Meet our latest points and miles enthusiast, Charis, who turned an opportunity to visit friends overseas into a 2-week trip to Spain and Switzerland. With only a few years of points and miles experience under her belt, Charis estimates that she has already saved her family over $60,000 in travel expenses. For her latest adventure, Charis credits advanced planning and the organizational capabilities of the Travel Freely app for enabling her to put the points she had strategically accumulated to work so she could bring along her husband and 4 of their children on this trip of a lifetime.
Read on to see how Charis maximized her travel rewards by saving over $21,500 to take her family to places she had previously only dreamed of visiting. Her story is sure to inspire you to start planning your next adventure!
Where do you live, and how long have you been using points and miles to get free travel?
I’m Charis, a mother of 7 and a new grandmother from Minnesota. I only started using points and miles in August 2022. Recently, I was able to take my husband and 4 of my daughters, ages 12 to 22, on a 2-week journey through Spain and Switzerland. Before this trip, I had never been to Europe. My husband had studied there while in college and had taken a couple business trips to France and Italy, but this was a first trip for me and 4 of our girls.
Where did you go and what did you do?
My sister lives in Chicago so we decided to drive the 6 hours the day before our flight to Spain and stay over. Otherwise, we probably would have positioned ourselves there with flights on Southwest. From there, we hopped on a flight from Chicago to Madrid, and spent 5 days exploring the beautiful landscapes of northern Spain. We visited the city of Valladolid, stayed in a charming Airbnb in the tiny mountain town of Riaño, and spent time in the historic city of Segovia. With a friend fluent in Spanish, we ventured into rural areas and even took a memorable hike in the stunning Picos de Europa mountains.
One vivid memory that still brings me a huge smile was our hike in the Picos mountains. The sheer beauty of the peaks and valleys around us and the joy of experiencing it together as a family was surreal. Another highlight was eating under Segovia’s towering Roman aqueduct at night, immersed in history and laughter.
For the second half of our journey, we flew to Geneva, Switzerland. This destination was a dream come true for me since I’d wanted to visit Switzerland since I did a school report on it in sixth grade! We split our 7 nights between 2 cozy Airbnbs, one on the French-speaking side and the other in Reichenbach on the German-speaking side. Our host in Reichenbach welcomed us with his big dog and gave us a tour with very broken English, and that added to our experience.
Other highlights included hiking through the Alps, enjoying café au lait at a local dairy farm, and sampling Swiss chocolate through our self-planned chocolate tour. On another day, we toured the Callier Chocolate Factory near Gruyères where we also found a cheese factory and restaurant. We spent our final day in Geneva exploring Reformation sites, a fascinating history tour that included our guide taking us to a nearby restaurant and ordering us local specialties.
How much money did you save using points and miles for your trip and what kind of points did you use?
Using points and miles saved us more than $21,500! We booked our flights with Membership Rewards® Points we earned from The Platinum Card® from American Express, taking advantage of a 30% transfer bonus to Iberia. With that boost, our round-trip flights in economy only cost about 14,000 points each way per person. We booked all our flights on Iberia, flying directly from Chicago to Madrid and later to Geneva. I avoided connections through London Heathrow to dodge the high fees there.
For our stay, we used IHG points accumulated by our IHG One Rewards Premier Business Credit Card to book 2 rooms for 1 night at the Crowne Plaza Madrid Airport and 2 rooms 2 two nights at the Holiday Inn Express Geneva Airport. Both of these hotels allowed 3 people per room. We learned that many hotels in Europe are strict about occupancy limits but that some of the IHG hotels allow 3 per room. This is why the IHG card became part of our strategy.
With our group’s size, Airbnbs were the most cost effective lodging during this trip. Because points do not cover Airbnbs, we purchased and used Airbnb gift cards for our stays and we signed up for a Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card to offset some of the expense. While staying at these lodgings, we bought groceries at the local markets and even found an Aldi at one of the locations.
This was by no means an entirely free trip, and we knew that going into it. With 6 of us on a 2-week journey, we spent around $8,500 for everything. These out-of-pocket expenses covered everything else from Airbnb rentals to car rentals and Swiss chocolate, with much of it paid over time in the months leading up to our trip. When I broke down the cost, it meant that we spent only $118 per person per day.
What advice would you give someone interested in booking a trip like yours, and what advice do you have for someone just starting with points and miles?
If you’re starting out with points and miles, my best advice is simple: Do it! Decide where you want to go and create a points plan that gets you there.
It’s worth booking early. We reserved our flights and accommodations 9 months in advance, giving us access to great flights, as well as seats on those flights, and a wide range of hotels and Airbnb options. Additionally, we found valuable tips and resources on maximizing our points and miles by going to Travel Freely’s Instagram account @itravelfreely and connecting to the content creators and influencers they follow and are followed by.
How has Travel Freely helped you achieve your free travel goals, and what do you like best about the app?
It is quite amazing what is possible. The Travel Freely app was a game-changer, keeping us organized so we never missed renewals or bonus deadlines. Its easy-to-follow guidance on business cards and beginner tips made the whole process much simpler for us. As I mentioned at the beginning, we have already been able to get over $60,000 in free travel in the 2 years since I learned about using points and miles and opened our first card. Honestly, I may not have ventured into the world of points and miles without the confidence a tool like the Travel Freely app has given me.
Final Thoughts
This trip was more than just travel for Charis — it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to bond with her daughters, explore new cultures, and make lasting memories together. Using points and miles, they proved that even large families can make international travel possible with a bit of planning and a lot of points.
