Podcast Episode 370: The Low-Cost Family Travel Secret No One Tells You About Transcripts

Please note: Transcripts for the No Guilt Mom Podcast were created using AI. As a result, there may be some minor errors.

Wait, hold on, like what does 90,000 points get me? I feel like I’m walking up to the game counter at the skating rink or at the arcade. I have 90,000 tickets. Can I finally find the plush doggie up there?

I was able to get my family one-way flights from Austin to Amsterdam. 85,000 points for five one-way flights.

JoAnn Crohn (00:26)

Welcome to the No Guilt Mom podcast. I’m your host JoAnn Crohn, joined here with the brilliant Brie Tucker. Wah! Hello, hello. We’re talking about one of my favorite subjects in the entire world, Brie. Travel.

Brie Tucker (00:33)

How are you today?

and one of my favorite subjects, how to do it for less money.

JoAnn Crohn (00:42)

Travel is like one of my core values. So like I gladly spend the money on travel and I like traveling like a little bit luxurious, but I also like finding those deals so I don’t have to pay to be luxurious. Status matters a lot to me, Bri, as you know, with my Sky Club membership that I have to do, which I get it through a credit card, which we’re talking about today and how to do that easily and use points to travel with your family.

So I’m excited about this, Brie.

Brie Tucker (01:13)

Before we were getting ready to record today, I was saying how my favorite topic is how to spend money and get free stuff from it. I love that. I love that. Let’s do it.

JoAnn Crohn (01:23)

Yeah, exactly. So our guest today is Amber Paul. She is a former teacher and middle school assistant principal and she loves teaching others how to provide experiences for their families for less money. She has been traveling on credit card points get this for 11 years and will be taking their family on a European adventure for the second time this summer. I cannot wait to start this conversation. So let’s get on with the show.

You want mom life to be easier. That’s our goal too. Our mission is to raise more self-sufficient and independent kids and we’re going to have fun doing it. We’re gonna help you delegate and step back. Each episode we’ll tackle strategies for positive discipline, making our kids more responsible and making our lives better in the process. Welcome to the No Guilt Mom podcast.

Welcome to the podcast.

Amber Paul (02:30)

Thanks for having me. I’m excited to be here.

JoAnn Crohn (02:32)

I was so excited when I saw your topic because I didn’t tell you, I want to travel with credit card points so bad more. I right now have a Delta Sky Club Reserve card, which I want to get. Okay, okay. I want to get into that a little bit. I want to get into that. But first, how did you first hack this whole system? How did you get started using points to pay for travel?

Amber Paul (02:57)

That’s a great question. So when I was growing up, we traveled a lot, but it wasn’t necessarily bougie trips. It was definitely like we live on the other side of the country from family. And so for spring break and summer, we’re going to travel. And my parents came up with this brilliant idea to ship me off to Utah to see my grandma every summer. And now I realize how brilliant that was to send me by myself for three weeks as a kid, because maybe I want to do that with my children a little bit. But.

Basically how we really got into traveling on points, know, fast forward now, now that I’m an adult. Basically what happened is I got married and I was a teacher and unfortunately teachers don’t make very much money and my husband intended, yep, I know it’s a problem. So someone fix that. Well, I mean you should, but anyways.

JoAnn Crohn (03:46)

Yeah, ⁓ they get over a hundred thousand there a year.

Amber Paul (03:51)

I was in the 30s so that’s yeah improvement. Anyways so that’s both

Brie Tucker (03:58)

both great and a bit of a dagger to hear. ⁓

Amber Paul (04:01)

I know, I know that’s great for them. Yes. Anyways, I was a teacher, wasn’t making much money. My husband had the intention of quitting his job and going back to grad school. And we realized that we wanted to travel. We didn’t want to give up that ideal, but we truly, mean, truly could not afford it. It was not in the budget. And so we realized, along with some of his coworkers, we kind of all got into this at the same time. And we learned about how to strategically open up credit cards, earn a huge chunk of points, and then take those points and travel on those points. And so we started doing this pretty casually, but then eventually we had kids and our family started to grow. And so we realized we either had to travel less or we needed to really jump into the credit card, went to Miles World and figure out how that we could earn enough points to travel with our family. And so that’s what we did.

