this is "nightline." >> tonight, holiday vacation hacks. can you escape the winter doldrums with a luxury get away for next to nothing? >> let's go! >> a travel savings expert shares her secrets for making your every day errands pay off. ♪ all i want >> plus, pitch imperfect. all i want for christmas is to hit my high notes? singer mariah carey is known for reaching octaves that can shatter glass, in a good way. so, what happened at the rockefeller center tree lighting ceremony last night? and the beer and the beautiful. can you drink beer all day and still look like this? the spa that says you can have your brews and bathe in them, too.

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good evening. and we begin here tonight with a woman who says that exotic beach say vags you've been fan that sizing about can actually be a reality. not only that, it can be free. this woman says busy moms can

earn points towards luxury travel just by slightly tweaking their daily routines. these are big claims. so, we decided to put them to the test. here's abc's linsey davis. >> reporter: looking to trade in snow boots for beach sandals for next to nothing? or how about stepping out of those long holiday lines and into a luxury suite? a dream trip like this is the last thing on most of our minding during this, the season of spending. >> it is definitely more expensive during the holidays. they take the opportunity to charge you more. >> reporter: texas mom lauren and her husband would love to take a year-end european getaway. >> maybe squeeze in a babymoon before the baby comes. >> reporter: but they just don't think they can make it happen. it a >> it adds up fast when you are trying to travel a family. we tried to go cheap on our last trip and do lap baby. and it was a terrible idea. >> reporter: enter summer.

>> today, we're going to go meet lauren, who reads mommy points. >> reporter: the maverick behind the popular blog mommy points. >> she has a couple of kids and one on the way and wants to learn how to leverage earl every day spending to earn more travel. >> reporter: this year alone, summer, with her husband and 4-year-old daughter in tow, have trotted the globe on more than 19 vacations, spank 1spanning 100,000 miles. the price tag? virtually free, with miles. first class is free. >> reporter: sounds too good to be true. "nightline" put summer to the test. can she make lauren's getaway a reality by teaching her the secrets of turning holiday spending into a free vacation? >> we're about to enter that crazy holiday shopping period. >> reporter: and we only gave her just a few weeks to do it. >> in a very short amount of time. certainly one day, you can learn practice call stems to integrate into your every day life. >> reporter: she says no sweat.

>> let's see what we can do. hi, how are you? >> good, how are you? >> good. i love your pictures. >> reporter: the moment mommy points walks in the door, she nope tilss lauren is already in the midst of a missed opportunity. >> we have pictures like this all over our house, too. we'll print them online on snapfish or something and a lot of times you can go through a shopping portal that like united has and get eight times, ten times miles. >> reporter: tip number one, unwrap extra miles by using shopping portals on your airlines website. >> that can really add up. especially if you have $100 worth of photos. you have like 1,000 miles. >> reporter: and we haven't left the house yet. >> so, what i have planned for today is, do some every day stuff that you probably do all the time. we are going to kind of see how you would normally do them and then see if we can maybe bump up your mileage earning a bit by just making a few changes. >> reporter: this is a big challenge. youfl done this for yourself, now you are taking on another family. >> yeah.

>> reporter: is it easy to teach? >> it's pretty easy to teach, because she's a mom, i'm a mom. we have a lot of the same routines. so, it's easy to share the things that have worked for us and see which will work for her. >> reporter: their first stop -- >> grocery store. >> reporter: a place we all frequent quite a lot during the holiday feeding season. >> one of the things my family does to save money and earn miles, we call it stacking. we don't look for one deal. we like to stack different deals. so, stacking a coupon with, say, a day where you earn more fuel points at the grocery store. with paying with a credit card that earns grocery store -- extra points at a grocery store. >> reporter: tip number two, grocery purchases earned summer 150 niles. by shopping at the grocery store just twice a week, she says, you can earn a free round trip ticket annually. next, lauren is looking to check off gifts on her christmas list. mommy points uses her smartphone to spot savings. and now it found this cutting board that was $189 in the store

for $129 from a retailer online. gracioushome.com. >> reporter: tip number three? arm yourself with apps to save money for the seat on the plane. what do people need to know before they held out to the store? >> before you head out to the store, arm yourself with some ways to tell if you are getting the best deal. the poach it app, you can scan the bar code and see if there's a cheaper price is a good one. a lot of retailers have apps that have built-in coupons, too. >> reporter: their next stop, best buy. >> some credit cards will even offer, like, a price rewind or a price match, where you can get whatever the lowest price is for the next 60 days. so, even if you bought a tv today, and it goes on sale cheaper in a few days, you'll be able to get the difference from that price, just from your credit card. >> reporter: tip four? look out for price protection plans. for example, the citi price rewind plan says it's refunded

