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Every year my mom takes one grandkid on a trip. This year it was my 11-year-old daughter’s turn (and I got to tag along too). My mom had never flown business class, so my one goal was to get her a lie-flat seat to London.

Points covered $16,541 in business class flights for three of us on this trip. If you’re new to points, my free Beginner’s Guide is the place to start.

Our London trip on points wasn’t free as a whole, but they sure helped. My mom paid for the cruise, and we paid cash for tours and shows. Still, points covered the expensive parts: business class and hotels. Here’s exactly how we booked it, what went wrong (strep on Day 1), and what I’d do again.

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How We Flew Business Class to London on Points

I couldn’t find a good award seat out of Salt Lake City. Toronto to London had incredible rates, so I booked two separate trips: a cheap award flight to Toronto, then Virgin Atlantic Upper Class from Toronto to London. (I’d never been to Niagara Falls, so the stop worked out great.) Flying somewhere else first to catch a better award is called a positioning flight, and here’s how positioning flights stretch your points.

If you want even more detail on how to do this, read How to Find Award Flights and Hotels on Points.

How We Booked Each Flight

• Salt Lake City to Toronto: $375.53 per person in cash. Instead we paid 16,500 Flying Blue miles + $21 each. I moved the miles over from Capital One (how transferring points works).
• Toronto to London in Upper Class: the cash price was $15,414 for the three of us (about $5,138 a seat). Instead we paid 142,500 Virgin points + $1,589.
• Per person: 64,000 points + about $550 for business class to London. Here’s how to book international flights with points if you want to copy it.

Two tools that make award searches like this faster: seats.aero (it alerts you when award seats open up) and point.me (code REWARDS4 takes about 25% off Premium).

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Niagara Falls: Strep, a Canadian Clinic, and a Room on Points

My throat started hurting on the way to the airport. My daughter at home had just had strep, so I wore a mask. By the time we landed in Toronto, I had a fever.

So we went to a walk-in clinic late that night. In Canada, residents show a health card while visitors pay at the desk, and I wasn’t ready for that. Their ATM wouldn’t take my cards, and the doctor would only take US dollars at the same number as Canadian dollars (so I paid about 38% more). There wasn’t a rapid strep test either. He treated it based on my symptoms instead, and I left with penicillin.

Where We Stayed: Marriott Niagara Falls Fallsview

We stayed at the Marriott Niagara Falls Fallsview Hotel & Spa because it was the closest of our options to the falls with the best views. I booked a second room for myself with points so I wouldn’t give strep to my mom and daughter on Day 1. I filmed one video of that view and then fell asleep in my travel clothes.

Before I booked, I checked the Marriott app first. It wanted $572.91 for the night (or 86,600 Marriott points). Then I checked the travel portal on one of my favorite premium cards, and the difference I found was shocking: the portal had it for $368.75, or 18,437 points.

I can’t name the card or its travel portal here because of affiliate rules, but you can find the card here. It’s the first one on the list.

The Rewards Mom may receive compensation from JPMC.

The Boat Ride to the Falls

The next morning I still had chills, but I could walk around. It was hot outside and I was freezing, so I bought a Canada sweater (in June). But the boat ride to the falls was the best 20 minutes of the day.

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Flying Virgin Atlantic Upper Class With My Mom and Daughter

Our flight wasn’t until late, so we had the whole day. At Toronto Pearson, our business class tickets also got us into the KLM lounge.

We didn’t tell my daughter what seats we had. When she found hers, she couldn’t believe it laid flat. If you’d told me I’d be tucking my 11-year-old into a lie-flat seat someday, I never would have believed you (I’m ruining her for economy). I highly recommend surprising your kids with lie-flat seats someday. Totally worth it. And my mom finally got her first lie-flat seat, which was the whole point.

A perk nobody talks about: Upper Class bags get a priority tag, so ours came out first at Heathrow.

