What card to get
 

I am looking to get a credit card to build up miles/points for a trip to Europe.
Our family size is 2 adults and 3 children.
I plan on going in 5 years or so.
I do not plan on traveling before then (or using any miles/points).

I will be putting about $3K to 5K / month on the card.

What is the best option(s) out there?

I have a good credit score/history/etc...

I pay my cards off every month.

I currently have these cards:
Capital one Venture - 10K limit had since ?
Chase Disney Card - 15K limit had since 2008
Chase Amazon Card - 4.5K limit had since 2007
Discover IT Card - 5.8K limit had since 2011
Toys R US Card - 2.8K limit had since ?

Thanks for any helpful input!

I'm in Canada, so I know things are a little different for you. But I've got 3 young kids as well, and this is my advice: forget about the airlines, focus on hotels.

My experience is that it can be difficult to get 2 tickets, let alone 5. Especially when your dates can be set in stone by the school calendar, and you don't want to put your kids through 4 airport transfers to get to your destination. Just pay for the flights. However, when you get to your destination, being able to get a big suite that'll fit everyone for the duration of the trip is wonderful.

That's my 2 cents. When you have young kids: pay for the flights, get the hotels for free.

(And of course, 5 years from now who knows what your points will even be worth? Devaluations happen constantly, so whatever programme is the best today, may not be the best next year. In five years' time? That's an eternity.)

The way things appear to be changing cashback cards might be best if you do not plan on traveling for five years. Save the money you get in cashback in a separate account for travel. Then maybe six months out from your travel date you can look at the world as it exists at that point in time and you and your spouse can apply for a bunch of cards for whatever bonuses are available then that will help you out on your trip.

Another thing you could do is app-o-rama for cards that have points that can be converted easily to cash. So cards like Chase cards that give Ultimate Reward bonuses have a minimum cash value, you can get those and if things don't look good for saving points you can cash them out.

Go research the options available to you for miles/points/cashback and come up with a rough idea. We shouldn't be planning out a thousand dollar trip for you for free, doing your own research, especially when it comes to something that affects your credit, is VERY important.

Possibilities:

United as an airline to concentrate on. Between UA Explorer/Sapphire Preferred/Ink you and your wife could each get 3 bonuses, possibly every couple of years, plus miles from spending.

If you have lots of free cash, BankDirect can return LOTS of American miles very quickly.

Hilton for hotels. You and your wife could each potentially get 6 or 8 Citi Hilton cards (2 every 3-4 months) at 50K per card, with low minimum spend. Granted Hilton points are becoming like Skypesos but 300-400K per year times 2 of you times 5 years is a lot of pesos.

And of course, MS to increase whichever you choose.