Hi Chris, I m a fan of your site, and travel-hacking. I applied for the British Chase card back when

I didn t begin travel hacking until long after I began traveling. At first, I did what everyone else did—I had a couple of Frequent Flyer accounts, I looked online when buying tickets, I tried to comparison shop and get the best deal I could, but I didn t know much about the tricks of the trade.
One time, early in our years of living in West Africa, Jolie and I were coming back on a trip from Amsterdam. A Delta agent at the gate took our boarding passes and exchanged them for new ones. “You have been upgraded,” the agent said.
After that experience, I began to wonder if there was anything I could do to gain an advantage over the average traveler. resorts and great hotels The next year we wanted to go home for Christmas, and I discovered if I bought SkyMiles from someone on eBay (technically resorts and great hotels against the rules, but Delta didn t care at the time), I could arrange resorts and great hotels to fly in Business Class all the way from Cotonou, Benin to Atlanta.
When we transited through Paris, I felt like a luxury traveler. Everyone always resorts and great hotels talked about how terrible Charles de Gaulle airport was, but we went straight to the Air France Business Class lounge and found it highly relaxing.
Funny how these things work: two years ago I went back to the same lounge while transiting to Central Africa resorts and great hotels and was amazed at how small it was. The croissants were stale and the cappuccino machine was unexciting. Lesson: Appreciate what you have, while you have it.
After we moved back to the U.S. and I started traveling on my own, the search for cheap travel took on a quest of its own. I went on a Circle Pacific trip to Asia, making five stops, experiencing new countries along with new airlines. I began collecting spoons from each airline.
These days, the Starwood Preferred Guest card offers a bonus of 25,000 points just for getting it—and you can also get the Business version resorts and great hotels to earn an additional 25,000 points. Bam! Back then, though, I was happy just to have the card and earn one point for every dollar of spending.
I was also a big fan of Priceline , a service I don t use much anymore. In those early days I spent most of my trips staying at hostels and budget hotels, but at least once a week I d use the Name Your Own Price option to book a room in a nice place. I didn t have elite status resorts and great hotels and wasn t collecting hotel points (aside from the Starwood card) but I was still enjoying the benefits of low-cost travel.
After the Circle Pacific trip through Asia, I learned more about Round-the-World tickets . At the time you could purchase RTW tickets that were valid up to 20 segments, and I regularly used all 20 over and over.
I don t buy as many RTW tickets now, but I still purchase at least one a year. In January I ll be doing a two-week trip from South Africa to Qatar to Malaysia, eventually returning to the U.S. before continuing on later. In some cases, the tickets are still a great value.
Then, I started getting Citi cards—several of them. I learned that Citi offered a plethora of different card products, all tied to American Airlines. You could get a Visa, Mastercard, or American Express branded Citi card—and you could also get a business version of each one!
Each card offered a signup bonus after completing a low minimum spend (usually $750 in 90 days). Furthermore, many of these cards could be acquired repeatedly. After having one of the cards for a few months, you could simply cancel it (or just stop using it) and successfully apply for a new card with a new bonus .
These days, you can still earn bonuses on the Citi American Airlines cards , but not as many as before and for not as many miles. Still, the whole experience got me thinking. Were there other cards? How could I replicate this experience on a grander scale?
This led to the original Frequent Flyer Challenge where I applied for a dozen credit cards on the same day and was accepted for each of them. This practice is fairly common now (a number of bloggers write about it a few times a year), but at the time it was fairly new.
Sometimes when I write about travel hacking, I hear from readers who don t get it or don t think it fits well with the rest of what I write. I understand the complaint, but I also think that a blogger should write about whatever he or she wants.
As I see it, the connection between travel hacking and everything resorts and great hotels else I do is freedom . For the past decade I ve been able to go anywhere, anytime. The opportunities are endless and the possibilities wide open.
Earn a 50,000 point signup bonus (at least a $625 value) for the Chase Ink Plus, our preferred card for small business spending. You’ll also get 5x points at all office supply stores (including gift cards!), and no foreign transaction fees.
Just wanted to say that the reason I started following your blog (in the early days) was about the travel + freedom concept. I have a good, location independent job, and never really needed the entrepreneurial/inspirational aspects. I really appreciate resorts and great hotels the solid, concrete tips about better resorts and great hotels travel or time management while on the road. More, please!
I ve used travel hacking to get many free flights for myself and others. It really helps to get you places you may have thought you couldn t go to before. I d love to get in on the Vanilla reload resorts and great hotels card travel hack, but unfortunately they don t sell them in the Pacific NW. Thankfully, they are plenty of other things I can do until I m in an area that has them.
Hi Chris, I m a fan of your site, and travel-hacking. I applied for the British Chase card back when it came with 100,000 miles, and put a ton of purchases on it over a project, have over 300k miles sitting there, now. Still have to figure out using them on partner airlines, as the BA fees are ridiculous, and they have zero award availability out of SF.
But last summer I flew SF-Lusaka-Togo-Paris-SF using 105k United Miles (a GREAT program compared to BA) and fees under $200. And now I m flying resorts and great hotels to Khartoum, Sudan to start a 4 month bicycle expedition ending in Capetown. And I m flying First/Business all the way for 65k United miles. Just the 2 free checked bags/ 140 lb. allowance that comes with that ticket saves me tons as I have to bring gear for 4 months of cycling. Fees= $80
Long and short is I m looking at all angles of earning miles; it s not that hard. Helps if you have a business with purchases, but other things work, too. Just missed out on Sears 16 miles/dollar offer: I had a new fridge, a boiler heater, computer, resorts and great hotels etc. lined up that would have earned 128,000 miles had I pulled the trigger in time.
We also got about 10-12 free nights at Marriott s. Just restocked w the Starwood AMEX business, Chase Ink Bold, and Citi Hilton (which we plan to stay at the Waldorf in Rome w our two free nights at the end of a tour in Italy would never pay for it but free okay!)
resorts and great hotels Travel hacking articles are the best part about reading your blog! Maybe if it wasn t called hacking, people might feel better about it. It kind of makes a person think of a computer hacker like you re breaking into something. I definitely hope to apply to several credit cards with bonuses resorts and great hotels in the very near future when my income resorts and great hotels meets the criteria! I haven t seen enough of the world but with a spouse and three kids you need a lot of points!!
Ever since attending WDS 2013 a lot of what I thought I knew went out the window which led me to here, travel hacking. It led to other things but that is a different story. I joined the Travel Hacking resorts and great hotels Cartel and set a goal of going to India in March of 2015 for the Festival of Color. This will be my first trip out of country and I plan on making the most of it, mostly by getting my plane tickets for free and hopefully most of my hotel stays. I am also going to try a lay over for a few days in Germany, something resorts and great hotels I would never thought of if you hadn t written about it. So here is to travel hacking and to Chris and his team for helping me and others live our lives.
Chris I love the diversity of your writing. It often hits on things that are on my mind. I m really enjoying the Adventure Capital course as well. Have fun here in Australia. The weather is fabulous and there is so much natural beauty to enjoy. Thank you for sharing so generously.
Welcome to The Art of Non-Conformity , a home for remarkable people of all kinds. If you've ever felt like there must be more to life, this site is for you. I’m Chris Guillebeau, the author and publisher of the site.
From 2002-2013 I visited every country in the world and wrote about it on this blog. I’m still traveling to more than 20 countries each year. Along the way I share unconventional strategies and stories on Life , Work , and Travel .