Points strategy : Destination Europe and Uzbekistan with family

Last month, I went to Europe and Uzbekistan with a solid but simple points strategy for a three-week trip with my little family: my partner and our two children, aged 4 and 18 months.

Having explored over 80 countries on all seven continents, we were looking for a destination that was unique, surprising and worth visiting before our family constraints changed. Indeed, as soon as our children start school, it will become difficult to leave for three weeks in April or October.

And some destinations, like Uzbekistan, are simply best avoided during the summer school vacations, due to the extreme temperatures. So it’s only natural that Uzbekistan should have been chosen: a historic jewel that is still relatively untouched by tourists, and ideally visited before the 45-48°C of July and August! Another strong argument: the cost of living is very low, and our Canadian dollar can take us a long way.

We also took advantage of this trip to stop over in several cities on our way, including Lausanne, Istanbul and Milan; this was mainly to ease the adjustment to jet lag by doing it gradually.

Our itinerary was as follows:
Montreal – Lausanne (via Geneva) – Istanbul – Tashkent – Samarkand – Bukhara – Istanbul – Milan. Montreal

In Uzbekistan, we opted for the train between Tashkent and Bukhara, our main land segment.

When you’re aiming for a destination where the cost of living is low, the main expense is often air travel. Fortunately, Uzbekistan is served by Star Alliance member airlines, including Turkish Airlines, so you can use Aeroplan points to book your flight. These points are easily accumulated by putting daily expenses on a card such as American Express Cobalt^® Cardor by taking advantage of a generous welcome bonus.

Turkish Airlines is a Aeroplan partner, so it’s possible to book flights with points. But you still need to find availability! Partner airlines only make a limited number of seats available with points, unlike seats sold for cash. Ideally, you should plan ahead (up to a year in advance). Tools like Roame are very useful for finding these tickets or creating alerts as soon as a seat becomes available.

A one-way flight between North America and Uzbekistan is generally available from 55,000 points Aeroplan in economy class and 90,000 points in business class. If you’d like to take advantage of Aeroplan stopovers, it’s also possible to explore other destinations en route, both on the outward and return leg!

My colleague Valérie has written a detailed article on the accumulation and use of points for flights to Uzbekistan in her comprehensive guide.

We landed in Geneva for a short two-day stopover. Train tickets to Lausanne were purchased directly at the airport station, for about CHF 30 per adult, and were free for children. Payment made with our Scotiabank American Express^® Card Gold, to earn 3X points on transportation.

For lodging, we used two of our Marriott Bonvoy free night certificates for two nights at the Moxy Lausanne City. An excellent use, since one night cost $230, compared to our annual fees of $120 and $150. Marriott Bonvoy^® American Express^®* Card and Marriott Bonvoy^® Business American Express^®* Card

We also paid a tourist tax of around CHF 11, which gave us full access to public transport. Metro, bus, everything was easily accessible. Our activities in Lausanne consisted mainly of walking, visiting children’s parks, and of course… enjoying the local gastronomy.

All the restaurants accepted American Express, which enabled us to use the Scotiabank American Express^® Card Gold to avoid conversion fees and earn 5X points. Food remains the biggest expense of our time in Switzerland, a country where the cost of living is high and our Canadian dollar doesn’t go very far. However, we never needed to withdraw Swiss francs: everything was paid for by card.

We then flew to Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, from Geneva via Istanbul with Turkish Airlines.

To get around town, we used Yandex Go, the local equivalent of Uber. The app was both very practical and really economical. We particularly appreciated not having to negotiate the fare for each ride, especially as we used it frequently. Since the app didn’t allow us to pay with American Express, we opted for the Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite Card, which has no conversion fees and offers 2X points on transportation expenses. This was ideal, as it meant we didn’t constantly have to carry small amounts of local currency, often between 50 cents and $3 per trip.

For intercity journeys, notably to Samarkand and Bukhara, we booked our tickets directly on the Uzbekistan Railways website, always using the same card.

Independent hotels often don’t accept cards, even when booking via platforms such as Booking.com. So it’s best to bring cash, although ATMs are easy to find locally. For our part, I had brought $500 US, even though I don’t usually like to carry a lot of cash with us. We figured we’d start with that amount and withdraw if necessary, but in the end, we spent less than we’d planned during our stay! We exchanged our US dollars for Uzbek soms directly in the establishments where we were staying, at a very acceptable exchange rate.

