In this episode of the Hurdy Gurdy Travel Podcast, host Justin Vacula welcomes Danielle Fiorino to discuss how to travel the world at low cost using credit cards, points, and miles.
Danielle shares her experiences from the PointsQuest conference in New York, attending the 2024 Olympics, and traveling to Madrid to see Taylor Swift. They also talk about the benefits of various credit cards, lounge access, and upcoming travel plans.
Tune in for insights into maximizing rewards programs and engaging stories from seasoned travelers.
Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction to Low-Cost Travel with Points and Miles
01:43 Meet Danielle Fiorino: PointsQuest and Taylor Swift Adventures
01:50 Chicago Seminars and United Lounge Meetup
04:11 Danielle’s Journey into Miles and Points
08:34 Points Quest NYC: A Volunteer’s Perspective
11:37 Olympics 2024: A Miles and Points Success Story
18:53 Madrid Concert: Taylor Swift and VIP Experiences
27:03 Celebrity Sighting and Listener Questions
28:07 Social Media Influence of Love on the Spectrum Cast
29:08 Travel Hacking and Credit Card Strategies
34:31 Exploring Vienna and the Ball Scene
43:00 Upcoming Trips and Events in 2025
47:11 Hacking the 2023 TPG Awards
50:58 Closing Announcements and Future Plans
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Rough Transcript:
Theme Song: [00:00:00] Travel at low cost with points and miles. Credit card rewards bring smiles. Many adventures tells to be told, make and save money, the world will unfold.
Fight the war on happiness. Pick up the gold. Hurdy Gurdy Travel Podcast breaks the mold.
Justin Vacula: You’re listening to the Hurdy Gurdy Travel Podcast. I’m your host, Justin Vacula, here to help you travel the world at next to no cost with credit card points, miles, benefits, and loyalty programs. Make money, save money, and take advantage of great deals. Thanks for joining me for today’s episode, miles and Points with Danielle Fiorino.
We’ll talk about the recent points Quest conference she volunteered at in New York. How she used miles and [00:01:00] points to see Taylor Swift overseas and much more. Visit meetup.com/philly miles and points to RSVP for monthly Greater Philadelphia Travel Credit Miles and points meetups I host in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania.
The next meetings are April 12th and May 17th, 2025. Find a link in the show notes. For more content between podcast episodes, follow Hurdy Gurdy Travel podcast on Facebook and x follow Justin Vacula on Instagram. Subscribe to Hurdy Gurdy Travel podcast on YouTube where you can become a channel member for daily content, including travel videos, podcast clips, community and bonus videos.
Welcome to the show, Danielle Fiorino.
Danielle: Thanks so much, Justin. Happy to be here.
Justin Vacula: All right. We met in a Chicago United lounge after one of the Chicago seminars events.
Danielle: That is right. We did. But so I’m friends with Kevin [00:02:00] Song, who is one of the people, be one of the people behind the Chicago seminars that was hosted at the Hyatt of O’Hare.
Right. Hi. See O’Hare last year and we were talking and suddenly we both realized that we were on United Flights at a similar time, going in totally different directions. Of course. He was like, oh wait, we’re leaving the same time. Oh my God, I can get you into the lounge. I was like, thanks, dude. Much appreciated.
So I was very, I was really excited about that and I was waiting in the terminal for him to come along and I see him coming along with you and I was like, okay, I know who that guy is. We haven’t had a chance to meet each other, but I know that’s Justin and he was speaking and he does different kinds of gambling MS and all that sort of stuff.
And so I was like, okay, cool. I get a twofer.
Justin Vacula: You were flying back to New York? I was flying to Las Vegas. Yep. And Kevin, I think was flying to California. Correct. And pretty nice. It’s nice to have that lounge access, especially in Chicago where we don’t have Centurion [00:03:00] Lounge. Mm-hmm. No Chase lounges. I don’t even think a priority has a restaurant.
No. So nice to have lounge access with United sitting in a quiet space. Some good food and drink and not paying maybe $20 per person for airport.
Danielle: Yeah. I just, I just love about the lounges because I know some people are like, oh, if the lounge just has maybe a little bit of food and some drink, maybe it’s not that different from being out in the terminal.
No, I love having, I, I love having a table or like. Something where I can sit my computer down, I can sit my iPad down, I can watch my tv, or I can like have my food plate and my drink on the table. I just love having a table and you really have a hard time getting that sometimes in the terminal. So I really do.
Even though the lounges sometimes they can be hit or miss sometimes in the United States. I really love having access to it ’cause it really helps me having the table to put all my stuff on.
Justin Vacula: Really nice, and we’re recording March 24th, 2025. I’m even considering upgrading my United Quest card to the higher annual fee card that gives club access, and I know there were many changes to the [00:04:00] cards, but I could see upgrading that card before my next trip to Chicago to have that access for the future.
Danielle: That’s a really great idea. I noticed that they revamped a lot of their credit cards recently, so it could be a really exciting time to upgrade.
Justin Vacula: And we know how you got in the lounge, but how did you get involved with Miles points in travel?
Danielle: That’s a great question. So actually after I finished college in Philadelphia, I actually moved to India.
I lived there. I signed up to live there for two years, but it ended up being four in the end. Originally, one of the ways I found out about miles and points. So first of all, let me also say I was earning. A local salary I was not earning in US dollars. So that made being able to participate in any kind of credit card game at the time, pretty impossible.
I remember in about 2015 or so, there was an article about Ben Schlepping or Lucky from one Mile at a time written up in Rolling Stone, and that was why I first saw, oh wow. He’s somehow earning all these points and flying in business class. That sounds so [00:05:00] awesome. I think a little before that. I was in this sort of rotational program for this company in India and one of the other expats in my cohort.