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Heathrow to Central London on the Tube

We walked straight from baggage claim onto the Elizabeth line (London’s metro system, or the “Tube”), which runs direct to Liverpool Street (right outside our hotel). You don’t need tickets! Instead, just tap your credit card at the gate. It’s super easy and fast. I’m so glad I didn’t book a car.

• Tap in and out with the same card or phone every time.
• Everyone needs their own card or phone (kids under 11 ride free).
• Trips to or from Heathrow are charged the peak fare.

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Where We Stayed: Andaz London Liverpool Street

Our room wasn’t ready when we got there, so they held our bags and we went exploring. The hotel let us add a rollaway so all three of us fit in one room.

Location	Right on Liverpool Street station, excellent if you’re coming from Heathrow
The catch	Most big sights are a tube ride away
Cash rate	about £468 a night (about $627)
Points rate	25,000 Hyatt points a night, low for London
Perks	Non-alcoholic minibar included

The room was nice and clean, but it’s an older hotel. Our window also didn’t look outside. It looked into a game room, which I’ve never seen before, and definitely not at an Andaz.

Overall verdict: I’d stay again. It’s low points compared to other London options, and the location by the station made the airport easy.

The Rewards Mom may receive compensation from JPMC.

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Our First Day in London: A Jet Lag Walking Route

My best jet lag trick is simple: don’t sleep on Day 1. We took the Circle or District line from Liverpool Street to Westminster (about 15 minutes), started walking around 1pm, and kept going. Then we explored many of the big-ticket sights around London, in this order:

1. Westminster Abbey (gorgeous)
2. Big Ben (fun fact: Big Ben is the bell, and the tower is Elizabeth Tower)
3. St. James’s Park
4. Buckingham Palace
5. Trafalgar Square
6. Covent Garden

We had lunch at a pub along the way. We were tired, but we could function, and we slept that night.

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A Day Trip to the Cotswolds and Oxford

We booked a small-group day tour on Viator that left London at 9:15am from near Victoria station. Ours went to the Cotswolds villages first and Oxford last. The route can run either way, and on Sundays it always starts with the villages. I clicked through Rakuten before I booked, so even the tour earned points back.

If you’re new to shopping portals, here’s how Rakuten works, plus how I use shopping portals on almost everything we book.

See the Cotswolds tour we booked

Burford (about 45 minutes): Our first stop, known as the “Gateway to the Cotswolds” with stone cottages everywhere.

Bibury (about 45 minutes): This was my favorite stop, and the place that made me realize why people talk about the Cotswolds so much. It’s called the prettiest village in England, and it really does feel magical. I did feel bad for the people who live there, though. There were so many tourists (us included).

Oxford (about 2 hours): Oxford is just outside the Cotswolds, but most Cotswolds day tours include it. I did not expect to love it as much as I did. When we walked around the university, it felt like we were at Hogwarts. Founded around 1096, Oxford is the oldest university in the English-speaking world. It predates the Aztec Empire and is older than the invention of mechanical glasses. If you want to go inside a college, library, or museum at Oxford, make sure to book it ahead.

One day, two Cotswolds villages and Oxford, and we barely scratched the surface.

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Cheap Eats in London: The Tesco Meal Deal

London is expensive, so a Tesco meal deal was our go-to dinner: £3.85 or £5.85 (about $5.20 or $7.90) for a main, a snack and a drink. It’s a lot of food for not a lot of money.

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Harry Potter and the Cursed Child in London

After a 3 am melatonin (jet lag won a round), I slept until 11. Then we made a quick Uniqlo stop and walked Soho and Covent Garden, which is such a cool area. While we walked around London, all I could think was what a good job Universal did. It really felt like the park. Read about our Universal trip HERE if you are curious how we saved on that trip.

We saw Part One at 2 pm and Part Two at 7 pm, $634.80 for the three of us. Surprisingly, it didn’t feel like five hours. We didn’t know it then, but we caught one of the last runs of the two-part version. It closed in London on September 20, 2026 and came back as one show (about three hours with an interval).

