How We're Using Points to Take Our Kids to Finnish Lapland at Christmas
My f**k it moment, a bucket list trip, and why living in Europe changes our travel plans.
The past couple of weeks have been crazy busy, and things aren’t going to get much slower until school is out in late June.
And I had a realization.
My son will be in eighth grade next year.
What?!
My sweet boy was off to kindergarten just a moment ago, and now, here we sit at the precipice of the last year of middle school, prepping for high school.
And my youngest? She’s starting middle school and going into sixth grade.
Time waits for no one, which means the window for traveling and doing activities with our kids is shortening fast.
When we moved to Spain in 2024, one of the carrots we used to get the kids (kind of) on board was a promise to visit Disneyland Paris. But we haven’t made it yet, and not too long ago, my son asked me, “Mom, when are we going to go to Disney?”
It hit me that we’re coming up on two years in Europe, and we’ve really only traveled in Spain, which has been wonderful, and there are so many more places I want to see here.
But.
I want to show the kids the world. It’s a big reason we moved here, and as that time starts to slip through my fingers, I recognized that it’s time to do some of these trips we promised our kids when we moved.
So when my son asked when we were going to Disney, I had a moment of panic. I looked at Will and said, “I’m about to go into ‘f**k it’ mode.” He asked what I meant. “The kids are asking when we’re going to do Disney. Do you realize we only have about four-and-a-half more years before our oldest turns 18? Time is running out.”
And then I got a little weepy, sat down, and booked the flights to Paris.
Later, I booked the hotel, and we are well on our way to a Disneyland Paris adventure this summer.
There’s another trip I’ve always wanted to take, and luckily for me, the rest of the family is on board, although my daughter has her own agenda with this one because it involves horses. (Of course it does.)
As an adult, I’ve long wanted to visit Finnish Lapland, particularly at Christmastime, but I couldn’t figure out how to afford it. I thought that once we were based in Spain, it might be more affordable, but lemme tell ya: Lapland at Christmas isn’t cheap no matter where you happen to be traveling from.
I don’t discuss it much here, but I’ve been playing the credit card points and miles game for years. I picked up the hobby after we took the kids to Disney World in Orlando and realized there had to be a cheaper way to travel with a family. Since then, we’ve taken multiple vacations funded partially by points. And in Mallorca, we stayed at a hotel we wouldn’t have been able to afford (or justify) without using points.
So about a week ago, I started searching Google Flights, taking stock of flight costs, activity options, and what we could expect to pay for lodging.
Flying to Rovaniemi, Finland from Valencia is kind of like flying from Nashville to Seattle—not a short flight, but not quite as long as flying across the Atlantic from the East Coast. And I don’t think there is such a thing as a “cheap” flight during the Christmas season.
Cash was not an option.
Looking at the points cost, though, it started to come together as a possibility. Eventually, I found tickets that worked for our school break, and I booked them, paying a total of about $345 for the taxes and fees and 104,000 Avios.
If you've been curious about the points game, the Chase Sapphire cards are where most people (including me) start. Here’s my referral link if you want to get started.
My bucket list trip is starting to take shape, and while there is still a lot of research to do, I cannot wait to tell the kids. (It’s a surprise for now!)
Living in Europe certainly has its advantages, and the proximity of places like Finnish Lapland is a big one.
I write here about building a life abroad—slowly, imperfectly, and with a lot of trial and error.
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Exciting! Two big bucket list trips!
Time only waits for Gnome Ann: <https://xkcd.com/1704/>.