JoAnn Crohn (04:58)

Wow. So exciting. I have so many questions about this because I had a friend who did the whole travel with card points and she took these amazing things and upgraded to first class and those kinds of things. Honestly, at this point in my life, because I have teenagers, almost teenager, that really appeals to me. the process can be very confusing.

JoAnn Crohn (05:24)

And I know right out the gate, I talked to my husband about this and his first inclination is to be like, no, that’s going to damage our.

Amber Paul (05:32)

Credit score. Absolutely.

JoAnn Crohn (05:34)

What do you say to that?

Amber Paul (05:36)

Yeah, it’s a good point. So there are multiple factors that contribute to your credit score. The absolute largest portion, which is 35 % of your credit score, is based on the fact, are you paying off your credit cards and your bills on time and in full each month? If you are, then this is for you. If you are not paying off your credit cards on time and in full each month, then I would definitely recommend making that your number one priority and figuring out how you can

you know, get out of debt and great things will come after you focus on that. But yes, so in terms of credit, there are multiple portions of the credit score and some of those aspects will actually likely improve as you open up credit cards. For instance, one of the factors is a credit mix. And so if the only credit you have is maybe tied to like a car loan and a home loan, then as you open up more variety of credit,

And as more banks are putting their trust in you, your credit score will likely increase. And then another factor of your credit is based on the, basically the allotment of credit that the bank is willing to give you. And so if you have one credit card that has a $10,000 credit limit, that’s great. But if you open up another one, the bank is giving you even more credit. And then basically the factors that create your credit score will show that.

banks trust you and they’re giving you more credit so therefore you’re paying those off and your credit will likely improve.

JoAnn Crohn (07:07)

So that’s interesting because like I’m assuming that before we even get into the strategy that you have to open and close a lot of credit cards often. So does closing credit cards hurt your credit score?

Amber Paul (07:19)

Great question. So another factor that goes into the credit score, it’s heavily tied to keeping your longest line of credit open forever. And so that’s one thing that you want to do. You want to never cancel your longest line of credit. And so maybe you were in college and you’re checking out at Express. I have that. And they were like, do you want to save 10%, which is like $4, by opening up this credit card and now that’s your longest line of credit? Well, lucky for you, you need to keep that credit card open.

forever. And hopefully it’s not an annual fee card, right? Otherwise, yes, you are consistently opening up credit cards, but we’re doing it in a smart, strategic way, I want to mention, and that’s something I can definitely teach. And then you are canceling cards, not just willy-nilly, but you think, okay, am I benefiting from this card any longer? So for instance, there are some credit cards that give you an annual free night hotel certificate. And in that case, it might be worth keeping a credit card that has a 95

dollar annual fee because you cannot get a hotel night for $95 anymore. And so there are definitely some things to consider when you’re canceling credit cards, but yes, in the long run, you are opening credit cards and you’re, you’re canceling them as well.

JoAnn Crohn (08:36)

It’s so interesting. Like I never knew that about keep your longest line of credit open. It’s the first time I’ve ever heard that. So that was like some knowledge there.

Amber Paul (08:45)

Yeah

Brie Tucker (08:47)

Brie has a relic I have a discover card that I opened in 1999. Sucker has seen me through being single, college, first marriage, divorce, second marriage, it’s my best friend.

Amber Paul (09:02)

And I want to say you might not be using that discover card anymore and you probably shouldn’t be but But you want to make sure that card stays open forever And I don’t know if y’all have ever had a credit card that gets auto canceled on you due to inactivity So with this discover card if you are using a different one, maybe you’re still using that one.

Brie Tucker (09:24)

I still use it a little. It’s not a big one by any means. It’s that safety blanket I have. So, but anyway.

Amber Paul (09:31)

And what I wanted to say is on your oldest line of credit put something reoccurring on it and just set it to auto pay. So maybe it’s in your sock drawer, but just put your Netflix subscription on it set it up to auto pay and just put it in your

Brie Tucker (09:45)

adding the positive credit ⁓ behaviors there.

