027 - 3:11:26, 21.52

[00:00:00] I am John and my goal is simple to visit all 47 Prefectures of Japan. The only reason that goal is even possible is because of points and miles turning everyday spending in the flights, hotels, and experiences across Japan and the rest of Asia. This is rewarding routes, a podcast about making travel like that realistic and repeatable.

Each episode I'll share what I'm learning so you can plan smarter, travel more often, and feel confident using points and mouths without feeling overwhelmed from booking, award travel and choosing the right credit cards to build a meaningful itinerary. And exploring regions, traditions, and moments that just make Japan so special, we'll figure it out together.

If Japan is on your bucket list or you want to keep going back and explore Asia along the way, you're in the right place. Let's build your rewarding route one trip at a time. Hello and welcome to another episode. In this episode I wanted [00:01:00] to talk about starting small. In our previous episode, we talked all about how to.

Book, uh, Japan Airlines business class seats, which is really exciting for me and, and the family, uh, for the beginning of 2027. But if you listen to some previous episodes ago, uh, kind of around the very beginning of the new year of 2026, I talked about starting the year off. Small and simple, especially since we have a newborn with us.

Um, in addition to the family. So. We wanted to take smaller trips throughout the year to kind of get used to traveling with him and then, you know, have this Japan trip booked for early next year. This also gives me the chance to kind of revisit the basics and, and starting off small because I know. A lot of you listening that have reached out to me are fairly new to this idea of points and miles and I, it can feel very overwhelming, right?

And there's a lot of different [00:02:00] rules and a lot of different cards and point systems. Uh, and I know, you know, this podcast is about. Ultimately traveling to Japan and getting there using points of miles and enjoying all that Japan has. But you know, starting off small is a really important step to eventually, you know, make these trips repeatable to Japan over and over again, or to Asia or anywhere in fact.

So, yeah, this episode I wanna. Really dive deep into, you know, starting small and, and revisiting some of the basics that we talked about, um, months ago and, and kind of repeat those things. Uh, and also go over the, the trip that I just booked for our family in the summertime. And it's a very simple trip, a weekend trip to Chicago, but all I paid was $22 for flights and hotels.

So I'm gonna go over all of that and just. Go over how it's possible with, you know, cards that don't have high [00:03:00] annual fees, and it's pretty simple bookings. And I just wanna go over that with you and, and just start off simple. Um, especially, you know, if Japan is your ultimate goal, but. You're just starting off and you just kind of want to get used to using points and miles.

Uh, I think this example would be great to show you as an example of how to use these for, you know, smaller domestic trips to just kind of get used to it. So, yeah, let's, uh, dive a little bit deeper into this. So for the summer, I have a trip booked from Orlando, Florida, our home base over to Chicago Midway.

This is with Southwest Airlines. So the card I have for this is the Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus. Um, I got it back in the fall, I believe, of 2025. Um, so just before the end of the year, and it was a big one for me because this card allowed me to get companion pass. And the way [00:04:00] I, I achieved companion pass I talked about in some previous episodes, um, was I earned a total of 135,000 Southwest Rapid Rewards. And how I did this was in the beginning of 2025, I actually had the Southwest, um, business performance card, and that earned me, I believe, about 80,000 points for the signup. So with the Southwest Rapid Rewards plus. I was able to hit a limited time offer of 85,000 points when I spent $3,000 in three months, and this card has a $99 annual fee.

For me it makes sense because Southwest is a hub in Orlando and you know, I fly Southwest pretty frequently. They have a fantastic companion pass deal, which is basically a bogo, which I'm gonna go over now. Um, but the way I was able to get companion Pass was both of those cards. I hit the sign a bonus, I ended up with, uh, over 165,000 points, which I [00:05:00] only needed 135 in a calendar year within January to December.

And. I was able to do that. I was awarded Companion Pass. So now I have Companion Pass for all of 2026. If companion Pass is something that you're interested in, I believe now, right now at the, uh, recording of this episode in March, uh, March 11th, right before the day before I released the episode, um, there are offers on, I believe most of the Southwest cards for companion Pass.

