Exploring National Parks on a Budget

In this episode of the Lazy Budget Travel Tips podcast, Genni Franklin is joined by Teresa Kul, a national parks enthusiast who has visited 356 out of 433 park sites, including all 50 states. 

We’re diving into one of the most scenic (and surprisingly strategic!) travel topics: how to plan a national park trip without blowing your budget.

Whether you dream of hiking through Zion, exploring caves in Kentucky, or relaxing by alpine lakes in Montana, this episode is packed with tips for stretching your dollars, using travel rewards wisely, and even finding last-minute lodging like a pro.

In This Episode:

• How Teresa visited 356+ National Park sites (and counting!)
• The best seasons to visit popular parks to avoid crowds and save money
• Smart strategies for booking national park lodging, even if it’s last-minute
• Renting a car for less using AutoSlash
• Packing food like a pro to avoid overpriced meals in-park
• Why Best Western and Hyatt are two underrated hotel options for park stays
• How to use points (like Chase Ultimate Rewards and Delta SkyMiles) to make national park trips more affordable
• Tips for families, solo travelers, and anyone who wants gorgeous views without death-defying hikes
• Rapid fire favorites: dream parks, best hikes, go-to snacks, and more

Whether you're just getting into Points & Miles or already have a park pass packed with stamps, this one’s for you.

Timestamps: 

• 00:00 Introduction and Guest Introduction
• 01:18 The Allure of National Parks
• 03:13 Favorite National Parks and Experiences
• 07:12 Planning Tips and Best Times to Visit
• 08:08 Accommodation Strategies
• 15:18 Underrated National Parks to Visit
• 20:24 Transportation and Car Rentals
• 21:56 Booking Rental Cars with AutoSlash
• 22:49 Saving Money on Hotel Bookings
• 23:38 Packing Food for National Park Trips
• 24:40 Hydration and Hiking Tips
• 27:04 Leveraging Points and Miles
• 29:25 Choosing the Right Credit Cards
• 37:46 Rapid Fire Questions
• 40:33 Where to Find More Information

Resources Mentioned:

• Teresa’s Blog: AnAcreInTheCity.com
• Teresa's 3 Secrets to Your Best National Parks Trip Freebie
• Teresa's YouTube Channel
• The Ultimate Girls Trip to Shenandoah Valley blog post
• Spending a Fun 2 Days in Shenandoah National Park Itinerary blog post

Transcript

Podcast Episode Outline: Exploring National Parks on a Budget (with Teresa!)

[00:00:00]

Welcome back to the Lazy Budget Travel Tips podcast. I'm your host Genni Franklin, and joining me today is my friend Teresa an expert in exploring the beauty of the US and the national parks. I actually introduced Theresa to Points of Miles a while back, and I'm so proud.

So we're teaming up today to talk about. Something that's super close to both of our hearts, which is planning in an unforgettable national park trip without blowing your budget, and how travel rewards can make those wild scenic adventures even more affordable. So whether you're dreaming of hiking, Zion, soaking up the geysers at Yellowstone are watching the sunrise at Acadia, we're breaking down how to plan it smart, save some serious cash and stretch your budget along the way.

So if you've been staring at [00:01:00] your National Parks bucket list, wondering if you can afford to make it happen, this episode's for you. Hey Teresa thanks for joining me on the podcast. Yes, thanks so much for having me. And why pay full price when you don't have to? Right? Amen. Yes, absolutely. So why don't you tell us a little bit about what sparked your love of national parks?

I've always loved road trips growing up. We used to go camping across the state of Michigan and thenas a kid, you know, you're always unfolding the paper map in the backseat and they're like, look at all the places you can go and like, oh, I wanna go there, I wanna go there, I wanna go there. And then finally it kind of kicked in.

Like, Michigan's only so big. And then the whole country is like so much bigger. there's something for everyone to see. there's just something about the wide open views that sticks with you.

Yeah, I definitely agree with that. I, I didn't really grow up going to the national parks. I didn't really know that much about it until I got [00:02:00] older. Like, I didn't know, Not only are there the famous parks like Yellowstone, but then there's also other national park monuments.

There's people like you make it a point to visit every park, but not only just every park, you also wanna visit all of the other little national park monuments and stuff. It's just really cool. What kind of community, the national parks lovers are? What you can learn how unique each of the national parks are.

I mean, we went to Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. And it was beautiful, but really green, which is fine. But then you go to National Park in Utah, we went to Arches National Park, and that's like being on Mars super magical. 

but I, I didn't know how you can really kind of hack a trip to the national parks, like [00:03:00] how much actually goes into planning them, especially now when you need to make reservations how to plan like your hikes and stuff. all that goes into that type of trip.

