Guess how much an all-expense paid 7-day trip to Italy costs a family of 6? I’m almost embarrassed to tell you. For a guided tour, the cost comes to just over $18,000, and that doesn’t include a few meals and spending money. Gulp!
Well, my wife and I are planning such a trip with our two children, my mom, and my wife’s mom. Yes, I’m dragging along an in-law. Now we haven’t decided on our final trip, and we will undoubtedly pick a less expensive option. But the trip will still cost some serious money. Fortunately, there is some good news in all of this—we have over one year to plan the trip. And that means I have over one year to figure out how to get as much of this trip for free as possible. And that brings me to the Chase Sapphire(SM) credit card.
Q: How can I save money on travel this summer?
-- C. Warren, Oshawa
A: Summer is considered peak season in many destinations but if you do your homework you can still find savings.
For instance, a new survey from pollsters Angus Reid shows that Canadians want luxurious vacations with rich cultural experiences, but they are not willing to break the bank to pay for them.
"One way that Canadians could supplement their travel plans is with travel rewards cards. Although most Canadians are part of a rewards program, less than 30% of Canadians surveyed have actually booked their travel with rewards points," said Patrick Sojka, founder of the online travel rewards site Rewards Canada (rewardscanada.ca/).
It’s taken me years to get wiser to the ways of the travel rewards. But not before being completely turned off about seven years ago when I’d finally accumulated a critical mass of points only to have them vanish when a certain Canadian airline went into bankruptcy protection.
It was back to a big fat zero in the rewards department when its point-collecting card became a casualty of its financial collapse. It wasn’t until this past year that I finally got serious again about collecting points. I’m dutifully using my new credit card for all of my big purchases and I’m starting to see the points amount to something more than a movie ticket and popcorn.
Courtesy of trurodaily.com
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