Along with some rapid reward points, so it might be something you're interested in and you can look into. Um, but this was the way that I got it last year. Uh, not only was I able, able to get companion passes, but I was able to get a lot of rapid reward points to use for, you know, this, all of this year.

And, you know, along with that, have the companion pass making it. A BOGO deal, which is really just a fantastic deal, uh, to take domestic trips around [00:06:00] the us, which we plan on doing, uh, just a few of 'em throughout the year. So you see that with the signup bonus, I earned 85,000 points with the Southwest Rapid Rewards plus signup.

Bonuses are going to be the best way to earn points and miles. Um, there is a, you know, a minimum spend within a timeframe to hit, but. Those are very manageable. As long as you have a budget or some kind of organization to see all of your, you know, costs throughout the months, then you can plan the way you spend money and some signup bonuses are going to be more manageable than others.

Like, you know, business cards tend to have a higher signup bonus. Um, like a minimum spends, same thing for American Express. Their cards tend to have higher minimum spends. I mean, the signup bonuses are good, but if you're just starting off and you feel like, well, maybe I don't make enough to get into this [00:07:00] hobby, or maybe, you know.

I just don't know where to spend. If you're able to organize your spend on like everyday things and everyday expenses, then it's going to become much easier for you to hit this signup bonus and hit that minimum spend and say there is a card you really want, and the, the minimum spend is too high. Like maybe it's $6,000 in four months.

Um, then. There are some ways you can go about it. You can, you know, of course use all your main expenses, but if that's enough, you can. Strategically plan when you want to sign up for that card. Maybe it's, maybe it's not the right time. Maybe you wait closer to the holidays where maybe you'll spend a little bit more on gifts, or maybe you have car insurance that you pay by six months or by a year and that's coming up.

Or you need to change all your tires out or. You know, there's so many different [00:08:00] things that, that can be bigger expenses that you have to save up all year for, to then make that purchase. That's a good time to sign up for a card that maybe has a higher minimum spend. So sign up bonus bonuses are going to be, be the best way to accumulate points in miles.

Um, hitting the minimum spend. Just make sure that you have some kind of way to organize your everyday spend so you can see all of your expenses, and then it just makes it easier to manage your car just that way. So going back to our trip from Orlando to Chicago, uh, I have the Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus it earned me 85,000 rapid reward points.

It has a $99 annual fee. And what it cost me was. 17,500 rapid reward points. Per person. But the only thing is it's just myself because my wife is my companion, so all that we have to pay is the taxes and [00:09:00] fees for her, which is $5 and 60 cents. And I'm also $5 and 60 cents. So in total it's going to be $11 and 20 cents for one way from Orlando to Chicago.

So you're probably wondering now, well what about our infant? Well, our infant flies as a lap child for free. All we need is documentations. I have to actually call Southwest tomorrow to add the lap child to our reservation because it doesn't , allow you to add a lap child while you use points to book your flights.

So you just have to call Southwest and then add it to the reservation that way, and then once it comes. To your travel day, you have to make sure you have some kind of documentation for verification. So this would be a passport or like a birth certificate. Um, I think we'll have a passport by then because we're in the process of filling out a passport form for our infant now.

Um, but if you don't have that, you can use a birth [00:10:00] certificate as well. So yeah, that's, that's our one way we're paying $11 and 20 cents. To get from Orlando to Chicago because of the points that I was able to get from my Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus Card and the Companion Pass, which allowed my wife to travel with me for free.

So the way I did this was I booked myself first on the flight. I made sure there were plenty of seats on the flight, of course. And then once I confirm my booking. Then I go back and I add the companion. You can't add it as your booking at the same time. You have to add it after your booking is complete and then add your companion then.

So that's how it's done. Um, I learned a little bit from the infant part 'cause I didn't know anything about the lab child, so it was good to learn about that. And I'll be calling Southwest tomorrow to add him to our reservation. So that's how we're getting from Orlando to Chicago.

