I want to offer my huge thanks to everyone who contributes to this thread. Before I stumbled upon this thread with the crazy name (What's there to love about credit cards?), I had no idea that international travel would ever be an option for me. Yet I just fulfilled a life-long dream and spent 3 weeks on a solo trip to Japan.
The best advice I gleaned was "you do you." Frankly, my income isn't particularly high. I'm careful with money, but I don't have a P2, big MSRs aren't possible, and cards with high annual fees don't make sense. However, I learned it's still possible to make travel happen.
For those interested, here's how I used points and miles to travel to Japan.
Flights: JAL economy using 70,000 AS miles + $70
Hotels:
Dormy Inn Ueno in Tokyo (4 nights)- 25,451 total UR through portal
Solaria Nishetetsu Hotel in Kyoto (6 nights)- 65,909 total UR through portal
Tokyo Station Hotel in Tokyo- (2 nights ) 25,000 Hyatt points/night, total 50,000 UR
Tokyo Hilton Bay- 5 nights, 43,000 per night, 5th night free, total 172,000 Hilton points
Total points for 17 nights:
UR- 91,000
Hilton- 172,000
Credit Cards opened
- CSP
- CFU
- CFF
- Hilton Honors
- Hilton Surpass
- Alaska Personal
- Alaska Business
- CIC (helped meet MSR by opening a bank account using credit card funding)
Biggest cash expenditures:
Two night stay at a ryokan- a traditional Japanese inn
Bullet train to/from Kyoto
Local Transportation
Disney tickets
Meals (surprisingly inexpensive)
Cash Sources
- BofA Cash Rewards card
- Bank bonuses
Totally doable! And I somehow have enough URs and miles sitting in my accounts that I'm dreaming of my next trip. Thank you, all!