So I'm really interested to hear what your tips are, but before we get into that, what would you say is your favorite national park and also. How many national parks have you been to? You've been to all 50 states, right? I finished all 50 states a couple of years ago, and in my handy dandy national park checklist that I have says I'm at 356 out of the 433.

Holy crap. I have a ways to go yet, but I'm getting there. I'm getting to the ones that are a little more difficult, like Alaska and then some of the islands. Gotcha. So wait, so how many are there actual national parks right now? There's 63. So then what you're talking about are what, you're saying that you went to 356 out of the 400 something like what does that [00:04:00] mean?

 that includes like the battlefields, the shorelines, the lake shores, the monuments. there's a whole bunch of other different little classifications for sites. Wow. So, wow, that's a lot. How long have you been doing this? I started probably in the early two thousands. Okay, wow.

Because that's, as a kid, we, I'm sure we went to the ones in Michigan as a kid, but I don't really remember 'em, so I really don't count my first one until, it's gotta be like 2002 or 2003, I think. And we were at, um, Muir Woods in California and I'm like, oh, look at the book. I have to get it. Oh look it, I have to stamp it.

And I'm like, look at all these other places I have to go. So what's your favorite? I would say Zion. It's just, it's, it's incredible. I mean, all the big red rocks and the way the light shines through the canyons, like different times of the day. It's just, it's just kinda magical. And I'm not big into like strenuous, crazy hikes.

So like, I haven't hiked the Angels Landing or the [00:05:00] Narrows, but like the Riverside Walk or the Watchman Trail are both great. Yeah, that's a good point because I wouldn't say that we're avid hikers, but I do like the outdoors and I do like to hike. But I think when people think about, initially they think about national parks, they're like, oh, these crazy people doing these crazy hikes and you really don't have to do that.

There's really something for everyone, I think. So whether you're an avid hiker or someone who just likes the views, but like us and I'm not really trying to like the narrows. Oh my gosh. no, thank you. I don't know, I don't wanna look over and think that I'm gonna fall to my death.

That's, yeah, that could be. I'm not that serious. Yeah. That could be scary. Yeah. I, I like hiking, but Yeah. you don't want like a super long hike. Mm-hmm. So it's there's, yeah, there's a hike for everyone pretty much. There's easy ones, there's hard ones, there's ones that you feel more safe than others, for sure.

 So do you have any like, unexpected national park travel [00:06:00] stories, Yeah. just like two years ago, Thanksgiving break, 'cause we get Friday Apple work, so that's a perfect time to, you know, get basically a free vacation day.

So we went down to Mammoth Cave and we hadn't booked tickets in advance, even though we really should because they fill up fast. So we booked our tour like an hour before and there were, there's normally like a hundred plus people on the tour and we got about 20 people on our tour, which was amazing.

And then the guide was so excited, he's like, oh, there's such a small group I can take you to, you know, other parts of the cave that aren't usually on this tour. So that was kind of cool. So for us going the off season kind of made a big difference because, we get some bonus things out of the tour that's usuallyyou know, a huge tour and it was just, you know, very much more personalized, which was really cool.

Cool. Cool. So was that through the National Park itself? was that a park ranger or was that like a separate tour? How'd you book that? It was with Park Ranger. you can book tours, [00:07:00] online in advance at rec.gov or you can book 'em right there at the facility. Cool. So then that kinda leads me into, you were saying that you guys went like off season.

So when we're talking about planning a national parks trip, when's the best time to visit to avoid crowds and save money? Does it matter which parks you're looking to plan? what kind of goes through your process when you're planning a trip to the national parks? timing is kind of important.

I usually try to go on most of my trips in the spring or the fall just because usually there are less people than the summer. Weather also plays an impact. So you kinda look at the weather to see what it's gonna be like, because obviously you don't wanna go, death Valley, probably not even in May 'cause it's probably gonna be too hot.

So really that's more of a winter place, but you really have to kinda look at the time, the magical times. And same thing like April and the Smokies, it's not super busy, but the [00:08:00] wildflowers are amazing. And then even Utah in October it's cooler and it's not as busy. So that's a great time to visit also.

And then,lodging, it's kind of tricky for the national parks. It requires lots of advanced planning, um mm-hmm. For camping or lodging in the parks. you need to set your calendar probably for the exact window of when you wanna go, if you plan that far in advance or you can be lucky like us 

 and just maybe you'll find a weekend cancellation that works and you can book your flight if you need to book a flight after you have your reservation picked out, which is what we did, earlier this year at Big Bend. 

