I know that there are many people who take issue with the fact that many bloggers and Internet sites tout the concept of “free” travel. And I do totally understand where they’re coming from since
And even if you DO manage to cover all your extra costs with “cash” points or some other form of payment, there’s still the opportunity cost of getting those miles (hey why didn’t you spend that money on a 2% cashback card so you could pay off your mortgage 45 minutes earlier?!!)
New York whimsical trip
A few weeks ago, I covered the news that Summer from Mommy Points had joined The Points Guy to start a new part of the site called TPG Family. I do understand that for some people, TPG is “the devil” and just a credit card shill etc and I understand why some people think that, though personally I feel like it’s a bit more nuanced than that.
In any case, Summer had emailed me asking if I had plans to be in New York in early August and inviting my family and I to their kickoff party. I replied that I didn’t really have any PLANS to be in New York, but with miles and points, there’s ALWAYS “plans” 🙂
This was a trip that, without miles and points, I would not have even DREAMT of taking. Why go to New York City and only stay a day, just to attend a 2 hour party??!? Similar to our trip to 4 to Chicago to see a Harry Potter play a few months ago
New York trip costs
So I thought it might be interesting to calculate the costs for this trip. I ended up just going with one of my daughters, as she and Summer’s daughter really hit it off when our families were both in Denver a few months ago.
- Plane tickets. We flew AA on the outbound and used some of my travel credit from one of the premium Chase cards. On the return we flew Frontier and it happened to be exactly $101, so we used 10,100 Barclay Arrival miles
- Hotel – we stayed at the Hyatt Place Long Island City (12,000 Hyatt points)
- Food – we had breakfast at The Club CVG lounge and lunch at the Centurion Lounge LGA. We had a light dinner since we knew that we were going to be stuffing ourselves with candy at the kickoff party (it was at a candy bar). We split a $2.99 deal at Two Bros Pizza which came with 2 slices of cheese pizza and a can of Sprite. Breakfast the next morning at the hotel
- Activities – the 2 of us had already been to New York a couple of years ago (SEE ALSO: A 10 year old’s Top 10 things to do in New York City), so since this was a quick trip, our only NYC activity besides the TPG party was touring the Public Library (free)
- Transportation – really our only costs were subway and bus rides – we refilled our Metrocard twice for a total of $21
So I get that this trip wasn’t FREE but it sure felt like it while we were there! Your accounting may vary. Compare that to hundreds of dollars if you were paying for everything.
And of course it comes with great memories!
What about you – where have you gone with miles and points? Share it in the comments
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
I never expect my trips to be free, therefore I’m never disappointed in the value I get.
I’m going to Grand Teton and Yellowstone this month and it just wouldn’t happen without the miles and points. We fly from Atlanta to Dallas and, hopefully, will use the Centurion Lounge for an early dinner before our connection flight to Jackson Hole, all on points. After checking hotel prices that ran over $500 a night, I went to our Chase Rewards site and booked 2 nights at the Alpine House that includes breakfast. I then booked Jackson Lake Lodge, in the heart of the Tetons, for one night….all using my points from the Chase Reserve card.
Next, I booked The Snow Lodge at Old Faithful on that Chase card. The cost was $343 for the night, but my $300 yearly credit paid for most of it. Then I actually decided to splurge and spend 2 nights in Cody and pay for our stay with that same card. The cost is $169 per night at the Irma Hotel, a unique historic hotel named for Wild Bill Cody’s daughter. From there, we drive to West Yellowstone and stay at the Holiday Inn on our free anniversary night. All the hotels I booked on points or free nights were well over $300 per night, so I’ve saved big $$ in my opinion.
Next, we drive back to Jackson Hole and fly Delta to Salt Lake City on points. We stay at the Four Points Airport Hotel on 9,000 Marriott points that night and rent a car for a day trip to visit the city and see the Great Salt Lake.
The following morning we fly Southwest on points and our soon to be expired Companion Pass, back home.
Yes, we paid for rental cars that we could have used points for. Yes, we paid a small amount of tax on our “free” airline tickets. Yes, we paid about $35 to park at the airport for 8 nights. And, yes, we are getting a fabulous trip to a destination we might never have been able to see….all because of points and miles.
I flew up from Raleigh NC to attend the event with 3 of my children (oldest is 25). We stayed 1 night at the Double Tree Suites in Times Square (30,000 Hilton points plus $380 cash OUCH!). We took the subway from LGA to the hotel but after that the subway was hit or miss for me. Most times I couldn’t find the right one to get on so we took a couple of cab rides. We ate lunch at the Olive Garden ($75, it was also my sons 13th birthday) and visited the Hershey Store and M&M World. The next day we went to the other Dylans Candy Bar with our TravelZoo coupons for ice cream sundays and MORE candy. After that we made our way back to LGA (totally failed at the subway and gave up and got in a cab). We fly free because my husband works for American Airlines but I still managed to spend close to $1000 for about 24 hours in NYC, I think after the cost of the suite we stayed in (kids are 11, 13 &15 we needed a way for the teenage brothers to sleep in separate beds if they could) most of the money was spent in crappy airport food that we didn’t really eat. Id love to go back with a better idea of the subway system and more confidence to stay someplace other than Times Square so we can save some $$.I wish I had known that you were there, I would have loved to say hello. I only follow TPG, Mommy Points and you! BTW I wish your daily emails would have something in the subject line each day to give me a little taste of what I might read when I open it – just a suggestion.
Justine – you just gotta know that there’s always going to be lots of goodness in the daily emails so click open and then read the different post headlines 🙂 . There’s usually too many posts in a day to give an idea in the subject line
Is there a reason the first list of bullet points at the top of the email aren’t clickable, but the ones further down (which read exactly the same, both blue, both underlined, only in a larger font) are the only way to get to the articles? Typically when you see something underlined, it’s a link. Thanks for any info. It drives my type A brain mad. haha.