It was four to six of us each year. He was like, there’s this airline called a G in airlines, and they just started their frequent flyer program. If you fly 20,000 miles in a year and you credit any star Alliance flight to a G in airlines. You’ll get gold status with just 20,000 miles and that’s nothing.
And so even two at the time, two round trip tickets and economy between Mumbai and Newark, that was enough for 20,000 miles. So that was my first taste of miles and points and status. I got to go to the lounge. The lounge in Mumbai had I could get a 15 minute like. Foot massage before the flight, I got great food and then I didn’t [00:06:00] realize this was a big deal at the time, but I was also able to get, I got also extra baggage, which I really appreciated being so far away for so long.
I needed a lot of luggage. And I also remember, oh, I. I didn’t realize how big of a deal this was, but I would also get United Club access in the United States. I didn’t know at the time that if you had status with United, you wouldn’t get that, but this was a foreign star alliance carrier I had status with.
So I was able to get into the United Clubs in the United States on my way back. So that was how it first started. Then when I came back to the United States, I came back for grad school in Washington, DC. Then I moved to New York. I moved to New York in 2021. So it was the height of the pandemic. It was in 2022 that I really started getting into miles and points more seriously because finally at that point I was living in New York City and I had a New York City job.
So I finally was earning in dollars enough to be able to start putting spend on all these different credit cards and getting signup bonuses and things like that. And my first conference that I went to was [00:07:00] how it all really kicked into gear. The first FTU in person, since the pandemic was in 2022 down in Dallas.
Justin Vacula: That’s Frequent Traveler University for our listeners.
Danielle: That’s right. That was the first Con in-person conference, or I guess it was the second in-person conference. The first one actually was the Frequent Traveler University one in DC right before the whole world shut down, so I didn’t quite count that one, but the one in 2022, a lot of the folks that I met there, they were like, you really gotta go to this thing called the Chicago Seminars.
And I was, oh, what’s that? And so it was later on that year that I went to my first Chicago seminars, and that’s where it really kicked off. And so since then I’ve been going to at least a few conferences every year or two just to meet other people whose eyes won’t glaze over and keep up to date with all of the new trends and happenings, and learn some tips and tricks that you can’t learn online.
Justin Vacula: Yes. And a very fun community. I think a lot of positive people. Yeah, [00:08:00] a lot of people willing to share, to teach, and just socialize in general.
Danielle: I agree. Yeah. I think that the vast majority of people that come to these really want to learn, really want to help. And really just, they’re searching for that community.
They’re tired of getting so excited about this and talking to their friends’, ears off about it. They really don’t wanna hear about it. And then you come to this community, these conferences, and you meet people just like you. I think that’s very comforting for a lot of people.
Justin Vacula: And maybe many introverted people as well, but we all tend to get along and talk about our special interests at home.
Danielle: Very true. Very true indeed.
Justin Vacula: And fast forwarding after Chicago, it was February of 2025, the First Points Quest event in New York City. I was one of the speakers. Thanks for the invite. And you were one of the volunteers. Thanks for volunteering. How was your experience with Points Quest in New York City?
Danielle: It was so cool.
Hats off to the three main organizers, Sandeep, Frank and Decker. They had been [00:09:00] working on this for quite a long time. They got an incredible roster of speakers to come in. Some of the speakers were, had not spoken at even that many conferences before, so some of, so that was a very exciting lineup that they put together.
It was so great to see that. It was so 50 50, like people that were locals versus people that came from outside of New York for this conference for the first time doing it. It’s not every day. Sometimes I go to these conferences, like I go of course to socialize, but sometimes I wanna go and try and learn and it’s not always the case where I could learn something new.
There were a number of sessions at this at Points Quest. I really was learning something new and it was really awesome. And then we had this, we had the taco truck and so that, and so all of the organization was really exciting. It was so cool to see. See everyone coming from far and wide to come together to talk about miles and points in the big apple.
Justin Vacula: And some people fly it from Seattle. From Canada, yeah. Lots of travelers traveling. [00:10:00]
Danielle: Yeah. It was so cool that people came from so far away to New York City for the conference. It was really cool.
Justin Vacula: Yes, fan of the podcast, Sarah Ram Kissoon, if I’m pronouncing that correctly. I still have a hard time with this sometimes.
She came from Canada that we chatted. I met her in Chicago as well.
Danielle: That’s so crazy. I was happy to hear about that. I, I love what Miles and Points does to bring so many people from so many parts of the country and even the world together. It’s a pretty cool time.
Justin Vacula: Nice to explore the New York area. I put some videos up on YouTube of some exploration in the city walking through some parks and there were other social events around Points.
Quest as well. We had the pizza party beforehand. There were some meetups and some local restaurants and bars throughout. Some people sharing dinner after the fact. So it was a really cool event and in a different month compared to other events. So perhaps that was a big draw that it was in quarter one.
Danielle: Yeah, I completely agree with you and thank, thanks so much. Thanks. So thank you so much for coming and speaking. Really [00:11:00] happy to have you.
Justin Vacula: Yeah, and it sold out really fast. I think it was about a hundred people that quickly got the tickets and then many people were saying, Hey, I want a ticket too. But you guys didn’t want to have 400 people for the first event.
Danielle: Correct. Exactly. So yeah, I even, I think I, I didn’t realize that how quickly it sold out, and then I realized, I was like, okay. Wow. So the demand was pretty serious. Yeah, really exciting to see the excitement around the event. It was super cool to see.
