Join Justin Vacula in this episode of the Hurdy Gurdy Travel Podcast as he speaks with Jackie Wisniewski about the upcoming 2025 Chicago Seminars at Hyatt Regency.
Learn about the history, goals, and details of this highly anticipated points and miles conference, including networking opportunities, educational sessions, and charity partnerships.
Discover how attendees can maximize their travel through credit card points and miles while also contributing to good causes.
Get tips on registration, travel arrangements, and what to expect at the event. Don’t miss this informative and exciting discussion!
Timestamps:
00:00 Theme Song
00:35 Meet the Host and Guest Introduction
01:42 Chicago Seminars Overview
02:49 Event Details and Logistics
03:56 Networking and Education at Chicago Seminars
04:42 Speakers and Sessions
09:31 Sponsors and Additional Activities
15:02 Travel Tips and Recommendations
19:11 Memorable Connections and Travel Stories
20:36 Advice for First-Time Attendees
21:17 Preparing for the Conference
23:07 Connecting Before the Event
23:43 Speaker Lineup and Feedback
26:27 Social Events and Activities
29:26 Travel Stories and Upcoming Trips
32:48 Credit Card Strategies and Tips
34:49 Final Thoughts and Event Information
35:38 Closing Announcements and Promotions
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Rough Transcript:
Theme Song: [00:00:00] Travel at low cost with points and miles. Credit card rewards bring the 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 and next to know cost with credit card points, miles, benefits, and loyalty programs. Thanks for joining me for today’s episode, Chicago Seminars Hyatt Regency 2025. Jackie Wisniewski joins me to promote this upcoming points and miles conference.
Visit meetup.com/philly miles and points [00:01:00] to RSVP for monthly Greater Philadelphia Travel Credit Miles and Points meetups I host in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania. The next meetups are June 22nd and July 13th, 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 for daily content. Including travel videos, podcast clips, community, and posts on with today’s episode recorded, June 3rd, 2025. Welcome to the show Jackie.
Jackie: Thanks so much for having me.
Justin Vacula: Yeah, thanks for coming on. Happy to promote Chicago Seminars. I recently had Michael Traeger on to promote Zork Fest, so happy to share the love.
Jackie: Fantastic. We appreciate it.
Justin Vacula: Can you tell listeners a bit about yourself and how you got involved with Chicago Seminars?
Jackie: Sure. I’ve been a [00:02:00] part of award travel for about 10 years now. It was about 10 years ago when the Chase Software Reserve hit the market at a hundred K points, and that’s what I signed up and got involved in the world.
I’ve gotten involved in for several years, about four years. I was a moderator for the Facebook group award Travel 1 0 1, backed by award wallet, and I would host events. For that group, and I got involved with some of the Chicago, their Chicago seminars, organizers through the events and work that I did with award travel 1 0 1.
So this will be my third year on the organizing committee now.
Justin Vacula: And lots of travel, I’m sure in those 10 years.
Jackie: Absolutely have the, I’ve had the opportunity to go on trip that couldn’t have even imagined
Justin Vacula: traveling at low cost with points and miles.
Jackie: That’s what we do
Justin Vacula: for those new to the space. What is Chicago Seminars and how did that event get started?
Jackie: Yeah, so Chicago Seminars is the oldest and largest event for the Points of Miles community. It was actually founded in [00:03:00] 2010, so we’re excited to celebrate that Milestone 15 anniversary this year. We’re lucky enough to have close contact with some of the original organizers and shepherds of the event when it started back then, and they’ve been very supportive as we’ve continued this effort.
Last year we had over 500 attendees. And we raised about $30,000 for charity. Our charity partners last year were Miles for Migrants in the Armed Services YMCA. So the cool thing about Chicago Seminars is it’s a nonprofit. We come together as a community to learn a lot and raise funds for our charity partners every year.
