Um, and started accumulating points and miles, opening credit cards, um, doing, you know, welcome bonuses, and really started traveling on points and miles very quickly.
SPEAKER_02I love 10x travel. That is also how I got started. Their free course, I think I took it in like 30 minutes, and then I called up Dwayne and I was like, we're gonna try this. And he was kind of like, okay. And here we are. It's been four years now for us.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it was in their first six episodes of their podcast. I recommend those to everybody as just kind of a primer on the basics of points and miles and credit cards. And I just find it for a free resource is amazing.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, absolutely. I would definitely recommend them as well. Okay, so we are gonna talk all about your trip to Turkey, which you guys took in March of this year, right? So maybe give just like a brief outline of the trip, and then we're gonna get into all the details of the flights, the hotels, things you did, that sort of thing.
Building The Turkey Itinerary
SPEAKER_02Sure.
SPEAKER_01So um spring break, as we know in school, is a high travel time for many of us. And so a year in advance, my husband and I decided we were gonna go to Turkey for our anniversary, and we booked Houston to Istanbul, Turkey via KLM on our first business class flights, stayed in Istanbul for three days, then flew to Cappadocia, then flew stayed there for two nights, flew back to Istanbul, stayed there one additional night, and then flew Turkish Airlines business class from Istanbul to Mexico City, stayed in Mexico City, and then came home to Houston.
SPEAKER_02Love it. So I heard a couple of things in there, including repositioning to Mexico City, which I want to talk about. Um, but first and foremost, like let's talk about the business class flights because first of all, it was your first ones. So recommend or no.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. I I cannot tell you how much I looked forward to that business class flight. I booked it one full year in advance for both of the flights and felt like I needed one of those calendars on the wall where you tear off the days waiting for that flight to happen. Totally.
SPEAKER_02Okay, so on the way there, KLM business class, walk us through the redemption and then your onboard experience.
KLM Flying Blue Business Class
SPEAKER_01Sure. So um we've had American Express four decades, and I had opened up some more American Express cards. Um, we had only had one for years and years. And so what I ended up doing was one full year in advance, I started to look at ways to get to Turkey, saw that KLM Air France Flying Blue program is a really great way from Houston because they have direct flights from Houston to Amsterdam and then from there to Istanbul, and transferred 78.5,000 more American Express points to KLM Flying Blue per person. So 157,000 points total from our American Express to Flying Blue. And I booked those business class flights the day the calendar opened. So that's one of the things I did was I learned every calendar of every airline, how far in advance they opened, and then just started practice searching. Um, so I booked two seats together. They have a one-to-one layout. So we got the two seats in the middle. Um, and that was 157,000 points and then $288 per person in taxes and fees. Um, great onboard experience. Um, the flight attendants were so friendly. I mean, I think that they could tell I was super excited because I'm taking photos from every angle, taking uh getting people in the aisle to take photos of me and my husband, having fun with a little dividing wall, all the things. Um and probably the best part of that flight was probably picking out my little blue delft houses. You get little blue and white ceramic houses, one per business class passenger. And they have over 100 designs and it even has its own app. So we got to pick out two different houses. They are also full of alcohol parents, so know that in advance. Um, but you can empty that out and let the kids have their own little house. Um so that that is it gin inside. Is that what I heard? I think I think it's gin. Ours still have the alcohol in them. I don't drink, so they are sitting on the shelf. Uh, hopefully to be added, like I hope to have a little community someday of houses.
SPEAKER_02I have never flown KLM yet, and I desperately want to because every Christmas I do a little Christmas village, and it's not big or anything. Uh, but I really want to have some of those houses in my little village. I think that would be very cute.
SPEAKER_01It it plans to be a future business class flight since Houston to Amsterdam is um a standard route for them. And my husband being from England, if we go back, we plan to fly Houston to Amsterdam and then take short hops from Amsterdam into the UK. Totally. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02I think so. A couple notes for family. So if you're thinking of this trip for a family, uh, flying blue is actually a fantastic option to fly multiple people in business class if you can find it. The saver fare is actually 60,000 flying blue miles. Um, and kids under 11 get 25% off award booking. So that can make it even more affordable. Even if you're just flying economy, though, I've flown them in economy. I've also flown them in premium economy, and I would I would say they're all fine products because it's you know, it's not that far. It's not like you're going to Asia, right? So I feel like you could if if you're young with kids, you could you could handle economy, maybe. If that's the only way to go, I would I would go, you know.
SPEAKER_01Yes, and from Amsterdam to Istanbul is not lay-flat business, it is more um like domestic first class, where you just have a blocked middle seat. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I was gonna say if you've never flown European business class, it's just that. It's the they block the middle seat, and that's it. So it's the same seat you would sit in in economy, anyways. Um, okay, food on the flight, all of that. What was that like? Seat.
SPEAKER_01Uh I'm not a big foodie. So, you know, it was good. Um, I sent pictures to friends who had flown business class and they said it definitely beats like United Polaris food or something like that. Um, but they the food was constantly coming. There were appetizers, desserts, snacks. Um the seat was uh comfortable. I love that they lay flat. Um, we really tried to get some some rest on the way there because it was a long flight to go all the way to Amsterdam, hang out in Amsterdam at the business class lounge, and then get on the next flight to Turkey. Um, so got our little amenity kits. Um, love those as well. Um, but the seat, the seat was kind of basic. I think the most fun for us, even though we don't have kids, sometimes we're like big kids, and there was a dividing wall that you could play with. And I have video of my husband, you know, making that thing go left, right, side to side. So that was fun as well.
SPEAKER_02Closing it every time he was annoyed with you. Just see you later. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And and they also have uh, so I don't drink alcohol, but they have um mocktails. They give a cocktail at the beginning, but for kids, they had a delicious, or for adults, a delicious bright blue, because that's their color, mocktail.
SPEAKER_02Lovely. That's great. That's super fun.
Amsterdam Lounge And Family Booking Tips
SPEAKER_02Okay, so how long was your layover in Amsterdam?
SPEAKER_01It was at least four hours. Um so we went to the business class lounge, which was included with our ticket. Um, as you go up the escalator, the walls are completely covered in the little blue and white delft houses. And um, the lounge is really large, um, has tons of seating, showers, food, um, really everything an adult or a kid could need, places that everybody could lay down and take a nap. Um, so really a great lounge.
SPEAKER_02Nice. Okay. And could this be turned into a stopover if if someone wanted to spend a few days in Amsterdam?
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. Um, I didn't really look into the stopover program because I have very limited travel dates and try to maximize our time in Turkey, but I do know they do a stopover program, and the airport is not super far from the city center as I've been to Amsterdam before. Um, there's a great high at Anna Hilton right there at the airport. But Amsterdam is a great place for a quick stopover, like a one-day stopover.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yeah. I think it's a really good, like family-friendly city too, as long as you can as long as you don't get hit by the bikes. Um okay, should we let's talk about your flight back and then we can get into all the hotels and all that fun stuff.
Turkish Business Class Via Mexico City
SPEAKER_02How does that work?
SPEAKER_01Sounds great. Um, so even more aspirational product is Turkish Airlines business class. Um so I booked the moment the flights opened up, I booked Assemble non-stop 14 hours to Mexico City. Um, and so that might seem kind of odd, um, but I live in Houston, which is less than two hours from Mexico City. And Houston is more than two hours from places like Chicago or the East Coast. So I had been listening to Travis on 10X Travel, and he also lives in Houston. He mentioned uh repositioning to Mexico City, which I had never considered. Absolutely a great idea. I was able to find two business class saver seats from Istanbul to Mexico City. That was 65,000 points per person and $256 in taxes and fees per person. I transferred those from Capital One. And then that was a 14-hour flight. The seats there are more luxurious than KLM, larger. Um, the amenity kits are more luxurious as well. Um, it's kind of one of those things that I think I'm gonna be collecting as I do my business class flights. Sent pictures to my sisters. Um, they they said immediately could I get them an amenity kit as well because it's lawn vaughn. Um fancy um like hand creams and perfume and that kind of thing. So that was great. Turkish Airlines also has a little dividing mall, which we had fun with videos, but the seats are bigger, more luxurious, a little more private. They have an on-board chef with the big white chef hat, like you're at Benny Hana, um, who comes around and takes your order and then cooks your food to order when you want it. So it's not on their schedule, it's really on your schedule. Um, so that was absolutely fantastic.
SPEAKER_02Highly recommend. Okay, so I have questions about the chef because I'm curious. So uh do you have like a menu to choose from beforehand, or you just look at it on the plane and you're yeah, how does that work?
SPEAKER_01So I think, well, I I'm not sure about in advance. We never ordered business class um meals in advance, although I heard that's a thing, and that you should do that so that on different different um airlines you have the food you want. So we um got the menus as soon as we got on, and it had options, but it said it could be served at any time. So my husband got lamb chops, he said they were excellent, and you could have them cooked to whatever temperature you wanted. Um, and then I'm not the big foodie, I don't actually remember what I had, but I'm pretty sure it was a seafood that my husband couldn't try because he's can't eat shellfish. Um, they had appetizers. One of the cutest things was they had little candles with cut-out paper around them. So they kind of uh made different designs on your your white tablecloth. Um, but of course they were not, they were battery operated. No flames. Yeah. No flames on the plane, which is great. Um, and of you know, they had snacks and they had dessert, and whenever you're hungry, they would just bring you whatever you needed. So, but they they did have a set menu, but they would cook it to how you wanted it.