Justin Vacula: Okay. Let’s move on and talk about some of your other travels.
You mentioned getting lots of credit cards. We all know that the answer to everything is more credit cards for more benefits, more miles and points. Obviously you went to the 2024 Olympics.
Danielle: I did. So that was a really, that that was a really cool trip. And actually what’s so great is like two of the biggest trips I took last year were because of the community that I’d made in miles and points, which is really exciting ’cause that’s where I had always wanted my miles and points to lead.
I wanted to meet other people that [00:12:00] wanted to travel and do fun things. And that’s what I’ve gotten through these conferences. My friend Tippy that I had met through Chicago seminars amongst other things. She, I think we, I think I, I’d seen her at Chicago and she said, Hey, I think I might have some Olympics tickets left over if you wanna come.
Eventually. I was like, hell yes. I’m doing this. Seems like a ton of fun. So I did Air France business class with my points both ways. I did, I, so the first ticket that she had was for a soccer game in, in Bordeaux and in Bordeaux. They have a relatively new Hyatt out there. It was called first name. And what was really cool was, I think it was, I think I paid with points, maybe there was a free night certificate involved and they upgraded me to the nicest room in the entire hotel period.
So I had a wraparound [00:13:00] balcony, I had a yoga mat, I had a really big jacuzzi. I had one of those. Things that you like. Little wiry head massage things. Oh, and also there, was there
Justin Vacula: all
Danielle: the amenities? No, the amenities were insane. There. There, there was a digital record player. The records that were in there.
They had old ones, but they also had some fun modern ones too. Like Bruno Mars’ latest album with Silk Sonic and Anderson Pak. I was like, okay, it’s, the amenities were just really hilarious and cool, which I really enjoyed. So that was the first points part of the trip, and then the rest of it was in Paris.
So the second event that Tippy had a ticket for was, uh, it was a quarter final for women’s swimming. Now in Paris, I did two nights in Airbnb and I actually did, I was able to use up my free night certificate with my IHG credit card for a night at a Holiday Inn there. So I got to see [00:14:00] Katie Ledecky compete.
She’s become an American treasurer for her swimming. I didn’t see her medal, but I saw her in the quarter final and then had a totally separate friend. ’cause frankly, the Olympics was such a big thing and so many people were descending on France for the Olympics. I had a couple of different kinds of friends that were there.
A different friend entirely had a trip originally planned for her and her mom bailed on the trip and she had a ticket left for the men’s team gymnastics final, and that was a hot ticket. I was very excited for that because that was a meddling ceremony and I actually didn’t realize that I was seeing at the time, but I got to see the pommel horse guy, Steven Rosic, do his thing at.
The Olympics and ’cause when you’re there, you’re not watching CNN so you don’t realize the history that’s being made. I remember seeing him on the side and thinking, what’s this guy doing? He’s, he just like cheering on his teammates. Like he’s [00:15:00] standing there like in his, with his jacket on and what’s he there for?
And then I, he’s this dark horse, literally, and they bring him out at the end. ’cause the one thing he does really well is the pommel horse. I noticed that I, I look at the routine and I’m like, to the untrained eye, that looks pretty good. And then I see him finish and his team goes wild. I’m like, okay, clearly something big happened there.
And so the men’s gymnastics team won bronze at that event. That was a really cool miles and point trip, and I got to do that with Tippy. I got to do that with Shirley and other Miles and Points friend. And so yeah, a lot of fun things we got to do over there at the Olympics in France last year.
Justin Vacula: Nice. And many people outside of the hobby would typically think, oh, travel’s too expensive.
I couldn’t go overseas. Oh, the flight’s going to be rough. But you were able to transfer points into Air France, as you said, so maybe from American Express or other programs. And you also flew in business class, so very comfortable accommodation as well.
Danielle: Absolutely right. And Air France [00:16:00] is a great one because Air France, so many cards.
Transfer to Air France, Amex, chase, capital One, probably two. I’m pretty sure it’s all three if I’m not mistaken. And what was also cool even better too, was that I was able to, on the way there, I was able to get to Bordeaux. On that same ticket, so I didn’t have to actually book the separate flight down to Bordeaux.
On the way there, I was able to have my layover go onto the flight to Bordeaux. It was a really easy, it was a really easy trip reconfirming quickly that Air France indeed Chase American Express and Capital One. You can transfer all of those. Quick fact check. Yes. Quick fact check. You can transfer all of those to Air France.
It’s Air France and Aeroplan. Those are a couple of them that all three of those major points, currencies transfer to those two. Really easy to get your points over there if you need to. [00:17:00]
Justin Vacula: Good and easily saving you thousands of dollars. I’m sure considering the flight there, the flight back, the hotels
Danielle: absolutely no doubt about it.
To be able to and and even domestic. Business class, of course, like seat wise, not a whole big deal necessarily, but what I do appreciate about the domestic business class in France is they give you this little, it’s like a little rectangular box and inside it they have some cool. French gourmet treat, like maybe it’s a delicious egg sandwich or something really refined and yummy and it’s great sustenance and French.
Culinary and cuisine is so top tier that to be able to just get that even on a small one hour, 20 minute flight. Makes a difference to me.
Justin Vacula: Definitely improving the quality of travel and having a fun experience as I hear some people outside the hobby, oh, I went on Expedia and got this random [00:18:00] hotel. The hotel sucked.
There wasn’t good food there, the HVAC was bad. Or they tried to take 6:00 AM flights with spirit and lament that after the fact. So we get to save money and travel well rather than just saving money and having poor accommodations.
