80. A Dream Empty Nest Trip to Spain Using Points with Dr. Melissa Parsons

Welcome to Point Me to First Class, the only show for employed professionals, entrepreneurs, and business owners who are looking to optimize their higher-than-average expenses to travel the world. I'm your host, Devon Gimbel, and I believe that your expenses are your greatest untapped asset if you know how to leverage them. Ready to dive into the world of credit card points and miles so you can travel more, travel better, and travel often? Let's get started.

Welcome back to the podcast, everybody. I hope you're all having a fantastic week. Today on the podcast, we're going to hear all about a trip to Spain made possible with points. I'm joined by Dr. Melissa Parsons, a now retired board-certified pediatrician who practiced in Columbus, Ohio, for 22 years. 

In this episode, Melissa breaks down how she used points for her and her husband's first international trip after becoming empty-nesters that took them to Madrid and Barcelona. Famous for renowned cuisine, stunning art, and iconic architecture, Spain tops many travelers' destination wish lists. While by all accounts, this was a fantastic trip for Melissa and her husband, as you'll hear, it was by no means perfect, but it was very memorable.

For those of you interested in planning your own trip to Barcelona or Madrid, be sure to check out the episode description and show notes after you listen. We've linked up all the restaurant, hotel, and other travel recommendations Melissa mentions so you can add them to your itinerary for a future Spain trip. Please enjoy this conversation. 

Devon: Hey, Melissa, welcome to the podcast. Thank you so much for joining me today. 

Melissa: Thanks for having me, Devon. I'm excited to talk to you all about my fun travels.

Devon: I am excited to hear about them. Today we are going to break down a points trip that you took to Spain so that others can learn more about how to plan a similar trip for themselves, learn from your mistakes, if you made any, and if nothing else, just have the opportunity to travel vicariously through others, which is one of my favorite things to do. 

Melissa: Yeah.

Devon: So can you start us off with just the basics of this trip to Spain? When did you go? What cities did you travel to? 

Melissa: Yeah. My husband, John, and I became empty nesters last fall. Our youngest son, Owen, started at the Ohio State University. We dropped him off, and literally the day later, we were on a flight to Barcelona. We went to Barcelona. We stayed in Barcelona for about five days. Then we took the train to Madrid. We stayed there for about five days too. Then we flew home. 

We just loved everything about Spain. Barcelona, just the Gaudi architecture. We stayed in the oh my goodness, the district where it's like the medieval, the Gothic quarter. We just had the best food. It was a million degrees there. Like for all the days that we were there, it was like 100 degrees. No joke. We just sweat our little booties off. Then we took the train to Madrid. The heat wave broke. It was like amazing weather. Like 80 degrees and cool and no humidity. So Madrid basically was our favorite. But I think it was because we had heat stroke in Barcelona.

Devon: What time of year, I assume this was during the summer. But when exactly did you take this trip? Just so others have an idea for their own trip planning. Like what should they potentially expect? 

Melissa: Yeah, it was actually just about a year ago now. I've been getting my Facebook notifications. So it was I think the second or third week in August of 2023. Yeah, we were there for about 10 days. It was beautiful and sunny every day. There was nary a raindrop in sight. But the heat and humidity in Barcelona. I think I had it in my mind, I was like, it's going to be way cooler in Barcelona because it's on the water. There would be this breeze coming in off the Mediterranean. That was not the case. No. So, but still we had the best time. 

Our tour guide, we went to the La Familia Church. I mean, it's not a church. It's like a masterpiece. Our tour guide basically at the end, he cut it short because John and I were both wilting. He was like, he was trying to keep us hydrated and that type of thing. He's like, “Do you guys just want to go home and take a nap?” I was like, yes, yes, we do. 

Then the other thing in Barcelona, there was, and I don't know if it's still the case. But there was a severe drought and water shortage. None of the fountains had water running in them. The locals were talking about. We went on a couple of tours. Each of the tour guides told us that they were really struggling. They were for the first time ever having to desalinate the water from the sea to get water to their people and that type of thing.

I felt so guilty because we would take a shower in the morning before we went out. Then we would go out in the morning, and we'd come and take a shower in the afternoon. Then we'd go in the afternoon, we'd come home and take a shower in the evening. I'm like we are contributing to the drought in this country right now. But it was just, there was a funny story. 

