Reader Success Story: Dream Destinations from an Endless Bucket List

Hi, I am Anita. I’m a college teacher with an endless bucket list! I’ve always been a dreamer and wanted to travel the world. My husband and I share this love for adventures. We’ve had many amazing trips together—we volunteered in Hawaii, backpacked around Europe and Mexico, and took a super cheap four-day bus tour around the U.S. West Coast. We always stayed in fun hostels and took low-cost flights or buses to our next destinations.

I’ve always loved writing about our experiences in my travel blog on Instagram (@myendlessbucketlist). Over the last few years, the travel diaries about hitchhiking around the Big Island or riding the public bus in Mexico have turned to flight and hotel reviews. I remember some of our friends even asked if we had won the lottery to afford business class and luxurious resorts. Well, we did not. Thanks to points and miles, we just took this passion for travel to another level.

From Backpacking To Traveling in Style

Here’s a quick background story that tells how a hobby can turn into your wildest dreams.

Let’s travel back to 2021.

We were not able to travel abroad and all our plans were sabotaged by the pandemic. We stayed at home just waiting and waiting. Weeks and months passed by and the uncertainty hit us hard, especially because we hadn’t seen our families and friends for several long years. Although we had some difficult times, we kept ourselves busy with a little hobby we had taken up recently.

One day, we started watching videos on YouTube about airplanes and ended up learning about collecting reward points and redeeming them on flights and hotels. Traveling in business class and staying in luxurious resorts without paying thousands of dollars? Ok, I’ll bite.

We wanted to know more about this interesting method of travel, then I remembered that back in 2018, I had found a free PDF called “Takeoff: How To Travel the World for Next to Nothing” and joined the 10xTravel Insiders Facebook Group.

Four years later, we were sipping champagne in airport lounges, enjoying business-class flights and staying in five-star hotels during our RTW honeymoon trip—all on points and miles!

And it was only the beginning. Since then, our adventures have continued with P3 joining our family. We started traveling with our daughter as a lap infant when she was three months old. She’s just had her 16th flight at 16 months old! All thanks to learning about award bookings.

We’ve just wrapped up another very special year and would like to share our favorite redemptions and experiences with you.

In 2024, we burned a total of 1.2M points and miles as a family of three. This year, we

• Visited five countries (Canada, U.S., Costa Rica, Fiji, Mexico)
• Took nine flights (four of these were J class)
• Took two multi-day road trips (driving over 2,500 miles)
• Stayed at 11 Marriotts & two Hyatts (with eight suite upgrades)

How We Earned the Points and Miles

1.2 million points and miles sound like A LOT. We could have never imagined how some 10x members could collect that much, but it is not as difficult as you might think. We already had a stash of points and miles across Amex Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards and some airlines. These, combined with opening some new cards and meeting the SUBs in 2023 and 2024 made our trips possible.

Here are some cards that helped us earn the points:

Player 1 (P1):
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card: earned 60,000 Ultimate Rewards
Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card: earned 75,000 Miles
Aeroplan® Credit Card: earned 75,000 Aeroplan Points
Ink Business Cash® Credit Card: earned 75,000 Ultimate Rewards

Player 2 (P2):
Chase Sapphire Preferred: earned 80,000 Ultimate Rewards
Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card: earned 100,000 Ultimate Rewards
Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card: earned 5x50K FNA (Free Night Award)
Ink Business Cash: 75,000 Ultimate Rewards
Capital One Venture Rewards: earned 75,000 Miles

Our points earning strategy is nothing very complicated. As you see, we don’t open multiple cards at once. We try to space it out over the year. If P1 opens a card, we both work on that welcome offer, then P2 opens the next card. We also like to take advantage of transfer bonuses to airlines and hotels and use referrals to get a referral bonus.

Highlights of 2024

Best Overall Experience (flight, hotel, destination): Fiji

We tend to choose our destinations by going down our bucket list but to be honest, Fiji wasn’t even on our radar. It was our very first time to travel somewhere because of the flight and hotel.

Fiji Airways recently started a new route between Vancouver and Nadi that can be booked with points, so we thought it would be a good use of the British Airways Avios we had collected over the past year. We flew the A350-900 in business class and loved the spacious pods and modern design. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find J class for the return flight, so we flew economy. Thanks to being a seasoned flyer, our daughter spent most of the 11-hour red-eye flight sleeping!

The Fiji Marriott Resort Momi Bay was gorgeous, and the overwater villas had a bit of Maldives vibes. We stayed there for five nights and got upgraded to a Lagoon View Bure Villa for the last day.

What we loved about our stay:

• Learning about the Fijian culture and traditions
• Family-friendly staff
• Spectacular views around the hotel
• Fun resort activities
• Jet-ski safari and snorkeling tour in the resort
• Kids club and nanny service
• Marriott Bonvoy Elite status recognized + Happy Hour with the General Manager

Generally, we had an amazing time at the Fiji Marriott Momi Bay. One thing I would mention as a suggestion for improvement is the toddler pool temperature. Unfortunately, it was too cold for our baby and we couldn’t spend as much time in the water as we had planned. The toddler pool is such a nice idea, I wish the water would have been heated. Otherwise, everything was exceptional. We loved all the resort activities and are hoping to return there in the future.