Do you camp, do you stay in hotels? Usually we stay at hotels for our trips. just because it seems like most of the national park sites that we have up to visit are too far to take. 'cause we have a camper, so it's too far to take a camper. the cost of gas is not worth it. So we usually stay hotels.

for the big bend trip we stayed at the [00:09:00] lodge. they do have camping also. but we did a lodge and yeah, we were surprised to find a cancellation during a weekend. In February. So like I snag that thing up real quick. 

 So if you're gonna cancel a trip, make sure you cancel it so somebody else can grab your spot. I would think too that they have some cancellation policies too. Like if you can cancel within a certain window, so maybe like four weeks in advance.

That's when you can cancel before you have to pay. So maybe that's when people are gonna cancel is four weeks out. So maybe that's a good time to look, to check, to see if there's anything or what do you think? I would just check whenever, if it's a place that's hard to get. Mm-hmm.

That's how a lot of people get reservations for a lot of places. Gotcha. I don't think that works necessarily for everything through the government website, but I know for accommodations it does. So you're booking your accommodations [00:10:00] through the government website?

 the recreation.gov. Interesting. I've never looked at booking accommodations through there. I always look to book directly with the hotel. So these are hotels that are in the national parks. Right. They're run by the national, well, the National Park has an outside company that manages 'em.

So that's why it's through the website. Mm-hmm. So what the pricing for those? Is that pretty good compared to They're expensive, other hotels? Oh, it's super expensive. Big Bend was the first time we've stayed, at one of their lodges.

Oh, okay. But there's not a lot of places to stay around Big Bend though. So for us that was kind of important to be able to stay in the park. Gotcha. And there's other parks that it wouldn't matter as much. Zion doesn't have one, but there's so many places around there you could stay.

Mm-hmm. Yellowstone. I think they have accommodations there. And then, Yosemite I know has, a lodge and they have campgrounds too and that'd be another one that might be better to [00:11:00] try to stay there versus, you know, an hour away to drive in. It kind of just depends. Some places have things close and some places don't.

Yeah, that's true. 'cause when we stayed near Shenandoah National Park. There were like four or five entries into the park and like it spanned many, many miles. So you kind of wanna look at the map and see, okay, where am I flying in? What town? what entrance do I want to go through? And then you can see what town you want to stay in because like you said, some of these towns are like 30, 40 an hour, an hour and a half away from an actual National Park entrance.

And so for Shenandoah. We stayed about, we stayed, it was probably like a 40 minute drive to one of the [00:12:00] entrances. I can't remember now off the top of my head, which one it was. I wrote a blog post about it though. Shameless plug. But, so we decided okay, we were gonna stay in this town and then we were going to enter and exit from this particular entrance.

so it can be really hard to find like points, hotels, luckily. We chose a town that had a lot of different options like Marriott or Hilton. You can also look at the travel portal to see if there are any hotels available in there. But when we stayed at,arches National Park in Utah, we stayed in the really small town of Moab.

And there were still some pretty good options though. We ended up staying at a Hyatt place in Moab, which everyone raves about. And the number of points you needed to stay there, I think was crazy for a Hyatt place, but with such high demand. And I heard that it was amazing.

So I just shelled out the points for three nights. And I have to say it wasn't really worth it. I mean [00:13:00] it, the Hyatt place was nice and it was in a good location, but I bet you I could have just paid cash at like the Fairfield down the street or like the Hilton Garden Inn. I probably could have paid a really good cash price and then saved those points for something else.

But if I wanted to just, I mean for me it wasn't really an L, it's not like I was losing because I was still not paying any money. 'cause I just used points. So that was totally fine. we were fine with that. But you know, it's just one of those things that you have to take into account. which national park, how big it is, how popular it is, when are you going and how many entrances and where should you stay that's gonna have good accommodations?

would you agree? Yeah. Yeah. It's tricky. especially like the bigger parks. 'cause Yellowstone, there's Yellowstone's got like four entrances also, so it's kind of mm-hmm. You know, you gotta really think about like, do I wanna stay in this side, that side? What side has a longer lines to get in?

Mm-hmm. [00:14:00] That kind of thing. You have to kind of consider. Yeah, so I would say too, like choosing, 'cause there's so many parks, I would say choosing the parks that people maybe don't even really think about. Like Shenandoah National Park, a lot of people have never even heard of that. And it is beautiful.

Have you been, you've been to that one, right? I have. We did the northern half. We still have to finish the southern half of that. Oh, okay. Yeah, we ended up doing the whole thing. We were there for a week, we had time to really explore the national park. We did other stuff too there.

There's a lot to do in that area.

Oh yeah, so.

