I just dropped a meatball sandwich on my lap. That is not a bit. That is not a metaphor. I'm just a man trying to write a newsletter from the passenger seat of a 1988 Land Cruiser in Sweden with a sandwich that did not cooperate.

We're back in the truck. We flew from the US to Europe on Friday, picked up the Land Cruiser, and pointed it toward Finland. And the flight is what we want to talk about today, because we think it could save you real money.

We flew business class on Air France. Lie-flat seats. A four-course dinner. Breakfast in the morning. Kramer under the seat like he owned the place.

It was cheaper than booking a regular economy seat.

A one-way economy ticket from the US to Europe in summer runs anywhere from $500 to $800 on a major carrier. Some routes are higher. We paid 60,000 Flying Blue points per person plus about $300 in taxes. But we didn't even pay 60,000 points. Back in June, we spotted a transfer bonus offering 30% extra when you move credit card points to Flying Blue (Air France and KLM's loyalty program). So we transferred around 40,000 points each. The bonus filled in the rest.

That's lie-flat business class for roughly 40,000 credit card points and $300 out of pocket. Less than most people pay to sit in a middle seat.

A few things that made this work, in case you want to try it yourself.

Transfer bonuses show up a few times a year. Right now there's a 20% bonus from Citi to Flying Blue running through August 22. These windows are short. The move is to watch for them before you need to book, not after. Once you transfer points, you can't move them back.

We found the seats using Point.me (not sponsored). It searches award availability across airlines at once so you're not checking one carrier at a time. That's how we spotted the Air France route in the first place.

Air France is part of SkyTeam, the same alliance as Delta. We're loyal Delta flyers because they've always been great with Kramer. We weren't sure how Air France would handle a dog in the cabin. Turns out, no issues at all. The flight attendant kept calling Kramer a poodle. Very certain about it. We let it go. She did correct my pronunciation of croissant, though. So it evened out.

If you're sitting on credit card points and not sure what to do with them, this is the kind of thing that makes them worth holding. A transfer bonus plus award availability at the right time turned a $3,000+ ticket into something that cost us less than coach. You don't need to be a points expert. You just need to pay attention at the right moment. The best availability tends to show up either early (months out) or last minute. We booked these seats a few days before the flight. But we transferred the points back in June when the bonus was live, knowing we'd use them eventually. Transfer when the bonus is good. Book when the seats open up.

We're en route to Stockholm right now. Kramer is asleep in his bed between us, probably dreaming in French.

P.S. We're spending the next few weeks driving through Finland, Sweden, and Denmark. If you've been to any of these places, we want to hear from you. What should we experience? What should we film? Hit reply and tell us. We're building our list right now.

👀 What Caught Our Eye Point.Me This is the tool we used to find those Air France seats. It searches award availability across airlines at once so you're not logging into six different programs. It also tracks current transfer bonuses so you know when to move your points. Worth bookmarking. ​Check it out here →​

🎥 This Week's Video ​ 🎥 We Drove Scotland's NC500 (And It Wasn't What We Expected) One of you replied to last week's email and said your dream is to drive Scotland's NC500 "just nice and chilled." Same. We drove it last year and it's one of the best road trips we've ever done. Single-track roads, lochs that look like they were painted, and enough sheep to make you question who actually owns the Highlands. If you're even thinking about a Scotland road trip, start here. ​WATCH HERE → ​

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More soon,

Chris & Sara