Hiya friends and welcome back to the Weekend Round-Up!

We made it to the weekend, y’all.

And my brain is ready to enter couch potato mode like I’m a kid in the 90s again.

Guess no one told her she’s a parent now. 🤫

Anywhooo… I know I’m not the only one feeling fried, so we’re gonna keep it simple and take it back to the basics.

Cause the basics — a.k.a. the cards I’ve been rocking since the very beginning — have been having a moment this week.

Let’s hit it.

🏆 This premium card is celebrating 10 years with a contest to win 5.5 million points.

🏨 Heading somewhere soon? Don’t miss this 70% transfer bonus to Marriott.

❤️ Hyatt and Delta are the new points-and-miles couple with benefits.

🤑 Get a 3-night vacay and 40,000 points for $200 and a firm “no.”

🎥 You might be leaving free points on the table — here’s how to avoid that.

💫 Plus, 2x on Thompson stays, a “meh” Marriott promo, cardholder access to a foodie convention, and a status match for Chicago.

🏆 Our Favorite Pick: The starter cards I still use

As I’ve shared before, I have basically 3 big interests: traveling, eating, and eating while traveling.

This week, we covered two of my fave cards for accomplishing all of those things.

In fact, they’re 2 of the first 3 cards I ever opened, ones I still use regularly today – and the cards I’d recommend to anyone starting out.

#1 The card everyone starts with 

This card.

It’s the starter travel card for a reason. We’ve covered it at length, and it’s awesome, but this is not its moment in the spotlight – though it is essential to making #2 work.

#2 The card that turns my eating into travel

This card earns 3% cash back on dining year-round and has no annual fee.

It also has quarterly rotating categories throughout the year that you can earn 5% cash back on – like Amazon, gas, travel, etc.– on up to $1,500 in total spending during that quarter.

And this next quarter, the 5% cash back categories include groceries (excl. Target and Walmart), dining, and donations to the American Red Cross.

So, that 3% cash back on dining that I mentioned just became 7% cash back (the math is weird, but it’s sound).

Cashback → Points

Here’s where it really gets good, though: if you hold card #1 (or another card that earns UR points), you can turn your cashback into UR points.

So from October to the end of 2026, you can earn 7x points on the first $1,500 you spend on dining.

That means every pre-trick-or-treating drive-thru run, holiday dinner party, NYE dinner reservation, or plain ol’ date night out earns you more points than any other card.

Or, if you don’t eat out much, you get 5x points on your grocery hauls through the end of the year (hello stocking up for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner supplies).

After easily maxing that out, you’ll have an easy 10,500 UR points – and since dining was a quarterly category earlier this year in January, that’s another 10,500 points added to my stash. 💰

Which is enough to book a couple of nights at a Hyatt Place or even somewhere nicer, like this lil palace in Scotland. 👇

And this is why I haven’t let this card go in the last 6+ years that I’ve had it.

#3 The card that turns everything else into travel

This card is having its moment in the sun right now with its new elevated welcome offer, and for good reason: it’s simple, has a low annual fee, and gives you a lot in return.

That’s the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card. It earns 2x miles on everything and is my go-to for purchases that aren’t covered by card #1 or any of the quarterly categories we mentioned above — I pull it out for Target runs, random online purchases, and bills. 🙄

It’s also the card I just tell my husband to use for everything after he asks me for the 50th time, “What card am I supposed to use again?” 🤦‍♀️

And the 75,000 Capital One bonus miles that you earn after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months can be used for all sorts of awesome redemptions, like flights to Europe.

I’ve had the Venture Card for years, and I’m still learning cool ways to use Capital One Miles, like when Mike showed us you can save $$$ on business class flights to Europe by transferring Capital One Miles to Japan Airlines. 🤯

Plus, the welcome offer’s one-time $300 travel credit (to use on hotels and vacation rentals in Capital One Travel in your first cardholder year) is just icing on the cake at this point – a hefty sprinkling of extra value.

$95 annual fee against a $300 travel credit + a minimum of $750 value in miles = 🤌

That’s worth reminding my husband which card to use a few hundred more times in my book. 😂

Bottom Line

These are the three entry-level cards I started with, and that I still use to this day. I’m not alone either – most people in this hobby do the same, and for good reason. They’re easy to use, have low (or no) annual fees, and deliver outsized value. 💪

If you aren’t sure where to start or what card to consider next and you don’t have one of those three, well, that’s your answer. 👇

• The card everyone starts with

• The $0 annual fee card with rotating 5% cash back categories

• The card that earns 2x miles on everything - that currently has an elevated offer

👀 This Week’s Must-Reads

🌍 Week in Review

• Monday: 😅 40k points for 2 awkward hours

• Tuesday: 🏨 Hyatt’s relationship status is messy

• Wednesday: ✈️ How to save on taxes and fees to Europe

• Thursday: 🏨 A new global hotel offer just dropped

• Friday: 🌮 Earn 7x points on dining

Alrighty, that’s it for the week!

Weekend brain mode = activated.

Go get your cartoons/football gameday/brunch/weekend activity of choice on.

Catch ya’ll later 👋

29.7499° N , 95.3584° W

With contributions by Mike Dodge and Sam Anthony.