Sally French

Yes, and generally if Marriott's raising award prices, you can guess all the other hotel brands will too, which is why, yes, I do like the idea of having some future trips in mind when you're coming up with your travel reward strategy. If you are saving them, have that specific redemption, but don't just sit on that huge stash for years only to never use it.

Yeah. And you know, it's funny you bring up this idea of a side quest to New Zealand. Often when you're booking trips, you can almost get two trips for the price of one or two trips for less than the price of one simply by booking a flight somewhere near where you actually need to go and then taking a short hop flight to your actual destination. With this, flexibility is totally the key here.

Yeah. And you know, it's funny you bring up this idea of a side quest to New Zealand. Often when you're booking trips, you can almost get two trips for the price of one or two trips for less than the price of one simply by booking a flight somewhere near where you actually need to go and then taking a short hop flight to your actual destination. With this, flexibility is totally the key here.

Yeah. And you know, it's funny you bring up this idea of a side quest to New Zealand. Often when you're booking trips, you can almost get two trips for the price of one or two trips for less than the price of one simply by booking a flight somewhere near where you actually need to go and then taking a short hop flight to your actual destination. With this, flexibility is totally the key here.

So NerdWallet always recommends a strategy of at least just getting yourself somewhere close to where you need to book. So you and Megan, your case is maybe New Zealand is kind of close-ish to Australia. And then booking a shorter, cheaper flight to get to your actual destination. We see this a lot when people want to go to Europe.

So NerdWallet always recommends a strategy of at least just getting yourself somewhere close to where you need to book. So you and Megan, your case is maybe New Zealand is kind of close-ish to Australia. And then booking a shorter, cheaper flight to get to your actual destination. We see this a lot when people want to go to Europe.

So NerdWallet always recommends a strategy of at least just getting yourself somewhere close to where you need to book. So you and Megan, your case is maybe New Zealand is kind of close-ish to Australia. And then booking a shorter, cheaper flight to get to your actual destination. We see this a lot when people want to go to Europe.

NerdWallet recommends just get somewhere in Europe and then you can take a shorter flight. Even Europe's got a great train network to get to the actual city you're trying to go to.

NerdWallet recommends just get somewhere in Europe and then you can take a shorter flight. Even Europe's got a great train network to get to the actual city you're trying to go to.

NerdWallet recommends just get somewhere in Europe and then you can take a shorter flight. Even Europe's got a great train network to get to the actual city you're trying to go to.

Some people might not have, let's say, miles in some obscure European airline, but you might have a travel credit card where you can transfer your credit card points to one of those airlines. NerdWallet really does recommend earning transferable points, and you can find which credit cards earn those and a list of each credit card's program transfer partners on the NerdWallet website.

Some people might not have, let's say, miles in some obscure European airline, but you might have a travel credit card where you can transfer your credit card points to one of those airlines. NerdWallet really does recommend earning transferable points, and you can find which credit cards earn those and a list of each credit card's program transfer partners on the NerdWallet website.

Some people might not have, let's say, miles in some obscure European airline, but you might have a travel credit card where you can transfer your credit card points to one of those airlines. NerdWallet really does recommend earning transferable points, and you can find which credit cards earn those and a list of each credit card's program transfer partners on the NerdWallet website.

Totally. And that's why it's so good we're talking about travel now is you don't want to just wait to get that credit card right before you want to go on a trip. Often, it's better to wait for the company to announce an offer period with a bigger intro bonus. And of course, you want to bake in time because you need to apply for the card.

Totally. And that's why it's so good we're talking about travel now is you don't want to just wait to get that credit card right before you want to go on a trip. Often, it's better to wait for the company to announce an offer period with a bigger intro bonus. And of course, you want to bake in time because you need to apply for the card.

Totally. And that's why it's so good we're talking about travel now is you don't want to just wait to get that credit card right before you want to go on a trip. Often, it's better to wait for the company to announce an offer period with a bigger intro bonus. And of course, you want to bake in time because you need to apply for the card.

Then you need to meet a minimum spending requirement to even get that sign-up bonus.

Then you need to meet a minimum spending requirement to even get that sign-up bonus.

Then you need to meet a minimum spending requirement to even get that sign-up bonus.

Generally speaking, we recommend giving yourself at least six months before the trip if you're going to apply for a new card and you intend to use some of the rewards from the sign-up bonus to book.