SPEAKER_02Nice. That sounds amazing. I will say I have never seen more than two seats available on Turkish Airlines for points ever. And so I do think if you're planning to do this as a like a family trip, I would not count on that, certainly. But if you are aiming for like a couples trip, then a hundred percent you can get two tickets. Not every time, but yes. Go ahead.
SPEAKER_01I really stalked the um the Turkish Airlines website for a while because this was our big milestone anniversary. Wanted to make it special, had heard about Turkish. I looked from Houston, Dallas, other locations. I never saw two seats. Now it may have been because it was spring break and everybody in Houston has the same spring break, so they're all trying to get the same tickets. But even on Calendar Open, I never saw two tickets from a US location. I saw them consistently from Mexico City to and from Mexico City. They also fly out of Cancun and they fly out of Canadian airports. So for listeners who live closer to the Canadian border, I wouldn't suggest looking at Canadian cities. Interesting. I would not ever look at I don't think you're going to find more than two. Yeah, even out of Mexico City, right? No, yeah, Mexico City was two for sure. Um I've flown Turkish economy. The Turkish product is great. So if you were like, you know, what we want to maximize our points, we're a family of four or more that and you're willing to fly that far an economy, the economy product is great.
SPEAKER_02Okay. Yeah, that's good to know. Um, I also think like figuring out whatever the repositioning airports are for your home airport is really, really important in this hobby. For us in Phoenix, it's LAX, it's SFO, um, maybe it's DFW. I would 100% fly to Mexico City. It's not that far. But you know, to reposition to like the East Coast, which we're gonna do later this year, but it's not an idea, it's not ideal for me because one, it's already a four or five hour flight. And then, you know, if you're going to Europe, that's only like another seven or so hours. I just don't think it's worth it. It's too short for a business class flight. But yet, are we going to do it again later this year? We are. So I guess take what I'm saying with a grain of salt. But I really think figuring out wherever your repositioning airports are can be is going to be key for you having success in finding points availability. Um I think Mexico City is one a lot of people don't think about. So that's a great, great job. Hats off to you for that.
SPEAKER_01Thank you. And I I agree. I think flying from Houston all the way to the East Coast and then flying that short business class product over to Europe. I just don't want to spend that many points. I want to go directly Houston to Amsterdam, Houston to Paris, Houston to Frankfurt, and then have a short hop because I want to maximize if I'm going to spend that many points, I want to be in the air for a while in that really amazing seat. Yeah, a hundred percent.
SPEAKER_02Okay, so we are we have flown business class. We have arrived in Istanbul. What are we doing?
Grand Hyatt Istanbul Stay And Tours
SPEAKER_01So we got there in the evening, 5 p.m. ish, which was good because then you you aren't especially. If you're with kids, not trying to keep them up all day or yourselves. Uh, so we we spent three nights at the Grand Hyatt Istanbul. We booked a just plain king bedroom standard room. It was 17,000 points a night. I am a Hyatt Globalist, thankfully, due to my husband's company having a Hyatt Globalist challenge last year, uh, where you had to stay 20 nights and 90 days. We had fun with that, traveled around Texas, um, made a game of it, and then I've been maintaining Globalist since then. So we checked in as globalists, my Hyatt Concierge contacted them in advance, let them know it was our anniversary. They upgraded us to a two-room suite with a one and a half bathrooms. If you were a family, I could totally see this working because it had a separate room with a pull-out couch. Um, and so the Grand Hyde Istanbul is pretty well located, very walkable for us. We we do like to walk um and stay there for three nights. Love that then. Um, I don't know if you want me to talk about the next hotels or if you want to just talk about Istanbul itself.
SPEAKER_02Um yeah, let's just let's talk about Istanbul. Yeah, so like your first three days there. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So we I I'm a planner, I don't love a lot of extra free time. Uh so what I did was I planned, I looked at buy a tour and get your guide. Um, I love those, especially when they have a big multiplier for points. Um, and I have no shame I might have booked and then saw the racketon points go up and rebooked, canceled and rebooked, and tried to maximize the number of points I was getting.
SPEAKER_02I think I remember having that conversation with you and you were like, should I do it? And I'm like, Yes. Yes, you should.
SPEAKER_01The tour operators were all still getting my money. Yep. Sometimes they were a little confused as to why I had canceled and rebooked a couple of times, but I think I ended up with over 20 points per dollar spent. So it was totally worth it to me. Um, so we booked a full day walking tour with a local guide. All local guides are licensed or should be licensed. You can absolutely ask them. But if they're through Viator or get your guide, they're going to be. Um, one thing I find really comforting and easier is one if I have structured tours, but also in a country that might be a little bit more foreign. I mean, if you're going to London, it might be a little different. Um, you're going to, you know, Hawaii or you're not that that's different country, but if you're going to English-speaking countries or more Western countries, you may feel more comfortable doing your own thing. But this was our first trip to Turkey. So we booked a full-day tour. The guide met us at our hotel lobby, took us on a full-day tour, arranged every part of public transportation, lunch, and then ended up dropping us off at our evening sunset cruise. So we booked an evening sunset cruise, also through Viature. Um, it was about a 50-person boat, and it brought us out for about, I think about 90 minutes around the Bosphorus and had snacks, and we got on the boat and it was still daylight. I think it's extremely kid friendly. Um, kids can walk around, you don't have to stay seated. They had fruit snacks and desserts and sodas, and um, and you could be inside or outside. So multi-level boat, but not crowded. Got great views of the of the city um and great views of the water. How was the weather? We got super lucky, I think. The weather was neither hot nor cold. This was this was second week of March, and no rain. Everything about the weather was great. Light jacket weather for for me. I like it hot. I'm from South Texas.
SPEAKER_02Um, but it was it was beautiful weather. Nice. Okay, great. And I was gonna ask, were there kids on the boat? But sounds like absolute, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Definitely kids, families, couples, 20 somethings, a lot of girls taking Instagram photos of themselves, that kind of thing. Yes, yes, absolutely. But um, very family-friendly boat. Um, I think a sunset cruise or a daytime cruise is gonna be a little bit more family friendly than a late night cruise. Uh, just I think there's a little less alcohol involved.
SPEAKER_02Ah, got it. Yep. Okay, that makes sense. Going back to the grand hyat, how like tell me about the breakfast and all that. How's that? Because my kids love a good buffet.
SPEAKER_01Oh, huge buffet. We happened to be in Turkey during Ramadan, which I hadn't really thought about until we got there. Oh, interesting. Um, as somebody who's traveled to Morocco, um, Turkey and Ramadan do not hesitate to go during Ramadan. I will say that. Um, so we were there. Um, as I've already mentioned, I don't drink, but alcohol is definitely a part of the environment there. Um, not a huge part, but for somebody who likes a beer or a glass of wine, not an issue. Um, the Grand High at Istanbul has a very large and very nice buffet of a whole bunch of different stations of everything you would want and things that are very Western friendly. So scrambled eggs and pancakes and bread and croissants and hot food options, and then some things that maybe your kids or others who are not as adventurous may steer clear of. But it was a huge spread. Huge.
SPEAKER_02Nice. Okay, love to hear it.
SPEAKER_01And as a Grand Hyatt, they also have a club. The club was closed, but they had complimentary or um hors d'oeuvres and snacks and drinks every day for two hours on the second floor for anybody who had either club access or was a globalist. Were they renovating it or yeah?
SPEAKER_02Yes, it is planned to reopen. They were renovating it at the time. Yes. Got it. I mean, I almost prefer this is maybe gonna be first world problems, but I almost prefer a hotel without a club because I want the breakfast in the restaurant and not in the club, you know, because the club breakfast can be hit or miss.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. We had that in San Diego at the Manchester Grand Hyatt. Yeah. That one day the club was closed and we had breakfast downstairs and it was fantastic. And the second day the club was open, and I was like, oh, can we go back to the restaurant?
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So I get it.
SPEAKER_02And sometimes they let you and sometimes not. I think it's really hotel specific, but I mean, I almost prefer no club, which I know sounds crazy when you've got kids that eat a lot, but I I want the food to be good.
SPEAKER_01So yes, okay. So in the service, there was great the front desk. We had questions at first day. They were happy to go through all the details with us, extremely accommodating. Do you think that the upgrade that you got was because of your concierge? Um, I think it was a combination of not super high occupancy, having maybe the best Hyatt Concierge there is, um, and also the fact that it was our anniversary and that was conveyed to the hotel. Um, just as a note, there was a lower amount of tourists in Turkey at the time because of the war in the Middle East, and some people had some difficulty, especially as this was told to us by people who live there. They are a regular travel spot for East Asians, and East Asians often travel through the Middle East to get there. And a lot of their flights were canceled. So, therefore, there was many fewer East Asian tourists and therefore lower occupancy of hotels.
