3 vacations you can treat yourself to this Friendsmas

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Sponsored advertising content from Hyatt Credit Card from Chase.

It’s beginning to look a lot like … Friendsmas.

Made popular by those living away from home and family, Friendsmas has become a special time of holiday fun for small gatherings of like-minded individuals, eager to engage in mirth making with friends throughout the season.

Friendsmas, however, doesn’t necessarily need to be a mirror-image celebration of your traditional holiday festivities. Although preparing a sumptuous meal, exchanging silly gifts, wearing your best ugly sweater, and hanging stockings from the mantle can make for a festive get-together, this season should call for new traditions with friends that can be made with a more wanderlust holiday spirit.

Friendsmas can be feted in a unique manner, like rewarding yourselves with an all-hands-on-deck, post-holidays excursion to an interesting destination. With December schedules already packed to the hilt, you can save credit card points spent on holiday shopping and travel to use on a friends-only bash after the holiday rush has settled.

Here are a few after Friendsmas ideas that will get the gang itching to go-go-go after the season’s decorations have been stowed away:

• Grow in Germany. With airfare to Europe typically cheaper in the wintertime, head for the many fantastic sites of the Deutschland. Sure, it gets cold but that means lots of wintertime fun, from downhill skiing in the Bavarian Alps to snowmobiling through the Black Forest.

• Or, revel in the history, art, and hot mulled glühwein in the museums and cafes of Berlin, Munich, or other magnificent German cities. Crowds will be lighter at the Brandenburg Gate and the Rhine-viewable Cologne Cathedral during January’s short days. (Other European destinations are similarly affordable).

• Turn up the heat. If bundling up in Germany doesn’t appeal, try basking in the hot sun. Just when winter is roaring to life in the US, summer is in full swing down under in Australia.

• Sydney’s unspoiled beaches are especially beautiful in February, so enjoy a clifftop stroll along Bondi Beach. Or sample the warm-climate wines from the Swan Valley, near Perth, which is also home to pale sand beaches and bright coral reefs.

• Staycate. Whether you live in a large metropolis or an undiscovered regional gem, you don’t have to hibernate this winter. When the thermometer plummets, few of us take the time to really get to know the attractions of home.

• So, book a room at a hotel of your liking — such as Hyatt hotels and resorts — and then immerse yourselves in the local largesse: ice skating on the outdoor rink on DC’s Washington Harbour pier; indulge at the late January 2018 Chicago Winter Whiskey Festival; or revel in the annual Saint Paul, MN Winter Carnival, home to artistic ice carvings and snowplow competitions.

After all, Friendsmas doesn’t have to be a budgetary burden, especially if you use a credit card that can make it easier to earn reward points you can cash in on your adventure.

You’re going to spend plenty on holiday gifts for friends and family, so why not use a card that will truly reward you? For instance, the Hyatt Credit Card from Chase enables new cardmembers to get 40,000 Bonus Points after spending $2,000 on purchases within the first three months from account opening.

Plus, three Bonus Points are earned for every dollar spent at all Hyatt hotels and resorts and two Bonus Points for purchases at restaurants, certain airline tickets, and car rentals. Thus, you and your friends can celebrate with glee, any time of the year.

This post is sponsored by Chase. | Content written and provided by Chase.