Great Hollywood Hike

Runyon Canyon is a 2.5-mile popular hike in Hollywood with great views of the city that will get your blood pumping with its steep inclines.

Me and Rosemary - view from Cloud's Rest. Western trail in distance.

Runyon Canyon has magnificent views of the Hollywood sign, the observatory, downtown Los Angeles and the sea. At various outlooks the city installed benches to take a breather and feel the wind blow across your face as you gaze across the Los Angeles basin below. If you don't stop to take in the views, you can easily complete this hike in an hour.  One couple said they completed it in half an hour.

Downtown Los Angeles

The trail on the eastern side of the canyon is dirt and steeper than the paved the western side. There's an option to double the length of your hike by taking the far western route that branches off the western trail that will lead you all the way back to Mulholland Drive.  

Steps on eastern trail

It was definitely a Hollywood crowd with most people sporting mirrored sunglasses, yoga outfits and great bodies. Many people had dogs. 

A block south of the park's entrance is a man selling custom ordered fresh fruit cups. Very refreshing after the shadeless hike.

Fruit stand

Only street parking is available but fortunately no permits are required. That being said, always check the street signs wherever you park as parking rules constantly change in L.A. We parked on Fuller Street and walked 3 blocks to the park's entrance.

To wrap up our day in Hollywood, we ate a late lunch at the historic 101 Coffee Shop on Franklin. I had good carne asada tacos and my wife had a great portobello mushroom sandwich.  We topped off our meal with a decadent, although cherryless, hot fudge sundae.

A great day out in Hollywood.

Great inspirational sign on trail!

Venice Beach Highlights

With its live performers, artists, stores selling everything from sunglasses to t-shirts to Egyptian artifacts to marijuana dispensaries, Venice Beach is like a carnival where you can spend an entire day.  For the athletic, you can rent skateboards, surfboards, bikes, roller skates and more. This post will help you hit the highlights of Venice Beach even if you only have 3 hours to spend.

Free parking is available on Venice Way a couple of blocks away from the beach. A block closer and lots charge $20 for day parking.

We ate lunch at Great White on 1604 Pacific Ave. across from the street sign over Windward Ave. that welcomes people to Venice. From the outside tables
you can watch people standing on the corner taking pictures under the sign, like a young woman modeling in a red dress as a couple of guys stood by and watched. The food is amazing. I had the coco salad with salmon that was superb. 

From here we strolled under the Venice sign on Windward Ave. to the beach and boardwalk passing a great mural of Venice in the 50's. Venice Beach is filled with amazing street art. Make sure to look down each side street and alley as well as on the upper stories of buildings as you never know what you will see.

Cutting across the boardwalk we passed through graffiti palm trees to watch skaters in the skate park just to the north of Windward Ave. Even though I skated a little in my youth, I never learned how to keep your skateboard on your feet when you were in midair like these skaters.

Then we crossed the broad sandy beach down to the blue-green ocean, kicked off our shoes and walked in the shallows of the cold water heading north.  We cut back across the sand to the boardwalk when we reached the northern end of shops and walked south.

Temporary street vendors, performers and artist line the western edge of the boardwalk while storefronts and restaurants line the eastern side. As mentioned, you can find almost anything for sale here, a wide variety of food, and lots of handmade street art.

Make sure to check out #1 Bordello Alexandria house on Westminster Ave. a half block east of the boardwalk. It is a two-story purple painted house covered with Greek and Roman statues, gargoyles, paintings and wrought iron grill work. It is one of the coolest houses I have ever seen. 

We had arrived at Great White at noon and we're in our car and headed home by 3:00 pm. It was an amazing three hours.

If you have an extra 20 minutes, head south of Windward 3 blocks and check 

out Muscle Beach as it is an iconic location if you want to see heavily muscled bodybuilders. 

Los Angeles Coffee Adventures November

Here are four interesting eastside coffee shops I visited in November, plus a place to visit when walking with your coffee. If you have any coffee house suggestions to visit in December please leave a comment below.

Most beautiful building exterior

Urth Caffe

451 S. Hewitt St.

Los Angeles, CA 90013

While there were a couple of people working on laptops here, the majority of people at the tables were eating full meals, giving the Urth Caffe more of a cafe feel than coffee shop. That being said, they are known for their organic coffees and teas and there was a line of people waiting to pick up drinks. The food is great, the building is gorgeous and it is in the center of L.A.'s burgeoning art district.

