Photo from rasktravel.com

About a week ago, Rob and I booked an 11 night travel package in Turkey and we got a really great deal. While the price of the package is quite amazing considering all that is included, the price tag on our airfare is even sweeter! Two non-stop, round-trip tickets to Istanbul for…wait for it….$140 total! How is that possible you ask? By getting in on the credit card deals that offer big perks for travel.

I started to learn about the credit cards that offer huge mileage/points sign-on bonuses about 18 months ago and I immediately knew that I needed to get in on the action! I quickly cashed in on deals earning me 50,000 points with one company, 75,000 miles with another, etc. I started to follow The Points Guy for tips and tricks on how to maximize the most out of all these credit cards and find out which ones were worth the effort and which ones were not. For someone with a passion for travel like myself, these credit cards were just the ticket (pun intended).

In the last 18 months, Rob and I have used our miles/points for a variety of different flights. For example, we flew to Colorado for free using my Southwest points (I had earned 50,000 Rapid Rewards points for signing up for the Chase Southwest Premier credit card). We flew to Nicaragua using my American Airlines miles and only had to pay $65 in taxes (I had earned 75,000 bonus miles for signing up for the Citi Platinum AAdvantage credit card). And just yesterday, I purchased our tickets to Istanbul for only $140 using my Chase Ultimate Rewards points (I had earned 50,000 bonus points for signing up for the Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card). These flights should have cost us about $1,600, but my points covered almost all of the hefty bill. It was somewhat disheartening to watch all of my Ultimate Rewards points vanish in one fell swoop, but what would be the purpose of earning all those points just to watch the number grow and never use them?  No, this chick will continue to wipe out her rewards balances to make her travel dreams come true!

Offers like these could make your travel dreams a reality too!  However, these offers change often, so be sure to stay on top of the best deals by following sites like The Points Guy.