SPEAKER_02Got it. Okay, I was gonna ask about that. So let's talk about that.
Safety Reality Check In Turkey
SPEAKER_02Now, did you did you feel safe? Because I'll be fully honest, as someone who I would say travels fairly often and is really not afraid of the world. Um, I when you said you were going to Turkey, I I had some hesitancy for you. You didn't have any. So maybe talk about that. Because I'm sure I can't be the only one who's thinking, like, oh, I don't know, you know.
SPEAKER_01Oh, I have two sisters and they both were like, Are you going? And I was like, Yes. Never, never considered not going. Um definitely as somebody without kids, my lens of looking at the world is going to be different, right? Fair. I think if you have kids and they're at home, you're worried about yourself. And then if you have the kids with you, that's a whole nother level. Um, did I ever have any hesitation? I didn't. Um, my husband, who is from Europe, regularly said, nobody wants to get in a fight with Turkey. I said, okay. Um, but when we got there, I was felt even more safe than I had anticipated. Um, I think part of that is that I had very structured tours with tour guides who were leading us through the city and making sure that we were taken care of. But even when we had free time on our final day there, I was just blown away by how many people spoke English, like really more than I had expected. Um, everybody from you know, store owners to restaurants to just people everywhere. Um, but in addition to that, I expected people to be friendly, but wow, like the friendly level was way over what I had expected. Um, just super accommodating, just really nice, hospitable people everywhere. Um, and so safety, I I had this discussion with my husband. What did he think as far as like his kind of like reflecting upon it? And he agreed that he never felt no, he's a guy, but he never felt unsafe, nor did I. Um, and I have been in situations before, because I travel a lot where I have some things have given me pause. Nothing in Turkey gave me pause.
SPEAKER_02That's great. I think that's really good to know. Um maybe while we're on the the note of safety, when you flew back home through Mexico City, this was like right after, I don't even remember exactly what had happened, but there was some some additional safety concerns about traveling to Mexico for Americans on the news. And so there was, yes, talk talk about that too. Did you feel unsafe there? Because again, I was nervous for you, but you were like, it'll be fine.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So yeah, once again, uh I'm when I when I travel or just in life, I I don't really walk around scared. Um, so I'm kind of on the continuum more down that end of things. But yes, there had been some riots and some some serious problems in Mexico, um, especially on the Pacific Coast and in resort towns. And we were flying to Mexico City. Um, one thing that I did do in advance is that you can register your travel with a US consulate, or I would have to check the exact details. So we did do that um as American citizens, we registered our travel. We made sure to travel with all of our passports. I'm a dual citizen with Canada. My husband's a dual UK US citizen, so we made sure to carry everything with us so we had extra people we could ever turn to if we needed. Um, I know that's probably pretty unique for us. But I didn't have any hesitation. We had been to Mexico City before and had experienced that. Um, one of the things that we did do was we arranged for a driver from the Mexico City airport directly to our hotel using our Black Lane credits from our City Strata Elite. Um and that was a fantastic use of it. Um, ended up being cheaper, out of pocket than an Uber and door-to-door service. We spent a day walking around Mexico City and then eventually flew home. Did not feel any safety concerns.
SPEAKER_02Perfect. Sometimes I just think we need to hear that from people who have been there. Um, because of course, you know, the media wants to sensationalize everything and make everything seem, you know, bigger than it is. So I think it's really important to hear from people who are like, nope, I was there.
SPEAKER_01It was okay. Yeah. You know, no concerns at all. I know would I go to the cities that were having that unrest? No. Um, but yeah, you know, that's that's any country. Don't go to the city that's having a problem. But am I gonna fly to New York if they're having problems in LA?
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_02I mean, yeah, that's a good analogy. Yeah, big country. Okay, so uh the rest of your first few days in Istanbul, what else did you guys do?
SPEAKER_01Um, so we did do a full-day walking tour. Um we also spent some time on our own walking around. So we really spent the first full day with a tour guide. The second day, we revisited some spots that we hadn't gotten to the first day. Um, we really like to front and load any kind of tour guide so that we can ask some questions, so that we can kind of get a lay of the land and find out from them and then check some things off our list and then come back to them. Um, so that's what we really did was the first full day. The second day we wandered around, uh, went to um Galata Tower, which I think is very kid friendly. Um it is toward the end of the long kind of high street of shops. And you stand in line, you get tickets, you can do not pay for the audio guide. It is not necessary and expensive. Noted. They will they will automatically add it to your bill. And I had to go back and get a refund. Um, but um, you would just climb up this long tower, kids were having a great time running around, very safe. Look out the windows, 360 view. So we did things like that on our our second day there.
SPEAKER_02Nice. Okay, that sounds great. And then tell me if I'm missing anything, but then you flew to Cappadocia, right?
SPEAKER_01We
Getting To Cappadocia The Smart Way
SPEAKER_01did. We did. We flew, I booked Turkish Airlines direct flights from Istanbul to to Gorm, I think it's called, but uh, it's like NAV, I think is the or NEV is the name of the airline code or the city code. But basically we flew to Cappadocia. It's an area or region that is extremely well known for um natural, beautiful, kind of otherworldly features, lots of hoodoos and reminds me a lot of parts of New Mexico or the Grand Canyon.
SPEAKER_02Um wait very what what is a hoodoo?
SPEAKER_01A hoodoo is oh, I should have Googled it before we started. I've never had that. Okay, so it is a pillar. So when you have sedimentary rock that gets eroded by water and air and just natural erosion processes, you get pillars that poke up out of the ground. Okay, and they're yes, they're like these beautiful sandy and often multicolored pure um pillars because of the sediments over time. Got it. And you'll see those in New Mexico, you'll see them in parts of like Arizona and Utah, etc. And in Cappadocia, it's very well known for those features.
SPEAKER_02That was a much more like accurate description than I was anticipating. And I forgot that you used to be a biology teacher. I was like that that's how she knows that because sedimentary rock, I was like, wow. Yeah, high school science teacher for many years. Yes. Okay, fantastic. Yes. I okay, now that you say that, I in the pictures I have seen of Cappadocia with all the hot air balloons, which looks stunning, and we're gonna talk about that too. I I know what you're talking about because I have seen those in the photos. Yeah. Okay, sorry, carry on. Um, so you flew to Cappadocia, you booked with points or cash?
SPEAKER_01So one, so once again, don't ever think that you shouldn't book with points on these little flights. We looked at points prices to and from Cappadocia. One of them, it made more sense to pay cash. Um, and I booked online, and I actually had like a Capital One shopping or one of the many browser extensions pop up and gave me cash back for that flight because I booked online. The other direction I booked um with points, but I believe I booked it through the United website using United Points, which I had already living in Houston. It's a hub. I always have some United Points, but flying Turkish because they are um alliance partners. Got it. So yep, I I booked one way with points, one way with cash. Okay, perfect. And one thing about those internal Turkish flights, they're under an hour and a half and they serve you a meal. It's a quick meal and it's it's part of it, but they run around giving out like I think it was like a hot ham and cheese sandwich, probably not ham, probably jerky, but a hot sandwich and um and drinks and the service was great. And that's even an economy, right? Yeah, oh yes, that was absolutely economy. I don't even know if they have anything else.
SPEAKER_02That's great. It's a super short flight. That sounds so when we were in Thailand, actually, Bangkok Airways, we our flight was like 45 minutes from Koosamui to Bangkok, and same thing, they ran around handing out like a whole meal kit. And I thought, we definitely don't need this, but it's nice.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, these American-based airlines could learn something or go back to the days of when we were kids and they served food.
SPEAKER_02Yes. Uh, those were the days. Okay, so uh where did you stay in Cappadocia and what did you
Boutique Lodge Booking With The Edit
SPEAKER_02do? Because I think this you use some edit credits to book your stay, right?
SPEAKER_01I did. We really agonized over going to two additional cities or just one additional city from Istanbul and decided on just Cappadocia and trying not to overdo it. And we hope to go back to other cities in Turkey. We flew to Cappadocia, and I after having looked at it, I thought this city is not walkable. Um, and so I reached out to a friend I knew who had stayed, had gone to Turkey twice, and she recommended a travel company called Reliable Travel. And they are Cappadocia-based. And so we contacted them and booked everything through them except for the hotel. So the hotel I had recently gotten the CSR business card. Um, when it came out with that gigantic 200,000 point offer, we knew we had to make it happen. Um, and so I actually got that for my my P2, my husband. Um, and we used the edit credit on that. And that was when it first came out, and it had that points boost where it was readily available at most hotels. And so I looked in Cappadocia and got super lucky. They had a place called the Ariana Sustainable Lodge, beautiful 11-room lodge boutique hotel, booked it on there using the $250 edit credit. And then I wanted to be, you know, I work in a school, wanted to be as little out of pocket as possible. And so I offset the rest of the cost with points from Chase at two cents per point. Um, with booking through the edit, we got free breakfast, we got a $100 property credit, which we used for dinner one night at the hotel, and we also got a room upgrade. We ended up being the only people at the hotel out of 11 rooms. Um, and they upgraded us to a beautiful walkout patio with views of the valley that we could see the hot air balloons first thing in the morning.
