Our Summer of a Lifetime: Arizona, Central Europe, Colorado, and the Canadian Rockies (All in Business Class)
Some summers you remember for the sunburns. This one, we will remember for the lounges, the layovers turned into adventures, and the fact that we flew business class across two continents for less than the cost of a nice dinner out.
Between June and August, our family of five chased summer across five countries. We started close to home in Arizona, where we stayed at the iconic Arizona Biltmore and soaked in the desert heat of Scottsdale, Sedona, Jerome, Flagstaff, and the Grand Canyon. From there, my husband and I set off on a Central European anniversary trip through Munich, Krakow, Prague, and Lucerne. A couple of day later, my youngest and I went to Denver, Colorado for a long weekend. A week after that, I was back in the air with our oldest child, this time headed to Banff and the Canadian Rockies.
Four trips. Five countries. Numerous different lounges both before takeoff and upon arrival (thank you, Switzerland for your hospitality). And here is the part that still makes me grin every time I think about it: we paid pennies for almost all of it.
What We Actually Paid
This is the number that gets people's attention, so let's start there.
Our domestic flights to Arizona and Colorado cost $5.60 each way, per person. Not a typo. Our business class flights to Central Europe were $113 each way. Business class to Canada ran $97 one way and $183 the other. We flew across an ocean, sipped champagne at 35,000 feet, and landed in lie flat comfort for less than most people spend filling up their car.
This is not luck. It is not a fluke fare sale. It is what happens when you understand how points and miles actually work, and you use the right cards at the right time.
The Moments That Made It Worth It
The numbers are fun to talk about, but they are not why we travel. We traveled them because of what happened once we landed.
It was watching our three adult children, now grown and scattered across their own lives, come back together under one roof (or one hotel room). It was the Lennon Wall and Kampa Park in Prague's Malá Strana neighborhood, a quiet afternoon that turned into one of the trip's best memories. It was a full, heavy, important day at Auschwitz Birkenau in Krakow, followed by the strange beauty of the Wieliczka Salt Mine carved entirely from rock salt. It was the Alps rising up outside Lucerne, and the turquoise water of Lake Louise in Banff that genuinely does not look real until you are standing in front of it.
None of that requires a fat travel budget. It requires knowing how to get there.
The Lounges Deserve Their Own Paragraph
I will admit it. The lounge access might be my favorite part of traveling this way. Hot meals before a flight instead of a $19 airport sandwich. A shower before a long haul instead of stepping off the plane feeling like you slept in your clothes (because you did, just more comfortably). Quiet corners to work or just breathe before boarding. Once you experience a real lounge, the old way of flying starts to feel unnecessary. I cannot go back.
This Could Be Your Summer Too
If you read all of that and thought “there is no way I could do that,” I promise you can. Every trip I just described was booked using strategic credit card signup bonuses, not saved up cash and not a special travel agent connection.
In fact, right now there is an offer on the table that could fund a trip just like ours. I'm breaking it down in the next post, because 75,000 points goes a lot further than most people realize.
Apply here: https://i.capitalone.com/JkSrvtuUT
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