How I got into the travel points hobby

Warning: This post advocates the use of multiple credit cards. Credit cards can be dangerous and expensive if you spend money that you don't have. If you think you might spend money you don't have, stop reading. All of my advice assumes that at minimum, you set up and verify that autopay works for the full statement balance before the due date!

I am a cheapskate, but I love travel. In 2014, my wife (P2) and I (P1) decided that we wanted to do an international trip but I balked at the cash prices of plane tickets. I had noticed that credit card companies were constantly trying to get me to sign up for their products with welcome offers that seemed too good to be true. I figured why the heck not, I was done using my credit for a while since we already got our mortgage and auto loan so the inquiries wouldn't hurt me, right? I decided to get a couple of credit cards beyond the Costco Amex and Alaska Airlines Visa.

In late 2014 I started out with the Amex SPG. The Starwood Preferred Guest program was excellent and it didn't take a lot of points to book hotels, plus there was the possibility of transferring points to airlines, back then, this effectively earned Alaska miles at a better rate than the Alaska Airlines credit card that I already had thanks to the generous transfer program from Starwood to a variety of major airlines. We put the vast majority of our spending on this card, including Costco since Costco used to only accept American Express back then.
    Around the same time as the Starwood Amex, P2 and I both grabbed our own Barclay's US Airways cards with 50k bonuses since there was no real spend requirement on those and I knew US Airways would be going away soon.

As I used the Starwood card, but that quick hit of points from the US Airways welcome bonuses nagged at me for the next year.

So we did another round. We both snagged the Citi American Airlines cards and P1 the Chase Sapphire Preferred for a bunch of points and P2 the Chase Hyatt for the 2 free night certificates because I wanted to experience a high-rise hotel such as the Park Hyatt Tokyo or Andaz Tokyo.

The bonuses from the US Airways and American Airlines cards provided enough points round trips between the west coast and Tokyo...in lie-flat business class. So we booked them for a 3 week stint in October of 2016, probably about 6 months out. (The good old days with easy saver business class tickets, I had no idea how good that was...)

 We also had enough points for hotels, so over the months leading up to October, we booked our itinerary, anchored by the following hotel stays:

• 2 nights Hyatt Regency Tokyo
• 2 Nights Park Hyatt Tokyo
• 3 Nights Grand Hyatt Fukuoka
• 2 Nights Sheraton Kobe
• 5 Nights St Regis Osaka|
• 3 Nights Hyatt Regency Osaka
• 2 Nights Hyatt Regency Tokyo

While we were in Japan, we primarily used our Chase Sapphire Reserve cards that we opened 2 months prior. (You know, to earn for the next trip) -- The travel credits from the Sapphire Reserves also took care of our JR Rail passes. (Another relic that used to be a good deal) -- Back then, airport lounge access was also excellent, courtesy of the Priority Pass that came with our Sapphire Reserve cards.

And there you have it, our first trip outside of North America. We learned some lessons, mainly, don't move hotels so much, but I wouldn't change anything about that first trip.