Future travel savings

I've been working to maximize the fun & travel options, while keeping our budget in check. We had a big trip to New Zealand (50th birthday + 20th anniversary) & I'm also going to Greece with friends (extended 50th birthday, as 2 of 3 are celebrating 50th birthdays this year). Because of that, it's really important to keep an eye on the rest of our spending. 

I've been surprised by how expensive it is to get Nick to & from school, as well as how many trips there are for parents. Move in, move out & family weekend. We could skip and/or send him to manage on his own, but at least for this year, we like being there & helping out where we can, buying supplies, helping him move his stuff (difficult without the ability to rent a car), etc. 

I've been closely tracking our travel budget for 2026 & came up with estimates for what we still need to spend. I then challenged myself to be as creative as possible with credits, miles, etc. Here's what I've come up with so far. I'll do a post on travel hacking on the hotel portion of Greece separately:

• For Nick's move out weekend, I used credits for myself & for M to get to & from Boulder. For the first night, I used a Hyatt free night awards, as I need to work remotely & don't want to disturb my friend. After that, we will stay two nights at my friend's house, so no hotel cost. We do need to still pay for the rental car, which I booked through Costco. We are helping a few kids move out, as two of Nick's friends our from the UK, and their parents cannot easily assist. I've rented a mini van & am prepped to take multiple kids & gear, so I'm all set!
• We are doing a summer family trip to the Oregon coast, and I was able to use another flight credit to offset some of M's travel cost, and covered my flight + Sam's flights with additional United credits. I paid out of pocket for Nick's flight. All of the United credits are now gone!
• In October, we are going back to Boulder for family weekend. I used United miles for those flights, as they were almost $1k each! Michael & I are each doing a career coaching panel at the school, so we will both be attending. I also booked the nearby Hyatt using free night awards. There is a much more "fun" hotel that is the closest to the school, but a free night vs the outlandish cost (more than $1k) for a hotel makes this an easy decision. 
• For Nick's Thanksgiving flight home, I used his United travel credit. 
• When Nick flies home for winter break, I used United miles, as traveling near the holidays is incredibly expensive. 
• Additionally, while I haven't booked yet, I'm planning to use American miles earned while traveling for work to book Alaska flights (they are partners) for our Christmas flights. That will save around $2k, as we are very limited on when we can travel those dates. I'm waiting for a flight I'm taking in a week or so for work, which should tip me into having enough American miles to book these flights. 

I do still have a few flights to book for the rest of the year:

• Nick's move back trip in August. We may allow him to bring his car, which would mean we all road trip to Boulder, and then M & I would fly home. This is still very much TBD, which is why no travel is currently booked. 
• Anniversary trip to Las Vegas/Utah in September - my plan for this is to use Southwest credits to offset some of the cost, but it's expensive as always, as we will be flying back from Las Vegas on a Sunday afternoon - peak travel time. 

This is about $4k in savings, across the Hyatt free nights + the United miles, not counting the Alaska/American plans for Christmas, as those aren't booked yet. By optimizing our hotel points + miles, it really helps us use our travel budget for the fun stuff. It feels especially victorious to use airline miles for hard earned work trips on personal travel. Slightly offsets the pain of the jet lag. ;-) 

What about you? Any travel perks or points usage to share?