The good thing about the organizers not aligned with a certain organization or group. So this is really more of a grassroots community effort. Everyone you interact with. At the event, we will be a volunteer, including the organizer. So this is a true labor of love that we’re happy to continue on. The legacy for
Justin Vacula: education and networking are two big aspects of the event.[00:04:00]
Jackie: Absolutely. So we make sure to do some facilitated networking and also leave enough time in between our programming so that you can interact with people that you come across who may fly outta the same airport as you do. We make sure to try and group people together by. Geography and recently we actually had a poll in the Facebook group that we used to keep everyone updated and asking them if since they attended the meetup last year, if they’ve been able to connect with any local groups.
About 60% of people said that they have. So we were able to create those kind of connections that evolved and people were able to find people near to them who speak the same language that we do, which is pretty cool.
Justin Vacula: Education. I’m one of the speakers at the event. Thank you for inviting me. We have many other speakers who will be sharing their knowledge and fielding questions from attendees.
Jackie: Absolutely. We actually have last year’s agenda still on the website. You can find that@www.chicagosseminars.org [00:05:00] so you can get an idea of the kind of programming that we put together. We are currently, we have a call for presentations out on our website. So we solicit ideas from the community and speaker requests there.
So whether you wanna present or you have an idea for a topic you’d like to see presented, you’re more than welcome to submit it directly to our website. And we also invite back speakers like yourself who have received high remarks and high ratings on our post event surveys to make sure that we have a very good quality lineup of speakers and sessions.
To keep everyone occupied. I think last year we all day Saturday and most of the day Sunday, we were running three sessions at one time. Even though you may see a few things you’re not interested in, there’s usually a session at the same time that are more in line with what you’re looking to learn.
Justin Vacula: Yes, my topic will be about online gambling and earning casino status through credit cards.
Unfortunately, people in the state of California. I don’t have all those options, especially [00:06:00] for online, so there will be something for everyone, even if certain things are regional, local, or statewide.
Jackie: Your presentation was definitely well received last year, so we’re really happy to have you back and of course for all of your support.
Justin Vacula: Thanks. And what are the dates for 2025
Jackie: or November 7th through ninth. We start registration mid-afternoon, and then we usually have opening remarks early evening. We do have a sample schedule up on our website so you can get an idea of our start and end times Sunday. We usually go through mid-afternoon, so as you’re making those plans, definitely take a peek at that proposed schedule.
We have online,
Justin Vacula: and this is going to be at Hyatt Regency, a few years ago, there was some feedback from attendees they wanted to move to. Perhaps a more expensive or a higher category hotel. So I think that’s been a good improvement for the event.
Jackie: Yeah, we’ve spent many fantastic years at the Holiday Inn, but I think working with the Hyatt Regency O’Hare has been [00:07:00] such a great experience.
It’s right at the doorstep of the airport pretty much. Charles’s run very frequently. As you can imagine, Hyatt aligns with a lot of our attendees goals as far as what type of nights they’re trying to achieve. So it is, it’s been a pretty mutually beneficial arrangement. The facilities at the Hyatt Ency O’Hare are just light years away from what we’ve had in the past, and so we’re very happy with our experience there.
So far,
Justin Vacula: I liked the included breakfast buffet and not just muffins and a waffle maker. It was a really nice buffet. So complimentary buffet with Hyatt globalist status, and I know many attendees, including myself, will have open slots to ferry people into breakfast. So it’s nice to have that, nice to have the rooms booked at a low points rate, potential upgrades as well.
So America indeed loves Hyatt.
Jackie: Yes, of course. They actually sent an email out to anyone with a reservation letting them know that due to the Chicago seminars to not [00:08:00] expect any upgrades because I think we had most of the suites at that point. So pretty cool to take over a hotel in that way.
Justin Vacula: Last year, I think that there were more globalists staying at the Hyatt than ever.
This was the meeting of the minds of the Hyatt globalists.
Jackie: It seemed like it, for sure, and I thought the Hyatt did such a great job in organizing a few more status specific check-in lines, making sure that breakfast was completely staffed. Everyone had a good experience. They offered alternatives, like there were some grab and go breakfast at coffee counters.
I think Hyatt definitely stepped up in that regard, and I think the feedback I heard overall it was just a much better experience than it had been in the past.
