Are you a foodie like me?

I’m currently strolling through Madrid, the city’s energy as infectious as ever.

Stumbling upon a culinary paradise housed within the wrought iron and glass facade of the Supermercado San Miguel. 

This isn’t just any food hall; it’s a haven for foodies, offering flavors that epitomize Spain’s rich gastronomic culture. 

Each stall within the market is a portal to different regions of Spain. 

From the tangy zest of Andalusian olives to the rich, earthy flavors of Castilian cheese. 

I tried the famous lobster rolls, queso empanadas and of course drank a glass of champagne 🥂

To top it off I had churros with hot chocolate and a cheesecake 😋

But what makes a visit here truly special is the blend of tradition and innovation. 

A 3-day weekend to experience such food and wine was only made possible due to our knowledge of travel hacking. 

In my last email touched on how I wouldn’t be able to travel the world, let alone take my family with me if I didn’t have these skills.

The exact skills I used to save over $10,000 in flights for our family vacation to Nice and Barcelona.

As points and upgrades become harder I’m always seeking new ways to get great deals.

This lead me to try out 2 new apps- Point.me and Seats.aero 

(both not sponsored btw 🫶🏼)

Point.me is new to try out because of their recent partnership with Amex Platnium Card Holders.

Another benefit of having an Amex card -

(not to mention their numerous other perks like Centurion and priority pass lounge access, TSA pre-check, clear gold status with Marriott and Hilton, Uber discounts, Saks discounts and Wireless phone credit)

Now, with point.me since it is linked to my Amex Platinum Card it only shows me how much it would cost to transfer Amex points. 

I could pay for the full version but that’s $179/year and I’m not ready to make that sort of commitment 🙅🏼‍♀️

(yes… I have commitment issues - these subscriptions are taking me to the schoolyard with recurring bills)

Now, the other app I am using is called seats.aero 

I do pay for the premium version which is $9.99/month 

But so far with my first search I’ve saved over $10,000 so I guess I’ll keep it for now… 

How I did this was I needed a return flight home for my family from Barcelona and I needed to get them back to LA.

So I typed in Europe to LAX and it showed all the flights. 

Luckily Virgin Airlines had several amazing deals. 

And if you’ve ever flown Virgin they have pretty great service. 

At only 100,000 for 4 premium economy tickets with a direct flight, I needed to book this immediately!!!

(yes that deserved 3 exclamation marks 😝)

Thank goodness I had points with Amex that transferred over instantaneously to my Virgin account. 

And I did all this while using inflight wifi.

The process was simple yet very powerful. 

I’m going to continue trying out these apps and a new one that is currently in the development phase (more to come on that in the future)

And I’ll let you know what other deals I score along the way. 

(spoiler alert - I already scored another deal since drafting this email which I’ll discuss in my next email…)

Curious to know how you can start saving tens of thousands of dollars in travel?

If you’re not a member yet, let me give you access to courses and more for free when you check out our $1M Vacations today inside cicle.so and see all the other bonuses waiting for you.

Dedicated to saving you money, 

Vanessa

P.S. Don’t forget, not all points are created equal 

P.P.S Eating Empanadas in the supermercado San Miguel in Madrid es muy delicioso 🤤