Some might think I am crazy with all my travel plans and adventures. I’m pretty sure my wife does at times as I OCD over travel plans and ramble on to her about it. I really am trying to up the game, the adventure, and be able to giveaway great travel savings to friends, family, and followers.

For this adventure, I decided I was going to the San Francisco Giants game to get Alaska Airlines 2 for vouchers.
Here is my original post about the deal: CLICK HERE

To do this, it had to be low cost out of pocket expense. I mean San Francisco just for the day, is that possible? Yes! And I got my flight and game ticket for a total of $11.20
 
Flight:
I booked as soon as I stumbled upon a post about the giveaway. My go to airlines for my adventures is usually Southwest. Yes, I know, I flew Southwest to get free Alaska airlines savings. The thing I love about Southwest is I can cancel for free and I get my points back or my money goes to a travel credit. I just recommend keeping close track of these travel credits. I can also change my flights anytime and only pay the fare difference. No fees.

I booked a round trip into Oakland(OAK) as it provides a lower cost option. You will find that southwest uses smaller airports which they can pay less for using. Southwest also provides in my mind the best value for points spending. I spent about 10,000 points for a round trip ticket. Although I almost only book one-way tickets now, especially with Southwest. There’s a back story but that’s another post for another day. All I paid was the taxes which were $11.20.

How do you get those points? Fly with southwest, have Chase ultimate rewards points (from chase credit cards), or earn points through Southwest shopping portal. For example, I earned 3,000 points recently ($1,000 purchase) just for buying furniture we were already getting. That’s almost for a one-way ticket. I booked the first flight out from Sea-Tac and the last flight back from Oakland to give myself enough time.
 
The Travel:
For a change, I never recommend doing what I do. That is, I work my shift which is 10 hours at a minimum, get off at 1 or 2AM, and head to the airport. This is the easiest way for me though and it helps limit the time I am away from home on these kinds of trips since no overnight is required. It also means I am up most of the 36-40 hour adventure. In addition, those early flights and late flights can usually be the least expensive. I parked with WallyPark using a groupon. Total with taxes about $15. I also bought the groupon via a shopping portal again to earn points. Every mile and point counts.
I got to the airport and killed some time until 5am when the airport lounge opened. The Alaska Lounge is a great one and with my Priority Pass (via Chase Sapphire Reserve) I gain access to include a guest. I had some coffee, breakfast, relaxed, and all without any money out of pocket.

Getting to San Francisco:
I had researched via trip advisor and I must admit, it was easier than I imagined. The Oakland airport although small and as I later learned, not very clean, was easy to navigate. You simply get yourself to terminal 1 which provides access to the BART. The airport BART , which isn’t really “the official BART” is a small monorail type which will take you on a quick 5-minute ride to the actual BART system. Although this part is actually free, you have to buy a ticket to exit and board the trains. The ticket machines have a map and easy price guide. You simply buy a ticket and load whatever amount you need. The BART is the nosiest train/subway/transit system I have ridden, but in just about 30 minutes I was in downtown San Francisco. There are a couple stops which provide easy access to the city. I chose to walk to the ballpark, but there are some other transit options once you arrive in the city.
 
The Game/Giveaway:
I didn’t pay for my game ticket as I had a $55 credit via the gametime app. It’s like a stub hub and was easy to use. Tickets were expensive, especially for a last place team, but they take their baseball serious and there was the giveaway. I tried to buy more tickets to secure more vouchers but with game prices not dropping, I got my one voucher. The rest of the vouchers I had to earn or in this case beg for. In reality, I politely asked several people and I looked for people dropping any of their vouchers. I was able to secure enough to make the trip worth in it my mind. There were some vultures among the crowd. People standing at escalators begging for vouchers which they were then selling or posting on eBay to try and make a few bucks. I don’t have the begging in me, so I secured mine and went back to enjoying the game when I could.