Most interesting coffee food combo

Art + Science Café

101 S Madison Ave.

Pasadena, CA 91101

Sushi and coffee, who would've thought. It works. The place was full of college students. The sushi menu is limited but the owners take their sushi seriously. You can only eat the sushi at the small counter and my server said I had to eat my sushi roll within 10 seconds before the seaweed got stuck to the warm rice. I ate it in about 30 seconds, I can only eat a roll so fast. I did notice a change in texture from the first bite and last bite. The iced caramel latte was very good.

Most industrious

Swork Coffee

2160 Colorado Blvd.

Los Angeles, CA 90041

I walked in not knowing what to expect as I was headed to another establishment that I did not know had closed the week before. There was only one person sitting outside and one person sitting at a table by the window, so I was surprised when I walked in to see 15 people working on laptops and drinking coffee all along the far wall. It appears to be popular with students and professionals. I had a Mexican Mayan Mocha. Along with coffee drinks, they also have healthy gym-influenced blended drinks.

Brand New

San Marino Cafe and Marketplace

2507 Mission St.

San Marino, CA 91108

Quaint little cafe in San Marino that advertises the best coffee in town on a blackboard out front. Unfortunately, I was unable to try the coffee as I was still recovering, but I had a delicious smoothie. People are always coming and going here, some sitting and working, and the owner is very friendly.

Take a walk

Lacy Park

1485 Virginia Rd.

San Marino, CA 91108

My first excursion after surgery. Beautiful large open park seemingly out of place in Los Angeles. Great for picnics or taking a walk with your coffee.  Free to visit during the week, but there is a fee for nonresidents to visit on the weekend. 

Los Angeles Coffee Adventures October

I hope the coffee shop list below provides you with the same fun and opportunities to get the creative juices flowing as they provided to me. These coffee shop writing excursions have taken me all over LA including going over San Francisco-style hills in Silverlake,  through communities oozing money, and others desperately poor.  If you have any suggestions on shops I should visit in November please add in comments.

Here is a quick note about each of my visits and my favorite things about each one:

Friendliest Baristas

Coffee Commissary

801 North Fairfax Avenue, Los Angeles California

Iced Kumo coffee and chia seed muffin. Wide range of people here: most women wearing yoga pants, a homeless guy, a man in a leather jacket and cowboy hat, a woman running her business on her laptop and phone, a woman with tattoos asking an older guy for a job. In terms of food, they only had a few baked goods inside the shop, outside they had a food truck.

Favorite Décor

Lamill Coffee

1636 Silver Lake Boulevard., Los Angeles California 90026

Scenes of ancient Greece covered the walls, golden chandeliers hung in the main room, the walls were red. Wide variety but pricey food. Tacked on service fee to offset minimum wage increase. Being a Saturday morning most people were in workout clothes: walking, running or yoga. Definitely more of a community feel than some of the other coffee houses I visited. The zucchini bread was really good. Valrhona mocha.

Most Impressive Presentation

Intelligentsia Silverlake

3922 W Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90029

They place the mug of coffee on a wooden tray with cup of milk and pitcher with extra coffee. I also liked the blue tiled floor. They only had baked goods. Tough parking on the weekend as everything is permit only on the side streets. I parked on Santa Monica two blocks away.

Best Cold Drink On Hot Day

Starbucks

454 Fair Oaks Ave, South Pasadena, CA 91030

My boss gave me a gift card to Starbucks when the temperature was over 105 degrees. It was a day that definitely called for a venti Java Chip Frappuccino. I know Frappuccinos are travesty to coffee purist but sometimes you just need to have that 600 calorie caffeinated brain freeze to get you through the day. Lots of free parking and nice fountain outside.

Best Food

Paper or Plastik Café

5772 West Pico Boulevard, Los Angeles California

Great food menu and delicious food. Had a delicious iced Almond Joy coffee. It left me wired for rest of the day.  While the benches outside were a little hard, there were large  orange cushions that provided great back support. Staff was friendly here and you could find parking a block south on the side streets. I was only able to stay an hour but it had such a good vibe that wish I could have stayed longer.

Best Slogan

Alfred Coffee & Kitchen

8428 Melrose Pl, Los Angeles, CA 90069

Had cappuccino and small tasty breakfast burrito. Everyone wearing black here and well groomed. Perhaps it was because it was in the middle of Melrose fashion row. Nice area to walk around after a writing session. Farmers Market takes place out front so parking can be tough. While it was crowded, the tables turned over pretty quickly. I loved the slogan their cups "We are here to inspire you."