Amber Paul (09:49)

Exactly. Now, unfortunately, in Express credit card, can’t do that same thing. But yeah, that’s a way to keep it… Wait!

Brie Tucker (09:53)

Yeah.

Is Express even still around?

JoAnn Crohn (10:01)

It is. I’ve seen it in the mall. I used to shop there. So I’m really curious to how this whole thing works, Amber. And we’re going to get into the ditty gritty right after that.

So many people probably right now you’re listening and you’re like, my gosh, I have a travel credit card, but I’m not getting free vacations with my family on this travel credit card. So Amber, what are you doing differently?

Amber Paul (10:28)

That’s a great question. So yes, you’re totally right. So many of us have a travel rewards credit card and we think, well, I’m already doing what she’s saying. Like, why am I not going on four trips a year? And the missing piece is, and this is kind of mind blowing, my husband and I typically open up a new credit card about every 90 days. ⁓ wow. I know. And to be honest with you, sometimes we rotate. And so sometimes it’ll be, open one and then 45 days later he’ll open one.

And then 45 days later, all open one and you don’t have to be that intense. And we’re not always that intense.

Brie Tucker (11:05)

It sounds like that takes a level of organization that Brie does not possess.

JoAnn Crohn (11:09)

Yeah

Amber Paul (11:10)

Well, I am going to teach her how to do it. But yes, you do not have to do that. In fact, probably the first seven years of our marriage, we would probably, and this still seems like a lot if you’re coming from one Discover card since the day you were born, but we would probably open up two personal cards each per year. So I would open up a card four or five months later. He would, maybe even not two, maybe one a year.

And so you can definitely go at your own pace, but the reason why I keep mentioning opening up cards and you’re thinking, okay, but what’s this have to do with anything? I’m sure you’ve seen on TV commercials or in all the mailers that you get, but it says when you open up this credit card, we’ll give you 70,000 points when you spend $4,000 in three months or something like that. And so that’s what we are doing. We are taking our everyday spending, you know, Costco, groceries.

Those should be the same, but unfortunately there are both of these. Also like kids soccer, gym membership, we are taking all of these normal things and we are putting them on a credit card. And then we are paying them off on time and in full each month. And with that said, we are able to earn huge welcome offers, which we’re then able to take. And I’ll talk about later how to actually get the most value from those points, but we are able to earn these huge chunks of points and use them for.

JoAnn Crohn (12:37)

Yeah, I have some questions for you.

Brie Tucker (12:40)

Okay, so I do know about that method. My parents do that with like their Southwest card, but here’s where Brie’s problem lies. I can understand like soccer practice and things that are like pretty consistent and you know how much it’s going to be, but my problem I have is I tend to be an impulse buyer when it comes to eating. I don’t feel like cooking tonight. Let’s go eat out. Do you recommend doing those impulse buys?

at all, even though they’re small. Like I’m still talking about impulse buy that’s below a hundred dollars. Do you recommend doing impulse buys on these cards too? Because like, I don’t know at the end of the month how that’s going to play out in terms of me being able to pay off all of it. Does that make sense?

Amber Paul (13:22)

Yeah, because we have multiple credit cards, we actually use a totally separate budgeting app. And it’s really great because I mean, we got, we got married not later, but like we both had careers already. And so we both already had our own bank accounts and yeah, we’ve merged some, but we also haven’t merged them and we’ve got different credit cards and that sort of thing. So basically we have a budgeting app. We use Monarch, but there’s also, you need a budget. There used to be Mint. And that’s the problem is that Mint went out of.

business or they stop doing or whatever.

Brie Tucker (13:53)

Rocket money, another, or no?

Amber Paul (13:56)

They might have a budgeting piece. Yes. So what we do is we have this app and we add in all of our credit cards and all of our bank accounts and then we budget through the app. So we’ll have an internet section and a eating out section and a grocery section. So we are tracking our budget through kind of like a third party app. And then we are able to pay it all off out of our overarching thing, but we’re able to see what money is going in and out.

through this budgeting app and so we’re able to make the So the spot. Absolutely.