The Vouchers:
Why all the fuss about these vouchers. Well they essentially allow you to pay for one person and only pay tax on the second. Although the travel windows did not include holidays, there was some value to be had. For a simple trip to Las Vegas or California, you could have easily saved $200 per voucher. One of my co-workers booked Las Vegas and they paid about $260 for two people total round trip. You cant complain about $130 per person for a round trip flight!
If I had been booking a family vacation for the four of us and going somewhere international, I could have saved at least $800. I would have only been able to book in February due to the kids in school, but flights for all four of us would have been anywhere from $1,000-1,200. $250 for one-person roundtrip to Mexico isn’t a bad deal at all.
 
Was it worth it? For me yes, even if I had to pay for the trip. If I had been planning a big family vacation I could have easily done this trip under $250 to save $800. You still come out ahead. But in reality, here is what I paid
Flight: $11.20
Breakfast: FREE
BART: $20.40
Game Ticket: FREE
Airport Parking: $15 and I earned points
Food: I spent the same amount had I attended a local game or gone out with friends. Lunch and a beer plus dinner
Savings: I saved people over $800. I’ll call that a win.
 
I am always up for an adventure and I will have more coming. Hopefully you not only got some tips out of this, but can now look forward to next year in hopes you can get one of these vouchers from the Saving Traveler!

It has been an adventure. I have always loved to travel and what started out as just saving and earning miles’ years ago, by flying has evolved into where the real earnings are; credit cards and points. Gone are the days of just having an airline credit card or just a hotel credit card. Gone are the days of just a few frequent flier accounts laying around. Now you have to have some points everywhere and the Chase Ultimate Rewards points are at the top of my list.

My points and miles portfolio is a spread-out a little.
Chase points: 200,000 (Chase Sapphire Preferred and now Chase sapphire reserved)
Alaska Miles: 41,000 (25,000 of these are from opening a checking account)
IHG points: 60,000 (I earned these in a contest at a cost of $45)
Marriott Points: 142,000
American Airlines: 21,000
Plus a few thousand scattered about that may not evolve into anything.
 
In total about 462, 000 which doesn’t include another 120,000 my wife has with about 80,000 of those already tied up in reservations. Keep in mind, most of these points were free or very low cost to me.
 
Now it’s time to start spending them and getting some perks. My first mission? I am going to try and land the Southwest Companion Pass. This is one of the most sought after travel perks around right now and the major loophole to get it closes March 31st. I have no plans to let it pass me by and I won’t have to fly one mile to get it. Some blogs will say you have you get a certain use out of it, but I am looking at another way. Anything I get out of it was basically completely free.

So here is how it works:
I am going to transfer 128,000 Chase points to my Marriott account giving me 270,000 in my Marriott account. I am then going to spend those 270,000 on a Hotel and air package. I will get an electronic certificate valid for a 7-night stay at any Marriott (category 5 or below). This is valid for one year but evidence suggests you can get it extended an additional year too. In addition, Marriott will then give 120,000 Southwest points which are mine to spend. Just by having at least 110,000 qualifying points in my Southwest account, I am going to earn the Southwest Companion pass. That loophole counting the Marriott transfer as qualifying points will end March 31st. I am up against the clock but hoping all works out. I should have all my points around February 8th, then I will make the transfers.

Now how does that companion pass work you ask?

Any flight I book on Southwest whether with points or money and my companion goes for free with me. You get to assign an initial companion and then you can change it 3 times per calendar year. This opens up a world of great ideas for me, especially as a sports fan. If you can book a $59 flight (each way) to a city where your team is playing but maybe you split that with your companion, now its $59 total. Want a quick trip to Vegas for $88 each way? Now its $88 total per person. Use points and its really free. I can book a flight today for the cheapest fare available. Say in a couple months my companion decided they want to go too? But fares are now expensive? No problem. If Southwest has an open seat it is yours, regardless of price they are charging. The companion gets added on for free.