$1 million this year alone. have you done that before? >> yeah, i have it tracking some stuff right now. if it goes on sale, i'm going to get that lower price. >> reporter: while wracking up these points is reason to celebrate, travel experts caution holding onto them could cost you. >> a lot of people can earn a lot of great rewards this way, but delta and united in particular have recently devalued their points program and watching to see if american will make the same decision. >> reporter: mommy pointsest maflts that if lauren follows these tips, she'll be on that vacation in no time. what do you think we're going to be able to maximize for her holiday spending? >> if she spends kind of the average, what a lot of families spend in the holidays, thanksgiving, christmas, all of that, she can easily be looking at a five-digit number of miles and points she's earned if she's willing to put some of the stems into practice. >> reporter: but does lauren think she can do it without mommy points calling the shots? and you think you may actually change the way you shop now? >> we will.

we definitely will. we spend a huge chunk of groceries. bay bills are expensive. you might as well make the most of it. >> reporter: and that's exactly what she's been doing. in just a few weeks, the family will be taking a $6,500 vacation to this winter wonderland virtual little for free. and they are already planning the next one. for "nightline," i'm lindsey davis in houston, texas. up next here on "nightline," what happened to mariah carey at this tree lighting ceremony? the vocal malfunction that has the internet abuzz tonight. ♪ for christmas and later, the beer spa helping thirsty customers get tipsy and beautiful at the same time. allegedly. and the winner of this year's superstar... (coughs) coughing can really be disruptive. with a record breaking fifty million votes, your superstar is... that's why there's delsym.

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and now to the live televised flub that is creating an online feeding frenzy tonight around one of america's leading ladies of music, mariah carey. ♪ all that you could ever know >> reporter: it start eed out wl enough. mariah carey performing live at the rockefeller tree lighting ceremony on nbc. then she starts missing her signature high notes. snsz f ♪ for christmas >> reporter: the cracks are even more apparent in this video, where the vocal track is isolated.

♪ for christmas is >> reporter: the social media response was fast and furious. detractors saying, please give it up. and it was painful to watch. suggesting her ex-husband nick cannon must have got her voice in the divorce settlement. her fans pushed back, though, saying people should cut her some slack and she's a living legend. but how could it be that this legend with a five okay taif vocal range, famous for hitting the high notes like this one in "vision of love." ♪ >> reporter: could suddenly sound so off? >> she's sick. that was my very first reaction. ♪ >> reporter: vocal coach to dozens of broadway stars, matt farnsworth knows first hand what can happen when a huge star like mariah performs life. >> when someone doesn't feel well or someone is performing in front of millions of people on live television, it's very

stressful. and the first thing that sometimes happens is, you stop breathing and the voice is a wind instrument. >> reporter: to be fair, it's been 20 years since she first recorded the best-receiving christmas single of all time and so damage to her voice may have added up since the days when she could easily get into the upper register. ♪ ♪ oh baby >> how did that go? >> it was good. i didn't have to sing, so. >> reporter: as seen in the show "mariah uncut" on e, she's had to visit a throat doctor before. >> we see that vow vocal chords are swollen. i have to tell you, you're going to have to cut down on the promotional push that you're doing. ♪ santa claus can make me happy ♪ >> reporter: vocal wear and tear is a scary proposition for a diva whose fame and fortune rely on an aging body. that is something john mayer,

famous for "your body is a wonder land" knows all too well. ♪ your body is a wonder land >> reporter: in 2011, he developed a granuloma on his vocal chords. >> emotionally super fragile in this period of time. >> because? >> because i don't have a job. >> reporter: the job followed mayer as he got a scope done. >> tongue out for me, please. >> reporter: it's a procedure many professional singers, like enkenje here are familiar with. she's currently starring in "motown" the musical on broadway and she's been struggling with throat issues. >> what we see here first is what looks like an upper respiratory infection. understand that this is not terrible and the most important thing for me is your reflux isn't so bad.