Brie Tucker (14:26)

budgeting app makes it impossible. ⁓

JoAnn Crohn (14:34)

So mine is like the level of organization required because so from what I understand you and your husband are opening up personal credit cards pretty frequently to take advantage of those offers. And you say stuff like gym memberships and I’m like a recurring membership. How do you decide what money to spend on which card each month? And when are you like transferring like memberships over to another card and that sort of thing? That’s what’s going in my brain.

Amber Paul (15:02)

It’s a great question. So if lots of this is overwhelming, especially with the reoccurring payments, I just know that there’s one hotel credit card that I have that I just keep open forever. And so I’m just going to put those reoccurring things on that. But if I were to need new tires and I needed that $700, whoops, they’re probably more. I don’t even remember what I paid last time for tires.

Anyways, if I needed that huge chunk, would put that on my new credit card. But yeah, you’re right. I’m not going in every month and changing out my Netflix membership. I’m not changing out my gym membership every month. I’ve got some cards that I keep open forever, whether it’s my oldest card or just some that I know that I like for whatever reason. And yes, I am not doing that. Unfortunately for me, my family spends so much money on just the day to day where I’m just physically swiping the card or using Apple Pay.

that I can hit most minimum spends without changing over every single little bitty thing. And that’s where the budgeting app comes in so that I can track all of those things.

Brie Tucker (16:04)

Okay, you just said something there that I have no idea what you’re talking about. What is minimum spin?

Amber Paul (16:09)

Okay, great. So the minimum spend is kind of what I mentioned before. So on the TV, you hear the offer. If you want the 70,000 points, you just need to spend $4,000 in three months. So you will not get those 70,000 points if you don’t spend $4,000 in three months. And that’s the minimum spend. You’ve to spend at least $4,000 in three months. That’s a minimum spend.

JoAnn Crohn (16:36)

Is that your indication then on when to close a card when you hit the minimum spend and you get the reward? Or do you keep using that card after you hit the minimum spend?

Amber Paul (16:45)

So glad you asked that. It depends on the card. So, and I want to say you do this at your own pace. I mean, you do not have to be super intense about this. You can jump in and year one, you open up one credit card and maybe year two, you open up two credit cards. Even just making a switch to opening up one credit card will likely give you one free trip a year. And so, or one free trip with the open.

you always want to keep open a credit card for one solid year. Okay. And so basically how you look at this, because so many people are like, well, I don’t want to pay all these annual fees, right? And I get it. I don’t want to pay a million annual fees either. But if there’s a credit card that you’re going to open and you’re getting points, which basically equate to money, you’re thinking, okay, well, these points equals like a thousand dollars.

So am I willing to pay $95 for an annual fee one time in order to get a thousand dollars worth of points? And that seems like the greatest coupon ever in my mind. So I’m more than willing to do that. And then before that annual fee hits, or honestly, lots of times the annual fee will hit, but most banks will allow you to call or send a message within 30 days of the annual fee hitting and they will reimburse you for that fee. And so I use an app.

which I’ll share on a handout that we have for you guys, I usually have, that sends me email when that annual fee is approaching so I can just reevaluate and say, do I still want this card open? Are there benefits that I am getting that make it worth it? And if not, I’m definitely gonna cancel that card.

JoAnn Crohn (18:10)

That’s interesting. like with the points, find like points being such like a, it’s not a concrete thing of what I get with points. So like when a credit card’s like, you get 90,000 points. I’m like, okay, cool. Like what can that get me? What are some of the things that you’re seeing that you’re getting with points? How much do those points stretch? What did they get for them?

Brie Tucker (18:41)

Yeah. ⁓

Wait, hold on. Can I throw in there that when you say that, like, what does 90,000 points get me? I feel like I’m walking up to the game counter at the rink or at the arcade. Like I have 90,000 tickets. Can I finally buy the plush doggie up there? I don’t know. Obviously I’m sure I might. I know, right? But that’s what I would think too. Yeah. It’s like, what does that mean?