Essentially, I am spending 150,000 for a future Marriott stay 7 nights (or about 21,428 per night). I am spending 120,000 points  to convert straight over to Southwest. Southwest has great value for reward purchases. On top of that I get the companion pass. That's a win in my book.

Why the Chase Sapphire Reserve makes sense for me
 
I just secured the Chase Sapphire Reserve which will lead to even more Chase Ultimate Rewards points for me each year, to include 100,000 bonus points this year after the spending requirements.

I was reading one of my favorite travel blogs (the points guy) and saw that only there was only a few days left to apply for it. I hadn’t heard of any huge difficulties in being approved but was leery. I had no intentions of applying for another card this year but figured what the heck. In addition, I have had great success with being approved for Chase cards and have really enjoyed the perks.

I already have the Chase Sapphire Preferred ($95 annual fee) but will call and downgrade that to the Chase Freedom which has no annual fee. The $450 annual fee on the Sapphire Reserve looks huge at first but if you do some research you will see really what you are doing is going from a $95 annual fee to a $150 plus some more benefits and more points.

I will be paying $55 more per year but here is the breakdown:

• $450 annual fee but they give you $300 in travel credits per year meaning when I pay for hotels, airfare, taxis, tolls, car rentals, etc., that automatically gets deducted from my statement up to the $300. That’s how the fee basically drops to $150
   
• I will secure the 100,000 bonus points which technically could be converted into $1,500 in travel or transfer them to a partner.
   
• I will be earning 3X the points on dining and travel, rather than 2X which will get me at least an extra 10,000 points annually based on my initial calculations. I’ve earned about 26,000 total points this year so that will go up to 36,000. All the experts break it down that if you spend $2,600 a year on the travel and dining expenses it’s worth it to switch.
   
• The preferred and the reserve both have other great perks such as car rental insurance and trip delay coverage.
   
• I will be adding some nice perks for air travel. You get a $100 credit towards TSA pre-check or global entry. Although I already have this my wife does not so I will look in to using it for her to get TSA pre-check.
   
• I will be adding access to over 900 airport lounges. Although I only fly a handful of times per year, this will be a nice perk. We also will be flying more hopefully as the kids get older so having a place to rest and rejuvenate while traveling is nice.
   

Worried about the spending requirements? Just analyze all your bills and make sure you are buying everything with the card. I also usually volunteer to book trips for friends or family and then they just pay me cash. It adds up quicker than you think. You can also pay ahead on bills if you need to such as toll bills or utilities. If you get desperate you can do things like pay taxes, or even utilize services that charge a fee such as PayPal or other vendors. Sometimes spending $40 or $50 rather than losing 100,000 bonus points is worth it.

Finally, remember this(and most travel cards) is a high interest card so don’t carry a balance!

I have discovered that Chase Points are in fact, amazing!

I have always collected air miles and hotel points, but only recently really started to do the credit card points hobby. Chase Ultimate Reward points and the access you get have way more value than anything out there and I am going to tell you why.

I currently carry the Chase Sapphire card. The Sapphire card gets me the Chase reward points. There is an annual fee ($95, free for first year) but if you are earning enough points per year I think it’s well worth it. I get double points on any travel and dining out and 1 point per dollar on everything else. This doesn’t include the travel benefits such as rental car insurance or trip delay coverage.

Keep in mind when I signed up I got 61,000 points just for signing up and meeting spending requirements (50,000 bonus+5,000 authorized user+3,000 spending requirement or more if purchased travel, then 6,000). I currently have about 86,000 points. The one biggest perk of Chase is if I book through Chase, (which is the exact same as you booking through airline) I get more value with 25% more. My 86,599 chase points can spend as $1,082.49 if I book through Chase.

So here is the breakdown.

I was recently researching the possibility of going to Disneyland. I wanted to do it for as less out of pocket cash as I could. I figured it’s the holidays so why not keep it simple and cheap. I am using today’s pricing as a comparison just to show true and accurate pricing, but I actually had it even lower a couple weeks ago.
 
