182. Points Talk Squad Takes Budapest and Istanbul
Points Talk®: Your Travel Dreams, Made Possible by Points
Alex, Pam and Jess
4.8 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 26 May 2026
⏱️ 60 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
What was it really like traveling through Budapest and Istanbul on points and miles? In this episode, the Points Talk Squad shares highlights from their latest trip, including how they booked their flights with points, the hotels they stayed at, and the experiences that surprised them most.
The Squad breaks down the full travel experience, including positioning flights, lounge visits, and comparing different international business class products. They also share their favorite activities in both cities, including thermal baths, sunset river cruises, walking tours, local food spots, and a traditional hammam experience.
You'll hear how Budapest and Istanbul compare, which activities were most worth it, and what the Squad would or would not do again. Whether you're planning a future Europe trip or just love hearing real points and miles travel experiences, this episode is packed with useful tips and entertaining stories.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Every year, my mom, Jess, and I take a vacation together. |
| 0:03.2 | This year, Points Talk Squad took on Budapest and Istanbul. |
| 0:06.9 | Stay tuned to hear all about it. |
| 0:09.2 | Welcome to Points Talk. |
| 0:10.5 | We are three moms who've discovered how to leverage credit card welcome offers to get hundreds of thousands of dollars of travel expenses for nearly free. |
| 0:19.1 | We've used credit card points of miles to take vacations to places like Hawaii, Paris, Greece, |
| 0:24.4 | Maldives, Japan, and so much more. |
| 0:26.7 | And the best part? |
| 0:27.9 | We each still have 800 plus credit scores. |
| 0:31.0 | Imagine being able to take the vacation of your dreams for nearly free. |
| 0:34.7 | It's totally possible and we're here to show you how. |
| 0:40.2 | Hey, I'm Alex. And I'm Pam, Alex's mom. And I'm Jess. Let's Talk Points. So we have done |
| 0:48.3 | Singapore and Kuala Lumpur together. Last year we did Madrid and Barcelona. This year, it was Budapest and Istanbul. |
| 0:56.9 | The funny thing is that each year, the first city we visited has been our favorite. And this year is |
| 1:01.9 | no exception. Spoiler, we love. We love them both. But Budapest really surprised us all, I think, |
| 1:08.0 | and we really enjoyed our time there. So first, we are going to talk about |
| 1:12.7 | how we got there. So Pam, why don't you kick it off with how you and Alex got to Budapest? |
| 1:18.9 | And so the few of you that are watching this instead of just listening or wondering what the |
| 1:25.0 | heck is going on with Pam today, I had some skin cancer removed. I have a |
| 1:30.9 | huge bandage over my nose. So now all these people who don't watch it are all going to run and watch |
| 1:36.9 | it so they can look at it. Maybe we'll get a lot of YouTube views. That's right. We're going to see |
| 1:42.1 | if this increases for this episode because everybody's going, |
... |
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