Amber Paul (18:58)

Yeah, that’s a great question. Okay. So easy rule of thumb is to say that 90,000 points equals $900. Now every bank is different. You know, every bank has different travel partners, which I’ll talk about in just a second. So every bank’s points are worth more or less. So not to bash on your beloved Delta, but 90,000 Delta points would not get you as much as 90,000 points through say.

Air France and you’re probably thinking, well, why the crap would I look up Air France? Why would I look at flights on Air France? And so I’m going to tell you something that this is what many people are not doing. So this would not apply to your Delta card, but there are banks that earn you flexible miles. And so there are four major banks and those banks, when you have one of their credit cards. one example is the Capital One reward.

JoAnn Crohn (19:48)

We’ve never seen.

Brie Tucker (20:13)

Yeah, you see that all the time.

Amber Paul (20:14)

True rewards card. see that all the time with Jennifer Gardner,

JoAnn Crohn (20:18)

What’s in your wallet? ⁓

Amber Paul (20:21)

Okay, exactly. So that is a card that earns flexible points, right? Yeah. So what in the world does flexible points mean? Well, that means you can take those points and you can straight up cash them out. And so 90,000 points would equal $900. Okay. Or you could take those points and this goes for all four major banks and you could transfer those points to what we call travel partners. And so for instance, Capital One’s travel partners include Air France,

and Virgin Atlantic, and there are several more. And this is just an example, but I was able to take last summer and I actually did it for this summer too. I actually took 95,000 points. So I spent a little bit more than just the welcome offer of nine, 90,000 points. Anyways, I took 95,000 capital one points and I transferred them to Air France.

And this is where I definitely do a lot more teaching on my website and in all things to teach you what travel partners are and that sort of thing. I transferred 95,000 points to Air France. Oh my gosh. It was actually 85,000 points. That makes the story even better. Okay. It was 85,000 points and I was able to get my family one-way flights from Austin, which is where I live, to Amsterdam. Oh wow. 85,000 points for five one-way flights.

JoAnn Crohn (21:43)

How did you do that?

Amber Paul (21:45)

Wow! 20,000 points each per adult. So there’s two of us. And then kids on Air France actually fly for 25 % off. So their flights were 15,000 points. And so that just goes to show you that some airlines, the points just stretch farther. Yeah, so the key is to figure out what transfer partners go with what bank.

Brie Tucker (21:52)

For free.

Amber Paul (22:11)

and to transfer your points. So basically instead of cashing out, which is what lots of people do, or instead of using the points in the portal. So this goes again for flexible point earning cards and not the Delta card. If you earn Delta points, those are Delta points, right? Those can’t be I know, and I love Delta too because I love Biscoff cookies. ⁓

JoAnn Crohn (22:29)

My Delta point.

There’s more though in a Delta. I want to hear what you have to say though about this right after this. So before the break, Amber, you were talking about how some credit card companies, some banks points transfer better. Like you get more bang for your buck with some other than others. And this Air France flight that you took the 20,000 points per person. That is incredible to me to travel like that.

Amber Paul (22:55)

Yes, absolutely. And I will say, you still have to pay taxes and fees and the fees on this were higher, but I would have never been able to book five one-way flights for 900 bucks, right? Had I cashed this out. Like never. So that is just getting huge value for these points that you might already have in your wallet anyway, or in your digital whatever. Anyway, and so just knowing how to actually use the points that you already have is huge.

And then other banks have travel partners as well. And those include hotel partners too. And so like I said, there are four major banks and some of them have Marriott or IHC or Hyatt depending on the different bank. And you’re able to really take those points and transfer them to those travel partners instead of just going and booking the hotel in the portal.

JoAnn Crohn (23:50)

So this whole using your daily expenses, which you would pay for regardless if you had a credit card or not, you could really take advantage of stacking on travel for free based on this method.

Amber Paul (24:06)

Exactly. Travel is never free, right? No. But it just opens up the vehicle to be able to buy unlimited chocolate croissants because you did not spend $10,000 on the trip or maybe more. Yeah, I feel like if you’re able to really capitalize on points for your flights and your accommodations, it just allows you to actually enjoy the trip a little bit better with less stress. I think especially for those of us that have kids.