Justin Vacula: Last year I remember taking an airport shuttle to the hotel, so it was complimentary transportation to and from. Is that still active for 2025?
Jackie: Yeah, that’s still the case. And we’re so much closer to the airport now, so. You’re only a few minutes away from once you get off your plane, the connecting with every one of the regions, the [00:09:00] O’Hare.
Justin Vacula: We mentioned the breakfast with the hotel throughout the event. I remember food. There were some plate serving food, there were some grab and go.
I remember what kind of food is included with the ticket.
Jackie: So we’ll have a Friday night reception and it’ll be mostly like small plates, small bites. So I’ll make sure that you come into Friday evening with some sort of. Space as far as food goes, but we also include lunch and dinner Saturday, and then we have lunch on Sunday.
Some of our sponsors who we’re extremely grateful for, and they really help bridge some of the costs that come with this event to make sure that everyone just has a fantastic experience. But some of our sponsors may also be holding events probably Saturday night of that weekend, so you may be able to snag a few more freebies or opportunities to win some cool prizes.
Based on the events that they’re having
Justin Vacula: and the sponsors, were people very much involved with miles and points. I remember last year [00:10:00] many guests I had on the podcast from card center, cc, gift card, reselling website, qc, gc, were there various gold buyers. So this is opportunity to network with them and if you’re not yet on their platforms to get involved.
Jackie: Absolutely. Yep. And if you have any other ideas or you’re an organization looking to get involved, you can reach out to us at sponsorships@chicagoseminars.org.
Justin Vacula: And I think Flus is going to be a sponsor of the event. Is that right?
Jackie: They were, this past year. We had really good experiences with all of our sponsors.
We’re inviting them all back and working through the details and not as we speak actually. So hoping we can retain our vendors as that means if it was mutually beneficial for all of us.
Justin Vacula: People might be able to meet Maurice in person again, the owner of Flus. What other sponsors are signed up that are definitely going to be there?
Jackie: You mentioned a lot of the ones that we had last year, but I don’t think I heard seats arrow. Uh, we actually [00:11:00] had the opportunity to a fireside chat with Founder Ian, and I think that went over well. I think it was cool for our attendees to hear what happens behind the scenes in some of these award alert tools.
Justin Vacula: Card pointers is card pointer is going to be a sponsor of the event.
Jackie: I’m not sure if they will be a sponsor of the events, but I know there are definitely some folks we’d be very interested in speaking with
Justin Vacula: anything else included in the cost of the ticket.
Jackie: Yeah, so it’s pretty much all of the programming as you can imagine, being a nonprofit, unpaid sort of folks being involved.
We wanna make sure that as much money gets back to our charities as possible. As you can imagine, most of the costs associated goes to the hotel room space, the food and beverage minimums. We’re very thankful to have just a fantastic group of speakers who keep coming back, keep growing our community, and a lot of them are working on a volunteer basis as well to provide some of that quality programming.
But quite [00:12:00] the, the content schedule we put together every year. I say it’s one of the most interesting games of Tetris I’ve ever played is making the Chicago seminar schedule. Just because there are so many fantastic speakers, we wanna make sure that we’re putting them in the right room, in the right spot.
So definitely a lot of thought that goes into that schedule, hoping that everyone who attends will be able to find some way to keep themselves interested during those long days of seminars.
Justin Vacula: I’m looking at the current prices, priority boarding $299 through June 6th, 2025. We’re recording on June 3rd, general boarding $329, starting June 7th, and last call 369 starting October 10th.
Is that right?
Jackie: Yeah, that’s correct. Priority boarding is our early bird ticket, right? Once again, very thankful to have such a loyal group of supporters. We’ve seen some really fantastic numbers so far with ticket sales that have. Really made us enthused to continue on this work leading up to that [00:13:00] November event.
But yeah, we do have a price increase scheduled for June 7th, but of course, uh, you can follow your favorite speakers. They all have codes. I think I heard you maybe mention yours earlier to continue receiving discounts on ticket.
Justin Vacula: Yes. It’s code Hurdy gerdy as one word.
Jackie: Fantastic. Yeah. There are over 500 attendees and about 50 speakers.