The first day, of course, we flew overnight to get there. We arrived in Barcelona at like 10:00 a.m. Our room was not ready yet at our hotel. They have a little changing room where we just changed into shorts and tank tops. Well, I wore a tank top, John did not. We're walking around the city. They then texted us a couple hours later and said your room is ready. You're welcome to come back at any point. 

So we went back, and our room was so cold, like it felt amazing. I immediately stripped out of my clothes and like wanted to get in the shower so bad after having flown the night before and then walked around the Las Ramblas and just sweat the whole time. I had on these, I think they were like Athleta olive green colored shorts and a black tank top. I took them off, and I saw like this huge, like sweat line on my shorts.

I was like, oh, my God, honey. It's like look at my shorts. He's like I hate to tell you, but I've been walking behind you for the past several hours. You're not showing me anything I don't already know. So the joke became that I looked like I had sat in the Shamu splash zone at SeaWorld the entire time that we were in Barcelona because it was just so hot and sweaty. 

Devon: So just note to listeners, if you are planning a trip potentially to Spain in the summer months, just when it comes to your travel planning and your packing to include some fabrics that maybe can disguise excessive amount of perspiration that you may experience.

Melissa: Oh my gosh. Listen, I spent more on laundry at that hotel than I have ever spent in my life. My husband was like how many euros did you spend? I was like listen, it does not matter because I am not taking these wet clothes, basically packing them up in the suitcase, taking it on the train and then going to Madrid. So I don't remember, I think it was like 130 euros for them to wash my entire suitcase and like have it back in a couple hours. I was like sold. 

Devon: I think sometimes when we travel, we think about the souvenirs that we bring back or some once in a lifetime experience that is included in a certain destination. Sometimes it's the things that really just increase your comfort that are the best use of money on these trips.

I think that is a really nice sort of segue into the next question I wanted to ask you in terms of budgeting and where you used money, where you saved money in travel planning. Can you talk a little bit about how you actually, or what your planning process for this trip looked like and where did points come into play for you all in planning this trip? 

Melissa: Yeah, well, we used the points for us to get there. We flew on Air Canada. We live in Columbus, Ohio. So we started in Columbus, flew to Toronto, got a call from our newly minted freshman in college saying that he was experiencing some anxiety. So then, of course, we started experiencing anxiety, and we were like maybe it wasn't the best idea to drop him off and leave the next day. But we're in Canada now. Like it's happening. 

Then we flew from Toronto to Barcelona. We flew business class, which was amazing. Awesome food, like I really wanted to sleep, but I also wanted to stay awake for all the yumminess that they brought us. So I probably didn't get as much sleep on that flight as I would have liked. Then we flew home on Air France, and we flew from Madrid to Charles de Gaulle in Paris and then flew home from Paris again in business class. 

I loved being at Charles de Gaulle, seeing all the amazing. It is not like the Columbus airport. There is no Chanel being sold at the Columbus airport. So that was an experience in and of itself, right? Then we ended up staying in Barcelona. 

My friend Maggie introduced me to a woman, Joy Simeonova, I think is her name. She has a travel agency company called Bon Vivant Journeys. I contacted her and it was only a couple of months before we were going to go. She said, she was like, “Oh, my God.” She's like, “People normally plan these trips like a year in advance.” So I was just like, well, that is not our lifestyle. So which I think goes to explaining why I hear a lot of people on the page like getting these amazing points redemptions for business class flights for 50,000 points and that type of thing. 

My hubby is pulmonary critical care at a major university. He's also in administration. So we don't have the luxury of planning a trip a year in advance. So I was willing to spend more points. Then, of course, we only want to stay at the nicest places. When we first got together, like I was definitely the more bougie one. Now after being with me for 25 years, he's the bougie one. So.

Devon: See, one of the things that you mentioned that I think is such a great point that we should dive into a little bit more now is that when you said being able to plan travel a year in advance, that's just not your lifestyle. That's not practical for where you guys are right now. That kind of as a consequence, you were willing to spend a little bit more than the bargain basement lowest possible points price to get the flights that you wanted on the itinerary that you wanted for your travel dates. 