Scenario #1- Alaska & Marriott points
So, for this scenario I would use my Alaska air miles and my Marriott points. I am looking at the following dates as listed below. I chose these dates because the week of Christmas was really when I wanted to go, but the week of the 10th was much cheaper overall for points and dollars.

• December 10-13th, 3 nights hotel & 2 days at the park.

Airfare:
 
Flying SEA-SNA gave me some different options and here were a few of my options.
 
Miles+money- $536 for 4 of us plus 40,000 miles. I never really like this option. If I am using miles its so I don’t have to pay or perhaps for an upgrade.
 
12,500 option is 100,000 miles total for all four of us but with long layovers and about 7 hours of travel.
20,000 option is 160,000 miles total for all for us and included non-stop so 2 ½ hours each way.
 
In order to pay full price I would spend at least $972 and that’s for the options they want to give you.
This means 7 am flight etc. For the most part I don’t like layovers with the kids. For this trip, I conceded that it might be needed but wanted to keep what would normally be a 2 ½ flight to a total travel time of around 5 or 5 ½ hours. I really wanted short layovers which sometimes can actually be a nice break.
 
 
Hotel:
Looking at hotels in the area I will go with my preference which is a Marriott brand. For the sake of argument, I will find comparable hotels not Marriott to give you a good idea of pricing. In addition, we normally prefer a suite type room with separate bedroom or a king bed plus sofa bed or two queen beds and a sofa bed. Keep in mind many times when you book with points for a hotel brand, sometimes the better rooms are not available. With Chase Ultimate rewards you can spend more points for a better room, which honestly is how it should be.
 
Marriott:
I checked two different hotels in the area based off what I could compare to Chase. The two hotels which were a Fairfield inn and a Courtyard both averaged about $199 if I paid cash or 105,000 marriott points for the 3 nights.
I didn’t get into benefits such as free breakfast which is important to me but not to everyone.
 
Not Marriott:
I checked two other hotels and a Hilton cost $145 or 40,000 points per night. The holiday in express was $185, but IHG doesn’t usually have points available for upgraded rooms.
 
TOTAL using air miles and Marriott points
105,000 Marriott points+100,000 miles (lowest amount) =205,000
 
Scenario #2-Chase Ultimate Reward Points
As I stated, Chase gives you the choice to spend your money value with them or points. I already know airfare is over $900 with Alaska, although Southwest was slightly less. I would use my entire point dollar value ($1,082) almost just on flights. In this case, it makes more sense to use points. Here is how I will get air and hotel for my entire balance of Chase points.
Airfare:
 
I can transfer my point to Southwest at a 1:1 ratio and get 4 tickets for all of us for 48,488 points plus $44 total. As I stated earlier, I had it lower previously. I had it at 39,000 points and the $44. One of these flights is a non-stop and 1 has a layover with total travel time on that trip at 5 hours. Southwest has great value on their points if you are using your Chase points.
Hotel:
I can also transfer points to a hotel partner if I needed, Marriott included. However even 35,000 hotel points will only get me one night, when in fact I will use the points left for a three-night stay with Chase. Had I booked right away I would have had about 47,000 points available or using todays pricing only 38,000 give or take. I can pull up hotel bookings and again, either spend money or points. So, my 38,000 points can also spend as $475.

For Marriott, branded hotels I can book my three-night stay for as low as $498 or 39,902 points. For the Hilton hotel mentioned previously is on sale for 34,289 or $428.
 
In conclusion, instead of using over 200,000 air miles and Marriott points I can spend my 86,000 Chase points and get the same three-night vacation with air and hotel. For that reason, I try and rack up as many Chase points as I can. Remember you can get creative. Going on a family trip? Pay for all the travel and let family members pay you. I have done this with friends and co-workers. Friends know I am more than willing to book a flight for them. It’s a great way to build up points.