For 17,500 rapid reward points [00:11:00] and $11 and 20 cents for taxes and fees. So not a bad deal there, right? So let's go over to the hotel portion now that I have the Hyatt Place, Chicago downtown booked for three nights. This is a category four Hyatt, so the standard pricing, it was just standard. Um, there are three tiers for Hyatt as of right now.

It is changing in May, but I'm gonna have an episode all about that. Just to see if Hyatt comes out with any more news about any updates and categories or maybe a new card coming out. So be on the lookout for that.

But. As of right now, there's three tiers. There's, you know, there's off peak standard and then peak. Um, it's changing to five in May, but as of right now, this is a category four, so it's standard pricing. For me, it was 18,000 points for a night in total. For three nights, it's going to be 54,000 points in total.

So the way I was able to book this [00:12:00] was, I have several Chase cards, but the last Chase card I had opened was last year, and it was the Chase Inc. Business Unlimited. This card has a no annual fee. But I believe I had a limited time offer when it was available and it was 90,000 points. I believe the spend was something like maybe 5,000 or 6,000 in, um, maybe three or four months.

I'm not completely sure. I don't have that written down unfortunately. But just know whenever you use Chase to transfer to Hyatt, you have to have a card such as like the Chase Fri Preferred The Reserve or the Ink Preferred. So those are going to allow you to transfer your Chase points over to Hyatt. Um, so in my case, I had the Ink Preferred and that has a $95 annual fee, but it allows me to take those chase points that I earned from the in Business [00:13:00] Unlimited and move it over to Hyatt when I was ready to book something.

So I didn't have the full 54,000 points. Um, my wife has the majority of our high points. I only had enough just to book this. When I included my 17,000 built reward points on top of it to top off my Hyatt account to book this so. Between the Chase Inc. Business Unlimited and the Built Rewards, I was able to book the three nights at a category four Hyatt Place, Chicago downtown for 54,000 points and no spend in taxes or fees.

So that's completely covered. So we have a nice weekend out in Chicago, but because I had already had a few high uh, chase cards and. You know, the, the ink business. I do have an episode all about business cards, so you can go back and listen to business cards and, you know, it's very easy. It's not as scary as, you know, people think it is, like you don't [00:14:00] need a LLC

But I break it all down in that episode. But what you can do as an alternative is, you know, get a card I recommend to so many people, and it says, chase Sapphire Preferred. It has a $95 annual fee. The sign up bonus is 70 5K when you spend 5K in three months. So that's around $1,666 a month.

So you can, you know, spend that much in a month. Within three months and then get that 70 5K as a signup bonus. Um, what you can also do is say you can't spend that much right now at this moment. You can always go for a Chase Freedom card, you know, get the points. Those are normally, um, 20,000. Chase Ultimate rewards when you spend $500 in like three months.

So it's very doable, you know, just get some gas, some groceries, and you're done. And then when you're ready, you can get a Chase Sapphire Preferred. You already have the 20 K from, [00:15:00] you know, your Freedom Card. You add the 20 K on top of the signup bonus of the Chase Sapphire Preferred. So you'll have that 70 5K and then plus the spend you put on both of the cards to get there.

You'll be at about a hundred K in Chase. Ultimate Rewards, and then you can use those points if you want to use it for high or any other transfer partner. You can because you have the Chase Sapphire Preferred and it's only a $95 annual fee, so you don't have to worry about, you know, getting one of the more premium cards that have higher annual fees.

But also come with perks, but you know, are a little bit harder to maybe hit the signup bonus 'cause the minimum spends are, are quite high on some of those other premium tier travel cards. So yeah, that's a good entry, a good alternative, um, to chase out for our preferred. You can also get the Chase Inc.

Preferred. It's very similar. Also, I, I talk about business cards in, in the previous episode, so definitely if you're interested in that, it's just a great way to accumulate even more points. But [00:16:00] if you just wanna start off and just getting started and you wanna just do you know. A small trip with your family or just get used to points of miles.

I think you know, a redemption like this to a domestic city that maybe you really want to visit is a great opportunity for you to really get. A feel for how this goes and, and you'll start to understand what points and miles are, and you'll start to understand the rules little by little. So, you know, I'm just trying to ease your way into this and, and still get really great value and you know, have these great experiences that you can just take.

