Herr Cervelat and the Merry Swiss Ms

We have been very surprised by how popular our credit card post has been, and even more surprised that some people have decided to try our advice. In this post, I'd like to discuss a few more tips to help you make credit card decisions.

Establish what the points are being used for and get the right card:
Smart, calculated credit card spending can seem like a game to gather as many points as you can, but don't forget that just collecting points does no good. The points need to be spent to have any value. We like to use our points for plane tickets and travel.

For us, the Chase Sapphire Preferred is a good fit because the Ultimate Reward Points can be transferred at a 1:1 point transfer to many participating airlines (British Airways, United, Southwest, Virgin, Korean Air). This gives us great flexibility, since we are not locked into any particular carrier. The Sapphire Preferred also gives double points on all travel related expenses (hotels, rental cars, airline tickets, etc.), essentially earning double miles. The card also has no foreign transaction fees which is a must as expats.

In addition to airlines, the Sapphire Preferred has many other partners. Chances are good that one of these programs will fit your needs!

Moving Past the Allure of Point Hoarding:
It is so easy to get caught up earning points that you can lose track of your spending. As we touched on our earlier credit card post, nothing is gained from points when you spend beyond your means. However, credit card programs always find ways to incentivize spending, such as with double, triple and even quintuple reward points.

To illustrate, we were recently booking plane tickets, and we had two choices:

Option A) Spend $770 on plane tickets using the Chase Sapphire Preferred booking directly through the airline. The Sapphire gives double points on travel, yielding 1440 points.

Option B) Spend $800 on plane tickets by booking directly through Chase's travel website. Booking through the travel website yields triple points on travel, yielding 2400 points.

Which option makes the most sense? Surely the extra TRIPLE points I get with option B (extra 1200 points!!!) make up for the additional $30 I have to spend, right? At the end of the year, Chase also awards an additional 7% bonus on all points earned that year. 7% x 1200 points = 84 more points!!! The choice is clear! (Or is it...)

Let's take this one step at a time.

Chase allows you to "cash in" your points at a conversion of 1000 points = $10, meaning 1 point = 1 cent. I like to assign this value to my points because it illustrates the worst case scenario, or lowest possible value. (Depending on how you redeem your points, they could be worth more.)

For option A, you spend $770 and earn $0.01 x (1440 + 7% x 1440) = $15.40 in points
For option B, you spend $800 and earn $0.01 x (2400 + 7% x 2400) = $25.68 in points

In essence, option A "cost" $754.60 (price of ticket minus value of points earned), while option B "cost" $774.32 (price of ticket minus value of points earned). Option B costs $19.78 more, taking into account points.

I would choose option A, but the credit card companies certainly make option B seem very appealing! One would have to value the points at least 3 cents/point for option B to be profitable.

For more visual people, I have used graphs to illustrate my point. The x-axis represents the amount of real money spent on a ticket. The y-axis represents the cost of the ticket minus the value of points earned through that purchase.

If you value points at one cent/point, then spending $770 with double points is about equivalent to $780 spent with triple points.

If you value points at three cents/point, then spending $770 with double points is about equivalent to $800 spent with triple points.

Assigning a one cent per point is a very conservative estimate. Using these rules can help you make purchasing decisions that are in your best interest. Depending on how you spend your points, they can actually be "worth" more than a few cents. In a future post, we'll discuss strategies for spending your points to maximize their value.

I hope this post helps you avoid the pitfalls of point hoarding, and enable you to continue enjoying the added value points have to offer.

-Herr Cervelat & the Merry Swiss Ms

The next in our series of international destinations outside of Switzerland: Paris, France. This will be split into a two part post, since we were in Paris for six days.

Day 1: Travel, Rue Cler, Musée d'Orsay and Bike Tour

Amazingly, the TGV only took four hours to get to Paris! Swiss tracks cannot handle TGV (Train à Grande Vitesse) speeds, so it wasn't until we entered France that the train accelerated to the standard speed of over 170 mph/273 km/h.

Due to the route's popularity, seats need to be reserved in advance.

Once we arrived, we promptly checked into our apartment and ventured into the streets of Paris.

We can see the Eiffel tower just down the street of our apartment. All the credit goes to the Swiss Ms, who found this great deal on Airbnb.com!

Rue Cler: Filled with wonderful markets and shops.

A delicious ham and cheese sandwich (Croque-monsieur), with more cheese on top.

I'm happy. Really. Just hungry.

We passed by a school, and peaked at the posted food service menu. Mushroom crepes for breakfast, curry with chicken livers or shepard's pie for lunch, Entrement au chocolat for dessert, just to name a few. US school cafeterias should start marketing themselves as "Restaurant Scolaire".

The school menu made us hungry for dessert.

That meringue is a thing of beauty. And the lemon custard was perfectly tart!

Excited to immerse ourselves in Parisian culture, we immediately bought a Paris Museum Pass. If you plan on being in Paris for an extended period of time (at least three days), we highly recommend the pass since it includes admission to most museums and attractions the average visitor would enjoy. You save money and time spent in long lines!