So first thing I'm curious about is do you happen to remember ballpark about how many points did you end up spending to book these two business class flights for yourself and your husband going over to Spain and then returning from Spain? 

Melissa: Yes. So I had never done a points flight before. So I had never transferred points from Amex or Chase to Aeroplan for Air Canada or Flying Blue for Air France. So when I did it, the points that I transferred over for the return flight took some time to get into the account. 

So by the time I transferred the points over, the cost of the flights had gone down, which is an amazing thing. Accepting that now that I have 81,000 points sitting in my Flying Blue account, which no problem, I'm going to use them again. But it was a little bit of I can remember like making the transfers and like my heart like pitter pattering and that type of thing. 

Of course, I included my hubby on the itineraries, and he was like I see a flight going to Spain, but I don't see any flight coming home. He's like are you kidnapping me? Are we never moving home? So there was a little bit of like trepidation and worry and that type of thing. 

But to give you an idea, the way there on Air Canada, each of us paid 114,000 points plus $44. Then on the way home, we paid 119,500 points per person. So all told, that's, I don't know, I can't do the math. 300,000-ish points. So, in which I was willing to spend because I have been very busily accumulating points with all the things that we spend money on. Since this trip, I have opened up plenty of other new credit cards. I've gotten my kids involved in the points game, and they each have a Bilt card and are using it to pay their rent and all that kind of good stuff. 

So, and I think, for me, at least, and for my husband, knowing that this trip was basically covered by the points that we had, way more than covered by the points that we had in our account. It didn't like deplete it down to nothing. So we felt like oh, shit. We've got to recoup all these points. It made it so that we could stay at really nice places. 

So in Barcelona, we stayed at a hotel called Saras, which was like right on the water in the Gothic district. It was beautiful. The people were so nice. Like I said, the room was like an icebox. It was amazing. They had breakfast that was like an amazing breakfast every morning. We only figured out on like the final day there that it was available to us to eat. So we're like okay, we didn't, like our waistlines didn't need to have this breakfast every day. 

It also allowed us to spend a little bit more on the tours that we did. So we did one tour of the market, which was just like a three hour tour, which was amazing. The market there is incredible. All the markets there, honestly. Then I said we did the La Familia Church. I forget the full name of it, but it was amazing and beautiful. 

I am not a religious person. I am a recovering Catholic. So, for me, to be in that basilica and think this is amazing, this is awe inspiring, that type of thing. I had to suspend my disbelief a little bit. Just to give you an idea, like I was like, this feels sacred. Like this does feel like spiritual and sacred and that type of thing. 

Then, like I said, we took the train from Barcelona to Madrid because we didn't want to deal with renting a car and having to drive and directions and all of that. So we took the high speed rail. I did make a mistake there. There was the gentleman in the lobby at the front desk of the Saras Hotel, was maybe 25. He said, I was asking him. I was like I want to book into the business class cabin or the first class cabin or whatever of the train. He was like, “Oh.” He's like, “It's not necessary. You really don't need it.” So I was like okay. Like I have no idea. I've never been on a high speed rail in Europe. So I was like okay. 

So, we get on the train, and our seats are facing another couple. The young man and my husband were both about six three. So, like, their knees are like bumping each other. The whole the whole train ride. John kept giving me looks like what the fuck, Melissa? Why are we in this? Like, what is happening? So live and learn. It is worth the extra. I think it was like twenty five euros to have the extra leg room of the higher class cabin on the train. 

Devon: You know, I think it's these types of tips from our real life experiences that are so helpful for other people to learn. Right. Like that is not an experience. I'm not six foot three, but I also don't really want to be playing kneesies with a stranger. So it's really good to know what to include in travel planning. 

Melissa: Yeah. Even to face another person. Like if it had been our family of four sitting there, no problem. But like to face a stranger, like. So I did not ask the correct person, and I did not ask the right question. So make sure that your seat is facing the way that you want. We were riding backward the whole time, which luckily neither of us got sick. 

The other thing that was amazing and people who have been to Europe have probably had this experience. But in the train station, it costs a euro to use the restroom, and I could have eaten my breakfast off the bathroom floor in that restroom. So I was like this is worth a dollar. Like in the United States of America, we should charge a dollar and have clean bathrooms. Like this is a wonderful idea. So have your euros ready if you want to use the restroom. Of course, you can use your credit card and get your points. But it was an interesting experience. So that was fun. 

