You know what I miss? I miss the days when June and December meant an automatic, month-long break. School was out for 4 blissful weeks—no teachers, no homework, no nothing.
To this day, I still think fondly of June and December. They are my holiday months. And this December, I’m going to reclaim some of that vacation mood—I’m headed to Japan.
It’s going to be a solo trip…but with 1 new travel bestie I just made. She’s chic, she’s reliable, and she’s got my back. She’s the Standard Chartered (SC) Journey Credit Card, and if my calculations are correct, this card could potentially save me $605 dollars in Japan and earn me almost 40,000 miles. Here’s how I can earn miles faster with SC Journey Credit Card.
How This Miles Card Is Going To Save Me $605 for My Trip to Japan in December
- Redeeming a welcome gift—up to 45,000 miles
- Buying flight tickets—at 20% off
- Booking my accommodation—up to 20% off
- Getting travel insurance—for free
- Packing and prepping—while earning 3 miles per dollar
- All packed! Grabbing to the airport—with $10 off
- Spending in Japan—with $0 foreign transaction fee
- So, just how good of a travel bestie is the SC Journey Credit Card?
1. Redeeming a welcome gift—up to 45,000 miles
I’m new to Standard Chartered, and that’s the perfect part. Because the best time to sign up for a bank’s credit card is when you never have before—new-to-bank cardholders get generous welcome gifts. For the SC Journey Credit Card, you can get up to 45,000 miles:
- 35,000 miles from spending a minimum of S$3,000 within 2 months of card approval
- 10,000 miles from paying the card’s annual fee
I’m not a fan of paying credit card fees, so I’m opting to get my SC Journey Credit Card’s annual fee waived. It’s no big loss, because 35,000 miles is still pretty generous.
I can redeem my 35,000 miles only after I hit a S$3000 minimum spend within 2 months of card approval. While that means I won’t get these miles in time to buy my tickets, I can accumulate rewards points that do not expire and redeem credit card miles to offset the next trip I have planned. Based on the KrisFlyer miles calculator, I can redeem a Singapore Airlines return trip Economy Saver ticket to Bangkok for 27,000 miles. My SC Journey Credit Card’s welcome gift of 35,000 can more than cover me for a shopping trip to Bangkok and its plentiful night markets.
If you’re thinking, “shucks, I’ve had a Standard Chartered card before, so this welcome gift won’t apply to me,” hold up. You’re considered a new cardholder as long as you cancelled your SC credit card more than 12 months ago. Besides, even if you’re an existing Standard Chartered customer, there are plenty of other ways the SC Journey Credit Card can serve you well. Let’s dive into them.
2. Buying flight tickets—at 20% off
I would rarely call flights to Japan “cheap”, but they can certainly be 20% more affordable with my SC Journey Credit Card and a rightly timed purchase during a flash sale. From 7 to 12 Aug 2023, I can book my flights using this to enjoy 20% off Scoot flights.
Assuming I want to book a single adult Economy return ticket from 4 Dec to 10 Dec 2023, this would cost about $1,720 based on today’s prices. With a 20% discount, I can save about $344.
| Expense | Original cost | Cost after discount | What I save |
| Return ticket (Scoot) | $1,720 | $1376 | $344 (20% Scoot discount) |
| TOTAL | $1,720 | $1376 | $344 |
3. Booking my accommodation—up to 20% off
When it comes to pre-trip planning, I always look forward to booking my accommodation. Finding the most value-for-money, clean, and spacious rooms is pretty exciting. What makes it even better this time is that my SC Journey Credit Card will give me discount if I book via Agoda or Expedia from now till 31 Aug:
- 18% off Agoda accommodation
- 20% off Expedia accommodation
I’m going to look at Expedia first, since it’s got a bigger discount. I just want a no-fuss trip to travel around Tokyo, and need accommodation from 5 Dec to 10 Dec—5 nights. Here’s the hotel I found after applying some filters and doing a search on Expedia:
$669 for 5 nights ($134/night) is a little pricey to me, but the SC Journey Credit Card is going to snag me that 20% off (capped at $60). That means I’ll only pay about $609, or just over $120 per night.
| Expense | Original cost | Cost after discount | What I save |
| Return ticket (Scoot) | $1,720 | $1376 | $344 (20% Scoot discount) |
| 5-night stay at Nippon Seinenkan Hotel | $669 | $609 | $60 (20% Expedia discount, capped at $60) |
| TOTAL | $2,389 | $1,985 | $404 |
4. Getting travel insurance—for free
What about travel insurance, you ask? Truth is, I don’t even need to worry about it. The SC Journey Credit Card gives me complimentary travel insurance with Allianz Travel, with coverage of up to S$500,000. For a week-long trip to Japan, this could have cost me about $112. That’s $112 saved!
That said, if I’m not fully satisfied with the coverage provided, I know I could also use the SC Journey Credit Card to get 45% off all single trip plans with MSIG TravelEasy® insurance. MSIG TravelEasy Premier gives you S$1,000,000 medical coverage overseas. It would normally cost around $146.50, but it’ll come up to just $80.58 after the discount. Tempting, but I think I’m just gonna stick with my free travel insurance for this trip.