Our first museum stop, Musée d'Orsay. (Holds mainly French art from 1848 to 1915, post-Louvre)

We weren't allowed to take pictures of the artwork inside, but certain areas were allowed, such as the clock designed by Victor Laloux in the Main hall.

We spent hours at Musée d'Orsay, and could have easily spent more time there, but we had a bike tour to get to. I had signed us up for a Fat Tire night tour, and we needed to meet at the Eiffel tower.

We met at Pillar Sud (The South leg) for our tour.

Safety first, y'all.

Our group of bright neon riders on the busy Paris roads.

Love locks on the bridge over the Seine River.

Notre Dame!

We stopped for the "best ice-cream" in Paris, Berthillion's. We got Moka and Salted Caramel, both delicious.

Saint-Chapelle at night.

Dominating the streets of Paris with her thug face.

The Louvre. It was nice that most of the sites were empty at night, making the visit quite pleasant.

To end the tour, a one hour boat ride on the Seine with wine.

The Eiffel tower all lit up at night!

Day 2: Notre Dame, Saint-Chapelle, Musée de Cluny and dinner at the Latin Quarter

We returned to the lemon-meringue bakery and got this absolutely decadent pistachio/chocolate brioche.

In order to counter the decadent brioche, the Swiss Ms decided to get the healthier, grainy bread with currents.

Notre Dame. Long lines, but free to visit. Separate line to gain access to the balcony between the two towers (mid-level) and to the top of the right tower (top-level).

Periodic announcements told you to pipe down.

The famous South Rose Window.

With our MuseumPass, we gained access to the mid- and top- levels. The mid-level held the well-known gargoyle statues.

This gargoyle is particularly hungry! The Swiss Ms looks on the gruesome feast apprehensively.

On the top-level, we had a glorious view of the Seine River.

As well as all of Paris!

Next up, Saint-Chapelle. Again, very long lines to buy tickets (which we were able to completely skip with our MuseumPass!)

Incredible stained glass work.

Unfortunately, half of the chapel was under renovation. We'll have to revisit when it's finished.

Such detailed stone work.

Our last museum stop of the day, Musée de Cluny, which has a magnificent collection of medieval art inside a 15th-century mansion. The building was originally founded by the Cluny Abbey, and is one of only two remaining medieval homes in Paris.

Ruins of the Roman baths, which date back to 200AD.

Does that arch look familiar? The Cluny Museum also houses many paintings and stained glass windows from Saint-Chapelle.

A statue of Adam, sculpted in 1260AD and originally situated on the south side of Notre Dame.

The Cluny is known as a prime example of late Gothic architecture seen here in the Chapel.

Dementor's Kiss with the gargoyle.

After a packed day, we settled down to a nice meal at Le Bistrot Gourmand on Rue Mouffetard in the Latin Quarter. The area was packed with restaurants offering great dinner deals (less than 20 Euros/person!).

Assiette de la mer = the sea platter, with smoked salmon, herring and tarama (a creamy, smooth paste made with fish roe). The tarama was incredible.

Homemade vegetable soup (Potage de légumes)

Duck breast with peppercorn sauce (Margret de canard sauce au poivre). Super good.

Salmon in a sorrel sauce.

Crème Brûlée!

Apple pie.

We ate very well that night and continued to for the rest of the trip.

Day 3: The Louvre, Musée de l'Orangerie and dinner at Le Tournebièvre.

Of course, another delicious pastry to start off the day.

A little less healthy than the grainy roll from yesterday. Swiss Ms: This dark chocolate and orange brioche was merveilleux!

The main Louvre entrance through the pyramid. However, security lines were very long.

There is the lesser known, basement entrance, accessible from the subway exit. This had a much shorter line.

We were told (by Rick Steves and my friend Adam) to go straight for the Mona Lisa to avoid large crowds later in the day. The minute the Louvre doors opened, we made a beeline for Mona.

Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa.

Just an hour later, the crowd around the Mona Lisa.

In the same room as the Mona Lisa, often neglected, is "The Wedding at Cana", which is the largest painting in the Louvre. We made sure to notice it!

The Louvre is absolutely massive and requires more than one visit.

One of two copies of "The Coronation of Napoleon". Later in our trip, we will see where the second copy is...

Michelangelo's "Rebellious Slave" (left) and "Dying Slave" (right).

Michelangelo's "Psyche Revived by Cupid’s Kiss"

Alexandros of Antioch's "Venus de Milo."

Exhausted from the Louvre (which was PACKED with visitors), we grabbed a quick lunch, then headed to our next museum, Musée de l'Orangerie.

On the way, we walked through the beautiful Tuileries Garden, a public garden located outside the Louvre.

Musée de l'Orangerie is comparatively small and MUCH less crowded than the Louvre. For the museum-completionist in us, we were happy to be able to see everything in about two hours without the crowds. The museum hosts both impressionist and post-impressionist paintings.

Les Nymphéas holds eight of Claude Monet's Water Lilies large wall-sized paintings. They were absolutely spectacular, but we were not allowed to take photos inside.

After a long day of museums, EATING!