👋 Hi Reader,

Happy Saturday, and more importantly, Happy (early) Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms out there! Hope your weekend is off to a great start! Here are some quick highlights of today's newsletter:

• 🏥 Managing medical emergencies abroad
• 🇪🇺 Best ways to get to Europe on points
• 💳 3x best-ever 100k+ card offers
• 🛍️ My favorite purchase from the past year
• 🛒 United & Alaska shopping portal bonuses
• 🏦 Three $800+ bank bonuses
• ⛽ 50¢ off per gallon at 7-11/Speedway

If you've been forwarded this, you can subscribe here. And if you have a friend who'd find this useful, I'd be grateful if you sent it along.

Chris

🏥 What I Learned From a Travel Emergency in Japan

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A few weeks ago, our last day in Tokyo turned into a sprint to an emergency room, and challenged what we thought we knew about traveling abroad. I break down what an ER visit really cost, credit card benefits most travelers don't know they have, the best places to shop in Japan right now, and how to navigate Disney Tokyo without losing your day to four-hour lines.

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📋 My Past Week

• Huge thank you to the dozens of people who shared advice on our washing machine situation. After my email last week I opened the unit up to see that the control board overheated and probably caught on fire briefly. The burnt plastic fumes were so bad that I'm glad we got out of the house for the weekend and thanks to some serious ventilation, it feels safe to be home again. LG sent someone out to inspect the unit for free and they told me they wouldn't even try to repair it, so ultimately we bought a new one. I have so many learnings to share from the emails I got and research I did (e.g. best air filters for VOCs, best laundry appliance brands, getting the biggest appliance discounts, negotiating with corporations when their appliances catch on fire), so expect an episode going deep on this soon.
• Partially to get out of the house, we went to Napa this past weekend for an early Mother's Day celebration with my parents, sister and her family. We had an amazing dinner at Charter Oak, which is one of my favorite restaurants (their raw vegetable appetizer is incredible). Even better, it's a Resy restaurant, so between all the Amex cards at the table, we had $410 of Resy credit to use.
• I joined my daughter and her class on a field trip to the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University, which is an art museum I didn't even know existed and is free to the public.
• I spent some of this week building out a local database of all of my personal interactions with people dating back to 2001, which includes emails, call logs, calendar events, texts/iMessages, and even my old AOL IMs and GChats. I'm not quite sure what the plan for it is yet, but I'm going to start using it to build a personal CRM and likely tie in a lot of the learnings to something like GBrain. Stay tuned!
• We've implemented Taco Tuesday in our home and this week we brought these Korean Beef Tacos with Sriracha Slaw back into the rotation. It might be one of the few meals that has a near-perfect hit rate from everyone who's tried it. We go a bit light on the Sriracha for the kids, but we're still trying to help build their spice tolerance. If anyone has tips, please share!

⭐ My Top Picks

💳 JetBlue Premier: 100K Bonus + 5 New Perks

Barclays just refreshed the JetBlue Premier card with 5 new perks and a best-ever 100K-point welcome bonus after $5K spend in 90 days. When this card first launched, I thought it was wildly underwhelming relative to the annual fee, but now it offers the ability to earn companion passes with spend, bonus tiles towards status and BlueHouse lounge access (JFK and soon BOS). There aren't many opportunities to fly JetBlue from the Bay Area, but if you fly JetBlue regularly or are looking for a card bonus outside the main issuers, it could make sense.

✈️ Best Ways to Use Points to Get to Europe

A few friends have asked me lately about booking flights to Europe with points, and Frequent Miler just refreshed their 2026 guide on exactly that. It covers award chart updates, fuel surcharges, and cancellation policies across every major program. ThriftyTraveler also has a complementary take focused on Flying Blue and Aeroplan sweet spots. Both are worth a look if you have a Europe trip in your future.

💳 Best-Ever 150K on Schwab/MS Amex Platinum

​Both the Schwab and Morgan Stanley flavors of the Amex Platinum are offering a best-ever 150K Membership Rewards after $12K spend in 6 months. While they have the same perks and annual fee as the regular Platinum, they have a few unique perks:

• Schwab: Cash out up to 1M points/year at 1.1¢ and get a $100-$1,000 annual credit, based on your account balance.
• Morgan Stanley: First additional platinum card free, cash out points at 1¢ (no cap), and get up to $895 as an annual bonus.

Keep in mind that you're not eligible for the bonus on either card if you've gotten any personal Amex Platinum bonus before.

🪒 My Recommendation

I've mostly shaved with a razor my whole life, but it's such a pain when traveling, because you need shaving cream and an extra blade. And then there's the occasional cut you have to deal with. But electric razors are bulky too and usually have some proprietary charger. I never had a good tip here, until I saw the Panasonic ARC5 Palm electric razor on display in Japan. It's so portable, has USB-C charging, is waterproof, but how good is the shave? After reading what seemed like the best reviews you could ask for, I bought one while we were in Tokyo last month, and it's definitely my top purchase from the past year. This thing is amazing and gets close enough to what a razor does that I'm never going back. If you need a Father's Day idea, it's also on sale right now.

📰 The Rest of the Week

✈️ Airline News & Promos

• American: 10K Bonus Miles for Joining AAdvantage Business — If you have a business, fly AA and haven't done this, you should!
• Atmos Shopping: Earn 1,200 miles after spending $400​
• Delta: 3x on Airbnb Experiences & Services — I just wish it was 3x on stays.
• United Shopping: Earn 2,500 miles after spending $400​

🏨 Hotel News & Promos

• Hilton: Up to 20% Off App Bookings​
• IHG: 3K Points on $1K Spend on IHG Card​
• Preferred Hotels: $50 Cert per 2-Night Stay, Up to $250​

💎 Award Deals

• 🌍 Doha: Qatar Qsuite from US Gateways for 70K Avios​
• 🇪🇸 Madrid: Iberia Biz Class from US for 40.5K Alaska/Iberia​
• 🇲🇽 Mexico & Caribbean: AA Flights for 4,500 Atmos​
• 🇵🇱 Poland: Biz Class from 70K Aeroplan​

🔗 Card-Linked Offers

• Amex: 10% Back on Expedia Prepaid Hotels, Up to $125​
• Popular Bank: 10% Back on $400+ IHG Stays, Up to $62​

🏦 Bank / Brokerage Bonuses

• BMO: Up to $1,500 on Biz Checking (AZ/FL/IL/KS/MO/MN/WI)​
• SoFi: Up to $815 on Checking & Savings​
• Wells Fargo: $400-$825 Business Checking​

🛒 Other Deals

• 7-Eleven/Speedway: $0.50/Gal Off on 7th & 11th Each Month​
• Costco: $100 inKind eGift Card for $64.99 (limit 5, through 5/10)​
• Postmates: $15 Off $35 with Code MOTHERSDAY​

💬 Parting Thoughts

Thanks so much for reading! Hit reply and let me know what you think – I read every response. 🙏

Chris