✈️ A super big, super flexible transfer bonus

Estimated read time: 3 minutes and 59 seconds

Good morning from my little paradise in Yangshuo, China.

Before I get lost in the middle of the karst mountains, here’s some quick travel advice:

• 🤓 Travel Trivia Tuesday

• ✈️ 40% transfer bonus to Virgin

• 🌇 How I booked a weekend in Chicago with points

• 🌎 Travel Trivia Reveal

🤓 Travel Trivia Tuesday

The answer’s waiting at the bottom of today’s newsletter… keep reading (please).

✈️ 40% transfer bonus to Virgin

This is a big one, y’all. We regularly see programs offer transfer bonuses to Virgin Atlantic, but rarely the elusive 40% one.

For the next few weeks, you can get a 30-40% bonus when transferring Ultimate Rewards points to Virgin.

Here’s how it works:

• Transfer points through November 20, get a 40% bonus

• Transfer points between November 21 and December 5, and get a 30% bonus

Obviously, the 40% bonus is the move. And I’ll tell you why.

Virgin Atlantic has some incredible award rates to Europe, including economy flights from the U.S. to London for just 6,000 miles in economy. 👇

With this bonus, that’s 4,300 Ultimate Rewards points… to fly to Europe… so… yeah. It’s awesome.

If you travel with a family or a partner, this is a great way to stretch your points for multiple people.

But Virgin has other sweet spots, too. For example, if you don’t want to go to London, you can fly from the U.S. to Europe on Air France or KLM using Virgin miles – often for cheaper than what those airlines charge for their own flights.

Take 40% off of that, and it’s a pretty solid deal.

I have also used Virgin miles to fly between Indonesia and Australia on Garuda Indonesia – just to illustrate how incredibly flexible these miles can be.

Anyway, Virgin miles never expire… so if you travel to Europe every year (or think you might), it’s not a bad idea to transfer over a small batch and lock in that 40% bonus.

Now, I’m going to pass the newsletter over to Daily Drop’s Director of Marketing, Emily – who has a fun redemption to share with you all. 👇

🌇 How I booked a weekend in Chicago with points

Hey there, I’m Emily. 👋🏼

As a longtime miles and points enthusiast, I have a bit of a hot take: I don’t care about my cents per point value. 😬

That doesn’t mean I’m wasting them – I still want good value.

But more than anything, I want to use my points to take the trips I actually want (or need) to take. If that helps me travel more while spending less? That’s a win.

Case in point: I just took a quick girls’ trip to Chicago to see a show at the Chicago Theater. My dates weren’t flexible (which I know many of you can relate to), AND I booked my trip months in advance.

Hey… I’m a planner, okay? 😅

Here’s the rundown:

✈️ Flights: Round-trip on Southwest from Baltimore (BWI) to Chicago (MDW) for 10,500 points (transferred Ultimate Rewards points from the [[ chase-sapphire-preferred-card.name ]]) and $11.20 in taxes and fees.

Baltimore and Chicago are both Southwest hubs, so it’s even possible to find lower rates than this sometimes!

🏨 Hotel: Two nights at The Hyatt Centric in downtown Chicago (just a couple blocks from the Chicago Theatre) for 33,000 points – also transferred to World of Hyatt from the [[ chase-sapphire-preferred-card.casual-card-name ]].

As a Category 4 property, this hotel can cost as few as 12,000 points per night – and also makes for a good use of a Hyatt Category 1-4 Free Night Certificate.

Anyway, in the end, it came out to exactly $1,135.71 worth of travel that I booked for 43,500 points + $11.20. 🙂

While the cents-per-point value actually works out to a solid 2.59 CPP, I didn’t even bother to calculate that before booking – because, again, points made my getaway free.

Sometimes it’s not about squeezing out every cent of value; it’s just about actually using your points to make your travel more affordable, easier, or just a little bit better.

So even if you want to sign up for a card (like the [[ chase-sapphire-preferred-card.casual-card-name ]]), get 75,000 points for signing up, and take one or two meaningful weekend trips, it’s still worth playing the points and miles game. 👍

🌎 Travel Trivia Reveal

We asked you which destination Skyscanner crowned as the top trending spot for 2026…

And the answer is… Limón, Costa Rica! 🇨🇷

According to their latest trends report, flight searches to Limón grew by 289% between 2024 and 2025 (hot dang!).

This region’s got it all… rainforest hikes, volcanic landscapes, and insanely beautiful beaches.

It’s also one of Costa Rica’s most culturally rich regions, with Afro-Caribbean, Indigenous, and island influences shaping the food and music scenes, along with just everyday life.

If you visit in October, don’t miss the Carnaval de Limón — it’s quite the party.

Limón is also home to one of the best turtle nesting sites in the world at Tortuguero National Park, plus coral reefs and rainforest trails in Cahuita National Park. 

And if you just want to “beach bum” it, you’ve got several options: Playa Chiquita, Playa Negra, and Playa Punta Uva might ruin every other beach for you.

So yeah, I may or may not have Limón plugged into my Google Flights tab as I write this.

Check out some of the other top trending destinations for 2026 (and maybe start planning a trip!).

That’s all for today, friends! I hope you enjoyed this fun story from our Daily Drop colleague, some fun trivia, and of course, a way to get a crap ton of value for your points.

Have a great day,

24.7784° N, 110.4966° E

With contributions by McKay Moffitt and Emily Sharpe