SPEAKER_02This hotel, you guys, is stunning. I would recommend I'll I'll put a link in the show notes to the property because when you were thinking about booking it and you sent me the link, I was like, wow. And then to go and be the only people there, like that's my dream. That's like a private, you know, a private villa without having to pay for a private villa, you know?
SPEAKER_01It totally was. It was multi-level because there's so many hills and it was built on kind of the end of a peninsula of a raised area that like looked out into the valley, and they had their own vineyards, they had patios on many levels. I think it was super family friendly because your kids could run around and not bother anybody, but it's also very small, like as far as the number of rooms. We got super lucky that they um upgraded us to this gorgeous suite. I think that the coolest part was in the bathroom, it the the countertops and the walls had this type of stone on them. And when you turn on the lights and turn off the main lights, the stone like was backlit and glowed. It was so cool. Wow, that sounds amazing. But we had all the staff to ourselves. So it was I have to say the slightest bit uncomfortable because every time we turned, it it felt like, Miss, how can we help you? And I was like, Oh, we're we're good, we're fine.
SPEAKER_02I'm sorry, there's nobody else for you guys to wait on. Yeah, there's no way to be incognito when you're the only people there.
SPEAKER_01No, and it had a six-person um golf cart that they would bring you to anywhere in the area. So one night we had dinner at that hotel, then another night they arranged for dinner at a different hotel and they took us there and back in a six-person golf cart for that sounds great.
SPEAKER_02Is there a tipping culture in Turkey?
SPEAKER_01Well, our breakfast was included. Um, I would say that overall I didn't see a huge amount of tipping. I think that American tipping culture has kind of infiltrated everywhere except for maybe Japan. Um, but I don't remember that being a huge part of it. No. Okay. Oh, there was for the hot air balloon, which we can talk about next. Yes, there was a big box that said tips.
SPEAKER_02Ah, okay, yeah. Oh, I was thinking, like, I like do you tip the golf cart driver? Like, because I know that Duane would 100% be tipping them, and I just wasn't sure. But Duane.
SPEAKER_01I don't think anybody could be offended, but nobody was standing there waiting, if that makes sense. Where in some places you can tell they're waiting, they would quickly drop us off and say, Thank you, see you later bye, and they were out of there. So it didn't feel uncomfortable if you did not.
SPEAKER_02Okay. Okay, good to know. So, yes, let's talk about the hot air balloons because gosh, I mean, if you've never seen pictures of Cappadocia, they all they all have hot air balloons in them. It looks incredibly beautiful, and it is definitely on my bucket list. So I'm excited to hear about it. And I think it so it was booked through the reliable tours.
Reliable Travel And Balloon Booking Strategy
SPEAKER_02Like they took care of all of this for you. That sounds nice too.
SPEAKER_01They did everything. So um, when I got that name and email address and and WhatsApp contact from a friend here in Houston, I I at first was like, no, I want to book through via tour, I want to get my extra points, I want to do get your guide. I looked at hot air balloons, I looked at tours. There are so many that I was overwhelmed with choice and I didn't know how many of the reviews were real and how many were kind of planted. And I really wanted to have safety in the like as number one, if I'm gonna be up in the air like that. So I went through this travel company that I think maybe you can link or um share with individuals because they were excellent, um, super responsive. They did everything. So when I contacted them, I paid for everything through them in person at the end, so didn't have to prepay a single thing. Oh wow. Yeah, it was great. It felt really like I wasn't going to get ripped off or have an issue because I booked with them transportation to and from the airport to our hotel. That person was standing at the airport with our name on a piece of paper, got into a very comfortable van. Um, it was shared. They dropped us off at our hotel. I arranged a half day tour the first day we got there, and then a full day tour the second day after our hot air balloon with them. We were in a private Mercedes van, comfortable seating, water. They even had charging cords, great. Um, fully bilingual guide who happened to be the husband of the woman who I've been contacting through the tour company. Um, and then they also arranged our hot air balloon ride. And if it was canceled because of weather, right? They're very, it is extremely government-controlled whether or not hot air balloons can go up. They cannot go against the government regulations. If wind is over a certain amount, that's it. They're all grounded. Um, and so we paid for it after the fact. So that was great. Um if it was canceled, we wouldn't pay.
SPEAKER_02Okay, yeah, that's what I was gonna ask. Yeah, that's great. I'll definitely link them in the show notes um so that people can book them if they'd like.
SPEAKER_01Excellent. They they said essentially if it was canceled because of wind, we wouldn't have to pay. But they could see if they had availability the next day, but we were gonna be leaving. Um, but March is kind of 50-50 and you don't always know. And so that was one kind of concern I had coming up to the trip was will we be able to do this bucket list item? But nothing I could do about it. So we just showed up the day before our tour guide, who is the husband of the woman I've been contacting, I found out he was a retired balloon pilot and instructor. He pulled up on his phone all of the wind, um, all of the weather predictions, and said he did not think it was going to be an issue. And that evening, I got a text or a WhatsApp message from the tour company that said, This is what time they'll pick you up, be ready to go. Here are the things you need to bring with you. Um, and it looks like it's gonna happen. And then the morning of they were there, ready to go on time.
SPEAKER_02That's fantastic. So maybe one tip would be if you're gonna be there for a few days to book it for like your first day so that if it does need to be rescheduled, you have those extra days of air.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01You want to do it if you were gonna be there multiple days, you want it the first day, they will reschedule you to a subsequent day. Yes. Okay, perfect.
SPEAKER_02Okay, so you have to get up pretty early, right? For these hot airborne rides.
Cappadocia Balloon Ride From Takeoff
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yes.
SPEAKER_01So they will have a van from the company that comes around and picks you and other hotel guests up. It's a it's a pre-dawn get up. So I think they picked us up right around 5 a.m. Um, and so they met us at our hotel, had a van, picked us up. We got up, got ready to go. It was quite chilly. I do not like the cold. Um, but I wore my this friend of mine named Rea had mentioned these wonderful lease lined boots she got on Amazon, brought those with me. They were fantastic. Um, and so those were great. Remember, if you have tennis shoes with holes in them, air goes through and your feet get cold.
SPEAKER_02They're sorrel boots for anyone wondering. I could also put those in the show notes.
SPEAKER_01They're very cute.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. People at my school uh have asked me, oh, those boots are so cute. And I've given them the link. Um, so I we we definitely you need a coat. You need it more than what you would need during the day because it is cold and it is windy. But for those of us who don't like the cold, remember you're right below a gigantic flame. And every time they put that flame up to inflate the balloon more, it warms everybody in the basket. So that was really nice. Were you guys the only people in the basket, or it was like a shared thing? No, there's a lot of people in the basket.
SPEAKER_02Oh, so they're big.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Yeah, big. I would say um, I think we had right around 18 people.
SPEAKER_02Oh, wow. Okay. I've never, yeah, I've never done a hot air balloon ride. And I I would do one in Turkey, but probably not anywhere else.
SPEAKER_01So I did that as a kid. My husband and I did our first one um in Mexico City. No, sorry, in San Miguel de Allende, not Mexico City. Um, in San Miguel de Allende in the morning. Um, and that was a pretty big basket that had at least a dozen. This basket was bigger, um, right around 18. And I found out that pilots are licensed for different size baskets. Oh, okay. I learned a lot from our tour guide, who was a retired pilot and an instructor. So we got there, they um loaded us in. Our balloon pilot was awesome. Don't remember his name. Don't know if I even got it. Um, totally 100% bilingual, really did everything in English. Um, English, we're very lucky, is the language of travel. And so, you know, people from all over the world, they end up speaking English because of it. Um, he was funny. He wanted us to be the first ones up, and we really were, so that we could watch all of the other balloons rise around us. Ugh, that sounds wonderful.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_01Um, I would say that the basket walls are high. So anybody concerned about falling out or children, um, they're pretty high.
SPEAKER_02I was gonna ask that too. Were there kids? Like, did you see kids either on your basket or others?
SPEAKER_01I didn't see little kids. I know that there's a minimum age, I don't know what it is, um, but there were for sure like preteens and teenagers. Okay. Um, but I don't remember there being little kids, and there's definitely a minimum age.
SPEAKER_02Got it. Okay. So definitely just, I guess if you're booking for a family, check, check the requirements. Yes. How long are you up in the air for?
SPEAKER_01Um 60 to 90 minutes. Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_02So a good amount of time.
SPEAKER_01Yes, and he brought us around different areas. I mean, obviously, you you are at the mercy of the wind and the direction it wants to bring you, but he was extremely skilled. And he would bring us down in between the hoodoos and into the valleys, and then bring us back up and bring us down so we could take photos, videos. And the really cool thing about being in the basket, even though you're in there with a lot of people, is that you have a 360 view. And he made sure to turn the basket. He said, Okay, everybody, I'm turning the basket so everybody gets a view of the sunrise. Okay, I'm turning it so everybody gets a view of this direction. He was very cognizant of that. That's fantastic. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So, okay, so when we went to Albuquerque for the balloon festival last year, no two years ago, the our bus driver was explaining to us that because you are at the mercy of the wind, like you said, you the pilot doesn't always have control over where they land the hot air balloon. Was that true in your case? And how do they like know where to come get you? How does that work?