Over 50 sessions. Sometimes we have panels where groups of speakers will get together. The one thing that I’m the most impressed about is the $30,000 to charity. It’s just amazing to all come together to be able to support two very worthy causes.
Justin Vacula: What are some of the other topics that will be presented?
Jackie: Yeah, so we really were on the gamut. Like I mentioned, we do have last year’s topics on our website. If you do wanna give those a browse. We’ll have anything ranging from airline program specific sessions to casinos. As you mentioned, general travel. There may be some destination based sessions as well, hotel [00:14:00] programs, tools, and tricks that some of the more seasoned award travel folks recommend on how to plan a trip.
And then we also have some fires groups reselling. We try to once again listen to the feedback that we receive every year. Get the pulse of the community for the topics that they want to hear. The last couple years I’ve done a topic on using AI and travel planning, so we continue to monitor any emerging topics that people may wanna know about
Justin Vacula: and something for both beginners and more seasoned people in the community.
Jackie: Absolutely. I think with the diversity of the content that we offer and how many people are willing to come together to make this event a success that. We have people who have attended over 10 times who keep coming back for more just because of the sum of all the parts and not just the education, but the networking piece.
They see friends that they correspond with online and they may see them once a year at Chicago seminars. So it, it’s just something really [00:15:00] cool that I’m very proud to be a part of.
Justin Vacula: Any travel tips for people flying in or maybe driving in? I know that. Organizers encourage people to buy their hotel rooms early, book their flights early, anything other than that.
Jackie: The name of the hotel is, has ORD in it. So you’ll wanna fly into O’Hara Airport it right outside of the airport area. Midway’s a little bit further, but I know people who have float in and out of midway for better times. The shuttle does not go to Midway, so you wanna maybe find a buddy who can insure an Uber to and from the hotel.
But it is more convenient to fly into O’Hare. The hotel is very well appointed. There’s a restaurant on site. There’s a couple restaurants across the street that are walkable as well. It’s just really in a good area. As you’re coming in, it’s gonna be extremely easy to locate the shuttle, and you’ll be at our hotel so fast,
Justin Vacula: and I like arriving the night before rather than trying to fly in the day of.
That way, I get more [00:16:00] situated in case there are any delays or problems with flights. I can get things resolved and not end up being late on the first day.
Jackie: Absolutely, and it’s fun to see people trickle in, unrecognized people in the lobby leading up to the event. We see a lot of people who come in that Thursday night, to your point, to get settled and get buckled up for the weekend.
Justin Vacula: I’m flying from Philadelphia, so I’ll be flying United. I have a lot of United Travel Bank, as I’m sure a lot of people do from various airline incidental credits. And similar things we have in miles and points. So I think this is a good way to get out the United Travel Bank and even United Points as Chicago has a lot of inbound and outbound united flights.
Jackie: I’m looking at my United Travel Bank right now because I haven’t even booked my flights. Oh, I should. Chicago,
Justin Vacula: uh oh. After the, after our call. The
Jackie: good thing is I’m an Austin Tech. We’re in the middle of the country and I feel like we, we get decent routes to the hubs for sure. So I’m not sweating it, but I should probably do that.
Justin Vacula: [00:17:00] Parking. How does the hotel handle parking?
Jackie: If you do have a car, you’ll either want to be staying on points or be buddies with someone who’s staying on points because your parking will be covered. In that case, I don’t think we had many or any people actually pay for parking. It’s really nice access to the hotel.
The cell park lot is right next to one of the main doors, so it’s pretty convenient, but. You wanna make sure to have that status, to get those free parking night.
Justin Vacula: This year there’s gonna be a new social event, the popup. Can you talk about that?
Jackie: Yeah. So we wanted to offer something on Saturday night.
You’ve had a full day of learning, you’re excited about some of the things you learn. We wanted provide a forum for folks to decompress on Saturday night, meet each other in a more casual space. We’ll have dessert, we’ll have entertainment, but it’s largely un unstructured. Just to give folks an opportunity to connect with new people or reconnect with the people that they’ve come back year after year to be
Justin Vacula: and year after year.