The confidence from and then book that Japan trip, um, that you've been really wanting to do. So yeah. It's just baby steps we're getting there. Right. And of course, you know, once we do take this trip, I'll talk about the Hyatt stay, I'll, I'll talk about like how, how we enjoyed the whole trip and, and kind of go over it as, um, you know, an overview and see just kind of how our experience was.

You show you [00:17:00] how this all goes, you know, using points in miles and, and how it turned out. But this looks like a great, you know, I've been to Chicago a few times. My wife has a, a lot of family in Illinois. And we actually don't have the return leg of this trip booked just yet. I was holding off because like I said, my wife has family in Illinois and I'm not sure if we're gonna stay a few extra days with family there.

So I just held off on booking that return flight after the three nights at the Hyatt. So. That would be an additional $11 and 20 cents. But, you know, I included it in the title of this episode because it's gonna be a $22, uh, trip, and maybe it'll be a little bit more in points if I wait too long. But I think we could find a pretty good deal for around like 17,000, 16,000, maybe 20,000 points.

Uh, coming back from Chicago to Orlando. There's quite a few nonstops there. But yeah, with this Hyatt, I'm, I'm, I'm excited because it's pretty central. . It's very close to the river, [00:18:00] um, that cuts through the city, and it's not far from, grant Park, I believe it's called, uh, where we'll be spending a little bit of time in.

And we also have a museum booked. I already bought the tickets for, it's the Pokemon Fossil Museum that's being. Hosted at the Field Museum. So we're really excited to check out that museum. Uh, it was something we really wanted to do this year and we just wanted to, you know, go to a city and experience, you know, our, our baby's first flight and have that experience with him and kind of see what works, what doesn't get 'em used to traveling a little bit for Japan trip.

Uh, the early part of 2027 and yeah, it was just, you know, I think this will be a really good weekend trip, you know, we'll, we'll learn a lot from it and we'll get to experience Chicago, which is a great city, and, you know, a place that we've enjoyed visiting, uh, several times. And, uh, watching, uh, baseball games out there.

We've seen the Cubs a few times. [00:19:00] Um, but, uh, let me finish talking about the Hyatt. Actually, I forgot to mention the location. Um, it, there's actually, you could take the orange line from Midway airport over to the hotel. Uh, the orange line will take you all the way down and then it's like a four minute walk from the station over.

To the Hyatt Place downtown, so that's really convenient. Um, I'm hoping we can take that route. We'll see how it is with our infant. Um, but maybe if I put 'em in a carrier and, you know, we. Pack extremely light. Um, we can make it happen, but we enjoy taking public transport. But, you know, that might change, you know, since we have a child now, and for convenience purposes, we might take Ubers, but I'll, I'll let you know how it all goes out, the location of the Hyatt and, you know, the flights and, and how everything kind of pans out.

But I'm excited for this, you know, simple trip and especially if you're wanting to start off and do a trip to a city that you know. Has been on [00:20:00] your list for a while and is very manageable with points and miles. You can do that. You know, you don't have to get a Southwest card. If you're in a, a city that has, you know, United as a hub or American Airlines as a hub, you can look at co-branded cards for that airline.

Yeah, they might not have the companion pass, but you can still find ways to work it, work it out, and, and find good deals with those other airlines, um, to other cities. So, yeah, you just have to kind of play around, especially where you live and understand like your airport and what, you know, what's the hub there and.

And it'll start to feel a little bit more clear of like what cards maybe you should chase if you're wanting to. You know, find ways out of your airport, even if it's for position positioning flights. And you know, that's something I'll be talking about in, in a few episodes from now when I book Positioning Flights for our trip to Japan, because I'm gonna have to position ourselves from, you know, Orlando over to LA [00:21:00] and I'm gonna be doing that with Southwest.