Danielle: Indeed. Yeah, cer certainly. I think depending on your points, balances, maybe you have to pick some of your battles and say, okay, gonna go really fancy with the flights, and less so with the hotels or vice versa.
The more points you have, the less you have to make those kinds of choices.
Justin Vacula: Yes, and even with Hyatt, I stay at Hyatt a lot. I’ve stayed at many Hyatt places and Hyatt houses that weren’t anything super fancy, but they were still very nice and I had no major issues there.
Danielle: Same here. I’ve stated some, I’ve stated some outside of the country.
I’ve stated at least one. One category, one that I thought was really great and great value for money.
Justin Vacula: Alright, another trip you went to Madrid to see Taylor Swift rather [00:19:00] than paying potentially a thousand or $2,000 for tickets in the United States.
Danielle: Absolutely right. And that was courtesy of, once again, sir Kevin’s song.
He literally posted on his Instagram for anyone to see who wants to go see Taylor Swift and Paramore in Madrid in May, and I was like, hello? Raised my hand up pretty high. I definitely wanted to do that and I remember I, I met him I think at the Chicago seminars in 2023. There was some kind of an organized trip that Kevin did for some of us over to the movie theater to cease the hes tour at the movie theater.
So that was where I understood he was a big Taylor Swift fan. That’s how I started coming friends with him. And we followed each other on Instagram and all that jazz. So when he posted that, I immediately was on it. And so he had gotten the tickets and what [00:20:00] was so cool was that it was only. 500 something per ticket, and this is for a VIP ticket.
Now, what does VIP include? VIP gets you early access to the venue, which is really nice because the venues are quite big and can be crowded, and it also gives you some kind of a swag box, which has a lot of cool bags and cards and different things like that. So that was really helpful. As far as the, the Air Force, the air airplane situation was a little different this time.
I wouldn’t do this again in the future, but that’s part of the whole miles and Points journey. Sometimes you make some mistakes early on and then you learn from them. So I decided to do premium economy on Virgin over to London, and then pay cash on British Airways to get to Madrid. I think I, maybe I wasn’t seeing business class availability at the time, but I wouldn’t exactly do premium economy to [00:21:00] London and then the economy over to Madrid going forward.
Part of the reason why this partially made sense was because I had, I become globalist with Hyatt and then they have that relationship with American. There was an instant status pass and I had, I think Platinum Pro at the time, so I knew I’d be able to get into one of the nice lounges when I got to Heathrow.
So what I had done before, which I thought I was gonna be able to do again, was I thought I was gonna be able to go as one person. I’d be able to, I put a ton of time between maybe six hours, something between when I arrived and the next flight, just to make sure, ’cause they were on separate tickets and I thought I’ll do the same thing I did last time.
I’ll just go up to the, to the ticket counter. ’cause they, because that’s another nice thing about some lounges is they have a ticket counter inside the lounge. That’s only for lounge goers. I can just get on an an earlier flight when it’s a three day weekend in America and [00:22:00] it’s a bank holiday on Monday.
Also in the uk all the flights are gonna be false, so you’re not gonna get sick. I had an empty seat earlier, so I just spent extra time in the lounge. They had showers in there. I showered, I got salty. Why not? I absolutely made it work. Interestingly though, on the way back, I wasn’t gonna have that because I was traveling PM economy on Virgin, so I wasn’t gonna get the access.
And I remember Kevin was just like, come on, at least try to get yourself in business class on the way back. And I was like, okay, you’re probably right. So I had enough points to upgrade that ticket, so I did go back in business. That was actually a really, that’s probably one of the cooler business class experiences I’ve had because I got to fly the Virgin upper class and I got to go into the Virgin Clubhouse in Heathrow.
That lounge is really quite phenomenal. They have table service, any food [00:23:00] off this menu, any amount of drinks. They have a whole like cold bar. Just the fact that all of this, this table service and everything was free and you just don’t have to get a credit card or anything out at all once was really incredible.
So that was the flight side of things. And then in country, I, of course, I stay at all Hyatt properties because I’m also a Hyatt person. I actually used a, a great, I remember Julia Menez, we just had on this podcast, she has a free course and at the end of the free course, she had like a, an email template that you could give to like ask for upgrades at hotels.
And I stayed at the Thompson and that email, the Thompson got me like some nice. Junior suite with a really large den area with a humongous big screen TV and a separate bedroom. And so that room was really [00:24:00] phenomenal for the upgrade. And then the second Hyatt was some kind of a Hyatt, I think it was a Hyatt centric that was actually a, literally a five minute walk away.
But to be able to get that really nice room and oh, and I even had, I had his and hers faragamo. Perfume and cologne samples in the room. So, so that was a fancy, nice touch. So that, that was the miles and points side of it. Really cool trip overall, I actually went with Kevin to the Al Madrid game the last one of the season at the stadium.
And so it was super cool, was that stadium was the exact same place where Taylor Swift was gonna be. So I went, I got together twice in a week. So I got to see show the before Taylor and after Taylor of what the stadium looked like. But to be able to go to that concert and just to see the majesty of what she’s been able to produce with her team and to show all of her music, that was a really [00:25:00] incredible experience.
I’m so glad that I got to be a part of that and see that and to get it at a much reasonable, much more reasonable price than I would’ve in the state, just like you said.
Justin Vacula: Yes. And how close were you to the stage? Was there any direct engagement meeting after the show? Meeting before the show?
Danielle: Taylor Swift or what?
Taylor Swift, obviously. Okay. I wish there had been meeting with Taylor Swift that sadly didn’t happen. There were not, I think meet and greets set up as far as where I sat, so I think it was two sets of tickets. So there was a set of tickets that was. I’d say it was pretty close to where the floor would be, but they were actual seats at the time before I started going to the gym, because I just started doing that a month and a half ago, and it’s been helpful.
