I used a move to New York to earn 80,000 points and earn a free trip

I’m not one of these people who spend hours researching the best rewards credit cards, but you better believe I will pounce on an opportunity to earn an award trip to my travel destination of choice. I love to travel, and I love to travel for free even more. In February, I decided to move to New York City. After making a big career shift, I finally felt stable enough to make the move away from my hometown and into the heart of the action. Knowing that there would be plenty of costs associated with the move, I started researching the best credit card sign-up bonuses.

How I decided on the Ink Business Preferred

Because I’m not a big “travel hacker,” I took to Twitter to ask the experts which card they’d recommend. One of my go-tos is The Luxe Strategist, who blogs anonymously about affording a posh lifestyle while saving 50% of her income.

Luxe, along with some others, recommended the Ink Business Preferred Card from Chase. I already had a non-business Chase card and used the points to fuel multiple trips last year. Best of all, the card offers 80,000 points after new card holders spend $5,000 in the first three months.

This is a lot of potential value — travel website The Points Guy estimates that Chase points are worth 2 cents apiece when you use them to book flights or hotel stays with partners like United and Hyatt. If you prefer not to transfer your points and just redeem them for travel directly through Chase, you’ll get 1.25 cents per point, so $1,000 with the 80,000-point bonus.

The Ink Business Preferred has a $95 annual fee, which seemed worth it to me if I could get $1,000 or more toward travel to virtually any destination.

Using moving expenses to earn 80,000 points

The Ink Business Preferred‘s minimum spending requirement was my only hesitation: I don’t usually spend $5,000 in three months. (Although I’m very aware that this may change in New York City, land of the $17 cocktail.) But while I was researching cards (and potential vacation destinations, if we’re being real), I started mapping out the expenses I’d incur during the move.

What sealed the deal for me was finding out that I could pay upfront for a year at my new co-working space. By paying for the entire year, I eliminated a monthly bill and opened up an interesting opportunity to extend my search to this business credit card. So, I moved to NYC in May, and put all business-related expenses on my new card: my co-working space, new health insurance, a work conference, and work-related travel. I rounded out the $5,000 by buying furniture and plant babies for my new (very petite!) home office.

As a financial educator, I think it’s important to note that I always pay off my credit cards in full. I did not make the decision to spend $5,000 in three months without that amount of cash to back it up. If you’re struggling to keep your credit card debt under control, travel rewards credit cards and their sign-up bonuses aren’t for you. Instead, you should focus on paying your balances in full each month to avoid interest charges.

How I’ll use those points

A few weeks ago, 80,000 points appeared in my Chase account. Hello, next vacation!

Because I’m not a pro at using points and miles — there are always tricks that come with practice and reading the fine print— I asked Luxe for her best tips on using Chase points.

She explained that I’d be maximizing my Chase rewards if I get at least 1.5 cents per point in value. For me, that would mean getting $1,200 out of my 80,000 points. Compare that to the 1.25 cents per point that I’d get by simply using my points to book travel through Chase’s website — that’s $200 more.

While there are extra steps involved with using points with airline — you have to transfer the points over to an airline’s frequent flyer program — you can often get more value for your rewards this way, especially if you’re booking a first- or business-class flight.

For example, Chase partners with Singapore Airlines and United, among other airlines, and Luxe found me a one-way business-class ticket from NYC to Tokyo using 80,000 United miles and $80.60 in fees. The same flight costs $5,186 in cash, which means I’d be getting a value of 6.4 cents per point! Even if you’re not usually a business-class flyer, this is an opportunity to get more bang for your buck, and to travel in comfort. Also, “the farther you go, the better the value,” explains Luxe. While you can use your points for a domestic flight or two, you usually won’t be maximizing your points with this kind of redemption. No problem there — I was already planning on getting as far out of Dodge as possible. To get even more value out of my points, Luxe also recommended adding a stopover through what United calls the Excursionist Perk. This essentially means adding in an additional stop to your trip for no additional cost. “For example, you could go from NYC to Europe and get two stops instead of just one, such as a stop in London and a stop in Paris. You could potentially use the same number of miles as if you had just done one city.” With my new points and Luxe’s guidance in hand, all that’s left is deciding where to go. Personally, I like to eat, drink, see art, and hike up mountains. The destinations that currently top my list are all in Asia — I’ve never been. I’ve had my eye on Japan, Vietnam, and Cambodia. But I’d also love to see the fjords in Norway or get lost in the land of Narnia that is New Zealand. And with 80,000 points from the sign-up bonus, all of these destinations feel more within reach.

Click here to learn more about the Ink Business Preferred Card from our partner The Points Guy »