I think there is one nonstop, but I think we'll be doing a connection, especially if you live on the east coast, you're gonna have to position your way over to the west coast if it's possible. I know there are flights from JFK and from Dallas, um, over to Tokyo. But yeah, most times you will have to position yourself over to an airport to then take that airport, uh, take the airline from that airport over to your final destination.

So yeah, there's uh, a lot of ways to go around it, but. Ultimately, starting off small is a great first step to gaining confidence to getting used to this, uh, points and miles and, and really gaining experience and, and just feeling better about it. And, and you'll understand, uh, how minimum spends and how signup bonuses and, you know, all the different rules that there are.

It'll just get easier in time. So let's just [00:22:00] recap everything. You know, we have our flights with South, or our flight with Southwest. Eventually it'll be flights, uh, once I figure out the, the final portion. Um, but, you know, our three night hotel stay for, you know, my wife and my infant, and it was booked completely on point.

So, you know, for our two flights, which will cost $22 and 40 cents in total. And then our hotel's completely covered with points. So then you have, you know, you have your annual fees on your cards that you use. So with the Southwest Rapid Rewards, it was a $99 annual fee with the Chase Inc. Preferred, or if you decide to get the Sapphire Preferred, those are $95 annual.

So you're really not, you're not doing too bad because, you know, I didn't even talk about the benefits of those cards. Like with the Chase Sapphire Preferred, you get a $50, uh, credit for, hotels and then with the [00:23:00] Southwest cards you get free check bags. 'cause you know, free bags aren't a thing anymore.

You get to pick your seat because there's no like, open seating anymore. So, you know, there are perks with these cards along with, you know, getting. This, getting the points for the cards and you know, you have this annual fee, but you're getting perks along with it, so that's really nice to have. So yeah, you could see the example here.

Very low annual fees booked for almost nothing. All we have to worry about is like our transportation once we're over there. Um, the activities like the museum that I booked and in food. So, you know, it's gonna be a nice weekend trip, but I hope this was a good example for you to. You know, if you wanted to start off small and you wanted to see how this all goes out and you wanted to understand points and miles and, and opening up credit cards, and maybe you felt a little bit overwhelmed, uh, with the idea of going international or doing bigger trips, you can do smaller trips like this with, .

No annual [00:24:00] fees or the annual fee's pretty minimal compared to, , the higher premium tier cards that can really benefit you, um, in the long run because they come with so many perks, but maybe it's just too overwhelming and it's too much right now. And that's completely fine because, you know, everybody starts somewhere.

And I started off with, you know, the Chase Freedom cards of no annual, no annual fee. And then I worked myself up . And, and it's, you know, getting those small trips is like getting small wins and, and getting small wins just helps build confidence and it makes things feel good.

And you, you know, you get to experience like, wow, that weekend trip almost cost us nothing. 'cause we were just leveraging our everyday spend. And we got to experience a new city that we really wanted to experience and we got to, you know, enjoy foods in the city that we wanted to try. So it all just. It all feels really good once you, you're able to learn it and you're able to apply what [00:25:00] you learned.

So I hope this episode really had some value of, you know, for anyone that maybe felt overwhelmed and wanted to just start small and do, do, do simple trips. And, you know, we're in the, the case right now where we're doing these smaller trips and we have a few more planned and I'll talk about 'em as I go on with, uh, more and more episodes throughout the year.

Yeah, I hope you enjoyed this episode. I hope you got some value out of it. Of course. Ask me any questions that you may have. Um, I'm here to answer at any point, any time you can find me on Instagram at it's John Diaz. You can email me at rewarding Routes podcast@gmail.com. You can leave a review if you want.

, Let me know how I'm doing. Uh, preferably five stars so it can do, uh, you can help this, um, podcast out and, and maybe get it out to more ears and. , Give more people more opportunities to learn about this stuff, and especially if their goal is Japan. And of course, we're gonna dive deeper into Japan [00:26:00] content in this podcast as I plan more and more for that trip in, uh, , just under a year from now, now that we're in March.

And yeah, it's gonna be, uh, a great year. We're gonna talk a lot about, uh, different things and a, a variety of things. So I hope you're excited 'cause I am. I will catch you on the next episode. All right, see

ya.