So we ended up going to Shenandoah National Park in July, over July 4th week. And we actually went to the park on July 4th. And in the morning it wasn't too bad and then during the day kind of started to get a little busier. But that whole week though, there really wasn't that many people. 'cause they're doing [00:15:00] other things.

They're not thinking about going to Shenandoah National Park. So I do think that it's possible for families who want to visit the national parks during breaks and stuff, or during the summer. I do think it's possible to do it and not have to worry about crowds. If you choose national parks that aren't the super popular ones,

So which ones would you go to? I would, I would go to great Basin. Great Basin Park and is in, Nevada, but it's a higher elevation, so that'd be good to go to in the summer.

we went in late spring and there was still snow and we couldn't get like, only like halfway up the road. So that would be a good one for the summertime and it's not gonna be as busy. if you just wanna do more morning hike stuff, pinnacles National Park in California, it gets hot during the day, but if you, wanna spend the morning at the park, that'd be a great time to go.

It's not, that park is not very visited.some other parks, Rocks is pretty [00:16:00] nice. it does tend to get busy, but it's kind of remote, I guess, in the, the upper peninsula of Michigan. So that would be an option. even s Bar Dunes in Michigan, that's a great place. those aren't National Park proper, they're, lake Shores, but those would be good.

Mm-hmm. I would probably avoid going to anyone that like DC I would avoid in the summertime. 

 Well, we went to, we flew into DC. to go to the Shenandoah Valley and go to the Shenandoah National Park, and that was July 4th weekend or weekend slash week. And that was, that was pretty good. Like I said, it wasn't super crowded and stuff, especially, I think it's a good idea to go early in the morning.

One, it's not gonna be super hot. Two, usually crowds start to come a little later, especially, there'll be some people who like to go in the afternoon after lunch. But if you can be in and out of there before lunchtime and [00:17:00] then go relax. Let's say you're staying at a hotel where there's a pool, or if you.

Well, even if you do have the kids, then you could go to like the many vineyards around and just kind of hang out and stuff. Like there. Those are kid friendly even though they cannot partake in the wine tasting. But, there's a lot of options in that area. So do you have any ones that you can think of that are kind of like that?

 if you wanna stay by the Shenandoah area, great Falls is not National Park proper, but that's a really cool waterfall checkout in the area. And again, you wouldn't be there for hours. You'd be there for probably half an hour and, move on. And then there's a bunch of other parks that are near Shenandoah that it would also be, good for maybe the afternoon.

Mm-hmm. Like, 'cause they're more indoor than outdoor. Yeah. So how do you plan a trip? I kind of just, I see when the peak season is, and then not peak season. And then I try to book outside the peak window.

You know, I try to get close to it, but like [00:18:00] last year we went to Glacier and we went after Labor Day, but it was still really kind of busy. So I was kind of discouraged by that. So that's why that park didn't make my top five national park sites because it was just too crowded and that wasn't really supposed to be that busy of a time year to go.

So, mm-hmm. That was kind of disappointing. but I would say another good tip is to get the America the beautiful pass, because basically if you hit two big parks, you're already covering the cost of what the annual cost of the permit is. and if you have a fourth grader, it's free, so, yeah. Yeah, that's true.

Yeah. Fourth graders, they have a special program where. A certain amount of adults or like other people in their family also get it Party of four, a party of four, get it free for that school year. So it's a really great way to encourage families to go visit the national parks.

'cause they don't have to pay to get in, but they still have to do reservations, right? how does that work? they would still have to have timed entry if the park requires it. there's quite a few parks [00:19:00] that do glacier, Rocky Mountains. there's a handful of parks that you have to have timed entry to get in, or you can go, you know, before the timed entry starts, or you can go late afternoon.

So there are options if you don't get the pass. and they usually do release the day passes like the day prior. Mm-hmm. Or the night before. So you can't sometimes get lucky. we were just in DC and we didn't get the Washington Monument passes like in advance. Like they all booked up real quick.

Mm-hmm. But we got, passes the. Day before,they went released again at 10:00 AM the day before and we got passes then. Okay, nice. Yeah, we just went to DC and I tried to do that and they were gone in like a millisecond 

 so, okay, you mentioned America, the beautiful pass. You have to use that within a calendar year, correct? So it's within the calendar year or the year you get the pass. So if you buy the pass in January, is it until December or It's good until the end of the following January.

So I got mine in [00:20:00] February, so mine's good now until February. Well technically March 1st. I'd have to get a new one. Got it. So it's not just the calendar year, it's like a full year. Yeah. Got it. And then if you purchase it on February 1st, you basically get the whole bonus month because you bought it in the first day of the month, but you couldn't really use it till the end of the month.

