Pittsburgh Travel Hackers

Category: Uncategorized

  • Is The Chase Sapphire Reserve Worth The $795 Fee?

    Quick Answer… yes! There was a time when the thought of spending that much money just to have a credit card seemed insane. But here we are, considering adding a second one of these in our household. Why? Because, we think the sign up bonus of 150,000 points makes it easily worthwhile. Even if you…

  • Is The Grand Hyatt Baha Mar Worth It?

    Recently I had the chance to take my mom on a little trip to the Bahamas (Bahama with my Mama, if you will) at the Grand Hyatt Baha Mar. We were looking for somewhere warm and beautiful to relax for a few days, and since neither of us had been to The Bahamas, we decided…

  • We Can Be Happy Without Hyatt

    This month, Hyatt made quite a stir by announcing changes to their loyalty program set to go into effect in May. Hyatt has been the darling of the points-and-milesphere, as it has maintained a stable award chart over the years that has allowed guests to get reliably good value from their points when booking with…

  • Embassy Suites Aruba: A Great Family Resort

    I don’t hate winter, truly I don’t. However, even I enjoy a little sunny respite to get through the cold, dark months. My favorite time to escape is around January 41st, right around the time when Pittsburgh’s third polar vortex hits. Last year we didn’t plan a winter sun escape and I solemnly swore to…

  • Madrid and Beyond: Family Reward Travel to Europe

    Earlier in the summer our family took a two-week trip to Europe that involved lots of moving parts with people joining at different times, a tight schedule of dates we needed to work within, and varied accommodations in five different cities. If you had told me a few years ago that I would be able…

  • A Once in a Lifetime Trip to Hawaii?

    Not long ago, taking our family on a trip to Hawaii seemed like a pipe dream. The expense made it feel like something completely unattainable; thus I convinced myself I didn’t really want to go there anyway. Enter: credit card points. Now we’ve just returned from a fantastic trip enjoying the island of Kauai, and…

  • Maximizing Value and Offsetting Annual Fees

    In 2024 we paid a pretty hefty sum in credit card annual fees. When we first started maximizing our points and miles, I was very hesitant to spend money on annual fees – the whole point of this was to save money, right?? As time has gone on, we’ve come to find that between the points…

  • 2024 in Pictures and Point Totals

    We had a great year in points and miles – more adventures than I thought could be possible when we started this crazy hobby. The thing that continues to blow my mind is that there are still more sign-up bonuses to be had and ways to cycle back through earning these points all over again.…

  • Alila Ventana Big Sur: A Luxury Retreat Worth Every Point

    Does the internet need yet another swooning review of Alila Ventana Big Sur from a points and miles enthusiast? Probably not. Is the internet going to get another swooning review of the Alila Ventana Big Sur? You betcha.  Tom and I had the opportunity to spend two nights at this resort earlier in November, and…

  • October Surprise: Aeorplan Card

    Here’s one we didn’t have on our 2024 BINGO card of credit cards to open: the Chase Aeroplan Mastercard. Aeroplan is the rewards program of Air Canada, which we have used from time to time, but we didn’t decide on it because of our hopes to fly to Vancouver more often (though that might be…