It was so good I took my family to see it again at home in Salt Lake City, and we used a StubHub credit from one of my cards for the tickets. You can find that card here (it’s at the top of the list).

The Rewards Mom may receive compensation from JPMC.

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Our Cruise to Hamburg and Bruges

When we travel with my mom, we usually cruise. It’s easier on her, and it’s just fun, too. This one was my mom’s treat: Royal Caribbean out of Southampton. It was an older ship, but my daughter loved the FlowRider and the rock wall. It’s especially kid-friendly.

If you want to put points toward a cruise, here’s how I’d use points for a cruise.

Hamburg: A Food Tour

We did a food tour in Hamburg. First stop was a herring sandwich. I was brave and took a bite. It was so bad. Then we tried a dish sailors used to eat: mashed-up meat with a fried egg and beets on the side. It looked rough and tasted so much better than it looked.

Bruges: Chocolate, Waffles, and a Chocolate Workshop

Bruges was so charming. We bought an obscene amount of chocolate (and did a fair amount of shopping). Belgian waffles are worth the hype, and so is the hot chocolate.

The highlight, though, was a 2 pm chocolate workshop at Choco-Story. I booked it on Viator through Rakuten too, so it earned points back. See the chocolate workshop we booked.

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Flying Home in Premium Economy

We flew Virgin Atlantic Premium Economy from London to San Francisco. The cash price was more than double. Instead we paid 16,500 points + $547.27 each. Then San Francisco to Salt Lake City was $173.40 a ticket, and my $300 annual travel credit went straight to those flights.

Due to affiliate rules I can’t always name cards, but you can find the card with that travel credit here (it’s at the top of the list).

The Rewards Mom may receive compensation from JPMC.

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What Our London Trip Cost on Points

Points didn’t cover everything on this trip, but that’s fine. Here’s where they did the heavy lifting.

Booking	Cash price	We paid
Salt Lake City → Toronto 3 people	$1,127	49,500 points + $63
Toronto → London Upper Class, 3 people	$15,414	142,500 points + $1,589
London → San Francisco Premium Economy, 3 people	More than double what we paid	49,500 points + $1,641.81
Niagara Falls hotel	$572.91 or 86,600 Marriott points	18,437 points through a card travel portal
Andaz London Liverpool Street 4 nights	£1,871 about $2,508	100,000 Hyatt points

What we paid cash for: the cruise (my mom’s treat), Cursed Child tickets, our tours, and a lot of chocolate. I booked the tours on Viator through Rakuten, so even those earned points back.

I don’t think these trips would be possible for my mom without points to help, and that’s one more reason I’m grateful for them.

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What I Packed for London

My carry-on is a cheap Target one, and it’s held up for years. So I bought the matching Target checked bag, and the first time I checked it, it cracked wide open. Since then, my checked bag has been the one I pay for: my Away checked bag, which comes with a warranty.

• My London packing list: everything in one place.
• Packable rain jacket: it’s London, so pack one.
• UK plug adapter: the UK uses a different plug (Type G), so bring one.

I’m always updating my most frequently packed as I try new products, but some have been on there for years. You can find those here.

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Plan Your Own Trip On Points

Want help planning your own version? The hardest part of this trip was finding the workaround (flying out of Toronto because Salt Lake had nothing). My TRM Trip Planner is trained on everything I teach, so you can plan your trip the way I would. It’s $29/month, and you can cancel anytime.

Where would you take your mom (or your kids) on points? Tell me in the comments.

If you liked this post, you might also like:

• How to Book International Flights with Points
• How We Took Our Family of 6 to Japan on Points
• Transfer Bonuses for Family Travel
• The Mom’s Guide to Hyatt

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Affiliate Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. The Rewards Mom may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.

All points values and prices are what we saw at the time of booking and change often.

Editorial Disclosure: Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.