As national parks look for ways to better serve travelers with disabilities, here are the top parks doing it right.
15.12.2023 - 10:19 / lonelyplanet.com
This series of articles about credit cards, points and miles, and budgeting for travel is brought to you in partnership with The Points Guy.
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In the world of top-tier premium travel cards, The Platinum Card® from American Express* and the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card stand out among the rest. Both cards offer an impressive portfolio of benefits, including lounge access, the ability to book super-luxe hotels within an exclusive collection and statement credits for members to use at home or throughout their trip.
Crucially, each of them also lets its members earn points and miles on various spending categories that can later be transferred to any number of airline and hotel partners for free flights and accommodations. Rewards can also be redeemed for gift cards, merchandise or a litany of other travel options booked via Amex Membership Rewards or Capital One Travel.
The most important thing to consider is what you hope to get out of your premium travel credit card experience, which brands you prefer to fly and stay with above others, the different ways each card lets you earn rewards and which included benefits you have the highest chance of maximizing.
Here’s everything you need to know if you’re considering signing up for The Platinum Card from American Express or the Capital One Venture X, plus how they stack up against each other.
How to get started with travel points and airline miles
If you’re just starting your points and miles journey, a generous welcome bonus can be a terrific way to boost your current rewards balance. Just make sure you can hit the minimum spending requirement responsibly, as no amount of bonus points is worth going into debt for.
Amex Platinum: New applicants can earn 80,000 bonus points after they spend $8,000 within the first six months of opening their account. That translates to $1,600 in travel when your points are redeemed for flights, hotels, rental cars or cruises through AmexTravel.com.
Capital One Venture X: New cardholders can pick up 75,000 bonus miles after they spend $4,000 within the first three months of opening their account. Those miles are worth about $750 in travel when redeemed through Capital One Travel.
Verdict: Both welcome bonuses are terrific options, so it really comes down to which card you prefer to sign up for over the other and which minimum spending requirement
As national parks look for ways to better serve travelers with disabilities, here are the top parks doing it right.
When the temperatures are dropping across the US and you’ve made it through the stress of the holidays, you may find yourself in desperate need of a vacay. But when it comes time to look at flights, and maybe trip packages, you may notice something when you start to type “D-o-m” into the search bar: instead of flights to the Dominican Republic, you see flights to Dominica. Maybe you’ve heard of the island, or maybe it’s your first time — or maybe you didn’t even know that Dominica and the Dominican Republic were two different countries.
Have you ever fantasized about quitting your job and moving to a place where it’s so affordable that you don’t need to work? Or perhaps you just want to move out of the U.S. to live out your dream life overseas.
The start of a new year means new beginnings and new opportunities. That includes new beginnings for your American Express shopping credits and new opportunities for purchases that might have $0 out-of-pocket costs to you.
Private group travel may be one of the biggest travel trends of 2024. A recent survey by luxury travel advisors at Embark Beyond found that 61% of Americans are interested in traveling with extended families or a small group of friends next year.
A lot rests on the all-inclusive resort. In making your reservation, you are putting all of your vacation’s meals, excursions, and entertainment in the hands of one single property. Accordingly, the price tags are often large ones—although this ballooned upfront fee is offset by a lack of csots incurred throughout the remainder of your stay. That being said, if you are seeking an all-inclusive resort on a budget, this does not mean you are entirely out of luck.
A year ago, we made our best guesses at what would happen with credit card rewards in 2023.
It’s that time of year again: the season for plotting out where to travel in the New Year. Staying closer to home is just as on-trend as venturing to faraway destinations for 2024. This skips the hassle of passport renewal and paves the way for spontaneous getaways to storybook cabins under unpolluted skies and lodges near national parks, part of Airbnb’s predicted trends for the year. Here’s a taste of what these trending and wish-listed Airbnbs in the United States offer for 2024.
Passport processing times have once again returned to normal, pre-pandemic levels.
This series of articles about credit cards, points and miles, and budgeting for travel is brought to you in partnership with The Points Guy .
If there’s one park in the US National Park system that displays how beautiful the western states can be, it’s Zion National Park. And it’s well-loved: the national park is the most visited in Utah and one of the most popular in the entire park system.
This series of articles about credit cards, points and miles, and budgeting for travel is brought to you in partnership with The Points Guy.