Megan sent us her reader success story about her mom-daughter trip to Italy a while ago. Here it is:

I discovered the world of points and miles through Points Talk Squad. Apple Podcasts recommended your podcast to me two years ago, and I was instantly hooked. Thank you for sharing your content in such a relatable, entertaining, and easy-to-follow format; you have changed my family’s travel life!

 

Starting Out

I started small with my first points redemption by supplementing a family vacation to Hawaii with the Capital One travel portal. This mom-daughter trip to Italy in March 2025 was my first international trip and the first trip I took completely with points and miles using transfer partners.

My oldest daughter just started high school, and as we know and are told repeatedly, the time with our kids home goes by in the blink of an eye! My goal was to take each daughter on her own Europe trip during high school. My oldest chose Italy because of her interest in history, churches, the Vatican, and Italian food.

I started investigating my options the summer of 2024, planning about eight or nine months in advance in order to fit with our spring break week. (My daughter is in high school and I am a teacher at the same high school she attends, so my first priority is always the timing, working the locations around the timing of the flights.)

 

Flights and Hotel

I found an Air France flight through Flying Blue, from Denver to Rome (with a quick stop in Paris), for 20,000 points one-way per person in economy. This was an overnight flight, and in the future I may try to earn enough points for business-class seats that can lie flat, but we did enjoy the food on Air France and paid about $50 per seat to select a two-person row, so it wasn’t terrible to just lean on each other to try to sleep.

I transferred almost all my American Express Membership Rewards® (which I earned by opening the American Express® Gold Card) to Flying Blue for the flights, totaling 80,000 points plus cash for taxes and fees.

We live in Northwest Montana. (A beautiful location but not an easy travel hub!) The Southwest Companion Pass got us a positioning flight from Denver, although we do have to make a 4-hour drive to Spokane, Washington to find the closest airport that flies Southwest. Still, we’ll do what we have to in order to travel with points, and if the options are to start with some driving or not go at all, we’ll take a plane, train, and automobile to see the world!

Flying Southwest to position in Denver let us use the Capital One Lounge with my Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card. That lounge makes the positioning feel worth it! 

 

 

I bought a book in the Denver airport and ate some great food while relaxing in the Capital One Lounge between our positioning flight with Southwest and an international flight on Air France.

I had five free nights with Marriott after opening a Marriott Bonvoy® card with a 35,000 five-night promotion (a past promotion that is no longer available) and the ability to top off each night up to 25,000 points. With my dates set by the school calendar and my flights booked with Air France, I searched the Marriott app to see what I could find for under 60,000 points per night.

 

Rome Westin Excelsior

We started in Rome at the Westin Excelsior in the city’s business district. It was a beautiful, classic hotel decorated with marble and red drapes. It was a very safe neighborhood, right next door to the U.S. Embassy, and easily walkable to nearby restaurants for pizza and pasta and to historic sights like the Trevi Fountain and the Colosseum.

From our hotel, it was easy to follow the Rick Steves guided walk all throughout Rome. We were also across the street from the city walls surrounding Rome and the large Borghese Gardens park, which was nice for when we wanted to get away from crowded streets and into nature.

 

Activities in Rome

We booked a Vatican tour through Walks Tours and loved our guide. She was sensitive to our needs, provided a day plan, and was very informative and personable.

We booked a Colosseum guide through The Tour Guy and were glad to get in and see the ruins and ancient palace hills (although that tour experience was not nearly as informative or personalized as the Vatican tour guide was).

Our favorite activity was a pasta cooking class in the Trastevere neighborhood we booked through Devour. Our instructors were super-fun, and we now make homemade pasta at home for our family! We loved our cooking class in Trastevere, booked through Devour.

 

 

We mostly walked around Rome, just making sure to plan enough time to explore on our way to scheduled activities. I wasn’t sure whether we’d feel more comfortable taking taxis instead of walking when evening darkness arrived, especially as a woman traveling alone with a teenaged daughter, but we quickly discovered that it really is true: everyone walks in Rome.

In the mornings, we saw everyone walking to work with their coffee; in the afternoons, the streets were filled with other tourists, especially on the main streets past historic sights; and in the evenings, the whole city seemed to come out for after-dinner strolls. My daughter enjoyed eating gelato while walking around Rome.

It was easy to take a taxi to the train station when needed, with our suitcases. I recommend making sure the meter is running as soon as you get into a taxi, and bringing cash or asking to use a card up front. I ran out of cash and had to insist on “solo carta di credito,” which made some taxi drivers sigh or grumble but wasn’t a problem. I paid with my Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card, which has no foreign exchange fees.

After three nights in Rome, we rode the regional train (which I easily booked through the Trenitalia app) to Venice.

 

 

JW Marriott Venice Resort & Spa

In Venice, we were lucky to stay at the JW Marriott Venice Resort & Spa, set on its own Venetian island with a vaporetto shuttle into the city. I could see the resort is set up for total luxury during the summer months, with outdoor pools and plenty of outdoor space for activities and relaxation on the property.

Since we were there the last week of March, we were lucky to book a room for under 50,000 points per night, but the timing also meant that the resort was not fully set up with its outdoor activities like it would have been in the summer. I would imagine finding availability in the summer months would be very difficult, and your points budget would have to be much higher. I loved the property because it let me get out of the Venice crowds and just breathe.

I had been using my Marriott Bonvoy® card to book Marriott stays for my kids’ volleyball travels for a while, and we had earned Gold status from that. This got us upgraded to a suite and gave us access to the breakfast buffet, which was incredible. I could never imagine staying in such luxury without points and miles and owe it to what I’ve learned by listening to your podcast!

We bought a two-day water ferry pass at the station as soon as we got off the train into Venice. We were able to take our Marriott vaporetti shuttles and the water ferries all over the Venetian islands, where we visited the extravagant Doge’s Palace, attended mass inside Saint Mark’s Basilica, and bought some glass beads on Murano.

It was a great mom-daughter week in Italy. I’m already planning my next Europe trip with my younger daughter!

 

 

Return Flights

Our return flights were again 20,000 points one-way per economy seat. We flew from Venice to Los Angeles, spent a night in Los Angeles to get our bearings, and then took one last Southwest positioning flight back to Spokane before we drove home to Montana.

If you’re wondering if my husband and younger daughter just stayed home for spring break while we jet-setted off to Italy, don’t feel bad for them—they used the Southwest Companion Pass and my hotel credit through the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card for their own Disneyland adventure.

 

Bottom Line

Overall, our trip to Italy was an incredible first mom-daughter trip to Europe. Next I’ll be planning and building up points to take my younger daughter to France and Belgium when she enters high school. She’s currently in eighth grade, so I’ve got one year to strategically open cards with that trip in mind.

I’ve started with the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card, which I plan to use to transfer points to Flying Blue again. Then I hope to open an Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card to book Hyatt stays in France.

Thanks to the Points Talk Squad, I now have endless travel dreams that I can make a reality with points and miles!

 

Related Posts

The Ultimate Guide to Booking Hotels in Rome on Points

Reader Success Story: Rome and Tuscany

Rome on Points for Any Budget

Lake Como, Venice & Florence on Points