SPEAKER_01Absolutely, they do not have control. Um, they look for big open areas to land, and that area of the country has a lot of big open areas to land. Um, and then you see the the pickup truck or van with the big flatbed racing around following the balloon. So you can look down and see these like trucks following all the balloons. There was probably 80 to 100 balloons in the sky that morning. Wow. It's yeah, and he said that was a light day because of the East Asian travel dip. He said that this was much fewer than than they're used to at that time of year.
SPEAKER_02Wow. That and that still feels like so many. That's so crazy.
SPEAKER_01So many, so crazy. And but an amazing view because everywhere you look, you've got some above you, below you. You can see the flames and the ones below you being lit up. It it was really absolutely amazing. For anybody who's scared of heights, it's extremely smooth. As soon as you get off the ground, it you it feels like a movie because there's no like turbulence, you're not gonna get motion sick. It's just amazing.
SPEAKER_02Is it one truck on the ground per balloon? Yes. Okay. Yes.
SPEAKER_01Wow, that's so well. There were additional trucks of guys who would help then load. Like once you landed and they found a big open spot and everybody got off, then they kind of relit the balloon a little bit to then position it on the back of a flatbed so that they didn't have to pick it up because it's extremely heavy. Very big, yeah. Yeah. And while they're deflating the balloon and folding it up very carefully, they then set out for us champagne for everyone, um, or like a sparkling apple cider, and had that out, gave everybody a like a certificate of completion, took photos for anybody who wanted one, um, and had their big tip jar.
SPEAKER_02Yes, can't forget that. Yes. Love it. Love the like the champagne at the end, almost like a celebration. That's that's cool. Yes, definitely adding that to my bucket list. Um then we were done by like 8 a.m.
SPEAKER_01And they brought us back to the hotel, got back in time to have breakfast, our free breakfast at the hotel.
SPEAKER_02Oh, nice, nice. That's great. That's fantastic. So then anything else that you did in Cappadocia that you think is worth mentioning?
Valleys Cave Sites And Kid Safety
SPEAKER_01Um, we our tour guide that day, then we had breakfast and around 10 a.m. he picked us up. And we did maybe about six hours. I would say for anybody with kids, I mean, really small kids are not going in the hot air balloon, but anybody who's got like preteens or teens, you know, everybody's gonna get a little worn out. So you may want to just build in a little rest time in there. But we did a bunch of different like overlooks into the beautiful valleys. We went into an area called the Fairy Chimneys, which is just more um natural landscapes. I thought was really cool. We went down into these caves um where people used to live, and they were immense, just went on and on and on, caves everywhere. Um, and our tour guide explained to us where they used to bring animals down there um to keep them safe from other groups of people. This is a long time ago, right? Other groups of people that may want to fight them, like um different tribes is the best way I can describe it. So they had areas for families, they showed where they cooked in there, um, ventilation. I think that it was extremely cool. It's not the perfect place. I I have zero claustrophobia, but if somebody doesn't like small spaces, I was gonna ask.
SPEAKER_02I I I'm not I don't have a lot of fears, but I do get a little claustrophobic sometimes. And I was gonna ask about that. Um I mean, I just feel like I would love to see it though, you know.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I don't think that it was especially claustrophobic. I mean, I I'm the wrong person to talk, right? Because I actually really have zero problem with small spaces. I would say for small children, it might give me pause because it is a natural landscape and there are holes in the ground, and they would point those out. But if you got a little kid, you either need to have like one adult per child holding on to them or skip it and do something else.
SPEAKER_02Like when you say holes in the ground, like a hole they could fall into or a hole they could trip. Okay. Hole they could fall into. Oh, like okay. So, like when you go to the Grand Canyon and there's nothing between you and the edge of the canyon, like that.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Yeah, there were more holes where I think um either the ground had given away to another level of the caves, or they were used for ventilation, or they used to have a ladder from one level to another. So yeah, I would I would not suggest it for, you know, like the like six and undercrowd for sure.
SPEAKER_02Okay, yeah. Yeah, that's just like the situation where it's like we're gonna go do this, but you you are not allowed to let go of my hand, like at all. Yes, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01But it was really cool. It was really, really cool. Had a um neat little tunnels and caves, and and if you have a guide, I think that that is a place you really want a guide who knows the area who can bring to life what used to occur there.
SPEAKER_02Yes. I think the guides like it caught I know that they cost extra money, but you get so much more out of a place from a guide who can exactly what you just said bring it to life for you versus just going there and looking at it yourself, right? It just really leaves a lot to the imagination if if you're just there staring at something and you don't really know the history or anything. So big fan of guides um on trips like this. And especially for kids, like my kids don't want to listen to me tell them anything, you know, but someone else, they're much more likely to hear it. So I think that's a great type.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and I think in a place that's so different than than here in the United States, it's it's really beneficial. I just didn't have the history of Turkey. Um, I'm not a big history person, so I haven't absorbed a lot of that knowledge and kept it. But I I really highly recommend a guide in that situation. If you're like in Hawaii or something, you know, there are a ton of apps. I love the Shaka app for Hawaii.
SPEAKER_02Yes, we use that too.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's amazing. So you can kind of do yourself guided. Um, but in places like this, I think it's extremely beneficial. Totally.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Um, okay, so I think we've wrapped up Cappadocia, unless there's anything else. And so then you flew back um again on Turkish. We did.
SPEAKER_01We flew from Cappadocia back to Istanbul on Turkish. Uh, they arranged for our travel to the airport. I will say all of their airports are modern, clean, English spoken, friendly, easy to navigate. Um, and so we got to that airport. Um you know, it's an internal Turkish flight, so it doesn't have a level of American security, like with all of the like liquids and checking all that stuff. But um it was very easy to navigate that little airport.
SPEAKER_02Nice, fantastic. And then you went back to Istanbul. And were you just there for one night before you flew home? It's a little, it's a little unusual.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So we get there, we used a black lane credit. We we my husband and I both have the City Strat Elite, and so we used a black lane credit uh to get us back to the hotel, and then we checked into our hotel there and we're there for one night, sort of.
SPEAKER_02And I can explain that. So yes, explain. So
Park Hyatt Istanbul FHR Win
SPEAKER_02okay, it was the park hyatt Istanbul, right?
SPEAKER_01This time it was, it was the park hyatt Istanbul. We booked that with my husband's Amex Platinum FHR, the Fine Hotels and Resorts Credit. So they have a one-night minimum stay, which is great. And we checked into the park Hyatt. Um, it's a little bit farther away from the tourist central area, but we like to walk. Um, and I found it very walkable. So, some people, I remember listening to the points talk squad, and they had stayed there and they talked a little bit about it being farther away. But I I thought it was great. Um, it is a beautiful hotel. So we booked it on FHR through MX Platinum because you get $300 back per stay, and it was $349. Wow. So we were out of pocket $49. When you book through the FHR, you can put in your world, it's a it's a Hyatt, your world of Hyatt number. I got Elite Night credit. My it showed up in my app. One thing I've always had to do when booking FHRs is contact Hyatt and say, hey, I have this booking. Can you please add it to my app? And then that made sure I got my elite night credit. I didn't have to follow up with anything afterward. Um, we got free breakfast. We would have anyway as a globalist, but we also got $100 property credit by using the FHR and an upgrade upon availability, of which they did upgrade us. So it ended up to me, they really paid for us because we had dinner there that night and it was great. And that was we we used our $100 that way. That's fantastic.
SPEAKER_02So you're you're really positive $50, right? Because you paid $49 out of pocket, but you got $100.
SPEAKER_01So yeah, that's yeah, we had to dinner somewhere, and so it was it was great. They it I highly recommend looking at FHR in every city because you'll look at FHR sometimes and go, wow, that's like $1,500 a night. Yeah. $800 a night. What am I doing? I'm not gonna do that. But sometimes, especially outside of this country, you can find amazing value with FHR.
SPEAKER_02Yes, that is um, for those of you who heard our Thailand episodes, that is how we booked one of our rooms at the uh Park High at Bangkok. I used four FHR credits back to back to back to back. And similar to you, it was not, I think maybe for those four nights, our total out of pocket was around $400. And we got two $100 credits. So really it was $200.
SPEAKER_01Um, so a fantastic use of the yeah, our best ever redemption, besides the park it symbol, was probably the Hyatt Centric in Kanazawa, Japan. That was the hotel collection. And uh anybody going to Kanazawa, Japan, highly recommend looking through your Amex Platinum benefits. Love it.
SPEAKER_02Um I was gonna ask you. We checked in there. I was gonna ask you one other thing, and it just flew right out of my head about the FHR. Nope, maybe it'll come back to me. You go ahead. Okay.
