Author: Leana

Written by Leana @ Miles For Family

See our Advertiser Disclosure and Editorial Note here. Out of all credit card issuers, I hate dealing with Bank of America the most. Their website just isn’t user-friendly for an IT simpleton like myself. For example, I still haven’t figured out how to set up an AutoPay. But my biggest pet peeve was having to call […]

The post Quick Tip: Cancel your Bank of America Credit Card via Chat appeared first on Miles For Family.

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Written by Leana @ Miles For Family

See our Advertiser Disclosure and Editorial Note here. Since I’ve accidentally found out a few months ago that as of August of this year I will be under 5/24 limit, I held back from applying for any new credit cards. Why? You guessed it: Chase Sapphire Preferred. In fact, at the time it had an 80k […]

The post Interesting Things I’ve Learned from my Recent Chase and Citi Credit Card Applications appeared first on Miles For Family.

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Written by Leana @ Miles For Family

See our Advertiser Disclosure and Editorial Note here. Due to pandemic, my family has decided to avoid staying in traditional hotels until we were vaccinated. My husband has several major health issues and takes immunosuppressants, so we have to be extra careful. Up until recently, we have stayed in cabins and vacation rentals with outside access, […]

The post How I’m Burning my Expiring Hotel Certificates appeared first on Miles For Family.

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Written by Leana @ Miles For Family

See our Advertiser Disclosure here. Hindsight, as they say, is 20/20. That goes for jobs, relationships and well, travel. I consider myself very fortunate to have seen so much of the world. Sure, it probably seems pitiful compared to many in the travel community, but not to this gal who grew up in the Soviet […]

The post Here Are a Few of My Travel Regrets appeared first on Miles For Family.

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Written by Leana @ Miles For Family

See our Advertiser Disclosure and Editorial Note here. After Coronavirus pandemic struck  in 2020, it meant that my long-awaited trip to Japan went down the toilet as a result. I took a chance and rebooked the whole thing for 2021, which ended up going up in flames as well. I was hoping not to incur any […]

The post On Canceling My Award Tickets from Japan and Losing a Boatload of Miles appeared first on Miles For Family.

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Written by Leana @ Miles For Family

See our Advertiser Disclosure and Editorial Note here. Yes, I know, IHG points are worthless. But are they really? While I admit that the program has mostly lost its luster and said so a few times, this is a post to hopefully dispel the myth that IHG currency is no longer worth collecting. In fact, for […]

The post Why Buying IHG Points (On Sale) Can Sometimes Make Sense appeared first on Miles For Family.

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Written by Leana @ Miles For Family

See our Advertiser Disclosure and Editorial Note here. When it comes to Chase Utimate Rewards points, I tend to be stingy. Really stingy. It’s one thing when you transfer them to Southwest or United where you are pretty much guaranteed to get  1.4 cents per point/mile or better. This is especially true when you are hub-captive […]

The post Did I Really Just Drop 64k UR Points on a Hyatt Suite?! appeared first on Miles For Family.

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Written by Leana @ Miles For Family

See our Advertiser Disclosure and Editorial Note here. Last month I wrote about our fabulous stay in Baker’s Cay Resort Key Largo In it I’ve mentioned that I liked the hotel so much, I’ve already booked another stay later this year, so we can take our kids with us. This resort is part of Hilton Curio […]

The post The Pros and Cons of Using Amex Offers to Prepay a Hotel Room Credit appeared first on Miles For Family.

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Written by Leana @ Miles For Family

See our Advertiser Disclosure here Last week my family came back from a vacation in North Carolina mountains. I would love to say that I was super excited to go but alas, it was more of a consolation prize. After all, we only went there because it was within driving distance and because  we canceled […]

The post Why Splurging on a Better View Is (Usually) Worth It appeared first on Miles For Family.

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Written by Leana @ Miles For Family

See our Advertiser Disclosure and Editorial Note here. A few weeks ago, I’ve mentioned that I was debating on whether we should plan a trip to Europe or Japan for 2022. For most normal people, Europe would be a safer bet, at least where Coronavirus restrictions are concerned. In fact, some countries on the Old Continent […]

The post Choosing Between Two “Evils”, AKA Canceling my Trip to Japan appeared first on Miles For Family.

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Written by Leana @ Miles For Family

See our Advertiser Disclosure and Editorial Note here. Like many of you, I have a boatload of hotel certificates that have been piling up since March of 2020. So, as soon as my husband and I got vaccinated, I was very excited to finally put my two free Hilton nights to good use. They were due […]

The post Baker’s Cay Hilton Resort in Key Largo: Ocean, Mangroves and The Lumineers appeared first on Miles For Family.

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Written by Leana @ Miles For Family

See our Advertiser Disclosure and Editorial Note here. It goes without saying that the pandemic threw a curveball as far as travel plans go. I’ve lost count of trips we’ve had to cancel so far, though I realize I’m one of the lucky ones. Many lost jobs and even lives, so I’m not complaining. We don’t […]

The post Debating Between Travel Plans for 2022 appeared first on Miles For Family.

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Written by Leana @ Miles For Family

See our Advertiser Disclosure and Editorial Note here. Value of hotel points is extremely subjective. It depends on many factors, like travel patterns, family size, as well as  $ amount you have in your bank account. For the most part, acquiring hotel points via sign-up bonuses is a low-risk proposition. Even if a program devalues, you […]

The post Ranking Hotel Programs for my Family’s Future Travel Needs appeared first on Miles For Family.

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Written by Leana @ Miles For Family

See our Advertiser Disclosure here. As soon as Chase has instituted the infamous 5/24 rule for most of its cards, I thought that was the end of my love affair with that bank. Sure, I would go out of my way to maximize 5x categories on Chase Freedom Flex. But I figured my only pathway […]

The post A Few Recent Surprises, plus Things I Saw Coming in the Miles and Points Hobby appeared first on Miles For Family.

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Written by Leana @ Miles For Family

See our Advertiser Disclosure here. This is actually a short review of a stay that happened last March. But I guess, it’s better late than never, right?  Originally, I booked Magic Village View Trademark Collection unit in 2019 because at the time it cost only 15k Wyndham points per night. I was planning to bring […]

The post Magic Village Views Trademark Collection by Wyndham: Fancy Disney Lodging Option for Large Families appeared first on Miles For Family.

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Written by Leana @ Miles For Family

See our Advertiser Disclosure here. Like many of you, I was really excited when I got an email from Wyndham announcing new partnership with Vacasa.com At least in theory, we now have access to 15,000 more properties, for a relatively reasonable 15,000 points per night. Well, if you can stomach dealing with Wyndham, that is… […]

The post Success: Using Wyndham Points to Book a Vacasa Property in Florida appeared first on Miles For Family.

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Written by Leana @ Miles For Family

See our Advertiser Disclosure here. This November my in-laws are hoping to take a cruise around South America, depending on what the entry requirements will be at the time. My family won’t be able to go for several reasons. First, the kids won’t be vaccinated by fall, so that’s that. But even if they were, […]

The post How a South America Cruise Has Inspired the Goal of an Early Retirement appeared first on Miles For Family.

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