Then when we went to Madrid, we stayed at the Palacio de los Duques. It was amazing. We stayed in the, I forget the name of the -- We paid extra to have access to a lounge and breakfast and cocktail hour and tea time and all of that. It was beautiful, just walking distance to everything. We did so much walking in Madrid because it wasn't a million degrees, and we could. 

Devon: I wanted to ask you a question, kind of coming back to the flights that you took, Columbus over to Barcelona and then your return from Madrid back to Columbus. You mentioned that you flew Air Canada business class on the way out and then you returned on Air France business class. I'm curious how you would compare those two airline experiences. If there was anything that stood out as particularly memorable about either airline or if you would recommend one over the other for people who have the option of planning a trip and being able to take either of these airlines. 

Melissa: Yeah, I mean, I think that I am biased because I'm always more excited when I'm going than when I'm coming home. I think we had flown before pre-points to Italy a couple of years ago, and we were on Lufthansa for that flight. It was amazing too. I would recommend Lufthansa. I think the food on Air France and my experience was better, and I love food and love to eat. So, I think that that was better. The other thing that was a little interesting about our flight to Spain is I am the type of person who can talk to the wall, and my husband is the type of person who talks to no one.

So being a pediatrician, there was a family in front of us, a mom and dad and two little kids. We were waiting in line to board the flight, and I struck up a conversation with them. They had somehow been upgraded to business class. So the kids were all excited and that type of thing. Then come to find out that the little boy was sitting in the window seat next to my husband and then John and I were in the middle. 

I don't know where the rest of the family was, but the mom, because I was friendly to them and made conversation, felt comfortable to ask John to switch seats with her. So she was in a cabin in front of us. So John and I didn't get to sit together because, of course, my husband was not going to say, no, you may not sit next to your child. So he was sitting far away from me, and I had to get up and go and check on him a couple of times. 

Interestingly, the flight attendant in his cabin thought that he was some celebrity that he is not. So she kept giving him special treatment because his name wasn't on the list there. So she didn't know his name. They had switched, and she thought that he was, I forget who she thought he was, but he's not that person. I feel like Air France wins because I got to sit next to my hubby and because the food was better but.

Devon: That's incredible. I don't think there's any way that we can actually somehow plan for the flight crew on any given flight to mistake us for celebrities. But any time that you're able to get incredible service, I mean, hey, no one's going to argue with that. 

Melissa: Oh, yeah. He was like, “Don't blow my cover. Stop coming up here and talking to me.” Because he was getting special treatment, I think. 

Devon: Oh, that's really lovely. You had mentioned that when you were originally booking these flights, that you had initiated some points transfers from your credit card accounts over to Air Canada Aeroplan for that sort of flight and then also over to your Air France Flying Blue account, and that the points transfer going over to your Air France account was not instant. I'm curious if there were any other challenges that you experienced in the booking process for this trip or any tips that you would have for other people who experience that sort of unexpected event of having to wait for a points transfer to complete. 

Melissa: You know what? No, I think I am a life coach. So one of my thoughts that I always have is how is this happening for me? Right. So when they weren't going over, I was like this must be happening for me somehow, that type of thing. So I think that the way that it happened for me is now I have these 81,000 points to use for some future flight that we're going to take. 

I think the other thing that I would say is I was in your Point Me to First Class Points Made Easy course. So I basically just followed along and did exactly what you told us to do and walked us through so eloquently and beautifully. So I think having that resource and being able to look and see I constantly am looking to see okay where can I transfer these points to. If I use my Amex, does it go to this or that type of thing? 

So I think so many of the resources that you have in there, I just have up on my computer and my son gives me a hard time because I have a million tabs open. I'm like I can't get rid of those. Like, I know I can find them again. But I think just using that resource just made it so easy for me to do. So thank you for providing us with all of that amazing content and resource. I think that's about the only thing that I can think of that I did other than just like talking to myself.

I can remember I was sitting here in my office and like is it going to go through? Is it going to go through? I think at one point I even messaged you and was like what is taking so long? You were like, it will go through. 