Night stays ranged from US$25 to US$40, often right in the center. In Samarkand, for example, we paid US$40 for a charming guesthouse just a 10-minute walk from the Registan, with an excellent breakfast included.

Big chains like Marriott are still not very present, so Marriott Bonvoy points aren’t really useful here (except in Tashkent, but the points-to-value ratio wasn’t advantageous for us).

The activities were essentially monument entrance fees. It was possible to pay by card, but a 1% fee was charged. Weighing the pros and cons, this was still more advantageous than ATM withdrawal fees and conversion charges. So I used my Scotiabank Visa Infinite Passport for these transactions.

When it came to eating out, the more upscale establishments accepted cards, otherwise we paid cash in the smaller restaurants. Even so, prices remained very reasonable: a filet mignon for $12, for example!

In the end, our land portion in Uzbekistan came to an average of $136 per day for our little family of four. In stark contrast to the average cost of cities like Lausanne or Milan!

After two weeks in Uzbekistan, we took a break in Istanbul to start managing our jet lag before returning home; a valuable tip with young children!

Istanbul’s airport is a long way from the historic center, but a very frequent and reliable bus service links the airport to the city. We used our Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite card to pay on board the bus. The same applies to the trams: you can simply tap your credit card. Of course, a local transport card is a little cheaper, but given our short stay and accommodation close to the Blue Mosque, it wasn’t necessary to get one.

We booked our hotel through Expedia for TD, using our TD Reward points earned on the TD First Class Travel^® Visa Infinite* Card and a $100 travel credit, which covered the entire stay.

All the restaurants accepted credit cards, which was a pleasant surprise. We had originally planned to withdraw Turkish lira via Wise, but ended up not needing it. Even activity tickets could be purchased online by credit card. In fact, our entire stay in Istanbul was cashless.

Last stop before returning home! We had a 24-hour stopover in Milan, so we opted for the Sheraton Milan Malpensa Airport Hotel & Conference Center, located directly in the airport’s Terminal 1; super convenient when arriving late or needing to leave early.

We used our Marriott Bonvoy certificates for free nights, just like in Lausanne, obtained with our personal and business cards (up to 4 per year for a couple). An excellent deal, as the nightly rate was around $400! This type of stays alone justifies the annual card fee.

We took the train into the city center (€20 return per adult), paid for with the Scotiabank American Express^® Card Gold. In Milan, we mostly explored the area around the cathedral on foot, and tried out a few restaurants. Payments were sometimes made with the Scotiabank Passport^® Visa Infinite Card, sometimes with the Scotiabank American Express^® Card Gold, depending on acceptance on site. As in Lausanne and Istanbul, we didn’t need to use cash during our stay. If it isn’t obvious yet, I have a soft spot for cashless companies: they save me from having to make withdrawals, while allowing me to accumulate points continuously, transaction after transaction.

During our three-week trip, the cards we used most were the Scotiabank Passport^® Visa Infinite Card and the Scotiabank American Express^® Gold Card. TD Points covered all our accommodations in Istanbul, while our Marriott Bonvoy free night certificates covered all our nights in Lausanne and Milan. As for the hotels we had to pay cash for in Uzbekistan, the funds came from the savings in my travel savings account, where I deposited the multiple cashback from several credit cards we were racking up.

When we returned, I was able to apply the amount of Scene+ points accumulated during the trip, as well as those accumulated over the months through our daily expenses at home. In fact, most of our Scène+ points were accumulated before the trip. This approach enabled us to considerably reduce the amount we had to pay, since the program allows us to apply points retroactively to travel expenses.

During the trip, our objective was not so much to accumulate enough Scene+ points to cover all costs, but rather to minimize conversion costs and maximize accumulation where it was most advantageous: 5X points on restaurants and grocery stores, and 3X on transportation. Indeed, it’s often clever to split the strategy in two: knowing what you’re doing with your points and credit cards before and during your trip.

Just a reminder: if you pay for your flights with points, make sure you pay taxes with a card offering good insurance coverage, such as the National Bank World Elite Mastercard. You can also use your NBC Rewards points to reimburse these costs, or your $150 travel credit to cover an upgrade or baggage fees.

This trip was not only a wonderful family adventure, but also a fine example of a simple points strategy. By optimizing our credit cards, reward points and free-night certificates, we were able to enjoy an enriching experience in such contrasting destinations as Uzbekistan, Switzerland, Turkey and Italy, while minimizing what we actually had to pay out of pocket.