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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Growing up, it blows my mind when I had peers that have been to places like Japan or Italy. I know plenty of people who make six figures who can’t even afford to travel to Las Vegas. Most companies have cut funding for business travel because it’s expensive to pay for flights and hotels. If you have a family in any major city, I don’t know how on earth you can afford a house and kids and still be able to travel on top of that. [/quote]

It's points.  Airline and credit card points.  Here's what they got me over the last 12 months and onward:

- T'giving 2024: London (tickets and all hotels on points)

- Spring break 2025: Morocco (tickets and hotel in Casa on points)

- Summer 2025: Scandinavia (tickets on points, cash for hotels)

- T'giving 2026: Colombia (tickets on points, hotel for 2 days on points)

- Spring break 2026 (upcoming): Italy (tickets on points, hotels in two cities on points)

- Summer 2026 (upcoming): Peru (tickets on points, hotel in Lima on points)

All travel economy for me + two kids.

There is definitely some cash outlay as well but free tickets and some free hotels help enormously.  You have to plan way ahead and be flexible with both dates and destinations - if you're committed to finding something, you will. [/quote]

The elephant in the room is that this level of points is not possible without a) a lot of money for “minimum spends” on the credit cards to get the bonuses and b)willingness to apply for business cards because there simply aren’t enough personal cards to accumulate all these points without hitting bank limits.[/quote]

You do need to hit a minimum spend but for most cards this is entirely within reason.   A middleclass household would typically spend $3-5K a month just for food, clothing, extracurriculars etc.  Most credit cards require you to spend between 4-6K over three months.  This is easily doable.  You are spending this money anyway, why not get something for it?

And yes, if you decide to play this game, business cards are a part of the equation.  You just treat them as your personal cards. [/quote]

Hmmm you have me thinking because we are one of the really frugal families who actually don't spend a lot so we do have money for travel.  But it sounds like maybe we should just loosen up and spend more to get points.....[/quote]

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