For the Love of Travel ... Hacking
I have loved to travel for as long as I can remember. I have fond memories of family vacations “down the shore” and when I took my first international trip to Germany in 10th grade, I knew travelling would need to be a part of my life for my entire life. As a young 20-something, fresh out of college and living on a very modest income, my travel goal was to take one trip a year. For years, I scrimped and saved in order to take that one trip a year and I loved every minute of it.
Then, last year, knowing I wanted to travel more than once a year, I started to make my travel goals a part of my morning manifesting routine. (more on my morning routine in an upcoming blog). I started by making a list of all of the places I wanted to go. Then, I made a plan for what trips to take when. Then, it was onto figuring out how to finance the trips. Well, this is where things came to a screeching halt. Truth – this girl has champagne taste and likes to travel in luxury. However, I don’t have the budget to support my luxury travel wish list & style. So, I spend a few weeks trying to figure it out on my own … crunching the numbers of my budget, trying to see where I could cut expenses, ect. Then one day during my morning routine, I had gained a new perspective. Instead of trying to figure out what I could cut out of my life in order to travel (cue - $7 morning lattes), I started to explore things I could add to my life that would enable me to travel more. Ideas started to come to me: start a side hustle, convince friends to go with me to split the costs, splurge only on the hotel/resort (fly economy), and so on.
Then, a year ago today, I was scrolling Instagram and discovered travel hacking. #lifechangedforever
For years, I wanted to travel more. For years, I had a credit card that earned points. For years, I had no idea I could link the two! Enter … @travelinghackingmom. Somehow I scrolled onto one of their posts and there was the answer I was looking for! Credit card travel hacking. Could THIS be the way I could expand my travel budget, travel more & travel in luxury?
I was skeptical and immensely intrigued. I thought it was a scam or hoax. As my type-A self, I jumped in, started to do my research & followed more travel hackers on Instagram. A few weeks later, I opened by first travel credit card. Still skeptical, but willing to try it out.
Three months later, I used points to book a romantic weekend getaway at a 5-star hotel in Washington DC for $0 (without points the room would have cost $800/night).
Yes - travel hacking was my answer to traveling more & traveling in luxury!
Since then, I have been strategically opening new credit cards & accumulating points to help make my travel goals my reality.
Thanks to travel hacking here are few of the vacations I have taken & planned using points & miles …
Amsterdam – March 2022
Swanky Spa Vacation in Arizona – November 2022
Luxury Beach Vacay in Cabo San Lucas – December 2022
Greece – Summer 2023
Note: It takes about a year to accumulate points to book your flights/hotels,.
Intrigued, as I was???
I highly recommend following these Instagram accounts:
@travelhackingmom
@maxmilespoints
@madepossiblebypoints
@straighttothepoints
@thepointsanalyst
They have been instrumental in teaching me to how travel hack.
A HUGE THANK YOU to all of you!
I, of course, am happy to help too. I am by no means an expert (yet), but I am happy to share what I have learned.
Amsterdam - March 2022