[00:18:00] Usually groups plan for dinners. I know I had gone to the Polish restaurant Ghdi multiple times as a group of people, usually around the front of the restaurant, and we have a lot of space there. I’m sure many excursions will also be taking place.
Jackie: I’ve heard about a few excursions for sure. I know Award Travel 1 0 1 always plans an event for their members, and we’re working with our sponsors to help coordinate and make sure that our members know of any events that pop up that they may be hosting as well.
So it’ll certainly be a busy weekend.
Justin Vacula: Rivers Casino not too far away either, so people can pop in there. Perhaps status match if they’re offering something at the time. Maybe some gambling and maybe some food options there. I.
Jackie: Oh yeah, that’s right around the corner. I know, to your point, coming in early on Thursday, I know a lot of people who opt in to stay through Monday in order to check out some things around the area or pop into Chicago as well.
So certainly no shortage of things to do.
Justin Vacula: Any [00:19:00] particular memories from past Chicago seminars?
Jackie: Understanding how big of undertaking it is and seeing the result. We work on Chicago seminars all year round, whether it’s. Tweaking based on feedback, preparing for a new venue, recruiting speakers that are compelling or and interesting.
And it’s really, I just remember a few times just making sure I was in the moment and watching hopefully people have a good time and learn things that they’ll remember for the rest of their lives and make some really meaningful connection.
Justin Vacula: Some have met others to travel with and some friendships, relationships may be more.
Formed out of events like this?
Jackie: Absolutely. I travel with people I’ve met from, or travel Facebook groups. I am one of those people who travel with the internet strangers that I’ve met over the years. We’ve been to Belize with some of these folks. I went to Brazil with some as well. So it’s really nice to be around people who have similar travel habits as you.
Similar constraints [00:20:00] for poaching travel and. Similar, if not the same way as you, and so it makes for some really fun travel partners.
Justin Vacula: Last year, many attendees went straight to Vegas after Chicago, as there were various status match opportunities, I believe, at Win Las Vegas and Fountain Blue at the time.
So it was funny to fly from Chicago, go to Rio, and then see some people who were in Chicago. We hadn’t planned to go to Vegas, but we ended up meeting there at the Rio Breakfast area.
Jackie: Oh, that’s fantastic. And I’m not surprised one bit whatsoever.
Justin Vacula: The meeting of the minds at Rio Las Vegas.
Jackie: Of course, this is a new hotspot.
Justin Vacula: Any advice for people who will be attending Chicago seminars for the first time?
Jackie: Yeah, I think as far as advice, just keep an open mind. Take lots of notes. Introduce yourself to people. I know a lot of us in this hobby, we tend to be introverts as well. Just remember that everyone’s there for the same reason that you are.
To learn to, to network. I think it’s just rolling with it as what? As it [00:21:00] goes.
Justin Vacula: There are definitely shared interests, shared language, so I think that most people would be happy to chat if you go up to them and simply ask, how did you get involved? What are you working on? What are some recent credit cards that you got?
I think it’s pretty easy to start those conversations.
Jackie: Agreed. I like to think we’re a pretty friendly crew.
Justin Vacula: Anything people should bring or plan in advance for the conference?
Jackie: So one thing to bring is we do host a raffle, some fundraising opportunities for our charity partners. So a lot of times we’ll use things like travel gadgets to help raise money for these partners.
You have something that you particularly love. I know someone sent their favorite power bank to us, uh, in hopes that it could be used as a prize. Anything you come across between then and now, feel free to bring, we’ll, greatly appreciate it. And then other than that, maybe a notebook. We do have a new no recording policy of our presentations.
Some of the things that our speakers talk about may not be something they’ve published all [00:22:00] over the internet or maybe something that was being reserved for more of a conversation, so make sure you have a system for your notes. In the past, some of our speakers have shared their presentations and so that’s been really great, and so we’ll do a good better job of communicating that beforehand.
There you aren’t furiously writing notes. When you will actually receive the deck, but I think that’s one of the bigger changes that we’ll be making this year, is going more in depth with the speakers to get a really good summary of the talk that they’re going to give. Make sure that it accurately reflects the information that’s being shared within that session.