I had some like lower back issues such that I can’t be standing for too long and I would get a little uncomfortable. There was a set of people that had floor tickets and floor. That was the other set of tickets. Kevin [00:26:00] was in that in the floor seats group. And so because of my back, I knew I wasn’t gonna be able to last the whole concert in that group.
I didn’t do that one. But what was, what’s nice about the floor is I think you feel, I heard you feel like you’re part of the concert. What’s nice about being in the seats though, one, you have a seat, but also it’s nice to be able to see, you can see the bird’s eye view a bit more of the whole stage versus.
When you are on the floor, you only get to see a portion of it and you have to go back and look up at the screen for the rest of it. Yeah. To meeting Taylor Swift would’ve been pretty cool. But I also, what was cool too actually was Blake Lively came to that show, her best friend, one of her best friends, and she came there with I think at least a few of, at least one or two of her kids.
And I think, I think Taylor Swift kind of covertly shouted them out. ’cause I think she, one of her albums. There’s a song that talks about three different people and it’s the name of Blank Liveliest Kids. And she like shouted that out. Oh yeah. And talking about so [00:27:00] and so and so, but, so yeah, that was pretty cool.
She was up on another fun, uh, celebrity sighting.
Justin Vacula: Cool. Yes. One feature of the podcast is that subscribers will ask their listener questions and we had a special fan of the show recently. Pari, Purple Princess Pari, on Instagram who’s going to be on Love on the Spectrum Season three on Netflix. We’re recording in March of 2025 and I believe April 2nd is going to be the debut episode.
So Pari was asking about the Taylor Swift experience.
Danielle: Yeah, it was super cool. Wish we we could have been able to meet her, but reality is,
first of all, hi Pari. So excited to watch your journey this season. I really have enjoyed the show, and so really excited to see what the future holds starting April 2nd.
But your social media presence is about to explode in the next few weeks or months. So if you keep being yourself and talking about what you have to talk about and [00:28:00] speaking about Taylor Swift and what you love about her and tagging her, who knows? Maybe your team will see it. You never know what the future holds.
Justin Vacula: Yes, I know cast members from season one and two, particularly James, we were looking at before, really blew up on social media and got an invite from many bands speaking at different events, attending comic events. I’ve been seeing he’s been up to a lot.
Danielle: That’s right. He’s got almost like 500,000 followers now.
Even just another one of the cast members, I think she’s got some, I think Danny has some 300,000 or something, so. The social media influence has really seen an uptick post the show, so I’m sure it’ll be the same for Perry too.
Justin Vacula: Yes, love on the Spectrum. Season three coming soon on Netflix or starting in April, and seasons one and two I watched while I was cruising, so that’s what led to me being a fan of the show.
So highly recommended and perhaps here points and miles on the spectrum because America loves math. We love travel, figuring out all these programs, the [00:29:00] puzzle of it. The journey has been really fun as I’ve been doing this since 2018, still having a lot of fun and lots of passion about it. And you’ve been in the game for some time too?
Danielle: I was doing a lot of earning prior to 2022, and then come 2022 is when I finally started redeeming for the first time for. Some of the business class tickets, not my first business class. Redemption wasn’t necessarily the best deal. It was some a hundred something thousand one way on United to get to France from New York City, you really would only need to pay around 60,000 or 70 on Air France.
But again, you sometimes make some of those mistakes early on. You figure it out as you go along, and then you just make less of ’em later. That’s how you learn
Justin Vacula: and getting into this. Yes, a bit of a learning curve, but I think many people can win in the hobby. Even just starting small, as I hear sometimes from people, [00:30:00] oh, that sounds really complicated.
Oh, you’re really smart and thanks for the compliment, but I don’t think it’s out of reach. I think that as long as you have financial responsibility, you’re somewhat organized, listeners can be a winner. If people are new to the hobby, don’t get discouraged and overwhelmed and not even try.
Danielle: I completely agree.
I think also, I think sometimes what some people see in the blogging world or on social media, I think a lot of people see people that have like around 20 credit cards and in that overall ballpark. But I think what a lot of people realize is that that sounds a lot really stressful in the beginning to a lot of people even just starting out.
I, I think everyone should only do what’s comfortable for them and if that means having. Three credit cards. If it means having five, as long as you’re strategic about it, there’s still some incremental benefit you can get from just having a couple of cards to start off. Maybe you grow [00:31:00] it from there. I think so often it, the idea of having so many is so stressful that sometimes people don’t even start.
And just having only having as many as you’re comfortable with is great. Once, once it becomes stressful or uncomfortable, that that’s when you can feel free to to pair back or not get any more cards. Miss do is keep it comfortable for you
Justin Vacula: and anything worthwhile is likely going to take a lot of effort in learning as no one’s going to pick up a Hurdy, Gerdy, or another musical instrument and be an expert on day one.
It’s going to take some practice. It’s going to take learning. It’s an experience of humility, trying to understand new information and just taking it slowly. So yes, don’t start with, oh, Justin has 50 credit cards and I need to have 50 credit cards to win. No, you’ll just start with one and build up from there when you’re ready.
Danielle: Exactly. I probably only had one or two to start. First of all, I think what my earliest cards, one of them was that Amex everyday preferred, and then the Chase Sapphire preferred. [00:32:00] Was probably my second one that I’d gotten. And yeah, I really, I had those for quite a while until I moved to New York in 2021 and was able to finally start getting more cards at a more decent clip.
