The summer of 2024 was one I wasn’t expecting. It started off with one medical diagnosis and two life-changing surgeries and ended with a three-week transformative trip to Italy and Switzerland. I know this may seem impossible to fit in during the course of just one summer, but with a little help from some points and physical therapy, I was there.
Turning pain into points
In early 2024, I was living in Italy and actively traveling abroad. I had taken a gap year at 30 to explore myself beyond the realms of everyday reality in the U.S. But a diagnosis in April 2024 cut my year-long journey short and landed me at my parents’ house in Chicago.
There, I underwent two surgeries and then spent a harrowing six weeks re-learning my physical abilities, humbled by what my new normal was looking like. I had gone from jet-setting to 13 countries in a year to needing assistance just to put on my socks each morning. Soon enough, my nomadic memories of the past year were getting clouded with days spent in debilitating pain. Lifting myself out of bed each morning was now my new Everest. Needless to say, I was devastated by the change in my plans.
By August, after nearly two months of recovery, I was finally feeling like myself again and itching to get back to my travels. I instantly knew where I needed to be. Italy was calling me again, and I hoped to finish what I had started while adding more adventures to my docket.
I was determined to return to the lustful and active version of myself. Taking a trip to Italy and Switzerland would do just the trick. With the destinations sorted out, it was time to book my flights.
Back in January, when I was preparing for my initial trip, I opened up a Chase Sapphire Preferred Card. After spending $4,000 in three months (using my card to book many international flights and countless hotels for my trip), I earned a 75,000-point bonus. By the time I was ready to return to my trip in August, I had earned an additional 20,000 points from my previous time traveling, making for a total of 95,000 redeemable points. Although I was tempted to use the points for cash back, I knew the points would go way further if I used them for travel.
More tips:
I booked all of my flights through Chase Travel, flying United to Switzerland for 42,000 Chase points and using my leftover points for my return flight. Flying out of a small airport like Bari is always more expensive, so I used 53,000 Chase points and paid the other $400 out of pocket. While I now know I would have gotten more value from my points by transferring them to an airline partner, booking with Chase Travel was easy, allowed me to split one of my flights between cash and points, and I knew my dollars would be returned to me in points to use for another hotel or vacation. Over the course of the trip, I earned 24,000 points to use toward another one. Win, win.
My triumphant return to the road
My route started in Interlaken, Switzerland, and ended in Bari, Italy — traversing through Geneva, Florence, and Santa Margherita Ligure. While still being gracious with my newly recovered body, I made sure to add moments of rest to the itinerary. Places like Portofino and Polignano a Mare were the perfect spots to take in the ocean air and reset.
My points helped me paddle board on the clear Mediterranean in Portofino and hike the famous Cadini di Misurina trail of the Dolomites. I visited UNESCO towns like Matera and waterfall-hopped in The Lauterbrunnen valley in Switzerland.
After not using my body for so long, it felt entirely liberating to be active again in its proper capacity. There was a moment when I was swimming in the Ligurian sea, letting the high salt content lift me up and watching the bright fish swim below the clear waters below me, where I realized I could finally breathe again. Enjoying my weightless body, I had never felt stronger. I reflected on the hurdles I overcame to get there and found a special grace within myself for never giving up.
My redemption had finally come full circle. Here I was again, feeling back in my body in the place that gave me so much life the previous year. This was not just a bucket-list trip but a trip for the soul. After the summer I’d had, I needed an experience that helped me heal mentally and physically. This trip did that, and then some. I now will look at traveling as something that is always accessible to me. Since this trip, I have planned two more European trips to complete in 2024 with my points.
That, regardless of points or saved income, is priceless to me.
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