A Great Day Out In Los Angeles: the Getty Villa

The #GettyVilla houses two floors of impressive #Roman and #Greek statues, #mosaics, jewelry and artifacts in a replica of a Roman villa located in Pompeii. There's also a large #garden growing various plants, flowers and trees that would have been found in the Roman world.

Today, my mother and I took a fascinating hour-long guided tour of Roman mosaics.  Like all public #tours here, it was free.  The engaging docent was a wealth of information.  She covered the origin of Greek and Roman mosaics, how and where they were found, how they were transported, and the myths and meanings behind the pictures.

The villa is located in #Malibu sitting on a bluff overlooking the deep blue Pacific Ocean only 20 miles from #LosAngeles.   In regular Los Angeles traffic that means about an hour drive.  Any time near rush hour you're looking at an hour and a half.

Admission to the #museum is by reservation only through their web site and reservations are free.  There is a $15.00 fee for parking.  However if you take the bus or taxi, there is no parking fee.

Click link for more information:   http://www.getty.edu/visit/villa/

How To Backpack and Summit Southern California's Second Tallest Mountain - San Jacinto

First, mail in an application for a camping permit 8 weeks in advance to the Mount San Jacinto State Wilderness office at the link below. Sites are first come first serve, but you must have a permit to camp.  You can complete the application found on the link below and mail it in. Cost is $5 per person in group.

https://www.pstramway.com/wilderness-permits/

Once the permit has been approved, book your ticket on the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway (or buy it when you arrive at the station). Fee $25.95 for adults.

https://www.pstramway.com/

Upon arrival, each vehicle pays $5 to park whether making a day trip or spending the night.

Take the tram to the top (8,516 feet). The station has food and drinks for sale and nice restrooms.  I emphasize nice restrooms because Round Valley only has vault toilets and no place to wash hands.

Leaving the tram station, check in at the ranger station at the base of the ramp to register your arrival.

From here, hike approximately 2.9 miles to Round Valley (9,100 feet).

At the old unmanned ranger station here, check the whiteboard to see which campsites are still available. Write your name next to the site with camping dates to claim it.  Then find the site, pitch camp, relax and go to bed. No campfires are allowed.

Some sites are a little off the beaten path, so it may take some time to find it. But the sites are beautiful.

Also, water is not always available at this location so please check the status with the ranger station near the tram before you head out.  If there is water running from the pipe, it must be treated before drinking.  

The next morning, head out early to San Jacinto peak. We left camp at 7:00 AM with day packs filled with water and trail food. There is no water from this point on.

First, hike 1 strenuous mile up to Wellmans Divide (9,700 feet) for an amazing view. We arrived at 8:20. Then hike 2.7 miles to the top of San Jacinto at 10,834 feet for even more spectacular views. We reached it at 10:20.

On the return, due to an knee problem with one of our party, we did not reach Round Valley until 1:00 PM.  After packing up camp, we left at 2:00 and reached the tram at 3:30.

Mount San Jacinto wilderness area is an amazing location. The top of the tram is about 30 degrees cooler than at the base of the tram. The day we went, it was 112 at the base and 85 at the top. The next day, 78 at the top and 110 at the base. You are surrounded by pine trees and lush meadows at the top, desert at the base. 

It is definitely a memorable trip. Hiking from the tram to San Jacinto and back is approximately 13 miles. It can be done in one day, but it makes for a very long day. I feel it is much better to break it up.

Don't Miss Nugget Falls

When visiting the Mendenhall Glacier don’t skip the 30-45 minute detour to Nugget Falls.

The falls are less than two miles round-trip from the main Mendenhall overlook trail.  Nugget Falls water source is Nugget Glacier.The trail leads you to a sandbar that ends less than 20 feet from where a 377-foot tall gushing waterfall crashes into Mendenhall Lake. 

For me, the most impressive thing was how close you are to the base of the falls - no more than 20 feet. Feeling the cool glacial water spray across your face (and in my case head as well), is invigorating.  And of course the pictures you get to take of the waterfall and it’s spray across the lake and in front of the glacier and her icebergs makes it a photographer’s paradise.