SPEAKER_01I was gonna say we we checked in. I wanted just caught Mustafa, the front desk attendant. He was amazing. Um, and he told us the history of the hotel. We we were clearly not in a hurry, and he could read the room, and I was like, Yeah, tell us about it. He told us that the owner of the hotel is um uh a celebrity chef. Oh. Um, and so I cannot remember his name right now. Maybe it'll come back to us. Um, but he walked us around, he showed us the hotel, talked about the spa, talked about the the restaurant, showed us where to have breakfast. Um, and then he brought us to our room. I had seen, I I I probably should not do this, but I had seen in the app that they had upgraded our room, but I did not realize it was going to be as amazing an upgrade as it was. It was an upgrade to a suite. And as a hype globalist, you'll often see we'll upgrade to a you can book into a standard suite or they'll upgrade you kind of one level. But we were clearly upgraded way past one level.
SPEAKER_02We were I'm gonna interrupt you for one second. It's the Salt Bay. That's Salt Bay. Oh my God, that's so funny. Um, I'm not even gonna attempt to pronounce his actual name because I don't know. It's a news writ something.
SPEAKER_01But yes, the salt bait, the guy who does the who does the little weird hand thing with like seasoning. Yes. There's a big picture of him on the wall. Uh also the name of the coffee shop is Cappuccino with all of the cute. Uh kind of, you know, pays homage to him. But yes, he is the owner, or at least part owner of the place.
SPEAKER_02Nice. Okay. That's a fun, yeah. It's like a fun little trivia fact. Okay, sorry. So back to your students.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, he's got some yeah, he's got some restaurants in the city as well. So okay, good to know. Yeah. Yeah. Um, so they they upgrade us to a what they called a spa suite. And we get up there, and it is huge, but I would say more than anything, extremely luxurious, and made me very sad we were only there for one night. So we had early check-in and late checkout. We get to this room that is really large, like 1,500 square feet kind of large. And it has a seating area, a huge king bed, doors that open onto small balconies that we can see mosques off in the distance and have a view of the city. Um they have just everything you could think of, double sinks and like a gigantic closet, but also they have a Turkish Hamam bath, a huge standalone bath, along with a Turkish Hamam reminds me of in Japan, they have onsen where you go and you bathe, and then you get into like it's it's a kind of a bathing culture and where baths used to be communal and still are. So in the suite, they have the big bathtub, the area where you would kind of scrub down and bathe before actually having the Turkish treatment. They had a full steam shower in my room. So, along with a regular shower, it was over the top, and we did not get to take advantage of it like we should have because we were only there one night.
SPEAKER_02When you were sending the videos of this place, first of all, I'm pretty sure that the size of it was more square feet than my entire house. Like I was like, this is massive. And the bathroom alone, you could have fit 50 people in there, probably.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it was huge. It was really big, and it had its own like corridor from the door into the bedroom. So, like almost like you're walking down into and then it opens into this expanse. So, really, really big. Yeah. Yeah, what a great experience. Yeah. And it was our um, it was right before our anniversary, but it was our big anniversary trip. And when we got in there, they had all kinds of little treats for us and cake and a welcome note from the manager and just really, really kind, thoughtful touches.
SPEAKER_02Nice. Love that. Um, Melissa has a very good Hyatt Concierge. And if you're new to Globalist or maybe aiming for Globalist, um, the the Hyatt Concierge is a benefit of hitting the 60 qualifying nights and you know, achieving globalist status. And I would just like urge you to maybe adjust your expectations because the quality of them varies greatly. And the one that I have is not nearly as good as the one Melissa has. So just you know, temper your expectations. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01I I think that based on um hearing feedback from others and knowing at least one other person who has my same Hyatt concierge, we all agree that mine might be who I will not name. Mine might be one of the best, if not the best. Um so yeah, she's she's amazing. She's been with Hyatt for a very long time and can work magic. So yes, yeah, she's great.
SPEAKER_02Okay. Um, I remembered what I was gonna ask you, and it had nothing to do with the FHR, actually. Um, it was a little bit about the Turkish food. So I know you said you're not a foodie, but I actually don't have a good grasp of Turkish food, other than in my mind, it's kind of like a mix between like maybe Middle Eastern food and Greek food. I don't know. Would you say that's accurate? Like, are there a couple popular dishes that people should try?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, definitely not the one to ask about that part, but I will say that I think for those of us who I'm I'm so not a foodie, and of course, my brother-in-law is a chef, but um, I think that the food is very approachable for the average American and also not super foreign, meaning that there's just a lot of grilled meats of all types. Okay, there's a lot of just plain bread, and there are you know different types of wraps, there's hummus, there's there are very like it reminds me of sometimes when you have the kids plate with all the sections, and you can just pick and choose what you want to eat. And I think about this with watching my best friend's kids grow up and how picky they were, and they wanted the plain hamburger with nothing on the bun, and they wanted everything on the side and they want anything to touch. I feel like there's a lot of Turkish food that will meet a lot of people's palates. It's not spicy, um, it's spiced but not hot. And so I think that there's just a lot of food that is something that you can eat.
SPEAKER_02Got it. Okay, I think that's that's really helpful. My, I mean, my boys love some grilled meat, so I feel like they could easily find something that would work. Um, okay, before we jump into maybe some recaps and a few notes and questions I have, do you think there's anything else about the trip itself that we didn't talk about that we should?
SPEAKER_01Yeah,
Hamam Spa Reset And Airport Tips
SPEAKER_01so one thing that I had heard about, and I listened to a lot of podcasts. That's actually how I found you. So even though I don't have kids, you know, travel um is something that I love. And I listened to the points talk squad as well, and they had talked about Turkey, and Jess specifically talked about a Turkish Ham. And I was like, okay, what is this? So we were only in Istanbul on the back end of our trip for one full night. And I asked the hotel, hey, I'm reading that most Turkish Hamams are single gender, and we're only there for a short period of time. Can you help us arrange for this Turkish Hamam bath experience for myself and my husband? And they found a place for us that was co-ed. So we were able to get them. They picked us up at the hotel, brought us to a place, I don't know, like 20, 30 minutes away. You go in, you do this Turkish hamam, and just to describe it briefly, you get into robes, you go in, and you have like uh very minor amounts of clothing on, and they scrub you. It's like a giant exfoliation treatment. So you're in this room, you're laying on it, and it's it's super steamy, there's hot water. My husband and I got to do this together. There was nobody else there besides our attendants, and they cover you with soap and bubbles, and then they have this exfoliating glove and they exfoliate all your skin. So if you just spent a lot of time in the sun and you're really tan, it might take a lot of your tan off. But um, it was an amazing experience. Afterward, we added on a massage. I don't know that that's necessary. I think that the Turkish mom itself is pretty cool. It's a pretty short experience as well. Um, but you can you can do that single gender or you can find a few places in the city that will do co-ed. In hindsight, we probably should have just done it at the park hyatt. They they have it there. Oh, they do. Yeah, yeah, they do have their own spa. So our flight, we stayed at the park hyatt on a Friday night. Our flight was at 2 a.m. Sunday morning. So basically really late Saturday nights. Oh wow, yeah. So the park hyatt held all of our bags. We explored the city on Saturday, and then when we got back, clearly our room was gone, right? We had checked out. They arranged for us to get into the spa, even though we had checked out many hours earlier. We took showers, um, were able to freshen up, change our clothes, do everything in the spa. And then around 9 or 10 p.m., we headed to the airport. They were so accommodating there.
SPEAKER_02Wow, that's fantastic. So, I mean, it I guess it's normal for the flights to be leaving around two o'clock in the morning just because of, I don't know, time zones, schedules, something.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I'm not sure why they leave so late. That is a standard flight for them, the 2 a.m. Um, there's also like an 11 p.m. flight. I will say the Istanbul airport is huge. So if you go through Istanbul, know that it is extremely modern and very large. So do not try to get a tight connection there because you will be walking, walking, walking. We got there. Um, I had heard a lot about how amazing the business class lounge was. I will tell you, that's probably the most disappointing thing on our trip was the lounge in Istanbul. It was big and it had food. We got there around 11, 10:30, 11 p.m. And as we came in, put our bags away, they had little lockers, put our stuff down, went to go get some food, and they started putting stuff away. And I was like, this place is full. People are getting on their flights. And they were like, Oh, yeah, we have some food over there. So after a certain hour, even though the lounge is packed, they took away the food, which was a little frustrating.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, especially if that's a standard flight time. Like I get if it's been delayed or whatever, but that seems silly that they would.
SPEAKER_01It was silly and the the lounge was packed. So I didn't get it. That that was that was probably my only real frustration of the flight of the whole trip. Um, so we we really thought that they did a great job at that hotel allowing us to to freshen up before the flight because it was a long flight. They have flights throughout the day. I I only know of the two that went to Mexico City at those hours. I think there was like an 11 and a two or something like that.
SPEAKER_02You may not know the answer to this, and I just googled it to see. Um, but what for the um the hamams, is that something that kids could do, or do you think there's a minimum age?
SPEAKER_01Oh, I would think there's a minimum age, I would think, because it really is no clothing like scrubbing people down. And like can you wear a bikini or and like and then wear shorts?