Oh. So you can stretch it out till 13 months if you wanted. Okay. Cool. Cool. We like those tips. So what about transportation? Like you get, you said that you're usually flying and staying in hotels. Are you guys renting a car? How do you guys navigate that? Yeah, we typically always rent a car. It's just typically easier than trying to rely on public transportation in a lot of places, we've found mm-hmm.

 I've been using auto slash actually to check availability. I love auto slash Basically you type your information in there and then it will send you a message and telling you,here's the rates from all these different car places, and then you can kind of check 'em out yourself and figure out what you wanna book through.

Auto slash is great to track your [00:21:00] rental. So if you've already made a rental anywhere, let's say you made a rental, direct through a rental company like National or Avis or even Costco and. You have your rental car information, you can go to auto slash put in the number and then it will track it for you.

And whenever it finds a cheaper price, it'll send you an email and it knows what type of car you want where you're getting your car from, how long your rental is 'cause you've given it all that information. We saved a lot of money when we went to Shenandoah that way by tracking the reservation with auto slash I also like to use auto slash to compare prices from all different rental car.

Even if you haven't booked your rental car yet, check out Auto slash what's great about it is that you can put that you're a Costco member, you have certain credit cards, you have aaa, you can put all that stuff 

And when you're searching, it'll then [00:22:00] search for those memberships and then it will email you the different options. And then like you said, you would then choose that rental car option, book it, and then you can go back and track that booking. I've rebooked rental cars like three times for the same trip because I always book it where I don't have to put my credit card number, or if I do put my credit card number, I can at least cancel like 48 hours before the car rental.

Or I usually try to keep pretty flexible when I'm booking those car rentals because then I know I'm probably gonna cancel this and rebook because Auto slash is gonna send me something. because people will say, oh well I have a Costco membership, so I always book through Costco and I'm like, yeah, but auto slash will check Costco for you.

So why not use it, you know? Yeah, and actually for hotels I kind of do that too. I don't use The Ho, I know they have a hotel one too, but usually like shop Rakuten and see what they have for cash back. Yeah, because I think right now it's [00:23:00] like 15% for some hotels. I'm like, Ooh, do I have any hotels I can cancel and rebook.

Yes. Rakuten Shopping portals is another big thing that we talk about on the podcast too, as a way to get even more back. so if you're using a credit card, then you're earning points and then you can also get like a good amount of cash back through Rakuten too. 

What about food and stuff? How are you guys saving money with that? Because some parks have restaurants and stuff sometimes, a lot of people talk about bringing their own food.

Is it super expensive to buy the food in the park? What do you guys do? Food wise, we're pretty hardcore about packing, our own snacks and meals. If we're flying into someplace, I usually bring an insulated bag with me, it's a fold up one, so it compacts pretty small. And then we, go to grocery store and grab some things that we would need.

usually like a case of water, just because since we're flying in, we can't really take our, usually travel with a travel jug. Of water, but you can't [00:24:00] really do that in a plane. So, yeah, so you stack up on water and some snacks. And then another tip that we use a lot is that we hit the deli because if you go to the deli for lunch versus going to restaurant, you're gonna save some cash just because you know it's gonna be a lot cheaper.

And then you just, take it to a park and have a picnic lunch or whatever, so. Mm-hmm. That's a good way to save some cash. Yeah, I agree. We like to pack our lunches too. I love going to local, grocery stores and stuff and maybe getting, makeshift charcuterie and cheese and some crackers and bread and make my own little thing.

 I'm a little nerdy like that and then getting our own drinks. 'cause you can bring food and drinks or whatever. and then I think getting the case of water is also super smart because you wanna make sure that you're hydrated at those national parks. Even if. We have realized because we're not avid hikers and like super experienced, but we discovered that you don't realize how long hikes actually [00:25:00] are.

you'll look at the guides and you'll say, oh, this hike is one hour, 1.5 hours there and back. No, it ain't not for me. That's more like double it for me. It's only half the time. If it says an hour, I'll be done in like half an hour. Yeah, no, no, no. So, you know, you just gotta know yourself and, you don't wanna be stuck without water.

You don't know, we were hiking. And there was a couple, 'cause in Shenandoah, like intersect with the Appalachian trail and there was a couple who, got lost, I think they went off on the Appalachian Trail and we saw them and they asked us frantic like which trail is this?

Which way kind of thing. We got lost, you don't know, so you wanna make sure you have a lot of water and stuff. So definitely major tip and bring your own food because even if they do have restaurants in the national park, sometimes it's, they're really expensive and sometimes the food is not good but sometimes it [00:26:00] is.