Devon: Yeah, I think that it's always ideal when these points transfers are instant. For a lot of the different airline frequent flyer programs and the transferable points currencies, they are instant. But that's not guaranteed. Exactly like you experienced, sometimes it does take a little bit longer for a points transfer to complete. I think that that is something that can be very, very stressful for folks, especially if it's one of your first points transfers. But I agree. I think that mentality that something else will become available is almost always true. 

So even if you experience a little stumble or a little obstacle in terms of planning or executing a points trip, oftentimes either it's going to work out the way it originally would, or you're going to be able to pivot and find another option. Like you said now you've got extra points that are hanging out in an airline frequent flyer program that I think has a million different uses. They're already ready and waiting for you for another trip, especially if you guys want to go back to Europe. 

So just sort of learning about navigating some of these challenges and having patience and knowing that in the end it almost always will work out, I find, can be helpful when it can be a little bit stressful waiting for those points transfers. 

Melissa: Well, yeah. I mean, honestly, for our family we don't always necessarily remember every detail about our trips, but we always remember when the shit happens. Like the bumping of the knees will never be forgotten. The Shamu splash zone never be forgotten. The time we got two flat tires in Turks and Caicos on the first day that we were there and like had to have the car jacked up on the side of the road. Like my kids will never let my husband live that down. So I think it is the snafus and the blips and that type of thing that you tend to remember more than anything else. 

Devon: Yeah, absolutely. I'm curious if there's anything that you would do differently if you were planning this trip again. 

Melissa: I don't think so. We had like the best time. The food in Barcelona, it was amazing. We have a friend who lives there and we met him for dinner, and he gave us a couple of recommendations of places to eat. Like every bite at a couple of these restaurants was like so amazing. 

I think the only thing that I might do differently is letting us just ramble and find our own way and that type of thing. I do think we needed to have the experience of having the tour guides and that type of thing. But I think if we were to go back, and certainly if we were to take the kids, we would do more rambling and doing stuff on our own than having guided tour.

Devon: Yeah, that's great advice. Before we wrap up today, I was just curious. Are there any other last tips, pieces of advice that you would give to listeners who are interested in traveling to Madrid or to Barcelona about any sites or experiences that you think absolutely should not be missed? 

Melissa: I mean, the La Familia Church. I mean, it's just so beautiful on the inside. I probably would have a guide for that because there are several things that our guide pointed out to us that we would have missed had we been there on our own for sure. There is a restaurant in Barcelona called the Green Door, and it is vegan, and I am not vegan. The food was amazing. It was one of the places that every bite my husband and I were like this is like an orgasm in our mouths over and over and over again. So I would say that.

Then in Madrid, my goodness, I'm not going to be able to remember the name of the restaurant, but we typically do not go back to the same restaurant twice. But we went back to this place for our last night because it was so good. I'll figure out the name of it, Devon, and we can put it in the show notes if your people want it. 

Then we spent a lot of time there just walking around the huge park. It was quite a walk from where we stayed at the Palace of the Dukes, but it was so worth it. We got our steps in, and we just walked around that park and just everywhere you looked, it was just so beautiful. So other thing I will say is my husband and I figured out that we are not dinner show people. 

So the tour guide recommended that we go to a flamenco Corral de Morea or something. It's famous and amazing, apparently, and that type of thing. But we just are not the type of people who like sit and watch a show and eat and like sit real close to other people. So I won't be doing that again. 

Devon: Live and learn. I think that's what travel is all about is figuring out what are the things you love to do and what are the experiences that are just not the ones that are going to be the most amazing for you. But I am so glad that you joined us on the podcast today. Like you said, we'll try to link up references in the show notes for all of the places, the hotels, the restaurants that you mentioned for anybody who's interested in learning more about those or including those on a future trip to Barcelona or Madrid.

I'm so glad that you were able to take this empty nest trip with your husband, and thank you for coming on the podcast and telling us all about it. I really appreciate your time today, Melissa. 

Melissa: Thank you for creating the course and for everything that you give away to us for free in your Facebook groups. I'm forever grateful. 

Devon: Thank you so much. Have an amazing day, everybody.

Thank you for joining me for this week's episode of Point Me to First Class. If you want more tips on turning your expenses into travel, visit pointmetofirstclass.com to learn more. See you next week.