And we’re like, you gotta pack it in, you gotta pack it in, you gotta do all the things, you gotta be happy, you gotta do this. Because you know that, ⁓ Yeah. This trip did

JoAnn Crohn (24:43)

the only advising in that. Those are expected. They’re going to go away real fast.

Brie Tucker (24:46)

that are going to get smashed.

Amber Paul (24:52)

But this trip did not cost as much as it should have cost and second, you know how to earn points and you can come back.

JoAnn Crohn (24:59)

That is a really big mind shift because a lot of the stress for moms and for families is because so much stuff that we want to do with our kids does cost a lot of money. And that money stress affects us in so many ways and could cause us to have those behaviors where we’re like, we have to pack it in because we have to get the most bang for our buck.

Brie Tucker (25:21)

100 % with me when my kids were little. I’m like word we went to Legoland. We’re never coming back again guys So yeah better make this fun!

Amber Paul (25:28)

So we’re there from morning to close and yeah, absolutely.

JoAnn Crohn (25:31)

That was my husband growing up with his dad. And as a result, my husband’s like, I hate Disneyland. Like, he was one of those guys, his dad’s one of those people is like, we gotta go here, we gotta go here, we gotta make sure that slide’s out loud. That stress weighs on you.

Amber Paul (25:46)

It does.

Brie Tucker (25:47)

Take some magic out.

JoAnn Crohn (25:49)

So something that I love using points for, is I do love my status. I do love to be luxurious. So I want to know this because this is my one hesitation with it. And this is why I have my Delta card. I love to go in my Sky Lounge. And when I go on trips and have my little guest passes on there, that my Delta card gives me. And have my upgrade status as well. I mean, I just got upgraded from main cabin to comfort plus on a plane because of the status the card gives me.

Are there better cards out there that could give you status versus the cost saving measures?

Amber Paul (26:26)

So if you’re looking for status for particular airline, you’re doing exactly what’s right. You want to open up probably the bougiest, most high annual fee card through that airline, right? You’re paying for it. And you know, yes, there are other cards. The one that I like the most is the Capital One Venture X card. And I’ve got an explanation about all of this on the website, but basically there is something called Priority Pass. And so the Venture X gives you access to

priority pass lounges. So will it get you into the Delta lounge? No, absolutely not. But I have a Venturex card and it allows me with that card to bring in myself and two other people. And then my husband also, he’s an authorized user on my card. So he’s able to bring in himself and two other people. So that covers our whole family. And so my annual fee on the Venturex is $395. However,

$300 is given straight back to me in travel credits so I can book through their portal. And so I just know 100%. That’s my rental car money right there. I just booked my rental cars through them. And so really it’s like a $95 annual fee. Yeah. And so I would say in terms of my lounge access, then yes, that’s definitely the one that I prefer. And you should also know that I do not have a lounge that I can use my Venturex card in Austin.

But when I’m traveling, so I was in Amsterdam and I got to use it, or I was in Zurich last year and I got to use it, or Denver has a Capital One lounge, DC there’s one there, one in Vegas, there’s one in Dallas. And so there are lounges across the country that you can use. And then you can also access, like I mentioned, any card on the priority pass, which isn’t something that you just have memorized, but there’s an app. And when you’re in the airport, you pull it up and you’re like, there’s a priority pass lounge here. And then you just go walk and find it. So in terms of.

probably the lowest annual fee card you can get that will give you really solid lounge access and where you can actually bring in people with you without having to use certificates that you kind of burn pretty quickly. That’s what I would recommend.

JoAnn Crohn (28:33)

that is really interesting. I love those things like that. Because also, I like points everywhere. I don’t have a credit card for this. But you can get Marriott points as well. And that’s another one of the perks of just staying with one brand. Because that’s my way to travel. I stay with one brand. I’m loyal. And I try to earn points just through paying with that brand so that I get upgraded access. I’m just booking a trip to New York because I have to drop my daughter off at a summer school program, which is crazy.