It was a real shame hearing people on the path say, “oh we don’t have time for that”, and “I am sure it isn't worth it”, and another family debating to go to the visitor center or the falls.

It is an easy hike with little elevation gain. See photo to the right. My friend's 82-year old uncle did it. Mind you, the man is an amazing human being. The point is, just do it. You will be glad you did. 

Review: Chichen-Itza Highlight Tour plus Xcaret

Experiencias Xcaret is a large well-thought out tour company with numerous tours and adventures.

We booked the Xichen/Xcaret combo to save money versus booking individual Chichen Itza and Xcaret trips: $166.10 vs. $187.10.

The Xichen Clasico Tour was very good for what it was - experiencing all things Mayan in one day on a 48-person tour bus. You hit a shopping area, swim in a cenote, have a Mexican buffet, and spend a couple of hours visiting amazing ruins, and drive through a colonial town.

I said it was very good because the tour bus was very comfortable, the guides were very friendly, informative and helpful. The buffet was better than expected with multiple dishes to choose from (you have to pay for drinks.) Having read mixed reviews ahead of the cenote ahead of time, I wasn’t sure about it, but it turned out to be a highlight of our trip. (the faster you eat lunch the more time you have to swim and jump off the ledge). I also purchased the $30 waterproof case that floats they sold on the bus so I could take pictures in the cenote, at Xcaret and kayaking during the rest of our trip. I know I probably paid too much, but it was so worth it. Pictures came out great. Finally, the guides got us through the Chichen Itza line pretty quick and gave a good, but brief, tour.

Be forewarned about four items on this trip. By knowing about them you will not be disappointed.

First, you are

only at Chichen Itza about an hour and forty-five minutes. After the 45-minute guided tour, you have about an hour of free time to get back on the bus. Walking fast, I only saw about three-quarters of the site with not time to stop and read signs. I was taking pictures of signs to read later. If you are looking to spend more time here, reading all the signs, relax, get artsy with your camera, you might want to book another tour. Of course, my teenagers were fine with the brief amount of time here.

Second, there is a 45-minute tourist trap souvenir stop. I knew this was coming having read reviews of the tour before I booked it, but my wife didn’t and wondered why we were wasting time here. I think most people would much rather spend an extra 45-minutes at Chichen Itza where there are other souvenir stores than at that place. I know they talk about supporting education and writing your name in Mayan, but at Coba store there gave the same pitch.

Third, you are on a 48-person tour bus. The way Experiencias ran this tour is they either meet you at your hotel or you meet them at a designated pickup location.  Their bus will then take you to their central bus depot where you’ll either pick up more passengers or have you to change to another bus.  That process was a little frustrating as we watched other buses leaving for Chichen Itza while we waited for the rest of our “designated group” to arrive. For guests at the Hampton Inn, you have to take a 15-minute taxi ride to the Pasteleria restaurant at the Mall of Americas to pick up the first bus.

Finally, the tour is conducted in both English and Spanish. They spend a couple of minutes speaking in English, then a couple in Spanish. At Chichen Itza, they did split up the group into a English speaking only group and a Spanish speaking only group which I was very happy about.

I would recommend the Xichen Clasico Tour keeping in mind, you will see a lot, fast. This was perfect for my kids. For me, I would have liked to have spent more time at Chichen Itza, but for the family as a whole, it worked out well.

For Xcaret, you are really just paying for the entrance fee and transportation with the combo package. Once you are in the park, you are on your own until do decide to leave at 4:45 or 9:30 - the only two times you can leave. Pickups and drop offs were on time on their trademark signature snake buses.

Hotel Review: Hyatt Ziva Cancun - Gorgeous location and layout – service mixed

5 stars for the designer of the Hyatt Ziva Cancun. The two beaches, gorgeous blue waters of the Caribbean Sea, beautiful layout of the pools, fire pits and buildings pleased the eye wherever a visitor looked. Having kayaks, paddle boards, bike rides and different classes, food and drinks, and shows included in the room price was also great.

Resort View

We upgraded to an oceanfront room in the club tower and that was a great decision. Amazing view of Cancun's hotel zone to the south with great snacks available in the lobby all day – from duck to octopus to steak to salmon to veggies and drinks, I can go on and on.  Those little appetizers were better than some of the meals we had. Just grab and go.

View from Room 302

Some shows were very entertaining, some not so much. The star show and Mexican shows were my favorites.