Once again, these speakers are all volunteers for us as well. We’re very happy that they’re graciously donating their time. We actually may have an opportunity where we auction off speaker’s time as well. So these can be things like, I think we had dancing lessons to one-on-one credit card consulting sessions or trip planning.
Very excited to take more time to work with [00:23:00] the speakers to make sure that they’re bringing their best to the seminars as well.
Justin Vacula: Again, we’re recording in June. How can people connect in advance for the event? You mentioned there’s a Facebook group. How do people find that?
Jackie: Yeah, so our website is where you’ll be able to register.
For tickets and find a lot of the key information about our site. But as far as announcements go, we do have a Facebook group. It’s Chicago Seminars Dash, the Original Points and Miles event. So as we get closer to the event, we’ll release more information. We’ll highlight speakers who are going to be presenting and provide more details as we get closer to November 7th.
Justin Vacula: Some of those speakers are also involved in the Facebook group. Can you talk about some of the other speakers who will be presenting?
Jackie: Yeah. Every year, first thing we do is we ask everyone who attended last year to fill out a survey and rate the speaker presentations. And so we start off by inviting the speakers who got the [00:24:00] highest ratings back.
You’ll see several of our speakers from last year invited back to the stage, and we’re actually going to start confirming speakers. Within the next month. So people who have submitted a request to our call for presentations proposal, I’ll be reaching out. Like I said, I think the what’s on the website is a good representation of who we expect, uh, and we’re excited to recruit and solicit additional new speakers as a direct resolve.
The feedback that we’ve received,
Justin Vacula: maybe about 25 at the moment, and that should grow.
Jackie: I think that’s completely accurate. Yeah, there were 25 that we wanted to reach out to first to start building some momentum around the vet, and we’re working as we go as a committee to work out the details with everyone else.
But we’re excited to start an ops programming soon.
Justin Vacula: Do you have a WhatsApp group, telegram group? Other cases?
Jackie: We don’t. At this time, we’re mostly primarily focused on Facebook. I promise I use the at [00:25:00] everyone tag. Very rarely. It’s only for big events, so don’t feel like you’re gonna get spammed if you join our group.
As we get closer to the event, attendees will also receive access to an attendee only event that has things like message boards and availability. Ability to connect. Once we get closer to that event, attendees will be able to connect with each other in an attendee only zone, which will help break the ice as we roll into the festivities.
Justin Vacula: Any final pitch for those on the fence about attending?
Jackie: Yeah, I think if you never attend a Points and Miles event before, I think this is a great way. It’s been running for a long time. We don’t have an agenda. It’s very community focused, and even if you’ve attended a Points of Miles event before, I think.
Expanding that reach and learning about the different communities and resources in a space that’s more agnostic is a really cool experience. As I’ve mentioned, I’ve met some of my favorite travel partners through Points and Miles. Events is something that I am so excited to be [00:26:00] involved in every year just because I see all the good that this community does come get involved,
Justin Vacula: and I think learning one or two valuable tips can easily offset the cost of the conference.
You’re gonna have the food included. It’s a nice hotel experience and maybe meeting some new friends or people to even be in touch with just online.
Jackie: Absolutely. We’re so excited to see people come back and return over and over again. It’s something that we’re particularly proud of.
Justin Vacula: Are there going to be some extra events, maybe like comedy?
You mentioned dancing. Any other social things? Karaoke going on throughout?
Jackie: Yeah, that’s something that we’re trying to rally around this year, mostly. To maybe some of the people who are coming in Thursday night to have some more programming during the day that’s more sort of social or tourism related in general.
That’s something that we definitely have our eye on for this year and where we’d like to expand our offering. So definitely keep an eye out on that Facebook space.
Justin Vacula: Some people might be bringing a [00:27:00] player to someone who’s not as actively involved in miles and points, credit cards or travel loyalty.
Should they bring a player too? And if they do, are there things they can do besides sitting in on the sessions?