There was like a courtyard Marriott for points and there was the St. Regis with Butler service for almost the same amount of points per night. it’s like those kinds of things with points are so cool to see because you never know what you’re going to get. It’s like playing a little game when you start traveling with points. You get something a lot better that you could usually afford.

Amber Paul (29:25)

So true. And I would say, even if you are tied to your Marriott card, there are things you can do. Like there are different Marriott cards. There are Marriott cards through two different banks and you can receive a welcome offer every two years. so not saying you shouldn’t keep your Marriott card forever, but you might take a break for a minute and then decide, I actually missed that Marriott card. Maybe I’m going to open it again.

My favorite time to open a Marriott card is when there are five nights that are 50,000 points each time. that’s like 250,000 points, but you can’t use them as that. You have to use them as five nights. And so that’s what we will definitely go Marriott whenever there is that offer, because it’s just such a good offer. That’s like a resort and you can top off the Marriott points. Okay. With your own points.

Brie Tucker (30:14)

How do you know when all these specials are going on? Because just the idea of having to look this up constantly makes my head hurt.

Amber Paul (30:23)

No, absolutely. And when I started my head, like I didn’t do this. I was like, I’m going to open up a card and I’m not going to think about this until I’m ready to send these points. Right. Yeah. And you should not feel like you have to research all this stuff. And I guess, I mean, at this point, this is my job, right? I on Instagram, am researching this stuff. Yes. On my website, I have a best offers page and I have at the top, it’s all of the current best offers and lots of these cards. I would only open up when it’s a best offer. Yeah. But yes.

I know that most adults, most moms do not have the head space to remember all of this. And I think that’s the beauty of so many things is that you just know where to find the expert in whatever field it is. And you go see what they’re talking about this month. And if I’m talking about whatever card of the month, then that’s the card you want to get if you’re ready to open up a card and then check back in in a few months.

Brie Tucker (31:16)

Love it. I love it. So what I’m hearing is I can just go to you and you will hold my hand through the process and just tell me this is what’s best for you right now. This is what’s best for you right now.

Amber Paul (31:26)

I would love to. I love that. will hold all the hands. I love it.

JoAnn Crohn (31:31)

This is fascinating, Amber. And if you’re listening right now you’re like, my gosh, I really want to get started with this. Amber has created a handout with the first three things you need to know to get started. And to get that all you have to do is DM no guilt mom on Instagram, just DM the word travel, you just go to our account, click on message and type in travel. And then our little happy little bot will respond to you.

and get you this resource because it’s gonna be incredible. And Amber, thank you so, much for coming on today. We like to end every episode with what is something that you are excited about in your life.

Amber Paul (32:12)

Yeah, we do have an upcoming trip, which I am really excited about. Last year we went to very kid friendly places. went, this is so much privilege, right? And we would have never done this without free travel through points. But last year we went to Amsterdam, London, and Paris, and those had kids things you can do, right? ⁓ Yeah. They had Disney Paris and Harry Potter experience. And this year we’re going to Prague, Budapest, and Vienna with our kids.

don’t sound like kid places and I have not researched them at all and I don’t even know what to do there but I’m just excited to show kids and I guess the Instagram world as well that you can take big trips with your family but on the flip side you do not have to go big you do not have to go to Europe you don’t have to go to another country any experiences that you can provide for your family

are enough and whether that’s going somewhere big or using an annual free night certificate to go downtown during Christmas time, it all creates these awesome memories and I’m just super grateful that I’m able to be a part of it.

Brie Tucker (33:17)

Love you.

JoAnn Crohn (33:17)

That sounds so much fun. I’ve always wanted to go to Budapest. I’ve been to Prague. It’s gorgeous. You’re going to have such a good time.

Amber Paul (33:23)

good. That’s great to hear because I don’t know what to do there. my gosh.

JoAnn Crohn (33:27)

Gorgeous. Well, thank you so much Amber and we’ll talk to you soon.

Amber Paul (33:32)

Awesome. Love it. Thanks, ladies.

Brie Tucker (33:35)

So Memorial Day is right around the corner and I know that this is when I start planning for my summer. I’m a little behind.

