Our interest in traveling the world and using frequent flier miles to fund those trips started in 2010, well before we grew into a family of five. On that day in December, while checking in at the American Airlines counter at Chicago O’Hare, a friendly agent asked me if we had a frequent flier number with American and if we wanted to attach that to our reservation to New Delhi, India. The concept of earning and redeeming miles for free flights was foreign to us then. I inquired about any associated costs with the program and how it worked. She explained that for every mile I flew on this flight, I would earn a mile deposited into an American AAdvantage frequent flier account. She encouraged me to look at the award chart on my own time, but if I booked a few flights on American Airlines, I would have enough miles for free flights. Suddenly, the light bulb went off, and I immediately made an account for my wife and I. Back then, American Airlines would credit miles based on the distance traveled, not the dollars spent. Since India is nearly 7,500 miles away, a round-trip ticket netted us almost 15,000 American Advantage miles. Depending on how far we wanted to fly domestically, this was enough for a free round-trip ticket for shorter distances or a one-way ticket for longer distances.
Further research led to the discovery of the old-school version of The Points Guy (before the website was bought out by Bankrate) and a path to earn large amounts of points by meeting spending requirements to get sign-on bonuses. This allowed us to travel extensively during our time off during grad school and has allowed us to continue to travel with three boys. We have been fortunate to have visited twenty-seven countries and countless unique destinations around the world, and we’re blessed to be able to share these experiences with our boys. As such, this blog primarily focuses on family travel, tips on planning with kids, and kid-friendly points of interest at various destinations. Frequent flier miles and credit card points will still be the primary currency used to fund these trips, and you will always find a breakdown of this at the end of every itinerary. Thanks for reading!
– Shiraz, Ayesha, and family
Miles for places 