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_01Like almost like you're at the doctor's office, kind of like a little paper kind of minimal. Yes. Oh, I think. Have like a little bikini bottom. Um, wear a robe, and then they would like very modestly cover. So not a lot of clothing.
SPEAKER_02Interesting. Okay. Yeah, me. I don't know if my kids would love that. I I so it says I Googled the AI overview from Google says kids can do a traditional Turkish hamam, but it depends heavily on the specific location. It does say many places require children to be at least six to eight years old for safety reasons, and some others are just adult only. So, I mean, I just don't even know how, like, I'm thinking about my daughter and how would she even, I think she would just be like, that's weird. So probably I would skip that if I went with kids, but I would totally do that if it were just me and my husband for sure.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it was a really cool experience. Both of us really enjoyed it. Um, we like to kind of just jump into whatever culture we're in and experience that, and that was that was absolutely part of the culture there.
SPEAKER_02Love that. Um, that's so fantastic, too, that the park hyatt was able to like let you get access to the spa um so long after checking out. That's wonderful.
SPEAKER_01And the spa's great, but they have everything. So okay.
SPEAKER_02I have a couple of questions.
Turkish Award Booking Quirks
SPEAKER_02Um, the first one is around Turkish Airlines. So someone reached out to me on Instagram, ironically, not even knowing that we were about to record this episode, and just said they were considering booking this for the uh her and her husband, but they had hurt she had heard some kind of horror stories about Turkish canceling points flights, um, or just kind of other maybe not so great things about the the airline. And I actually had never heard any of those things and have only heard mostly positive things. So I was curious, as someone who has flown them a few times, what your um what your opinion was, and also maybe talk about the credit card thing.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So um I booked, I booked Turkish Airlines one year in advance. So there were lots of things that could have happened in that year to change the flight, never had an issue. Um, just as a little, you know, I'm sure you've got listeners who are like, where do they get all these points? Right. So I I started doing this, you know, travel hacking or whatever you want to call it. And it took a long time to get enough points to be able to book this flight. The first time you book with Turkish, it can be a little difficult. So I looked at the website, I had heard the same thing. Oh my gosh, Turkish is difficult. So I ended up calling. I did not have enough points. The amazing thing about Capital One is you can send points or receive points from anybody. So I called up my brother-in-law, who I knew had a capital one card. I was like, I need 9,000 points right now. So he got on the phone with me. He let me borrow 9,000 points from him. Um, and then I had the 130,000 points I needed. Right. So I called Turkish Airlines, I make sure the flight is real. That's a thing. Make sure, I mean, it was Turkish Airlines flying on Turkish, so you don't expect phantom availability, but you know, you want to make sure. So I called and I said, Hey, are these are these flights available for 65,000 points per person? Great customer service rep. I know some people have have talked about not, you need to have enough time. I was on the phone for about an hour, so make sure you give yourself some time. I booked on the phone the first time because the first time I could not find a way to book for two people through my account. It kept saying you you can only book for one. So I called, I transferred the points from Capital One. They were instantaneously there within a minute. It was close to instant. And then I was told by the person on the phone, whatever credit card I used to book the taxes and fees, I had to bring it with me. And so I made sure to make note of that. We used my husband's Chase Inc. business preferred, because one, it doesn't have foreign transaction fees, and two, it gets three X on travel. So we used that and we got three points per dollar, Chase points for doing that. And we made sure to make a note um to bring that card with us. And I had heard over and over again that you need to do that. Nobody ever asked for the card.
SPEAKER_02Oh, never, not once.
SPEAKER_01No, no, never. I even asked them at the counter, I was like, I brought this. Did you need it? No, we don't need it. Um, but I wanted to make sure to have it because I had been told by a customer service representative of Turkish that I needed that, and I had also heard that online.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I've also heard that. And so I think the other key thing is make sure that the card that you're using is not a card that you're planning to cancel or downgrade before your flight happens.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think if you downgraded it and it was still the same number, um then you could keep that. But I would be, I would be careful to use like one of your keeper cards. Like my Chase Sapphire Preferred is a keeper card for me. Um, you know, my Capital One Venture X, my husband's Capital Venture X keeper card. So one of those would be a good one. Um in hindsight, you know, the the chasing business preferred is probably not the best card to use for travel protections because it wasn't on a business trip. And I probably should have used a personal Chase Sapphire Preferred.
SPEAKER_02Well, at the time, this wouldn't have even mattered. But if you use the Chase Sapphire Reserve now, if you had that one, you would actually earn 4X because you're booking a flight direct. So you would earn 4X on the taxes and fees, right? Which I mean, maybe that's not a ton, but still it's something. And you'd have the travel protections.
SPEAKER_01So yeah, I we don't have a CSR at a Chase Sapphire Reserve right now. That is that is on my list. Um, but I I have to get out of my point maximizer brain sometimes and remember that the travel protections are more important than one additional point per dollar or something, especially when it's taxes and they're not that high on Turkish. Yeah, sure. But I will say that the one I don't know if it has changed since I booked over a year ago for this flight, but the way that they took the taxes was I had the card in front of me. They sent me from the customer service rep to a separate line where I had to literally key in the number and it didn't work the first time, and we had to go back. It was a very frustrating experience, but it's so worth it. Now that I've done it once, I can easily book online. So you just have to get past that first hurdle of booking with Turkish the first time. And now I have once again booked Turkish business class through Istanbul, not to stay in Istanbul this time, but to go to the Mediterranean. Um, but it was super easy online. Nice.
SPEAKER_02Okay, fantastic. Okay, so if you were going to kind of recap as someone who also has to plan around a school calendar,
Points Strategy For School Break Travel
SPEAKER_02right? And again, even more strictly than I do, right? Because my kids can miss a day. Um, what are your best tips for families or anyone in a similar situation who has to can only travel during, you know, what really is peak travel, right? Spring break, summer, fall break, holidays. Yeah. Um, yeah, talk about that.
SPEAKER_01So, my number one tip. So when when I'm looking at travel, my schedule is number one. I I do not want to miss any work. Uh, my work doesn't want me to miss any work. So I have to, I have very strict travel dates. And so you can't get everything when you travel, but you can get most of what you want if you book the day the calendar opens, or at least you have an idea of when certain tickets will go. So not every business class ticket is available on calendar open, but if you start to track it in advance, you can start to learn patterns. I knew for Turkish, the pattern was they were available on the day the calendar opened. So I booked a year in advance. I know that those with kids, you kind of know when your breaks are going to be. You know if your school gives you a full week at Thanksgiving. Um, what I have found is calendars are typically um sent out to families or made available publicly over a year in advance, especially of spring break. So you know when your spring break is. So plan in advance, kind of lock it in. And for me, I allow the dates to dictate where I'm going. So we really want to go to South America for next spring break. And I just could not make the flights happen during spring break. So we pivoted. When I saw Turkish Airlines open up with two seats from Dallas, which is even closer to Houston than Mexico City, I jumped on it. Um and I said, you know what, we'll figure out somewhere else to go in Europe. But I got the seats. So book a year in advance. Um if you have a family of greater than two, be okay with premium economy or economy. Or if you've got teenagers, you guys sit in business and kick those kids to the to the premium economy or economy.
SPEAKER_02I am excited for the day that I can do that because I will.
SPEAKER_01And they they are, you know, they're younger. I work with teenagers every day, work in a high school. If you put your two teen kids in economy on their own, they feel like they're flying and you're right there. You can handle anything you're they're not getting lost there on a plane. But it it gives them a little bit of independence. And I do not think they're going to be upset that they're by themselves. They're eating all the snacks, they're watching the movies, they're having a good time. Yes, I think they would love it too, for sure. So I would definitely say you're in advance or as far in advance as you can. Remember that across the country, spring break varies a lot. Some people have it in March, some people have it in April, but probably your whole city has it at the same time. So you are competing with everybody out of your city or many people out of your city for spring break travel. But for example, I live in Houston. Uh, we have spring break the second full week of March, but East Coast doesn't necessarily. So if you can reposition to an East Coast city, you probably have less competition to get to Europe out of those cities during your spring break. So be creative in schedules. On the other end of that, everybody has the same Thanksgiving in this country. So that can be a little bit more challenging. So Thanksgiving, you've got to be really on top of it. Spring break is a little bit easier. And then for Christmas, it's you know, winter break, it's two weeks. So you can have a little bit more wiggle room. So one year in advance, uh be flexible on location and be okay with positioning to other cities, especially cities in other countries, Canada and Mexico, because it's going to open up a world of possibilities.
SPEAKER_02I think those are all fantastic tips, and I agree wholeheartedly. Um okay, before we wrap up, I'm curious to know a couple of things. Um I would like to know both. Actually, I'm sorry, I would like to know three things. Number one, do you think Turkey is a good place to visit with kids? If people are thinking about this as maybe beyond a, you know, a couple's trip, do you think it would be a good trip for family travel?
