travel on points // 2022.

Last year was our first official year of traveling on points, and we saved $3,923.69 on 3 trips. Pretty good, huh! You can see details about where went in 2021 here.

This year, however, was the year we started living our best lives thanks to travel rewards. We more than TRIPLED our savings this year, and our grand total for 2022 is…

$14,972.30

We stayed 34 nights in hotels (25 in Hyatts and 9 in Marriotts) this year to accomplish all of this, and we have some epic stays already planned / booked for 2023. I think it’s safe to say that this hobby and me have become quick besties! Experiences have always been our preference of gifts, especially now that we can do unimaginable things by being financially savvy.

I do want to be honest and say that if it were not for travel rewards, we probably wouldn't have taken any of these trips (at least not the way we did them). We would have done what we have always done: make as many day trips as possible, stay in the cheapest hotels/AirBnBs we could find, and stay less nights in hotels than we did (aka shorten our trips significantly). For us, the world of points and miles is not only about saving us money because honestly, we likely wouldn't spend $15,000 in a single year on travel. Why? Because we can't afford to do that while prioritizing other things (like being able to contribute towards our retirement savings, for example). Travel rewards have empowered us to do unthinkable things that we otherwise could not do. Our trip over Thanksgiving break is the best example of this, because paying $1,000 per night for a hotel and over $200 each morning for room service breakfast are not feasible with our real life numbers. We are getting to take trips that we've dreamed of our whole lives (especially our adult lives) by playing a game and winning at it, and we are very grateful that we feel competent to do so.

Utilizing travel rewards may not always be a way to do "both" (aka save for our future and take luxurious trips in present time), and we're okay with that. I feel thankful to be able to do previously unimaginable things while we can, and we are doing as much as we can with what we have for now.

So, where did points and miles save us money this year?

 Staycations
Washington, DC
Atlanta, GA
Walt Disney World
New York City
Pigeon Forge, TN

Here is a breakdown of how many nights & flights we saved on each of these trip:

Staycations in Downtown Greenville, SC

For fun, as well as, to earn Globalist status with Hyatt!

// 22 nights in hotels // 

Washington, DC // March 2022

An unforgettable trip to our nation's capital during Spring Break!

// 5 nights in a hotel //

Atlanta, GA // July 2022

A Braves game and a trip to the GA Zoo!

// 1 night in a hotel //

Walt Disney World // September 2022

We were gifted this trip as a way to lift our spirits after a really difficult year. It was so generous and thoughtful and, quite honestly, incredible; and we are still so giddy and grateful we got to have this experience. <3 To offset our spending total, we opened a card and applied the points we earned to our statement as a credit. We had an AMAZING week with our best friends!

// $875 in resort credits //

New York City // November 2022

An unforgettable trip to NYC with our kids to experience the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in person!

// 4 round trip flights //

// 4 nights in a suite //

// Daily room service breakfast //

Pigeon Forge, TN // December 2022

A day spent in Gatlinburg and another day adventuring through Dollywood!

// 2 nights in a hotel //

That's all for 2022!

An incredible year of travel, and that was only the trips we used points and miles for. We made more memories on the road, as well, which were all blessings.

And this year, we’ve got big plans to chase the ocean and the snow and (hopefully) a few places in between. Here’s to seeing as much of creation as we can while we’re able. Life is short and tomorrow is never promised, we’ve faced that reality head on this year.

So, here’s to living while we’re living.