Redemption for this trip:

Flights:
Fiji Airways: YVR-NAN (J)
Fiji Airways: NAN-LAX (Y)
260K Avios (booked via British Airways)

Hotel: Fiji Marriott Resort Momi Bay (five nights)
5x50K FNA (earned with Chase Marriott Boundless) + 57K Bonvoy points

Adventure of the Year: Road-tripping With a Baby

We had two multi-day road trips with our daughter—at ages nine and 13 months. They were very intense, with lots of driving within a short time, spending each night in different hotels, but we visited places we could have never seen if we had just flown somewhere. We made memories of a lifetime, and the best part was that we mostly stayed in hotels booked on points and miles! Here is the breakdown of destinations, hotels and redemptions.

Trip #1: Oregon Road Trip

• Vancouver, BC
• Ecola State Park, OR
• Portland, OR
• Smith Rock State Park, OR
• Olympia, WA
• Vancouver, BC

Trip #2: West Coast Road Trip

• Los Angeles, CA
• Route 66, AZ
• Grand Canyon, AZ
• Horseshoe Bend, AZ
• Antelope Canyon, AZ
• Bryce Canyon, UT
• Zion National Park, UT
• Las Vegas, NV

Redemption for these two trips:

We used a total of 150K Bonvoy points and paid cash for some cheaper hotels, our flight back from LAS to YVR, and the car rental on the West Coast. However, we booked the latter with Hertz via Rakuten and earned 7.5K Amex Membership Rewards! It was a total win-win!

Best Place for Families: Costa Rica

We flew to Liberia Airport via YYZ and stayed at JW Guanacaste Resort for five nights, but wished we had more time in Costa Rica. It is an ideal place for families—there is so much to do there and everything you need—sandy beaches, warm ocean and gorgeous sunsets in the Tamarindo area. It’s easy to rent a car there, so you can have adventures visiting the volcanoes, waterfalls and rainforests. We would love to return in the future. We heard so much about the Andaz there, and would love to try it out!

Redemption for this trip:

Flights:

• Air Canada YVR-YYZ-LIR (J)
• United Airlines LIR-IAH (Y)
• Air Canada IAH-YVR (Y)

130K Aeroplan pts

Hotel: JW Guanacaste Resort (five nights, fifth night free)
183K Bonvoy pts + $150 resort fee

Hotels We Booked in 2024

• JW Marriott Guanacaste Resort & Spa, Costa Rica
• Four Points Portland East, OR
• Hi-Lo, Autograph Collection, OR
• Courtyard Olympia, WA
• Fiji Marriott Resort Momi Bay, Fiji
• Le Meridien Delfina Santa Monica, CA
• Courtyard LA Monterey Park, CA
• SpringHill Suites Flagstaff, AZ
• Lake Powell Resort, AZ
• SpringHill Suites Springdale Zion, UT
• New York-New York Hotel MGM Las Vegas, NV
• Hyatt Ziva Los Cabos, Mexico
• Hyatt Place Los Cabos, Mexico
• Westin Resort & Spa Whistler, BC

We have a Platinum Elite status with Marriott Bonvoy, so most of the hotels we booked were part of the Marriott portfolio so we could enjoy the elite benefits, such as free breakfast, 4PM check out, and using our Nightly Upgrade Award (formerly Suite Night Upgrade).

I’ve already talked about the Fiji Marriott and JW Guanacaste, but we had a few more memorable stays I would like to shout out to.

Hyatt Ziva Los Cabos: It was our first Hyatt stay, but definitely not the last one! Without any status, we were upgraded to a huge ocean-view suite. We loved the daily resort activities and the variety of dining options. It was 40K points/night (we transferred Chase Ultimate Rewards to Hyatt). Such a great redemption for an all-inclusive resort!

SpringHill Suites Springdale: It has such a scenic location! The hotel is in the heart of the Zion National Park surrounded by mountains, and the drive there was just incredible.

The Westin Resort & Spa, Whistler: Our favorite winter destination! We stayed there a couple of times during Christmas time and it always feels like walking in a Hallmark movie: festive decorations everywhere in the resort and all around the village, fireplace in the rooms, outdoor pool, and hot tub with a view of mountains covered by fresh snow.

What’s Next?

We have already booked our bucket list flight for next year—we’re going to fly Qatar Qsuites in the spring! One-way on the SEA-DOH-IST route that we booked for 178.5K Avios + $415 for two adults and one lap infant. We just can’t wait!

And that’s a wrap! Feeling so grateful for having the chance to visit so many dream destinations and see our daughter growing and connecting with the world. And it’s all thanks to learning about points and miles from the best team at 10xTravel together with so many like-minded members. I wish you all a fantastic year filled with new destinations and unforgettable moments!