Jackie: My poor player, too, does not have a choice. He attends every year. He actually helps with the AV around the event. Uh, but I’ve seen some people approach it a few different ways. I think if you have a semi-interested player too.
It’s good to split sessions with them. There may be Sessions, two sessions at the same time that you might wanna attend. Send player two to one and then compare notes afterwards or discuss them. It’s definitely a highly immersive learning event where we have sessions all day, essentially from around eight 30 to 5:00 PM on Saturday.
So not a lot of options for anyone who’s not attending sessions. Of course you can’t access the city of Chicago, but I think it’s a really good spot for a P two who’s starting to get their feet wet just because of the range of content we have, and [00:28:00] hopefully the energy gets them more excited as well, so you can use it as a tool.
Justin Vacula: I’ve heard of train systems in Chicago that are popular. Do you know anything about that?
Jackie: Yeah, so my understanding is we are right by a train station that’ll take you right into the city. If you don’t wanna deal with a longer Uber ride and that you’ll be pretty well connected to some nice areas to walk around or get a treat or a drink.
Justin Vacula: Nice. So some train fans can also get something out of that and maybe some sessions mentioning Amtrak and train travel might be the case as well.
Jackie: Yeah. That’s always something that we’re interested in sort of these, these topics that are adjacent to Core Points and miles. Things. We get really good feedback on some of these more specific topics that are on the outskirts of our world.
Justin Vacula: We don’t hear often about First National Bank of Omaha, but they do issue an Amtrak credit card and the signup bonus was recently increased on that. Some people hopped on that and we’ll be riding in the future.
Jackie: Definitely.
Justin Vacula: Alright, any [00:29:00] other thoughts about the event that you’d like to share?
Jackie: I don’t think so.
Just once again, thanks again for your time of having me on. I’m so excited to share more about the event and we’ve got a fantastic crew of volunteers who are just so passionately dedicated to make sure that our attendees have a good time as possible. So come check us out if you have any questions, you can go ahead, pop into that Facebook group and let us know your thoughts
Justin Vacula: and we have some extra time.
So how about a little bit about you, any recent trips with miles and points that you really liked?
Jackie: Yes, so I actually just got back from New Zealand last week. It is very firmly shoulder season in New Zealand. I think they actually just recently had a holiday that we just missed. This is my second time in New Zealand.
I had the opportunity to go to New Zealand about seven years ago. It was odd in economy fair that popped up in the middle of the night on Black Friday. It was $432 round trip to Auckland from San Francisco. I couldn’t [00:30:00] sleep that night. I booked it. It was an unbelievable cash bear and it wasn’t too bad of a ride in my much younger body.
This time. We had originally booked United Premium economy of points, but that was something I was trying to find a better flight for. So about six days before we were due to fly to Australia, I saw on American Airline site that PG Airway had a couple spots available in business class out of la. So we just moved things around.
So we were spending two nights in Auckland before we explored the rest of the south island. We use a lot of IHG points, so you know, our Hyatt fans, they may know that I think there’s only one Hyatt in all of New Zealand and it’s in Auckland. We ended up staying at the Hotel Indigo in Auckland that had, it was just like very well located.
We had a very nice high floor corner room view of the bridge. And I have no complaints about the Hotel Indigo, which is a newer hotel in that area. And then we spent, we flew to [00:31:00] Queenstown and we spent three nights at the Crown Plaza in Queenstown. Also, on points I was able to use some 40 KIHG certs for my legacy card, so that was a cool way to make sure that those certs retain their value there.
The hotel was older, but was so well located in Queenstown. We had such a fantastic time. Then it’s a country that has more sheep in in than people, and that’s mostly pronounced on the south island for sure. It was extremely quiet, which was fun. We just drove around the countryside from Queenstown to wound our way up to a Christchurch stopping in a few towns in between here and there with one being a town that is deeply rooted in steampunk events.
This was Amaru in the south island New Zealand. They had a steampunk museum and every year they have this huge steampunk festival where everyone gets all dressed up and there’s a lot of like artisans and they hang out in this Victorian architecture area of the town, just like small town [00:32:00] kitschy oddities that we able to slow down and check out.