SPEAKER_01Okay. So I do. I think that um having been there and having Gone on a couple of like the smaller um like the boat ride and in Cappadocia, the hot air balloon, um, and seeing some kids there, I think it is. Um, you have to have kids that want to be able to walk, right? You don't want that kid to say, I don't want to walk anymore. Um, so walking is a must, but I do think that it is family friendly. Um, I don't think you're gonna have a problem with picky eaters. I I think that the mosques are beautiful and don't expect to spend all day at a mosque, right? Because you're gonna go in and the kids are gonna see it, you're gonna see it, but it is kind of history and they might get a little bored.
SPEAKER_02Okay, that's great to know. Apologies if you heard the dog barking. Um, my my brother just came over to visit, and I'm the only one home right now. So I had to go answer the door. So apologies, but I'm not gonna be able to edit that part out. So, um, anyways, I do I agree with you. I think my kids would get a good amount out of visiting as well, but we definitely could not spend all day in a mosque. They would die.
SPEAKER_01No, it would it would get boring for them, but I do think that there's a variety of things. We walked up and down a shopping street that had just a lot of fun shops that I think kids would enjoy. There was one that had um individual soaps and it had a wall, and every soap, there was one for every single day of the year. So you could find your birthday, and each one had a little cat picture on it. And um so we and Turkey likes cats, and so we got one for my sister and my brother-in-law, and uh, it has a little their birthday and a little picture of a cat on it. So just little fun things like that where the kid can find the kids can find their birthday on the wall.
SPEAKER_02They would love that. That sounds fantastic. Um, okay, my next two questions all group together and you can go, you know, answer as you wish. But I would like to know what is next on your bucket list and also in terms of trips, and then what credit cards are you eyeing for opening in the next, I don't know, three to six months or so.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
Next Trips Credit Cards And Wrap
SPEAKER_01Um, so our next trip's coming up. My husband, as I mentioned, is from England, and we will be headed to England in June and tacking on Scandinavia as well, Norway, Denmark, and briefly in Finland. I had a foreign exchange student many years ago, and we will see him in Helsinki. Uh, we will be flying business class, British Airways there, which I booked on Cathay. That's a little tip for your listeners. If you want to fly British Airways, Cathay has availability and it's cheaper taxes. Um, so we'll be flying there, flying back on Finair in their business class, all booked a year in advance. So we'll be doing that. Uh headed to Canada to visit my dad who lives there. Then Panama, and our big, big trip later on this year is Vietnam for winter break. Um super excited about that. Once again, booked a year in advance.
SPEAKER_02So that's our business class, right?
SPEAKER_01This business class on Vietnam Airways. First class one, right? No, business. Well, one way, yeah. So business on the way there, Vietnam Airlines, but I booked it on KLM um because I can transfer from Amex. And then on the way back, we will come out of Tokyo, and I found like little unicorn redemption of J A L, Japan Airlines, first class from Tokyo to Chicago, and then we'll fly Chicago to Houston, United to United Hub. Um, my husband's not as thrilled about it because I can only find one seat on each plane. So we're both going to be in first class, which is different than international business. Um, flying out of Tokyo, but two different planes, two different airports.
SPEAKER_02But, you know, it'll be an experience. He'll be fine. I think it'll be great. And then you guys can compare notes when you land in Chicago. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. I I can't wait. We'll see what he thinks. Um, and then next spring break, we once again have booked Turkish Airlines a year in advance to go into Istanbul, but we think we're gonna go to some Mediterranean islands. Um, we're still working out the little details. I would say always flights first. Find your flights first. You can work out the middle of the trip once you get the two and from. Yeah. Um bucket list items for us, like where we would like to go, South America, Argentina, Machu Picchu. We really would love to go to Croatia and other parts of Southeast Asia, including Thailand, but Cambodia, Laos, and um, you know, just explore more of other parts of the world. Um, and then I think on everybody's bucket list is an African safari. I don't know when that's gonna happen. Heck yes, yes, right. But that's that's like out of my expertise. My friend Megan, who I mentioned at the beginning, she has an African safari coming up, and I cannot wait to hear about it. Um, and she's been planning that two years in advance. So um, yeah, and all of this hinges on opening cards. So when I first started this whole crazy process of opening cards, my husband was like, Oh my gosh, our credit. And I told him to listen to the 10x travel thing, and we started opening cards. Our credit has never dipped below 800. Um, and we open cards regularly. We are very responsible about it, never carry a balance. And cards that are on our radar for the next three to maybe 12 months, because I'm currently 624 and will not drop below 624 until December. I would love the CSR, the the Chase Sapphire Reserve, because of its travel protections. I think it would be a keeper card. We have the CSR for business, it doesn't have as great um coupons, and so it is not a keeper card for us. They are both very expensive cards, but we would like that. Other cards that are on my radar, I would love the Atmos Summit. Um, I think that that is a great card as much as we travel internationally, three points per dollar internationally, and then using those points on Alaska and Alaska Partner Redemptions, that is very interesting. Um, you know, there are there are several other cards that are interesting. I want all the cards. Um but I can't get all the cards at once. I think a card that you and I talked about many years or not many many months ago, and you may have recently got is the built card. I I am not yet convinced on built, but I have warmed to it listening to everybody's three points per dollar accrual. Um built is super valuable. I have all my racketon going to build the last two payouts. And having listened to Richard Kerr recently on a podcast, I will leave it until they tell me it is something other than one-to-one because I want those build points because those built points for others go to Hyatt. I have enough Hyatt points right now, but I would like more Alaska points.
SPEAKER_02Same. Yeah. I did just open the built card. I actually haven't even talked about that on the podcast yet, but I did just open it a couple of days ago. And I did it for Alaska and also Japan Airlines because we do plan to go back to Japan uh fall of 2027, and I am determined to do it in business class both ways for all five of us. And so I know. I think we'll probably have to fly on different planes similar to you and your husband. So it'll be fine. Um, but Japan Airlines is going to be part of my strategy, I think, at least for flights one way. And I agree about the the summit card, the Atmos, I would love one of those.
SPEAKER_01I think that the Wells Fargo cards are sleeper cards. I think that now that they have cafe and they have the best um transfer ratio to choice hotels, and choice is not great in the US, but choice in Scandinavia is amazing. Yeah. Um, and that's all of our hotels for Scandinavia this summer. They are amazing redemptions, very low points prices, quality, center of the city hotels. I think Wells Fargo is something that more people should look at. I agree. I also think that the City Strata Premiere, which is 3x on groceries and dining, but a low annual fee is also a card that is undervalued by many. I think that that's on my radar as well, but so are all the cards.
SPEAKER_02So are all the cards, yeah. Same. Um, one note about the Sapphire Reserve. I just thought of this as you were talking. First of all, we have two. They are keep for sure keeper cards for us. I've had mine for, I mean, it's one of the first cards I opened. So I've I think this year will be my fourth year having it actually. And would you would you consider upgrading your preferred to a reserve, or you really want the sign-up bonus?
SPEAKER_01I want the sign-up bonus. Um I think that we have the Allions annual policy for international travel uh or for just travel insurance. Um, you know, I think that it's really important that everybody thinks about what happens when you're out of the country and if you get sick, because we all we all get sick at some point. Um and I have that as well as I am thoughtful about what card I put things on when I book taxes and fees. I think that I want the sign-up bonus and I will hold out for that. Um I will also say I had a friend who ended up having emergency gallbladder surgery in Mexico. And if she had not had travel insurance, that could have been financially devastating. So I think that it's important to think about these things. You think I'm young, I'm healthy, uh, be careful.
SPEAKER_02I I agree. And I think even more so when you're traveling with kids, because kids are just accident prone. Like things happen to them, you know, whether you're at home or not. Like, yeah, the I just did an episode on travel insurance because we always have it, and it has more than once paid for itself for us. And I I will not travel without it at this point.
SPEAKER_01So I agree. I completely agree. When we went to Costa Rica and I brought students there, one of the kids, one of the parents actually fell and cut herself on barbed wire and needed stitches. And I will tell you, Costa Rica, amazing medical care. Yeah, so impressed. Um, but the travel companies that I worked with as a teacher always require travel insurance without like they there were no exceptions. Um, and I think that that's very important.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, totally. So well, I think that that probably wraps us up for today. Um, thank you so much for spending the time and walking us through the trip and the flights and all the points things. Um, I know that you are not really like on Instagram or anything. So there really isn't a place where people can go and follow you. But I can say if you're in the 10x travel Facebook group, that you're in there sometimes and I see you answer questions on occasion. Um you do make trip reports in there. So I guess if people wanted to see your your your trip photos, they could pop in there and and look for that.
SPEAKER_01Um, but they do, yeah. I I post there because truly that is where I learned the basics and I so appreciate 10x. It's a huge community now. Huge. Um, yeah, huge. And there's a lot of people asking questions and it can be a little overwhelming. But I like to post things in there to say you two can do it, and you don't have to make, you know, a million dollars a year or you know, spend tons, you know, you don't have to spend a million points. If you plan in advance, you can spend 65,000 points a person, save those up, borrow it from your brother-in-law, uh, and get some points through Capital One, and it's possible.
SPEAKER_02Totally agree. All right. Well, thank you. You know, thank you so much for your time. Um, and we will catch you on the next episode. Bye, everybody.