>> all right. >> reporter: as somebody who is starring in a broadway show, when you feel like your voice may be about to go, how stressful is that? >> very stressful. absolutely. because you're in the middle of a show. there's 1,500 people out there. if you are starting to feel it, then you have to sort of try and compensate differently in how you sing the rest of the show. in order to get through it. >> reporter: she will recover with some extra rest. in fact, dr. kaufman stresses that rest and eating healthy are the keeps to a healthy voice. is it simply the case that as we get older, our vocal chords wear out? >> if you sing hard, you tend to get some scarring. >> reporter: and mariah sings hard. >> chef doeshe does. >> reporter: if she had a growth on her vocal chords, all is not lost. >> it's fixable. it doesn't mean they're cooked. >> reporter: her days of hitting the high notes are not necessarily over. >> yes. >> reporter: good news for

everybody. >> good news. ♪ i love this girl >> reporter: surgery was a last resort for keith urban. and paul stanley of kiss, who both risked putting their most precious asset under the knife. british singer adele did it too in 2011. ♪ someone like you >> reporter: the singer is known for her raspy voice. and vocal coach matt farnsworth says that tone is noticeably different since her surgery. >> she had to restrain her voice and she has a slightly different sound to her voice but she's singing healthier. >> reporter: that said, adele expressed relief about her results in an appearance on "60 minutes." >> i can't remember a time where it felt so smooth to sing and not be paranoid on stage. ♪ the hills are alive with the sound of music ♪ >> reporter: though surgery worked for adele, it ended julie

andrews' career in 1997. the legend would rarely sing in public again after she says a botched surgery to remove nodules limited her range and her ability to hold notes. >> a routine procedure that i was told would not be threatening to my vocal chords. >> reporter: as for mariah, whatever caused last night's blunder, this diva has plenty of experience in bouncing back. anyone remember that film classic "glitter?" she survived that flop. and maybe next year she'll pull in some help from her holiday appearance from a younger friend like justin bieber. ♪ baby all i want for christm christmas ♪ ♪ is you next here, the spa where you can both drink beer and bathe in it.

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beer has many benefits. up until now, for most of us, at least, smooth and shiny skin has generally not been considered to be one of them. so, when we here at "nightline" heard about something called a beer spa, we spent abc's hamish macdonald to check it out, stat. >> reporter: welcome to the czech republic. home of the beer and the beautiful. now, there's more of the beautiful in a moment. but first -- >> i love you! >> reporter: the beer. they drink more of it here per person than any other country in the world. and they make gallons of the stuff, too. now, the thing about prague is that there is pretty much

everywhere you look in this city, beer. come with me. we're going to a beer spa. yes, you heard it right. a health spa with beer. or, more accurately, in beer. this is it? there are no sweetly scented scandals here, it's yeast, malt and hops. an entire microbrewery, if you like, all dumped into a heated spa bath. >> if you would brew the beer, it comes out. >> reporter: can i have a smell? >> yes. it's very, very strong. >> reporter: not everyone in prague looks like this, so, don't come here expecting it. >> because of the green color, so it looks like something tirdy lake, maybe, but it's like good, it's not smelling so bad. >> reporter: so, it looks like dirty water and it smells, but they claim it will be good for you. cleansing the skin with vitamin

b. >> beer is actually very healthy. it's produced initially in an ancient time as a medicine. >> reporter: for czechs this is a point of pride. they're proud of their country and even more proud of their beers. this niche market is brewing new business. 80% of visitors come here from other countries. they don't just want to drink in the czech experience. they want to bathe in it, too. >> everybody say that we have perfect beer, the best one in the world, so, of course, we need to be proud. >> reporter: for two people, it will set you back almost $200 for 20 minutes in this heated beer bath. to get the full effect, you don't shower, they say, for another five hours. so, you're going to wait? >> i don't know. >> reporter: you'll smell like an alcoholic. >> yeah. >> reporter: well, as they say.

when in rome. but here, in prague. feels a bit like you're in a -- i don't know. feels like a mud bath, really. it's a very overwhelming smell of beer and i'm quite hot, so -- i guess this is what it feels like. for "nightline," i'm hamish macdonald in prague. >> hamish macdonald giving new meaning to the term pale ale tonight. thank you, hamish. and thank you for watching "nightline." "world news now" is coming up soon. tune into "gma" first thing in the morning. and as always, we're online at abcnews.com. thanks for watching tonight. we'll see you later.