What a wild year it was. After months of reading blogs, listening to podcasts, building spreadsheets and making plans, we decided to dive into the “points and miles” game and make 2020 the year of memorable vacations. We followed the getting started guides, started tracking our loyalty rewards programs, strategically earned credit card bonuses and even “double dipped” for bonus points when we remembered.
We started our points-driven vacation year with a trip to Disney World for our son’s birthday. We followed that with our dream vacation to Hawaii, finally ending a decade-long procrastination. After soaking up the sun in the Pacific we crossed the Atlantic, converting a wedding in Vienna into a two week trip exploring the Norwegian fjords and Austrian Alps. We ended the year with a peaceful (and at times a bit wobbly) retreat to the vineyards in Napa Valley. Thanks to our points providing travel and shelter for cheap, we were able to focus on having a great time during our vacations rather than stressing about staying under budget.
Of course, this is how we expected to be looking back at 2020 before Covid came and blew everything up. In reality, we had to cancel all our planned trips (there’s always next year, Hawaii…). However, even without Covid, we found ourselves struggling to “burn” our mountains of points the way we wanted. While the how-to guides from the experts make it seem so simple, we discovered many nuances and stumbling blocks along the way that may seem obvious to the people who dedicate their lives to this hobby.
This wild year has led us here, the pilot blog post for PointHeads. PointHeads is dedicated to making points and miles accessible to and advantageous for everyone. Our mission is to provide travel services that allow credit card users to travel frequently and affordably using rewards points earned from everyday spending. We will chronicle our journey from the last year and beyond as we transition from novice to expert – both in the tools we use and lessons we learn – so that you may follow along and take control of your rewards.
Welcome to PointHeads! We are excited for you to take this journey with us.