JoAnn Crohn (33:44)

It’s funny because I’ve had this summer plan since January, which is crazy to me. But it’s also like, now that my kids are older, they make their own plans and they start asking for like, what they want to do this summer. mean, my daughter’s going to a summer program. Yeah. My son’s going to camp. And so we really had to plan around those things and they only get six weeks for summer. So.

Brie Tucker (34:09)

It’s so short here in Phoenix for their summer. I was just telling our balanced community the other day on our social hour, by the 4th of July, we already have like the back to the schools back to school stuff out at the stores here because you know, where we live in Phoenix, it’s modified year round. So our kids go back to school the third week of July. And it really does put a crunch on summer. But I am motivated now. Amber has made me like I’m going to start planning now.

Because summer is when I’m motivated to plan for trips. I’m going to start planning now for trips for next summer and next fall break. Because I think I could maybe make something happen by fall break. think could.

JoAnn Crohn (34:49)

You can definitely think it’s always good to plan early because then you get the best deals. If you have to plan later, you’re stuck with paying like higher prices. And I hate that.

Brie Tucker (34:59)

Okay, so while Amber was talking about everything and my brain was rolling too, I have always wanted to go to Spain, England and France. Those are my three that I haven’t really been to. I mean, we went to Spain together once for like a day. I was at Barcelona, but I would love to like explore more. So like those are my three checklist ones that I think I’m gonna, I’m gonna go on Amber’s site and see if I can find some high cards and start working this out.

Where would you want to go?

JoAnn Crohn (35:31)

Spain is one of mine as well. I want to actually use the Spanish I’ve been learning. I think I could do better, especially after going to France just like a few months ago and just feeling like so completely incompetent using a language. Like I had no idea. I had my Duolingo out and I was on like the first few lessons. So I could do little words in my bonjour and my bonjournée and like just stuff like that. But everything I wanted to say, I was either trying to say it in Spanish first.

That was my first instinct. I’m like, it’d cool to go to Spain, try to speak in Spanish.

Brie Tucker (36:06)

and have like a nice long trip to get to just kind of, I would like to be there for a couple. my God, yes, and sangrias. that was the, when we to Barcelona, like, yes, I had a questionable waffle while we were there, but I would say that the, and if you don’t know what I’m talking about, go to the No Guilt Mom Instagram

JoAnn Crohn (36:11)

lot of tapas.

JoAnn Crohn (36:28)

that’s way back there. Yeah, but it’s in this waffle. It’s a penis waffle in Barcelona and it was across the street from La Familia Segurgrada, which is like a huge cathedral. So like religious site, penis waffle stand on the corner. And on a Sunday.

Brie Tucker (36:42)

on a Sunday. God bless me. Sunday

when we were there, but that was the best, right? Like we hung out at that restaurant, had the best tapas, best sangria I’ve ever had in my life.

JoAnn Crohn (36:52)

a lot of penises on that trip. Like, I’m not telling it was a girl’s trip guys, but like Pompeii, if you’ve never been to Pompeii, it’s covered in penises. No one tells you that. That was not in my like easy reader of Pompeii when I was a kid, that there are penises everywhere in Pompeii. Like they’re on buildings, like they have shops like selling it in the marketplace because it was like the symbol of fertility. no one.

Brie Tucker (37:17)

wasn’t a dirty thing, people. It wasn’t a dirty thing.

JoAnn Crohn (37:21)

But oh my gosh, my kids would be so embarrassed, which is why I’m going to take them to Pompeii so they can experience. They’ll be okay.

Brie Tucker (37:26)

my god, yeah.

I’d love to my kids here. So yes, so you guys have got to go check out Amber’s site. We have a link in the show notes down below and you can get her special like handout we have for the three things you need to know to get started. Just go to our Instagram DM the word travel and we’ll get that out to you right away.

JoAnn Crohn (37:50)

Yeah. And until next time, remember the best mom’s a happy mom. Take care of you. We’ll talk to you later.

Brie Tucker (37:54)

Thanks for stopping by.