Justin Vacula: Yeah, we’re really fortunate here in America to have this ability, as I mentioned before, people coming from Canada, people in other countries just don’t have this, and me living in Pennsylvania. I’ve had a lot of success with local grocery reward programs, fuel rewards. It’s really changed my life dramatically decreasing expenses.
All the new people I’ve met, all the destinations I’ve gone to, I never would’ve paid full price to go on four cruises this year. I don’t even know if I’d ever go on a cruise and pay 2000, $3,000 to take cruises, but since I have the opportunity to do so. At such low cost. I’m happy to do that. And similar to your flights to Europe, I don’t think you are going to fly overseas and have to pay for it, but hey, points and miles, we’ll go ahead [00:33:00] and do it and have some fun.
Danielle: Yeah, absolutely. Definitely. My, my current goal, which I’ve been able to largely do, is to not, do not go over an ocean or I have to do an overnight in economy anymore. That’s like the main goal. Yeah. And so far I think I, I’ve managed to do pretty well at that. I would say not full, completely foolproof, but I’m pretty close.
Justin Vacula: Yeah. So a lot of signup bonuses from credit cards. Definitely getting you there. Some creative spending. Perhaps and some interesting techniques that, that we find as some people wonder, oh, how am I gonna spend $3,000 in three months to get this or that bonus there? There are a lot of ways to do that if you put in the effort or even strategically timing your signups as again, we’re recording at the end of March and taxes are gonna be due shortly.
So many people are going to pay taxes with their credit cards, or perhaps your auto insurance annual is due. You can pay your rent with credit in many cases. So there are lots of ways to get the spend in.
Danielle: [00:34:00] Absolutely, definitely. I definitely use, I usually use my Venture X because it’s 2%, two, two times the points per dollar, 2% back, and that’s more than the fee that’s charged for the taxes.
So that’s been the card I’ve used to pay taxes in the past. Given that I’m working on a signup bonus, I might use that card instead. Even though it might not be quite as economical, but I’m really looking for the signup bonus overall. I think it’ll leave it out in the end.
Justin Vacula: Good. Another trip early in 2025.
You went to Vienna.
Danielle: I sure did. That was a really exciting one. Something that people may not know about me is that I am in this ball scene here in New York City. It exists. There is one. And so I’ve danced as part of the entertainment in one of these balls. I’ve gone as a guest to a number of these bridgeton type balls, and so in Vienna, there’s a whole ball [00:35:00] scene in January and February.
What’s nice about going to Vienna in January, I know a lot of people would not necessarily want to go in January, February because it is a bit darker and danker and all of that jazz, and it’s cold, but January is. Low sea is the lowest season for Tourism Vienna for the entire year. Pretty much, at least according to the tour guide I had for the walking tour I did.
So what was great about that was there was a lot of great points and miles availability. So I was able to get Austrian business class both ways with a Aeroplan points. If I had a slightly higher risk profile and been a little more creative, I could have maybe gotten Lufthansa first class back, but I ended up deciding to stay with what I had this time around.
But now I’ll be much better prepared for the next time. And, and what was also really exciting about this trip too, was that I have two other ball going friends that came with me and they were [00:36:00] there. They had a little bit of overlap. One was there for the first half, one was there for the second half, and we met in the middle there, but was exciting for me for, this was the first trip that I’ve ever been on with non miles and points people where I was able to finally show some my miles and my non miles and points friends a good time with all the hard work that I’d done that was in the form of the hotels.
The first hotel that we stayed in, it was three hotels in the Hyatt portfolio. The first one, sadly, I believe, either just has or is about to go up a category. It was the Linner up until literally today or tomorrow was a category one. And the other great thing about this time of the year, like I said, because it’s low season, everything was off peak for Hyatt, so I paid 3,500 points.
Per night, I asked my friends to, they split the cost with me, but the cost of the points value, not the cash value. So they [00:37:00] saved a lot of money that way. Two nights for 2,500 points per night at the Linder, and I was so impressed with the breakfast there for a category one. Now a cat, even a category two, the globalist breakfast with all of the fresh.
Jams, cheeses and breads and juices they had. I was really impressed. So I think there’s incredible value for money there. We got a small, we got an upgrade to a larger double bed room, so that was nice to have. The second hotel was a big dream for a lot of miles and points people, it was the Park Hyatt at Vienna.
That was a really cool experience. What was interesting actually about that one though, was that, so I was traveling with, I was always staying with one friend and myself, and so we needed, he and I needed two separate beds and a lot of hotels don’t have suites with two different beds, but the Park [00:38:00] Hyatt did.
They had a junior suite twin. I emailed them and got confirmation in writing that I would be able to get that room. I got there and it had been sold. What they did for me was they, first of all, they put me into, they put us into a slightly upgraded double bedroom, which was great, but they also said for the last night, we can guarantee you the suite.
And I absolutely wanted that because I wanted to stay in it myself, but also to show, to have that experience for my friend as well. They put some champagne in the room and they also, I had, I wanted to get a spa appointment and they helped me get one and they also ended up covering that. So overall, they ended up compensating me for the mistake that they made.
Oh, it was nice. And so beyond that though, I went to two different balls. There was one called the Vien FL Harmonic Bowl. I went with my one friend and that was in this big music hall and the [00:39:00] VNFL Harmonic played. And, and so that was a really cool experience. And actually it was also fun. I was sitting at a table with my friend and there was a couple there, and he said, the guy said I had to apologize to Eugene Levy for bumping him on the dance floor.
So Eugene Levy was at this ball. I tried to find him the whole night, couldn’t do it, but it came out in the news the next day that he’d been there. So clearly he was there. The second ball was called the Doctor’s Ball or the Ball. That one, myself and both of my friends, we both went to that one. That was a really cool one.