The spa services while pricey were very good. The specials change everyday. The best I saw was the two-for-one massage deal.

Performance During Mexican Show

It was disappointing that many activities/shows on the activity board changed or were cancelled. For example, the fire show became the break dance show, the ice show the circus show and spa theater was cancelled.

While I primarily had good staff interactions (staff at spa and restaurants), I also had many lukewarm ones and one bad one. The bad one I brought up to the Hyatt food and service manager but never heard anything more.

Overall, I had a great time.

Note: My wife and I used the 4 free hotel night certificate’s to book and pay for the Hyatt Ziva rooms that we earned through the Hyatt Visa Card by Chase. We paid an additional $40 a night for the room/tower upgrade ($10 per person per night).

Hotel Review: Hampton Inn Cancun - Great Staff – In Downtown Not in Beach Zone

Victor, David and the rest of the front desk staff were always friendly and helpful with suggestions on places to eat, things to do and making sure taxis were always available to take us to our early morning excursion meeting points.

The rooms were clean.  But they are too small for a rollaway bed.  When you have parents and two teenage boys, one boy will probably be sleeping on the floor by choice.  They did provide us with extra blankets and sheets and comforters for the floor but while rough, it never convinced the boys to share the bed.  It would have been great if the hotel had a small cot or something, especially if you brought Grandma along.

The breakfast was your basic free Hampton Inn breakfast: make your own waffle, toast, cereal, and fruit but they did include a couple of hot plates with potatoes and eggs.

The Hampton Inn is in a new shopping area called La Roca. The hotel is so new (three months old) most taxi drivers didn’t know where it was.  However, they all knew where La Roca was.  The shopping area has a brand new movie theater with first run movies (we watched Wonder Woman for 70 pesos = $4), good inexpensive restaurants from pizza to Mexican to Sushi to a TGI Fridays, and a Suprema grocery store and Sam’s Club all within a block of each other. 

View of La Roca from hotel

The only drawback of the Hampton Inn is that it is nowhere near beach or water access. If your dreams of Cancun are spending your days laying on a beach all day drinking Pina Coladas, this is not for you. But if you want a clean friendly hotel with free breakfast surrounded by good inexpensive food as a base for your excursions, I recommend the Hampton Inn.

The way we planned it was to stay here at the beginning of our trip and do our major excursions to Xcaret and Chichen Itza then move on to a beach hotel to drink those Pina Coladas.

Note: At the time of this review the Hampton Inn is the only Hilton property in Cancun.  It opened in April. So if you have a free weekend night certificate through the Hilton credit cards or points to use, you now have a place to stay in Cancun.

No more Citibank Hilton Honors credit cards

I just learned that Citibank will no longer accept applications for Hilton-branded credit cards.

Returning from Mexico yesterday, I checked the link to the Citibank Hilton Honors site for another article and the link didn't work. After some research, I learned that American Express will be the sole issuer of Hilton credit cards.

That is a bummer as I found the benefits with the Citibank version of the credit card program to be great: gold membership and two free weekend nights at a Hilton property when you met certain spending qualifications.

See the Points Guy article for more details:

No Citibank Hilton Honors Credit Cards

Hotel Review: Hilton Mexico City Airport Great stop for a long layover in Mexico City

I just posted a Trip Advisor review of the first of three hotels we stayed at during our recent trip to Mexico - The Hilton Mexico City Airport. Since we took the red-eye flight to Cancun with a long stopover in Mexico City (5:30 am to 4pm), I booked a hotel so the family wouldn't be wiped out when we reached Cancun. It was a great decision.

The rate is approximately $180, or 47,000 Hilton points or using one of your Hilton certificates for a free weekend night with the Citibank Hilton Honors credit card. With gold membership status, which you automatically obtain with the Hilton credit card, you also receive two free buffet breakfasts per room and free late checkout. See my earlier post regarding additional benefits of the Citibank Hilton honors credit card.

To read the Trip Advisor review, please click the attached link: Great stop for a long layover.

Cancun Part 3 - 4 Tickets for Cancun $276!

After spending $4,000 within 3 months, Chase awarded us 100,000 Chase Sapphire points to either book travel through their website or transfer it mileage rewards program partner.

If you use the points on their website, Chase provides a 50% point bonus. This means Chase will remove $1,500 from whatever travel related purchase booked on their website.