You just, just really never know. And we really like that cabin look and some of these national parks have really nice restaurants and a really nice bar area or a really nice fireplace and you can still enjoy that. We'll go like have a drink or something and kind of just relax after a long hike.

you can still enjoy that without spending a ton of money. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, a glacier. Some of the lodges there are really spectacular but the food was just, you know, average. But again, there's not a lot of options if you're on the east side of the park, so. Mm-hmm. We had lunch there, but it was a beautiful view.

 the lodge is beautiful, and the view of the lake that it overlooked, it was fabulous. Oh, you really can't beat those views, man. sometimes we will just have like a blanket or something. We'll just sit with some snacks, something to drink and just sit there for, I don't even know how long.

The next thing you know, I look at the clock and I'm like, oh man, we've been here for like 30 minutes. We should probably go back before it gets dark or something. It's just stunning. These national parks, They're a national [00:27:00] park for a reason. Exactly. Exactly. all right, so let's get into, you know, points of miles and how do you guys leverage that now that.

How long would you say you've been into Points of Miles? probably only about a year or so, actually. I mean, I've always had credit cards. I have points of miles. 'cause I have the chase card that is, you can use it for cashback, but now I have Yeah, the Freedoms or something? Yeah, I have the Freedom one.

Yeah. And then now I have the Ultimate Rewards one. So now I can transfer my points from the Freedom one and use it for other things, which is great. And the Hyatt hotels are super easy to book. So that's what I've used my points for mostly just because I know how to do and, it's easy.

I've never had any problems. And then I have the Capital One Venture card now. Mm-hmm. And I haven't really figured out how to use my points in that as much, like how to maximize my point usage. So for now I'm just hoarding the points, I guess. That's okay. You gotta make sure you have enough, right?

Yes. But it's really, I know you always say you [00:28:00] shouldn't really save up your points just to not use them because they kind of do devalue 'cause they changed the programs round. Oh yeah. I would say that don't save 'em from a rainy day. Don't be like, oh, I'm just gonna keep these points. I don't need to use them.

when we earn points, it's 'cause we're gonna be using them for something coming up. But girl, I'm hoarding 400,000 chase points right now for that Japan trip that I'm trying to plan andI'm ready to pull the trigger.I like to have the points so that if something good comes up, then I can just book it.

I don't have to worry about, oh, but I don't have enough points or something like that. I'm talking about the people who aren't being as strategic as they could be with their points and just like letting them sit there for years and years and years thinking, oh, I'll use them someday. Don't be that person, but I know that you're not doing that so forget I was doing that.

I was doing that for my Delta, but I've been starting to use my Delta points now 'cause I did have quite a few for a while. Well [00:29:00] also Delta, sometimes you kind of have to make sure you have a ton of points because unless you're super, super strategic with Delta points, then you're probably not gonna be able to use those anytime soon unless you have like a huge stash.

So that one I understand. So I've been using that a lot actually for like upgrading my seat stuff. I'm like, oh, okay. Yeah, it works. I mean, if it saves me a hundred dollars, I guess it saves me a hundred dollars. So you've been into this Points of Miles thing for a little, like you said, about a year, which is good.

I mean, we have a lot of people in the community who are just getting into this. So what would you say, well first of all, how did you feel about points before you like really got into it? were you reluctant about it? Were you just kind of like, I don't really know what this is or what was the sentiment before you got into it?

I would say that spending money that's giving me free money back is always a plus. Yes. So that's kind of if I'm gonna get money for spending [00:30:00] money, then I'm all for it. Yeah, for sure. So then how did you decide that you wanted to start getting more credit cards and actually using, because I remember you were a little bit reluctant about even transferring your points, right?

So, yeah, because I didn't know how to do it, but you've been great. 'cause you've shown me how to do it and I'm like, oh, yay. Now I know how. Yeah. I remember when you posted in the Lazy Budget Travel Tips Facebook group, you were like, I finally transferred my chase points to Hyatt and it was so easy. You were probably kicking yourself like, why didn't I do this earlier?

Yeah. But you're a big best Western fan, right? Yeah. We stay a lot of best westerns just because there seem to be a lot of them near National parks, which is a bonus, and their points never expire. Nice. And they pretty much always have promotions going on, so you can get bonus points I think one just dropped

I think if you stay between now and the end of September, you get a thousand extra points for staying there. Wow. [00:31:00] Nice. And you're right, like there are certain. Hotel chains out there that, in their niche, right?