If I am travelling with a companion, I’d definitely make use of the discounted MSIG TravelEasy® insurance, since the complimentary insurance only covers me as the principal cardholder.
| Expense | Original cost | Cost after discount | What I save |
| Return ticket (Scoot) | $1,720 | $1376 | $344 (20% Scoot discount) |
| 5-night stay at Nippon Seinenkan Hotel | $669 | $609 | $60 (20% Expedia discount, capped at $60) |
| Allianz Travel Insurance | $112 | $0 | $112 (Complimentary travel insurance) |
| TOTAL | $2,501 | $1,985 | $516 |
5. Packing and prepping—while earning 3 miles per dollar
Now that everything’s booked, there’s only one thing left to do—pack. I know I’m not alone on this: I despise packing. I wish I could just snap my fingers and skip to the part where I’m in Japan sipping on my houjicha already. But since packing is inevitable, the least I can do is make sure I don’t spend more than I need to while getting everything I need for a trip.
I don’t travel often, so I’m a little short on winter wear. While my SC Journey Credit Card doesn’t give me a direct discount, spending with it does earn me 1.2 miles per S$1 local spend, with no cap. Assuming I purchase a $100 winter jacket, that’s 120 miles earned.
And I’ll be honest, I’m probably going to get some snacks, bubble tea, and even dinner delivered to my house on the day I do my dreaded packing. At least with the SC Journey Credit Card, I get 3 miles per $1 spent online on rides, food delivery and groceries. Say I spend $30 on my snackables and dinner—that’s 90 miles right there, making for a total of 210 miles earned.
6. All packed! Grabbing to the airport—with $10 off
It’s finally time to go! And I’m using the SC Journey Credit Card to help me get to the airport. With the promo code SCCHANGI, I can get S$10 off my Grab ride to (or from) Changi Airport. I estimate my ride is going to cost at least $30 from my home (Easties, I can hear you laughing), so thank goodness for that discount.
The idea is to get to the airport early. Why? The SC Journey Credit Card gives you 2 complimentary visits to Priority Pass lounges around the world each year. At Terminal 1 (where my discounted Scoot flight will depart), I’ll head to the Plaza Premium Lounge. The starting rate to use this lounge is S$55 for 3 hours of access.
| Expense | Original cost | Cost after discount | What I save |
| Return ticket (Scoot) | $1,720 | $1376 | $344 (20% Scoot discount) |
| 5-night stay at Nippon Seinenkan Hotel | $669 | $609 | $60 (20% Expedia discount, capped at $60) |
| Allianz Travel Insurance | $112 | $0 | $112 (Complimentary travel insurance) |
| Grab ride to Changi Airport | $30 | $20 | $10 ($10 off Grab rides to/fro airport) |
| Plaza Premium Lounge access at Changi T1 | $55 | $0 | $55 (Complimentary Priority Pass lounge access) |
| TOTAL | $2,586 | $2,005 | $581 |
7. Spending in Japan—with zero foreign transaction fee
Once I’m finally in Japan, the SC Journey Credit Card is going to do me a huge favour. That’s because it doesn’t charge any foreign transaction fee for all foreign currency spend in Nov and Dec 2023. So I can eat all the sushi I want at no extra cost! Many other credit cards charge a 3.5% foreign transaction fee. Let’s assume I budget $700 to spend on food, souvenirs, and visiting attractions. That’s $24.50 that I don’t have to pay in extra fees.
| Expense | Original cost | Cost after discount | What I save |
| Return ticket (Scoot) | $1,720 | $1376 | $344 (20% Scoot discount) |
| 5-night stay at Nippon Seinenkan Hotel | $669 | $609 | $60 (20% Expedia discount, capped at $60) |
| Allianz Travel Insurance | $112 | $0 | $112 (Complimentary travel insurance) |
| Grab ride to Changi Airport | $30 | $20 | $10 ($10 off Grab rides to/fro airport) |
| Plaza Premium Lounge access at Changi T1 | $55 | $0 | $55 (Complimentary Priority Pass lounge access) |
| Sushi and stuffs in Japan | $700 + $24.50 | $700 | $24.50 ($0 foreign transaction fees) |
| TOTAL | $3,310.50 | $2,705 | $605.50 |
On top of that, the SC Journey Credit Card is going to let me earn an uncapped 2 miles per $1 foreign currency spend. That means I’d earn 1,400 miles during my Japan trip!
8. So, just how good of a travel bestie is the SC Journey Credit Card?
As we’ve seen in the previous section’s table, I could potentially save $605.50 with the SC Journey Credit Card on a 1-week trip to Japan. I would pay $2,705 in total for flights, accommodation and more, instead of $3,310.50 without the card’s benefits. That’s almost a 20% discount!
And let’s not forget the miles I’d earn:
| Expense | What I paid | Earn rate per S$1 | Miles I earned |
| Welcome gift | — | 35,000 | |
| Return ticket (Scoot) | $1376 | 1.2 miles (local spend) | 1,651 |
| 5-night stay at Nippon Seinenkan Hotel | $609 | 730 | |
| Winter jacket | $100 | 120 | |
| Dinner and snacks in Singapore while packing | $30 | 3 miles (on Transportation, Food Delivery & Online Grocery merchants) | 90 |
| Grab ride to Changi Airport | $20 | 60 | |
| Sushi and stuffs in Japan | $700 | 2 miles (foreign spend) | 1,400 |
| TOTAL | $2,835 | — | 39,051 |
So in short, with the SC Journey Credit Card, I’ll walk away from my Japan trip in Dec 2023 with:
- $605.50 saved
- Over 39,000 miles earned
- And of course, a happy belly full of sashimi.
Can’t wait!
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This post was written in collaboration with Standard Chartered. While we are financially compensated by them, we nonetheless strive to maintain our editorial integrity and review products with the same objective lens. We are committed to providing the best information in order for you to make personal financial decisions with confidence. You can view our Editorial Guidelines here.
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