We booked 4 plane tickets on Aeromexico to Cancun for $1,736.00, or $434.00 each. After spending the $4000 to meet the mileage bonus requirement (any amount you spend on the card translates into more points), the amount charged to my Chase card was $126.00. 

Adding the $150 annual fee, the total cost for the tickets is $276.00. (I reduced the annual fee by $300 as you also receive a $300 travel credit with the card.)

To sum up, the total cost to stay in Cancun for 8 nights, all breakfasts, food at the Ziva for four days, and airfare was: $198+198+$150+$126 = $672.

If anyone has suggestions on places to go and things to do, please post in the comments section.

Finally, as stated in the first Cancun post, please check with all the credit cards mentioned regarding their latest signup bonuses, fees and fine print as they change all the time.

Cancun, here we come!

Cancun Part 2 - Using the Hotel Certificates

Now that we were armed with our points and certificates we booked the hotels first.  The reason being hotel nights can be canceled with no penalties up to 24 hours to a week before hand.  Airlines however tend to have "no cancellation" policies, so if the flights did not work we could always move the hotel days or even the vacation destination. 

First we booked, the Hyatt_Ziva for four nights.  This hotel looks amazing on the web site, has great reviews, and more importantly is all-inclusive so I do not have to worry about a massive food bill from feeding two teenage boys. Looking at the Hyatt website, the prices in June run $906 per night!

Hyatt Ziva from cancun.ziva.hyatt.com

Being so amazing, we were fortunate that we were able to book four nights that fit into our vacation plans.

The Hilton's reward_program is a little trickier.  As mentioned in last week's post, the certificate's have to be used with a category one 1-to-4 hotel and used on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday night.

In January 2017, when I first looked Hilton had no hotels in Cancun. Amazing, I know.

But on April 1, a Hampton_Inn opened in downtown Cancun.  Not only was it part of the Hilton family of hotels, it was a category 2 hotel.

Hampton Inn Cancun from hamptoninn3.hilton.com

I immediately called and booked three nights (Friday, Saturday and Sunday). I also used 23,000 points I already earned to book the fourth night - Monday night.

I could have booked the Ziva Monday through Thursday night and then the Hampton Inn the Friday night before we left if I wanted to only use certificates to book our stays, but for me, it was not worth the hassle to switch hotels. Even if I didn't have enough points, the Hampton Inn as of this writing was relatively inexpensive at $104.00 per night and I would have paid for the one night versus lugging our stuff between hotels on our last day.

So, while the Hampton Inn was not as an amazing deal as the Hyatt Ziva, I feel paying $200 for four nights in Cancun is still a deal. It even includes free breakfast.  Our plan is to do most of our traveling while we're at the Hampton Inn and laze around when we're at the Ziva.

Next week: booking the flights - patience

Cancun 8 nights hotel and air under $700

Part I: Maximizing Mileage Programs

Using credit card mileage programs, I booked a flight and eight-night hotel stay for my family of four in Cancun for under $700.

Here's how I did it:

First, my wife and I applied for separate Citibank Hilton Honors Cards. The sign up bonus provided 2 free weekend nights (Friday, Saturday, Sunday) at category 1-4 hotels in the Hilton portfolio. Annual fee $99. Link to Citibank Hilton HHonors Card

Total cost 4 nights hotel: $198.00.

Then we both applied for the Chase Hyatt Card. The sign up bonus provides 2 free nights at almost any hotel in the Hyatt portfolio. Annual fee $99. Link to Chase Hyatt Card

Total cost 4 nights hotel: $198.00.

Finally, my wife applied for the Chase Sapphire Reserve Card to use specifically to cover our airfare. The signup bonus provided a $300 travel credit and 100,000 Chase Points to make travel purchases on their website. The fee for this card is $450. With the $300 travel credit, I view the total cost for this card to be $150.00. Link to Chase Sapphire Reserve Card 

The Sapphire bonus point award recently dropped to 50,000. However, the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card also provides 50,000 points, but with no annual fee. 

It is important to check with all the credit cards mentioned regarding their latest signup bonuses and fees as they can change at any time. This also includes how much you have to spend within a specified amount of time to earn the signup bonuses.The information is based on the personal experience of my wife and I when we applied for cards between November 2016 and January 2017. 

The Points Guy website was a great resource to help me narrow the list of credit cards I planned to apply for to fund my trip.

Next Friday, I will detail how we used the points and miles we accumulated for the trip.