Definitely one of my favorite countries that I’ve ever been to over the years. New Zealand’s just a fantastic time.
Justin Vacula: Any upcoming trips besides Chicago in 2025?
Jackie: Yeah, we have started bending our winter break in South America, so last year we went to Chile. We also hit Panama City on the way home. Because Copa has a flight from Panama City to my home airport.
Austin. Before we got on the line, I was just working through my winter trip. This year I think we’ll be going back to Chile, but more to the Lakes district. Of course, our winter is there Summer. So I’m looking forward to the sunshine and swimming and all the fun things that come with summer when we’re ready for a break from winter.
Justin Vacula: And because the answer to everything is more credit cards. Any plans for an application spree or an aara this year or maybe just a few cards you’re looking to get in coming [00:33:00] months?
Jackie: I have actually slowed down because I’ve applied for a Capital One card every six months for the last two years, and they keep declining me.
Justin Vacula: Ah, maybe game over with Capital One and the War on Happiness struck as they devalued lounge access as you’re not having guests, or they wanna charge for authorized users, then charge for guest access on top of that
Jackie: so long. So
Justin Vacula: I think the value of Capital One has gone down. I.
Jackie: Yeah, I’ve been behaving the last couple months and giving it one more try.
So this may be my last chance. I’m gonna lay low for another six weeks or so and try one more time for that Capital One card. If not, I’m ready to move on. I think finally,
Justin Vacula: yes, just like Chase, I’m done with Chase. I got a lot of cards with them, but now I’m way over the 5 24 rule, so I’m not eligible for cards with them anyway.
So I’m gonna be going for the new MGM iconic credit card in July. Is the plan. Some cards with Synchrony, some cards with C amenity, [00:34:00] recent favorites and potentially credit limit increases on cards that I find very valuable as I’m running out of really powerful cards is just applying for a card, getting a signup bonus of a hundred, $200, and not many interesting category returns.
I think the game might shift to credit limit increases in the future.
Jackie: That makes a lot of sense. I think one of the coolest things about this hobby is that it doesn’t seem like no two people play it the same way. Once you get to a certain point, you learn to evolve your strategies to your own personal habits, to the way the market’s changing, the way the industry’s changing, the different tools that are available to our disposal.
So I, it’s constant evolution, I think is the right mindset to have
Justin Vacula: changing with the game as their devaluations and good opportunities.
Jackie: Exactly.
Justin Vacula: One more time. A pitch for Chicago Seminars, the website and where people can find more information.
Jackie: Yeah, so come support a fantastic cause and learn a lot over the course of [00:35:00] the weekend.
Many people have said you learn one thing that could pay for your whole entire event through the year and interact with our amazing community. You can register at our website, www do chicago seminars.org. You’ll find information like a schedule. Some of the speakers that we’ve had in the past, uh, to give you an idea of what kind of programming we could have.
You can also find announcements and updates in our Facebook group, Chicago Seminars, the original Points of Miles of it. Hopefully I’ll get to meet you in November.
Justin Vacula: Alright. Thank for coming on today.
Jackie: Thank you. Appreciate it.
Justin Vacula: Thanks for listening and stay tuned for future episodes. Closing announcements, take a sales for Zork Fest 2025.
A Miles points in gambling event are live@zorkfest.travel zork.com. I hope to see you at Zork Fest 2025 in Las Vegas from December 5th through the seventh at M Resort Casino Hotel. I’ll also be speaking at Chicago Seminars [00:36:00] Hyatt Regency O’Hare, as mentioned in this episode, November 7th through the ninth, 2025.
Use promo code dy Gurdy when buying a ticket to support me. 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 meetups are June 22nd and July 13th, 2025. Find a link in the show notes for more content between episodes, follow Dy gerdy Travel Podcast on Facebook and x.
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Theme Song: Travel at low cost with points and miles. Credit card rewards bring the smiles. Many adventures tales to be told, make and save money, the world will unfold.[00:38:00]
Fight the war on happiness. Pick up the gold. Hurdy Gurdy Travel Podcast breaks the mold.