We definitely go to that one again, because that was in the Hoffenberg Palace. It was two different floors, multiple dance floors, so many food stations, and there was a map and it was very well laid out. So that was a really unique. Experience that I got to have and I got to upgrade it thanks to Miles and points.
Another fun thing if I [00:40:00] forgot about Austrian business class is they had this special like coffee service. There was a whole menu of really cool different kinds of coffee. They have a chef on board in business and so they, I asked both times for a little bit of the coffee and they made, they had homemade like whipped cream too on a flight.
It was insane. And the priority pass lounge in Vienna. Got an award for the best priority pass lounge in the world actually. So it was really nice actually to be able to, ’cause both of my friends that I took, I had, I flew with one going there and then I was flying at the same time, different flights with another friend.
The way back. I was able to take them both to their first Priority Pass lounge. That one in Vienna was really, something was really vast and one of the most hilarious benefits I saw in the lounge. There’s a big nap room in the back. I’ve never seen this in any other lounge. I go in there and there’s a little sign and it says, forgot your reading [00:41:00] glasses.
Come to the front desk and borrow a pair. You can borrow reading glasses. Oh, that’s interesting. Isn’t that fascinating? I was like, that’s so. Cool. Never seeing it. Probably won’t see it again. They had a little like bookshelf there with a couple books you could just take and read in the little nap room areas.
But that was just a hilarious, very unique benefit that I saw in the lounge. So had to bring that up because I just never seen it anywhere else.
Justin Vacula: Cool. So the little things we could definitely find joy in and have a lot of fun, especially when things go pretty well, as some people can focus on the negatives and this and that happens, but try to stay positive.
Throughout all of this, and I really liked the Chase Sapphire lounge in Philadelphia. I released a video on my YouTube channel about that. The place is huge. I think it ended up big, like an eight minute video. I saw it. It was so much to see and do.
Danielle: I saw it. It was cool. I, I also, I was so impressed at how big it was in so many areas and like spa area.
Yeah, you really covered it all.
Justin Vacula: Arcade [00:42:00] games and their complimentary facials and they had the wellness area.
Danielle: You really can’t beat that there. There really are not so many lounges nowadays that have complimentary facials. I did get one, one time in the, in the Air France lounge in JFK, one of the times when I traveled business on Air France.
I did get one there and I’ve been mean to do it. I’ve tried to do it a few times. In one of the Air France lounges in Paris, but for some reason I keep g leaving on a day when like the spa is closed or like I get there too late and the spa is closed. I’ll get there. It’ll happen. But yeah, it’s just so rare to find lounges that still due those spa treatments.
So it’s pretty cool that just for the Chase credit card, you could just get that.
Justin Vacula: The war on happiness strikes.
Danielle: Indeed,
Justin Vacula: your time will come enough travels and it’ll line up one of these days. Yes,
Danielle: it will. I’m certain of it.
Justin Vacula: All right. This conversation’s going by pretty fast. We’ll end with a few [00:43:00] questions here.
I ask most guests, how about some upcoming trips? What do you look forward to in 2025?
Danielle: I am going to Lima, Peru in a few weeks. Very excited about that. I use the. Alaska has a partnership with latam and they have a 35,000 mile one-way deal on business class on latam between JFK and Lima. So I got that going down there.
Haven’t been able to get on the way back. I’ve been checking every single day. I booked the economy for the way back for now. I’ll keep checking, but what I’m excited about for that is that will get me access to the new Delta One lounge at JFK, which is only a few months old. So I’m really excited for opportunity to check that out because that’s a, a business class only lounge
Justin Vacula: and potentially Chicago seminars events in 2025, I think around October.
I didn’t see any commitment for dates just yet, but I’m [00:44:00] looking forward to going to both Chicago Seminars events later in 2025 and hopefully speaking at both of them.
Danielle: Sounds amazing. I’m really excited about Chicago Seminars as well. I
Justin Vacula: really enjoy going every year. I’m really excited to go again and we have Zork Fest 2025 in Las Vegas, December 5th through the seventh location two B announced, so that’ll be another opportunity.
To meet with some podcast fans and maybe they’ll meet with you as well in Chicago or Las Vegas. Sounds
Danielle: really fun. Looking forward to it.
Justin Vacula: Any upcoming credit card application?
Danielle: Oh, that’s a great question. After so long, I finally got both of the Hyatt credit cards. It took me while to even get, yeah, I took advantage of those.
They just had elevated offers. ’cause I think in the past couple years they’ve had elevated offers, but they haven’t been ones I’ve wanted to take advantage of. But finally, the elevated offers were ones I really wanted to take advantage of. Got those. I think next on the docket is probably the Amex Platinum.
The personal one. I need to get it done. I wanna have access to [00:45:00] Century and Lounges. I guess one of my other cards is Access to Clear, but all the other big benefits, like I just need to have that card, get it over with, be able to get into the Delta Sky Clubs a couple times a year if I want to. And the airline credit and the access to fine hotels and resorts.
Really excited to that one that that’s a goal. Another goal for this year, once I’m done with the Hyatt cards and this other American Airlines card that I’m just finishing up now.
Justin Vacula: The Amtrak credit card with First National Bank of Omaha is currently up to a 40,000 point welcome offer. Normally it’s 20,000 bonus points.
They claim it’s worth over a thousand in Amtrak travel and many benefits with that as well, including fair Upgrades, companion Certificate Club, or Lounge Access with them. And in the next podcast episode, Decker or D. Is gonna be talking about Amtrak and their rewards program. Would you find yourself on Amtrak or using the Amtrak credit card or applying for it?