 Best Western, you're probably gonna see those like closer to highways or like national parks, stuff like that. Because you know what, you are not really gonna be spending that much time in your room anyways. You just need a clean, decent place to stay that's in a good location. And so I think Best Western is a really great option for people who are trying to use their, who want to use points and they don't wanna pay cash for accommodations to go stay at National parks.

I mean, why not? You're right. Best Western has a lot of great deals. Yeah. And then I think they've done a lot of upgrading lately because I've stayed at some pretty nice best westerns, I haven't had too many bad experiences. No, no, no. I mean, when we were in Puerto Rico and we were just like at the beach and I really had to use the ladies room and so I just walked down and there was a Best Western, like right near the beach and I'm like, oh, let's [00:32:00] pop in here.

And it was really nice in there. Really nice. So, yeah, I think that they're definitely upping their game. I kind of put them on the same level as Holiday Inns and stuff where like some of them are just like not really nice, but then some of 'em are really nice, so you never know For sure. I agree with that.

Totally. Right. Yeah. IHG is another one, like, you know, holiday Inns, Intercontinentals and IHG has a lot of great credit cards with good signup bonuses and stuff. So, I know that I always preach about the flexible points, but I think there is a time and place to get those credit cards for hotels if.

You know that you are going to be using those points and you have already kind of exhausted your flexible points. You know, like for me, like I'm trying to take a break from Chase right now and we're working on American Airlines points 'cause we know that we wanna go to Japan and [00:33:00] we can get some really good business class redemptions with American Airlines.

So it just really depends on what you're doing and the strategy that you've decided on. But if you don't know anything about strategy, the easiest thing is just get flexible points. 'cause you're gonna be able to use 'em, right? Yeah. For something. Yeah. 'cause if nothing else, you can just get the cash equivalent.

Right. So I mean that's better than nothing. Yeah, exactly. 

 So I know before we started talking about your credit card strategy and you started getting into the Chase and the Chase credit cards and like Capital One. I know that you were really doing store credit cards and then I think your first travel rewards credit card was that Delta.

I would say that would be my first one. Yeah. And really it was only so I get free check bags being honest. Totally. The only reason because I mean, but now it's not probably worth it as much because they've raised the fee. Mm-hmm. but at first it was like a [00:34:00] hundred dollars. So basically, you know, you fly twice a year and you're covering the cost of the credit card.

So why Delta? where I live, Delta's a major hub, so it's usually just, the most convenient option for us. Mm-hmm. And plus in general, Delta's pretty solid. we've had pretty good experiences with them versus like Spirit. Yeah. I would say Delta is a pretty solid airline for sure.

It's just that, I mean, I know in the points of Miles, worlds. We call them sky pesos because trying to use your sky miles to get a decent redemption is, it can be pretty hard with Delta. And that's the thing about, you know, not all points are created equal, right? So that's the thing about getting credit cards that earn you non flexible points versus credit cards that earn you those flexible [00:35:00] points.

Like is it worth it for you to put that precious spend? Because I know you guys aren't huge spenders. We're not huge spenders either. And so if I'm gonna make a plan to meet a minimum spend to get a new credit card and get like a bulk, like really awesome welcome bonus, I wanna make sure that I'm gonna get bang for my buck.

So for me that's flexible, points. But I mean, you know, it really depends on The hub you're flying out of, can you afford to really, not even just with the money, but the time to do a positioning flight so that you can fly a different airline. So choosing a Delta credit card, for free check bags, there's gonna be flying delta anyways is not, I mean like definitely not hating on that.

You gotta do what you need to do. But have you found that, like, have you found like [00:36:00] trying to use those delta sky miles, has it been difficult? I have only used it now mostly just to you know, upgrade my seat class because that seems like it's easy to do, but again, it's not a great mile of redemption.

Mm-hmm. But I mean, what else are you gonna do with your points? Really? Right. Yeah. Besides book a Delta flight. Yeah. I mean if you can't find a decent redemption for your delta miles, like you gotta use them somehow. Right. So, if you could go back, would you still do the Delta card? I guess we'd fly Delta enough that it's probably still worth it.

'cause if you fly four or five times a year and there's two of us checking bags, or anyone that I book their ticket for my ticket, it's a free bag. Mm-hmm. It's probably worth it. But if I'm not gonna fly much for like a year or two, it's probably worth it to cancel it and then if I wanted to just resent it for it again.

Right. How long have you had it? probably like eight years. Oh my goodness. You probably could just cancel it and get it again if you really [00:37:00] wanted to. I think for American Express, the, because the Delta, the Delta Sky miles credit cards are technically through American Express,

It's just that American Express is facilitating you to get Delta sky miles. It doesn't mean that you have a Amex Platinum or anything, and Delta doesn't really help with that when they confuse people saying, oh, it's the Delta sky miles platinum. 

