Hi, I’m Traci! I got my first airline credit card in 2011 and my husband and I used the miles I earned from the sign-up bonus to fly to Hong Kong. Once we took that amazing trip and saw that traveling using miles and points really worked, I was hooked.

Since then we’ve traveled all over the world and we hardly ever pay anything for airfare other than taxes and fees.

When our kids were four years old, we started taking them with us on overseas trips, and now they’re teenagers with tons of valuable global travel experience.

Most of the time we’re flying in economy, but occasionally we’ll use miles to splurge on business class.

Sometimes we use points for hotel stays. And we love a good VRBO. A fancy hotel is great, but we once stayed at a hostel (in bunk beds!) on the Isle of Mull that had a resident French bulldog, and the kids would probably rate that stay as one of their favorites. So Hyatt, you know what you need to do.

Photo credits: Unless I specify otherwise, all the photos on my site are my family’s own photos taken from our own trips! So if you have a question about where any of them were taken, ask away.