Danielle: Good question. I know there’s a ton of value in it, and [00:46:00] I know that D finds a ton of value from Amtrak, and so I’m really excited to hear what he says about it. I absolutely am an Amtrak traveler, though. I spent a few years living in Washington DC and I would travel. That’s how I would travel between Washington, DC and New York City.
So I absolutely have been. A regular Amtrak traveler, and I really enjoyed Union Station. Down there is a nice train station. They have a lot of great food options now in New York City. They made a really serious upgrade to the Amtrak section of Penn Station called Moynihan Hall, and that’s been a really solid upgrade for Amtrak Travelers.
So Amtrak Travel has only has been the best it’s ever been in my opinion, especially here on the Northeastern corridor area.
Justin Vacula: Nice and that’s a big interest of Pari. As we mentioned earlier, purple Princess Pari. PPP on Instagram as she’s riding a lot of Amtrak in the Boston area.
Danielle: Very exciting stuff.
I’m so happy that she’s so passionate about it. I’m glad she’s found her passion and that [00:47:00] it’s trains for her and that she gets to ride all the cool trains and know the models, and I’m so glad she gets so much joy out of it. Really cool stuff.
Justin Vacula: All right, nice. And we have a little bit of time at the end.
You hacked your way into the 2023 TPG Awards. Can you tell us about that?
Danielle: Sure can. 2023. I follow Brian Kelly on Instagram. I noticed that he said I love being the fairy godmother here of miles and points people. So if you can be in New York City. On Monday night, drop me a DM and I’ll do the best I can to get you in.
And I noticed that he had given a ticket to who I now know is Janelle on a jet? Great social media influencer. She loves Delta. She’s a great influencer about a lot of things, miles and points. I was like, you know what? If she can do it, then I can do it. So I send him a message and I’m like, oh my God. So I go to all the different miles of place conferences that you used to go to, and I already live in New [00:48:00] York City.
And so I had this like little spiel about that. And sure enough, I get an email that I have a ticket and. Funnily enough, Kevin Song was also in for that event, so was Ben from Ben’s Big Deal. So it ended up being a pretty fun reunion of some other Miles and Points friends. That’s where I met Julia Menez from Geo Breeze Child for the first time.
She was also there, and so that was a really cool event. One of the coolest I’ve been to in quite a while. Got to be the nice guy himself. I have a picture with him. He can confirm. He’s a really tall person and some really cool people were there. Pilot Pete from The Bachelor was there. Aparna from Indian matchmaking was there and got to meet some really cool people.
And some of these hor d’oeuvres were like on umbrellas and, and Gail, who before who sang A, B, C, D, EFU, she performed. It was a really standout event. I’ve never been to anything like it. Who knows if I ever will again, but. Really lucky [00:49:00] and privileged that he said yes to me coming. And so I got to have a once in a lifetime experience.
So really cool stuff.
Justin Vacula: Alright, very good. And where can people find you online? I.
Danielle: Absolutely. So you can follow me on Instagram. I’m Danny Theo, a e nine, that’s D-A-N-I-F, like Frank io 89. And if you go in there, you can look at some of the highlights that I have. I have a highlight of the points, the TPG awards from 2023.
I have a highlight. Of the Taylor Swift Madrid trip, and I also have a recent highlight of the Vienna trip that I took. So feel free to check those out and enjoy some miles and points content based on what we just discussed here today.
Justin Vacula: All right, great. And just to be sure that people are seeing it, it says UX Research, professional songwriter, K-Pop, top liner.
Miles Points specialist, global citizen linguist, and it’s cut off Foodie in New York City. Ha and K-Pop. Tell us about that to wrap up the show. Oh, I’m
Danielle: just such a [00:50:00] huge fan of K-Pop. I have been for a little while, and I’ve studied some songwriting. Over the course of the pandemic, I met a number of different other songwriters, so I’ve given it a shot at writing some K-pop style tracks, and it’s been a really fun time, way to stretch my creative skills.
Justin Vacula: All right. And again, that’s. D-A-N-I-F-I-O 89 on Instagram. Any other social media presence?
Danielle: I would say that’s the main one. I’m there on, on X, but the one I post on is Instagram, so that’s gonna be the main one I’d focus on. Yo, thank you so much, Justin, for having me on. I’m real, I’m really excited. I could talk about miles and points all day.
As you probably know, that’s who you meet at these conferences, people that could talk about this till the cows come home. So I’m so glad that I got to share my experiences and I hope that. People can enjoy, learn something new and really excited. I’ve been here, so I really appreciate it. Thanks a lot Justin.
Justin Vacula: Thanks for listening and stay tuned for future episodes, some closing announcements. Ticket sales for [00:51:00] Zork Fest 2025 A Miles Points in gambling event are live at zork Fest travel zork.com. I hope to see you at Zork Fest 2025 in Las Vegas, December 5th through December 7th. I’m also looking forward to other events in 2025 and had a successful 2024 speaking at events with Award Travel 1 0 1 Travel Zork Frequent Traveler University, and both Chicago Seminars events.
If you’re an event organizer and would like to have me speak at your 2025 event, please contact me. Visit meetup.com/philly miles and points to RS VP for monthly Greater Philadelphia Travel Credit, miles and points meetups I host in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania. The next meetups are April 12th and May 17th, 2025.
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Travel at low cost with points and miles. Credit card rewards bring smiles. Many adventures tells to be told, make and save money, the world will unfold.
Fight the war on happiness. Pick up the gold. Hurdy Gurdy Travel Podcast breaks the mold.