 But I think American Express, I think that their like lifetime language is that oh, you can only get a bonus once in your lifetime. But for some reason a lifetime is like seven years. So I think after seven years, you may be eligible for the bonus.

Again, don't quote me on that. American Express people. that's not my forte, but,

let's do some rapid fire questions. Are you ready? Ready. Okay. 

Best hike you've ever done. So Acadia is full of awesome hikes. I really like the beehive trail. I was really [00:38:00] scared at first because it's like an iron rung cliffside ladder type hike. Oh my gosh. It wasn't bad. It was only like 10 feet in the air. And then I also really liked the bubble rock trail and the Jordan Pond trail, and they're like right by each other.

Those were both really good also.Okay. Underrated National Park that people should visit. Great Basin in Nevada. it's really overlooked and it's really gorgeous. they have Alpine lakes, the ancient Bristol cone pines, and there's hardly ever any crowds there. Nice, nice. And then you can go to Vegas. Yeah, it's like a three hour, maybe it's more than that five hour drive.

I think it's kind of in the middle of nowhere. Yeah. I'm half kidding, but I'm sure a lot of people do that. And actually, I think you get some really good flights into Vegas too. We do a lot of road trips out of Vegas. in my website, I have a whole bunch of different articles about that. Okay.

 okay. Go to road trip snack. Probably. Jerky and Trail Mix. They're easy. Okay. what kind of trail mix? [00:39:00] I like the ones with m and ms. I love the ones with m ms. Is there any other one? Well, yeah, there's other ones. They'll have like different things in it. That's why I always ask. But I'll, I don't care.

I'll go for any trail mix really. As long as it has chocolate. Yeah. All right. And then Dream National Park, you haven't been to yet, which I mean, you've been to most all of them. I haven't been to North Cascade yet in Washington state. Okay. And that's another park that's not very visited? I think it's because it's got a short season 'cause there's a lot of snow there too.

Mm. But that one is another one that has like the alpine views and there's like glaciers and stuff there. How do you know what's the, what's the season for a national park? 'cause they're all different, right? They are all different. I have a little cheat sheet in my, national park freebie. Oh, okay. I kind of havethe parks kind of by region and that kind of tells you best time to go.

So that's kind helpful. And then, one thing you always pack for a [00:40:00] national park trip. A reusable water bottle. I said earlier that when you, you know, go to the grocery store to buy water, but that's only because once your reusable one's empty sometimes you are not by a refill station.

So you have to take matters into your own hands. Yes, I second that. We have the backpack with The camel back? Yep. Yeah. And so we have that. And then also we have our own water bottles. And then I have a cute little case that I, that I, you know, put it over my shoulder and have my water bottle, you know, I feel all special.

So why don't you tell us where people can find you to get more information about national parks. where they can follow you and your adventures. Sure you can find me at anacreinthecity.com

it's my blog where I talk about road trips in the us. I talk about national parks and I share travel tips. And if you're in my homepage, you can look for my little header that says Free Secrets to Your Best [00:41:00] National Park Trip. It's an on-demand workshop that you can sign up for anytime you want.

And then I am also on Instagram at @ teresakul and then a few months behind the scene peaks from the road. You can check that out. And then I'm also in the progress of getting, a YouTube channel going. So that should be coming soon.And that will be @bestusaroadtrips.

Okay. Yeah, we'll link some of the stuff in the show notes too, if you didn't catch all that, but. Teresa thank you so much for joining me and sharing all of your national parks wisdom and of course your strategy with Points of Miles. I think, I think it's really relatable for people, we talk about Points of Miles all the time, but if you wanna do the national parks or do things where maybe there aren't a lot of places to use your points, you gotta get a little bit more creative.

But Points of Miles are always a good foundation for [00:42:00] a budget travel strategy. And if it's just helping you supplement, I mean, that's a win too, right? Yeah, for sure. 

So whether you're just starting your travel rewards journey or you've got a few park stamps already in your passport, I hope you're feeling inspired and ready to explore, from listening to this episode. So don't forget to follow or subscribe to the podcast I've got even more budget travel tips and real life stories coming your way every Monday.

And if today's episode sparked ideas for your own National Park adventures, I'd love to hear about it. Come share your bucket lists or your favorite park memories with me on Instagram @travelingfranklins or in our lazy budget travel tips Facebook group. Teresa's in there too. So if you have any questions for her, you can drop them in there.

But until next [00:43:00] time, keep it simple, keep it fun, and keep exploring. we'll see you in the next episode.