27. First-Class Travel, Economy Budget: How We Journeyed to Italy & Switzerland for Nearly FREE!

Points Talk with the Travel Mom Squad

Alex, Pam and Jess

Places & Travel, Education, Society & Culture, How To

4.9 • 734 Ratings

🗓️ 6 June 2023

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Have you ever dreamed of jetting off to Italy or Switzerland on a luxury trip but thought it was out of your budget? Well, think again. We're the Travel Mom Squad, and we're here to let you in on our travel secrets! In this episode, we discuss our recent trips to Italy and Switzerland and share the smart tricks we used to travel in style while saving a fortune.

First up, Jess spilled the beans about her trip to Italy. She shared a fantastic tip about Fifth Freedom flights, where airlines operate between two foreign countries. In her case, it was an Emirates flight from JFK to Milan. Bet you didn't know you could use your points like that, did you?

But, the cherry on top was the opulent experience aboard Emirates first class. We're talking top-class service, comfy seats, and exceptional food and drink. She even mentioned an onboard lounge serving espresso martinis mid-flight—now that's flying in style!

Switching gears, Alex and Pam shared their own adventure to Switzerland, which had its own unique itinerary. Opting for a direct flight from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam on KLM, they cleverly timed their journey to avoid the worst of jet lag. They managed to enjoy dinner, watch a movie, sleep, and wake up for breakfast on the plane before reaching Amsterdam. Talk about efficient planning!

Sounds interesting? We've only scratched the surface here. There are more tips and juicy stories on the full show, so hit play to get the complete lowdown. Trust us, you'll be planning your own luxury trip on a budget in no time. Stay tuned for more insider tips and tricks, a deep dive into the power of points and miles, and plenty of travel inspiration!

Links For All Things Travel Mom Squad: stan.store/travelmomsquad

Episode Minute By Minute:

0:00 How to make even your biggest travel goals happen
1:19 How we flew to Italy for nearly free!
12:55 Amsterdam to Switzerland - What you need to know before you go
14:48 The flight home on Emirates and the shower in the sky (Pam’s favorite!)
26:54 All about The Grand Hotel Victoria, Lake Como - is it worth it?
30:24 Our honest review on The Hotel Aquarius in Venice
34:02 A look into our time in Florence and The Palazzo Vecchietti
37:10 Our best tips and where to stay in Switzerland

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to Points Talk with the Travel Mom Squad, previously known as the Travel Hacking
0:04.7	Mom Show. Follow the links in the show notes to stay up to date with what the Travel Mom
0:09.0	Squad has been up to. Think a luxury trip to Italy or Switzerland is out of your budget.
0:13.9	Think you have to be rich to shower on a plane? Think again. Listen up to hear about Jess's
0:19.3	recent trip to Italy and mine and my mom's recent trip to
0:21.9	Switzerland we were living the lifestyles of the rich and famous for pennies on the dollar thanks to
0:27.2	points and miles welcome to the travel hacky mom show we are three moms who've discovered how to leverage
0:32.8	credit card welcome offers to get hundreds of thousands of dollars in travel expenses for nearly free.
0:38.4	We've used credit card points and miles to take vacations to places like Hawaii, Paris, Greece,
0:43.7	the Maldives, Italy, and so much more. And the best part? We each still have an 800 plus credit score.
0:49.7	Imagine being able to book a vacation without having to check your bank account. It's totally
0:53.8	possible and we're here to show you how.
0:56.1	Hey, I'm Alex.
0:57.4	And I'm Pam, Alex's mom.
0:59.3	And I'm Jess.
1:00.3	We are travel hacking moms.
1:02.5	So I recently returned from an amazing trip to Italy with my husband and Alex and Pam returned from Switzerland.
1:10.6	Both of these trips involve a flight out of
1:12.9	Milan that we're going to get to in a bit, but we can't wait to give you all the details of how
1:17.6	we got our flights and hotel stays for nearly free thanks to credit card points and miles.
1:23.6	So I'm going to kick it off with flights for how we got to Italy.
1:29.2	So we are based in Houston and I knew that I wanted to fly the Emirates Fifth Freedom
	...

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